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Abstract

The “discovery“ of America and the accompanying convergence of cultures unsettled and altered the view of the world of everyone involved. The present study enriches our understanding of events that shape international relations and the cultural identities to this day. Little known archival material is used to reconstruct how members of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy (Mercedarians) reached the Andes in the retinue of the European invaders and participated in the formation of the colonial society. Besides investigating the friars’ role in the colonial and civil wars, as well as in the decades of indigenous resistance, the study also looks at secular legislation, rivalry with other Orders and clergy, as well as prominent examples of Mercedarian missionary work. An analysis of the Order’s reform and of the transatlantic relations of its provinces uncovers that it was only thanks to the works created by the Mercedarian chroniclers of the 17th century that the mission was wholly integrated into the Order’s self-perception. This text is a translation of chapter 7 Schlussfolgerungen (‘conclusions’) (pp. 548-566) of my doctoral thesis ‘Expansion und Aktivitäten des Mercedarier-Ordens im Andenraum des 16. Jahrhunderts’.