In Mulatto · Outlaw · Pilgrim · Priest, John K. Moore, Jr. presents the first in-depth study, critical edition, and scholarly translation of His Majesty’s Representative v. José Soller, Mulatto Pilgrim, for Impersonating a Priest and Other Crimes. This legal case dates to the waning days of the Hapsburg Spanish empire and illuminates the discrimination those of black-African ancestry could face—that Soller did face while attempting to pass freely on his pilgrimage from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela and beyond.
This bilingual edition and study of the criminal trial against Soller is important for reconstructing his journey and for revealing at least in part the de facto and de jure treatment of mulattos in the early-modern Iberian Atlantic World.
John K. Moore, Jr., Ph.D. (2003), University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, is Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has published and won national awards for scholarly projects on the Road to Santiago and Iberian pilgrimage.
"There are not many books like this one: it reads like a novel; it is exquisitely written; it is full of suspense and bursting with important new information. [..] The bilingual edition is particularly helpful since it could be used as text in courses dealing not just with Spain, but also in seminars on race in the early modern world. [...] The book is remarkable for the way it reconstructs events through primary manuscript materials. [...] This is a suspenseful and rewarding read, one that is the result of intense archival study, but one that hides its immense erudition through a clear style and a delightful way of telling. This book is a must-read for scholars in a number of areas, from race, to history, to Hispanic studies, and will have a deep impact in our appreciation of early modern culture."
Frederick A. de Armas, University of Chicago, in Laberinto Journal 13 (2020)
"...nos damos cuenta de la espléndida edición que Moore ha conseguido [..] escrito con profundidad, empatía y rigor [...] una buena y original aportación a los estudios sobre peregrinaciones y, singularmente, sobre las peregrinaciones a Santiago de Compostela..."
Antón M. Pazos in Cuadernos De Estudios Gallegos 68 (134):437-41.
Preface Acknowledgments List of Figures Chronology of José Soller
Part 1 In Search of Soller
1 The Vineyards
2 The Legal Case against José Soller
3 Origins
4 The Nature of the Journey
5 Reconstructing Locales along the Way
6 On Trial, under Sentence, and in Absentia
7 Into Thin Air
Part 2 His Majesty’s Representative versus José Soller, Mulatto Pilgrim, for Impersonating a Priest and Other Crimes: Edition and Translation
Note on the Translation
Editorial Norms
Edition and Translation
Part 3 Scholarly Supplement
Proper Names in the Dossier
Linguistic Variants
Scribal Errors
Case Notes
Bibliography Index
All those interested in the African diaspora, early-modern Europe, the black Atlantic world, and the pilgrimage routes to Santiago, plus specialists in Hispanic and Lusophone cultures, languages, literatures, and history.