Tercer Concilio Limense (1583-1591)

The organization of the new Spanish territories in the Americas forced the adaptation of several civil and ecclesiastic laws originally created for the Iberian Peninsula. Tercer Concilio Limense (1583–1591): Edición bilingüe de los decretos is a new edition of the resulting decrees that were adopted to contribute to the organization of Peru's new social order. After editing Decretos del Concilio Tercer Provincial Mexicano (1585), Luis Martínez Ferrer presents this edition of the decrees prepared in Lima that remained in effect until 1899. Martínez Ferrer's edition is divided into two main parts: a long, informative introduction to the decrees, and the “normative” bilingual (Latin-Spanish) version of the decrees.In his thorough introduction, Martínez Ferrer contextualizes the production of the bylaw reforms while positioning them within Spanish ecclesiastic and legal traditions. These traditions, as he states, are vital to understanding the nature and impact of the decrees because of an intrinsic and prevailing interconnection between theological and juridical matters at the time. The introduction also includes the reasons that drove the Third Council of Lima, one of them being the clergy's abuses of the indigenous people in Peru. Martínez Ferrer's edition is particularly distinguished by its use of the normative version of the decrees finalized in 1591. The 1591 version is normative, according to Martínez Ferrer, because it includes the amendments made after the Lima council had ended in 1583. The 1591 edition also incorporates both papal and regal approvals made by Pope Sixtus V and King Philip II. To underscore the importance of the normative edition of the decrees, Martínez Ferrer analyzes the various manuscripts of this council prepared prior to the 1591 normative version as well as the editions that came after. He shows that while there are many similarities among these versions and all have made contributions to understanding the decrees and their production, every version besides the normative one is somehow incomplete, missing the amendments as well as the papal and regal approvals.Tercer Concilio Limense (1583–1591): Edición bilingüe de los decretos is overall noteworthy for “ser la traducción del texto ‘normativo’ de 1591 y gozar de una sólida calidad científica” (p. 22). This scientific quality stems from the copious amount of research done to present the council's resulting texts in a clear, expositive manner. As he did in Decretos del Concilio Tercer Provincial Mexicano (1585), Martínez Ferrer includes in this edition of the Lima decrees the biographies of the bishops who participated in the meetings, which contributes to contextualizing the decrees' production.The paleography of the Latin text and its translation make up the book's second part. The editorial work and José Luis Gutiérrez's translation make this text accessible for a broader audience of scholars interested in the history of colonial Peru. Luis Martínez Ferrer has put together a new edition of the Lima decrees that makes these important documents of the church in Peru accessible by highlighting their relevance as a product of their time. Scholars and graduate students interested in the history and law of the church in the Americas will also find copious bibliographical sources. Along with Martínez Ferrer's Decretos del Concilio Tercer Provincial Mexicano (1585), Tercer Concilio Limense (1583–1591): Edición bilingüe de los decretos makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the church and its impact in the Americas

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