17th century ritual mapuche anthropophagy

Abstract

Fray Gaspar de Villarroel, a bishop in Santiago, Chile during the seventeenth century, wrote about the theme of ritual anthropophagy practiced by the Araucanians during the Spanish conquest, in two volumes published in Madrid about the middle of the century. Villarroel justiies this ritual by creating a parallel with the way it had been performed at a world level. He analyzes extensive examples taken from Western history, and considers a wide variety of learned opinions. The bishop’s startling conclusions are the result of his comprehension of the complex circumstances which were then endured in the country.