Bishop Diego de Landa
Diego de Landa (1524 - 1579) was Bishop of the Yucatán. De Landa was in charge of bringing the Roman Catholic faith to the Maya people after the Spanish conquest of Yucatán. He left future generations with a mixed legacy in his writings which contain much valuable information on pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and his actions which destroyed much of that civilization's history, literature, and traditions.
He is the author of the "Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan" in which he catalogs the Maya language, religion, culture and writing system.
After hearing of some Maya supposedly recently converted to Christianity reverting to Idol worship, he ordered an Inquisition, followed by an auto de fe, in which all the Maya books (and perhaps 5,000 Maya) were burned on July 12, 1562.
Describing his own actions later, de Landa said that, "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction".
Only three Pre-Columbian Maya texts and fragments of a fourth survived.
His headquarters in Yucatán was Izamal.
