(Note this story excerpt is reblogged from Discovery: Research at Princeton Magazine)
Scholars digitally repatriate manuscripts raided from a 17th-century Spanish-Empire convent
The 1762 British sacking of Manila scattered valuable books and manuscripts across the continents. Now an international collaboration is reuniting these treasures in an online repository.
The battle for Manila had already been won, but the British were after the spoils.
Britain’s incursion into the Philippines in 1762 was not the archipelago’s first colonial experience. By then, the Spanish crown had controlled the Philippines — named in honor of Spain’s King Philip II — for nearly two centuries, seeking greater access to the spice trade and to convert Filipinos to Roman Catholicism. Conquering the Philippines would enable Britain to strike a blow against its European rival and seize some of its resources. A 13-ship fleet landed at Manila Bay and disgorged more than 6,000 men, who easily breached the city’s poorly fortified walls and secured a Spanish surrender. With Manila theirs, treasure-hungry soldiers then turned their attention to its churches.
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