ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that two of the works of the sixteenth-century Spanish theologian Francisco de Vitoria provide rich grounds for excavation. It analyses the pivotal importance of sodomy in Vitoria's work on the Law of Nations. The chapter also argues that Vitoria's work engages with biblical, theological and scholarly debates and discourses on both hospitality and sodomy, elucidating the significance of the Sodom allegory to Vitoria's justification of Spanish invasion. It shows that Vitoria's lectures on the Law of Nations, positioned at the inception of international law, participate in, and shape, biblical, theological and scholarly debates and discourses interweaving hospitality, homophobia and misogyny. The chapter traces the importance of hospitality in early interpretations of the allegory of Sodom. Focusing on hospitality and sodomy, it analyses Vitoria's work, positioned at the cusp of European imperialism and the inception of modern international law, in the historical and theological contexts in which it was written.
