During my research for my historical fiction novel Calusa Gold, I frequently see the name “Felipe” associated with the Calusas and their contact with the Spaniards. Felipe did become king of the tribe after the more well-known Callos, or Calus, or Carlos, as the Spaniards called him.
Thank you for this, Will. I had thought that the Calusas always turned away the Spanish. Now I know better. One story I heard, perhaps from the latter days of the Spanish presence: Three young Calusa boys (teenagers, I’m sure), stripped a priest naked, put him in a canoe, and pushed it into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In a final gesture, the three of them mooned the poor guy — “showed him their bare buttocks,” read the report. Love that story.
Felipe: King, Christian, or Traitor?
Thank you for this, Will. I had thought that the Calusas always turned away the Spanish. Now I know better. One story I heard, perhaps from the latter days of the Spanish presence: Three young Calusa boys (teenagers, I’m sure), stripped a priest naked, put him in a canoe, and pushed it into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In a final gesture, the three of them mooned the poor guy — “showed him their bare buttocks,” read the report. Love that story.