A feud more bitter than that which was terminated by the death of Bishop Osorio and the departure of Las Casas now arose between the lay and ecclesiastical authorities. In 1544 Father Antonio de Valdivieso was appointed to the vacant see of Nicaragua.[X‑33] His appointment was duly confirmed by papal bull, and in November of the following year he was consecrated at Gracias á Dios by bishops Las Casas of Chiapas, Marroquin of Guatemala, and Pedraza of Honduras. The prelate, who professed to be an enthusiastic admirer of the great apostle of the Indies, insisted that the new code should be enforced, and spared no effort to rescue the natives from bondage, incurring by his policy such determined opposition from the governor and his officials that he deemed it best for his own personal safety to take up his residence at Granada rather than at Leon. From the day of Valdivieso's arrival to the downfall of the governor some three years later, the history of the province contains little else than a series of mutual recriminations and intrigues. The colonists with a few exceptions favored the cause of the governor, declaring that "they wanted no prelate except to say mass, and preach to suit their fancy;" and when the bishop threatened to establish an inquisition in Nicaragua he was menaced with assassination.[X‑34] [Sidenote: CONTRERAS CURSED.] The complaints against Contreras appear to have been due mainly to the jealousy and self-interested motives of the ecclesiastical faction. His conduct had borne the scrutiny of the inquisition and of the audiencia. Notwithstanding the provisions of the new code he had been allowed to retain his encomiendas. Even his enemies could not accuse him of maltreating his slaves. It was not to be expected that he should surrender to the bishop the power and property which higher authority had permitted him to retain; and yet this seems to have been his chief cause of offence. Though Valdivieso and the Dominican friars were loud in their denunciations of those who held the natives in bondage, they were themselves by no means averse to holding property in slaves. They were the proprietors of at least one Indian village in Nicaragua, and when the right of ownership was taken from them by the audiencia of the Confines, they threatened to leave the province, and ceased not from their clamor until their property was restored to them.[X‑35] Even the members of the audiencia, whose special duty it was to enforce the observance of these new laws, had caused the cacique of Atitlan, and others who had rendered assistance to the Spaniards in their expeditions against Lacandon and Tuzulutlan, to be restored to their encomenderos, thus violating the very spirit of the code. The president and oidores even went so far as to express their opinion that to place the Indians under control of the priests in trust for the crown was a most objectionable measure. Slaves constituted the principal source of wealth