Probably the most famous event of Diego de Landa's career happened on July 12, 1561, when he ordered a pyre to be prepared on the main square of the town of Maní, just outside the Franciscan church, and burnt several thousand objects worshiped by the Maya and believed by the Spaniard to be the work the devil. Among these objects, collected by him and other friars from the nearby villages, there were several codices, precious folding books where the Maya recorded their history, beliefs, and astronomy.
In his own words De Landa said “We found many books with these letters, and because they contained nothing that was free from superstition and the devil’s trickery, we burnt them, which the Indians greatly lamented”.
Because of his rigid and harsh conduct against the Yucatec Maya, De Landa was forced to return to Spain in 1563 where he faced trial. In 1566, to explain his actions while waiting for the trial, he wrote the Relacíon de las Cosas de Yucatan (Relation on the incidents of Yucatan).
In 1573, cleared from every accusation, De Landa returned to Yucatan and was made a bishop, a position he held until his death in 1579.