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New Light on the Sources of Torquemada's Monarchia Indiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Miguel León-Portilla
Miguel León-Portilla*
Affiliation:
University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
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Extract

In this discussion of the sources used by Fray Juan de Torquemada it is not our intention to reopen the question of plagiarism in his historical writings. The purpose of this study, as will be explained, is simply to find out the varied and rich sources which Torquemada used as well as to judge objectively how he employed them throughout his “Veintiún libros rituales.” It has been said, and correctly so, that the Monarquía Indiana is a sort of “crónica de las crónicas.” In fact, the sources consulted by its author are very numerous. As we shall see, these embrace various kinds of indigenous records, many unedited chronicles and other Spanish documents likewise unpublished, as well as, lastly, a rather small group of printed works.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , January 1979 , pp. 287 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1979

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References

1 Icazbalceta, Joaquín García, Introducción, Historia Eclesiástica Indiana, México, 1870, p. XXXVII–XLVGoogle Scholar

2 Toscano, Alejandra Moreno, “Vindicación de Torquemada”, Historia Mexicana, v. 12, April-June, 1963, p. 497–515 Google Scholar

Fray Juan de Torquemada y su Monarquía Indiana, Jalapa, Universidad Veracruzana, 1963 [Cuadernos de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras y Ciencias 19]

3 Miguel León-Portilla, selección, introducción y notas a fray de Torquemada, Juan, Monarquía Indiana, México, Universidad Nacional, 1964 [Biblioteca del Estudiante Universitario, 84]Google Scholar

4 Cline, Howard F., “A Note on Torquemada’s Native Sources and Historiographical Methods”, The Americas, (Washington, Academy of Franciscan History), 25, January, 1966, no. 3, p. 373 Google Scholar

5 Franch, José Aleina, “Fray Juan de Torquemada (1564–1624)”, Homenaje a D. Ciriaco Pérez-Bustamante, 3 v., Madrid, Instituto Gonzales de Oviedo, 1969, t. I, p. 31–50 Google Scholar

“Juan de Torquemada, 1564–1624,” Handbook of Middle American Indians, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1973, t. 13, p. 268–288

See also the introductory study of Miguel León-Portilla in the reprint to the second edition of de Torquemada, Juan, Monarquía Indiana (México: Editorial Porrúa, 3 vols., 1969), I, pp. VII–XXXIII.Google Scholar

6 These are the participants in the seminar: Francisco Xavier Cacho, Rosa Camelo, Víctor M. Castillo, Eisa Cecilia Frost, Josefina García Quintana, Mercedes de la Garga Camino, Jorge Gurría Lacroix, Francisco Javier Noguez, and Guillermina Vázquez. A special mention must be made of Fernando Anaya Monroy who took part in the work of the seminar with great enthusiasm until a few months before his death on August 23, 1970.

In the new edition of the Monarquía Indiana now being published in eight volumes (Universidad Nacional de México, 1975–) will be included in the study of the sources, the tables in which, chapter by chapter, is indicated the origin of the information supplied by Torquemada in each one.

7 Juan de Torquemada, op. cit., Book IV, Chapter CIII.

8 See what Cline has noted in this regard, op. cit., pp. 374–377.

9 The origin and characteristics of the Códice Xólotl are discussed by Charles E. Dibble in the introduction to his edition of this native document, Códice Xólotl (México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 1951), pp. 9–15.

10 O’Gorman, Edmundo, “Estudio Introductorio” to de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Fernando, Obras históricas, (México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 2 vols., 1975–1976), t.I, pp. 229–233 Google Scholar

11 O’Gorman, op. cit., t. I, p. 232

12 O’Gorman, op. cit., t. I, p. 84

13 Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Historia de la nación chicbimeca, chapter XC

14 Barlow, Robert H., “La crónica X”, Revista mexicana de estudios antropológicos, México, Sociedad mexicana de antropología, t. IV, 1945, p. 42 ffGoogle Scholar

15 Torquemada, op. cit., Book IV, Chapter LXVII

16 Howard F. Cline, op. cit., p. 380

17 Torquemada, op. cit., Book II, Chapter XXXV

18 A Náhuatl copy of the text of the Anales tecpanecas, 1426–1589 with a Spanish translation by Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca is found in the Archivo de la Biblioteca del Museo Nacional de Antropología, Colección Anales antiguos de México y sus contornos, AH Colección antigua, 273. The translation by Chimalpopoca, Faustino Galicia was published under the title of “Anales mexicanos, México—Azcapotzalco, 1426–1589,” in Anales del Museo Nacional de México, época primera, (1903), 7, 49–74.Google Scholar

19 An exception to this statement is found in Book I, especially Chapters II to IX, in which Torquemada follows closely the text of only Francisco López de Gómara, Historia General de las Indias to give a general view of the world and in particular of the geography of New Spain

20 This is attested to by the testimony included in “Licencias de pasajeros de Indias, 1611–1613” in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Indiferente General, 2074

21 Torquemada, op. cit., in the prologue to Book IV

22 Barely a year after the publication of Gòmara’s work a real cédula was issued, November 17, 1563, ordering that all available copies, should be collected. Twenty years later the royal apprehension concerning Gómara’s work still persisted as proven by a new decree of Philip II of September 26, 1572 commanding that everything written by Gómara, then already dead, should be gathered up.

23 As a sample of the mutual recriminations which passed between Torquemada and Herrera we shall quote some rather harsh paragraphs from one and the other. Thus, of the many passages where Fray Juan criticizes don Antonio for ignoring Indian testimony, let us quote one which is typical:

… no sé cómo los que pusieron en estilo aquella relación de que se aprovechó Herrera, se dejaron esto, como en este capítulo lo dejo referido, y otras muchas cosas que, en lo que se sigue, se dirán … aunque pienso estuvo el yerro en no hacer estas inquisiciones e informaciones más que con los españoles … (Book IV, chapter XIII)

As if responding to this criticism concerning his use of sources, Herrera, who continued the publication of his décadas after the Monarquía had appeared, without mentioning Torquemada’s name, wrote:

… el autor que ha sacado una Monarquía Indiana … entiende que no se puede hacer historia sin haber estado en las Indias, como si Tácito, para hacer la suya, hubiera tenido necesidad de ver a Levante, Africa y el Setentrión … No sabía juzgar cuál es más en este autor, el ambición o el descuido en guardar las reglas de la historia (Decada sexta, Book III, chapter XIX)

24 Las Casas, Apologética Historia, Book III, chapter XLVII and XLVIII

25 Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal ordered Andrés de Olmos to investigate the Indian antiquities. See, León-Portilla, Miguel, “Ramírez de Fuenleal y las antiguedades mexicanas,” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, (1969), 8, 9–50 Google Scholar

26 Torquemada could have had access to these pláticas in various ways. One could have been the manuscript of the Apologética Historia of Las Casas where they are transcribed in Book III, chapters CCXIII-CCXIV. Another copy is found in Mendieta, op. cit., Book II, chapters XX-XXII. Finally, Torquemada may have used the pláticas as printed in the edition by the Franciscan Fray Juan Baptista published in Tlatelolco in 1600 or 1601. It is impossible to give a more exact bibliographical reference because the title page is missing in the few copies which still exist today.

27 Fray Atanasio López carne to the same conclusion in 1926 from his study of a lengthy fragment of the text of Fray Francisco Ximénez. This fragment is found in the Biblioteca Provincial de Toledo (no. 49, Est. 8–2). See, López, Atanasio, “Vida de fray Martín de Valencia, escrita por su companero fray Francisco de Jiménez,” Archivo Ibero-Americano, (1926, julio-agosto), p. 48–83 Google Scholar

28 Icazbalceta, Joaquín García, “Tabla de correspondencias entre la Historia Eclesiástica Indiana de fray Gerónimo de Mendieta y la Monarquía Indiana de fray Juan de Torquemada” in Mendieta, , Historia Eclesiástica Indiana, México, 1870, p. XXXV–XLGoogle Scholar

29 Phelan insists among other things that Torquemada apparently proposed either to ignore or at least to soften many of the charges made by Mendieta against the Spanish treatment of the Indians. See, Phelan, John L., El reino milenario de losfranciscanos en el Nuevo Mundo, (México, 1972), pp. 157–164 Google Scholar

30 Torquemada, op. cit., Book XV, chapter X

31 This document, which was a part of the so-called “Libro de oro y tesauro indico” was published by Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta in Nueva Colección de Documentos para la historia de México, reproduced by Salvador Chávez Hayhoe (México, no date)

32 Torquemada, op. cit., Book VII, chapter XXI

33 Torquemada, op. cit., Book III, chapter XXXIII

34 Códice Mendieta, Documentos franciscanos, siglos XVI y XVII, editor Joaquín García Icazbalceta, 2 v., Mexico, 1893, t. I, pp. 54–57 and 198–202

35 Ricard, Robert, La conquista espiritual de Mexico, translated by Garibay K., Angel Ma., (México, Editorial Jus, 1947), p. 61 Google Scholar

36 Ricard, op. cit., p. 62

37 Torquemada, op. cit., Book XX, chapter XXIII