Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T02:21:19.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Canek Manuscript in Ethnohistorical Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Grant D. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28036, USA

Abstract

The Canek Manuscript describes a visit by Fray András de Avendaño y Loyola, two Franciscan companions, and ten Maya sacristans from the town of Tipu to the towns of Chacan on the western shore of Lake Peten Itza and Noh Peten (Tah Itza or Tayasal) on the island that today is Flores, Peten, Guatemala. This visit probably occurred in January or February, 1695, two years before the Spanish conquest of Noh Peten. The four-folio manuscript is a fragment of a larger document, the remainder of which is lost. The Franciscan author, a lay brother, was probably Fray Alonso de Vargas. This contribution places the manuscript in its ethnohistorical context, describes it content, and discusses its significance.

Type
Special Section: The Canek Manuscript
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Avendaño y Loyola, Andrés de 1696 Relación de las dos entradas que hize a la conversion de los Gentiles Ytzaex y Cehaches yo Fr Andres de Avendaño y Loiola predicador conventual del convto grande de Merida.… Ms. in Ayer Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago.Google Scholar
Avendaño, y Loyola Andrés de 1987 Relation of Two Trips to Peten Made for the Conversion of the Heathen Ytzaex and Cehaches. Bowditch, Charles P. and Rivera, Guillermo, translators; Frank E. Comparato, editor. Labyrinthes, Culver City, CA.Google Scholar
Cano, Fr. Agustín 1695 Letter from Fr. Agustín Cano to President Jacinto Barrios Leal, May 15. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias, Guatemala 152, Ramo 3, Folios 370v381r.Google Scholar
Chan, Martin 1697 Declaración de Don Martín Chan, March 10. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 11, Folio 714.Google Scholar
Davies, Nigel 1980 The Toltec Heritage. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Delgado, Fr. Joseph, Barreo, Fr. Juan Cerrano del, and Cerrano, Fr. Leonardo 1682 Letter from Fr. Joseph Delgado et al. to Dominican Provincial of Guatemala, March 30. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Guatemala 152, Ramo 1, Folios 37v41v.Google Scholar
Diaz, del Castillo Bernal 1956 The Bernal Díaz Chronicles, Idell, Albert, translator and editor. Doubleday, New York.Google Scholar
Díaz de Velasco, Juan 1695a Letter from Captain Juan Díaz de Velasco to President Jacinto Barrios Leal, April 17. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Escribanía de Cámara 339B, Pieza 6, Folios llr-v.Google Scholar
Díaz de Velasco, Juan 1695b Letter from Captain Juan Díaz de Velasco to José de Seals, April 25. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Escribanía de Cámara 339B, Pieza 6, Folios 17v18r.Google Scholar
Díaz de Velasco, Juan 1695c Letter from Captain Juan Díaz de Velasco to President Jacinto Barrios Leal, May 16. Reprinted in 1979 in Nicolás de Valenzuela: Conquista del Lacandón y conquista del Chol, vol. 2, edited by von Houwald, Götz Freiherr, pp. 410417. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Farriss, Nancy M. 1984 Maya Society Under Colonial Rule: The Collective Enterprise of Survival. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Hanks, William F. 1992 The Language of the Canek Manuscript. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:269279.Google Scholar
Hariza, Francisco de 1695 Letter from Francisco de Hariza to Governor Ursua, July 7. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 10, Folios 568v569v.Google Scholar
Jones, Grant D. 1989 Maya Resistance to Spanish Rule: Time and History on a Colonial Frontier. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Jones, Grant D. 1991 El Manuscrito Can Ek: descubrimiento de una visita secreta del siglo xvii a Tah Itzá (Tayazal), última capital de los maya itzáes. Introduction by Stuart, George E.. Collección Divulgación. National Geographic Society and Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Jones, Grant D. 1992 Maya Political Organization on the Eve of the 1697 Spanish Conquest: New Interpretations. Paper presented at the Maya Meetings at Texas, Austin, March 13.Google Scholar
Jones, Grant D., Rice, Don S., and Rice, Prudence M. 1981 The Location of Tayasal: A Reconsideration in Light of Peten Maya Ethnohistory and Archaeology. American Antiquity 46: 530547.Google Scholar
López de Cogolludo, Diego 1688 Historia de Yucatan, J. García Infanzón, Madrid.Google Scholar
Padres, misioneros 1695 Testimonio de la consulta y consejo de los R. padres misioneros, April 24. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Escribanía de Cámara 339B, Pieza 6, Folios 17v18r.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M., and Jones, Grant D. 1992 Poor Beds of Sticks and Rings of Pure Gold: Material Culture in the Canek Manuscript. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:281290.Google Scholar
Real, Cédula 1692 Real Cédula to President and Oidores of Guatemala, November 24. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Guatemala 151A, Pieza 6, Folios lr–3r.Google Scholar
Real, Cédula 1693a Real Cédula to Bishop of Yucatan, October 26. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 8, Folio 443r-v.Google Scholar
Real, Cédula 1693b Real Cédula to Franciscan Provincial of Yucatan, October 26. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Guatemala 151A, Pieza 4, Folios 69v70r.Google Scholar
Real, Cédula 1693c Real Cédula to Martín de Ursua y Arismendi, October 26. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 3, Folios 173r175r.Google Scholar
Real, Cédula 1693d Real Cédula to President and Oidores of Guatemala, October 26. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Guatemala 153, Pieza 1, Folios 77v79v.Google Scholar
Real, Cédula 1693e Real Cédula to Viceroy of New Spain, October 26. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 3, Folios 177v179v.Google Scholar
Ringle, William M. 1988 Of Mice and Monkeys: The Value and Meaning of T1016, the God C Hieroglyph. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 18. Center for Maya Research, Washington.Google Scholar
Roys, Ralph L. 1954 The Maya Katun Prophecies of the Books of Chilam Balam, Series I. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 606. Contributions to American Anthropology and History 57:160. Washington.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1950 Florentine Codex. Manuscript in Nahuatl of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. 12 vols. Anderson, J.O. and Dibble, Charles E., translators and editors. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
San, Buenaventura Fr. Juan de 1695 Letter from Fr. Juan de San Buenaventura to Provincial, October 24. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 3, Folios 158r162v.Google Scholar
San, Miguel y Figueroa Br. Francisco de 1703 Certification of Br. Francisco de San Miguel y Figueroa, July 1. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Escribanía de Cámara 339B, Pieza 15, Folios 5r8r.Google Scholar
Schellhas, Paul 1904 Representations of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 4, No. 1. Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Silva, Fr. Juan Antonio de 1695a Petition by Fr. Antonio de Silva, Franciscan Provincial, c. May 30. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 10, Folios 532r534r.Google Scholar
Silva, Fr. Juan Antonio de 1695b Letter from Fr. Juan Antonio de Silva, Franciscan Provincial, to Dean and Cabildo of Cathedral of Mérida, c. December. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 238, Ramo 8, Folios 435r437r.Google Scholar
Silva, Fr. Juan Antonio de 1696 Petition by Fr. Antonio de Silva, Franciscan Provincial, May 30. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 10, Folios 532r534r.Google Scholar
Stuart, George E. 1991 Introduction. El Manuscrito Can Ek: descubrimiento de una visita secreta del siglo xvii a Tah Itzá (Tayazal), última capitai de los maya itzáes, by Grant D. Jones, pp. 711. Collección Divulgación. National Geographic Society and Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Ursua, y Arismendi Martín de 1695 Auto by Governor Martín de Ursua, May 18. Ms. in Archivo General de Indias (Seville), Patronato 237, Ramo 10, Folios 527v529v.Google Scholar
Villagutierre, Soto-Mayor Juan de 1933 Historia de la conquista de la provincia de el Itzá, reducción y progresos de la de el Lacandón. Biblioteca “Goathemala” de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia, tomo 9. Tipografía Nacional, Guatemala (originally published 1701).Google Scholar
Villagutierre, Soto-Mayor Juan de 1983 History of the Conquest of the Province of the Itza. Wood, Robert D., translator; Frank E. Comparato, editor. Labyrinthes, Culver City, CA.Google Scholar
von Houwald, Götz Freiherr (editor) 1979 Nicolás de Valenzuela: Conquista del Lacandón y conquista del Chol. 2 vols. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar