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The Mexican Inquisition and the Indians: Sources for the Ethnohistorian*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Richard E. Greenleaf
Richard E. Greenleaf*
Affiliation:
Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
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Extract

The Holy Office of the Inquisition in colonial Mexico had as its purpose the defense of Spanish religion and Spanish-Catholic culture against individuals who held heretical views and people who showed lack of respect for religious principles. Inquisition trials of Indians suggest that a prime concern of the Mexican Church in the sixteenth century was recurrent idolatry and religious syncretism. During the remainder of the colonial period and until 1818, the Holy Office of the Inquisition continued to investigate Indian transgressions against orthodoxy, and to provide the modern researcher with unique documentation for the study of mixture of religious beliefs. The “Procesos de Indios” and other subsidiary documentation from Inquisition archives present crucial data for the ethnologist and ethnohistorian, preserving for him a view of native religion at the time of Spanish contact, eyewitness accounts of post-conquest idolatry and sacrifice, burial rites, native dances and ceremonies as well as data on genealogy, social organization, political intrigues, and cultural dislocation as the Iberian and Mesoamerican civilizations collided. As “culture shock” continued to reverberate across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Inquisition manuscripts reveal the extent of Indian resistance or accommodation to Spanish Catholic culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , January 1978 , pp. 315 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1978

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Footnotes

*

Paper read at XLI International Congress of Americanists, Mexico, D.F., September 5, 1974.

References

1 For the workings of the Monastic Inquisition under the Omnímoda and Bishop Zumárraga’s inquisitorial ministry from 1536 to 1543, see Greenleaf, Richard E., Zumárraga and the Mexican Inquisition 1536–1543 (Washington, D.C., 1962).Google Scholar For a full analysis of the Episcopal Inquisition and the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition during the sixteenth century, consult Greenleaf, Richard E., The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century (Albuquerque, N.M., 1969).Google Scholar

2 Jurisdiction over Indian cases during the entire colonial period is discussed in Greenleaf, Richard E., “The Inquisition and the Indians of New Spain: A Study in Jurisdictional Confusion,” The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History, Vol. 22 (1965), pp. 138–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The materials for this article are drawn from Archivo General de la Nación (México) cited as AGN, Archivo General de Indias (Sevilla) cited as AGI, and Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid) cited as AHN.

3 For an analysis of missionary pessimism about the spiritual conquest consult, Manrique, Jorge A., “La Epoca Crítica de la Nueva España a Través de Sus Historiadores,” in Investigaciones Contemporáneas sobre la Historia de México (México, 1971), pp. 101–124.Google Scholar

4 Robertson, Donald, Mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Period. The Metropolitan Schools (New Haven, 1959), p. 34.Google Scholar

5 Cline, Howard F., “Reflections on Ethnohistory,” p. 18.Google Scholar See also Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 12 (Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources Part One), pp. 3–15.

6 Edmonson, Munro S., Nativism, Syncretism, and Anthropological Science (New Orleans, La., 1960).Google Scholar

7 Scholes, and Roys, , Idolatry in Yucatán, p. 600.Google Scholar

8 Cline, , “Reflections on Ethnohistory,” pp. 25–26.Google Scholar See also Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, pp. 14–15.

9 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1, exp. 1. The trial record has disappeared from the Inquisition archive.

10 See Greenleaf, , Zumárraga and the Mexican Inquisition, pp. 42–75 Google Scholar for a detailed analysis of the Procesos de Indios. Padden, Robert C., The Hummingbird and the Hawk. Conquest and Sovereignty in the Valley of Mexico, 1503–1541 (Columbus, Ohio, 1967),Google Scholar Chapter 13 entitled “Huichilobos and the Bishop” gives a highly speculative interpretation of the trials basing his account on two published compendia of the procesos issued by the Archivo General de la Nación: Proceso Inquisitorial del Cacique de Texcoco (México, 1910), and Procesos de Indios Idólatras y Hechiceros (México, 1912).

11 Scholes, France V. and Adams, Eleanor B., Proceso contra Tzintzicha Tangaxoan El Caltzontzin formado por Nuño de Guzmán. Año de 1530 (México, 1952).Google Scholar

12 See Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación (México), Vol. 11 (1940), pp. 177–194.

13 Supra, note 10.

14 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 37, exp. 1.

15 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 38, exp. 4. See also Barlow, Robert, “Las Joyas de Martín Ocelotl,” Yan (1954), pp. 56–59.Google Scholar

16 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 38, exp. 1A.

17 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 37, exp. 2.

18 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 37, exp. 3. See also Nuttal, Zelia, “L’ Évèque Zumárraga et Les Idoles Principales du Grand Temple de Mexico,” Journal de la Societe des Americanistes, Vol. 8 (1911), pp. 153–171,Google Scholar and Robertson, , Mexican Manuscript Painting, pp. 34–37.Google Scholar

19 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 30, exp. 9.

20 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 37, exp. 4 bis.

21 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 40, exp. 8.

22 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 42, exp. 18.

23 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 40, exp. 2.

24 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 40, exp. 7.

25 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 42, exp. 17.

26 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 2, exp. 10.

27 AGN, Civil, Tomo 1271, exp. 5.

28 See the Proceso of Don Pedro, Cacique of Totolapa, tried for concubinage and idolatry in 1540, AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 212, exp. 7.

29 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 139, exp. 11. See also Cline, Howard F., “The Oztoticpac Lands Map of Texcoco 1540,” The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, Vol. 23 (1966), pp. 76–115.Google Scholar

30 Greenleaf, Consult, “The Indians and the Inquisition of New Spain,” pp. 141–149.Google Scholar

31 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 90, exp. 11; AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 124, exp. 19.

32 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 287, exps. 7 and 8.

33 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 304, exp. 39.

34 Mexico, 1892. Reprinted in Paso, Francisco del y Troncoso, , Tratado de Las Idolatrías, Supersticiones, Dioses, Ritos, Hechicerías, y Otras Costumbres Gentílicas de las Razas Aborígenes de México (Two Tomos; México, 1954).Google Scholar See also AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 303, exp. 19.

35 Ibid., Tomo 2, p. 23.

36 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 303, exp. 38.

37 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 303, exp. 39.

38 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 478, f. 260.

39 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 312, exp. 4.

40 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 289, exp. 2.

41 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 486, fs. 451–458.

42 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 346, exp. 12.

43 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1552, f. 114.

44 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 372, exp. 14.

45 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 518, fs. 193–197.

46 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, Leg. 586, exp. 11.

47 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, Leg. 596, exp. 12.

48 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 699, exp. 10.

49 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, Leg. 596, exp. 19.

50 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 706, exp. 27.

51 Reprinted in Paso y Troncoso, Tomo I, pp. 40–368.

52 Ibid., pp. 370–380. See, for example, the 1710–1713 trial of José Lázaro of Actopán for sorcery. AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 715, exps. 18 and 19.

53 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1000, exp. 21, and Tomo 1073, exp. 2.

54 AGN, Reales Cédulas Originales, Tomo 86, exp. 140.

55 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1168, exp. 16.

56 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1057, exp. 19.

57 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1100, exp. 18; Tomo 1145, exp. 26.

58 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, Leg. 663, exp. 19.

59 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1421, exp. 30.

60 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, Leg. 663, exp. 30.

61 For an analysis of the proceedings see “The Indian Inquisition of Tello de Sandoval 1544–1547,” in Greenleaf, , The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century, pp. 75–81.Google Scholar

62 See especially Chapter Four, “Dominicanos, Obispos e Inquisidores en Yanhuitlán,” pp. 21–29, and appendix 6 for extracts of the trials. On page 48, appendix 7 is a table “Nombres de Dioses Mixtecos y de Sus Papas.” Alfonso Caso and others have cited the trials in their studies of Caciques of Yanhuitlán, and Ronald M. Spores used the genealogical data augmented by materials on the Cacicazgo of Yanhuitlán in the sixteenth century from AGN, Civil, Tomo 516, in his excellent study The Mixtec Kings and their People (Norman, Oklahoma, 1967).

63 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 42, exp. 20.

64 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 37, exp. 12.

65 See Gay, José Antonio, Historia de Oaxaca (México, 1950), pp. 629–634.Google Scholar

66 AGN, Inquisición. Tomo 249, exp. 23.

67 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 510, exp. 133. The Ololiuqui was a seed gathered from flowers similar to the morning glory. In some areas of New Spain “ololiuqui” probably referred to the hallucination rather than to the drug, and hence was a broad term encompassing seeds, mushrooms, etc.

68 Reprinted in Paso y Tronosco, Tomo II, pp. 338–390.

69 Berlín consulted AGN, Inquisición, Tomos 431, 437, 438, 442, 445, 456, 457, 458, 571, 572, 573, 575, 584.

70 A convenient reprint of this translation is found in Greenleaf, Richard E., The Roman Catholic Church in Colonial Latin America (New York, 1971), pp. 138–147.Google Scholar

71 Carmichael, , “Balsalobre on Idolatry,” p. 1.Google Scholar

72 Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Vol. 3 (1949), pp. 175–197. The originals are no longer extant.

73 See AGN. Inquisición. Tomo 734, fs. 418–440; Tomo 530, exp. 13.

74 AGN, Inquisición. Tomo 876, exp. 41; Tomo 1256, exp. 10.

75 See Cruz, E. T., “Aún se practica la idolatría en Oaxaca,” Oaxaca en México, Vol. 2 (1939),Google Scholar num. 14, and by the same author, “La hechicería entre los antiguos zapatecos,” Neza, Vol. 2 (1936), pp. 3–5. See also Spores, Ronald M. and Saldaña, Miguel, Documentos para la Etnohistoria del Estado de Oaxaca (Nashville, Tenn., 1973).Google Scholar

76 See Scholes, and Roys, , The Problem of Idolatry in Yucatán, pp. 593, 595–604.Google Scholar

77 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 89, exps. 33 and 37.

78 The treatise is reproduced in Paso y Troncose, Tomo I, pp. 382–392.

79 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 125, exp. 69.

80 Professor Uchmany extracts procesos from AGN, Inquisición, Tomos 125, 302, 303, and 1256.

81 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 467, fs. 436–442.

82 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 302, exp. 17b.

83 AGN, Inquisición. Tomo 303, fs. 357–365.

84 See his “New Information about Dance-Dramas of Rabinal and the Rabinal-Achí,” Xavier University Studies, Vol. 6 (1967), pp. 1–19, and Two Spanish-Quiché Dance-Dramas of Rabinal (New Orleans, La., 1970). Also valuable is Aguilar, Ernesto Chinchilla, “La Danza del Tum-Teleche o Loj-Tum,” Revista de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, Vol. 3 (1951), pp. 17–20.Google Scholar

85 Reprinted in Paso y Troncoso, Tomo II, pp. 181–336.

86 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 510, exp. 25.

87 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 354, fs. 205–206.

88 AGN, Inquisición. Tomo 629, exp. 4.

89 See Klein, Herbert S., “Peasant Communities in Revolt: The Tzeltal Republic of 1712,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 35 (1966), pp. 247–264 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and “Sublevación de los Indios Tzendales Año de 1713,” BAGN, Vol. 19 (1948), pp. 499–535. The latter document on Chiapas is transcribed from AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 746.

90 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 789, exp. 31.

91 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1256, exp. 1.

92 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 312.

93 See his appendix IV “Native Ceremonials” drawn from documents in AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 304.

94 See the excellent English translation with extended explanatory notes by Hodge, Frederick W., Hammond, George P. and Rey, Agapito. Fray Alonso de Benavides’ Revised Memorial of 1634 (Albuquerque, Ν.M., 1945).Google Scholar

95 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 803, exp. 52. See a detailed description of the auto de fé in de Villaseñor, Joseph Antonio, Teatro Americano, Descripción General de los Reynos y Provincias de la Nueva España.… Año de 1748(2 Vols.; México, 1952), Vol. 2, pp. 268–270.Google Scholar

96 AGN. Inquisición. Tomo 1341, exp. 2.

97 AGN, Inquisición. Tomo 1345, exp. 11.

98 Consult Greenleaf, Richard E., “The inquisition in Spanish Louisiana.” Paper read at the Louisiana Historical Society Meetings in New Orleans, March 1972.Google Scholar

99 AGN, Inquisición. Tomo 1282.

100 See AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 1328, f. 264 and Tomo 1331. exp. 4.

101 AGN. Inquisición, Tomo 1421, exp. 9.

102 Leonard, Irving A., Baroque Times in Old Mexico. Seventeenth Century Persons, Places, and Practices (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1966).Google Scholar

103 Ibid., Chapter III. “A Baroque Society,” pp. 37–52.

104 Mörner, Magnus, Race Mixture in the History of Latin America (Boston, Mass., 1967), pp. 53–73.Google Scholar

105 Leonard, p. 52.

106 Case, Bradley W., “Working Paper on Social Discontent in Seventeenth Century Mexico,” pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

107 Gibson, Charles, The Aztecs Under Spanish Rute. A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519–1810 (Stanford, Calif., 1964), p. 134.Google Scholar