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Bishop Marroquin–Zumárraga’s Gift to Central America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
In the History of the Central American hierarchy there is no personality so highly praised and so little disputed as that of Don Francisco Marroquín, the first Bishop of Guatemala. His good sense, activity and zeal for the conversion of the natives, and his interest in the culture, moral welfare and progress of the incipient province rest upon solid bases in the reports and eulogies of documents and historians, although, strangely enough, he has never been the subject of a full-length biography.
No less praiseworthy was his moderate position as to the very serious problem which confronted Spain, and which she herself posed for consideration and decision, from the very beginnings of the colonization and pacification of the New World—namely, the problem of what treatment should be accorded to the natives.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1949
References
1 Cited in Vázquez, Fray Francisco, Crónica de la Provìncia del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1714), book I Google Scholar, ch. 30.
2 Remesal, Fray Antonio de, Historia General de las Indias Occidentales y en particular de la Gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala (Madrid, 1620), book I, ch. 9; book X Google Scholar, ch. 21.
3 Remesal, , op. cit., book X Google Scholar, ch. 2.
4 In the year 1551. See the “Documents of the Torre do Tombo” in the Rich Collection of Manuscripts, Lennox Library (New York Public Library), No. 2, folio 337.
5 Ibid., folio 339.
6 Vázquez, Fray Francisco, op. cit., book I Google Scholar, ch. 8. Vázquez got his information from Torquemada, Fray Juan de, Monarchia Indiana (Madrid, 1723), book XX Google Scholar, ch. 28.
7 “Documents of the Torre do Tombo,” as cited above, folio 400.
8 Remesal, op. cit., book II, ch. 7.
9 Marroquín himself states this in his letter to the king, dated June 4, 1545, published in Cartas de Indias (Madrid, 1877), 434–443.Google Scholar
10 Letter of Marroquín to the king, June 4, 1545, ibid.
11 This letter is found in a volume of such letters, which is marked “No. 34”. For the original text of the letter, see the Documents Section of this same issue, pp.—, —.
12 Marroquin’s opinion of Las Casas had undergone a great change in the course of time. In 1537 he spoke very highly of the famous Dominican. It should be borne in mind that Marroquin was writing this letter to the king, and it was his duty to give an absolutely sincere report, however severe it might be.
13 Vázquez, op. cit., book I, ch. 30.
14 Although it is true that Alvarado laid the foundations for this city at Iximché, there are no proofs that it actually existed in that place long enough for the town to be built there.
15 Letter of Marroquin to the king, dated at Mexico, May 10, 1537, in Cartas de Indias, 413–425.
16 Vázquez, op. cit., book I, ch. 30.
17 Pardo, J. Joaquín, Efemérides para escribir la historia de la muy noble y muy leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros del Reino de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1944), 79–80.Google Scholar
18 Remesal, op. cit., book IX, ch. 21; Vázquez, op. cit., book I, ch. 30.
19 Remesal, op. cit., book IV, ch. 7. See also the letter of Marroquin to the king, May 10, 1537, in Cartas de Indias, 413–425 Google Scholar. The Audiencia of Mexico wrote to the king, August 5, 1533, stating that they had learned from a letter of Marroquin, Bishop-elect of Guatemala, that permission had been granted for the taking of slaves, and that, basing their opinion on the advice of Marroquin, they beg that this enslavement be avoided, as it would be the ruin of that country (in the ‘“Documents of the Torre do Tombo,” the Rich Collection of Manuscripts, Lennox Library, New York).
20 Remesal, op. cit., book VIII, ch. 2; Vázquez, op. cit., book I, ch. 30; Pardo, op. cit., 13, 23–24.
21 Remesal, op cit., book IX, ch. 16.
22 Guzmán, Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y, Historia de Guatemala ó Recordación Florida (Madrid, 1882), book IV, ch. 2, 128.Google Scholar
23 Remesal, op. cit., book II, ch. 1.
24 Castillo, Bernal Diaz del, Verdadera y notable relación del descubrimiento y conquista de la Nueva España y Guatemala (Guatemala, 1934), II, 241 Google Scholar. This passage is contained in chapter 196, and not in chapter 193, as Fuentes states. The expressions used by Montejo, in his letter to the king, April 13, 1529, lead us to believe that Alvarado had just then arrived in Mexico from Spain. Colección de Documentos inéditos (Madrid, 1870), XIII, 872.Google Scholar
25 Icazbalceta, Joaquín García, Don Fray Juan de Zumárraga, Primer Obispo y Arzobispo de México (Mexico, 1881), 21 Google Scholar. Fray Pedro de Gante states, in a report from Mexico, July 19, 1548, that he had known Zumárraga for twenty-one years, more or less. Ibid., 198.
26 Letter of Zumárraga to the king, Mexico, August 27, 1529, in Colección de documentos inéditos, XIII, 163–165 Google Scholar
27 Colección de documentos inéditos, XL, 468–560. This edition gives the date of this expediente as April 29, 1529. This may be due to an error of the clerk, for Pentecost Sunday could not have been celebrated so early that year. This seems to be the case, because the document itself supposes that Trinity Sunday had also passed. Those feasts occurred in that year on May 16 and 23, respectively.
28 Remesal, op. cit., book II, ch. 1.