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em appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia 16 17th century spanish franciscan friar and missionary in colonial mexico this article is about the new world missionary and historian for the dominican cardinal see juan de torquemada cardinal juan de torquemada fray juan de torquemada from lucas alamán s historia de la república mexicana 1860 title minister provincial province of santo evangelio méxico personal life born juan c 1562 torquemada palencia kingdom of spain died 1624 aged 61 62 convent of tlatelolco new spain notable work s architect engineer historian religious life religion roman catholic order franciscan 1579 1624 ordination c 1587 senior posting period in office 1614 1617 successor juan lópez juan de torquemada c 1562 1624 was a franciscan friar active as missionary in colonial mexico and considered the leading franciscan chronicler of his generation 1 administrator engineer architect and ethnographer he is most famous for his monumental work commonly known as monarquía indiana indian monarchy a survey of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of new spain together with an account of their conversion to christianity first published in spain in 1615 and republished in 1723 monarquia indiana was the prime text of mexican history and was destined to influence all subsequent chronicles until the twentieth century 2 it was used by later historians the franciscan augustin de vetancurt and most importantly by 18th century jesuit francisco javier clavijero no english translation of this work has ever been published life edit early years edit there are few firm biographical details concerning juan de torquemada most of which have to be deduced from his own work even basic information is subject to uncertainty and controversy born at torquemada palencia north central spain at an unknown date before 1566 miguel león portilla argues in detail for 1562 he was brought by his parents to new spain probably while still a child he took the franciscan habit as is generally agreed in 1579 and pursued a course of studies in latin theology philosophy and nahuatl brief notices in his own works put him at the convent in tlacopan in 1582 and while still a youth at the convent in chiauhtla the presumption being that these relate to his novitiate 3 it is uncertain if he began his studies at the convento mayor de san francisco in mexico city but it is presumed that part at least of his studies were conducted while resident at the convent of santiago tlatelolco among his teachers he names fray juan bautista who taught him theology and antonio valeriano who taught him nahuatl and whom he especially praised for his talents 4 at some time in the early 1580s he was sent by his superiors to guatemala where he encountered the conquistador bernal díaz del castillo by 1584 he was certainly at the convent of san francisco where he assisted in the infirmary the conjectured date of his priestly ordination is 1587 or 1588 5 he is almost certain to have personally known other notable franciscan friars who were his contemporaries and who were animated as he was by a profound interest in the pre hispanic life and culture of the conquered indians in new spain especially andrés de olmos gerónimo de mendieta and bernardino de sahagún 6 missionary activity 1588 1602 edit map of central mexico the main area of torquemada s activity shortly after ordination which in this period was normally conferred on aspirant franciscans at age 25 7 he was sent as a missionary to nueva galicia a large territory in central western new spain the capital of which was guadalajara and which extended north to zacatecas and west to the pacific he is next heard of as guardian of the convent at tlaxcala east of mexico city and north of puebla and although no dates can be assigned to his travels at this time he is known to have been engaged in missionary work in the central region around toluca a town not far to the south west of mexico city and at various places in michoacán an area west of mexico city extending to the pacific among his achievements during this phase of his life was his role as one of the founders of the confraternity of nuestra señora de soledad our lady of solitude the indigenous members of which performed on sundays edifying plays and scenes written in their own language by torquemada for the purposes of inculcating in them and in spectators the catholic faith 8 in 1600 and 1601 possibly in 1599 as well he was guardian of the convent of zacatlán in the central highlands north east of mexico city in 1602 he was guardian of the convent of tulancingo then in 1603 he was elected guardian of the convent of santiago tlatelolco taking up his post there on 22 july a post he held it seems for eight and a half years 9 at tlatelolco 1603 1612 edit while guardian of the convent at tlatelolco he assumed numerous heavy burdens both intellectual and practical not all of which related to the affairs of the franciscans 10 among those which did may be mentioned the fact that the guardian of the convent was ex officio president of the colegio de santa cruz de tlatelolco a post which entailed general oversight of the conduct of the institution under its rector the college had however so far declined from the ambitious plans which attended its ceremonial opening in 1536 that by the end of the 16th century it had become an elementary school where local indian children learnt reading writing manners and good behaviour 11 administrator edit in 1604 he visited zacatecas to assist in the establishment of a franciscan province to be headquartered there and in 1606 he spent time in michoacán and jalisco for the same purpose the establishment of a new province in jalisco headquartered in guadalajara carved out of the province of san pedro y san pablo covering michoacán jalisco 12 a surge of vocations from among the criollos as well as a renewed influx of friars from spain had necessitated a new alignment of responsibilities a generation before in 1570 numbers of friars in nueva galicia had fallen to 16 four of whom were elderly in striking contrast to this long period of decline in 1601 and 1602 alone 14 friars had arrived from spain destined for nueva galicia and 32 more for zacatecas between 1610 and 1618 these numbers were augmented by another 40 arrivals 13 engineer edit a contemporary painting showing mexico city in 1628 the view east overlooking lake texcoco abnormally high rainfall in august 1604 led to a devastating flood of mexico city one of several inundations from lake texcoco which sometimes took years to recede the city was still virtually an island at this time other such inundations occurred in 1555 1580 1607 and 1629 resulting in the decision in 1629 imperfectly implemented to drain part of the lake 14 as an emergency measure viceroy juan de mendoza asked the franciscan provincial to assign members of his order to help in various urgent remedial works torquemada participated specifically in the reconstruction of the calzadas causeways of los misterios leading north east to guadalupe works which took five months of continuous activity to complete employing thousands of labourers and of that leading west to chapultepec when these works were finished the friars organised the cleaning of the main drains of the city it was only through the friars petitioning the viceroy that he ordered the labourers to be paid and fed at government expense 15 architect edit commencing in 1604 torquemada took in hand the construction of a new church of santiago de tlatelolco a project which had been stalled for many years he reported that it proceeded in great part thanks to contributions in cash and kind by local indians many of whom donated their labour 16 it is notable for the massive bases of the towers flanking the main entrance designed to resist earthquake interior of the church of santiago de tlatelolco the work was completed in 1609 or 1610 and on 14 july 1610 the church was consecrated 17 it was built in the form of a latin cross with a series of shallow domes in the vault over the nave and a large dome over the crossing with a semi dome over the apse the following day on sunday 15 july 1610 the feast of santiago the altarpiece or retablo behind the high altar was inaugurated 18 this sumptuous structure was arranged in four registers with an apex it was decorated with 14 paintings by the celebrated basque painter baltasar de echave orio who is also credited with designing the retablo alternating with carved wooden statues standing in niches at the centre of the second register directly above the later neo classic ciborium presumptively installed in the first decades of the 19th century and visible in a 19th century lithograph which shows the arrangement of the retablo was a carved and painted panel in high relief of the patron saint of the church santiago matamoros the only part of the retablo that has survived 19 torquemada applauded the skill of the indian craftsmen and singled out for praise one of those who worked on the retablo miguel mauricio calling him an artist second to none among the spanish 20 western façade of church of santiago de tlatelolco most of the decoration of the church was either removed by the civil authorities looted damaged or destroyed during the turmoil of the era of la reforma in the mid 19th century 21 the church then became a customs warehouse and as late as 1944 the convent was a military gaol but the use of the church has since been restored to the franciscans and the santiago panel has been returned to its original location on the wall above the altar 22 a curious episode attaches to the building of the church allegations were made that torquemada had exploited and abused the indian workforce and had severely beaten one particular labourer almost to death a punto de muerte an official investigation was initiated by the archbishop of méxico on 16 february 1605 but there is no record of the outcome and there was no interruption to torquemada s work on the church 23 historian edit it was while he was guardian of the convent of tlatelolco that torquemada also put in hand the organisation of the materials he had been gathering for many years previously and between 1605 and 1612 their redaction into the great work he had been projecting the history of the aboriginal nations of new spain and their conquest and evangelisation by the spanish in addition to the voluminous unpublished writings of other franciscans to which he had unimpeded access torquemada possessed many original documents acquired during his missionary work as well as the oral testimony he had obtained from people he had encountered on his various travels 24 in 1609 he had been named chronicler of the franciscan order by fray bernardo de salva franciscan commissary general of the indies 25 on completion of the work he took the manuscript to spain in order to oversee its publication as to which see below last years 1613 1624 edit on 8 january 1614 in the year following his return from spain torquemada was elected provincial of the province of the holy gospel del santo evangelio de méxico a post he held for the usual three year term until the election of a successor on 14 january 1617 26 at that time the province of the holy gospel comprised méxico city the modern state of méxico and the state of puebla together with the custodia of tampico on the gulf coast 27 in an ongoing dispute over the division of elective posts within the province conducted between the criollos ethnic spaniards born in new spain and the peninsulares those born in spain but who had emigrated to new spain torquemada identified himself not as a peninsular which he could justly claim to be but as a member of an intermediate group of men who came out to new spain in their childhood and regarded themselves as hijos de la provincia sons of the province the dispute became especially bitter under torquemada s successor as provincial juan lópez a peninsular with respect to whom torquemada expressed deep seated hostility accusing him in private correspondence two letters written in october 1620 to a former confrère of his then resident in spain of being a liar and an hombre sin dios a man without god and asserting that hell held no man worse or more false este mal hombre de fray juan lópez digo que otro peor no lo tiene el infierno ni más falso 28 at the age of 62 or thereabouts torquemada died suddenly on new year s day 1624 in choir in the convent at tlatelolco after having sung matins with the community at midnight he had apparently been in good health the cause of death was likely a heart attack given that an indigenous witness said he said help me unloose my chest where my heart is 29 he died in the presence of his brother friars and of the guardian of the convent of san francisco his body was conducted in solemn procession from tlatelolco to mexico city accompanied by many mourners who paused at seven places on the way in order to sing responses on arrival at the church of san francisco the mother church of the province it was interred in the sanctuary on the right hand side near the high altar 30 literary works edit monarquía indiana edit introduction edit by way of providing impetus to and official sanction for torquemada s history fray bernardo salva the comisario general de indias acting by specific direction from his immediate superior arcángelo de messina the minister general of the order wrote a letter dated 6 april 1609 from madrid in which he gave written authority and instructions to torquemada to compile a chronicle of the life and work of the members of the franciscan order active in new spain as well as a wide ranging account of the history and culture of the peoples they had evangelised for that purpose as salva wrote torquemada was to utilise the voluminous historical and ethnographic writings of his fellow franciscans now all of them dead to which he had access almost nothing of which had by then been published works by andrés de olmos gerónimo de mendieta motolinía and bernardino de sahagún of these only de mendieta was mentioned by name by salva citation needed he also heavily excerpted the works of carmelite friar antonio de la ascensión es 31 the work is a remarkably dense text because of its theological digressions contradictions and anachronisms since torquemada incorporated material without resolving contradictory and competing points of view from his sources 32 in addition to the texts written by spaniards torquemada draws on the work of mestizo tlaxcala patriot diego muñoz camargo and texcoco indigenous nobility fernando alva ixtlilxochitl juan bautista pomar and antonio de pimentel and the account of the conquest from the tlatelolco point of view compiled by bernardino de sahagún he incorporates a large quantity of information taken from indigenous pictographs and manuscripts 33 torquemada interviewed elderly indigenous people about their ancestors and r...
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