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Essay Subject:
Role of Spanish Christianity in conquest of Indian culture. Deception, imperialism, conversion, reform.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Role of Spanish Christianity in conquest of Indian culture. Deception, imperialism, conversion, reform.
Paper Introduction:
The purpose of this research is to discuss the role that religion played in the conquest of the Aztecs. Although Spanish imperialism justified its acts by claiming a Christian mission, and thereby destroying a pagan nation, this paper will also show that the church did not always adapt to imperial ends.
In the year 1519, according to Aztec lore, the Toltec god-king Quetzalcoatl might return to reclaim the realm from which he had been driven centuries before by the forces of evil. Oddly enough, in that same year, Hernando Cortes and his conquistadors appeared on the shores of Mexico. In the ensuing crisis, the unfortunate Montezuma was no match for the Spaniards, which suggested a decline in the quality of Aztec leadership. The king's efforts to bribe or cajole the Spaniards into leaving were futile, and many Indians believed their gods had forsaken them.
Text of the Paper:
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The earliest Mendicants were itinerant missionaries lackingecclesiastical headquarters and dedicated to the task of baptizing as manyconverts as possible. Their episcopal leader after 1527, the FranciscanBishop Juan de Zumarraga, tried to apply the precepts of Erasmian humanismto the American mission. Although hundreds of monasterieswere constructed in Mexico under the Medicant direction, the friars did notlive in retirement or seclusion. The efforts of the friars did bring about a virtually immediateelimination of a number of non-Christian elements in Indian society,notably pagan temples, the Aztec class of priests, and the acts of humansacrifice.[8] The overt aspects of Christianity were the ones that theIndians embraced most readily--the great churches and monastery buildings,the ceremonies, the processions, and the images of the saints. The Christian God was admitted, butnot as an exclusive or omnipotent deity. The demands of the Spanish settlers, the Crown, andthe Church far exceeded the tribute exactions of the Aztec rulers,nobility, and priesthood, so the Spaniards increasingly exploited theIndians for their labor. The purpose of this research is to discuss the role that religionplayed in the conquest of the Aztecs. However, the two other privileged groups, theIndian nobility and the Church, continued to exact tribute and labor fromthe Indians in extralegal ways.[3] The religious who came to Mexico in the first decades after theConquest were an elite group.[4] Within the church, the regular Mendicantfriars and the secular clergy comprised two powerful opposing groups. BibliographyGibson, Charles. But in no case were the similarities so exact as to permit asimple or unqualified transfer, and the differing contexts within whichsimilar practices functioned invalidated any synthetic reconstructions onChristianity's behalf. The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule. Yet it was not to religion or superior arms that the Spaniards owedtheir victory but to the masses of Indians who wanted to be free of theAztec suppression. Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press, 1964.Keen, Benjamin. [4]Benjamin Keen, The Aztec Image in Western Thought (New Brunswick,NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1971), 73. They were the active agents of aflourishing conversion program, especially during the first 5 years ofSpanish conquest. The Aztecreligion had included practices that were similar to some of the practicesof Christianity, notably marriage, penance, baptism, fasting, andofferings. The Indian towns of Tenochtitlan, Tlateloclco,Texcoco, Tlalmanalco, and Xochimilco were occupied by Franciscans. In general,however, it was the Franciscan leadership and the Franciscan precedentswhich dominated the missionary enterprise. Under the encomienda system established by the Spaniards, aconquistador received from the royal governor an allotment of Indians whowere to serve him with tribute and labor. The objective of its founder,Vasco de Quiroga, was to cultivate the natural morality of Indian peoplesand to recreate the conditions of primitive Christianity. Theybelieved the system should be regulated to insure Indian welfare and thatit was necessary to have feudal lords for continued prosperity. The site was chosenbecause it was far removed from Spanish influence, and ChristianizedIndians were drawn to it from other pueblos. The Augustinians establishedchurches and monasteries in Acolman, Culhuacan, and Mixquic. TheDominicans settled in the communities of Chalco and in the two villas ofthe Marquesado, Coyoacan, and Tacubaya. Its regulations provided for a literate Indianpopulation engaged in an economy of agriculture and skilled crafts, holdingcommon property, and rotating in political office. [5]Charles Gibson, The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule (Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press, 1964), 98. The Lords of New Spain. Heaven and hell were recognized,but with an emphasis on concrete properties and with obtrusive paganattributes. The encomendero, in turn,assumed the feudal obligation of defending the country for the emperorCharles V, of protecting his Indian charges, and of instructing them in theChristian religion. The Indians, enfeebled by excessive toil,malnutrition, and the hardships of long journeys to distant mines andplantations and broken by the loss of ancient tribal purposes and beliefsthat gave meaning to their lives, became easy prey to illnesses--bothendemic and epidemic--with which they were familiar and to those importedby the Europeans.[2] With the advent of smallpox, influenza, measles,typhoid, and malaria, a demographic tragedy of frightful proportionsoccurred. Founded in the early 153 s, it was patterned afterThomas More's Utopia. They were institutions for theChristian training of young upper-class Indians who would subsequentlyoccupy high places in their own society.[7] The most important expression of humanistic social reform lay outsidethe capital in a model community called Santa Fe, on the western edge ofthe Mexican Valley. The educational institutions of the early colonial period werenot seminaries, since all or almost all proposals for the creation of anIndian clergy were rejected in the 16th C. Theformer were the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians, to whomparochial and sacramental powers had been entrusted for the realization ofmissionary goals. The Indian population declined drastically from 1532, with apopulation of 16,871,4 8, to 16 8, with a population of 1, 69,255. These priests were virtuallyunanimous in denouncing the cruelties and tyrannies used by the Spaniardsagainst the Indians, but they found it easier to denounce than to agree ona solution.[6] The "apostolic twelve," a group of Franciscans who came to Mexico in1524, were products of a Mendicant reform movement in Spain led by CardinalJimenez de Cisneros. Christian worship was acknowledged without a distinction amongthe degrees of worship, and the Indians continued to act as if the objectof worship relied on the worshiper for its sustenance and upkeep. [7]Ibid., 99. Thesymbol of the crucifixion was accepted, but with an exaggerated concern forthe details of an act of sacrifice. Many argued that the encomienda system neededto be revoked. The Church had avital interest in the Indian problem, because, if the Indians perished, thetask of saving pagan souls would be incomplete and the good name of theChurch would suffer. It was, however, religion that the Spaniards seized onto justify their actions. [2]Ibid., 9. Although itshistory was brief and its population was small, it stands as a pure effortto remold Indian life and is an expression of the moral conviction of thefirst missionaries in Mexico. In the year 1519, according to Aztec lore, the Toltec god-kingQuetzalcoatl might return to reclaim the realm from which he had beendriven centuries before by the forces of evil. [6]Keen, 73. The saints were received by the Indians not as an intermediarybetween God and people but as a pantheon of anthropomorphic deities. New Brunswick, New Jersey: RutgersUniversity Press, 1971.Zorita, Alonso de. Everywhere the first Franciscans founded schoolsand tried to promote literacy and Hispanic values as well as Christiandoctrine. To this end, they developed a broad program within whichcultural education and social reform were second only to the propagation ofthe faith. The catastrophic decline of the Indian population posed a gravedilemma for the encomenderos, the Crown, and the Church. Oddly enough, in that sameyear, Hernando Cortes and his conquistadors appeared on the shores ofMexico. The Church would also not have the labor to build themonasteries and churches it needed, nor would it have a population tosupport the servants of God. [8]Gibson, 1 .----------------------- 8 In the ensuing crisis, the unfortunate Montezuma was no match forthe Spaniards, which suggested a decline in the quality of Aztecleadership.[1] The king's efforts to bribe or cajole the Spaniards intoleaving were futile, and many Indians believed their gods had forsakenthem. Christianity failed to indoctrinate most of the Indians with itsfullest meaning, and Indian acceptances were strongly colored by residualand antithetic values. In general, the Indians did not abandon theirpolytheistic viewpoint. New lawswere passed, and eventually the role of the encomendero as a recipient ofIndian tribute diminished. [3]Ibid., 13. The Aztec Image. The standards of Christian behavior, whethercommunicated by teaching, encouraged by precept, or enforced by compulsion,failed to make understandable the basic Christian abstractions of virtueand sin. The latter were the clerics of the episcopal hierarchy,the traditional possessors of these powers, who saw parochial control bythe regular clergy as an unwarranted intrusion.[5] In this usage, regularmeant living by rule, and secular meant living within the world or withinthe age instead of in monastic retreat. Although Spanish imperialismjustified its acts by claiming a Christian mission, and thereby destroyinga pagan nation, this paper will also show that the church did not alwaysadapt to imperial ends. While the Indians accepted Christianity's outward appearance, theycolored its beliefs with their own residual and antithetic values.Although Christianity, under the Spaniards, helped destroy the Indianculture and spirit, many friars sincerely wanted to help the Indians andfought against their abuse. Others in the majority, including the Crown officials andmost of the clergy--including the orders--took a realist position. London: Phoenix House,1965.----------------------- [1]Alonso de Zorita, The Lords of New Spain (London: Phoenix House,1965), 7.
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