GUATEMALA AND CHIAPAS.
1551-1600.
QUESADA'S ADMINISTRATION—THE OIDOR ZORITA GATHERS THE
NATIVES INTO TOWNS—EXPEDITION AGAINST THE LACANDONES—ITS
FAILURE—LANDECHO APPOINTED QUESADA'S SUCCESSOR—HIS RESIDENCIA
TAKEN BY THE LICENTIATE BRIZEÑO—FAMINE, PESTILENCE, AND
EARTHQUAKE IN GUATEMALA—THE AUDIENCIA OF THE CONFINES
REMOVED TO PANAMÁ—AND AGAIN TRANSFERRED TO GUATEMALA—GONZALEZ
APPOINTED PRESIDENT—HE IS SUCCEEDED BY VILLALOBOS—CHANGES IN
CHURCH AFFAIRS—DEATH OF BISHOP MARROQUIN—QUARRELS BETWEEN
THE DOMINICANS AND FRANCISCANS—BISHOPS VILLALPANDO AND
CÓRDOBA—FRACAS BETWEEN TWO ECCLESIASTICS—ADMINISTRATION OF
PRESIDENTS VALVERDE, RUEDA, SANDÉ, AND CASTILLA—INDUSTRIAL
CONDITION OF THE PROVINCE.
[Sidenote: ORGANIZATION OF INDIAN TOWNS.]
Cerrato's successor was Doctor Antonio Rodriguez de Quesada, an oidor
of the audiencia of Mexico, and a man of learning and ability. Though
appointed November 17, 1553, he did not assume office until the
beginning of 1555.[XXI‑1] The residencia of the former president and
oidores was soon begun, and completed some time in May.[XXI‑2] Quesada
was active in establishing reforms, and it was to the Indian question
that his principal efforts were directed. The president determined to
complete the organization of Indian towns, hoping thus to compel the
natives to adopt a civilized mode of life and establishing in them a
municipal government similar to that of Spanish settlements, the offices
being confided to their hereditary chiefs according to rank.[XXI‑3]
At the request of the bishop and the Dominican provincial, the audiencia
ordered Oidor Zorita to call a meeting of friars; and although we
have no direct information as to its object, we may conclude that
it related to the president's policy, for it was condemned by the
settlers,[XXI‑4] and, as we shall see hereafter, the carrying into
effect of Quesada's plans was in great part due to the efforts of Zorita
who was commissioned for this purpose.
The work of organizing the native towns had already been begun in
Nicaragua as early as February 1555, by the licentiate Cavallon,
appointed alcalde mayor of that province by the audiencia.[XXI‑5]
In the beginning of March, Zorita set forth on his official tour through
the province. From the letters of the Dominicans we learn that during
six months he visited on foot the most rugged portions of the province,
moderated tributes, and corrected abuses. In gathering the natives into
towns he found much difficulty, force being necessary in some instances
to accomplish their removal. This, however, was not the only opposition
encountered, for as might be expected he incurred the bitter hostility
of the settlers. Finding him incorruptible they had recourse as usual
to false reports. Witnesses for any purpose could be cheaply bought;
and since he would not yield the Spaniards determined to drive him from
the province.[XXI‑6] There is no evidence as to the result of this
hostility, nor have we any further records of events which occurred
during Quesada's administration, save the mention of a fearful epidemic
which swept over the country in 1558,[XXI‑7] and the seizure and pillage
of Puerto de Caballos by four French ships during the same year.[XXI‑8]
In the letters of the Dominicans already cited, no special mention is
made of Quesada, but in February 1558, the cabildo, in a despatch to the
king, urge the appointment as governor of some person who should be a
gentleman by birth, and have the sole management of affairs.[XXI‑9] This
would seem to indicate that, whatever the president's subsequent policy,
it was satisfactory neither to the ecclesiastics nor to the settlers.
Quesada died in November 1558, and the oidor and licentiate Pedro
Ramirez de Quiñones took temporary charge of the presidency. Ramirez'
rule was brief, and the only event of importance of which we have any
record was the expedition in 1559 against the hostile provinces of
Lacandon and Acala. Of the vast extent of unconquered territory lying
beyond Vera Paz, nothing definite was known at this time except from the
accounts of the march of Cortés to Honduras, nor had its conquest been
attempted.
As early as 1550 attempts at the pacification of the adjacent province
of Acala were begun by the Dominicans of Vera Paz. For a time their
efforts were successful, but finally, incited by their neighbors and
allies, the majority of the natives refused to receive the friars,
and in 1555 the combined tribes destroyed the only mission thus far
established and murdered Father Vico, the originator of the attempt,
together with his companion Father Lopez, and a number of converted
Indians from Vera Paz. There is no evidence that their pacification was
again attempted.
[Sidenote: THE LACANDONES.]
Chief among the wild tribes of this region were the Lacandones, who
though few in number were brave, hardy, daring, and implacable in their
hatred of the white race. Their territory extended from the northern
frontier of Vera Paz along the eastern border of Chiapas as far as the
province of Tabasco. Their chief town and stronghold was on a rocky
island, in Lake Lacandon, distant a few days' journey from the provinces
of Chiapas and Vera Paz. From this point they issued in organized bands,
and sweeping along the border of these two provinces fell suddenly on
the defenceless settlements, leaving a track of desolation and blood.
These depredations continued for many years, nor is there any record of
a single instance of pursuit or punishment previous to 1559. Emboldened
by continued success, they extended their incursions to the interior.
In 1552 they destroyed two towns in Chiapas, one of them within fifteen
leagues of Ciudad Real. The attack was made at night, and but few of
the terrified inhabitants escaped. While sacrificing their captives the
natives shouted derisively: "Christians, call upon your God to defend
you!"
The bishop of Chiapas made overtures of peace to the Lacandones,
but they were treated with contempt and his messengers killed. He
then appealed to the audiencia; but the oidores, foreseeing in these
disasters the failure of the much-vaunted peace policy which had in a
measure excluded the civil authority from the territory ceded to the
Dominicans, coldly replied that the crown had strictly forbidden the
making of war on this province. Reports of the critical condition of
affairs were accordingly made to the crown both by bishop and friars.
In consequence a cédula dated January 22, 1556, ordered the audiencia
de los Confines to investigate the matter, punish the Lacandones as far
as practicable, and report the result to the crown. The instructions,
however, were unheeded, for the audiencia well knew that nothing short
of an armed force would suffice, and this decree did not expressly
authorize a disregard of the existing interdict.
In the mean time the depredations of the Lacandones continued unchecked,
and threatened to cause the abandonment of Vera Paz. Aroused at last
to a full sense of their danger the Dominicans were fain to acknowledge
that the coöperation of the sword was necessary to the planting of the
cross, and so far diverged from the principles laid down by Las Casas
as to declare in the provincial chapter held at Coban, in 1558, that
because of the sacrileges and murders they had committed, it was not
only lawful for the king to make war on the Lacandones, but if need be,
in order to protect his subjects, to exterminate them.[XXI‑10]
In pursuance of this declaration they wrote to the king and suggested
as the only efficient remedy the removal of the hostile natives to
certain unsettled districts beyond Ciudad Real, thus placing this city
between them and the settlements of Chiapas and Vera Paz. In order to
reduce the expense of their removal it was further suggested that an
expedition be authorized and the Spaniards induced to join it at their
own expense under promise that the Lacandones should be granted to them
in repartimiento. In accordance with these suggestions a royal cédula
dated March 16, 1558, directed the audiencia de los Confines to take
steps for the immediate removal of the Indians. If practicable it was
to be done peaceably, but if force were necessary all harshness was to
be avoided, though the prisoners taken were to become the lawful slaves
of their captors.
[Illustration: LACANDON WAR.]
[Sidenote: MUSTERING OF FORCES.]
This decree was published in Santiago in the beginning of 1559; and
attracted by the prospect of gain thus held out, and the charm of
adventure and mystery which attaches to the invasion of an unknown and
hostile province, large numbers of settlers in Guatemala and Chiapas
offered to accompany the expedition. President Ramirez was appointed
commander-in-chief, as he had already certain military renown not
altogether merited. Early in the same year the respective forces arrived
at Comitlan, the appointed rendezvous. The total Spanish force is
not stated but is said to have included many persons of quality. The
troops from Chiapas were commanded by Gonzalo Dovalle, and besides the
colonists, comprised a native contingent of eight hundred warriors.
A thousand Indians are said to have accompanied the Spanish from
Guatemala. Supplies of all kinds were collected, and two brigantines
were built in sections, each vessel being capable of holding a hundred
men. A small army of carriers and attendants was required to transport
the baggage and wait on the Spaniards, and preparations were on a scale
better befitting a conflict with Europeans than with Americans. At
Comitlan a review was held which, according to Remesal, presented one of
the most brilliant spectacles ever seen in those parts, for no expense
had been spared by the Spaniards in their dress, equipments, and arms.
At last, the flags having been blessed and mass said, the army set out.
Fifteen days of toilsome march, during which a path had to be cut
through the dense vegetation, brought them to the shores of Lake
Lacandon. At their approach the natives retreated to the island, after
catching and sacrificing a negro boy who was out after some corn which
grew in the gardens on the borders of the lake.
From their retreat the Lacandones closely watched the movements of the
Spaniards, who in turn eagerly scanned the high bare rock with its white
houses and dusky inhabitants, lest any signs of hostile preparation
should escape them.
While the work of putting together one of the brigantines was
progressing, a few of the natives approached the shore in canoes and
demanded of the Spaniards their object in thus invading their country.
Returning they made offers of peace, but as they denied having more than
eleven canoes, the Spaniards suspected their design. It was believed
that they wished to induce the Spaniards to accompany them to the
island, a few at a time, where they could easily be despatched. The
brigantine was soon afterward launched and as the Lacandones saw it
bearing down upon them they took to flight.[XXI‑11] Many were captured,
including the principal chief and the high priest. The houses and
other defences of the island having been destroyed, a force was then
despatched to pursue the savages, and to reduce the stronghold of the
Puchutlas, which was also an island fortress, though its exact position
cannot now be ascertained.[XXI‑12]
[Sidenote: ILL-ADVISED EFFORTS.]
Near the town of Topiltitepeq this force fell into an ambuscade, and
a few of the Spaniards were wounded, but the savages were finally put
to rout, and a large supply of provisions was found in the deserted
town. Arriving at Puchutla they found the natives in readiness for
defence. Preparations were immediately made for the attack, and a raft
was built as the second brigantine had been abandoned in the woods,
and the one used against the Lacandones had sunk in the lake. No sooner
had the Spaniards started from shore than the Indians advanced in their
canoes to meet them, and midway between the island and the bank there
was a sharp encounter which resulted in the defeat and flight of the
Puchutlas. The fortress was found to be deserted, the savages having
taken the precaution of removing their families and property to a
place of safety.[XXI‑13] No attempt was made to punish the natives or
to occupy any portion of their territory, and the expedition returned
to Guatemala about Christmas, bringing with them one hundred and fifty
prisoners.
In conjunction with the Spaniards, a large force of christianized
Indians under the native governor of Vera Paz invaded the province of
Ácala, administering a severe punishment, taking many captives, and
hanging the principal accomplices in the murder of fathers Vico and
Lopez.
Thus ended an expedition which had cost the crown nearly four thousand
pesos de oro de minas, but seems to have been without any fixed plan,
and was productive of no practical result other than to keep the savages
in check for a time.[XXI‑14] Its failure proved most disastrous to
the colonists; for, though some are said to have received a reward for
their services, the majority were left hopelessly involved in debt for
the cost of their outfit, a few miserable slaves being the only spoils
obtained in return for the expense, hardships, and peril incurred. It
was not long, however, before all the slaves, including their chief,
effected their escape and returned to their country. Re-occupying
their stronghold, it was not many years before they resumed their
depredations, and, as we shall see, successfully resisted all subsequent
attempts to subdue them.
In 1564 the Puchutlas were induced, through the efforts of the Dominican
Father Laurencio, to submit to the friars, and settled in Vera Paz.
This success gained for Father Laurencio the title of the Apostle of
Puchutla.[XXI‑15]
* * * * *
In August 1559 the licentiate Juan Martinez de Landecho, Quesada's
successor, arrived in Guatemala,[XXI‑16] and entered upon office early
in September, Ramirez being appointed an oidor of the audiencia of Lima,
and after undergoing the investigation of his residencia embarking
at the port of Acajutla, whither he was accompanied by the principal
authorities and citizens, who thus showed their recognition of his
worth.
The petition of the cabildo of Santiago that a gentleman by birth and
education should be sent to govern them, had at last been answered, and
the members were profuse in their thanks to the crown for this favor.
Experience had taught, however, that in order to protect and further
the interests of the colonists, they must control a majority of the
oidores, and as this was extremely difficult, they had determined to
make an effort to have the political administration and distribution
of the Indians vested exclusively in the president. As we have seen,
the crown had already been petitioned to make this change, and it was
expected that the new president would come with the additional title of
governor.
This petition was repeated in the latter part of 1560, and was
successful; for in May of the following year we find the cabildo
attributing the increasing prosperity of the country to the granting of
their request.[XXI‑17]
[Sidenote: MEJÍA AND THE DOMINICANS.]
The colonists were jubilant that the humane measures of Cerrato and of
Zorita, which their constant efforts had hitherto failed to accomplish,
were now certain of defeat. Doctor Mejía, one of the oidores, was
ordered to make an official tour of the provinces, as Zorita had been
under the former administration. His measures counteracted the benefits
of Zorita's labors. The regulation of tribute was entrusted to the
encomenderos and caciques, and as these latter were often but the
creatures of the former, the result may be readily inferred.[XXI‑18]
The Dominicans were the object of Mejía's special dislike, and he
subjected them to such annoyance and persecution that they were on
the point of abandoning the province of Guatemala. The alcaldes and
other officers interfered with them in their control of the Indians,
secretly charged them with usurping the royal authority and receiving
money from the natives, and, though the audiencia, in answer to the
complaints of the friars, promised to protect them, little appears to
have been done. Even the cabildo sought to make it appear to the crown
that the religious exercised an arbitrary and prejudicial authority in
the municipal council and elections held by the Indians. The deplorable
condition of the natives and the persecution of the friars were made
the subject of numerous letters to Las Casas, who represented these
abuses to the crown in strong colors, urging the removal of Mejía and
the adoption of relief measures for the natives.[XXI‑19]
Some relief was afforded by a royal decree which declared the natives
no longer subject to the Spanish alcaldes, and which, according to
Remesal,[XXI‑20] was issued about 1563 at the petition of the friars.
Landecho is represented as haughty, capricious, wedded to his own
opinions, and unscrupulous in money matters.[XXI‑21] Certain it
is that though favoring the interests of the colonists he did not
neglect his own, and they soon found that he was neither pliant nor
considerate. They never ceased to extol his tact and vigilance, and
declared him fit to govern Peru; yet within a year of this declaration,
and while assuring the king that they had no cause to change their
mind, they observed that it would be well for the crown to instruct
the president-governor to have a special care for the welfare of the
people.[XXI‑22]
The continued complaints against Landecho at last induced the crown to
decide on his removal, and Licentiate Francisco Brizeño,[XXI‑23] oidor
of the audiencia of Santa Fé,[XXI‑24] was commissioned to take his
residencia. He arrived in Santiago on the 2d of August 1564.[XXI‑25]
The residencia of the president was terminated in December of the same
year, and resulted in the suspension of the president and the oidor
Loaisa.[XXI‑26]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: FAMINE AND EPIDEMIC.]
During Landecho's rule, a drought, which occurred in 1563, was followed
by such great scarcity of corn as to cause much suffering among the
natives,[XXI‑27] and in the early part of 1565 the country was visited
by pestilence and earthquake. The epidemic appears to have been
confined to the Indian town of Cinacantlan, in Chiapas, which it nearly
depopulated, but the effects of the earthquake were more extended. In
Santiago and the adjacent country it was destructive both to life and
property.[XXI‑28] To mitigate the wrath of God the terrified inhabitants
of the city chose the martyr Saint Stephen as their advocate, and
erected in his honor a hermitage, to which a yearly procession was
established.[XXI‑29]
A matter of greater moment than the change of governors now occupied the
attention of the colonists of Guatemala. The transfer of the audiencia
de los Confines to Panamá had been decided on by the crown, but for
what cause is not recorded by the chroniclers.[XXI‑30] A decree to this
effect was issued early in 1563, and confirmed by a second one dated
the 8th of September in the same year in which its jurisdiction was
defined.[XXI‑31]
A line extending from the gulf of Fonseca to the mouth of the river
Ulúa formed the northern limit of the territory made subject to the
new audiencia of Panamá. This did not include, however, the cities of
Gracias á Dios and San Gil de Buenavista with their districts, which
together with the provinces of Guatemala, Chiapas, Soconusco, and Vera
Paz were made subject to the audiencia of New Spain.[XXI‑32]
[Sidenote: ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT.]
Doctor Barros de San Millan, oidor of the audiencia of Panamá, was
commissioned by the crown to remove the audiencia de los Confines, and
before the end of December 1564 was on his way to Panamá with the seal,
the visitador Brizeño having brought the order and published it soon
after his arrival.[XXI‑33]
This change, which seriously affected the interests of Guatemala, was
vigorously opposed by its inhabitants. Though informed early in 1564,
as we have seen, that this measure had been resolved on, the cabildo
refrained from decisive action till the arrival of Brizeño, when the
publication of his orders would perhaps reveal its origin. In this,
however, they were disappointed, for in their letter of December 20,
1564, they write: "Your Majesty, for certain causes which have moved
you, has been pleased to order that the audiencia de los Confines be
removed to the city of Panamá."
By making the audiencia of New Spain the court of appeals for Guatemala
and the other provinces, under the former jurisdiction of the audiencia
of the Confines great inconvenience and injustice resulted owing to
distance. These facts were dwelt upon in the petitions to the crown,
and were supplemented by the reports of the Dominicans, who represented
the ill-treatment to which the natives would be exposed without the
restraining presence of the audiencia. Las Casas, as we have seen,
also employed his voice and influence at court to bring about its
restoration, and the result was to induce the crown, by decree of 1568,
to order its reëstablishment in Santiago, Doctor Antonio Gonzalez, oidor
of the audiencia of Granada, being appointed president and arriving in
Santiago with the oidores early in 1570.[XXI‑34]
During the absence of the audiencia the country was governed by the
visitador Brizeño, whose administration appears to have been just,
and with the exception of church affairs, uneventful. There is no
evidence that Gonzalez was given the extraordinary powers granted to
Landecho, perhaps because the experiment had not proven satisfactory,
but according to Pelaez, a fiscal had been added to the officers of the
audiencia during its absence.[XXI‑35] Brizeño's residencia was taken
sometime in March, and the only charge brought against him was the
granting of certain repartimientos at the suggestion of the cabildo of
Santiago. The findings in the case were transmitted to the crown, and
the cabildo immediately wrote defending the measure as necessary, and
asking for his acquittal.[XXI‑36]
Gonzalez ruled until February 1572, when he was relieved by Doctor Pedro
de Villalobos, who came as president and governor. We have no record of
any event of importance during Gonzalez' administration; but that it
was a just one is proven by his honorable acquittal in the residencia
taken by his successor.
* * * * *
About the middle of the sixteenth century the affairs of the church
underwent several important changes. Soconusco, which as we have seen
was assigned to the bishopric of Chiapas, was subsequently included in
the see of Bishop Marroquin, though again affiliated with the bishopric
of Chiapas in 1596. Soon after their arrival the Dominicans sent to
Soconusco a mission of several friars; but unable to withstand the
excessive heat most of them fell sick, and the death of one of their
number so dispirited the remainder as to cause the abandonment of the
province.
The see of Chiapas remained vacant until 1550, when Father Tomás
Casillas, at the suggestion, no doubt, of Las Casas, was appointed to
fill it. He visited the greater part of his diocese, including Tabasco;
built an episcopal palace, and attended the provincial councils in
Mexico in 1555 and 1565. After his decease in 1567, the see again
remained vacant until 1574, when Fray Domingo de Lara was designated
as his successor. The intelligence of the honor fell strangely upon
the recipient; he prayed that he might die before it was confirmed; and
curiously enough before the pope's bull came to hand, and while in the
midst of preparations for consecration, he expired.[XXI‑37]
[Sidenote: AN HONEST BISHOP.]
The next occupant of the see, Pedro de Fería, was called from the
convent of Salamanca, and early in February 1575 was actively engaged
in diocesan work. At his invitation the Franciscans sent some friars
into the province, and a convent and church were soon erected. Chiapas
had the rare fortune to possess in Fería a bishop who was an honest
man, and one not greedy for gold or power. Finding himself too feeble
for the work he begged the king to name another. In consequence of
an order of the king that secular priests must not be displaced by
Dominicans, or others who held a temporary dispensation from the pope,
Fería appointed seculars to several vacancies to the no small chagrin
of some of the friars. In 1592[XXI‑38] Don Fray Andrés de Ubilla was
appointed successor to Fería, and continued in office until 1601, when
he was promoted to the see of Michoacan.
At a Dominican provincial chapter held in 1576, at Ciudad Real,
the convent of Santo Domingo de Chiapas was accepted as that of the
province, and Pedro de Barrientos chosen as first vicar. At chapters
held in Chiapas and Guatemala prior to 1600, it was forbidden the friars
to sign their family name; to write to the president of the audiencia
or to the oidores without showing the letters first to the superiors,
and so in regard to writing to Spain under penalty of fifteen days'
imprisonment. No moneys were to be sent to Spain through the hands of
the religious.
Ciudad Real, where the last provincial chapter was held, had in 1580
two hundred Spanish vecinos. There were about ninety Indian towns in the
province, within a radius of sixty leagues, containing some twenty-six
thousand tributaries. The largest one, Chiapas de los Indios, had twelve
hundred Indian vecinos.
In 1559, through the influence of Las Casas, the bishopric of Vera
Paz was established, and Father Angulo appointed its first bishop.
He accepted the charge and repaired to his see a year or two later,
but died early in 1562 before proceeding to consecration.[XXI‑39]
The establishment of this see was unwise in the extreme, and must be
attributed solely to the representations of Las Casas. As already shown
the country was barely capable of sustaining its inhabitants, and in
1564 the cabildo declared to the crown that it would be well to suppress
the bishopric as it could not support a prelate; an opinion borne out
by subsequent experience.[XXI‑40]
Angulo was succeeded by Father Tomás de Cárdenas, a Dominican. The date
of his appointment according to Gonzalez Dávila was April 1, 1565, and
according to Remesal he continued in possession until his death, in
1580.[XXI‑41]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: DEATH OF MARROQUIN.]
In 1555 Bishop Marroquin, now old and wearied with over twenty-five
years of constant service as priest and bishop, sought to retire, but
though President Quesada recommended to the crown that his petition
be granted it was refused, and he died at Santiago on holy Friday of
1563,[XXI‑42] and was buried with the highest honors in the cathedral
of Santiago.[XXI‑43] His successor was Bernardino de Villalpando, bishop
of Cuba, who arrived in Santiago in 1564.[XXI‑44]
The Franciscans and Dominicans in the mean time had made but little
progress owing to petty rivalries and dissensions between them, and the
interference of the secular clergy. Though the Dominicans had always
been the principal confessors and preachers in Santiago, they were less
popular than the Franciscans, who were also favored by Bishop Marroquin.
As early as 1550 a strong rivalry sprung up between the two orders in
regard to the right of possession of sites for churches and convents.
These being then determined by the simple act of taking possession,
many towns and districts were seized upon by the ecclesiastics which
they could not attend to themselves, and would not permit their rivals
to control. Dissensions and mutual detractions followed, which the
prelates of the respective orders were powerless to suppress in their
subordinates.
This scandalous example estranged both the civil authorities and the
citizens, and Marroquin, finding his efforts to settle these quarrels
fruitless, began to appoint persons to the vacant and neglected towns,
in some cases depriving the ecclesiastics of those in their charge.
This condition of affairs was duly reported by the authorities, and as
a result the religious were reproved, and the selection of sites for
convents and the appointment of clergy made subject to the approval of
the audiencia, and the bishop was instructed to respect the privileges
of the friars and treat them with due consideration.[XXI‑45]
In 1551 the Dominicans of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and
Chiapas were organized into an independent provincia with the title
of San Vicente de Chiapas. Father Tomás de la Torre was appointed
provincial, and the first provincial chapter was held at Santiago in
January.[XXI‑46] Several convents were founded, mostly in Guatemala,
churches built among the Zoques and Quelenes, and with the arrival from
time to time of additional friars the organization of new districts
was begun. In Chiapas the Dominicans in their labors continued to
suffer occasional molestation from the colonists. The provinces of San
Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica were visited, a convent was founded
in the city of San Salvador, and two attempts were made to establish
the order in Nicaragua.[XXI‑47]
In 1559 a custodia was formed of the Franciscans in Guatemala and
Yucatan, by which provinces the vicar was alternately chosen. This
lasted until 1565, when the religious of Guatemala were authorized
to establish a separate provincia with the title of The Holy Name of
Jesus. Their first provincial was Father Gonzalo Mendez, and the first
provincial chapter was opened in Santiago on the 12th of October,
1566.[XXI‑48]
Owing to the dissensions with the Dominicans and among themselves,
many friars left the province, so that in 1566 there were but thirty
ecclesiastics and seven convents. In 1574 the audiencia issued a
decree permitting the Franciscans to found convents in the provinces
of Izalcos, Cuscatlan, and Honduras. About the same time convents were
established in the villas of San Salvador and San Miguel.[XXI‑49]
[Sidenote: VILLALPANDO AND CÓRDOBA.]
One of the first acts of Bishop Villalpando was the publication of
the decrees of the late council of Trent. Among other measures these
restricted the privileges of mendicant friars, and believing or
affecting to believe that this extended to a total deprivation of their
right to administer the sacraments, the prelate began to secularize the
towns in their charge. In vain were the protests of the Franciscan and
Dominican provincials and the audiencia, and the representations of all
that the secular priests, ignorant of the Indian languages, regardless
of their interest, and in many cases of disreputable character, were
unfit to succeed the regular orders in the charge of a numerous people,
the majority of whom were yet new in the faith. The bishop absolutely
insisted on obedience. In consequence recourse was had to the crown,
but in the interim the prelate persistently carried out his measures
notwithstanding the opposition of the friars, the colonists, and the
natives, the religious being prevented from abandoning the province only
at the entreaties of the colonists, and the Indians in some instances
refusing to receive them in their towns.
At the solicitation of the king the pope restored the privileges of
the friars, the extreme measures of the bishop were condemned, and
the archbishop of New Spain ordered to send a visitador to examine
into certain serious charges made against Villalpando.[XXI‑50] When
notified of these decrees, Villalpando is said to have replied: "I
have received my church not from the king but from God, to whom I am
prepared to render an account." According to Juarros he left Santiago
soon after and died suddenly at Chalchuapa, four days' journey from the
capital.[XXI‑51] Francisco Cambranes, dean of the cathedral of Santiago
and after him Father Alonso de Lamilla, a Dominican, appear to have been
appointed to succeed Villalpando. The former died before his appointment
reached him and the latter declined the mitre. The see remained vacant
until the appointment in 1574 of Bishop Gomez Fernandez de Córdoba who
was transferred from the bishopric of Nicaragua.[XXI‑52]
Córdoba was a man simple in habit, humble in spirit, and pure in life.
Foppery troubled some of the clergy, and the prelate, who could be stern
when needful, took occasion to call up one of the would-be clerical
gallants, and severely admonished him upon the extravagance of his
dress. The mortifying lesson was not without effect, and he, with not
a few others, carefully avoided such display ever after.
[Sidenote: FIGHTING FRIARS.]
In 1575 Córdoba set out on his official visits, and everywhere met with
complaints from the natives concerning their priests, especially among
the Ochitepiques, who asked to have the Franciscans put in charge.
But those in possession were not always willing to gracefully yield
as was shown by an incident which occurred in the same year. Father
Pedro Diaz, visiting Guatemala for the purpose of founding Franciscan
convents, arrived in the little town of Zamayaque, and called to pay
his respects to the priest. His advances were coolly received, and the
padre, seeking to conciliate him, asked his permission to say mass in
the town and confess some of the Indians. From indifference the latter
became fiercely indignant, and expressed himself in very unclerical
language. His words were violent and his speech so loud that a number of
the Indians were attracted to the spot. Thereupon Diaz assumed a humble
attitude and deferentially withdrew, after making his apologies, and
repaired to the cabildo, where the people flocked to him. Improvising an
altar beneath a cotton-tree close by, he then insisted upon performing
service, taking care that the priest should be informed and begging him
not to interfere. At the consecration, the latter, accompanied by a few
armed favorites, rushed in and gave unbridled license to his tongue,
calling the people dogs and the Franciscan a madman. It was a strange
spectacle—an angry priest wildly gesticulating in his black robe,
surrounded by armed men, who momentarily threatened assault, and a padre
calmly reciting his orisons, holding the host in uplifted hands in the
midst of the people. The priest, exasperated beyond control, ordered his
men to charge, which they did, wounding not a few and causing a general
stampede.
At this point the encomendero Leon Cardena interposed between the
contestants, and the Franciscan tried to assuage the tumult with words
of peace. The priest would not be pacified until the Indians tried
their skill at stone-throwing, when he ignominiously turned and fled
to his house, where he had to undergo a siege until he promised to
depart for Guatemala taking all his paraphernalia with him.[XXI‑53] The
Franciscan remained master of the field, and was eventually appointed
guardian of Zamayaque, but the consequences of the unseemly quarrel
were far-reaching, and the discussions to which it gave rise went far
to reform the character of priests put in charge of the natives.
Bishop Córdoba labored in Guatemala for twenty-three years, Fray Antonio
de Hinojosa being appointed his colleague two years before the decease
of the former, which occurred in 1598. During his administration the
king gave orders that no expense should be spared in supporting all
the religious who might be needed for the conversion of the natives,
and that money should be placed at the disposal of the friars for
the purpose of administering the sacrament to the Indians in places
remote from the settlements. The Franciscans especially multiplied in
Guatemala, sixty-six arriving in that province between 1571 and 1573.
In 1576 the audiencia was directed by the crown to make an annual grant
of fifty thousand maravedís for each mission established by them. In
1578 García de Valverde, who during that year was appointed president
of the audiencia, undertook the rebuilding or enlargement of several
Franciscan convents[XXI‑54] and the erection of several churches. Such
was his enthusiasm that he was often seen carrying stone and mortar for
the workmen, and his example spread among the inhabitants of Santiago,
men of noble birth imitating the prelate's example.
In the year 1600 when Juan Ramirez was appointed bishop there were in
Guatemala twenty-two convents of the Franciscans and fourteen of the
Dominican order.[XXI‑55] In 1578 a nunnery was completed and occupied,
the funds having been provided by a bequest from the first bishop of
Guatemala. In 1592 a college was opened in Santiago, and we learn that
the cabildo, encouraged by its success, desired to have a university
established there in order that students might complete their education
without proceeding to Mexico as was then the custom among the wealthier
class of Spaniards.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: VALVERDE AND RUEDA.]
During Valverde's administration the news of Drake's expedition to the
South Sea, of which mention will be made in connection with the raids of
that famous adventurer, spread consternation throughout the provinces.
On this occasion the president of Guatemala showed himself worthy of
the trust imposed in him. Ships and cannon were procured; small arms
and ammunition were obtained from Mexico, and an expedition was quickly
despatched in search of the enemy. No encounter took place, however, and
the commander of the fleet was placed under arrest for non-fulfilment
of his orders, which were to proceed in quest of the intruders to the
gulf of California where they were supposed to be stationed. In 1586
when news arrived of Drake's capture of Santo Domingo a review was held
in the plaza of Santiago, and it was found that the city could put into
the field five hundred foot and one hundred horse.[XXI‑56]
Valverde's decease occurred in September 1589, and when on his death-bed
he received intelligence of his promotion to the presidency of the
audiencia of Nueva Galicia. His successor was Pedro Mayen de Rueda, a
man of strong but narrow views, and one who by his injudicious measures
soon made enemies both of the oidores and the ecclesiastics, the members
of the municipality, however, remaining firm in their allegiance to
him. "Rueda," writes the cabildo to the king in 1592, "has given vacant
encomiendas to the deserving, and strictly carried out royal cédulas. He
has embellished the capital with many a fine building so that it is far
other than it was." Nevertheless his enemies were too strong for him,
and in the following year he was superseded by Doctor Francisco Sandé,
who came to the province vested with the authority of a visitador,
but appears to have found nothing specially worthy of censure in the
former's administration.[XXI‑57]
The new president incurred the enmity of the cabildo by abolishing one
of its most cherished privileges,[XXI‑58] and by causing the office of
alférez, the holder of which became ex officio the senior member of the
cabildo, to be disposed of for five thousand ducados to one Francisco
de Mesa, whose chief recommendation seems to have been that he was a
kinsman of the president's wife. In November 1596 Sandé departed for
New Granada, of which province he had been appointed governor.[XXI‑59]
His successor was Doctor Alonso Criado de Castilla, who assumed office
in September 1598, the reins of power being during the interval in the
hands of the senior oidor, Alvaro Gomez de Abaunza.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: MINING AND COMMERCE.]
During the closing years of the sixteenth century it was the policy of
the cabildo in their reports to the king to represent the industrial
condition of Guatemala in as unfavorable a light as possible.
Nevertheless there is sufficient evidence that trade was restricted,
mining almost neglected, and that agriculture received little attention.
Rich mines were discovered in various places, but Indians could not
be procured to work them, and mine-owners becoming every day poorer,
threatened altogether to abandon the field, thus causing the cabildo to
petition for the importation of slaves for the purpose of developing
them. So great was the falling-off in receipts at the smelting-works
that the royal officials resolved to exact only one tenth instead of
the fifth of the proceeds which had before been collected as the king's
dues.
The possibility of extending the commerce of the province by the
opening of the port of Iztapa, ten or twelve leagues from Santiago, and
the point where it will be remembered Alvarado's vessels were built
and equipped for his promised expedition to the Spice Islands, was
the subject of many petitions to the king. It seemed to present many
facilities for an extensive traffic on the South Sea, and its contiguity
to Guatemala would afford merchants and speculators an opportunity of
dealing in the products of the country. Ship-building especially might
become an important industry. Woods of finest quality and in limitless
quantity could be had in the district. Large cedars were abundant;
while cordage could be had in inexhaustible quantity. The pita, which
furnished excellent material for ropes and cables, grew profusely all
over the coast. Pitch and tar could also be procured in the valley
of Inmais, only a short distance from the port. So far, however,
little success had attended the various attempts made to utilize these
advantages, but in after years further efforts were made. In 1591,
measures were also taken for opening another port named Estero del
Salto, seven leagues from Iztapa and capable of accommodating vessels
of a hundred tons.[XXI‑60]
While thus struggling for new avenues of trade, the members of the
cabildo were tenacious of those already in their possession. Neither the
importation of slaves nor a reduction of the royal dues would satisfy
them, while cacao, the only product which really did pay and thus
preserved the balance of trade, was improperly taxed. Writing in 1575,
they alleged that for two years past this once highly profitable trade
had been nearly destroyed by excessive taxation and that in consequence
the prosperity of Santiago had been greatly diminished.[XXI‑61]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.]
But commercial decadence was not the only misfortune from which the
province suffered. In 1575 and the two subsequent years earthquakes
occurred in Guatemala,[XXI‑62] attended with great destruction of
property. In December 1581 a violent eruption occurred in the volcano
west of Santiago. The land for miles around was covered with scoriæ;
the sun was darkened, and the lurid flames darting from the cone
spread terror throughout the neighborhood. The inhabitants, believing
that the day of judgment had come, marched in penitential procession
loudly bewailing their sins. Presently a sharp north wind dispersed
the gloom and scattered the ashes. On this occasion no lives were lost.
In 1585 and 1586 there were numerous earthquakes, the most violent one
occurring just before Christmas of the latter year. Hill-tops were rent,
wide chasms appeared in the earth, and the greater part of the city
was destroyed, many of the inhabitants being buried in the ruins. In
1587 we hear of another severe earthquake by which fifteen lives were
lost and fifty buildings shaken down, among them the old Franciscan
convent.[XXI‑63]