Book
Motolinia's history of the Indians of New Spain
Academy of American Franciscan History • 1 • Published In 1951 • Pages: 20, 358 , 9 plates
By: Motolinía, Toribio, -1568, Steck, Francis Borgia.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
One of twelve pioneering Franciscan missionaries, Toribio de Benavente (aka Motolinía) served between 1524 and 1539 as the head of monasteries first in Mexico City and later in Tlaxcala (where much of the text was composed) with intervening missions to Guatemala and Nicaragua. His largely firsthand account concentrates on the cities of Mexico, Tlaxcala and Puebla, and the surrounding Nahuatl-speaking central highland region. This work provides significant documentary information on the Aztec empire under its last emperor through its conquest and subsequent “spiritual conquest” by the author and others up to 1541. As to be expected, emphasis is on the religious life of the people—their gods, religious feasts, human sacrifices, etc.—with a good portion of the text devoted to the conversion of the Indians to Catholicism and European cultural practices. In addition to the history of the missionary effort, Motolinía also provides information on warfare, temple construction, the calendar, childbirth customs, merchants, self-torture, superstition and sorcery, Indian-Spanish relations, geography, education, and native uses of the maguey plant.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Missions
- Acculturation and culture contact
- External relations
- Ordering of time
- Ecstatic religious practices
- Organized ceremonial
- Spirits and gods
- Form and rules of government
- Chief executive
- Classes
- Musical instruments
- Ceremonial during infancy and childhood
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Sacred objects and places
- Visual arts
- Cereal agriculture
- Territorial hierarchy
- Prophets and ascetics
- Religious and educational structures
- Highways and bridges
- Childbirth
- Infant care
- Nuptials
- Religious denominations
- Ceremonial during infancy and childhood
- Ritual
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Aztecs
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2017
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Mexico
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Missionary
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Michael A. Marcus ; John Beierle ; 1984
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1524-1541
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1524-1541
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- central highland Mexico
- NotesAdditional notes
- Toribio de Motolinía ; Translated and annotated with a bio-bibliographical study of the author [by] Francis Borgia Steck
- Uniform Title: Historia de los indios de la Neuva España
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-341)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 51006278
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Aztecs/Franciscans--Mexico/Indians of Mexico