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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida was among the first and most noted of the founders of the Christian missions of Yucatan, a region whose conversion was almost exclusively entrusted to the Franciscan Order. The work of the friars has been fairly well studied, not only on the basis of the data supplied by the old chronicles, but also by modern research in the documentary sources preserved in the archives of America and Spain. This research has resulted in the publication of many documents and historical studies which contain important information on the Franciscan missions of Yucatan. Analysis of the information offered in these various documents and studies—although it is sometimes conflicting—enables us to reconstruct an acceptable account of the obscure period which coincides with the first decades of Franciscan activity in Yucatan.
1 Scholes, France V. and Adams, Eleanor B., Documentos para la historia de Yucatán, Vol. I, Primera serie, 1550-1561 (Mérida, 1936);Google Scholar Vol. II, La Iglesia en Yucatán, 1560-1610 (Mérida, 1938). Scholes, F. V. and Adams, E. A., Don Diego de Quijada, Alcalde Mayor de Yucatán, 1561-1565 (2 vols.; Biblioteca histórica mexicana de obras inéditas, vols. 14 and 15, Mexico, 1938)Google Scholar. Tozzer, Alfred M., Landa’s Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (Papers of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, No. 18, Cambridge, 1941)Google Scholar. Mañé, J. Ignacio Rubio, Archivo de la historia de Yucatán, Campeche y Tabasco (3 vols.; Mexico, 1942)Google Scholar. Solís, Juan Francisco Molina, Historia del descubrimiento y conquista de Yucatán, vol. II (Mexico, 1943)Google Scholar. Roys, Ralph L., The Indian Background of Colonial Yucatan (Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, No. 548, Washington, 1943)Google Scholar. Chamberlain, Robert S., The Conquest and Colonization of Yucatan, 1511-1550 (Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, No. 582, Washington, 1948)Google Scholar. Scholes, F. V. and Roys, R. L., The Maya Chontal Indians of Acalan-Tixchel (Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, No. 560, Washington, 1948)Google Scholar.
2 The edition here published of the complete text of the two letters of Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida has been made from photostat copies deposited by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. The present editor examined the original manuscripts in the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain (Indiferente, legajo 1,093), but at the time only an extract of their content was made. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Dr. Robert S. Chamberlain, who indicated the location of these photocopies in Washington.
3 Mendieta, Gerónimo de O.F.M., Historia eclesiástica indiana (Mexico, ed. Chávez Hayhoe, n. d.), vol. III, bk. IV, ch. 6, pp. 28–30 Google Scholar.
4 Cogolludo, Diego López de O.F.M., Historia de Yucatán (Campeche, 1842), vol. I, bk. II, ch. 12, pp. 133–134 Google Scholar.
5 Casas, Bartolomé de las O.P., Brevísima relación de la destruyción de las Indias (Barcelona, 1646)Google Scholar, art. X, fols. 26v-29; Juan de Torquemada, O.F.M., Monarchia indiana (Madrid, 1723), part III, bk. XIX, ch. 18, pp. 335-336.
6 The original Spanish text of this letter is found in Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonización de las posesiones españolas en América y Oceania, vol. II (Madrid, 1864). This letter was published from a manuscript copy in vol. LXXXI of the Muñoz Collection, in the Real Academia de Historia, Madrid. The only historian who seems to have used this document is Fidel de J. Chauvet, O.F.M., in his edition of the Relación de la Descripción de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio, by Oroz-Mendieta-Suárez (Mexico, 1947), p. 83. This Relación states that Tastera left for Yucatan in 1531, and this statement was repeated by Torquemada in his Monarchía, part III, bk. XX, ch. 47, p. 489, who thus contradicts what he had said in a previous chapter (note 5, supra). The contradiction was pointed out by Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. II, ch. 14, p. 144.
7 Motolinía, Toribio de O.F.M., Historia de los Indios de la Nueva España (Mexico, 1941)Google Scholar, treatise III, ch. 5, pp. 194-195, who only mentions the mission group of five friars sent by Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo. It should be noted that Motolinía wrote this work at the beginning of 1540 and that this entire chapter is devoted to an account of the missions which were undertaken at that period in regions beyond the Mexican plateau. We would expect him to have mentioned any previous mission of Tastera in Yucatan, if there had been one in fact. The number of missionaries given is the same, as Mendieta and those who follow him say that Tastera was accompanied by “four other religious.” It is likewise remarkable that the vicissitudes and results of the two supposed expeditions are practically identical as given by both Mendieta and Motolinía. Motolinía’s account also agrees perfectly with the information contained in Viceroy Mendoza’s letter about the Tastera mission.
It may be objected that, strictly speaking, the statement of Mendoza does not prove that the Tastera mission left for Yucatan in 1537. But it does prove that they could not have left before 1536 and that they were still in Yucatan at the end of 1537. On the other hand, it allows us to accept the date 1537, which would coincide with the expedition sent by Ciudad Rodrigo for which we have the clear, precise and trustworthy testimony of Motolinía. Modern historians of such competence as Chamberlain and Tozzer recognize the vagueness and uncertainty that obscures this matter. Chamberlain, in a section devoted to an account of the early Franciscans in Yucatan (The Conquest and Colonization of Yucatan, 1517-1550, pp. 311-322), does not mention the mission group sent by Ciudad Rodrigo. Tozzer (Landa’s Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán, p. 67, note 303) concludes that the evidence is very vague regarding these Franciscan expeditions, especially as to the one sent by Ciudad Rodrigo in 1537. Tozzer likewise does not seem to have noticed the evidence given by Motolinía, whom the present writer believes to be a better authority on this point than Mendieta.
The present writer considers inadmissible the explanation recently given by Steck, Francis Borgia O.F.M., (Motolinía’s History of the Indians of New Spain, Washington, Academy of American Franciscan History, 1951, p. 19)Google Scholar that Tastera had returned to Mexico in 1534 from his expedition to Yucatan, unless we admit that he had made another trip there previous to the one here under discussion. Father Steck’s explanation is based on an hypothesis made by Lázaro Lamadrid, O.F.M., in his edition of Fray Francisco Vázquez’ Crónica de la Provincia del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1937), vol. I, bk. I, ch. 6, p. 37, note 2.
8 Mendieta, op. cit., vol. III, bk. IV, ch. 6, pp. 30-31.
9 Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I bk. V, ch. 1, pp. 329-330.
10 Cogolludo gives Albalate’s name as Juan, instead of Nicolas, expressly correcting Lizana, but there seems to be no reason for so doing. See note 21, infra.
11 This letter is published in Cartas de Indias (Madrid, 1877), pp. 67-69. Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. V, ch. 9, p. 361. There is another letter, written by Fray Luis de Villalpando at Mérida, October 15, 1550 (as yet unpublished), in which he denounces certain abuses committed by encomenderos, and states that his accusations are based on his own evidence and that of “my friars from six years ago until now during which we have been here in this land.” This letter is mentioned by Chamberlain, op. cit., p. 318, note 26; the original MS is in the Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, section: Cartas de Indias, and a photocopy is in the Library of Congress, Division of Manuscripts, as deposited by the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
12 Tozzer, op. cit., p. 68, where Landa’s text is exhaustively annotated. The uncertainty of the text may explain why so little attention has been paid to its importance in regard to this problem. The manuscript reads that Hojacasttro sent “more Indians” (mas indios), although the meaning seems to demand the words “more friars” (mas frailes). However, the words used in the manuscript are not as absurd as it might seem at first glance, for we know that the Franciscans actually did send Indians from Mexico to help the friars in their first contacts with the Yucatecan Mayas (Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. II, ch. 12, p. 134).
13 Tozzer, op. cit., p. 67, note 304. See also Remesal, Fray Antonio de O.P., Historia … de Chiapa y Guatemala … de la Religión de … Santo Domingo (Guatemala, 1932), vol. I, p. 353 Google Scholar.
14 The documents upon which this paragraph of our text is based are found in the Archivo General de Indias (henceforth abbreviated as AGI), section Contaduría, legajo 4,677, “Descargo del Tesorero Francisco Tello.” This volume is not paginated, but the respective items can be found under the corresponding dates. Among the Franciscans who sailed for New Spain during this year, 1542, perhaps in connection with Tastera’s expedition, appear the names of Fray Francisco de Bustamente and Fray Maturino Gilberti.
15 AGI, Contaduría, loc. cit. There is a document which mentions a Fray Juan de Torralva as one of the Franciscans sent to Peru in 1551 with the Commissary, Fray Hernando de Armellones (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 222-223). From Peru he was sent to Chile.
16 Vázquez says in his Crónica (ed. cit., vol. I, bk. I, ch. 20, p. 102) that the number of the friars of the Tastera mission who were destined for Guatemala was no less than twenty-four, and that Motolinia sent six (instead of four) of these to Yucatan. Vázquez cites Lizana’s Historia to support his statement, but he does not list these friars’ names. However, we know the names of some of these, such as that of Fray Pedro de Betanzos, from other sources. Betanzos was from the Spanish Franciscan Province of Santiago, but he does not figure in the group brought by Tastera.
17 AGI, Contaduría, leg. 4,676, fols. 288-290.
18 AGI, Contaduría, leg. 4,676, fol. 271. Cogolludo (op. cit., vol. I, bk. III, ch. 14, p. 213) thinks that this Fray Juan de Herrera may be the same person as the Fray Juan who is mentioned in the first Libro de Cabildo of the city of Mérida as petitioning for a plot of ground on January 19, 1543.
19 Letter of Fray Juan de la Puerta, Commissary, and Fray Luis de Villalpando, Fray Nicolás de Albalate, Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida, Fray Juan de Herrera and Fray Miguel de la Vera, to the Consejo de Indias, Mérida, February 1, 1547, published in Cartas de Indias, pp. 67-69.
20 Letter of Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida to Prince Don Felipe, Yucatan, February 10, 1548, published in Cartas de Indias, pp. 70-82.
21 Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. V, ch. 9, pp. 362-363; Vázquez, op. cit., vol. I, bk. I, ch. 24, pp. 119 ff. Concerning Albalate’s trip to Spain, see Cartas de Indias, pp. 69 and 72, and Scholes and Adams, Documentos para la historia de Yucatán, vol. I, p. 4. The royal cédulas providing for his trip are in AGI, Audiencia de Mexico, leg. 2,999, fols. 30-32, 35-36. Albalate was authorized to bring eighteen friars, as also appears in a document published in Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones españolas de Ultramar, Segunda Serie, vol. XVIII (Madrid, 1925), p. 105. This work will be hereafter cited as Colección de Ultramar. In one of the royal cédulas, Albalate is referred to as Juan, instead of Nicolás. Cogolludo must have seen this document, since he expressly corrects Lizana on this point, and he himself always speaks of Fray Juan de Albalate in his Historia (e. g., vol. I, bk. V, ch. 1, pp. 330 and 332, and ch. 9, p. 362).
22 Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. V, ch. 9, pp. 362-363.
23 We find Fray Juan de la Puerta in Havana in May, 1552, in company with Fray Francisco del Toral who was on his way to Spain as Custos of the Province of the Holy Gospel of Mexico to attend the General Chapter of the Order, held at Salamanca at Pentecost of 1463 (Colección de Ultramar, vol. VI (Madrid, 1891), pp. 329-330). The first evidence of his presence in Spain is found in a document wherein the Consejo orders the money-changer Hernando de Ochoa, on September 24, 1552, to pay twenty-one ducats to “Fray Juan de la Puerta, of the Order of St. Francis, … so that with them he can buy an animal on which he can travel for the purpose of gathering religious to send to the Indies” (document in AGI, Indiferente, leg. 424, fol. 440v). He succeeded in collecting a group of twenty friars, but they were later sent to Jalisco (Scholes and Adams, Documentos para la historia de Yucatán, vol. I, p. 83). This later destination of the friars recruited by Fray Juan de la Puerta is known from a letter written by Fray Diego de Landa, Fray Francisco Navarro and Fray Hernando de Guevara to the Consejo de Indias, dated as Mérida, April 3, 1559, in recommendation of Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida. The letter is published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos para la historia de Yucatán, vol. L pp. 83-84.
24 AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 243v-244, 252, 259. The royal cédulas authorizing these payments are in AGI, Audiencia de México, leg. 2,999, fols. 70, 85, 88-89, 99, 100. All these royal cédulas are published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. I.
25 AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 247v-248. Some of the friars listed in these documents played important roles in the mission history of Yucatan. Such were Fray Diego de Pesquera, Fray Francisco de la Torre and Fray Antonio de Valdemoro. According to Cogolludo (op. cit., vol. I, bk. V, ch. 9, p. 362), Fray Antonio de Valdemoro had come to Yucatan in 1549 with Fray Nicolás de Albalate; Tozzer (op. cit., p. 68, note 308) repeats this statement. Possibly the Fray Roque de Villisca of this list may have been the same person as the Fray Roque who appears as guardian of Izamal in 1562 and of Valladolid in 1565 (Scholes and Adams, Don Diego de Quijada, vol. I, pp. 178, 179; vol. II, pp. 327, 328, 332). Likewise, the Fray Pedro Gumiel of this list may be the same person as the Fray Graniel (a misreading for Qumiel ?) mentioned in Scholes and Adams, op. cit., vol. II, p. 412.
From documents seen by the present writer in the AGI the dates can be established for the arrival of other Franciscans who figured prominently in Yucatan: Fray Antonio de Tarancón and Fray Buenaventura de Fuenlabrada were provided passage in the first months of 1542, and Fray Miguel de Vera must have sailed at the beginning of 1541 (AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,677, unpaginated); Fray Diego de Béjar must have gone at the end of 1538 (AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,676, fol. 271); and Fray Francisco de Colmenar went to New Spain in 1552 (AGI, Contaduría, /eg. 275, fols. 258-259).
26 A royal cédula of December 9, 1551, granted Bienvenida forty pesos for the purchase of books for “a grammar school (estudio de gramática) wherein the natives of that land are instructed” (AGI, Audiencia de México, leg. 2,999; document published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos para la historia de Yucatan, vol. I, p. 52). Concerning this school, see Molina Solis, op. cit., vol. II, p. 348, and Chamberlain, op. cit., pp. 319-322. A royal cédula of December 10, 1551, granted Bienvenida an additional twenty ducats for books, but these books were for the use of the friars (AGI, loc. cit.; published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. I, p. 47). In a letter of July 29, 1550, Fray Luis de Villalpando, Fray Diego de Béjar and Fray Miguel de Vera petitioned the Crown to establish a university in New Spain wherein “Spaniards and natives” could study (document published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. L pp. 1-4).
27 See note 20, supra.
28 Documents concerning the appointment of Fray Juan de San Francisco are found in AGI, Audiencia de Mexico, leg. 2,999, fols. 94, 95v. This legajo is composed of a collection of royal cédulas referring to Yucatan, and contains a number of such cédulas concerning the appointments of Fray Juan de la Puerta and Fray Francisco del Toral. The documents relative to Toral have been published in the second volume of Scholes and Adams, Documentos para la historia de Yucatán, pp. 1 ff. The first volume of Documentos (pp. 64-74, nos. xxx-xl) contains various documents concerning Fray Juan de la Puerta, and two letters, of Bishop-elect Fray Juan de San Francisco, dated March 18, 1553, to Prince Don Felipe and to Secretary Juan de Sámano (pp. 60 ff.), in which the friar humbly gives his reasons for refusing to accept appointment as bishop, and recommends the appointment in his stead of Fray Juan de la Puerta as one who was acquainted with Yucatan and its language. See also the Colección de Ultramar, vol. XVIII (Madrid, 1925), pp. 111-112.
29 AGI, Contaduría leg. 1,051, “Descargo del Tesorero Alonso de la Peña.” Joaquín de Leguizamón, or Leguízamo, was an important figure in Yucatan at this period. At the time he represented Fray Lorenzo de Bienvenida at Santo Domingo, as here mentioned, he was probably traveling in connection with his functions as Procurator of Yucatan in Spain (Scholes and Adams, Don Diego de Quijada, passim).
30 We find a friar named Fray Francisco de Torre—he might have been the same person as the Fray Francisco de la Torre listed as a member of Bienvenida’s group—among the twenty-one missionaries awaiting embarkation for New Spain with Fray Francisco del Toral at San Lúcar de Barrameda in October, 1553, according to a document in AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,678, fol. 148. If this be the case, another friar must have taken Torre’s place in the Bienvenida group, since this document states that the full quota of sixteen missionaries, including Bienvenida, actually passed through Santo Domingo on their way to Yucatan. Such substitutions were not uncommon.
31 Bienvenida’s letter is in AGI, Indiferente, leg. 1,561, which is a bound collection of letters without pagination. The royal cédula of March 3, 1553 (AGI, Audiencia de México, leg. 2,999, fol. 104v, published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. I, p. 51), gives November, 1552, as the date of sailing for this fleet. It must have sailed very early in November, since Bienvenida’s letter of late December states that two months had passed since they had left Spain. The secretariat of the Consejo de Indias marked Bienvenida’s letter as having been written on December 28, 1552, thus interpreting Bienvenida’s “postrero día de Pasque de Navidad.”
32 Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. V, ch. 15, p. 387, and bk. VI, ch. I, pp. 407-408. This chapter was held under the presidency of Fray Francisco de la Parra, who had come from Spain at the same time as Bienvenida. Parra, who became famous in Guatemala as missionary and linguist, seems to have remained in Yucatan at this time because of the difficulties which had arisen in Guatemala concerning his arrangement of the Maya grammar and catechism of Fray Pedro de Betanzos, mentioned before. Concerning this matter, see Vázquez, Crónica (ed. cit.), vol. I, bk. I, ch. 24, p. 123.
33 Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. VI, ch. 1, pp. 408-410. The letters of the Princess are found in AGI, Audiencia de Mexico, leg. 2,999, fols. 124-125. The one addressed to the Chapter is published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. I, p. 75, no. xli.
34 Cogolludo, op. cit., vol. I, bk. VI, ch. 1, p. 409. A royal cédula, dated at Toledo, December 19, 1559, granted Bienvenida 100 pesos for the purchase of books for the Yucatan friaries (Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. I, p. 76, no. xlii).
35 In the reports made against Fray Diego de Landa in the period of Bishop Fray Francisco del Toral, Landa was accused of having used intrigue to obtain the office of Provincial despite the greater merits of Bienvenida, and the Commissary General Fray Francisco de Bustamante is reported to have appointed Bienvenida as his delegate for Guatemala and Yucatan in order to offset the injustice done to Bienvenida. The exact value of these reports, of course, could only be determined after a careful study of the whole matter. It is well to remember that in a letter of April 3, 1559, Fray Diego de Landa, Fray Francisco Navarro and Fray Hernando de Guevara give high praise to Bienvenida “for the good zeal which he has and has always had for this vineyard, since he is the first one who entered it and after God it is he who has sustained all the Christian doctrine [i. e., the mission work], and the Indians have no other father but him to be concerned for them and they love him deeply and he has been our prelate in this land, and without him we are of no use, because he alone has been well and able to work.” They judge that he would make a good bishop for Yucatan, if he should accept, for the country is poor and proper only for poor bishops and friars. The Spanish text of this letter is published in Scholes and Adams, Documentos, vol. I, pp. 83-84.
Bienvenida himself attributes his appointment as delegate to Bustamante’s absence in Spain (Scholes and Adams, Don Diego de Quijada, vol. II, pp. 8, 412). This last-mentioned work gives much information about Bienvenida and about his differences with Landa; it also contains interesting opinions made by Bishop Toral about Bienvenida, whom many friars considered to be a strong adherent of the Bishop. However, this is not the place for a complete study of this problem.
Whatever may have been the reason why Bienvenida left Yucatan for Costa Rica, he did not break off relations with the Franciscan Province there. In 1565, after he had become Commissary of Costa Rica, he obtained a prorogation of the Crown’s allowance for wine and oil for the Franciscan houses of Yucatan (Scholes and Adams, Documentos para la historia de Yucatán, vol. II, pp. 35-36). Perhaps it is not quite correct to say that Bienvenida abandoned Yucatan. Other friars who had worked in Yucatan also are found later in the missions of Costa Rica; Fray Juan Pizarro is an example of this. In 1566 Bienvenida returned from Spain to Costa Rica with Fray Juan de Mérida, who was also a former missionary in Yucatan and apparently favorable to Landa (Scholes and Adams, Don Diego de Quijada, vol. II, pp. 406, 414).
36 Cogolludo (op. cit., vol. I, bk. VI, ch. 12, p. 453) states that Bienvenida returned to Yucatan with a group of new missionaries from Spain. He had attended the General Chapter of the Order at Valladolid in 1565, where he had obtained the separation of the Franciscan Provinces of Yucatan and Guatemala. From Yucatan he followed Fray Pedro de Betanzos to Costa Rica. Later on he returned again to Spain to collect more friars for Costa Rica. More details are found in Vázquez, Crónica (ed. cit.), vol. L bk. II, ch. 13, pp. 239-240.
This chronology, however, seems to disagree with information contained in a letter written by Fray Diego de Salinas, Fray Pedro de Betanzos and Fray Melchor de Salazar. This letter was written at Cartago on May 27, 1564, and is published in León Fernández, Colección de documentos para la historia de Costa Rica, vol. VII (Barcelona, 1907), pp. 78-79. In this letter, the friars recall the former mission group brought from Spain four years before by Bienvenida, and they state that he is returning to Spain in company with Captain Juan Vázquez de Coronado to seek additional missionaries and assistance for Costa Rica. Bienvenida’s voyage back to America was made directly to Costa Rica by way of Panama, and this trip was as full of adventures as his former voyage of 1552. Bienvenida relates his adventures in a letter to the Consejo de Indias, dated at Panama, March 15, 1566 (published in Fernández, op. cit., vol. VII, pp. 144-145). Documents concerning this mission group and the stay of Bienvenida in Panama,, from March 9 to June 5, 1566, are found in AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 583-584, 585, 993, 1006v.
37 This information is found in documents published in Fernández, Colección de documentos, vol. VII, pp. 210-212, and in Archivo Ibero-Americano, vol. XXI (Madrid, 1924), pp. 248-249.
