History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas Part 5

Foundation of Merida and of Valladolid, 1542-1543. On the Feast of the Kings, January 6, 1542, Senor Don Francisco de Montejo and Rodrigo Alvarez, scrivener, established the city of Merida with the entire province of Quepech subject to it. Aside from its Indian population, however, Merida had only one hundred citizens. Cogolludo (p. 137) gives a complete list of the first Alcaldes and Regidores.

On March 13, 1542, Montejo made arrangements for the founding of the city of Valladolid, a task which he intrusted to one of his relatives.

In May of the same year he himself set forth from Merida to subdue the Cocomes of Zotuta or Sotuta, while at the same time another relative went to conquer the province of Choaca, the inhabitants of which were very warlike. After more or less resistance the Cocomes were beaten and the city of Zotuta fell into Spanish hands.

On January 1, 1543, the Cabildo elected the second set of munic.i.p.al officers for Merida. From that time the city increased in permanency; _solares_ or lots were given out; the Spanish rule was firm.

On May 28, 1543, the city of Valladolid in the province of Choaca was founded and a church was established, the town being placed under the protection of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios. Cogolludo (lib. iii, cap.

14) gives a full list of all the officers and citizens.

It is uncertain where the site of the first settlement of Valladolid is. It is quite certain, however, that the city was soon moved from its first position "six leagues from the sea." The reason why the site was changed was the unhealthful locality in which the first settlement was placed. The new site was the _pueblo_ of Zaqui, where the present city of Valladolid now stands. In 1544 the city of Salamanca de Bacalar was founded on or near the site of Bakhalal.

Bishop Bartolome de las Casas Arrives in Yucatan. At this time, 1544-1545, Bishop Bartolome de las Casas and his friars of the Order of Santo Domingo arrived in Yucatan, going first to Campeche and later spreading their influence through the country, the natives of which greatly needed improvement. From this time onwards we may consider that the Spanish rule was firmly established throughout the northern portions of the peninsula, although, as we shall see, a long time was still to pa.s.s before the southern regions were subjected. Montejo and those a.s.sociated with him came no nearer to the Itzas than Bakhalal.

All this is not meant to imply that there were no further revolts and resistance against Spanish authority, for there still were sporadic efforts on the part of the Indians to maintain their freedom. In Valladolid, for example, in the year 1546, there was a very serious rebellion, which was crushed only with great difficulty. (Landa, p.

93.) In general, nevertheless, Spanish power daily grew more firm, and the power of the Religious grew constantly greater, despite hostility from both Spaniards and Indians.

CHAPTER V

THE ENTRADA OF PADRES FUENSALIDA AND ORBITA, 1618

The next entrada was made by two members of the Franciscan Order, which has done so much in many parts of the world to bring unbelievers into the Church. As we shall very shortly see, their coming inaugurated a new period in the conquest of the Itzas.

From lack of any sort of information we must a.s.sume that from 1524 to 1614 the Itzas of Tayasal or Peten were unmolested by Spaniards. There are numerous hints of their formidableness during this period, and the event of which we shall soon learn shows that they were not without a certain grim humor.

The Name Canek. Cortes, when he visited Peten, found the governmental power in the hands of a personage bearing the name or t.i.tle of Canek.

Cogolludo and Villagutierre both say that this term was a name arrived at by combining the family names of the ruler's parents. This seems to me difficult to believe. Rather, I think the word Canek to be a t.i.tle.

My reason for so thinking is this: in 1524 the ruler was called Canek, and ninety years later the then ruler was also Canek. It could hardly have been the same individual, and it is equally unlikely that the parents of two rulers should have exactly the same name. It is possible, of course, that the first king of Peten or Tayasal had the name of Canek, derived as the two historians suggest, and that this family name later took on the attributes of a t.i.tle. The same thing happened in the case of the Pharaohs, the Seleucidae, the Roman emperors (Caesar), and the Incas.

While the northern part of the peninsula was being made a Spanish dominion, the southern woodland remained unconquered, causing much annoyance to the authorities. If we look upon the year 1545 as marking the completion of the conquest of northern Yucatan, we may say that a century and a half elapsed before the subjection of the Itzas was consummated. To gain an idea of the events of the time we can do nothing better than to give Villagutierre's account. (Lib. ii, cap. 1.)

Increased Power of the Itzas. "It is now many years that the Barbarous Itzaex,[5.1] more than any other Nation of Infidels, have been terrifying all those Provinces. For, since the time when D. Fernando Cortes pa.s.sed through their land and those events which have already been told happened to them, no further attempts had been made to bring about their Reduction or to make war upon them in order to subjugate them, and this was on account of the prohibition given by the King in Cedulas and orders.

"They had increased greatly in numbers, pride, cruelty and Power, making war upon and capturing and eating others of the Gentile Nations who dwelt in those Mountains and Forests, and also infesting, by their Raids, the Reduced and quiet Villages on the Confines of their Lands, and especially those of the Province of Yucatan, destroying them, and causing the Indians and Spaniards great agitation.

"They trusted in the great Fortress and the great security they had in their Lake, and especially at the City or Great Village of Taya.s.sal which was situated on the Peten or Island in the Lake; because of which nothing molested them nor was it possible even to pa.s.s near their Confines. And although the Governors of the Province of Yucatan regretted this extremely, yet they did not venture to make war upon them because the King had prohibited it by his orders and Royal Cedulas, as has been said elsewhere."

The Mock Emba.s.sy from Tayasal. "In the year 1614, while Don Antonio de Figueroa was governing those Provinces of Yucatan, some of the Itzaex came to the City of Merida, feigning an emba.s.sy (?) in order to cover other and more private ends. Or perhaps because it seemed to them that they could thereby make derision or sport of the Spaniards, they gave out that they had come voluntarily to render obedience to His Majesty, and in his Name to the Governor of those Provinces, saying that their King and Lord, Canek, and all his Va.s.sals, were desirous of the Friends.h.i.+p of the Spaniards and were coming to ask for Peace.

"As nothing was to be lost thereby the Governor believed them, and received their obedience which they gave. He appointed Justices from among themselves, and gave them the usual Staffs of Alcaldes; and having shown them all sorts of kindness he let them go, well pleased.

And the Governor was well-satisfied, judging that now they would voluntarily be his subjects and that they would be Christians. But later it was seen that all this was a fantastic make-believe, poured out in the Mould of their mendacious evilness, which they frequently indulged in, as we shall see further on.

"The Governor, considering it as an insult to His Majesty and to himself, or else being zealous or piqued by the sly treatment given by those Barbarous Infidels, in order to convert them and knowing that he could not make war upon them, he appealed to the Council of the Indies, asking that the Authority be granted to him to overcome and subject them by force of arms. And he pointed out the continuousness of their wickedness, the perfidy of their idolatry, the wariness of their tricks, the terror and fear in which they held those Provinces, and what was necessary in order to punish and subject them by force."

The Mock Emba.s.sy Considered to be a Rebellion. "Especially, since they had now given their obedience (though pretendingly) and since they had departed from it, the prohibition to make War on them was at an end.

For, if His Majesty had indeed so prohibited War, these Indians were now Va.s.sals of the King, and failure in va.s.salage was a species of Rebellion and Uprising. And if they had given their obedience feigningly and craftily or with any improper end, it was a piece of rudeness worthy of not being left without very severe chastis.e.m.e.nt.[5.2]

"It does not appear whether this Governor divined what was to occur in the future from the obstinacy, cruelty, and malevolence of these Barbarians, and how many efficacious Means were to be insufficient to reduce them to Peace; but that of War (is the best). But he pressed for permission to make use of it in order to bring them to subjection."

Here it may be well to compare Cogolludo's account of these same events with that of Villagutierre. Cogolludo (lib. ix, cap. 1) says that these events took place in the reign of Bishop Don Fray Gonzalo de Salazar.

In 1609 a great plague did much harm in Yucatan. In 1610, at the end of August, Salazar arrived to take the post of Bishop of Yucatan. At about that time two Indians called Alonzo Chable and Francisco Canul gave out that they were respectively the Pope and the Bishop, and they made the wretched Catholic Indians venerate them as such. All the most sacred mysteries of the Church were profaned by them, even the Host itself.

This deplorable state of affairs was brought to an end by the intervention of the Governor of the village of Tikax in the sierra. He was one Don Pedro Xiu, a descendant of Tutul Xiu, Lord of Mani. Owing, perhaps, to the influence of a convent in his region, this chief was a good Christian, and he severely punished the offenders for their sacrilege. He even forced the Spaniards to attend Ma.s.s. In short his virtue was such as to earn him the hatred of all malcontents. Finally, being pursued by his enemies, the cacique sought refuge in the convent of Tikax, the guardian of which was the Reverend Padre Fray Juan de Coronel.[5.3] Xiu was hidden behind the sacristy altar while the search was going forward. In due time the more orderly portion of the Spanish population came to the aid of the cacique, and his enemies were put to death by order of the Governor of Yucatan, who at this time was the Mariscal Don Carlos de Luna y Arellano. His qualities as a governor receive the following terse tribute from Cogolludo: "His term of office completed, he came forth from his post in debt, whereas others, in a short while, pay great debts and come forth very rich." Luna had been rich when he went into office.

A New Period in the History of the Itzas. We have now reached a sort of natural break in our history. Beginning with a review of the pre-conquest history of the Mayas and of the Itzas, we have studied the entradas of Cortes, of Montejo, and of Davila into the regions formerly occupied by them. We have seen the manner in which the northern portions of Yucatan and of the Maya-Itza stock were made subject to the crown of Castile; we have just examined the best two accounts of the events leading up to the conquest of the southern tribes, and especially of the Itzas of Tayasal. From the year 1614, which we have now reached, the main interest centers about the small nation whose chief town was at Tayasal on Lake Peten. They and their subject tribes resisted the Spanish onslaughts from 1614 to 1697. It took eighty-three years for the Spaniards to subject this nation, which cannot have numbered more than one hundred and fifty thousand souls. The Itzas resisted successfully for a much longer time a power more their superior than was that of Caesar to that of the Gauls.

Having noticed the beginning of a new period, we will continue the translation of Villagutierre. We shall thus see how the conquest of the Itzas began as a more or less desultory evangelical affair, and how no real vigor was injected into it until a commercial motive (the building of the Yucatan-Guatemala road) was introduced.

Fuensalida and Orbita. The account continues thus:

"Three or four years later, when the year 1618 was already running its course, on the 25th of March, while Francisco Ramirez Briceno was governing these Provinces, the Provincial Chapter of the Religious Order of San Francisco was held in the City of Merida; before it, ...

Padres Fray Bartolome de Fuensalida and Fray Juan de Orbita offered to go and preach the Holy Evangel to the Itzaex; both of these were Learned Men and of consummate Virtue, they were Priests well versed in that Maya Tongue which was natural to those Itzaex as to the Yucatecs, where they had been before.

"... It was determined that they should set forth on that Holy Errand; and they, well pleased, and trusting in G.o.d, determined to depart without delay and without other arms than the loving force of the Divine Word, thus fulfilling the will of the King that only Religious should go, and without the clangor of Soldiery. The Provincial gave them their patents which were presented before the Bishop, Don Gonzalo de Salazar, who was so overjoyed at their holy resolution that had his presence not been needed for the Government of his Bishopric, he would have gone with the Padres.

"Since this could not be, the Bishop despatched to them with great pleasure very ample Authority, in which he gave them as much Power over the Spaniards as they would have had if he had been present with them; and especially in regard to the People of the Town of Salamanca de Bacalar and its territory, commanding the Beneficiado of that Town and District, which includes Tipu, under penalty of the greater Excommunication, in no manner direct or indirect to embarra.s.s or to expel the Religious while they were in Tipu, from which point they were to make ready for their Entrada to the Itzaex."

Briceno's Opposition. "And the Bishop perceived that the Religious were going without attention to temporal matters, for the Governor Francisco Ramirez Briceno, in spite of His Majesty's command that in such Cases the Necessary Funds for the Divine Wors.h.i.+p and the Viatic.u.m for the Religious should be given from the Royal Chest, did not wish to give anything to these men; nor did he wish to give them even the Despatch for which they asked in order that the Villages through which they pa.s.sed might give them a.s.sistance, his excuse being that he did not have orders from the King, and that if they were killed by the Barbarians or by some Native Indians they had with them, or if any other misfortune should come to pa.s.s, the Blame would be upon him. The Bishop gave them, beside the Appointment, orders and aids which I have spoken of, many Crosses, Knives, Shears and other trifles and Charms from Spain so that they might treat the Indians well; and he comforted them, and put new life into their zeal for this good purpose.

"The Citizens of Merida joined the Bishop in his joy and also in giving the Padres increased Alms; and the Former Governor Don Antonio de Figueroa gave them Rosaries, and Gla.s.s Beads, and the Citizens gave them these and many other things, and still others were bought with the Alms contributed by the _Encomenderos_. Even the Indians of the City and the Villages through which they later pa.s.sed, the Chiefs, and Indian Women, gave them Clothing of the sort they were wont to use for the improvement [of the Itzas], in order that they might be given to the King Canek and to his Wife and to the other Chiefs of the Itzas."

The Padres Set out. "The present Governor alone, Briceno, gave them nothing, and he even swindled them out of the Despatch of Favor and a.s.sistance, saying that he would give it to them the day of their departure; then he said that they should wait for it at the Convent of Tikax, which is the last one in the Sierra. So that without the Despatch, but with the Blessing of G.o.d and that of the Bishop and their own Prelate, and asking all to recommend to G.o.d the good outcome of the Voyage, they set out from Merida for Bacalar, rejoicing, and on naked feet.

"In a short s.p.a.ce of time they arrived at the Convent of Tikax, for they feared that the rains would begin. When they had waited some days for the Despatches of the Governor, they received only a letter from him in which he said that he did not intend to give them the Despatches for the reasons he had already given them. The Padres greatly regretted the coldness on the part of the Governor merely because they feared that they would not have in Bacalar good Aid without the orders of the Governor; for it was necessary to take Boats from there to go up the Rivers from that Town to the Village of Tipu, where they were to make their Headquarters, according to the instructions of the Bishop."

Their Route. "But nevertheless, and confiding only in G.o.d, they continued their journey accompanied by some Indian Singers and Sacristans who were at the Convent and whom G.o.d moved to offer themselves as companions, although they knew the perils of the journey, and thus they went alone, without human defense, to place themselves in the hands of those Barbarous Caribes,[5.4] of whom it was known for certain that they ate human Flesh; but they placed all fear behind them.

"And the Padres, seeing that they had with them those who would aid them to celebrate the Divine Services solemnly, traveled very contentedly. They arrived at Calotmul, five leagues from the Convent.

And on leaving this Village, they traversed the Sierra to the Village of Chunhuhub, which is another fifteen leagues of deserted country full of swamps and marshes very difficult to cross. From there they journeyed to Pacha, another fifteen leagues of deserted country, with roads even worse than those before on account of their very swampy nature, which is so great that in the rainy season it is necessary to take to Canoes in order to pa.s.s those Places, and in the dry season the Canoes are beached there.

"From the Village of Pacha they went to another called Xoca, almost another ten leagues. This place was later deserted and overgrown with trees. From Xoca they went to the Town of Salamanca de Bacalar, which is five leagues. And there they were regaled and favored by the Alcalde, who, at that time, was Andres Carrillo de Pernia, a Citizen of the Town of Valladolid de Yucatan, who showed so much hospitality and kindliness while they were there to them and to the Indians whom they had with them, that in nowise were they made to feel the want of Despatches from the Governor of Yucatan; for he gave them more favors and a.s.sistance then and later, this Alcalde, than if they had carried the Commands, orders and Despatches of all the Tribunals of the World.

"Notwithstanding the great favors which the Alcalde Carrillo showed to the Missionaries, they desired to set forth with all speed for Tipu so as not to be overtaken by the Rains; and as they found themselves, like true Sons of Saint Francis, without any money with which to pay the Indian Rowers who were to conduct them, and with which to buy the s.h.i.+p-stores necessary for all in order to navigate the Rio Nohukun, which means Rio Grande, in order to go up by the river to Tipu, and not being able to ask aid of the Alcalde because of the absence of orders from the Governor, they were saddened and became exceedingly disconsolate.

"But the n.o.ble Zeal of that Honorable Creole, Alcalde Carrillo, once more aided them. Learning the cause of their sadness, because the Holy Eagerness which they had was not cooled, he provided a _Piragua_ of his own, very capacious, with Indian rowers and Supplies necessary for all.

And not content with having fitted them out, he embarked with them and accompanied them in person as far as Tipu so that the Indians should not leave them, and so that aid should be offered more promptly; and all this was done at the expense of his estate without being necessitated by orders from any Superior."