It begins with a review of the critical assessments, both positive and negative, of Sahagun' s accomplishments, followed by a quick review of other scholars' contributions on the Franciscan scholar and his work and then by an exploration of the Renaissance milieu in which Sahagun was reared and educated The body of the book deals with Sahagun's experiences in New Spain as a missionary friar, his growing interest in the traditional beliefs and practices of the native Nahuatl population, and his continuing endeavors to document those traditions The penultimate chapter covers how at the end of his life, Sahagun unwillingly became embroiled in colonial and clerical political controversy In the conclusion, Leon-Portilla assesses the legacy left us by Bernardino de Sahagun and his monumental body of research.
Sahagun's critics range from the early friars who opposed his work in principle to the recent work of Walden Brown, who accuses him of constructing an internally consistent model of Nahua knowledge that is unrelated to real world data. Regardless of the critics, scholars have drawn extensively on Sahagun almost from the beginning, and four biographies of the pioneering Franciscan were published in the twentieth century, including the one cited above.
In the second decade of the sixteenth century, Bernardino entered the University of Salamanca, where he was exposed to the humanistic ideas of the Salamanca School, including an emphasis on scholarly languages, Erasmist influences from Holland, and reformist movements within the Franciscan order. By the early s he entered the Franciscan order and in sailed for New Spain as one of twenty friars charged with spreading the Gospel and converting the native population to Christianity.
Encountering discord and violence among the Spaniards and abuse and exploitation of the indigenous population, Sahagun felt it was necessary to separate the Indians from the Spanish in order to guide the natives to a pure Christianity devoid of greed and envy. He became convinced that in order to "cure" the Indians of their idolatry, one must first acquire a complete understanding of their traditional. But he was also interested in documenting the subtleties of the Nahuatl language and in recording as much as possible of the culture and history of the Mexican people.
Although never flagging in his original missionary objectives, he did in time come to appreciate and even admire the Journal of Anthropological Research, vol. Thus began his lifelong work. This was facilitated by his assignment in to teach at the College of Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, where he trained his students as collaborators in his research. He identified several indigenous elders who could speak with authority about their customs, history, and traditions.
Working in Nahuatl, he began his investigations with a lengthy questionnaire that was frequently supplemented with protracted parlamentos dialogues and speeches by the elders; he also drew data from Nahuatl codices. Over the next forty-five years, Sahagun constantly revised, expanded, and rewrote the material, repeatedly checking with the consultants for accuracy. His goal was both to preserve the native testimonies in Nahuatl and to make the content of the work accessible to those unfamiliar with the language.
Ultimately, his preoccupation with native knowledge came under suspicion by his superiors, and at times he was ordered to turn over his collection of data and manuscripts or to send them to Spain. But he somehow managed to retain copies of some of the work and thus continued to perfect it.
His productivity was impressive, including a set of sermons in Nahuatl for the Sundays and feast days of the year, a collection of native literary and religious texts the Huehuetlatolli , a book of Christian hymns in Nahuatl, calendrical studies, linguistic studies, a book of daily devotional exercises, the native perspective on the Spanish Conquest, and multiple versions of his "general history. In the final chapter of this work, Leon-Portilla assesses Sahagun's scholarly legacy.
Dos estudios:"Las comidas de los antiguos mexicanos" y "Consideraciones sobre la medicina azteca"--IV. Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl. Manuel Orozco y Berra. Los cantares a los dioses. La orfebreris, el arte de trabajar las piedras preciosas y de hacer ornamentos de pluma. Scandate Scanner ttscribe3. UK Medical Heritage Library. The Medical Heritage Library. European Libraries.
A short summary of this paper. Download Download PDF. Translate PDF. Spanish mis- sionaries had also built schools for young Aztecs and had undertaken the preparation of a Nahuatl grammar in order Bernardino de Sahagun was a Spanish Franciscan friar who to learn and speak the language of the people.
In the first arrived in Mexico in and spent fifty years seeking out five years of his time in Mexico, Sahagun was a resident of Mexicans who could either write or dictate Aztec legends several monasteries, including those at Tlamanalco and and myths in the Nahuatl language. His best-known work Xochimilco, before being assigned as a teacher at the Col- is the twelve-volume Historia general de las cosas de la lege of Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco in At the college, Nueva Espana ; General History of the Things of which was founded to instruct the sons of indigenous no- New Spain , a compilation of narratives.
A gifted linguist, Sahagun became fluent in the Spanish translation. The best-preserved manuscript of Nahuatl' language and made careful study of native reli- that work is held in the Laurentian Library of Florence, gious belief and culture; he also worked as missionary to Italy, and is referred to as the Florentine Codex.
It is per- the convents of Xochimilco, Huejotzingo, and Cholula, haps the most comprehensive ancl widely cited source con- and fulfilled various ecclesiastical duties in the Puebla, cerned with Aztec religious, linguistic, and philosophical Tula, Tepeapulco, and Michoacan regions.
From traditions. As a churchman, Sahagun was highly skeptical until his death, and with the help of several youths from of the success that some early Franciscans claimed in con- the Tlatelolco college, he gathered testimony and informa- verting Indians to Christianity. His lasting contribution tion on N ahua life and history-research that resulted in his is the preservation of information about pre-Hispanic Florentine Codex, Cantares Mexicanos ; Mexican Aztec culture from the indigenous viewpoint, an invaluable Songs and other important early works of cultural trans- source for scholars.
Only one of his writings was published in his life- time, the Psalmodia Christiana, a Nahuatl translation of the Psalms and a catechism that appeared in Sahagun died in at Tlatelolco. He probably studied Latin, theology, philoso- ish and Nahuatl, with accompanying pictorials. It was phy, and history while a student there, and would have been designed to aid Spanish missionaries evangelizing the Na- huas; the Franciscan order saw having precise knowledge exposed to ideas associated with Renaissance humanism, flourishing in Salamanca at the time.
In the s he be- of indigenous religion and customs as key to their effec- came a Franciscan friar; by the time he departed for the tiveness as missionaries. The Codex also includes infor- New World in he had been ordained a priest. Sahagun mation on social structure and natural history; the final arrived in central Mexico about ten years after the conquest volume.
Sahagun chose as his in- of the Aztec empire. The effort to eyangeJU,e among the indigenous people had begun six years earlier, after a group formants indigenous noblemen born before the Spanish of twelve Franciscan friars had arrived in New Spain. Saha- conquest of central Mexico. His scribes were graduates gun was a member of the third group of friars to arrive, of the Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, where he some twenty men, coming to port in Veracruz before jour- taught.
Sahagun also compiled a collection of Nahuatl neying over land to the area now known as Mexico City. Many of the ninety- Alcantara Rojas reviewed the context in Whi ,,.. Among Sahagun's other works is series of picture texts bara E. Mundy ; see Further Reading analyzed the that provide clues about how the Aztecs narrated the ex- Florentine Codex in the context of environmental studies ploits of their gods and the creation of the world.
Zinni tury with the rediscovery of the Florentine Codex and other manuscripts. This circulation of texts originated the first Academic Advisor: Mariana C. Zinni ' comprehensive and descriptive bio-bibliographical studies.
Pilar Maynez Vidal ; see Gospels]. Sermons Further Reading studied the linguistic aspects of Saha- gun's writings and also published a Calepino, or list of Santora! Devotional Nahua words used by the missionaries, along with their Postillas [Comments].
Sermon context and meaning. Cantares Mexicanos [Mexican Songs]. There are few monographs solely dedicated to Sahagun's Poetry work. Ethnography gy. Current studies, however, tend to conceptualize him as a cultural translator, studying his work as an interpretive ex- Memoriales en tres columnas o Segundo manuscrito de ercise between two cognitive systems.
Sermons knowledge. Mariana C. Zinni ; see Further Reading analyzed elements of the Florentine Codex as parts of a Memoriales con escolios [Memorials with Annotations]. Arte del la lengua Mexicana con su vocabulario apendiz Recent scholarship shows that Sahagun's work is fertile [Grammar of Mexican Language with Appendix].
Dictionary and grammar proaches and innovative criticism from the areas of animal Memoriales en Espanol [Memorials in Spanish]. Berenice MS. En lengua Mexicana y Espanola. Manual def Cristiano [Christian Handbook]. Sermon Spain. Translated and edited by Arthur J.
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