Fray Juan de Torquemada
| Juan de Torquemada | |
|---|---|
Fray Juan de Torquemada, from Lucas Alamán's Historia de la República Mexicana (1860)
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| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Order |
Franciscan (1579–1624) |
| Personal | |
| Born |
Juan |
| Died |
1 January 1624 (aged 61–62) |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Minister Provincial, Province of Santo Evangelio, México |
| Period in office | 1614-1617 |
| Successor | Juan López |
| Religious career | |
| Works | architect, engineer, historian |
| Ordination | c. 1587 |
Juan
c. 1562
Torquemada, Palencia,
1 January 1624 (aged 61–62)
convent of Tlatelolco,
Juan de Torquemada (c. 1562 – 1624) was a Franciscan friar, active as missionary in Spanish colonial Mexico and considered the "leading Franciscan chronicler of his generation." Administrator, engineer, architect and ethnographer, he is most famous for his monumental work commonly known as Monarquía indiana ("Indian Monarchy"), a survey of the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of New Spain together with an account of their conversion to Christianity, first published in Spain in 1615 and republished in 1723. Monarquia Indiana was the "prime text of Mexican history, and was destined to influence all subsequent chronicles until the twentieth century." It was used by later historians, the Franciscan Augustin de Vetancurt and most importantly by eighteenth-century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero. No English translation of this work has ever been published.
There are few firm biographical details concerning Juan de Torquemada, most of which have to be deduced from his own work. Even basic information is subject to uncertainty and controversy. Born at Torquemada, Palencia, north central Spain, at an unknown date before 1566 (Miguel León-Portilla argues in detail for 1562) he was brought by his parents to New Spain probably while still a child. He took the Franciscan habit, as is generally agreed, in 1579, and pursued a course of studies in Latin, theology, philosophy and Nahuatl. Brief notices in his own works put him at the convent in Tlacopan in 1582 and (while still a youth) at the convent in Chiauhtla - the presumption being that these relate to his novitiate. It is uncertain if he began his studies at the convento mayor de San Francisco in Mexico City, but it is presumed that part at least of his studies were conducted while resident at the convent of Santiago, Tlatelolco. Among his teachers he names fray Juan Bautista (who taught him theology) and Antonio Valeriano (who taught him Nahuatl and whom he especially praised for his talents). At some time in the early 1580s he was sent by his superiors to Guatemala where he encountered the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo. By 1584 he was certainly at the convent of San Francisco, where he assisted in the infirmary. The conjectured date of his priestly ordination is 1587 or 1588.
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