The Yanhuitlan and Sierra Codices at the Lafragua Library in Puebla

As some of you that have followed our blog may recall, in February last year, Estela and I went on a tour of XVII^th and XVIII^th Century Church Organs in the Upper Mixteca Region of Oaxaca, and during this trip, we experienced firsthand the breathtaking beauty of Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán.

 

Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán, Oaxaca

 

On May 15th, 2016, we recorded our findings in this blog, which included an introduction to the Yanhuitlán Codex.

 

Main historical reading room of the Lafragua

Library, BUAC, Puebla.

 

The double objective of this article is to first offer our followers a more extensive overview than that which we gave you in our article in May, 2016, to XVI^th Century Codices of New Spain in general, and specifically to the Yanhuitlan Codex, and in the process to induce more people to visit historical libraries in Mexico, such as this one, the Biblioteca Lafragua of Puebla, the Biblioteca Palafoxiana of Puebla, the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa of Oaxaca, the Biblioteca Franciscana of Cholula (Universidad de la Americas) as well as the Biblioteca de Tepotzotlán (Museo Nancioal del Virreinato).

 

Biblioteca Palafoxiana de Pueblaiqu

 

Many times we enter these temples of wisdom, we feel daunted, and as we contemplate the beautiful bookbinding, the intricate cabinetry of the bookshelves with their brass handles and fittings, and the shiny wooden reading tables with individual ornate table lamps, we shy away from a   more profound contact with the manuscripts, after uttering some simplistic manifestation of our admiration.

Penelope, an expert in antique books,

showing me some of the most

interesting rare editions from the

17th Century, part of the

collection of the Burgoa Library

in Oaxaca.

 

During this trip to Oaxaca, we became much more familiar with the Codices of the 16th Century, written partly in Nahuatl or Mixteco, partly in Spanish, and mostly with pictographs, which followed the Aztec drawing style in certain sections, while incorporating a more European style of drawing in other sections.

A collection of books from the 17th, 18th

and 19th centuries being catalogued

at the Lafragua Library, Puebla.

 

Eager to learn more about the Yanhuitlan Codex, we discovered it was no longer in Oaxaca, but in neighboring state Puebla, in a Library, dedicated to historical and dated books.

Estela and I were amazed by the quality of

preservation of the antique books,

at the Lafragua Library, Puebla.

This library is part of the BUAP (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla), in the Carolino Palace, a building that housed the Jesuit School until they were closed in decade of 1860, under the laws of the Reform, during the tenure of Benito Juarez.

One of the hallways of the area

of the Biblioteca Lafragua

reserved for researchers.

 

This Library is Biblioteca Lafragua, named after José Maria Lafragua (1813-1875), an important diplomat and writer during the Presidency of Benito Juarez, and who assisted in the foundation of Mexico's National Library.

 

Estela and I were received at the

Biblioteca Lafragua by its

director Mtra. Mercedes

Lourdes Salomon Salazar.

 

The collections of this library came from the Jesuit schools in Puebla, up until they were exiled from New Spain in 1767, under orders of King Carlos III of Spain.

 

Plate 1 of the Yanhuitlan Codex.

 

The Yanhuitlan Codex was created to commemorate the construction of the Church of Santo Domingo de Yanhuitlán, and the ending of a conflict between the Domingo de Guzman, the local Indian chief, Francisco de las Casas, the Spanish Encomendero or Landlord and the local community of Dominican priests.

Plate 2 of the Yanhuitlan Codex.

 

The Yanhuitlan Codex covers a period starting from 1544, when Domingo de Guzman was accused by the Inquisition, until 1560, when the Church was finished and he was acquitted.  

This illustration shows us that the

 native community gave tribute for

 the building of the Church.

 

The story contained in the Yanhuitlan Codex is fascinating and revealing of the reality of the Conquest of Mexico.

According to these glyphs,

the construction of the

church commenced on the

 day Jaguar 10, in the year

 Flint 2, or June 2nd, 1544.

 In Mixteco there is a inscription

 that is barely legible: 

"Holy Church of  Yanhuitlán".

 

The struggle of power between the native chief, the Spanish lord, and the priests is much more politically complicated than what we are led to believe in overly simplistic versions of history to which we have become accustomed, in which the Spanish conquerors continuously oppressed a homogenous and united native population.

The author of this codex represents

 the inquisition trial of Domingo de

Guzman, as the Dominican Friar

takes down notes of the testimonies

of the witnesses. The tonsure of the

the friars seemed to attract the

attentions of the natives.

 

To begin with, the people of Yanhuitlán had already been subject to Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance for almost a century, before the coming of the Spaniards. Therefore the military advances of Spanish troops in the Upper Mixteca Region met very little resistance during the Conquest, as the Mixtecos were more prone to accommodation to a changing political scenario, than to rebellion. 

The Spanish landlord or encomendero

Francisco de las Casas, playing cards

with a friend or possibly with his

own brother.

 

History is one thing, but fiction in something different. Fiction deals with a protagonist, and most of the time with an antagonist. Fiction requires an interesting plot, and a happy ending is always useful.

 

In history, we should not look for the good ruler or the bad ruler, but what leaders did or tried to accomplish, as we strive to understand the situation and the circumstances.

 Watching the Friar

are 10 Monkey and 7 Deer

(one of the two could have been

Domingo de Guzman,whose

pre-Christian name we ignore),

according to the glyphs.

 

Domingo of Guzman was accused in 1544 by the Inquisition of perpetuating idolatry among the natives even after their conversion to Christianity. The inquiry lasted for years, but Domingo continued in his charge as "cacique" or chief.  

 

Domingo de Guzman was actually in secret allegiance with the encomendero Francisco de las Casas, to exploit his own tribesmen, and both worked to discredit Dominicans and their efforts to defend the human and spiritual rights of the natives.  

Domingo de Guzman eventually resigned from his position as chief, in favor of his son, Gabriel. Gabriel had been educated by the Dominican Friars. Gabriel became cacique in 1558. 

The Friar in charge of the Inquisition

in conference with an important

ecclesiastical authority.

I underline the year: 1558: I find the timing to be curiously interesting: only months before Domingo's renunciation, the same scenario occurred in Europe: an impossibly uncomfortable position forced Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany to resign, and to cede powers, in favor of Phillip II of Spain, his son.  

 

For the native people of New Spain, Carlos I, was represented, first by Hernan Cortes, and later by the other authorities of Spain, as a ruler of almost divine qualities. What was a proper course of action for Carlos I, was good enough for Domingo of Guzman and his son Gabriel.  

A coincidence? I think not. Gabriel, illustrious students of the Dominicans, would have been lectured by these friars, on the realities of power in Spain and New Spain.

According to one interpretation,

this plate show the natives

prospecting for gold in a stream

near Yanhuitlán, under the armed

guard of Encomendero Francisco

de las Casas.  

Gabriel stayed in power as cacique for the next 33 years. In part thanks to his ability as chief benefactor of the Yanhuitlán Church and Monastery, one of the most splendid in New Spain during the 15th Century. 

 

Gabriel donated the land on which Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán was built. Gabriel provided the Dominicans with laborers and artisans to build and decorate this magnificent shrine. 

A tree is being chopped down

to provide wood to decorate

the Church of Yanhuitlan.

The symbols at the bottom

mean "400", a quantity.

Perhaps 400 trees were

cut down?

 

Estela and I felt deeply moved as Mercedes showed us the Yanhuitlan Codex, slide by slide. Together we were witnesses of a colossal clash between two worlds, and the eclipse of a civilization. 

 

 

 

It is difficult to comprehend the human pathos that Natives, Spaniards and Missionaries experienced in New Spain during the first decades after the conquests, but the Yanhuitlán Codex offers us a unique window to pear into that historical moment, and to understand it.

 

Here in the Yanhuitlan Codex

Gabriel, in company of two

translators, dialogs with the

Encomendero about the

Rosary. Gabriel, identified

here by the Glyph "7 Monkeys"

 as well as his fellow natives,

view the Rosary as the symbol

 of the Dominican Order.

The Yanhuitlán Codex is more than history. The drama affected individuals: their beliefs, their values, and their dynamics within their families.

 

For some, especially for younger people that lived always in New Spain after the Conquest the changes in life might have been seen as novel, and maybe as positive.

The size of the Rosary is disproportionate

to the physical reality, but possibly more

proportionate to the spiritual dimension.

For others, particularly the elder, the past might have seemed better.

Here are the two interpreters

or witnesses

 

This is the value of the Yanhuitlan Codex, and of history in general: when we study the past, it should help us put the predicaments of our present existence into perspective, granting us the courage to come to grips with the seemingly unfathomable  quandaries of our everyday paradigms.

In this drawing, the Church no

longer appears with the sidesteps

and the Glyph indicates the date

of the conclusion of edifice.

 

 The world of 16^th Century Codices in New Spain is fascinating, but sometimes the experience can be as baffling as trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle, with several missing pieces. As you look over the next few plates, the comparison with the jigsaw puzzles becomes progressively more understandable.

 

 

 

The Biblioteca Lafragua offers courses so that we can understand these codices better. It is a field in which I consider legitimate for you the viewer to make an educated guess or to construct a hypothesis of interpretation, of what the author was trying to communicate.

 

 

Another famous Codex of the Biblioteca Lafragua is the Sierra Codex. This codex is an accounting ledger from the 16^th Century in  Mixteco, Spanish and Glyphs.

 

The Sierra Codex ledger records the expenses incurred in building the Church of Santa Catalina de Texupam, some 15 miles north of Yanhuitlán, in the Upper Mixteca Region, from 1551 to 1564. Here the text is in Nahuatl. even a generation after the conquest, most of the trained administrators throughout New Spain were Aztecs, sons of Aztecs, or locals trained in administration during their youth in Tenochtitlan.

 

The Sierra Codex incorporates  several  colors,   whereas the Yanhuitlán Codex is only

Charcoal painted. The colors are the result of natural pigments, which 450 years later have not lost their glow nor beauty. The building of the Church of Saint Catherine was quite a burden on the community of Texupam, so they proudly recorded all the expenses incurred.

 

The pictographs in Sierra Codex conserve much more the classical style that we see in classical Glyphs in the pre-Conquest period, but the content is completely altered.

The great feast that the native community is preparing for is in honor of two revered persons, one represented with keys with a crown, another with a sword with a crown: The Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

 

The image of the broken wheel, emblem of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, is the symbol of the community of Texupam used throughout the Codex. Other major incidents in the life of the community of Texupam are likewise recorded, such as the raising of cattle and the cultivation of silk, both new activities, introduced by the Spanish.

 

 We were spellbound in this

beautiful but mysterious

library which opens windows

to Mexico's past.

While the Yanhuitlán Codex offers us a thrilling narration of a power struggle between Caciques, Encomenderos and Dominican friars, the Sierra Codex gives us a much more detailed account into the banalities of ordinary life in the Upper Mixteca, during the mid.16^th Century: the local pharmacist who needs money to buy medicine and olive oil in Mexico City, another messenger sent to buy40 yards of cloth, while still another is sent to buy wine and candles to celebrate mass.

The outside courtyard of the

Lafragua Library affords an

appropriate atmosphere of

tranquility, and a

splendid respite for

investigators of the collections.

 

 The fountains and the palm trees

are the jewels of the Carolino

Palace.