John F. Schwaller

Professor, Department of History, SUNY, Albany

Unto the third and fourth generation: The impact of the Spanish-Mexica War on mid-sixteenth-century New Spain

Abstract:

Among the more wide-ranging impacts of the Spanish invasion of Mexico were the social implications it had on the subsequent Spanish population. This essay will look at the creation of a social construct of heirs of the conquistadors who as a group came to occupy a particular and, some might say, outsized role in the life of the Spanish colony. The Spanish invasion came on the heels of the Reconquest of Spain. In that series of military engagements, a culture of service and reward developed whereby individuals would participate in the Reconquest and seek preference from the crown on the basis of their actions. In Spain, preference normally came as a result of contractual obligations between the crown and the military leaders fighting at their behest. This model was extended to the New World, first with Columbus himself. But the relative isolation of the New World from the crown required delegation of authority to local governors. Even that proved insufficient in the case of the Spanish invasion of the Mexica, since Cortés abrogated the authority that he had been given. He then sought, ex post facto, recognition from the crown for his actions. With this and other precedents, by the early sixteenth century Spaniards would seek preferential treatment after military and other service, on the basis of the earlier traditions. In addition, a series of laws and policies developed to better regulate the colonies and the grants of preference. The most important of these sought to limit the pernicious effects of the encomienda but had the additional effect of codifying preference. Thus, by mid-century, descendants of the conquerors looked back at a series of precedents and policies that created a system of preference for their social group. Using these precedents, they then petitioned the crown, via local representatives, for a wide range of distinctions. This essay will focus on the culture of preference as it emerged in sixteenth-century New Spain.

John F. Schwaller is Professor of History at the State University of New York at Albany and Editor of The Americas. He is known for his books on the secular clergy in early colonial Mexico, Nahuatl language manuscripts, the history of the Catholic Church in Latin America, and the landing of the Cortés expedition at Veracruz and the petition of the company to the crown. This work, The First Letter From New Spain (U. Texas), also includes biographical sketches of the members of the Cortés expedition. He has recently published The Fifteenth Month: Aztec History in the Rituals of Panquetzaliztli (U. Oklahoma). He assisted Stafford Poole on an English translation of a confessional manual written by the Third Provincial Council of Mexico in 1585. For many years he served as an academic administrator at various universities, including Florida Atlantic University (as Associate Dean), the University of Montana (as Associate Provost and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs), the University of Minnesota, Morris (as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean), and the State University of New York at Potsdam (as President). He is also the former Director of the Academy of American Franciscan History. In 1987, he founded the discussion list Nahuat-l, now part of the H-Net family of lists known as H-Nahuatl. Since 2010, he has also served as the editor of the discussion group H-Latam.