Bernardino de Sahagún
Encyclopedia
Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer
who participated in the Catholic evangelization
of colonial New Spain
(now Mexico
). Born in Sahagún
, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec
beliefs, culture and history. Though he primarily dedicated himself to the missionary
task, his extraordinary work documenting indigenous worldview and culture has earned him the title “the first anthropologist.” He also contributed to the description of the Aztec language Nahuatl
, into which he translated the Psalms
, the Gospels and a basic manual of religious education.
Bernardino is perhaps best known as the author of Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España (in English: General History of the Things of New Spain (hereinafter referred to as Historia General). The most famous extant manuscript of the Historia General is the Florentine Codex
. It consists of 2400 pages organized into twelve books with approximately 2,000 illustrations drawn by native artists using European techniques. The text in Spanish
and Nahuatl
documents the culture, religious cosmology
(worldview), ritual practices, society, economics, and history of the Aztec people. In the process of putting together the Historia general, Bernardino pioneered new methods for gathering ethnographic information and validating its accuracy. The Historia general has been called “one of the most remarkable accounts of a non-Western culture ever composed,” and Bernardino has been called the father of American ethnography
.
, where he was exposed to the currents of Renaissance
humanism
. During this period, the university at Salamanca was strongly influenced by Erasmus, and was a center for Spanish Franciscan
intellectual life. It was there that Bernadino joined the Order of Friars Minor or Franciscans. He was probably ordained around 1527.
Spanish conquistadores led by Hernán Cortez conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (on the site of present day Mexico City) in 1521, and Franciscan missionaries followed shortly thereafter. Bernardino was not in the first group of Friars to arrive in New Spain
. However, due to his academic and religious reputation, in 1529 he was recruited to leave for New Spain as a missionary. He would spend the next 61 years there.
, 1450-1700, European Catholic rulers took a great interest in the missionary evangelization of indigenous peoples encountered in newly discovered lands. In Catholic Spain and Portugal, the missionary project was funded by Catholic royalty under an agreement called the padroado
that had been brokered by the Pope
. Catholic missionary work was part of a broader project of conquest and colonization.
The decades after the Spanish conquest witnessed a dramatic transformation of indigenous culture, a transformation with a religious dimension that contributed to the creation of Mexican culture. People from both the Spanish and indigenous cultures held a wide range of opinions and views about what was happening in this transformation.
The evangelization of New Spain was led by Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian Friars. These religious orders established the Catholic Church in colonial New Spain, and directed it during most of the 16th Century. The Franciscans in particular were enthusiastic about the new land and its people.
Franciscan Friars who came to the New World were motivated by a desire to preach the Gospel to new peoples. During Many Franciscans were convinced that there was great religious meaning in the discovery and evangelization of these new peoples. They were astonished to discover these new peoples and their culture, and they thought that by preaching to them that they would bring about the return of Christ and the end of time, a set of beliefs called millenarianism
. Concurrently, many of the friars were discontent with the corruption of European society, including, at times, the leadership of the Catholic Church, and saw New Spain as the opportunity to revive the pure spirit of primitive Christianity.
During the first decades of the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, many indigenous people converted to Christianity, at least superficially. Inspired by their Franciscan spirituality and Catholic humanism, the friars organized the indigenous peoples into utopian communities. There were massive waves of indigenous peoples converting to Catholicism, as measured by hundreds of thousands of baptisms in massive evangelization centers set up by the friars.
In its initial stages, the colonial evangelization project appeared quite successful, despite the violence and extraordinary greed of the conquistadores. However, the indigenous people did not express their Christian faith the ways expected by the missionary friars. They still practiced their pre-European contact religious rituals and maintained their ancestral beliefs, much as they had for hundreds or thousands of years, while also participating in Catholic worship. The friars had disagreements over how best to approach this problem. They had disagreements about their mission, and how to determine success.
in 1536, in what is now Mexico City. The blending of Spanish and Indigenous cultures that fashioned what is now Mexico took place in the microcosm of the college at Tlatelolco.
It became a vehicle the recruitment of native men to the clergy and for evangelization, as well as a center for the study native languages, especially Nahuatl
. The college contributed to the establishment of Catholic Christianity in New Spain and became an important institution for cultural exchange. Bernardino taught Latin and other subjects during its initial years. Other friars taught grammar, history, religion, scripture, and philosophy. Native leaders were recruited to teach about native history and traditions, leading to controversy among colonial officials who were concerned with controlling the indigenous populations. During this period, Franciscans who affirmed the full humanity of Indigenous people were perceived as suspect by colonial officials, some of whom hinted that the Friars were endorsing idolatry. The friars had to be careful in pursuing and describing their interactions with indigenous people.
Bernardino was one of several friars at the school who would go on to write impressive accounts of indigenous life and culture.
Two notable products of the scholarship at the college are the first New World "herbal," and a map of what is now the Mexico City region. An "herbal" is a catalogue of plants and their uses, including descriptions and their medicinal applications. Such an herbal was written in Latin by Juan Badianus de la Cruz, an Aztec teacher at the college, perhaps with help from students or other teachers. In this document, the plants are drawn, named and presented according to the Aztec system of organization. The text describes where the plants grow and how herbal medicines can be made from them. This "herbal" may have been used to teach indigenous medicine at the college. The Mapa de Santa Cruz shows the urban areas, networks of roads and canals, pictures of activities such as fishing and farming, and the broader landscape context. The herbal and the map show the influence of both the Spanish and the Aztec cultures, and by their structure and style convey the blending of these cultures.
Bernardino was an exceptional linguist. He began his study of Nahuatl
while travelling across the Atlantic, learning from indigenous nobles who were returning to the New World from Spain, and would later be recognized as one of the Spaniards most proficient in this language. Most of his writings reflect his Catholic missionary interests, and were designed to help churchmen preach in Nahuatl, or translate the Bible into Nahuatl, or provide religious instruction to indigenous peoples.
His intellectual curiosity drew him, and his linguistic abilities allowed him, to learn more about the worldview of the Aztecs. Thus, Bernardino had the motivation, skills and disposition to study the people and their culture. He conducted field research in the indigenous language of Nahuatl. In 1547, he collected and wrote down huehuelatolli, Aztec formal orations given by elders for moral instruction, education of youth, and cultural construction of meaning. Between 1553 and 1555 he interviewed indigenous leaders in order to gain their perspective on the Conquest of Mexico
.
Perhaps as a result of these initial investigations, Bernardino grew increasingly skeptical of the authenticity of the mass conversions in Mexico. He thought that many if not most of the conversions were superficial. He also became concerned about the tendency of his fellow Franciscan missionaries to misunderstand basic elements of traditional Aztec religious beliefs and cosmology. Bernardino became convinced that only by mastering native languages and worldviews could missionaries be effective. He began informal studies of indigenous peoples, their beliefs and religious practices.
of New Spain, Fray Francisco de Toral
, commissioned him to write in Nahuatl about topics he considered useful for the missionary project. The provincial wanted Bernardino to formalize his study of native language and culture, so that he could share it with others. Bernardino now had a free hand to conduct his investigations. He actively conducted research for about twenty-five years, and spent the last fifteen or so editing, translating and copying. His field research activities can be grouped into an earlier period (1558–1561) and a later period (1561–1575).
The product of Bernardino’s early research is the text known as Primeros Memoriales
, which he would use as the basis for subsequently creating the larger Historia General. Bernardino conducted his research at Tepepolco, approximately 50 miles Northeast of Mexico City, near present day Hidalgo
. There he spent two years interviewing approximately a dozen village elders in Nahuatl, assisted by native graduates of the college at Tlatelolco. Bernardino questioned the elders regarding the religious rituals and calendar, family, economic and political customs, and natural history
. He interviewed them individually and in groups, and was thus able to evaluate the reliability of the information shared with him. His assistants spoke three languages (Nahuatl, Latin and Spanish), and actively participated in research and documentation, translation and interpretation, and they painted illustrations. Bernardino published their names, described their work, and gave them credit. The pictures in the Primeros Memoriales convey a blend of indigenous and European artistic elements and influences. Analysis of Bernardino's research activities in this earlier period indicates that he was developing and evaluating his own methods for gathering and verifying this information.
During the period 1561-1575 Bernardino was back in Tlatelolco. He interviewed and consulted more elders and cultural authorities. He edited his prior work. He expanded the scope of his earlier research, and further developed his interviewing methods. He recast his project along the lines of the medieval encyclopedias. These were not encyclopedias in the contemporary sense, and can be better described as worldbooks, for they attempt to provide a relatively complete presentation of knowledge about the world.
would formalize the methods of ethnography
as a scientific research strategy for documenting the beliefs, behavior, social roles and relationships, and worldview of another culture, and for explaining these factors with reference to the logic of that culture. Bernardino's research methods and his strategies for validating information provided by his informants are precursors of the methods and strategies of modern ethnography.
Bernardino systematically gathered knowledge from a range of diverse informants, including women, who were recognized as having knowledge of indigenous culture and tradition, and then compared the answers he had obtained from his various sources. Some passages in his writings appear to be transcriptions of informants' statements about religious beliefs, society or nature. Other passages clearly reflect a consistent set of questions presented to different informants with the aim of eliciting information on specific topics. Some passages reflect Bernardino’s own narration of events or commentary.
, which was established in Mexico in 1570.
Bernardino’s work was originally conducted only in Nahuatl. To fend off suspicion and criticism, he translated sections of it into Spanish, submitted it to some fellow Franciscans for their review, and sent it to the King of Spain with some Friars returning home. His last years were difficult, because the utopian idealism of the first Franciscans in New Spain was fading while Spanish colonial project continued as brutal and exploitive; millions of indigenous people died from repeated plagues. Some of his final writings disclose feelings of despair. The King of Spain replaced the religious orders with secular clergy, giving Friars a much smaller role in the Catholic life of the colony. The pro-indigenous approach of the Franciscans and Bernardino became marginalized with passing years. The use of the Nahuatl Bible was banned, reflecting the broader global retrenchment of Catholicism under the Council of Trent
. Bernardino’s Historia general was lost for about two centuries, until a scholar came across the Florentine Codex in a library in Florence, Italy. A scholarly community of historians, anthropologists, art historians, and linguists has been actively investigating Bernardino’s work, its subtleties and mysteries, for more than 200 years.
The Historica general is the product one of the most remarkable social science research projects ever conducted. It is not unique as a chronicle of encounters with the new world and its people, since many such chronicles were written. Rather, it stands out due to Bernardino’s effort to gather information about a foreign culture by resorting to perspectives from within that culture. "The scope of the Historia’s coverage of contact-period Central Mexico indigenous culture is remarkable, unmatched by any other sixteenth-century works that attempted to describe the native way of life.” Foremost in his own mind, Bernardino was a Franciscan missionary, but he may also rightfully claim the title as Father of American Ethnography.
Founded by Francis of Assisi
in the early 13th Century, the Franciscan Friars emphasized devotion to the Incarnation
, the humanity of Jesus Christ. Saint Francis himself developed and articulated this devotion based on his experiences of contemplative prayer in front the San Damiano Crucifix and the practice of compassion among lepers and social outcasts. Franciscan prayer includes the conscious remembering of the human life of Jesus and the active practice of care for the poor and marginalized.
Saint Francis’ intuitive approach was elaborated into a philosophical vision by subsequent Franciscan theologians, such as Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and John Duns Scotus, leading figures in the Franciscan intellectual tradition. The philosophy of Scotus is founded upon the primacy of the Incarnation, and may have been a particularly important influence on Bernardino, since Scotus’ philosophy was taught in Spain at this time. Scotus absorbed the intuitive insights of St. Francis of Assisi and his devotion to the coming of Jesus Christ as a human being, and expressed them in a broader vision of humanity.
A religious philosophical anthropology — a vision of humanity — may shape a missionary’s vision of human beings, and in turn the missionary's behavior on a cultural frontier. The pro-indigenous approach of the Franciscan missionaries in New Spain is consistent with the philosophy of Franciscan John Duns Scotus. In particular, he outlined a philosophical anthropology that reflects a Franciscan sprit. Several specific dimensions of Bernardino’s work (and that of other Franciscans in New Spain) reflect this philosophical anthropology. The native peoples had dignity and merited respect as human beings. The friars were, for the most part, deeply disturbed by how conquistadores abused the native peoples. In Bernardino’s collaborative approach, in which he consistently gave credit to his collaborators, we can perceive the Franciscan value of community. His work is anything but individualistic. In Bernardino’s five decades of research we perceive a Franciscan philosophy of knowledge in action. He was not content to speculate about these new peoples, but rather invested his life’s effort in meeting, interviewing, and interpreting them and their worldview as an expression of his faith.
He was not content to speculate about these new peoples, but rather invested his life’s effort in meeting, interviewing, and interpreting them and their worldview as an expression of his faith. He valued them. While others – in Europe and New Spain – were debating whether or not they were human and had souls, he was interviewing them, seeking to understand who they were, how they loved each other, what they believed, and how they made sense of the world. He fell in love with their culture. Even as he expressed disgust at their sacrifices and their “idolatries,” he spent five decades investigating Aztec culture.
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
who participated in the Catholic evangelization
Evangelization
Evangelization is that process in the Christian religion which seeks to spread the Gospel and the knowledge of the Gospel throughout the world. It can be defined as so:-The birth of Christian evangelization:...
of colonial New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
(now Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
). Born in Sahagún
Sahagún
Sahagún can refer to:*Sahagún, Spain, a town and monastery in Léon, Spain. Cradle of the Mudéjar architecture*Sahagún, Córdoba, the second town in population in Córdoba Department, Colombia, also called "The Cultural City of Cordoba"People...
, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
beliefs, culture and history. Though he primarily dedicated himself to the missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
task, his extraordinary work documenting indigenous worldview and culture has earned him the title “the first anthropologist.” He also contributed to the description of the Aztec language Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
, into which he translated the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, the Gospels and a basic manual of religious education.
Bernardino is perhaps best known as the author of Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España (in English: General History of the Things of New Spain (hereinafter referred to as Historia General). The most famous extant manuscript of the Historia General is the Florentine Codex
Florentine Codex
The Florentine Codex is the common name given to a 16th century ethnographic research project in Mesoamerica by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Bernardino originally titled it: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana...
. It consists of 2400 pages organized into twelve books with approximately 2,000 illustrations drawn by native artists using European techniques. The text in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
documents the culture, religious cosmology
Religious cosmology
A Religious cosmology is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition...
(worldview), ritual practices, society, economics, and history of the Aztec people. In the process of putting together the Historia general, Bernardino pioneered new methods for gathering ethnographic information and validating its accuracy. The Historia general has been called “one of the most remarkable accounts of a non-Western culture ever composed,” and Bernardino has been called the father of American ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
.
Bernardino's education in Spain
Fray Bernardino was born Bernardino de Rivera (Ribera, Ribeira) 1499 in Sahagún, Spain. He attended the University of SalamancaUniversity of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
, where he was exposed to the currents of Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
. During this period, the university at Salamanca was strongly influenced by Erasmus, and was a center for Spanish Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
intellectual life. It was there that Bernadino joined the Order of Friars Minor or Franciscans. He was probably ordained around 1527.
Spanish conquistadores led by Hernán Cortez conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (on the site of present day Mexico City) in 1521, and Franciscan missionaries followed shortly thereafter. Bernardino was not in the first group of Friars to arrive in New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
. However, due to his academic and religious reputation, in 1529 he was recruited to leave for New Spain as a missionary. He would spend the next 61 years there.
Evangelization of New Spain by Fransiscans and other missionaries
During the Age of DiscoveryAge of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations , was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with...
, 1450-1700, European Catholic rulers took a great interest in the missionary evangelization of indigenous peoples encountered in newly discovered lands. In Catholic Spain and Portugal, the missionary project was funded by Catholic royalty under an agreement called the padroado
Padroado
The Padroado , was an arrangement between the Holy See and the kingdom of Portugal, affirmed by a series of treaties, by which the Vatican delegated to the kings of Spain and Portugal the administration of the local Churches...
that had been brokered by the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. Catholic missionary work was part of a broader project of conquest and colonization.
The decades after the Spanish conquest witnessed a dramatic transformation of indigenous culture, a transformation with a religious dimension that contributed to the creation of Mexican culture. People from both the Spanish and indigenous cultures held a wide range of opinions and views about what was happening in this transformation.
The evangelization of New Spain was led by Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian Friars. These religious orders established the Catholic Church in colonial New Spain, and directed it during most of the 16th Century. The Franciscans in particular were enthusiastic about the new land and its people.
Franciscan Friars who came to the New World were motivated by a desire to preach the Gospel to new peoples. During Many Franciscans were convinced that there was great religious meaning in the discovery and evangelization of these new peoples. They were astonished to discover these new peoples and their culture, and they thought that by preaching to them that they would bring about the return of Christ and the end of time, a set of beliefs called millenarianism
Millenarianism
Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
. Concurrently, many of the friars were discontent with the corruption of European society, including, at times, the leadership of the Catholic Church, and saw New Spain as the opportunity to revive the pure spirit of primitive Christianity.
During the first decades of the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, many indigenous people converted to Christianity, at least superficially. Inspired by their Franciscan spirituality and Catholic humanism, the friars organized the indigenous peoples into utopian communities. There were massive waves of indigenous peoples converting to Catholicism, as measured by hundreds of thousands of baptisms in massive evangelization centers set up by the friars.
In its initial stages, the colonial evangelization project appeared quite successful, despite the violence and extraordinary greed of the conquistadores. However, the indigenous people did not express their Christian faith the ways expected by the missionary friars. They still practiced their pre-European contact religious rituals and maintained their ancestral beliefs, much as they had for hundreds or thousands of years, while also participating in Catholic worship. The friars had disagreements over how best to approach this problem. They had disagreements about their mission, and how to determine success.
Bernadino's work as an educator in connection with the college at Tlatelolco
Bernardino helped found the first European school of higher education in the Americas, which later served as a base for his own research activities: the Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de TlatelolcoColegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco
The Real Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, Mexico, was the first European school of higher learning in the Americas. The school was built by the Franciscan order on the initiative of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and Bishop Juan de Zumárraga on the site of an Aztec school, for the children of nobles...
in 1536, in what is now Mexico City. The blending of Spanish and Indigenous cultures that fashioned what is now Mexico took place in the microcosm of the college at Tlatelolco.
It became a vehicle the recruitment of native men to the clergy and for evangelization, as well as a center for the study native languages, especially Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
. The college contributed to the establishment of Catholic Christianity in New Spain and became an important institution for cultural exchange. Bernardino taught Latin and other subjects during its initial years. Other friars taught grammar, history, religion, scripture, and philosophy. Native leaders were recruited to teach about native history and traditions, leading to controversy among colonial officials who were concerned with controlling the indigenous populations. During this period, Franciscans who affirmed the full humanity of Indigenous people were perceived as suspect by colonial officials, some of whom hinted that the Friars were endorsing idolatry. The friars had to be careful in pursuing and describing their interactions with indigenous people.
Bernardino was one of several friars at the school who would go on to write impressive accounts of indigenous life and culture.
Two notable products of the scholarship at the college are the first New World "herbal," and a map of what is now the Mexico City region. An "herbal" is a catalogue of plants and their uses, including descriptions and their medicinal applications. Such an herbal was written in Latin by Juan Badianus de la Cruz, an Aztec teacher at the college, perhaps with help from students or other teachers. In this document, the plants are drawn, named and presented according to the Aztec system of organization. The text describes where the plants grow and how herbal medicines can be made from them. This "herbal" may have been used to teach indigenous medicine at the college. The Mapa de Santa Cruz shows the urban areas, networks of roads and canals, pictures of activities such as fishing and farming, and the broader landscape context. The herbal and the map show the influence of both the Spanish and the Aztec cultures, and by their structure and style convey the blending of these cultures.
Bernardino's work as a missionary
In addition to teaching, Bernardino spent several extended periods in rural areas evangelizing, leading religious services, and providing religious instruction. Bernardino was first and foremost a missionary, whose aim was to bring the peoples of the New World to the Catholic faith. He spent a great deal of time with the indigenous people, as a Catholic priest, a teacher, and a missionary in remote rural villages.Bernardino was an exceptional linguist. He began his study of Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
while travelling across the Atlantic, learning from indigenous nobles who were returning to the New World from Spain, and would later be recognized as one of the Spaniards most proficient in this language. Most of his writings reflect his Catholic missionary interests, and were designed to help churchmen preach in Nahuatl, or translate the Bible into Nahuatl, or provide religious instruction to indigenous peoples.
His intellectual curiosity drew him, and his linguistic abilities allowed him, to learn more about the worldview of the Aztecs. Thus, Bernardino had the motivation, skills and disposition to study the people and their culture. He conducted field research in the indigenous language of Nahuatl. In 1547, he collected and wrote down huehuelatolli, Aztec formal orations given by elders for moral instruction, education of youth, and cultural construction of meaning. Between 1553 and 1555 he interviewed indigenous leaders in order to gain their perspective on the Conquest of Mexico
Conquest
-Film and television:* Conquest , a 1937 film starring Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer* Conquest , directed by Lucio Fulci* Conquest , a 1998 British-Canadian film* Conquest , a History Channel series...
.
Perhaps as a result of these initial investigations, Bernardino grew increasingly skeptical of the authenticity of the mass conversions in Mexico. He thought that many if not most of the conversions were superficial. He also became concerned about the tendency of his fellow Franciscan missionaries to misunderstand basic elements of traditional Aztec religious beliefs and cosmology. Bernardino became convinced that only by mastering native languages and worldviews could missionaries be effective. He began informal studies of indigenous peoples, their beliefs and religious practices.
Bernardino's field research
After the fervor of the early mass conversions in Mexico had subsided, Franciscan missionaries came to realize that they needed a better understanding of indigenous peoples in order effectively to pursue their work. Bernardino’s life changed dramatically in 1558 when the new provincialProvincial superior
A Provincial Superior is a major superior of a religious order acting under the order's Superior General and exercising a general supervision over all the members of that order in a territorial division of the order called a province--similar to but not to be confused with an ecclesiastical...
of New Spain, Fray Francisco de Toral
Francisco de Toral
Francisco Toral was a Franciscan missionary in New Spain, and the first Bishop of Yucatán.As part of his effort to Christianize the Indians of New Spain, Toral learned to speak the Nahuatl and Popoloca languages, and compiled a dictionary and grammar of the latter...
, commissioned him to write in Nahuatl about topics he considered useful for the missionary project. The provincial wanted Bernardino to formalize his study of native language and culture, so that he could share it with others. Bernardino now had a free hand to conduct his investigations. He actively conducted research for about twenty-five years, and spent the last fifteen or so editing, translating and copying. His field research activities can be grouped into an earlier period (1558–1561) and a later period (1561–1575).
Primeros Memoriales
The Primeros Memoriales is an illustrated Nahuatl-language manuscript compiled by the Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún and his indigenous assistants in Tepepulco as the first part of his project to document pre-Columbian Nahua society, known as the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva...
, which he would use as the basis for subsequently creating the larger Historia General. Bernardino conducted his research at Tepepolco, approximately 50 miles Northeast of Mexico City, near present day Hidalgo
Hidalgo
Hidalgo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Hidalgo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 84 municipalities and its capital city is Pachuca de Soto....
. There he spent two years interviewing approximately a dozen village elders in Nahuatl, assisted by native graduates of the college at Tlatelolco. Bernardino questioned the elders regarding the religious rituals and calendar, family, economic and political customs, and natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. He interviewed them individually and in groups, and was thus able to evaluate the reliability of the information shared with him. His assistants spoke three languages (Nahuatl, Latin and Spanish), and actively participated in research and documentation, translation and interpretation, and they painted illustrations. Bernardino published their names, described their work, and gave them credit. The pictures in the Primeros Memoriales convey a blend of indigenous and European artistic elements and influences. Analysis of Bernardino's research activities in this earlier period indicates that he was developing and evaluating his own methods for gathering and verifying this information.
During the period 1561-1575 Bernardino was back in Tlatelolco. He interviewed and consulted more elders and cultural authorities. He edited his prior work. He expanded the scope of his earlier research, and further developed his interviewing methods. He recast his project along the lines of the medieval encyclopedias. These were not encyclopedias in the contemporary sense, and can be better described as worldbooks, for they attempt to provide a relatively complete presentation of knowledge about the world.
Bernardino's pioneering methodologies
Bernardino was among the first to develop methods and strategies for gathering and validating knowledge of indigenous New World cultures. Much later, the scientific discipline of anthropologyAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
would formalize the methods of ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
as a scientific research strategy for documenting the beliefs, behavior, social roles and relationships, and worldview of another culture, and for explaining these factors with reference to the logic of that culture. Bernardino's research methods and his strategies for validating information provided by his informants are precursors of the methods and strategies of modern ethnography.
Bernardino systematically gathered knowledge from a range of diverse informants, including women, who were recognized as having knowledge of indigenous culture and tradition, and then compared the answers he had obtained from his various sources. Some passages in his writings appear to be transcriptions of informants' statements about religious beliefs, society or nature. Other passages clearly reflect a consistent set of questions presented to different informants with the aim of eliciting information on specific topics. Some passages reflect Bernardino’s own narration of events or commentary.
Significance of Bernardino’s work
During the period in which Bernardino conducted his research, the conquering Spaniards were greatly outnumbered by the conquered Aztecs, and were concerned about the threat of a native uprising. Some colonial authorities perceived Bernardino's writings as potentially dangerous, since they lent credibility to native voices and perspectives. Bernardino was aware of the need to avoid running afoul of the InquisitionInquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
, which was established in Mexico in 1570.
Bernardino’s work was originally conducted only in Nahuatl. To fend off suspicion and criticism, he translated sections of it into Spanish, submitted it to some fellow Franciscans for their review, and sent it to the King of Spain with some Friars returning home. His last years were difficult, because the utopian idealism of the first Franciscans in New Spain was fading while Spanish colonial project continued as brutal and exploitive; millions of indigenous people died from repeated plagues. Some of his final writings disclose feelings of despair. The King of Spain replaced the religious orders with secular clergy, giving Friars a much smaller role in the Catholic life of the colony. The pro-indigenous approach of the Franciscans and Bernardino became marginalized with passing years. The use of the Nahuatl Bible was banned, reflecting the broader global retrenchment of Catholicism under the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
. Bernardino’s Historia general was lost for about two centuries, until a scholar came across the Florentine Codex in a library in Florence, Italy. A scholarly community of historians, anthropologists, art historians, and linguists has been actively investigating Bernardino’s work, its subtleties and mysteries, for more than 200 years.
The Historica general is the product one of the most remarkable social science research projects ever conducted. It is not unique as a chronicle of encounters with the new world and its people, since many such chronicles were written. Rather, it stands out due to Bernardino’s effort to gather information about a foreign culture by resorting to perspectives from within that culture. "The scope of the Historia’s coverage of contact-period Central Mexico indigenous culture is remarkable, unmatched by any other sixteenth-century works that attempted to describe the native way of life.” Foremost in his own mind, Bernardino was a Franciscan missionary, but he may also rightfully claim the title as Father of American Ethnography.
Bernardino as a Franciscan Friar
Bernardino has been described as a missionary, ethnographer, linguist, folklorist, Renaissance humanist, historian and pro-indigenous, and all of these he was. Scholars have explained these roles as emerging from his identity as a missionary priest, a participant in the Spanish evangelical fervor for converting newly discovered peoples, and as a part of the broader Franciscan millenarian project.Founded by Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
in the early 13th Century, the Franciscan Friars emphasized devotion to the Incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
, the humanity of Jesus Christ. Saint Francis himself developed and articulated this devotion based on his experiences of contemplative prayer in front the San Damiano Crucifix and the practice of compassion among lepers and social outcasts. Franciscan prayer includes the conscious remembering of the human life of Jesus and the active practice of care for the poor and marginalized.
Saint Francis’ intuitive approach was elaborated into a philosophical vision by subsequent Franciscan theologians, such as Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and John Duns Scotus, leading figures in the Franciscan intellectual tradition. The philosophy of Scotus is founded upon the primacy of the Incarnation, and may have been a particularly important influence on Bernardino, since Scotus’ philosophy was taught in Spain at this time. Scotus absorbed the intuitive insights of St. Francis of Assisi and his devotion to the coming of Jesus Christ as a human being, and expressed them in a broader vision of humanity.
A religious philosophical anthropology — a vision of humanity — may shape a missionary’s vision of human beings, and in turn the missionary's behavior on a cultural frontier. The pro-indigenous approach of the Franciscan missionaries in New Spain is consistent with the philosophy of Franciscan John Duns Scotus. In particular, he outlined a philosophical anthropology that reflects a Franciscan sprit. Several specific dimensions of Bernardino’s work (and that of other Franciscans in New Spain) reflect this philosophical anthropology. The native peoples had dignity and merited respect as human beings. The friars were, for the most part, deeply disturbed by how conquistadores abused the native peoples. In Bernardino’s collaborative approach, in which he consistently gave credit to his collaborators, we can perceive the Franciscan value of community. His work is anything but individualistic. In Bernardino’s five decades of research we perceive a Franciscan philosophy of knowledge in action. He was not content to speculate about these new peoples, but rather invested his life’s effort in meeting, interviewing, and interpreting them and their worldview as an expression of his faith.
He was not content to speculate about these new peoples, but rather invested his life’s effort in meeting, interviewing, and interpreting them and their worldview as an expression of his faith. He valued them. While others – in Europe and New Spain – were debating whether or not they were human and had souls, he was interviewing them, seeking to understand who they were, how they loved each other, what they believed, and how they made sense of the world. He fell in love with their culture. Even as he expressed disgust at their sacrifices and their “idolatries,” he spent five decades investigating Aztec culture.