Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
Encyclopedia
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (August 14, 1645 – August 22, 1700) was one of the first great intellectual
s born in the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain
. A polymath
and writer, he held many colonial government and academic positions.
in 1645 the youngest of eight siblings. He was related to the famous baroque poet Luis de Góngora
. He studied mathematics
and astronomy
under the direction of his father, a Peninsular who had been a tutor for the royal family in Spain
.
Sigüenza entered the Society of Jesus
as a novice
August 17, 1660, took simple vow
s August 15, 1662 at Tepotzotlán
, and left the society (or was expelled) in 1667 or 1669. On July 20, 1672, he was named to the chair of mathematics and exact sciences at the University of Mexico and was ordained a priest the following year. He was chaplain of the Hospital del Amor de Dios (now Academia de San Carlos) from 1682 until his death. He was well-known in the colony as a man of science. He was also a poet, non-fiction writer, historian
, philosopher, cartographer, and cosmographer. Such was his prestige that the French King Louis XIV tried to induce him to come to Paris
. He published his first poem in 1662. In 1671 he published an almanac. In 1693, he published El Mercurio Volante, the first newspaper
in New Spain.
In 1681 Sigüenza wrote the book "Philosophical Manifest Against the Comets" in which he tried to dismiss fears of impending superstitious predictions based from astrology; in the work he takes steps to separate the fields of astrology and astronomy. The jesuit Eusebio Kino
strongly criticized the texts written by Sigüenza because they were contradicting to established Catholic beliefs in the heavens. Sigüenza often cited authors like Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Kepler, and Brahe. In 1690 Sigüenza took an audacious move to defend his previous work by publishing "Libra Astronómica y Filosófica".
In 1690 Sigüenza published a pirate captivity narrative which has been considered Latin America's first novel, Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez. However, new archival evidence discovered by Fabio López-Lázaro proves that this incredible story of a Puerto Rican taken captive by English pirates off the Philippine Islands is a historical account, not a fictional one. The archival documents contain dozens of eyewitness accounts corroborating not only the existence of Alonso but also his capture in 1687, his life with pirates (most notably William Dampier
), his collaboration with them, and his return to Mexico in 1690, at which time Spanish colonial authorities suspected Alonso of piracy. The new archival evidence leaves no room to doubt that Sigüenza's key role in creating Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez was in editing Alonso's course narrative into a superior literary piece. It was commissioned by the Spanish administration during the war against Louis XIV to solidify Madrid's commitment to the struggle against French colonial rivals and their buccaneer collaborators but also to warn them about Spain's unreliable English and Dutch allies.
and the kings of Texcoco. In 1668, Sigüenza began the study of Aztec history and Toltec writing. On the death of Ixtlilxochitl he inherited the collection of documents, and devoted the later years of his life to the continuous study of Mexican history
. (For an account of what happened to these documents after the death of Sigüenza, see Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci
.)
) documenting the 1531 apparition of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe
that Luis Becerra Tanco claimed to have seen in the introduction to his 1666 defense of the apparition tradition.
Because of his association with these early documents, Sigüenza played a significant role in the development of the legend. He was a devotee of the Virgin, and wrote Parnassian poems to her as early as 1662. But his most lasting impact on the history of the apparition was his assertion that the Nican mopohua, the Nahuatl
-language rendition of the narrative, was written by Antonio Valeriano
, a conception that persists to this day. He further identified Fernando Alva de Ixtlilxochitl as the author of the Nican motecpana. This declaration was stimulated by Francisco de Florencia's Polestar of Mexico, which claimed that the original Nahuatl account had been written by Jerónimo de Mendieta.
In 1680, he was commissioned to design a triumphal arch
for the arrival of the new Viceroy, Cerda y Aragón.
Also during the 1680s, he wrote histories of Mexico that speculated that the Olmec
s had migrated to the New World
via Atlantis
and that Thomas the Apostle
had evangelized the natives shortly after the death of Christ.
.
In 1691, he prepared the first-ever map of all of New Spain. He also drew hydrologic maps of the Valley of Mexico
. In 1692 King Charles II
named him official geographer
for the colony. As royal geographer, he participated in the 1692 expedition to Pensacola Bay
, Florida
under command of Andrés de Pez
, to seek out defensible frontiers against French encroachment. He mapped Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the Mississippi
: in 1693, he described the terrain in Descripción del seno de Santa María de Galve, alias Panzacola, de la Mobila y del Río Misisipi.
When a Spanish attempt to colonize Pensacola Bay in 1698 was thwarted by the arrival of a French fleet, Sigüenza was blamed by the leader of the expedition, Andrés de Arriola, for inciting the French action. He successfully defended himself against these charges in 1699.
in the capital and many people were hungry. On June 8, 1692, a crowd gathered in front of the viceregal palace. They threw stones and set the archives on fire. Sigüenza saved most of the documents and some paintings, at the risk of his own life. This act preserved a considerable number of colonial Mexican documents that would otherwise have been lost. He later wrote an account of these events.
In November 1699, Sigüenza was named corregidor general (book examiner) for the Inquisition
. He died of a kidney
ailment in 1700 in the Hospital del Amor de Dios in Mexico City, where he had spent much of his career. He left his body to science, and his library to the Jesuit Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo. He also left a number of unpublished manuscripts, only fragments of which survived the Jesuit expulsion from the viceroyalty.
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s born in the Spanish viceroyalty of 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...
. A polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
and writer, he held many colonial government and academic positions.
Early career
Sigüenza was born in Mexico CityMexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
in 1645 the youngest of eight siblings. He was related to the famous baroque poet Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered to be the most prominent Spanish poets of their age. His style is characterized by what was called culteranismo, also known as Gongorism...
. He studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
under the direction of his father, a Peninsular who had been a tutor for the royal family in Spain
Spanish Royal Family
The Royal Family of the Kingdom of Spain consists of the current king, Juan Carlos, his spouse, Queen Sofia of Spain and their direct descendants. The Spanish royal family belongs to the House of Borbón...
.
Sigüenza entered the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
as a novice
Novice
A novice is a person or creature who is new to a field or activity. The term is most commonly applied in religion and sports.-Buddhism:In many Buddhist orders, a man or woman who intends to take ordination must first become a novice, adopting part of the monastic code indicated in the vinaya and...
August 17, 1660, took simple vow
Simple vow
In Roman Catholic canon law, a simple vow is any vow, public or private, individual or collective, concerned with an action or with abstaining from an action, if that vow has not been recognized by the Church as a solemn vow....
s August 15, 1662 at Tepotzotlán
Tepotzotlán
Tepotzotlán is a city and a municipality in the Mexico state of Mexico. It is located 115 km northeast of Mexico City about a 45-minute drive along the Mexico City-Querétaro at marker number 41. In Aztec times, the area was the center of a dominion that negotiated to keep most of its...
, and left the society (or was expelled) in 1667 or 1669. On July 20, 1672, he was named to the chair of mathematics and exact sciences at the University of Mexico and was ordained a priest the following year. He was chaplain of the Hospital del Amor de Dios (now Academia de San Carlos) from 1682 until his death. He was well-known in the colony as a man of science. He was also a poet, non-fiction writer, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, philosopher, cartographer, and cosmographer. Such was his prestige that the French King Louis XIV tried to induce him to come to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He published his first poem in 1662. In 1671 he published an almanac. In 1693, he published El Mercurio Volante, the first newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in New Spain.
In 1681 Sigüenza wrote the book "Philosophical Manifest Against the Comets" in which he tried to dismiss fears of impending superstitious predictions based from astrology; in the work he takes steps to separate the fields of astrology and astronomy. The jesuit Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta...
strongly criticized the texts written by Sigüenza because they were contradicting to established Catholic beliefs in the heavens. Sigüenza often cited authors like Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Kepler, and Brahe. In 1690 Sigüenza took an audacious move to defend his previous work by publishing "Libra Astronómica y Filosófica".
In 1690 Sigüenza published a pirate captivity narrative which has been considered Latin America's first novel, Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez. However, new archival evidence discovered by Fabio López-Lázaro proves that this incredible story of a Puerto Rican taken captive by English pirates off the Philippine Islands is a historical account, not a fictional one. The archival documents contain dozens of eyewitness accounts corroborating not only the existence of Alonso but also his capture in 1687, his life with pirates (most notably William Dampier
William Dampier
William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
), his collaboration with them, and his return to Mexico in 1690, at which time Spanish colonial authorities suspected Alonso of piracy. The new archival evidence leaves no room to doubt that Sigüenza's key role in creating Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez was in editing Alonso's course narrative into a superior literary piece. It was commissioned by the Spanish administration during the war against Louis XIV to solidify Madrid's commitment to the struggle against French colonial rivals and their buccaneer collaborators but also to warn them about Spain's unreliable English and Dutch allies.
The Ixtlilxochitl-Sigüenza-Boturini collection
At the hospital Sigüenza became a close friend of Juan de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, who put at his disposal a rich collection of documents of his ancestors, who included the historian Fernando de Alva Cortés IxtlilxochitlFernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl
Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl was a Novohispanic historian.-Life:A Castizo born between 1568 and 1580, Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl was a direct descendant of Ixtlilxochitl I and Ixtlilxochitl II, who had been tlatoque of Texcoco...
and the kings of Texcoco. In 1668, Sigüenza began the study of Aztec history and Toltec writing. On the death of Ixtlilxochitl he inherited the collection of documents, and devoted the later years of his life to the continuous study of Mexican history
History of Mexico
The history of Mexico, a country located in the southern portion of North America, covers a period of more than two millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago, the country produced complex indigenous civilizations before being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th Century.Since the...
. (For an account of what happened to these documents after the death of Sigüenza, see Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci
Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci
Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci was a historian, antiquary and ethnographer of New Spain, the Spanish Empire's colonial dominions in North America.-Early life:...
.)
The Virgin of Guadalupe
Among these documents was purported to be a "map" (codexAztec codices
Aztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
) documenting the 1531 apparition of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe , also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe is a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.According to tradition, on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady...
that Luis Becerra Tanco claimed to have seen in the introduction to his 1666 defense of the apparition tradition.
Because of his association with these early documents, Sigüenza played a significant role in the development of the legend. He was a devotee of the Virgin, and wrote Parnassian poems to her as early as 1662. But his most lasting impact on the history of the apparition was his assertion that the Nican mopohua, the 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...
-language rendition of the narrative, was written by Antonio Valeriano
Antonio Valeriano
Antonio Valeriano was a colonial Mexican, Nahua scholar and politician. He was an assistant to fray Bernardino de Sahagún in the compilation of the Florentine Codex, and served as judge-governor both of his home, Azcapotzalco, and of Tenochtitlan.-Question of authorship of the Nican Mopohua:The...
, a conception that persists to this day. He further identified Fernando Alva de Ixtlilxochitl as the author of the Nican motecpana. This declaration was stimulated by Francisco de Florencia's Polestar of Mexico, which claimed that the original Nahuatl account had been written by Jerónimo de Mendieta.
In 1680, he was commissioned to design a triumphal arch
Triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...
for the arrival of the new Viceroy, Cerda y Aragón.
Also during the 1680s, he wrote histories of Mexico that speculated that the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
s had migrated to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
via Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
and that Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
had evangelized the natives shortly after the death of Christ.
Teotihuacan
He was one of the first persons, during Spanish rule, to dig around the Pyramid of the Sun at TeotihuacanTeotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
.
Royal geographer
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
. In 1692 King Charles II
Charles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain and the ruler of large parts of Italy, the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies...
named him official geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
for the colony. As royal geographer, he participated in the 1692 expedition to Pensacola Bay
Pensacola Bay
Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle.The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensacola, Florida, and is about 13 miles long and 2.5 miles ...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
under command of Andrés de Pez
Andrés de Pez
Andrés de Pez y Malzarraga was a Spanish Naval commander and founder of Pensacola, Florida.-Life and career:Andrés de Pez was born into a naval tradition. His father and older brother were Spanish Naval captains...
, to seek out defensible frontiers against French encroachment. He mapped Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
: in 1693, he described the terrain in Descripción del seno de Santa María de Galve, alias Panzacola, de la Mobila y del Río Misisipi.
When a Spanish attempt to colonize Pensacola Bay in 1698 was thwarted by the arrival of a French fleet, Sigüenza was blamed by the leader of the expedition, Andrés de Arriola, for inciting the French action. He successfully defended himself against these charges in 1699.
Rescue of documents from the New Spain archives
In 1692, there was a severe drought in New Spain and a disease attacking wheat. This caused a severe shortage of food. Sigüenza was able to identify the cause of the wheat disease as a small insect called chiahuiztli. There was no maizeMaize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
in the capital and many people were hungry. On June 8, 1692, a crowd gathered in front of the viceregal palace. They threw stones and set the archives on fire. Sigüenza saved most of the documents and some paintings, at the risk of his own life. This act preserved a considerable number of colonial Mexican documents that would otherwise have been lost. He later wrote an account of these events.
Later career and death
In 1694, he retired from the University and apparently reentered the Jesuit Order.In November 1699, Sigüenza was named corregidor general (book examiner) for the Inquisition
Inquisition
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...
. He died of a kidney
Kidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
ailment in 1700 in the Hospital del Amor de Dios in Mexico City, where he had spent much of his career. He left his body to science, and his library to the Jesuit Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo. He also left a number of unpublished manuscripts, only fragments of which survived the Jesuit expulsion from the viceroyalty.
Works
- Oriental planeta evangélica, epopeya sacropanegyrica al apostol grande de las Indias S. Francisco Xavier (1662).
- Primavera indiana, poema sacrohistórico, idea de María Santíssima de Guadalupe (1662).
- Las Glorias de Queretaro (1668) (poem).
- Teatro de virtudes políticas que constituyen a un Príncipe (1680).
- Glorias de Querétaro en la Nueva Congregación Eclesiástica de María Santíssima de Guadalupe... y el sumptuoso templo (1680).
- Libra astronomica (1681).
- Manifiesto philosóphico contra los cometas despojados del imperio que tenían sobre los tímidos (1681).
- Triunfo parthénico que en glorias de María Santíssima... celebró la... Academia Mexicana (1683).
- Parayso Occidental, plantado y cultivado en su magnífico Real Convento de Jesüs María de México (1684).
- Piedad heroica de Don Hernando Cortés, Marqués del Valle (1689).
- Infortunios que Alonso Ramírez natural de la ciudad de S. Juan de Puerto Rico padeció... en poder de ingleses piratas (1690).
- Libra astronómica y philosóphica en que...examina... lo que a [Sigüenza's] Manifiesto... contra los Cometas... opuso el R.P. Eusebio Francisco Kino (1691).
- Relación de lo sucedido a la armada de Barloventoen la isla de Santo Domingo con la quelna del Guarico (1691).
- Trofeo de la justicia española en el castigo de la alevosía francesa (1691).
- Descripción del seno de Santa María de Galve, alias PanzacolaPensacolaPensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...
, de la Mobila y del Río MisisipiMississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
(1693). - Elogio fúnebre de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1695).