Source: Amy Notes (ID702)
Author: Howard, Amy (ID633)
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Compliment John Worth for repeating explanations (i.e. Castilla) so the reader doesn't have to scan
Compliment John Worth for repeating explanations (i.e. Castilla) so the reader doesn't have to scan back to figure out who/what he's referring to.
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Montiano's document #9: 1685 VISITATION OF GUALE AND MOCAMA-Worth's framework
Date Created: 2023-10-12 20:56:17
Source: The Struggle for the Georgia Coast (ID 129)
Author: Worth, John (ID 94)
Content_id: 4348
(Worth SGC) DOCUMENT 9: 1685 VISITATION OF GUALE AND MOCAMA INTRODUCTION In theory, every new governor in Spanish Florida of the 17th century was required to make an official inspection tour, or visitation, of all the mission provinces under his jurisdiction. While this rule might have resulted in an official visitation (with accompanying documentation) every six years, in practice such visitations were far more scattered, and only rarely conducted by the governor himself. Nevertheless, as the Florida colonial system developed, and particularly during the last half of the 17th century, governors routinely appointed an officer under their command to conduct visitations of the mission provinces, often dividing the western chain (Apalache and Timucua) and the northern chain (Guale and Mocama) between two individuals. Visitations were conducted with the express purpose of providing an opportunity for the airing of grievances by Indians living in the mission provinces against both Spaniards and fellow Indians alike. In this manner, excesses committed by provincial lieutenants and the soldiers in their garrisons, and even by individual Indian caciques, were to be related to the official visitor, who would either provide a solution or relate the grievance to the governor himself. Although under normal conditions the provincial lieutenant served as the local judiciary authority, during a visitation his position was temporarily suspended in favor of the visiting officer, who could then act independently of the lieutenant. In this way the Indians would theoretically feel free to lodge complaints against the lieutenant himself, who could be investigated or even arrested by the visiting officer. In practice, official visitations also served as an opportunity to lay down regulations and give specific instructions relating to the general management and government of the mission provinces by aboriginal leaders. Visiting officers often left a list of orders posted in the council house of each village, generally following the termination of the visit.(1) NOTE 1. The 1657 visitation of Apalachee by Governor Rebolledo was an exception to this practice, inasmuch as he seems do have composed the regulatory code to be posted at each mission prior to the beginning of the official visitation (Hann, 1986a). During the course of the official visitation of each mission town, a notary busily transcribed all the business being conducted in the council house, recording sometimes the names of aboriginal leaders, along with the various statements and complaints made by them. In this manner, a substantial amount of information with ethnographic value was documented during each visitation, and the transcripts of these proceedings are remarkably useful for anthropologists and historians. Perhaps one of the most important features of such visitations is the fact that each separate town within a mission province was individually visited, lending a level of detail not normally present within historical documentation. In this sense, visitations provide an important window into the internal composition and function of each mission town. The set of documents below represents one of the few original visitation records for the mission provinces of Guale and Mocama that are known to have survived to the present day. Indeed, following three visitations during the first decade of the 17th century, only three others predating the final destruction of Guale and Mocama in 1702 (Arguelles in 1677-1678, Pueyo in 1695,(2) NOTE 2. Full translations of these first two visitations have recently been published by John Hann (1993). and Zuniga y Cerda in 1701) have been located previously. The present visitation falls neatly between the first two, and precisely during the most turbulent years of the history of Guale and Mocama. More specifically, the Leturiondo visitation of 1685 occurred just a year after the final removal of Guale and Mocama missions south of the modern Georgia border, the penultimate stage in the retreat toward St. Augustine. In this sense, then, the following documents are quite informative regarding the details and impact of the process of migration. The original visitation record included the entire visitation of 1685, including all the mission provinces of Florida, starting with Apalachee, proceeding through Timucua, and ultimately concluding with Guale and Mocama. This bound notebook included some 113 folios of handwritten text, with only the last 20 being devoted to the visitation of Guale and Mocama. As can be seen on the final folio of the present extract, the 92 folios preceding those below must have contained a great deal of information regarding those provinces. Unfortunately, the 18th-century notary Francisco de Castilla decided to cut the original notebook apart, selecting only the portions dealing with Guale and Mocama for his purposes. While modern researchers are indeed fortunate that he did even this, one can only wonder what the Apalachee and Timucua visitations contained. Autos of visitation of the provinces of Guale and Mocama, comprising the caciques of the northern part reduced to our sacred Catholic faith, year of 1685.(3) NOTE 3. This page forms a title page for the 1685 visitation of Guale and Mocama, and was drafted by 18th-century notary Francisco de Castilla in order to serve as a cover for the original folios which he cut out of a bound notebook dating to 1685. The names which follow were extracted by Castilla from the original text, and thus are in some cases spelled differently than the original (perhaps due to errors in paleographic transcription). In the village of Santa Cruz Lorenzo Santiago, cacique of Santa Cruz. Marcos, cacique of Utista. Santiago, cacique of Pisocojolata. Manuel, cacique of Zamomo. Clara, cacica of Utinajica. Francisca, cacica of Hapofaye. In the village of Santa Maria Maria, cacica of Santa Catalina. Juan Chicasle, cacique of Santa Maria. Phelipe, cacique of Sapala. Elena, cacica of Satuache. In the village of San Phelipe Lucas, cacique of San Phelipe. Diego, cacique of Aleste. Benito, cacique of Talapo. Antonio, cacique of Ospogue. Marcos, cacique of Fascule. Tupiqui Don Joseph de la Cruz, tunaque of Tupiqui. In San Juan del Puerto Juan Luis, cacique of San Juan del Puerto. Alonso, cacique of Santa Lucia. Clemente, cacique of Hebalaza. Domingo, cacique of Chololo. [f.93](4) NOTE 4. Here begins the 17th-century visitation record, starting on folio 93 of the original bound notebook including in addition the visitations of Apalachee and Timucua. Serving as the cover sheet for the visitation of Guale and Mocama, this initial folio was drafted after the auto that follows on folio 94, inasmuch as a copy of the original commission to Sergeant Major Leturiondo was ordered to be made and attached to the front of the visitation record within the text of the second auto (see below). The Captain and Sergeant Major Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, governor and captain general of the city of St. Augustine, Florida, and its provinces for His Majesty... Auto... Notification of the Suspension of the Lieutenant... Notification, Acceptance, and Oath of the Interpreters... General Auto of the Visitation of Guale... Meeting in Santa Cruz... Visitation in Santa Cruz de San Buenaventura... Meeting in the Village of Santa Maria... Visitation of the Village of Santa Maria... Meeting in San Phelipe... Visitation of San Phelipe... Auto... Visitation and Meeting of the Principals and People of Tupiqui... Meeting in San Juan del Puerto... Visitation in San Juan del Puerto... Auto and Orders for Guale and Mocama... Auto(64) NOTE 64. The following auto officially reinstated Captain Arguelles as lieutenant of Guale and Mocama, commending him for his exemplary work (particularly as not one charge had been leveled at him during the visitation). Auto, Visitation, and Orders of Tholomato... Auto NOTE 68. The final portion of the 1685 Leturiondo visitation represents a sort of summary and explicitly served to draw the governor's attention to those folios in the visitation record that contained unfinished business which he would need to attend to. Coincidentally, it also provides some hint of the nature of the material contained in the previous 92 folios relating to Apalachee and Timucua provinces, left behind by 18th-century notary Francisco de Castilla. AN477 71. Here ends folio 113 of the Leturiondo visitation of 1685. The content of the final entry suggests that only one folio more (folio 114) may have been left behind by Castilla, perhaps due to deterioration (folio 113 is in poor shape).