Aztec Latin

The conquest of Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521 marked the decisive defeat of the Aztecs by the Spaniards and their indigenous allies. Hernan Cortes, who first gave the name of ‘New Spain’ to the areas of Mexico he claimed for the Spanish crown, was appointed Captain General of the territory by Charles V. But the monarchy soon moved to curtail Cortes’ power and assert its authority more directly by instituting the royal Audiencia, or high court, of Mexico.

Hernan Cortes, who first gave the name of ‘New Spain’ to the areas of Mexico he claimed for the Spanish crown, was appointed Captain General of the territory by Charles V. ref: CORTES, 'Tercera carta-relacion' (1522) [1866,272]: ‘desta Nueva-Espana del mar Oceano’.

Under its president, Nuno Beltran de Guzman, the first Audiencia of 1528 would turn out to be the most brutal government in New Spain’s history. The chief delegates imposed heavy taxes and labour on the natives, some of whom were enslaved or murdered; and missionary friars who objected to this conduct were threatened, and risked being tortured or killed. While Cortes had made some effort to protect the interests of the indigenous population, Guzman took advantage of his absence in Spain to defame him and persecute his supporters. Guzman’s agents also censored communications from the colony, to prevent news of this conduct from reaching higher authorities in the peninsula.

While Cortes had made some effort to protect the interests of the indigenous population, Guzman took advantage of his absence in Spain to defame him and persecute his supporters. 2 2 ref: Ricard 1933 [1966, 255-63]; Garcia Icazbalceta 1947 i, 27-89; ZUMARRAGA, 'Carta a su Majestad,' (1529) [1947 li, 182-7].

In the face of those challenges, Fray Julian Garces, the Dominican bishop of Tlaxcala, and Fray Juan de Zumarraga, the Franciscan bishop-elect of Mexico City, succeeded in sending a letter, in August of 1529, to an unnamed noble at the Spanish court. According to the chronicler Fray Geronimo de Mendieta, Zumarraga ensured that his correspondence escaped detection by entrusting it to a sailor from Vizcaya, who concealed it in a buoy. In the opening lines of the bishops’ letter to the courtier, a phrase from Virgil summed up their precarious situation: We see ourselves engulfed in so great an ocean of new events that wherever we turn our gaze we have lost the firmness and security of dry land; in the Poet’s words: ‘Coelum undique et undique pontus’ [‘Sky and ocean are on all sides’].4 Horace was quoted, too, and a verse of another Roman poet, Juvenal, was recalled to warn the reader about Gonzalo de Salazar, an ally of Guzman, who was at that point in Spain:5 He exceeds Demosthenes and Cicero in accomplishment and elegance, and says, pointing to his tongue, that if he were allowed to use it for an hour, coram Caesare Augusto, ‘nigra et in Candida vertet’ [in the presence of Caesar Augustus, ‘he would even argue that black is white’]. Even in such an urgent communication the two bishops were signalling their familiarity with Latin literature: a command of letters was at once an indication and instrument of power for statesmen and leading members of the church. Latin was used in tandem with vernacular writing in Spain’s new dominions, just as it was in Spain itself.6 While there was scant opportunity for scholarly patronage and little place for humanistic study for its own sake, forms of classical learning soon found new uses in colonial Mexico. Following a brief overview of earlier intellectual developments in Europe, this chapter will indicate the importance of Renaissance humanism for New Spain’s early history, showing how it served the very first missionary friars to reach Mexico in the 1520s, as well as Zumarraga, Garces, and other influential figures who soon came after them, all within the decade that began with the destruction of the Aztec capital. ref 4 GARCES and ZUMARRAGA, 'Carta... a un noble senor' (1529) [1947 iv, 99], quoting Virgil, Aeneid 3.193, a metaphor for disorientation or disorder: cf. Ovid, Trisha 1.2.23; Quintilian, Institutio oratorio Book 12, praef. 2; Jerome, Epistles 1.2; Hilary of Poitiers, De Trinitate 2.8. ref 5 The quotations from Horace, Ars poetica 25-6, 294 and Juvenal, Satires 3.30 (c£ Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.313-15) are embedded in the writers' own Latin phrases. Salazars persuasive powers were notorious: Garcia Icazbalceta 1947 i, 38-41,62-76.

6 According to Garcia Icazbalceta 1954, 20% (twenty-nine out of 143) of books printed in Mexico City during 1539-1600 were in Latin, as were 50% of scientific works published in Spain during the same period: cf. Lopez Pinero 1979, 124, and Kagan 1974, 31-61 on the relation between Latin and

I received photocopies of the first two chapters of this book from an organizer of this conference at Flagler, which I attended on 4/12-13/2025 via invitation of SAHS. Classical Learning in an Amerindian World: Conversions of Language in Mexico and Florida

Gmail Amy Howard <howardamyjo@gmail.com> Conference Preparation: Selected Reading from Aztec Latin and a TLS Book Review 2 messages Haser, Shelly <SHaser@flagler.edu> Mon, Apr 7, 2025 at 12:32 PM To: "Haser, Shelly" <SHaser@flagler.edu>, Katy Lockard <klockard@dosafl.com>, "Thweatt, Jeanine" <JThweatt@flagler.edu>, "Simpson, Alison M NFG NG FLARNG (USA)" <alison.m.simpson3.nfg@army.mil>, "Wylie, Keith" <KWylie@flagler.edu>, "Nicolaides, Nikita M" <Nicolaides835@flagler.edu>, "Pankowski, Zuzanna E" <Pankowski212@flagler.edu>, "Vigliotti, Jeanette" <JVigliotti@flagler.edu>, "broadwell@ufl.edu" <broadwell@ufl.edu>, "Bryant, Trevor" <TBryant@flagler.edu>, "duncanmacrae@berkeley.edu" <duncanmacrae@berkeley.edu>, "drmary6kateri@gmail.com" <drmary6kateri@gmail.com>, "amy@amyjohoward.com" <amy@amyjohoward.com>, "Rowe, Bradley" <BRowe@flagler.edu>, "jfschwaller@gmail.com" <jfschwaller@gmail.com>, "kenoverman1@gmail.com" <kenoverman1@gmail.com>, "Lee.a.newsom@gmail.com" <Lee.a.newsom@gmail.com>, "rlopez@friars.us" <rlopez@friars.us>, "jcrofm@gmail.com" <jcrofm@gmail.com>, "jf12kowa@siena.edu" <jf12kowa@siena.edu>, "drsparker@comcast.net" <drsparker@comcast.net>, Wayne Riggs <wayne.riggs@hastings.edu>, "likethemagician@gmail.com" <likethemagician@gmail.com>, "Young, John D" <JYoung1@flagler.edu>, "msiobhang@gmail.com" <msiobhang@gmail.com>, "Sweet, Katherine" <KSweet@flagler.edu>, "FoychadL@gmail.com" <FoychadL@gmail.com>, "robert.jackson@classicalcommons.org" <robert.jackson@classicalcommons.org>, "jcarter@jacksonvilleclassical.org" <jcarter@jacksonvilleclassical.org>, "cnorman@jacksonvilleclassical.org" <cnorman@jacksonvilleclassical.org>, "Johndgillespie23@gmail.com" <Johndgillespie23@gmail.com> Hello! Please see attachment. Selected Reading from Aztec Latin and a TLS Book Review. Best wishes, Timothy J. Johnson Craig and Audrey Thorn Distinguished Professor of Religion Flagler College johnsont@flagler.edu This email contains CONFIDENTIAL information intended only for the use of the addressee(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are hereby notified that any dissemination or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify us by reply email and delete this email from your records. Furthermore, the contents of this email do not necessarily represent official policy of Flagler College. aztec 2.pdf 10224K Haser, Shelly <SHaser@flagler.edu> Mon, Apr 7, 2025 at 12:36 PM To: "ap20@rice.edu" <ap20@rice.edu>, "ddwyer@siena.edu" <ddwyer@siena.edu>, "Lee, Lori" <LLee@flagler.edu>, "epj4416@gmail.com" <epj4416@gmail.com>, "jhingso@ju.edu" <jhingso@ju.edu>, "toniwallace7@gmail.com" <toniwallace7@gmail.com>, "jfschwaller@gmail.com" <jfschwaller@gmail.com>, "janetjor@att.net" <janetjor@att.net>, "Haser, Shelly" <SHaser@flagler.edu>, Katy Lockard <klockard@dosafl.com>, "Thweatt, Jeanine" <JThweatt@flagler.edu>, "Simpson, Alison M NFG NG FLARNG (USA)" <alison.m.simpson3.nfg@army.mil>, "Wylie, Keith" <KWylie@flagler.edu>, "Nicolaides, Nikita M" <Nicolaides835@flagler.edu>, "Pankowski, Zuzanna E" <Pankowski212@flagler.edu>, "Vigliotti, Jeanette" <JVigliotti@flagler.edu>, "broadwell@ufl.edu" <broadwell@ufl.edu>, "Bryant, Trevor" <TBryant@flagler.edu>, "duncanmacrae@berkeley.edu" <duncanmacrae@berkeley.edu>, "drmary6kateri@gmail.com" <drmary6kateri@gmail.com>, "amy@amyjohoward.com" <amy@amyjohoward.com>, "Rowe, Bradley" <BRowe@flagler.edu>, "kenoverman1@gmail.com" <kenoverman1@gmail.com>, "Lee.a.newsom@gmail.com" <Lee.a.newsom@gmail.com>, "rlopez@friars.us" <rlopez@friars.us>, "jcrofm@gmail.com" <jcrofm@gmail.com>, "jf12kowa@siena.edu" <jf12kowa@siena.edu>, "drsparker@comcast.net" <drsparker@comcast.net>, Wayne Riggs <wayne.riggs@hastings.edu>, "likethemagician@gmail.com" <likethemagician@gmail.com>, "Young, John D" <JYoung1@flagler.edu>, "msiobhang@gmail.com" <msiobhang@gmail.com>, "Sweet, Katherine" <KSweet@flagler.edu>, "FoychadL@gmail.com" <FoychadL@gmail.com>, "robert.jackson@classicalcommons.org" <robert.jackson@classicalcommons.org>, "jcarter@jacksonvilleclassical.org" <jcarter@jacksonvilleclassical.org>, "cnorman@jacksonvilleclassical.org" <cnorman@jacksonvilleclassical.org>, "Johndgillespie23@gmail.com" <Johndgillespie23@gmail.com> Cc: "johnsona25@gmail.com" <johnsona25@gmail.com>, "Johnson, Timothy" <JohnsonT@flagler.edu> Hello! Please see attachment - selected Reading from Aztec Latin and a TLS Book Review. [Quoted text hidden] aztec 2.pdf 10224K