Lot 409

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Description:

Hernan Cortes
San Antonio Atlacomulco, ca. 1768
Hernán Cortés Sugar Plantation's Parish Record, Listing Numerous Slaves
Books
A fascinating manuscript record for the church of Santa Madre in San Antonio Atlacomulco, Mexico, one of the first sugar plantations in Mexico and established by the noted conquistador Hernán Cortés. This book is dated 1768 and contains 100pp. of parish members of the church of San Antonio Atlacomulco, divided into sections based on the class, ethnicity, or area in which the parishioner lives. Leather-bound, 8vo. (6" x 8"), with gilt accents at cover and spine, and two embroidered loops which wrap around the right-hand page edge and secure around a bead, keeping the book closed. Cover bears moderate but expected wear, while the interior pages display remarkable calligraphic entries, all neatly penned and very legible, with many decorative calligraphic flourishes added. One bead of the closure is missing, otherwise this unique book is in very good condition and absolutely worth of further research!

On the first free endpaper, the registry is titled in Spanish "General Registration of all the persons obligated to the annual [record] of our Holy Mother Church: which, is commanded by the mandate for the [?] Franco Antonio Lorenzana, of the council of His Majesty and Archbishop of Mexico…Formed and prepared before your Lady Hustrisima [?] EL D.D. [Priest and Judge] Manuel Omanna Sotomayor as it relates to his Faithfulness, and Parish of Cuernavaca, Year of 1768." On verso of the page it reads: "Note. The persons who carry the sign [of a cross] are in compliance with the church," relating to the addition of a stylized cross at the end of their entry and indicating that they are in good standing.

Of particular note in this ledger are the sections which identify parishioners as "Esclaves" (slaves) "Mestizos" (mixed race) and "Mulatos" (half black African and half Caucasian). The "Espanol [Spaniards], Mestizos and Mulatos" section includes parishioners from the Villa de Cueravaca region and comprises 32pp with hundreds of names and family members and marital status. Other areas include Amanalco; "San Antonio Altacomulco Dista un Legua," which names both male and female slaves and workers of local ranches, including freed and indentured, as well as children; and finally many pages listing parishioners via regions, with marital class noted. At the conclusion of the registry, Manuel de Omana y Sotomayor, the Priest and Judge of Cuernavaca and surrounding villages, confirms that the information presented is accurate and correct.

San Antonio Atlacomulco was established by Cortes in 1530, and lies south of Cuernavaca in state of Morales. Cortés had already been dubbed "Lord and Captain of New Spain and the South Sea," and his conquests of Cuba and other tropical areas were well known. As a reward for his conquests in Mexico, Charles V of Spain honored him with the title of "Marques del Valle de Oaxaca" and awarded him the patronage and rights over vast land holdings which would become a significant sugar plantation, San Antonio Altacomulco. The King's gift also included a grand European-style hacienda and 23,000 slaves. As with almost all colonial conquests, evangelicalism was harnessed to the yoke of exploitation, and Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries from Spain played a key role in the brutal expropriation of lands from the Indians and the expansion of Spanish power. Consequently, there wasn't a single hacienda without a Christian church. Atlacomulco was no exception, and the meticulous record-keeping as evinced in this lot is entirely consistent with European Christian practices.

The system of slavery in San Antonio Atlacomulco was regulated by the Spanish government in which laws were issued to protect the rights of slaves. Unsurprisingly, these laws were often overlooked by slaveholders, eager to maximize their profits and prone to mistreating those individuals whose disobeyance threatened that goal. The system of slavery also played a major role in the economy of the bustling city of San Antonio Atlacomulco, providing a steady stream of income from the city's elites who depended on slave labor to maintain and increase their wealth and power.

San Antonio Atlacomulco and its Hacienda were initially built in 1530, and by the eighteenth-century was one of the largest sugar plantations in Mexico. Therefore, its history is inexorably and intimately linked to the history European colonial settlement in tropical and subtropical areas. It appears that the Cortes plantation produced "clayed" sugar and molasses, as well as tanned cowhides and sheep pelts for the European market until the nineteenth century. It relied on the use of black African slaves, which created further ties to Europe and one of the largest migrations of Africans to Mexico. By the nineteenth century, the then-modernized sugar plantation was held by descendants of Cortés, who lost the property and its acreage during the Mexican Revolution.

Today, all that remains of this once-mighty center of colonial conquest is the Hacienda itself, now a hotel and spa.

Franco Antonio Lorenzana (1722-1804) was a Catholic cardinal who earlier had served as Archibishop of Mexico. Manuel de Omaña y Sotomayor (1735-1796) was a Spanish Catholic cleric, best remembered for his religious writings late in his life.

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano (1485-1547) led the expedition that caused the destruction of the Aztec Empire and plundering of Mesoamerica, colonizing large portions of Mexico in the first phase of Spanish colonization.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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    Dimensions:
  • 6" x 8"
  • Artist Name:
  • Hernan Cortes
  • Medium:
  • Books

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