(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS) Lawsuit between indigenous noblewomen

Sale 2546 - Lot 335

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(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.) Lawsuit between indigenous noblewomen over land in Cholula, including Nahuatl wills and testaments. 19 manuscript pages. Folio, 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, stitched; moderate worming. Cholula, 1632-95

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A lawsuit in which an indigenous noblewoman, María de San Pedro, alleged that her daughter-in-law, Josefa Angelina, was illegally occupying land never given to her. Josefa's late husband, María's son, was Antonio de Texada, a member of a high-ranking family that produced several governors of Cholula. The widowed Josefa argued that Texada's father had given them the lands in question upon their marriage, a claim María disputed. Two older Nahuatl wills and testaments from some of María's female ancestors, included in the lot along with their Spanish translations, were provided as evidence. Written in 1632 and 1669, the two wills trace the inheritance of lands and properties in the San Pedro lineage which would become intertwined with the Texada dynasty through marriage. Written testimony, along with a Nahuatl and Spanish receipt for the sale of said land, also meticulously describes the property in question. Notably, it included maguey fields, presumably for the production of pulque, which Josefa claimed she worked. As nearly all of the documents in the case are by and about women, it is a useful source for the study of indigenous women in colonial Mexico.