(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS) Packet of testimony on an alcalde from

Sale 2486 - Lot 490

Price Realized: $ 4,750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.) Packet of testimony on an alcalde from Oaxaca brought before the Inquisition. [21] manuscript pages, 12 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches, on 7 unbound sheets; stitch holes in margins, minor wear and dampstaining. Antequera, Oaxaca, 1594-96

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

A packet of testimony by 5 witnesses regarding Diego Sánchez de Chávez Ludueña, the alcalde of Antequera, who was under investigation by the Inquisition. Leading the investigation was Sancho Alzorriz, dean of the cathedral at Antequera. This testimony doesn't quite reveal what the charges were against Sanchez, but Alzorriz was known to be particularly ardent in prosecuting the possession of heretical books. The testimony here spans two years, but did little to confirm any suspicions against Sánchez. Undoubtedly to the frustration of Alzorriz, all of the witnesses vouched for the upstanding character and faith of Sánchez and his family going back to his conquistador grandfather. Many of the witnesses pointed out that he was appointed alcalde mayor solely on account of his merits and virtues. The worst they could dredge up about him was that he once gambled in a card game at a fellow nobleman's house, and that one of his relatives had been involved in a legal spat before the royal Audiencia.
Alzorriz made constant inquiries regarding the ancestry of Sánchez, and particularly whether he was descended from Muslims or Jews. Witness after witness affirmed the limpieza or "cleanliness" of Sánchez's lineage, which, they claimed, consisted solely of pure "old Christians" tracing back to Toledo, Spain. The documents give insight into the operations of the Mexican Inquisition during its first decades.