Diego Durán
Encyclopedia
Diego Durán was a Dominican
friar best known for his authorship of one of the earliest Western books on the history and culture of the Aztecs, The History of the Indies of New Spain, a book that was much criticized in his lifetime for helping the "heathen" maintain their culture.
Also known as the Durán Codex
, The History of the Indies of New Spain was published c. 1581. Durán also wrote Book of the Gods and Rites (1574–1576), and Ancient Calendar, (c. 1579) (Heyden, xxviii). He was fluent in Nahuatl
, the Aztec language, and was therefore able to consult natives and Aztec codices
as well as work done by earlier friars. His empathetic nature allowed him to gain the confidence of many native people who would not share their stories with Europeans, and was able to document many previously unknown folktales and legends that make his work unique.
. His family traveled to Mexico
when he was very young—he said later that “although I did not acquire my milk teeth in Texcoco, I got my second ones there.” (History Ch. I), It was in Texcoco where he learned Nahuatl. His family was not extravagantly wealthy, and they did not own an encomienda, but his relatives were fairly well off slave-owners.
When he was still young, his family moved to Mexico City
where he attended school and was exposed to Aztec
culture under the colonial rule of Spain
, as well as the many Africans brought by the Spanish for slavery. According to Heyden, Durán was often puzzled by the mix of races and cultures and their significance for social class (Heyden xxv-xxvi).
and was sent to Oaxaca
in 1561 after being trained in Mexico City
. He resided for a time at a convent
, or friary, in Oaxtepec
, and there he found many informants within the Church. He is believed to have been tutored by Fray Francisco de Aguilar
, who had been a soldier involved in the siege of Tenochtitlan
. Aguilar later joined the Dominican order, and had much to tell Durán about the Aztecs at first contact. He was cited frequently by Durán in his History.
Durán later became a vicar at a convent in Hueyapan
and it was there that he learned the most from the native Nahuatl Aztecs. The convents had been issued a decree by Charles V
to preach the Christian word to native rural villages and Durán ventured into the villages frequently to converse with the natives there. The clergy were to also observe native customs and to search for ancient documents. particularly the lost Holy Scriptures of Saint Thomas (who was believed to have been the basis for the Aztecs' Quetzalcoatl
. (Heyden xxvi-xxvii).
He developed a close association with the people he was attempting to convert, which led him to criticize the clerics and conquistadors who never learned the natives’ language, writing “they should know the language well and understand [the people] if they have any pretense of obtaining fruit.. And the clergy should not acquiesce by saying they know a little bit of the tongue in order to heard confession
and that is enough” (Book of the Gods and Rites) and scorns the Spaniards' crude use of the language that made the natives laugh and scoff at them.
Durán was torn between two worlds, that of his people, and that of the Aztec. On one hand, he respected them greatly and their government organization before conquest, and he grew to admire the people of Mexico, and often said so. On the other hand, he was repulsed by certain acts of his native informants, particularly human sacrifice. It was, after all, his duty to evangelize them and his Catholic
background gave him a great disdain for such things. Another of his duties was to document the cultural ways and practices of the native people to serve as a manual to other monks in their attempt to evangelize the so-called heathens. Although his purpose was to detail the “heathen practices” as a manual for other missionaries, he also wanted to make it pleasant to read and useful to others.
In 1585 Friar Diego returned to Mexico City in ill health to live and work in the Convent of St. Dominic there, as a translator from Nahuatl
to Spanish
for the Inquisition
. He died in 1588 of an unknown illness (Heyden, xxix).
, and includes a chronology of Aztec kings.
The friars of the sixteenth century borrowed one another’s material without citation. Some scholars believe that the Durán Codex formed the basis for the Ramirez Codex
although others believe that both Ramirez Codex
and the Durán Codex relied on an earlier unknown work referred to as "Chronicle X". In 1596, Durán was cited as a source by Fray Agustín Dávila Padilla
in his Historia de la fundación y discurso de la Provinciade Santiago de Mexico (Heyden xxx).
The Durán Codex was unpublished until the 19th century, when it was found in the Library of Madrid by José Fernando Ramírez. In his Ancient Calendar, Durán explains why his work would go so long without being published by saying “some persons (and they are not a few) say that my work will revive ancient customs and rites among the Indians”, to which he replied that the Indians were quite good at secretly preserving their own customs and needed no outside help.
Durán's work has become invaluable to archaeologists and others studying Mesoamerica
. Although there are few surviving Aztec codices
written before the Spanish conquest, the more numerous post-conquest codices and near-contemporary works such as Durán's are invaluable secondary sources for the interpretation of archaeological theories and evidence.
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
friar best known for his authorship of one of the earliest Western books on the history and culture of the Aztecs, The History of the Indies of New Spain, a book that was much criticized in his lifetime for helping the "heathen" maintain their culture.
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
, The History of the Indies of New Spain was published c. 1581. Durán also wrote Book of the Gods and Rites (1574–1576), and Ancient Calendar, (c. 1579) (Heyden, xxviii). He was fluent in Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
, the Aztec language, and was therefore able to consult natives and Aztec codices
Aztec codices
Aztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
as well as work done by earlier friars. His empathetic nature allowed him to gain the confidence of many native people who would not share their stories with Europeans, and was able to document many previously unknown folktales and legends that make his work unique.
Early life
Durán was born sometime around 1537 in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. His family traveled to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
when he was very young—he said later that “although I did not acquire my milk teeth in Texcoco, I got my second ones there.” (History Ch. I), It was in Texcoco where he learned Nahuatl. His family was not extravagantly wealthy, and they did not own an encomienda, but his relatives were fairly well off slave-owners.
When he was still young, his family moved to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
where he attended school and was exposed to Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
culture under the colonial rule of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, as well as the many Africans brought by the Spanish for slavery. According to Heyden, Durán was often puzzled by the mix of races and cultures and their significance for social class (Heyden xxv-xxvi).
Life within the Church
In 1556 he entered the Dominican OrderDominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
and was sent to Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
in 1561 after being trained in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. He resided for a time at a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
, or friary, in Oaxtepec
Oaxtepec
Oaxtepec is a town within the municipality of Yautepec in the northern part of the Mexican state of Morelos. Its main industry is tourism, mostly aimed at the inhabitants of nearby Mexico City, and the town possesses various aquatic resorts and hotels. The climate is tropical and the countryside...
, and there he found many informants within the Church. He is believed to have been tutored by Fray Francisco de Aguilar
Francisco de Aguilar (conquistador)
Francisco de Aguilar , born Alonso de Aguilar, was a Spanish conquistador who took part in the expedition led by Hernán Cortés that resulted in the conquest of the Aztec Empire and the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec state in the central Mexican plateau.He was granted an encomienda...
, who had been a soldier involved in the siege of Tenochtitlan
Siege of Tenochtitlan
The siege of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, came about in 1521 through the manipulation of local factions and divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés...
. Aguilar later joined the Dominican order, and had much to tell Durán about the Aztecs at first contact. He was cited frequently by Durán in his History.
Durán later became a vicar at a convent in Hueyapan
Hueyapan
Santo Domingo Hueyapan is a small town in the rural northeastern part of the Mexican state of Morelos, which belongs to the municipality of Tetela del Volcán. It lies at an elevation of ca 2000–2500 metres above sea level on the southern slopes of the active volcano Popocatépetl...
and it was there that he learned the most from the native Nahuatl Aztecs. The convents had been issued a decree by Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
to preach the Christian word to native rural villages and Durán ventured into the villages frequently to converse with the natives there. The clergy were to also observe native customs and to search for ancient documents. particularly the lost Holy Scriptures of Saint Thomas (who was believed to have been the basis for the Aztecs' Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
. (Heyden xxvi-xxvii).
He developed a close association with the people he was attempting to convert, which led him to criticize the clerics and conquistadors who never learned the natives’ language, writing “they should know the language well and understand [the people] if they have any pretense of obtaining fruit.. And the clergy should not acquiesce by saying they know a little bit of the tongue in order to heard confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
and that is enough” (Book of the Gods and Rites) and scorns the Spaniards' crude use of the language that made the natives laugh and scoff at them.
Durán was torn between two worlds, that of his people, and that of the Aztec. On one hand, he respected them greatly and their government organization before conquest, and he grew to admire the people of Mexico, and often said so. On the other hand, he was repulsed by certain acts of his native informants, particularly human sacrifice. It was, after all, his duty to evangelize them and his Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
background gave him a great disdain for such things. Another of his duties was to document the cultural ways and practices of the native people to serve as a manual to other monks in their attempt to evangelize the so-called heathens. Although his purpose was to detail the “heathen practices” as a manual for other missionaries, he also wanted to make it pleasant to read and useful to others.
In 1585 Friar Diego returned to Mexico City in ill health to live and work in the Convent of St. Dominic there, as a translator from Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
to Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
for the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
. He died in 1588 of an unknown illness (Heyden, xxix).
Literary works and influence
The History of the Indies of New Spain, sometimes referred to as the Durán Codex, contains seventy-eight chapters spanning from the Aztec creation story until after Spanish conquest of MexicoSpanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
, and includes a chronology of Aztec kings.
The friars of the sixteenth century borrowed one another’s material without citation. Some scholars believe that the Durán Codex formed the basis for the Ramirez Codex
Ramirez Codex
The Ramírez Codex is a post-conquest codex from the late 16th century entitled Relación del origen de los indios que hábitan esta Nueva España según sus Historias .Ascribed to Juan de Tovar, most scholars believe that he based this work on an...
although others believe that both Ramirez Codex
Ramirez Codex
The Ramírez Codex is a post-conquest codex from the late 16th century entitled Relación del origen de los indios que hábitan esta Nueva España según sus Historias .Ascribed to Juan de Tovar, most scholars believe that he based this work on an...
and the Durán Codex relied on an earlier unknown work referred to as "Chronicle X". In 1596, Durán was cited as a source by Fray Agustín Dávila Padilla
Agustín Dávila Padilla
Dávila Padilla was a Mexican Dominican, a writer and Bishop of Santo Domingo.-Life:At the age of sixteen he graduated at the University of Mexico as master of arts and soon after entered the Dominican Order...
in his Historia de la fundación y discurso de la Provinciade Santiago de Mexico (Heyden xxx).
The Durán Codex was unpublished until the 19th century, when it was found in the Library of Madrid by José Fernando Ramírez. In his Ancient Calendar, Durán explains why his work would go so long without being published by saying “some persons (and they are not a few) say that my work will revive ancient customs and rites among the Indians”, to which he replied that the Indians were quite good at secretly preserving their own customs and needed no outside help.
Durán's work has become invaluable to archaeologists and others studying Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. Although there are few surviving Aztec codices
Aztec codices
Aztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture....
written before the Spanish conquest, the more numerous post-conquest codices and near-contemporary works such as Durán's are invaluable secondary sources for the interpretation of archaeological theories and evidence.
Further reading
- Fray Diego Durán’s The History of the Indies of New Spain, translated, annotated and with introduction by Doris Heyden.