The Nahuas After the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries 9780804765572

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The Nahuas After the Conquest

The Nahuas After the Conquest A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries

James Lockhart

Stanford University Press, Stanford, California

Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©1992 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

CIP data appear at the end of the book Published with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency

Original printing 1992 Last figure below indicates year of this printing: 02

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To the memory of Ned Lockhart and Bertha VanFossen Lockhart, my parents and to Arthur J. 0. Anderson

Contents

Abbreviations

I

Introduction Views of Postconquest Nahua History Uses of Language Some Dimensions and Attributes of the Book Debts and Affinities

2

Altepetl Basic Principles of Altepetl Organization Complex Altepetl The Sixteenth-Century Reorganization Town Government and Structure in the Later Colonial Period

3

Household Terminology and Constitution of the Household Complex The Vocabulary of Kinship Hints of Household Interaction

4

Social Differentiation Commoners Nobles, Lords, and Rulers General Changes in the Postconquest Era The Evolution of Naming Patterns The Persistence of an Upper Group

5

Land and Living Land Tenure at Contact Land in Postconquest Times Economic Life and Material Culture

XlV

I

2 5 9 12

I4 15 20 28 47 59 59 72

ss

94 96 102 110 117 130 qr

141 163 176

Contents

Vlll

6

Religious Life Religion and the Politics of the Altepetl The Church People Cofradfas The Church as Personal Property Saints The Question of Beliefs

7

203

206 210 218 229 235

251

Language Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 "Stage 4"

8

Ways of Writing Preconquest Writing The Introduction of Spanish-Style Writing Postconquest Pictographic Writing Alphabetic Writing From Pictographic to Alphabetic Preconquest Modes in Alphabetic Texts The Evolution of the Spanish Documentary Genres in Nahuatl

9

Forms of Expression Annals Songs Theater Titles A Glimpse at Art and Architecture

I 0

327 330 331 33 5 345 364 372

374 376

392 401 410

418

Conclusion The Stages Some Aspects of Organization in Nahua Culture The Nature of Cultural Interaction Perspectives

Appendix A. Four Nahuatl Documents Appendix B. Molina's Model Testament Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

455 468

Tables

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3·1 3·2 3·3 3·4 3·5 3·6 3·7 3·8 3·9 4·1 4·2 4·3 4·4 4·5 5·1

Postconquest Rulers of Tenochtitlan Officials of Coyoacan, r ss3 Officials of Tulancingo at Two Points in the Late Period Some Sets of Town Officials in the Late Period Witnesses to the Will of don Josef de la Cruz, Tlapitzahuayan, 1763 Delegation Sent to Represent Tepetlixpan in Tlalmanalco, 1724 House Complex of dona Felipa de Jesus, Soyatzingo, 1734 Distinctions in Kin Terminology by Gender of Reference Point Gender Distinctions by Referent Some Cross-Generational Projections and Symmetries Affinal Kin Terms Reciprocity in Terminology for Siblings of Spouse Consanguineal and Affinal Relationships at the Level of Aunt, Uncle, and Niece/Nephew Comparison of Nahuatl and Spanish Systems of Categorizing Siblings and Cousins Approximately Equivalent Terms in the Spanish and Nahuatl Categorization of Siblings and Cousins Some Nahua Social Categories Personal Names, Cuernavaca Region, ca. 153s-45 Personal Names, Culhuacan, ca. r 5 8o Typical Names of the Mature Colonial Period: Householders of Teopancaltitlan Tlatocapan, r659 Known Governors of Tepemaxalco, r 6o 5- r 8 r 3 Terms for Fractions of the Primary Unit in the Indigenous Measuring System

34 38

so so 51 52

69 74 74 76 77

78 79 83 83 95

120 121 128 137 144

Tables

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5·2 5·3 5·4 5·5 6.I

6.2 6.3 7·I 7·2 7·3 7·4 7·5

7·6 7·7 7·8 7·9 7.IO 7.II 7-I2 7·I3 7-I4 7·I5 7.I6 7·17 7.18 7-I9

Land Scattering: The Estate of Felix de Santiago, Calimaya, I738 Overview of Indigenous Land Tenure Categories Items Sold in Some Central Mexican Markets, Mid-16th Century Classes of Trade Groups in the Coyoacan Market, ca. I 5 50 Officers of the Cofradia of the Most Holy Sacrament of Tula, I632 and I64o Officers of the Cofradia of the Most Holy Sacrament of Tula, I667, I668, and I674 Contributions for the Church Organ, San Pablo Tepemaxalco, I 64 7 Early Nahuatl Descriptions of Spanish Introductions and Concepts The Early Complex Around "Tiequiquiztli," "Firearm" The Early Complex Around the Cart Early Compound Words Based on the Extension of "Ma~atl" ("Deer") to "Horse" Early Compound Words Based on the Extension of "Tepoztli" ("Copper, Metal for Useful Objects") to "Iron" and Other New Metals Uses of "Tepoztli" as "Iron" in the Meaning "Metal Device" Some Early Uses of "Caxtillan," "Castile," to Describe Spanish Introductions Terms for the Main European Domesticated Animals Early Terms for Spanish Musical Instruments Proportions of Loan Nouns in Various Categories Proportions of Loan Nouns in Artifact Categories Proportions of Loan Nouns in Categories to Designate Individuals Proportions of Loan Nouns from the Testaments of Culhuacan (ca. I 5 8o) in Various Categories Common Stage 2 Loans in Various Categories The Early Complex Around the Loanword "Cahuallo," "Horse" The Early Complex Around the Loanword "Vino," "Wine" The Spanish and Nahuatl Phonemic Inventories and Resulting Nahuatl Substitutions "-Oa" Verbs Attested in Nahuatl Texts Loan Particles Attested in Nahuatl Texts

151 I6I I87 I89 224 224 23 I 266 268 269 271

273 274 276 280 28I 286 287 288 290 29I 293 294 296 ]06

309

Tables 8.1 8.2 8.3 IO.I

The Roman Alphabetic Orthography of Nahuatl Comparison of the Spanish Alphabet and the Spanish-Based Nahuatl Alphabet, r6th Century Hypercorrect Letter Substitutions in Loanwords The Three Stages and Some of Their Implications

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336

3 37 341 428

Figures

Cellular Organization and Nucleation in a Hypothetical Altepetl Organization of Tlaxcala, Chalco, and Tenochtitlan 2.2 House Complex of Diego Juarez and Juliana de San Miguel, 3·1 Mexico City, I 58 5 House of Ana Justina, Mexico City, I 593 3·2 House Complex of dona Catalina de Sen a, Coyoacan, r 5 88 3·3 House Complex of Juan de San Pedro, Culhuacan, I 58 I 3·4 Evolution of a House Complex in Tlatelolco, I62o-69 3·5 House Complex of Baltasar Bautista, Mexico City, 1639 3·6 Two Standard Views of the Position of Lords in Relation to 4·I the Calpolli The Chronology of Spanish Contact Phenomena in Nahuatl 7·1 8.I Pictographic Techniques Pictographic Versions of Spanish Names 8.2 Text from the Codex Osuna, Illustrating Orthographic 8.3 Division into Phonological Phrases A Subregional Writing Tradition: Lines by Two Different 8.4 Hands, I746 Pages from the Otlazpan Codex 8.5 8.6 Page from the Codex Vergara Pictorial and Alphabetic Elements in the Historia Tolteca8.7 Chichimeca 8.8 Page from the Codex Aubin Land-Related Pictorials, Coyoacan, I55o's-6o's 8.9 8.Io Page from a Tulancingo Land Document, I645 8.II Some Pictures in a Set of Annals from Puebla, Late 17th Century 8.12 Year Signs in a Set of Annals from the Tlaxcalan Region, Early r8th Century 2.I

19 22 6I 62 63 64 65 67 Io8 324 329 332 340 343 344 347 349 352 354 356 358 359

Figures 8.r3 8.14 8.15

9.r Io.r

Illustration for a "Title": Mock(?) Confrontation Between Representatives of Soyatzingo and Neighbors Illustration for a "Title": The Leaders of Atlauhtla Paying Homage to Charles V Illustration for a "Title": Early Leaders of Soyatzingo/ Cihuatzinco Song Scroll and Stylized Bee in the Malinalco Frescoes Forms of Cellular-Modular Organization in the Nahua World

Xlll

36o 36 r 362 424 437

Abbreviations

AGN ANS AZ BC CA CAN CDC CFP

CH FC

GO HJ HTC MNAHAH Molina NAC NMY N&S RA TA

Archivo General de Ia Nacion, Mexico City The Art of Nahuatl Speech: The Bancroft Dialogues, ed. Karttunen and Lockhart Aztekischer Zensus, ed. Hinz et al. Beyond the Codices, by Anderson, Berdan, and Lockhart Codex Aubin (Historia de Ia naci6n mexicana, ed. Dibble) Colecci6n Antigua in MNAH AH Colecci6n de documentos sabre Coyoacan, ed. Carrasco and Monjaras-Ruiz "De Ia Cruz family papers," Tepemaxalco (Calimaya), MNAH AH, GO r86 Die Relationen Chimalpahin's zur Geschichte Mexico's, ed. Zimmermann Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, by Sahagun, tr. Anderson and Dibble Gomez de Orozco Collection in MNAH AH Hospital de Jesus, a section in AGN Historia tolteca-chichimeca, ed. Kirchhoff, Giiemes, and Reyes Garcia Archivo Historico of the Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City Vocabulario castellano y mexicano y mexicano y castellano, by fray Alonso de Molina (1571), 1970 edition Newberry Library, Ayer Collection Nahuatl in the Middle Years, by Karttunen and Lockhart Nahuas and Spaniards, by Lockhart Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions, by Ruiz de Alarcon, ed. Andrews and Hassig The Tlaxcalan Aetas, by Lockhart, Berdan, and Anderson

Abbreviations TC TCB TN UCLA TC ZM

Testaments of Culhuacan, ed. Cline and Leon-Portilla Tula Cofradia Book, in Lilly Library, Indiana University, section Latin American Mss.-Mexico Teatro ndhuatl, by Horcasitas UCLA Research Library Special Collections, Tulancingo Collection The annals of don Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Mexican ms. 212

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