Primary Source Analysis (PSA) #2 If you are new to Canvas, review the Canvas Stu

Primary Source Analysis (PSA) #2

If you are new to Canvas, review the Canvas Student Guide Assignment Submissions Video

PSA: Spiritual Conquest

Overview: The Indigenous forces of Mesoamerica, along with their Spanish allies have defeated the rulership of the Mexica/Aztecs. The indigenous allies who took down the Mexica/Aztecs were put into power as there were more indigenous peoples than Spaniards. Despite the political conquest over the Mexica/Aztecs, the Spaniards now sought to eradicate their religious beliefs. For this PSA, we are reading all of the primary sources, using lecture, readings, and video clips to assist with the analysis, and answering the prompt question.

Prompt Question: Prompt: Was the Spiritual Conquest of Mexico successful and how did indigenous groups respond to it?

Instructions:

Use the lecture, readings, and videos to help you understand the historical context (the time and place of these events) of the primary sources, but base your prompt answer/argument and the bulk of your paper on information found in the required primary sources.
• Make sure to cite the primary sources using in-text citations, (Doc 1) for “Francisco de los Angeles, Orders Give to the Twelve” and (Doc 2) for Fray Jeronimo de Mendieta, “The Spiritual Conquest”, and for Santa Muerte, use (Art 1) for the first article and (Art 2) for the second article.

Consider the following questions when you are writing your essay. Who wrote the primary source and how did their social location (race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.) influence their writing and the argument they made in the primary source. There is always an argument of some kind in primary sources; some are more obvious than others.
• Make sure the paper submission is 2 pages in long (250 word count) and double-spaced.
• This is not a research paper, so no work cited page is needed and what is really important is your own analysis of the primary sources.

Required Primary Sources:

Doc 1: Francisco de los Angeles, Orders Give to the Twelve, 1523

“Wherefore, having knowledge of your good life and proof of your goodness, and having learned and known from your deeds that you are worthy of the banner of the King Of Glory, which you want to raise up in faraway places, and hold up and sustain, flourish and defend even unto death-therefore, confiding in the divine bounty, I send you to convert with words and example the people who do not know Jesus Christ Our Lord, who are held fast in the blindness of idolatry under the yoke of the satanic thrall, who live and dwell in the Indies which are commonly called Yucatan or New Spain or Tierra Firme. … And because you will for a long time endure such great hardships and continuous vigils and cares in carrying out and executing such a great commission and trust [converting the Mexica], do not let them weaken or exhaust your spirit, but rather find it realized and every day more renewed and more complete and fully availing itself of merit. … Go, therefore, my much beloved sons, with the blessing of your father, to carry out what I have commanded you; and armed with the shield of faith and with the breastplate of justice, with the blade of the spirit of salvation, with the helmet and lance of perseverance, struggle with that ancient serpent which seeks and hastens to lord himself over, and gain the victory over, the souls redeemed with the most precious Blood of Christ. And win them for that Christ in such a manner that among all Catholics an increase of faith, hope, and love may result; and to the perfidious infidels [Mexica] a road may be opened for them and pointed out; and the madness of heretical evil may fall apart and come to nothing; and the foolishness of the gentiles [Protestants] may be made manifest to them, and the light of the Catholic faith may shine forth in their hearts. And you shall receive the eternal kingdom.”

Excerpts taken from Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, 62-64

Doc 2: Fray Jeronimo de Mendieta,“The Spiritual Conquest” (1550s)

“Although on the one hand these servants of God were heartily content at seeing how the people attended their sermons and listened to their doctrine, on the other hand they suspected that the Indians might be attending church merely to comply superficially with the orders given them by their nobles in order to deceive the friars, and that this might not be a sincere movement by the people to seek the remedy for their souls by renouncing the worship of the idols. And the friars persuaded themselves that this was indeed the case, for they were told that, while in public the Indians no longer made their old sacrifices, which usually involved the killing of men, in the secret spaces of the hills and in fearful, remote places, and at night in the temples of the demons which were still standing, they continued to make their sacrifices, and in the temples they performed their old ceremonies, chants, and drunken celebrations…the friars agreed to begin destroying the temples [in 1525], and not to stop until they were all burned to the ground and the idols likewise destroyed and eradicated, even though in doing this they would place themselves in mortal danger…The friars took with them the children and young men they had raised and instructed, the sons of the Indian lords and nobles…and they also received help from the common people who were already converted and wanted to prove that they were confirmed in the faith. And this they ordered done at a time when those who might have opposed them were distracted by other things. And since in most cases they used fire, which burned rapidly, there could be no resistance. And so fell the walls…with voices of praise and shouts of joy from the faithful children, while those who remained outside the faith were frightened and stupefied, and the wings of their hearts (as they say) were broken at seeing their temples and gods brought down. Regarding this heroic exploit, some [conquistadors] wished to argue with the friars by saying, first, that it was a rash deed, for it might anger and incite the Indians who might kill them; and second, that they could not in good conscience do such damage to the buildings they destroyed, and to the clothing and finery and things that decorated the idols and the temples that now burned and were lost…The friars, however, were not afraid, first because they were not afraid of dying for the love of God…But then the infidels [Mexicas], seeing their principal temples laid waste, lost hear in the performance of their idolatry, and from that time forward the way was opened to demolish what remained of idolatry.”

(Excerpt taken from The Mexico Reader, 117-119)

Doc 3:

Santa Muerte

The following articles look at the interesting devotion to Santa Muerte (Saint Death) in Mexico. Though the articles are from the present they contain elements related to the Spiritual Conquest.

*Cult. Now, the term cult comes for the Latin cultus, meaning To Care For. Like Agriculture means Care For The Earth. For academics, we use this term for religious practitioners, so the Cult of Santa Muerte care for the saint by prayers and offerings.

Article 1: BBC News (Art 1)

This give a general overview of the Cult of Santa Muerte, from its historical roots in the worship of “Mictecacihuatl, an Aztec goddess who presided over a festival of death every August.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41804243

Article 2: Catholic News Agency (Art 2)

This article provides a different opinion of the veneration of Santa Muerte from the current Catholic Church and provides us with understanding of persistence of the Spiritual Conquest.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/34832/have-you-heard-of-saint-death-dont-pray-to-her