TOWARD AN IMAGE OF CREOLE SOCIETY IN NEW SPAIN: 1521-1610
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| Publicado en: | ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (1976) |
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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
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| Acceso en línea: | Citation/Abstract Full Text - PDF |
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| Resumen: | This study focuses on the self-image of the Creoles in New Spain during the sixteenth century and the first decade of the seventeenth century, as well as on the images this group generated in other colonial groups (royal officials, ecclesiastics, and Peninsular newcomers). The ecclesiastics and officials at first utilized the theories of the Spaniard's "bad" or "good" example in his actions toward the Indian during the Conquest and afterward primarily in the role of encomendero. Advocates of his "bad" example were more numerous up to mid-century. Thereafter, the attitudes and ideas about the Spaniard served as a basis to judge the total white population and the Creole in particular. The officials and ecclesiastics normally compared the Creole both favorably and negatively to the newly arrived Peninsular immigrant. Most officials found the Creole to be culturally and physically closer to the castes and Indians and hence inferior to the Peninsular. The ecclesiastics, on the other hand, were much more positive in their evaluation of the Creole as a result of the effective implementation of Tridentine reforms, the growing numbers of Creoles in the American Church, and the displacement and lessened authority of the regular clergy. The Peninsular immigrants who came to the colony after mid-century tended to cast colonial society and the Creole in an unflattering light. Such a depiction usually resulted from the Peninsular's inability to amass rapid wealth and penetrate the upper reaches of the colonial social hierarchy. The few individuals who made positive observations on colonial society and the Creole normally were satisfied with their socio-economic situation. When compared to the ecclesiastics' and officials' negative images of the Creole, those of the Peninsular were more severe and debasing. There are many similarities between the Creoles' self-image and vision of New Spain and the conquistadors' depiction of themselves and colonial society. The Creoles simply appropriated to themselves and expanded upon the conquerors' ideas and attitudes. One finds, for example, deep disillusionment, the defense of the out-moded encomienda, an attempt to justify the motives of the Conquest, a need to prove aristocratic legitimacy, hostility toward the newcomer from Spain, and the yearning for a return to the encomienda system as it had existed up to mid-century, represented by some authors as a type of Golden Age. The writings of both the conquistadors and the Creoles give evidence of the tensions which arose as each group faced displacement by the increasing numbers of Peninsular entrepreneurs who did not depend upon the encomienda for their financial security. Although they were numerically a minority of the Creole group at the end of the century, the descendants of the conquistadors account for the major portion of sources penned by the American-born, and thus their concerns and arguments were out-dated and not representative of the rest of the Creole group. As the seventeenth century advanced, the conquerors' heirs were effectively displaced and fell into disarray. This study terminates at 1610 in order to incorporate the considerable turn-of-the-century writings of the descendants of the conquistadors and encomenderos. These writings continued to reflect the concerns and ideas prevalent during the latter half of the sixteenth century. Moreover, breaking down New Spain's society into groups and analyzing the various images of the Creole help in comprehending Creole society as the sixteenth-century Creoles and their colonial commentators understood this society to be. |
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| ISBN: | 9798204064799 |
| Fuente: | ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global |