Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl

Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, often referred to only briefly Ixtlilxochitl (* about 1568 or about 1578 in Texcoco, † October 26, 1650 in Mexico City), was a mestizo historian in the early colonial Mexico.

Life

About his life very little is known. The year of birth is only about narrow, his parents were the Spaniards Juan de Peraleda and Ana Cortés, in turn daughter of the Spaniard Juan Grande and Cristina Francisca Verdugo, whose ancestry can be traced back to the rulers of Tenochtitlan and Texcoco. He had good access to the traditions of both dynasties, with that of Teztcoco lived in extreme poverty. Because of the ( small ) proportion of its Indian origin of the young Ixtlilxochitl the Colegio de Santa Cruz was able to visit in Tlatelolco, originally an excellent training ground for the children of the Indian aristocracy. As Ixtlilxochitl was about 20 years old, his family was able to take over the legacy of childless Cacica con Teotihuacán, however, which led to innumerable disputes where the young Ixtlilxochitl finally able to gain a juicio de amparo, a judicial protection letter. Ixtlilxochitl 1612 juez gobernador, one appointed by the Viceroy chief administrator in his hometown, a post in which he held in the following years in other places like Tlalmanalco and chalcopyrite. Since 1640 he was an interpreter in Juzgado de Indios, the Central Court of the Indian population. Ixtlilxochitl died on October 26 in 1650. Ixtlilxochitl was married to Antonio Rodríguez and had three children.

Works

Ixtlilxochitl written a number of historical works that overlap and complement each other partially in content and in chronological order.

Relaciones históricas ( Historical reports )

The first group of writings under the title Historical Reporting consists of several independent parts.

• Sumaria Relación de todas las cosas que han sucedido en la Nueva España y de muchas cosas que los tultecas alcanzaron y supieron ... ( Short Combined report on everything that has happened in New Spain and much of what have Toltekengeschaffen and knew ... ). This work consists of two major parts:

• Relación sucinta ... de la historia de Nueva España ( Short report on the history of New Spain ). The report consists of eleven numbered ( 2-12 ) and three fitted with Title concise chapters. Its content includes the ruler of Tula, and then follows the text mentioned above. The chapter titles are little more detail and give ua a genealogy of the rulers of Tenochtitlan, other small towns in the area and the Xochimilca.
• Compendio histórico ( Historical Compendium, the original title is missing), consisting of 13 chapters, starting with the Chichimeca, the Toltecs, the leader of the Colhuaca with Xolotl until the arrival of the Spaniards, as well as two attached documents colonial times.
• Sumaria relación de la historia general de esta Nueva España ( Summary report on the history of New Spain ). In this report it is not a structured representation that begins with a dedicatory letter to an unspecified highly placed person. The text begins with the Native American creation story, but soon changes to the Toltecs, where it is limited as well as citing the names of rulers name. It also follows here under Xolotl immigration and the transition to the dynastic history of Acolhuacan, where everything is seen in a broader perspective, which includes the neighboring ethnic groups and provinces, and ends in the first years after the conquest.

Historia de la nación Chichimeca (History of Chichimec Nation)

Here is the most extensive and best- conducted representation that extends into 95 chapters of the creation of the world to a very detailed description of the arrival of the Spaniards and the subjugation of war. The report breaks off in the final stages of the battle for Tenochtitlan in mid-sentence.

Other works

Mention may be made still more written information in Spanish Versdichtungen.

Manuscript history

It is known that they reached Ixtlilxochitls death into the possession of the Mexican Carlos Siguenza y Góngora polymath, whence came the collection in the Jesuit College of San Pedro y San Pablo. Here, several copies were made, of which the numerous known today copies were made, which are located in the U.S. and in Paris. The original manuscripts were in 1983 as Volume 1 and 2 of a three-volume collection of manuscripts discovered ( Volume 3 contains texts of the Indian historian Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñon Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin ) in the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, now in the Cambridge University Library. The remarkably intricate history of the manuscript has been briefly summarized by Susan Schroeder.

Sources and representation

Ixtlilxochitl had access to informants and manuscripts by his kinship connections and political posts. Some of the informants are known by name: Lucas Cortés Calanta ( from a village near Tototepec ), Jacobo de Mondoza Tlaltecatzin ( from Tepepulco ), Gabriel de Segovia Acapipiotzin, another of Tlatelolco, Francisco Ximénez ( señor of Huexotla ), Alfonso Azhuezcatocatzin and more. He also used written documents such as the Relación de Tezcoco by Juan Bautista Pomar. Ixtlilochitl also drawn on pictures, written documents, mainly due to the existing of a dozen cartographic - historical accounts Codex Xolotl. Since he mostly stood no sufficient additional information for interpreting available, he adorned the story from verbal. How different representations ( and names) show in several of his works, his errors are repeatedly undermined. Additional pictures written sources ( with glosses in Náhuatl ) include Mapa Mapa Quinatzin and Tlotzin.

The aim of the historical works Ixtlilxóchitls was the equivalence of Indian history to prove that of Europe. Within this project he was anxious to assert the glory and the political weight of the prehispanic ruler of Texcoco. In his work Ixtlilxochitl was undoubtedly influenced by contemporary historical works of the European tradition, by beating their topoi over again. Nevertheless, it is in his works, one of the main sources of the Toltec and Chichimec history, but also - if you subtract the glorification - the ruling family of Texcoco.