The Biographical Outlines of Individuals from Portuguese and Spanish America - Essay Example

?Aaron Last Institute The Biographical Outlines of a few individuals from Portuguese and Spanish America Damiana De Cunha: Damiana De Cunha hailed from the Caiapo tribe. The name Damiana De Cunha was given to her after the Caiapo tribe had given up their resistance efforts against the people of Vila Boa and made peace. Several of the Caiapo Children were baptized and the appointed governor of the people of Vila Boa, Luis De Cunha, was made their god-father. Both Damian and her brother were named in honor of their god father. Shortly after wards, some of the Caiapo went to settle in a newly created village, Maria Pilera, twelve miles of Vila Boa while Damiana went to live as a hostage in the governor’s family. In the short period following the return of the governor to Portugal in 1783, Damiana De Cunha’s life is a string of uncertain facts. It is speculated that she may have spent some time in the village of Sao Jose de Mossamedes as a “domestic indian” (Karasch 106). It is still not determined whether De Cunha spent her young adult life in Sao Hose or as an interpreter settled amongst her relatives at Maria Pilera. The population of Sao Jose at this time was dwindling due to disease and desertion and had to be relocated to be joined up with Sao Jose, the population of which had also diminished significantly, for more efficient administration of both villages. Damiana De Cunha had been married at some point and it is claimed, romantically so, that her first husband was a Portuguese soldier. Nothing is known about him, except that he died and left De Cunha widowed. Her second marriage was to a Brazilian and ex-corporal of the militia named Manual Periera da Cruz. Da Cruz may have been a poor mulatto, judging from the racial make-up of the captaincy and of Sao Jose. Damian De Cunha was a central figure in the Sao Hose community. In later years she appears to have become the chief Indian leader of the community overseeing its transition from a missionary outpost to a peasant village. She was a loyal supporter of the church and acted as a mediator between the villagers and the colonial and Brazilian states. Her death struck a tragic blow to the existence of the many villages, which began to disintegrate one after the other. The Villages were under the supervision of an intricate hierarchy of Portuguese servicemen, headed by the Chief Administrator of Vila Boa. The result of this long chain of command and the death of the Great Angrai-oxa was the exploitation of the Caiapo. They were made to work under the supervision of mulatto soldiers and in return were given small rations. Much of the harvested products and the goods gained in exchange for these products were raked off by officials at each level. Villagers who slacked off were severely punished. Consequently, the Caiapo were unhappy with the hard work and harsh restrictions, such as needing permission to leave their village. The very location of the village added to their frustrations as it was unsuitable for fishing or good hunting. Some of the Caiapo members escaped from the village to return to their cousins in the backlands. As Damiana De Cunha had been raised in a foreign manner and believed in the religion of her foreign masters, she was more concerned in keeping the structure of the village together rather then in leading a Caiapo revolution. Many of the Caiapo had returned to their old ways of violence and plunder. However, De Cunha undertook an expedition to the Sertao to persuade some of the Caiapo to return with her in 1808. She was successful in convincing about seventy of her fellow tribes-men. She was convinced that civilization and Christianity were the only means of redemption and salvation for the savage Caiapos who were succumbing to starvation and epidemics. In 1819, the then governor appointed her to undertake another expedition to convince more of the Caiapo to return, and De Cunha embarked on a three month long journey to the Sertao. In 1921, she as dispatched on another expedition as the Caiapo kept returning to rebellion and their old ways. The government lashed out against the resistors in violent ways, and it was this violence against her people that Damiana attempted to thwart. She persistently struggled to bring the Caiapo Indians towards Christianity and to assume a more peaceful, civilized way of living. In 1827, when a new governor, Miguel Lino De moraes, took over, many of the villages had been allowed to decay and Sao Jose was one of the few that still survived in the province. De Cunha was requested to go on another expedition to convince some of the Caiapo to return and settle peacefully with them as Christians. She returned with 100 Indians, two of them chiefs. In 1829, the Caiapo had renewed their attacks on the soldiers, and for the fifth and last time, Damian De Cunha, undertook the task of convincing the Caiapo Indians to give up their savage ways and accept the governor’s offer of peace and therefore avoid any violent punishment that could be inflicted upon them. This was a nine-month long expedition, and Damiana fell ill during this time, only to return to her village with great difficulty. She died a month later in February or March 1831. Antonio De Gouveia: Antonio De Gouveia was born in 1528 to family of Old Christians in Terceira. At the age of 20, he travelled to and settled in Lisbon, Portugal. Within two years he was appointed subdeacon there. He was soon promoted to Deacon and then was ordained to the holy priesthood in the chapel of Saint Anne. While there was no seminary in the Azores, he may have been tutored in theology by the local bishop or qualified priests from the diocese. He might have attended the University of Coimbra before 1553, the year he sailed to further his education in theology and medicine in Rome, and in medicine in Siena. During his stay in Italy, he visited Piedmont and perhaps Savoy and also served as a mercenary soldier. He appears to have been shipwrecked near Barcelona on his journey from Italy to Portugal and have lost all his belongings. In this state of despair, he turned to his knowledge of medicine to save him. He appears to have had some success with many of his patients, enough for him to earn a reputation for himself. Gouveia was intercepted by the Inquisition in Valladolid during his journey across Spain. He later confessed that the inquisitors did not approve of a priest who wore ‘clothing plaited with gold under the habit of a heretical Beguin’. They also found the book he used to refer to for his medical practices and many other objects associated with magic. However, the inquisitors may have decided that the case against him was not strong enough and hence released him on bail. He returned to Portugal shortly afterwards, where he applied for membership in the new Society of Jesus. In December 1555, he was received into the order and took the first three vows in the course of a year. He left a year later for inexplicable reasons. He later found residence in the noble household of Dona Isabel de Albuquerque, a sister of the donatary of the captaincy of Sao Vicente in Southern Brazil and ninth governor of India. His role in her household is unclear, but it is unlikely that he was the chaplain, because in this capacity he would have attended mass regularly. It is reported that the entire time he dwelled there, he only attended Mass three times. He appears to have acted in the capacity of a healer. However, he was soon denounced by a groom of the queen’s chamber to the Inquisition of Lisbon in 1557. He was arrested then on charges superstition, divination, witchcraft and dealing with the devil and placed behind bars. He was detained for four years as his judgment kept getting postponed. Many individuals, some from the queen’s household, came forth to testify against him and cited claims of Gouveia concerning astrology, alchemy, bizarre medical practices and the possession of several magic objects, but nothing of great consequence was brought forth. Despite this he was detained for four years, until he was finally charged with blasphemy, practicing medicine without permission and failing to observe many Christian rites. He was imprisoned in the College of the Doctrine of the Faith. Seven years later, in 1564, he attempted to escape, but changed his mind and turned himself in again. It was not long before the ecclesiastical authorities had decided to sentence him to the galleys for an indefinite period. He was subjected to very severe punishment in the form of forced labor. His health deteriorated. His matter was brought to the attention of a cardinal, who released him from the galleys and ordered him to leave Portugal and never return. He travelled to northern Europe. In France, his sojourn coincided with the beginning of the religious wars. He returned to Portugal and threw himself at the mercy of the Inquisition, begging for forgiveness and to be reinstated as priest, in return for which he would leave for his native Terceira and practice the religion of God. Though this was granted, Gouveia escaped to Alentejo while waiting for his ship to the Azores. The inquisitors soon got wind of this and as part of his punishment, handed him over to the Master of the ship Sao Mateus. He arrived in Salvador, where he would soon join the ranks of the Jesuits at the College of Jesus. The Bishop there applied for letters dismissorial in order to reinstate Gouveia’s position as a priest. While awaiting word, he authorized Gouveia to preach, celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments. However, Gouveia soon left for Olinda to get away from the misery of Bahia. Pernambuco, in contrast, was blooming in many ways. However, the Cacte Indians were inflicting great devastation on Pernambuco. There was a grave threat to the very existence of the captaincy, and because of this, the two sons of Duarte Coelho (who was the first donatary of Pernambuco and the founder of Olinda), Duarte Coelho de Albuquerque and Jorge de Albuquerque Coelho, the second and third donatary respectively, were ordered by the queen to terminate their education in Lisbon and return to Pernambuco to restore order. Before Gouveia left for Pernambuco, he provoked the Jesuits by accusing them of heresy. He was successful in convincing many of the principal people of the captaincy to take his side and caused a lot of embarrassment to the Jesuits. The most influential Jesuit of the time, Luis De Gra, raised his voice to defend the orthodoxy of his colleagues and eventually had Gouveia removed from Pernambuco and sent back to Lisbon. During this time, Gouveia had befriended Duarte Coelho de Albuquerque and assisted him by heading expeditions to the backlands of Pernambuco to search for silver and gold and to capture Indians to be sold in the slave market and thus make huge profits. Reports claim that Gouveia was ruthless while dealing with Indians. The bishop of Salvador was apprised by Father Luis de Gra and had to order that Gouveia be arrested and shipped back to Lisbon in April, 1571. There was an outcry following his imprisonment, particularly amongst his influential friends such as Coelho. However, they were powerless to do anything. He was again at the mercy of the inquisitors, who interrogated his lifestyle in February 1573. He had once again been thrown into detainment for an indefinite period of time, even though not enough incriminatory evidence had been gathered against him. Diego Vasicuio: Diego Vasicuio was the leader of a group of Indians in Peru who worshipped the old Indian God Sorimana. He was brought to light when his neighbor, Catalina Paicaua, in order to get out of the tight spot she had gotten into with her Christian rulers, denounced him to their parish priest. Diego Vasicuio was over 90 years of age when he appeared before father De Prado to face the charges of heresy brought against him in May 1671. He had previously avoided the discovery of his group by hiding the stone that was their god, Sorimana, on the visits of the inspectors of the Spaniard priests. Diego had left his hometown on several occasions before his hearing to earn money or to do his part in serving Spanish landlords (mita). Mita service was usually so unfair and brutal; mita workers who worked in the mines were designated to underground, hazardous tunnels and shifts. Though he left his village Salamanca several times, he returned due to his spiritual ties to the village. For most of his adult life, Vasicuio had been chief priest and custodian of the god Sorimana. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the cult of Sorimana was flourishing once again. An elderly member named Angelina Vancuipa has replaced the idol’s clothing which had been lost over the years. At his hearing, Diego Vasicuio tried to thwart the threat to his cult by telling Father De Pedro of a rival cult that employed witchcraft in its religious rites, which it should be pointed out, were absent in the cult of Sorimana. But the priest was not distracted; he demanded the immediate surrender of the god Sorimana. Vasicuio reluctantly complied, and was sent back with two men appointed by the priest to fetch the stone. He returned a while later without the stone and claimed that it had been stolen by a jailed idolater and former sacristan of Salamanca. Father De Pedro did not accept this story and threatened to jail Vasicuio. However, Angelina Vancuipa and her son soon appeared with a stone that was covered in a cloth similar to the one Vancuipa had woven. Angelina, her son and Diego identified the stone as being Sorimana. This stone was probably not the actual Sorimana, but it was enough to convince the priest. Diego and his friends then proceeded to put up a very convincing display of regret and remorse by denouncing their cult and acknowledging that they had indulged in idolatry and heresy. By these means, Diego had ensured that his religious rites, practices and god survived. Enrico Martinez: Enrico Martinez was born in Hamburg in about 1557. When he was eight, he left with his parents for Seville and lived there for ten years. The Martinez family was originally German and had migrated to Seville because of the many prospect and promises that the intellectually blooming city held for their printing business. Enrico left home in his late teen and travelled to Northern Europe to study the Physical Sciences. He learned to German and Flemish and acquired an interest in astronomy, astrology, physics and mathematics. While he was still in Spain, he was made an official consultant in cartography and meteorology to the royalty. Mexico City was a significant cultural centre in the 1590s. After arriving, Enrico offered his services to the newly established Inquisition as a translator. In this position he was able to acquire a printer confiscated from a printer convicted of Lutheranism. This solved his problem of acquiring a living. However, as a printer, many restrictions on what kind of books were to be published were imposed on him by the Inquisition. These seriously impeded Enrico’s interest in astrology and astronomy, an interest which could bring him under serious suspicion. He wrote a book, published in 1606, Reportorio de los tiempos e historia natural desta Nueva Espana, which dealt with four major topics: a simple resume of the current cosmology, theoretical questions raised by certain natural phenomena, useful information about crops, weather conditions and medicine and finally, the practice of informed astrology. The last of the four posed a problem for him as it would cause him trouble with the inquisitors for astrological predictions of any kind were forbidden by the church. Enrico made some very innovative explanations about some things, such as the movement of the ocean or the level of water in the oceans. But he had to resort to the conventional beliefs that already existed for fear of provoking the church. His American loyalties led him to make some strange claims, such as the how the ‘intelligence quickens and bodily strength diminishes’. Enrico was a firm believer in astrology and its teachings. The Church did not share his enthusiasm, for to believe that the movement of the heavenly bodies influenced the doings and acts of humans negated the concept of man’s free will, without which man could not be rewarded or punished. Astrology was thus divided into two streams, one which dealt with the behavior of non-human things such as crops and tides and the other which concerned the prediction of human behavior. The latter was banned while the former was taught at the University of Mexico. Enrico embraced both streams, but had to downplay his interest in the latter because of the Church’s position on the issue. During his time, there was a serious silting problem in Lake Texcoco, the lake in which Mexico City was located. This caused many floods and large scale destruction. Thus it was decided that a large, all-valley drainage canal known as the desague would be built. Enrico’s design for this project was chosen and he was appointed chief engineer. He handed over his press to his son Juan Ruiz and undertook this huge task. As he had no formal training, Enrico’s lack of expertise would have grave consequences. Although the initial completion of the desague was a huge achievement, by 1623, it was locked and useless. He may have built the desague but Enrico was not able to keep it functioning due to his lack of technical expertise, the backwardness of hydraulic engineering at the time, the opposition of interest group that refused to pay for its upkeep and the inefficient political system that was unable to make them do so. Enrico was briefly imprisoned on the incredible charge of sabotaging his own project. After that he retired to a small apartment and pursued his interests, disappointed by the loss of faith in him. He died at the age of 75 in the year 1632. Micaela Angela Carrillo: Micaela Angela Carillo was a woman who lived in Nuestra Senora de Asuncion Amozoque (modern day Amozoque). It is not certain If her family were members of the converso – Jews who had ostensibly converted to Christianity but secretly practiced the old faith. Members of the Carillo family were involved in the famed local industry, which was the production of decorating iron work. The social makeup of Carillo comprised of Spaniards, mestizos, mulattos and Indians. The Indians occupied the lowest rung in this social ladder. Maria was the daughter of a Spaniard father (or a mestizo who passed as a Spaniard) and a mother who was the daughter of a Cacique (Indian Nobility) of Amozoque. The result of this mixed marriage was that the son could not claim leadership in the ceremonial life of the town as he was not purely Indian and the daughters could not enter a convent as they were neither white nor Indian. Micaela went on to marry a cacique, Juan Tapia y Luca, to strengthen her ties to the hereditary nobility of the town. The new family occupied a halfway-position between the Indian and the Spaniards. They enjoyed the privileges on Indian nobility and were exempt from the restrictions imposed upon the lower Indians. Juan Tapia died in the late 1730s, leaving behind his wife and two sons a piece of land. Micaela was initially very poor and had to live with her sister Maria. By renting maguey plants on other people’s lands, she was able to earn a living by extracting their juice and producing and intoxicating beverage called pulque. This was essentially a man’s task. During the early years of Micaela’s widowhood, she gave birth to three illegitimate daughters. The youngest of these was Maria Antonia who was born in 1746. The fathers/father of the three girls was/were never revealed. It was not uncommon for mestizo women to give birth to illegitimate children at the time. By the 1750s, Micaela belonged to four Catholic lay Sodalities. When she dictated her first will, she bequeathed them no money and in her second will, failed to mention them at all. By1756, both her sons and one of her daughters had married but still lived with their mother along with her youngest two daughters. In 1751, she had begun to distribute her property amongst her children, also ensuring that her illegitimate children were provided for as they could not inherit equally as her other children. She did this by extracting from her sons a permit allowing her daughters to purchase other properties. The indian-style house that they lived in was a cluster of small unconnected building surrounded by a wall. In 1756, Micaela moved with her youngest daughter to another house site and had a finer house constructed there. Micaela instructed the masons on how she wanted her house to be. Her inventory of moveable goods was frugal, and the most prized possessions were religious artifacts. Dona Micaela continued to assist her children financially throughout her life, especially her son Esteban, whose poor health and indolence prevented him from earning a steady income. When he joined a cofriciado ( a Christian solidality), Micaela was the one who funded their fiestas’ Despite this continued financial assistance, Esteban was apparently estranged from his mother. It is believed that this was due to jealousy of his youngest sister. The most important person in Micaela’s life was her youngest daughter. After Micaela died, Esteban sued Maria in court for possession of the home left to her by their mother. He insisted that since illegitimate children could own no more than 20%, he was the legal heir of Micaela’s property. He initially won the case, but when Maria appealed and introduced some very influential people to testify for her in court, the case went in her direction. Both Micaela and her daughter were good examples of how women living alone had to suffer and struggle to survive and own material possessions and maintain their independence through hard work in colonial America. Hernando De Valencia: Hernando De Valencia was a Treasury Agent in Madrid with twenty years of experience serving as royal accountant. He was apprenticed as a policeman in his teens and was soon promoted to do pen work. It was through this job that he befriended the young Chinchon, who would be the future viceroy of Peru. This association led to a presentation to the king, where Chinchon claimed that Valencia was just as much a Hidalgo as he. This happened around 1610. In the years that followed Valencia got married, and raised a son. Because of his recent rise in position, he was also at leisure to pursue and indulge in other interests such as reading. Valencia was also quite adept at feigning modesty and melodrama to gain favors from influential individuals in the court. In 1629, after failing to secure a position in the King’s court, Valencia considered the overseas assignment of extorting revenues from wealthy Spaniards through a package of hastily formed expedients, the completion of which promised a higher position for him by the Count Duke of Olivares. On this expedition, he was offered money by many parties interested in the arbitrios in Peru. The journey to America was long and tiring and when the ship ran in at Paita, Valencia took the land route to Lima while his luggage remained on board. Just after he reached the Capital and put up in the house of the Inquisitor Andres Guan Gaitan, he received news that the ship he had been traveling on had drowned – along with it his entire luggage and his only son. While devastated, Valencia dutifully continued with his responsibility. When he went to meet Chinchon and argued his case while parading the funds he collected, Chinchon ordered him to surrender them to the King’s Solicitor in Lima. He was also told that while the solicitor, there was no need for Valencia. He was told not to act with the solicitor. He was asked t return to the court later, and when he did, he found it packed with many officials as arbitrios were dispatched one by one to different acuerdos. When Valencia protested to this and insisted that the king’s orders be carried out, Chinchon grew furious and dictated a protest to Olivares and directed most of the arbitrios to his general fiscal acuerdos. Chinchon was contriving to depose of the arbitrios altogether, especially one which offered crown legitimation of land with dubious titles. Valencia was against this as he had already received substantial offers from usurping landlords. As Viceroy, Chinchon was also trying to stop the sale of provincial offices for money. Around this time, Valencia relayed his plans of making money through the snow monopoly to the viceroy. From Canta, mule trains bought in ice and packed snow to make sherbet which was then sold. This was a very profitable way of making money. Valencia convinced the owner of crown monopoly over the trade and both wrote a letter to Madrid to suggest the establishment of this additional arbitrios. Chinchon demanded that he show his orders. This further infuriated Valencia. In 1633, the court earned the right to sell whatever provincial offices they wanted and the licensing of food stores was being challenged by Lima’s Municipality. Scandal soon shook Valencia’s position as he was charged with having an affair with the wife of his distant relative. Another scandal plagued him on the feast of Saint Bonaventura when he was invited by a judge and presenter of the Sala de Crimen to join them on the judges chairs set before those of the city council. However, a scuffle followed when Luis De Mendoza, one of the city’s mayors angrily demanded that Valencia give up his seat. Both men were put under house arrest. Following this, Valencia stormed the Viceroy’s court and begged to be appointed a lawyer or at the very least be granted leave to return to Spain. The Viceroy refused. Valencia then sought refuge at a Franciscan Monastery and was granted his request. During this time, he tried to escape to Spain to avoid arrest but was greatly hurt and to return. He had also sought refuge within the monastery and this was granted as he was hid in an alcove within the infirmary compound. Chinchon began to publicly attribute Valencia’s wounds to the relatives of the women he was allegedly having an affair with. However, Valencia got some of the monks to testify to his good behavior and prove Chinchon wrong. Valencia had managed to gather incriminating evidence about the sale of a certain office that redeemed him somewhat Valencia’s life soon returned to normal as he stayed on in his cell at the monastery. His cell was always thronged by powerful visitors. In August 1634, a batch of dispatches arrived from Madrid, and among them was a cedula ordering Valencia to return to Spain. Yet h was imprisoned by Judges in November and his arrest was not lifted until the following May. Valencia then returned, sailing with the 1635 fleet from Callao on Trinity Sunday. Works Cited Karasch, Mary. “Damian De Cunha: Catechist and Sertanista”. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Ed. Gary B. Nash, and David B. Sweet. University of California Press, 1982. 102 -118. Print. Cardozo, Manuel De Silva. “Antonio De Gouveia: Adventurer and Priest”. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Ed. Gary B. Nash, and David B. Sweet. University of California Press, 1982. 142 -163. Print. Wightman, Ann M. “Diego Vasicuio: Native Priest”. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Ed. Gary B. Nash, and David B. Sweet. University of California Press, 1982. 38 – 47. Print. Schell Hoberman, Louisa. “Enrico Martinez: Printer and Engineer”. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Ed. Gary B. Nash, and David B. Sweet. University of California Press, 1982. 331 – 345. Print. Couturier, Edith. “Micaela Angela Carillo: Widow and Pulque Dealer”. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Ed. Gary B. Nash, and David B. Sweet. University of California Press, 1982. 362 – 374. Print. Bronner, Fred. “Hernando De Valencia: Tax Promoter”. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Ed. Gary B. Nash, and David B. Sweet. University of California Press, 1982. 311 – 328. Print. Read More