Fray Diego Durán and the Localistic Orientation of his "Historia"-

Stephen A. Colston
Fray Diego Durán
and the Localistic Orientation
of his "Historia"-
El d o m i n i c o
historia y
Diego
Durán escribió una c r ó n i c a s o b r e la
el sistema ritual religioso de l o s m e x i c a s la cual
o c u p a u n lugar de i m p o r t a n c i a secundaria s o l a m e n t e después
de las o b r a s de su c o n t e m p o r á n e o f r a n c i s c a n o , Bernardino de
Sahagún. El C o d e x Durán c o m p r e n d e tres tratados
separados:
el " C a l e n d a r i o A n t i g u o " , el " L i b r o de l o s R i t o s " y la " H i s t o ria". La " H i s t o r i a " f u e el ú l t i m o tratado q u e se c o m p l e t ó y
está basada en una c r ó n i c a nahuatl ahora perdida la cual Durán
llamó
"historia
mexicana".
Mientras
que
Durán
deseaba
escribir una historia bastante extensa de varias de las ciudades
estados anteriores a la c o n q u i s t a , la e x t e n s i ó n de su c u b r i m i e n t o h i s t ó r i c o f u e restringida en general a su f u e n t e principal, o
sea, la historia de M é x i c o T e n o c h t i t l a n . Se o f r e c e n varias raz o n e s del p o r q u é de la rígida adhesión de Fray D i e g o hacia
esta e t n o c é n t r i c a c r ó n i c a nahuatl. U n a de estas r a z o n e s es q u e
la " h i s t o r i a m e x i c a n a " , c o m o f u e n t e histórica detallada y de
c o n f i a n z a , p u d o haber f a c i l i t a d o su l a b o r de r e c o p i l a c i ó n de
una historia anterior a la C o n q u i s t a . Las otras r a z o n e s son de
naturaleza doctrinal, y , p r o b a b l e m e n t e , explican su c o n f i a n z a
en
la
"historia
mexicana":
a) c o m o
fuente
q u e exalta l o s
l o g r o s de l o s m e x i c a s , p u d o haberle servido para ilustrar la
b e n e v o l e n c i a natural de l o s i n d i o s ; b ) c o m o f u e n t e q u e d o c u -
A n earher draft o f this paper was read at the XLII® Congres International des A m é r i canistes, Paris, S e p t e m b e r , 1 9 7 6 .
121
m e n t a el c u e r p o p o l í t i c o tan bien o r d e n a d o de l o s m e x i c a s ,
p u d o haberle a y u d a d o a d e m o s t r a r su r a c i o n a l i d a d ; y c ) c o m o
f u e n t e c r ó n i c a de m u c h o s de estos sucesos q u e el c r e í a h a b í a n
d a d o f o r m a a las creencias religiosas de l o s indios, p u d o haberle p o d i d o p r o p o r c i o n a r los d a t o s necesarios para c o m p o n e r
una i n t r o d u c c i ó n a u n c o n t e x t o h i s t ó r i c o para el " C a l e n d a r i o
A n t i g u o " y el " L i b r o de los R i t o s " , tratados q u e él pensaba
servirían j u n t o s c o m o una especie de " m a n u a l de c a m p o " para
sus c o m p a ñ e r o s frailes para p r o f u n d i z a r sus e s f u e r z o s proselitistas.
In the final quarter o f the sixteenth century, Diego Durán ( 1 5 3 7 ? , 1 5 8 8 ? ) compiled an account o f the history and religious-ritual system o f
the natives o f late pre-Hispanic Central Mexico that is one o f the richest
resources f o r the study o f Mesoamerica's past. The Dominican friar's
comprehensive reconstruction o f Mexica culture is contained in his
only known extant work, the "Historia de las Indias de Nueva España
e Islas de la Tierra Firme". This chronicle is c o m p o s e d o f three tratados:
1) the " L i b r o de los R i t o s " (completed in c. 1576); 2) the "Calendario
A n t i g u o " (completed in 1579); and 3 ) the "Historia" (completed in
1581).
Far and away, the lengthiest o f the three tratados is the "Historia",
a detailed history o f the Mexica f r o m their entry into the Valley o f Mexic o to the end o f the Spanish Conquest. Early in the "Historia", Durán
noted to his reader that the skills o f any historian would be taxed in
writing a detailed history o f one people, much less a history o f the numerous communities which flourished in New Spain before the Conquest. The
chronicler then explained that since Tenochtitlan was the most powerful
center - "la principal f u e n t e " - to which so many other provinces and
" k i n g d o m s " (reinos) b o w e d , his wish was to present a history emphasizing
the Mexica (Durán 1967, II: 27 f.).' But he did not h o p e to achieve
this emphasis at the complete exclusion o f other communities' histories.
As the "Historia" neared completion, Durán voiced some frustration over
his inability to write more fully o f the histories o f the other communities,
and he attributed his restricted coverage to the limited scope o f his principal source. Durán noted that the major source he employed f o r the
"Historia", a Nahuatl history, regrettably lost, which he referred to
1
T h e 1 9 6 7 Porrúa e d i t i o n o f the C o d e x Durán was utilized f o r this s t u d y . In this
e d i t i o n , the " L i b r o de l o s R i t o s " appears in v o l u m e I, pages 1 — 2 1 0 , the " C a l e n dario A n t i g u o " in v o l u m e I, pages 211 - 2 9 3 , and the " H i s t o r i a " c o m p r i s e s the
entirety o f v o l u m e IL
122
variously as the "historia" and "historia mexicana", only treated affairs
relating directly to Tenochtitlan (II: 385, 473). The ethnocentrism o f
this sources, he lamented, "ha atado las manos" (II: 473).
Durán's extensive reliance upon this locahstic "historia mexicana",
a practice which he was to acknowledge prohibited him from rendering a
more panoramic historical vista of Central Mexico, has yet to be adequately explained. While in the face of existing data it is doubtful that
any explanation could be definitively advanced, needing consideration
are several plausible motives for Durán's utilization o f this native chronicle
that was to have such a profound effect on the structure and content o f
his own historical treatise (Colston 1973: 9.7 - 1 16; 1973a).
Not surprisingly, Durán intended his "Historia" to be a reliable account
(II: 18) and, while he consulted a considerable number o f sources in
researching this work, he held the "historia mexicana" to be his most
credible source for the pre-Cortesian past (Colston 1973: 97 - 103, 138,
207 f.).
In addition to his high regard for the information contained in the
"historia mexicana", explanations for Durán's use o f this Nahuatl chronicle can be found in his goals o f authorship. Bernal (1967: xxxi — xxxii)
has suggested that Durán wrote the "Historia" to illustrate, by showing
the natives in a favorable light through a rehearsal o f their great deeds,
the "innate goodness" o f these people. In a few words, Durán balanced
the largely unflattering picture o f the natives he painted in the "Libro
de los Ritos" and "Calendario Antiguo" with an altogether different
canvas created from his remarks in the "Historia"; the cowardly, brutish
pagans depicted in the former two works frequently yield in the "Historia" to valiant warriors and builders o f a civilization whose fame he had
hoped to preserve through his writing (II: 99).
But Durán attempted this balance to show more than an "innate goodness". Rather, by illustrating the glories and achievements o f the native
past, Durán sought to demonstrate the natives' rationality, and in so doing
was echoing the general tenor of the ideological school of which he was
a part, and its great Dominican head master, Bartolomé de las Casas. Fray
Diego noted that he had argued with other Spaniards who asserted that
the natives were irrational beings in that they lived as beasts with no
apparent harmony or order. He explained that these opinions could be
discounted by an analysis o f native history that clearly would show in his
judgement that " n o ha habido gente en el mundo, ni nación que con tanto
concierto y orden y pohcía viviese en su infidelidad, c o m o esta nación"
(I: 187) and who were, axiomatically, rational.
Durán's defense o f the natives' rationality may, then, offer some explanation for his heavy reliance upon the "historia mexicana". This native
123
chronicle, judging f r o m his remarks, spared httle space not only in extolUng Mexica glory, but in recounting in considerable detail a highly structured and well regulated b o d y politic. Durán, in fact, was so deeply impressed by the social and pohtical order the natives had o n c e attained
that he was to suggest to his reader (I: 112, 116, 187) that some emulation o f the native example could serve as a panacea f o r serveral o f the
maladies which plagued his "infehces y desdichados t i e m p o s " (II: 575).
There is another possible explanation for Durán's extensive utilization
o f the "historia mexicana", one that may have been inextricably connected with his primary motive o f authorship, as stated in the prologue to the
" L i b r o de los R i t o s " : he was occasioned to write to familiarize his clerical
brothers with the manifestations o f native idolatry and thereby assist
them in the eradication o f extant pagan practices (I: 3 — 6). In this
prólogo, Durán stated that his native contemporaries were reluctant to
abandon the religion o f their ancestors. This obstinancy was partially
explainable in his estimation by their fear o f breaking with the religious
heritage o f their past, a timidity that could in no small part be attributed
to " e l gobierno que tenían - aunque en parte era m u y p o l í t i c o y bien
concertado - pero en parte era tiránico y temeroso y lleno de sombras
y de castigos y muerte" (I: 5).^ Fray Diego, then, saw the religious practices o f the natives o f his day to have been shaped b y certain forces
emanating f r o m the pre-Contact period.
It thus appears altogether reasonable to assume that Durán might have
considered a rehearsal o f this native history to serve his reader as an indispensable background for the " L i b r o de los R i t o s " and "Calendario
A n t i g u o " , the t w o treatises which were acknowledged b y him to be products o f pragmatic, doctrinal motives. Durán made several references in the
"Historia" (II: 4 1 6 , 4 6 3 , 4 6 4 ) indicating that he had planned that tratado,
although the last completed, to appear at the beginning o f his chronicle.^
While the "Historia", due to its strict historical orientation, could be
considered as standing apart f r o m the " L i b r o d é l o s R i t o s " and "Calendario
A n t i g u o " , Durán's design was instead to have his historical discourse
In a d d i t i o n t o this timidity o f his native c o n t e m p o r a r i e s , w h i c h he was t o discuss
o n o t h e r o c c a s i o n s ( I : 4 ; II: 5 3 1 ) , Durán also saw t h e m t o be base, superstitious and
obstinate ( I : 4 , 1 0 ; II: 5 6 1 ) , and o f f e r e d these e l e m e n t s o f the native character,
t o g e t h e r with the i n e f f e c t u a l proselytising e f f o r t s o f the missionaries ( I : 4 0 , 5 8 , 9 2 ,
1 6 1 ) , as his e x p l a n a t i o n s f o r the persistance o f idolatry.
T h e " H i s t o r i a " was c o r r e c t l y placed b e f o r e the " L i b r o de l o s R i t o s " and " C a l e n dario A n t i g u o " w h e n the C o d e x Durán was b o u n d during the last c e n t u r y ; the 1 9 6 7
e d i t i o n o f the C o d e x Durán f o l l o w s a c h r o n o l o g i c a l o r d e r o f the treatises, with the
" H i s t o r i a " appearing last.
124
serve as a prelude to and presumably framework for his works on the
native pantheon and calendar.
The creation o f such a context for the "Libro de los Ritos" and "Calendario Antiguo" may, then, offer some insight into Durán's practice o f so
closely following the Nahuatl text of the "histórica mexicana". This
native source constituted a mine of data, providing numerous detailed
accounts o f the political-military evolution o f Tenochtitlan which Durán
was frequently to embellish with his parenthetical remarks. His reader
could thus have been guided to the conclusion that the maturity of this
polity was attained at a high cost, and the currency was minted in the
oppression o f the human spirit: " L o s cuales siempre fueron valerosos y
esforzados en todas las guerras y entradas que hicieron, y ellos fueron los
que ennoblecieron a México y sujetaron gran parte de la tierra, aunque
tiránicamente . . . " (II: 82).
The "historia mexicana" that was to chronicle with such remarkable
detail the evolution o f one o f the partners of the "Triple Alliance" would
have been, thus, well suited to Durán's objectives o f exhalting on the one
hand the great achievements o f the natives' past, and thereby illustrating
their rationality, and, on the other providing an appropriate context for
his discourse on the native religious-ritual system. But in addition to the
extensive accounts recorded in the "historia mexicana", its particular
localistic orientation, that of Tenochtitlan, may have increased its desirability for Durán. Tenochtitlan, more than a partner, was the paramount
military power o f the "Alliance", and because o f this preeminent position,
its history may have best illustrated for Durán those negative forces from
the past which were to have such deleterious effects on the character and
religious beliefs of his native contemporaries. The "historia mexicana",
forming a vast store o f materials documenting the maturity o f this "principal fuente", could, then, illuminate for Durán not only the most positive
characteristics o f the native past, as he believed it would, but the most
negative as well. It was in fact this duality Durán saw in Mexica history
— that natives who had attained such an advanced cultural level could be
so brutal in the exercise p f statecraft and religion - that emerges as a
characteristic feature o f his writing (Bernal 1964: xxxii; Garcia Martinez
1966: 4 1 ; Colston 1973: 200 f., 210).
But while the pronounced localism o f the "historia mexicana" appears
to have supported Durán in fulfilling his primary, doctrinal aims, his
frustration over this very localism was doubtlessly earnestly expressed.
Durán would utilize history to serve doctrinal purposes, but nonetheless
believed that the history o f pre-Conquest Central Mexico had a value in
itself and that its preservation would be a worthy task (I: 226). There
is little wonder, then, at Durán's displeasure over the limited historical
125
scope o f the "historia mexicana" which he noted had tied his hands.
But while he may have considered the study o f the native past to be
a self-justifying activity, there were few contemporary churchmen who
saw the rescuing o f this history as something other than as an instrument
for propagating Christianity (Dibble 1982: 11; López Austin 1974: 115).
Durán makes a statement in the "Historia" (II: 5 7 5 ) that suggests that
those who had instructed him to compile a history o f events following
the Conquest had similarly commissioned him to write the "Historia"."*
Viewed in this fashion, Durán would have channeled the orientation o f
his historical treatise in such a manner as to be in line with the pragmatic,
doctrinal goals o f his superiors.^
One can speculate that had he not been commisioned by his superior
prelates, a somewhat fuller expression o f his historical interests may have
become^'manifested in the "Historia". It seems likely that Durán would
have continued to focus his attention on the "historia mexicana" since,
due to its detailed descriptions, purported reliability, and particular localistic orientation, it would have served both his doctrinal and historical
interests. But he may have utilized it less extensively than he did and,
through a greater rehance on sources chronicling the histories o f localities other than Tenochtitlan, attained a greater geographical coverage
in his narrative. Whether principally from his own initiative or others,
it is clear that Durán's historical interests were-largely subordinated to
his doctrinal aims.
There are statements in the "Libro de los Ritos" and "Calendario Antig u o " (e. g., I: 174, 257, 293) in which Durán explained that he could have
expanded his narration considerably on certain topics but limited himself to that which was germane to his fundamental motive o f authorship.
This procedure may have been employed for the "Historia" as well. It
would seem that Durán would have presented a more balanced history o f
4
5
" Y p o r q u e de a q u í adelante m e obligan a hacer o t r o tratado de las cosas pasadas,
desde este p u n t o hasta estos infelices y d e s d i c h a d o s t i e m p o s . . . " (II: 5 7 5 ) .
It w o u l d seem entirely fitting that the D o m i n i c a n s , r e c o g n i z i n g Durán's skills as a
nahuatlato,
w o u l d have c o m m i s s i o n e d h i m , as the Franciscans had Sahagún, t o
c o m p i l e a w o r k o n the c u s t o m s and history o f the natives.
T h e i n f l u e n c e o f these prelates in such matters was substantial. In 1 5 7 6 , w h e n D u rán was c o m p l e t i n g his first treatise, a regula o f the D o m i n i c a n Order in M e x i c o was
p r o m u l g a t e d w h i c h f o r b a d e any m e m b e r f r o m studying " l o s negs [ n e g o c i o s ] de l o s
y n d i o s t o c a n t e s a sus y d o l o s y s u p e r s t i c i o n e s " w i t h o u t first receiving the approval
o f the padre provincial
( A c t a s , 1 5 4 0 - 8 9 , f o l . 123a). It w o u l d seem u n l i k e l y , t h e n ,
that Durán w o u l d have o b t a i n e d permission t o write the " H i s t o r i a " ( w h i c h c o n tains a wealth o f data o n the natives' religious-ritual s y s t e m ) had this treatise n o t
been seen b y his superiors as a t o o l w h i c h , w h e n f o r g e d , w o u l d further p r o s e l y t i z i n g
efforts.
126
pre-contact Central Mexico in his "Historia", as he o n c e expressed the
desire to d o , had his orientation been essentially historical rather than
devotional. But there is more to suggest that this tratado was penned f r o m
evangelical motives. Certainly Durán did not utiÜze the "historia mexicana" as rigorously as he did because other sources were unavailable to
him. He had consuUed several native chronicles which were, as the "historia mexicana", localistic in nature, namely, a Relation o f Azcaputzalco
(11: 3 7 2 ) , a Relation o f Cuyuacan (II: 3 7 3 ) , and a Relation o f T e z c u c o
(II: 4 7 6 ) , and it seems likely he had access to others.®
The "Historia" can, thus, be interpreted as having been conceived b y
Durán principally to serve the doctrinal goals o f demonstrating the natives' rationality and advancing proselytism. Given these objectives,
some explanations f o r Durán's reliance o n the "historia mexicana" have
been offered. Durán's own historical interests clearly exceeded the restricted spatial coverage o f the "historia mexicana", and f o r this he was to
reveal some displeasure. But this very restricted scope could have served
other, and more fundamental, purposes f o r Durán and, f o r those which
have been suggested, he relied upon this chronicle to such an extent that
he was to remark that " m i intento no ha sido sino traducir el mexicano en
nuestra lengua castellana" (II: 158), and thus incorporated the contents,
and locahstic orientation, o f that treatise into his "Historia".
6
T h e localistic features o f the native Central M e x i c a n historical tradition, and
particularly the e f f e c t s o f localism o n the d i f f e r i n g r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f events and
c h r o n o l o g i e s in the native annals, have been e x a m i n e d b y N i c h o l s o n ( 1 9 7 1 : 6 4 70).
127
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