Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg: Two Republics

Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Two Republics - Fueros

The discovery and exploitation of the New World was not entirely without problems for Spain. For ont thing, the crown feared that Hérnan Cortés (1518 — 1522) would attempt to create a kingdom in Mexico, with himself as the King, entirely independent of Spain. For another, the conquistadores (including Cortés) had been awarded encomienda in the New World (entailed estates to be inherited, in perpetuum): not exactly a healthy situation for Spain, just united under Ferdinand and Isabella. Thus the Spanish crown sought ways to ensure that no new, independent kingdom would be established, and that the encomienda would be administered with due attention to the laws of vassalage.

What are some of the things the Spanish crown did to nullify these dangers?

Hérnan Cortés established residences (governing offices) in Mexico City. The Spanish crown pointed out that Cortés had never been granted the right to establish any such residences in Mexico City, and had Cortés removed.

Hérnan Cortés had been awarded three encomienda by the Spanish crown. Hérnan Cortés carefully chose where these encomienda were located (along old trading routes used by the indigenous population, one located at the site of present-day Cuernavaca). However, one of these encomienda was located very close to the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish crown carefully pointed out that the Spanish crown had never granted Cortés a port on the Pacific Ocean, and ordered that Hérnan Cortés's encomienda be located away from the Pacific coast.

There was always a danger that there could be a revolt by the indigenous population. While Hérnan Cortés could be entrusted to oppose any indigenous population that arose in revolt, it might difficult or even impossible for Hérnan Cortés to successfully suppress such a revolt. Thus, the Spanish crown demanded the right to control major towns and highways within Hérnan Cortés' encomienda. (Thus, Cortés's control of his own encomienda started to look like Swiss cheese, with many lacunae.)

When Hérnan Cortés began to appoint Penninsular Europeans to "offices" within his encomienda, the Spanish crown wondered if Cortés was establishing a "court" or government under his personal control. The Spanish crown immediately informed Cortés that his powers and rights were granted under the laws of vassalage: thus, any Penninsular Europeans who reported to Hérnan Cortés, owed their first allegiance to the Spanish crown. (In other words, any such government would be one controlled by the Spanish crown, not by Hérnan Cortés.)

Hérnan Cortés distributed encomienda and patronage to conquistadores as a reward for their efforts in gaining a new world and pacifying or controlling the indigenous populations. However, the Spanish crown had never granted Hérnan Cortés the right to award encomienda, and ordered him to cease doing this. (The conquistadores melted away from control by Hérnan Cortés.)

An analysis of the signatures of many conquistadores showed that in most cases, these conquistadores were illiterate, barely able to sign their own names even after careful coaching. Thus, the Spanish crown flooded Nueva España with licenciado (lawyers from Spain who the conquistadores could not murder with impunity). Most of the conquistadores no longer found Nueva España congenial, and left their encomienda in Nueva España to conquer the Inca in Peru, instead.

The Spanish crown required Hérnan Cortés to take a census of the populations in his encomienda; thus, taxes due the Spanish crown, and populations had to be divulged.

Propaganda: An obscure brother, Frey Bartolomé de Las Casas, wrote about how the conquistadores wantonly murdered Indios and destroyed property. (Upon conquering of the indigenous people, the ownership of such property reverted from the indigenous people to the Spanish crown). These murders and wanton destruction were hardly conducive to converting the Indios to Catholicism. However, encomienda had been awarded to the conquistadores with the provision that the indigenous souls within their purview would be saved, and Indios converted to Catholicism. Violation of this was sufficient to disqualify encomienda rights. Although Hérnan Cortés attempted to murder Frey Bartolomé Las Casas, the Spanish crown carefully sequestered de Las Casas, while he documented what he had seen in the New World. As the multi-volume set of books de Las Casas wrote would not have been effective as propaganda, the Spanish crown had de Las Casas write a short "Summary". This "Summary" was so effective that it became known as the "Leyenda Negra" ("Black Legend"). ¹

Fueros (laws that applied to members of specific occupations) were established. This included the following fueros:
1. Fuero Ecclesiastica (separate laws for the Catholic church, governed by canon law)
2. Fuero Militar (separate laws for the military)
3. Fuero Meste (separate laws for cattle-drivers)
4. Fuero Indiano (separate laws for the indigenous Indios — to be discussed in greater detail)

Every town was required by the Spanish crown to be laid out in a Cartesian-grid pattern, with a commons to graze horses, and public buildings. All Spaniards with encomienda were required to establish houses on the town square as "vecinos", whether they lived in their vecino full-time or not. The associated expenses of such houses generally impoverished the conquistadores. In parallel with the requirements for Spanish vecinos, towns also featured a separate zoccolo surrounded by Indian barrios. Thus, these towns had two 'centers': one for the wealthy Spaniards, and the other for the impoverished Indianos. This could be seen as late as 1987, in modern San Cristobal de las Casas, though it's doubtful that this existed in every single town in Nueva España.

The Spanish crown felt it could use the Fuero Indiano to prevent the destruction of the indigenous population. If the Fuero Indiano was to be effective, the Indianos had to be specifically classified as "human beings", not just animals with the "appearance" of human beings. Hence, the debates between Frey Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda in Valladolid, 1550-1551. To avoid a situation where these indigenous human beings might demand that their lands be returned to them by Spain, the Indios were granted the status of human beings, but under tutelege of the Spaniards. However, to gain souls for the Catholic church from these newly-acknowledged human beings, the Indios were offered opportunity to accept Christianity, and viewed as assets to the Church since they came to Christ with "pure blood" (not Luteranos, no stain of Jewish or Islamic blood), presumably eliminating the fear of 'backsliding'). Thus, the New Christian Indios, human but under Spanish tutelege, would not be destroyed as the New Christian conversos and moriscos had been.

Thus, the Spanish crown established two republics: one for the Spaniards (República de españoles), the other for the New Christian Indios (República de indios).
The main purpose for having an Indian republic was as a potential wedge to be used against Spaniards should they become difficult to control, whilc still enabling the Spanish republic to exploit the Indios for the benefit of the Spanish crown. If the New Christian Indios returned to sacrifices, idolatry, concubinage, and dogmatism — preaching a heretical religion — then a Nueva España limpieza de sangre and a court of Inquisition would be required. If the indigenous peoples rebelled, they would be dealt with. (For one such example, see Indian Rebellions.
However, one problem remained: The Indios were exploited by the Spaniards to benefit the Spanish crown; thus, contact between Spaniards and Indios could not be avoided. The result was a complex hierarchy of offspring, the castas. These castas were not accepted by either Spaniards nor by the Indios. Thus, an ever-growing class of vagrants, responsible to no one, now threatened the entire structure. ² Indians, pure, might have title to lands that were inalienable; but if a person claimed that as an Indian they were entitled to these lands, how was the government to know if the claimant was pure Indian or a casta? Hence, a limpieza de sangre became necessary to determine someone's racial status. "The project to create two republics essentially produced dual citizenship and dual purity regimes." ³

¹ See María Elena Martínez, "Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico", Stanford Univ. Press, 2008, p. 206:
"Protestant powers in particular accused Castile of basically committing genocide, of not curbing the greed of its conquerors, of not protecting its overseas subjects, of utilizing evangelization as a pretext to further its own financial interests, and of illegitimately claiming dominium in the Indies on the basis of papal donations and the Requerimiento. ... That is to say, given the ideological centrality of religion to Spanish colonialism — its importance in justifying expansion, conquest, and colonization — the native people had to be recognized as pure. Both the crown and the church had to support the idea that they had the quality of limpieza de sangre and were in a different category than Jews and Muslims. After all, if the indigenous people were lumped with conversos and moriscos — communities generally regarded as reluctant and backsliding converts — what was Spain doing in the Americas? Why should the church attempt to convert populations that could not be converted?”

² Magnus Mörner, "Race Mixture in the History of Latin America", Queens College, Little, Brown and Company, 1967, pp. 45-52.

³ María Elena Martínez, "Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico", Stanford Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 104-105.

Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg Two Republics - Fueros

Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Two Republics - Fueros