Relaciones (Domingo Chimalpain)

The Eight Relaciones of Chimalpain are a set of manuscripts in Nahuatl, dealing with the history of New Spain and written mostly in the form of annals, written by the Chalca noble around the early 17th century.

Written at different times in no particular sequence, they are generally structured to follow a chronological recounting of various important events, primarily around Chimalpain's home of Chalco and the Valley of Mexico.

They were apparently not meant for publication, and were bound and organized only after Chimalpain's death in 1645. The whole series is now in the National Library of France, catalogued under the name Manuscript mexicain 74 and titled Différentes histoires originales des royaumes de Colhuacan ^{[1] [note 1]}

Overview

Though Andrés de Santiago Xochitototzin, a native judge of Amaquemecan, had begun to compile and select different sources to write a history of Chalco, it wasn't until 1620 that such a text had begun its production after Cristóbal de Castañeda had delegated the task to Chimalpain, his nephew through his sister, María Jerónima Xiauhtotzin. ^{[2] [3]}

First Relación

First Relación proper

A cosmogony, heavily influenced by Christian conception, in addition to commentaries on the state and belief. ^{[note 2] [4]} It is one of two to not follow an annal format.

First Insert on Amaquemecan

Perhaps written around 1665 by Miguel Quetzalmazatzin, here the author delineates the borders of the eponymous altepetl. ^{[note 3]}

Second Relación

Second Relación proper

A chronicle, running from the year 3 b.c.e. through 50 c.e., ^{[note 4]} of how the Teochichimeca reached Aztlan-Teocolhuacan, along with a description of the geographical provinces of the Earth, describing the New World as a particularly privileged and abundant land.

Memorial breve acerca de la fundación de la ciudad de Colhuacán

Likely the last of Chimalpain's own texts, it's a long ^{[note 5]} compendium of events surrounding Colhuacan, from its founding in 670 through the arrival of several chichimec groups and the establishment of the Triple Alliance, ending in 1299 with the end of huehue Huitzilihuitl's reign and life. ^[5]

Second Insert on Amaquemecan

Written by the same author of the first insert, now in 1667, it deals with a land concession in the year 1300. ^{[note 6]}

Third Relación

Consisting of a single section ^{[note 7]} (as do the rest hereon), it describes the origins and history of the Mexicah, from their first moments in Aztlan until the end of the Triple Alliance.

Fourth Relación

On the history of both the people (totolimpaneca, tlacochcalca, acxoteca and tenanca) and nobility of Chalco, from the years 50 to 1241 C.E. ^{[note 8]}

Fifth Relación

Continuation of the previous text, now dealing mostly with the totolimpaneca and tenanca, from 1269 through 1334 C.E. ^{[note 9]}

Sixth Relación

Overlapping with the very end of the previous section, ^{[note 10]} here Chimalpain recounts the chichimec's departure from Xicco and the following 3+1⁄2 centuries, concluding with the death of Spanish queen Margaret of Austria and the mass at Tlalmanalco in her honour, on the 29th of April, 1612.

It also includes the genealogy of Cuauhcececuittzin Tlamaoccatlteuctli Teocuitlapane, tlahtoani of Panohuayan Amaquemecan.

Seventh Relación

Written in 1629, it begins with a bible-derived version to the origin of the Tlacochcalca chichimecs, and follows them through the founding of Chalco in 1272 until the land grant of 1591 to the franciscans in front of St. Hippolytus Hospital, now commonly known as the Church of St. Judas Thaddeus.

The text ^{[note 11]} generally focuses more on Tlalmanalco and the surrounding altepetl until its conquest in 1465 by the Triple Alliance, after which the text shifts to recording the history of the capital, of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

Eighth Relación

Though placed after the Seventh, ^{[note 12]} it was written some 9 years before it, in 1620. The latter of the two which do not follow the overarching annal format, it describes the genealogy of Domingo Hernández Ayopochtzin, and his relationship to the royal house of Tenanco.

Chimalpain here comments on his sources and the method through which he acquired them.

He ends the texts by describing the role of women in Chalco and the Valley, noting how it was through the women's lineage that legitimacy was acquired, comparing this and other systems and habits with those of the Spanish nobility, briefly commenting on their history.

Notes

1. In English: "Mexican manuscript #74: Miscellaneous histories from the realms of Colhuacan."
2. 1st through 7th folios.
3. 8th folio.
4. 9th through 14th folios.
5. 15th through the front (recto) of the 67th folio.
6. Back (verso) of folio 67.
7. Folios 68 through 115.
8. 116th through 122nd folios.
9. 123rd through 138th folios.
10. 139th through 144th folios.
11. 145th through 144th folios.
12. 225th through 272nd folios.

References

1. Cote : Mexicain 74
2. Battcock, Clementina (2019), "Chimalpahin, su formación y sus noticias sobre la presencia de la Iglesia Católica en Chalco Amaquemecan, siglos XVI-XVII", Revista de Historia de América (in Spanish) (157): 71–85, doi:10.35424/rha.157.2019.35
3. Cortés, Rocío, Don Domingo de San Francisco Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin (doc)
4. Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón, 1579-1660. (1997). Codex Chimalpahin : society and politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua altepetl in central Mexico : the Nahuatl and Spanish annals and accounts collected and recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin. Anderson, Arthur J. O., Schroeder, Susan., Ruwet, Wayne. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN   0806129212. OCLC   36017075.
5. de San Antón Muñón Chimalpain Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco, "Memorial breve acerca de la fundación de la ciudad de Culhuacan" (PDF), Segunda Relación

External links

• Manuscript Mexicain 74