History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas / Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Hard University. Vol. VII.

by Philip Ainsworth Means

In number 14 we recognize the Itzas of Peten. The close of this period of Disintegration (period VII) ushers in the eighth period, which will take up the remainder of our attention.

NOTE

COGOLLUDO'S ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE
MAYAS AND OF SOME OF THEIR CUSTOMS

It is well to present the account of the pre-Columbian history of the Mayas as given by Cogolludo. It will be seen to differ greatly from the more scientific view just given, but it presents points of interest. It will be found in lib. iv, cap. 3.

"Neither from the peoples who populated this Kingdom of Yucatan nor from their ancient Histories have I been able to find more than I shall say here. In some writings which those who first learned how to write left behind them, and which are in the native idiom (which is still used among the Indians), it says that some of the people came from the East and some from the West. With those who were from the Occident was one who, as it were, was a Priest of theirs, called Zamna; and they say that he it was who gave the names by which they are called in that tongue to all the Ports of the Sea, points of land, estuaries, coasts, and all the regions, sites, mountains (forests), and all the places of this entire land; and certain it is that it is a thing worthy of admiration if it was so, for such a division did he make of everything in order that each spot might be known by its own name that there is scarcely a palm of land which has not a name in their tongue. The opinion that the settlers came to this land from the Occident (although they do not know who they were nor how they came) is in accord with what Padre Torquemada says in his Monarquia Indiana. (Lib. iii, cap. 13.) This is, That the Teochichimecas, after that terrible battle with the Huexotzincas, remained lords of the territory of Tlaxcalan, and made peace with the other nations on account of the fame of that victory of theirs. These Teochichimecas must needs found their towns and distribute their lands in such a manner that they were constantly increasing their power and gradually occupying the country in such a way that in a little more than 300 years they had spread through the greater part of New Spain from one coast on the North to the other on the South, a territory which includes all the inland regions which are to the East, and especially those of this province of Yucathan as far as the province of Hibueras or Honduras. From this it seems that the Yucatecs are descended from Chichimec and Aculhua families which, coming from the West by way of the stopping-places told of by Father Torquemada in his first books, settled New Spain.

"If from the Orient came other peoples who settled in this land, there is among the people now there neither tradition nor writing telling with certainty from whence they came nor what people they were, although, however, it is said (by some) that they came from the Island of Cuba. Difficulty arises now, for some came from some regions and others from very different ones, yet all speak a very ancient tongue, nor has there been any information saying that any other has existed in the land. But this might have been occasioned by some tribes being more numerous than others, or by reason of war, or by trade and communication which, by strengthening the relations of the one race with the other, may have caused the idiom, usages, and customs of those who were of the greatest number to prevail over and obliterate those of the less numerous people. From the very differences which exist between the Yucatec tongue and the Mexican, it seems that the Settlers of this land must have been they who came from the East; and they may even have been the most ancient people since the Indian Zamna who came with them was he who first gave names to the places and lands, as has been told already, for if the others had been the first, they would have done so. Padre Lizana says the opposite because, first calling attention to the fact that these Indians call the East Cenial, and the West, Nohnial, the first of which signifies Small Descent and the second Large Descent, he says: 'And it is a fact that they relate that from the East descended upon this land a small race and from the West a large one; and by that phrase do they understand little and much, East and West, few from the one, many from the other.' The Reader will judge which seems to him the better.

"This land of Yucathan, which the natives of it call Maya, was governed for a long time by a Supreme Lord, and the last descendant of these Lords was Tutul Xiu, he who was Lord of Mani and its neighborhood when, voluntarily, he came to do homage, making himself a friend of the Spaniards on the day of San Ildefonso, 1541, as has been told. Thus it appears that there has ever been in the land a Monarchical government which, according to the most weighty opinion among Writers, is the best for the conservation of Realms. This King had for the capital of his Monarchy a very populous City called Mayapan (from which must have been derived the name of this land, Maya); this capital, through wars and discords between the King and his vassals, and because justice lay only in the greatest power among them (unhappy the times in which the Supreme Lord has not a power equal to his justice), this government came to an end; many of the Lords and Caciques rebelled, each dominating the greatest amount of land he could, and being always engaged in continuous wars; thus the Spaniards found them (divided into estates, like Dukes and Counts, albeit without recognizing any Superior). When Yucathan was left entirely without a Supreme Lord, then the ambition of private persons who united their forces and banded together to effect their will, resulted in their ordering the destruction of the City of Mayapan, Capital of the Kingdom; they demolished it about the year of Our Lord fourteen hundred and twenty (according to the computation of the ages [_Ahaus?_] of the Indians) and about the 260th year of their establishment. By this rebellion he who was King and Supreme Lord of all Yucathan was left only with the Lordship of Mani whither he retired upon the destruction of the City of Mayapan which was where now are to be seen the ruins of buildings, near the Village of Telchaquillo. They left him with this small power partly because of the fidelity of those vassals who did not deny him obedience due, and partly because of the permission given by the rebels who knew that he had not now more strength than any of themselves....

"When the Lords of the City of Mayapan were ruling all the land was tributary to them. The tribute was in small cotton mantles, native fowl, some cacao in those places where it was got, and a resin which served as incense in the Temples, and all told it was very small in quantity. All the citizens and dwellers who lived within the City of Mayapan were free from tribute; and in the city all the nobles of the land had houses; and by the year 1582 (in which was written the relation from which all this is drawn) it is said that all those who were held to be Lords and nobles of Yucathan still remembered, in that place, their old lots. Now with the change of government and because of the slight estimation in which they are held ... the descendants of Tutul Xiu, who was King and by right natural Lord, if they do not work with their hands at labor, have nothing to eat, and toil does not now seem to them unworthy of consideration. In ancient times, the nobles of Mayapan were wont to serve in the Temples of the Idols in the ceremonies and feasts which were by right assigned to them, assisting by day and by night; and though many themselves had vassals, they recognized the Supreme Lord, and served him in his wars.

"They who dwelt without the City and in the rest of the Province were vassals and tributaries, not being of those who had houses there in the capacity of land-holders; but they were greatly favored by their Lords because they themselves served them as Advocates looking out for their welfare with great solicitude whenever anyone asked that it be so. They (the vassals and tributaries) were not obliged to live in assigned Villages since they had license to live and to marry with whomsoever they wished; the object of this was to ensure multiplication, for they said that if the people were hampered, there could not fail to result a diminution. Lands were held in common, and so between the Villages there were no boundaries or landmarks to divide them; although it is true that between one Province and another because of wars, save some fields for sowing fruit-bearing trees and land which had been bought for some purpose of improvement [incomplete sentence in the Spanish]. Also the salt-works which are on the Shores of the Sea were held in common, and those who dwelt nearest to them were wont to pay tribute to the Lords of Mayapan with salt which they had got....

"The Lords were absolute in power and caused their orders to be executed with severity. There were Caciques placed in the Villages, or some other leading person to hear suits and public demands. This officer received the litigants or disputants, heard the cause of their coming, and, if the matter were a grave one, talked it over with the Lord. In order to try the case, other Ministers were appointed who were like Advocates and Constables and who always attended in the presence of the judges.... They were not in the habit of writing down the lawsuits, although they had characters (of which many are to be seen in the ruins of their buildings). All was set forth in words by means of the Ministers before referred to, and what was then and there determined remained valid and permanent without either of the parties venturing to work against it. But if the affair which was to be tried concerned many, they had a great meeting of all the interested together; then the gist was communicated, upon which followed the decision of the matter.