Document of 1691
- [Events at Manila]. [Unsigned; June, 1691.]
Source: This document is obtained from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 53–67.
Translation: This is made by Emma Helen Blair.
Events at Manila, 1690–91
Relation of what occurred in Manila from June 24, 1690 to the present month of June in this year, 1691.
The tragedy which for years has been enacted in this city of Manila has had some variation this year, from the time when the galleon “Santo Cristo de Burgos” set sail for Nueva España up to the present month of July, in which the galleon called “Nuestra Señora del Rosario, San Francisco Javier y Santa Rosa” has been fitted up for the said navigation. By it is [sent] this written relation, which will contain the most notable events which have occurred in Manila, omitting many others, on account of not having secured information of them because they occurred outside of Manila.
I have already written, last year, of the condition in which the affairs of the bishop of Troya remained; to wit, that the necessary decrees were issued by the royal Audiencia that the bishop should restore the [ecclesiastical] government to the cabildo, to whom it belonged, as appears from the acts which the cabildo had presented in the Audiencia—not only by way of appeal from fuerza, but also on behalf of the right of the royal patronage, which resided in that body, since the said Audiencia was exercising the civil government in these islands. These efforts were hindered by the efforts of the auditor Don Alonso, former commander of the troops, and Don Tomas de Endaya, master-of-camp of the army in Manila for which I refer to the account which was given to his Majesty.
This, then, by way of preliminary. When the galleon “Santo Cristo de Burgos” set sail for Nueva España, there was little respite from negotiations of this sort, as we had hoped would be the case until the arrival of the new governor,[1] who thought that he would certainly arrive that year. Thus ran the talk of all. But, as the said bishop is so peculiar in his decisions, he made an astonishing resolution; this was, to go in person to the convent of San Agustin, a little after two o’clock in the afternoon, having crossed a great part of the city on foot, accompanied by two clerics (it is evident that they must have been among the most unassuming ones), laden with pistols and other weapons, in order to take away from the said convent the dean, the cantor, and other prebends from the place where they had taken refuge—their safety being, for fear of the bishop, protected by royal decrees.