“The subyugation of the Indian Seignory of Cholula under the Spanish Crown”

Abstract

The dissolution of the ethnic mosaic of the kingdom of Cholula, and the division of its nobility were the immediate causes of the sudden presence of the Spanish conquerors. The leaders of a secondary noble house went forward to make a pact with Cortes. This created a great internal weakness and led to the surprise attack which killed thousands of Cholultec Indians by the invading force.The lead role of a noble woman stands out here, already mentioned by Cortés in his letters to the King. Her collaboration with the enterprise of conquest, and the rewards she merited in land for herself and public office for her descendants, are the central motif of a singular Indian pictograph among the very few which have come down to us from this Indian province: the Cholula codex.This document, produced in the first half of the 17th Century, is a prototype of the Techialoyan series in the Valley of Puebla-Tlaxcala. It’s evident intention to appear older and more authentic than it really was, the underlying need to legitimate the dynastic claims of the lineage which produced it, not easily corroborated in other sources, and the defense of the superiority of this railing house, whose colonial presence was minor and as a secondary calpulli are elements which define the juridical use of this type of Indian documents. The period studied captures Indian society at the moment in which it was already undergoing retraction in its territorial patrimony and growing weakness in its governmental structures.