biography
| name: |
Torquemada, Fray Juan de
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pronunciation:
[taw(r)kaymahtha]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1536–1624)
|
| biography:
| Missionary and writer, born in Spain. Arriving in Mexico as a boy, he became an Augustinian priest in 1583 and rose to become Provincial of the Order. His Monarquía indiana was finished in 1612, published in Sevilla in 1615, and reissued in Madrid (3 vols) in 1723. His book is a compilation of earlier and better authorities, such as Sahagún, Motilinía, Andrés de Olmos, and above all Mendieta, from whose hitherto unpublished Historia eclesiástica indiana he plagiarized whole chapters, altering Mendieta's words only where the conquistadores were criticized in an attempt to justify their actions. Yet Torquemada's book assumed great significance at the time, in that it was one of the few early accounts accessible to his contemporaries. He also wrote a number of religious plays. |
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