Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize

9. Reductions and Upheaval in the Seventeenth Century

nine Reductions and Upheaval in the Seventeenth Century Ironically, the community of Lamanai—closer to Bacalar, more susceptible to monitoring, and the site of two churches—comes across as more rebellious than Tipu, the distant community. Then again, detecting irony reflects a point of view that assumes a direct relationship between Spanish energy investment and Maya compliance. As described in chapter 8, Tipu was the focus of at least two reduction efforts in the early seventeenth century, in 1608 and in 1615, with concomitant changes to encomienda restructuring effected by 1622.1 This was also the period marked by Bacalar’s weakening control and by flight from a number of its encomienda towns.2 The state of affairs for Bacalar and communities to its south stands in contrast to communities north and northwest of Belize, in which the period from about 1602 to 1615 was a time in which Franciscans were reasonably successful in gathering apostate and pagan Maya into mission communities at places such as Champoton and Tixchel (map 5.1), and even the east coast.3 These successes were, however, dependent on keeping Spanish soldiers and settlers at bay, and the only reason for holding back seems to have been that military expeditions were repeatedly failing. Once some success in establishing reduction communities had been achieved by the friars, the Spaniards stood poised to expand economic exploitation.4 Overall, the small-scale reductions of the first decade or so of the seventeenth century seem not to have satisfied the Spaniards in terms of bringing their idea of order to the frontier, and such a climate simply intensified concerns about the influence of the non-Christian Maya of the Peten lakes. Two major undertakings reflected the “problem-solving” of this period. First, the colonial government based in Mérida sought to isolate the alcaldes and secular priests of Bacalar from control over territory they had sought to 239 + + 240 Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize exploit, which included the Belize missions.5 The encomienda restructuring of 1622 represented this first effort, and the absentee encomenderos of Bacalar , already resident in Valladolid, had control of their encomiendas wrested from them and assigned to people in Mérida. This was certainly bad for Bacalar , but could have gone either way for the Maya of Tipu or Lamanai, depending on the economic contribution of their tribute and the regularity with which it was collected. Second, and in this case bad for the Mayas of Tipu, a new entrada was conceived in 1618 that deeply affected the town. Beginning in 1614–15, problems began emerging in the recently reduced communities in Campeche and along the east coast, apparently the result of incursion by Spanish colonists and soldiers .6 The entrada into Tipu at that time is a well-known venture, undertaken by the Franciscan friars Bartolomé de Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita. It was originally described by Lopez de Cogolludo,7 but is richly contextualized by Jones on the basis of further documentation.8 Several factors are important to highlight here. First, the friars Fuensalida and Orbita were happy to make the journey without military escort. Several Spanish officials had been trying to obtain permission from the Council of the Indies to lead an armed entrada to the Peten, but they had so far been denied and the Franciscans hoped to persuade the Itzas to convert without armed conflict.9 This emphasizes the competing agendas that existed in the colonial period, of which the Maya were aware, and which almost certainly factored in their decision making.10 It is also interesting that the friars needed a special commission from the bishop to administer the sacraments at Tipu and other towns. In 1618, and probably since the 1568 reductions, the secular priest based in Bacalar had jurisdiction over Tipu and presumably other Belize and New River mission towns.11 That the order from the bishop forbade the secular priest to visit Tipu while the Franciscans were there says something about the strained relationships between Mendicants and seculars, and perhaps also about the quality of ministration by seculars. Also of interest is the description of the items the Franciscans carried with them as gifts for the Mayas:  12 crosses, knives, needles, rosary and glass beads, a chalice, vestments, white raiments, other ritual items for the Mass, a crucifix , and religious paintings for the church.13 The friars left Mérida in midApril of 1618, recruited Maya maestros from towns around Tekax (map...