Great Cruelties Have Been Reported: The 1544 Investigation of the Coronado Expedition

CHAPTER 2 THE TEXTS AND EDITORIAL PROTOCOLS

Chapter 2 The Texts and Editorial Protocok The Texis his study is founded on the extant records of the investigation conducted by Lorenzo de Tejada from May through September 1544, alongwith aletterfromTejada to the king, testimony taken between January and March 1545 on behalfof Vázquez de Coronado, aswell as other undated departe testimony,and the final royaljudgment in the case. Presented herein are Spanish transcriptions and English translations of all of those documents. Three copies of the original record of the 1544 investigation of the Coronado expedition conducted by Lorenzo de Tejada are known to exist. The original record itself no longer survives. All three copies are preserved in the Justicia section of the Archivo General de las Indias (AGÍ) in Sevilla, Spain. The first, known as the "información contra Coronado" or simply "informaci ón," is designated asAGÍ,Justicia, 1021, N. 2, Pieza 4. Like the original, it was prepared by Pedro de Requena, an escribano or scribe of the Royal Audiencia of Nueva España. George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey extracted Vázquez de Coronado s testimony from this document and published it in English in 1940 in their Narratives ofthe CoronadoExpedition, 1540-1542.1 T The Texis andEditorial Protocols n Commissioned by Herbert Bolton, Rey prepared a draft transcription and a draft English translation of AGÍ,Justicia, 1021, N. 2, Pieza 4, which Bolton then used in writing his 1949 Coronado, Knight of Pueblos and Plains.2 A second complete copy of the investigation record exists in AGÍJusticia, 1021, N. 2, Pieza 6. This copy was made in January 1547 by the scribe Sancho López de Agurto. When I began my work on Tejadas investigation I was under the impression that Justicia 1021 contained the only record of the testimony he took, two identical copies. While searching through an Índex of microfilm of AGÍ documents held by the University of California at Berkeleys Bancroft Library, however, I ran across the following entry under Justicia, 267: "Case against Coronado for maltreatment of Indians opened May 6,1544, by oidor Tejada."3 Since there was no indication of how many frames of microfilm comprised the document , my expectation was that it was very brief, perhaps only a certification of the commencement of the investigation on that day. So I was extremely surprised when the film arrived in Albuquerque by Interlibrary Loan to find that Justicia, 267, N. 3 contained a third complete copy of the investigation record. In fact, the Justicia, 267 document, known as the "proceso de Francisco Vázquez" or "proceso," includes a considerable amount of text not present in the "información." Although I had completed a transcription of the "información" and was nearly finished with a translation of that document, a lengthy comparison with the "proceso" and AGÍ,Justicia, 1021, N. 2, Pieza 6 led me to the conclusi ón the "proceso" and Pieza 6 (essentially contemporary identical copies) are considerably more complete and accurate than the "información." Thus, I have chosen to use the "proceso" as the basic record of the de oficio investigation , occasionally augmented and clarified by text from the "información." A comparison of the three documents oudines my reasons for making this choice. The "información" was prepared in March 1545 at licenciado Tejadas request by Pedro de Requena, as a copy of the original case record, which had also been executed by Requena.It wasforwarded to the Council of the Indies, so that body could investígate the actions of García López de Cárdenas, 12 Chapter2 whom Tejada and the fiscal Cristóbal de Benavente found to be culpable in the case. The "información" comprises 105 folios, all in Requena's hand, except for marginal glosses probably added in Spain. The whole of Justicia, 1021, N. 2 is devoted to the investigation of López de Cárdenas and includes the accusations against him, his defenses, and the sentence rendered against him. The "proceso" and Justicia, 1021, N. 2, Pieza 6, on the other hand, were copied out two years later, in January and March 1547. The "proceso" was prepared at the request of Francisco Tello de Sandoval, the kings visitador in Nueva España. The 125 folios are in the hands of two sepárate scribes; the first transcribed 44 folios, the other all of the remainder but the final two folios. I have not been...