Franciscans, Indian Sorcerers, and the Inquisition in New Spain, 1536-1543

When Spanish settlers went to the Americas, they took with them institutions that had been central to their colonization of medieval Iberia, including the Inquisition. While the main interests of the crown and the church were to prevent the establishment of Judaism, Islam, and Protestant Christianity in the New World, the first bishop of New Spain, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, was soon drawn into applying the rigors of the Inquisition against the paganism of some thirty, mostly indigenous, leaders in the years 1536–1543. This paper analyzes the second trial in the series, that of the native sorcerer Martin Ocelotl, which alarmed religious authorities about the continuation of paganism in the Valley of Mexico and became a turning point in the escalation of religious violence against native leaders.