495 years ago, one of the most controversial representatives of world historical science was born - Diego de Landa Calderon, Bishop of Yucatan in Mexico. A number of historians claim that he tortured the Indians, forcing them to confess to their apostasy from the Catholic faith, and burned at the stake those who seemed to repent, and in addition destroyed valuable manuscripts and objects of Mayan culture. At the same time, some scientists believe that most of the information known to humanity about the Mayan civilization was preserved thanks to de Lande. Svyatoslav Knyazev writes about this in his article for RT in Russian.
Diego de Landa Calderón was born on March 17, 1524 in the Spanish city of Cifuentes. He received his education at a Franciscan monastery, and in 1547 he became a monk. He lived in Madrid for about a year, and then accepted an offer to go as a missionary to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, which had recently been conquered by the Spanish conquistadors.
Yucatan realities
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula was the center of civilization for the Mayans for centuries. In 1526, conquistador Francisco de Montejo was appointed captain general and governor of Yucatan. Nevertheless, the conquest of the peninsula proceeded slowly. Only in 1540, after several unsuccessful attempts, Montejo, together with his son and nephew, was able to capture it. At the same time, control over the lands of the Indians was quite conditional. In response to murders, bullying and oppression by the conquistadors, the local population raised large-scale uprisings.
De Landa wrote that the conquerors burned the Indians alive in their houses, cut off their limbs, hung their mothers on trees and their children on their feet.
Missionary monks spoke out in defense of the Indians. The bishopric of Yucatan was established in 1519, but until the mid-16th century it existed only on paper. The first mission arrived on the peninsula in 1545, three years later it was reinforced by Spanish monks, among whom was de Landa. The monks not only cultivated the Indians, but also created schools for them, and also told them about the rights granted to the indigenous population of America by the Spanish king.
«The only force at that time capable of moderating the cruelty and greed of the conquistadors were the missionaries. In addition, the clergy became the only representatives of the intellectual elite of Europe in the 16th century in the New World,” wrote in the preface to Galina Ershova’s book “Fray Diego de Landa.” outstanding Mayanist Yuri Knorozov.
Speaking about de Lande, the historian noted his “modesty and self-denial.” The young monk quickly learned the Mayan language. He went deep into the jungle to preach. De Landa's spiritual zeal is appreciable - he quickly moved up the career ladder and eventually became the head of the province.
«Diego de Landa came to America not to conquer lands, but to preach Christianity. He tried to resist the frenzied conquistador pressure, which left no chance for survival for the Indian community. At the same time, he was a scientist by nature,” said Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Russian State University for the Humanities Galina Ershova, Director of the Mesoamerican Center named after. Yu.V. Knorozova.
Investigation and auto-da-fé
However, not all historians agree with this assessment of de Landa’s activities. Some researchers consider him a «gravedigger» Mayan culture.
In 1562, a secret cave was found in the village of Mani, in which human remains and figurines of gods were kept. The local clergy conducted an investigation, as a result of which several Indians were arrested.
During the proceedings, it became clear that the Indian population still practiced the old cults. De Landa ordered investigative actions against the leaders and priests. The suspects, who were interrogated on the rack, admitted their guilt, revealed the storage locations of ritual objects and spoke about human sacrifices. The Indians were sentenced to auto-da-fé.
«Transgressors from the Christian faith who did not repent of their sins were burned at the stake, and in addition 70 corpses of Indians dug out of their graves who died during torture or hanged themselves in prison. De Landa, in addition, burned the manuscripts and other valuable objects he found - statues of gods and vessels, he wrote in his book «Conquistadors» historian and geographer Artur Lielais.
According to him, books that could have revealed the secrets of Mayan culture were destroyed - in their desire to eradicate paganism, fanatical monks stole the history of an entire people from humanity.
However, Galina Ershova does not agree with this assessment of what happened. «The version about de Landa’s burning of people and priceless monuments was put forward by his enemies, who were trying to discredit him. But this is nothing more than a black legend. No one was burned alive at the stake, and the destroyed statues were not ancient, but remakes,” she said.
Nevertheless, according to de Landa himself, monuments of Mayan culture were nevertheless destroyed - in addition to several thousand figurines, 27 books on deerskin were burned. Detractors immediately reported to authorities in Mexico City that de Landa had used torture and had exceeded his authority by organizing a trial and auto-da-fé. The colonial authorities sent the documents to Madrid for consideration. De Landa himself also went there.
The Royal Council for Indian Affairs instructed the leadership of the Franciscan Order to look into the matter. De Landa answered all the questions of the commission and presented copies of papal bulls, which gave him the right to conduct an investigation and auto-da-fé. He was completely acquitted.
Bishop and historian
De Landa did not return to America immediately. He was sent to a monastery in Guadalajara. In Spain, he worked on a book about the Conquest and the Mayans, "Message on Affairs in Yucatan." In his work, de Landa included a decoding of Mayan writing signs with Spanish transcription. For a long time, the alphabet he recorded was considered erroneous, and only in the twentieth century was the Soviet historian Yuri Knorozov able to decipher the writings of the ancient people.
In 1572, the King of Spain submitted to the Pope the appointment of de Landa as Bishop of Yucatan. The Holy See supported him. In Yucatan, de Landa built schools and churches, and in addition developed an alphabet for the Indians based on the Latin alphabet. He died on April 29, 1579. “Being a zealous servant of the church, de Landa was not a limited “dogmatist,” as they sometimes tried to portray him,” wrote Yuri Knorozov.
According to experts, despite the fact that the bishop was accused of persecuting Indians and destroying their cultural monuments, he made a great contribution to the preservation of Mayan history, as well as to the development of Yucatan.