EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



19 



as the seat. Since the bishop first named refused 

 the appointment, Don Vasco de Quiroga was 

 appointed, and thus for practical purposes be- 

 came the first bishop of Michoacan. 



Among the instructions of the new bishop 

 were those of selecting a town which seemed 

 best suited for tlie construction of a cathedral. 

 Since it was the largest and best known city of 

 the time, and since it was the center of the old 

 religious cult, Don Vasco selected Tzintzuntzan, 

 where he arrived to begin work in 1539.* Short- 

 ly thereafter he decided that Tzintzuntzan was 

 not suitable to become the seat of his bishopric 

 because of the poor water supply and the cramp- 

 ed position of the town between the hills and 

 the lake, and so, in the following year, he mov- 

 ed to Patzcuaro. Patzcuaro, in spite of having 

 been an important city during the reign of 

 Hiquagage was at this time a barrio of Tzin- 

 tzuntzan, a town of 10 or 12 houses, and of 

 importance only as a place of recreation for 

 the Tarascan kings. The bishop took with him 

 the church organ, the bells, the royal title to the 

 claim of Ciudad de Michoacan, and a great 

 many protesting Indians to populate the new 

 town, and left behind little beyond the founda- 

 tions of the new cathedral and a sjreat deal of 

 ill will. Thus was sounded the death knell of 

 Tzintzuntzan, depopulated and despoiled of its 

 rightful political category. Henceforth Patzcua- 

 ro was to enjoy the title City of Michoacan, 

 originally bestowed on the old Tarascan capital 

 city. 



LATER HISTORY 



After the Conquest much of the Tarascan 

 area was divided according to the encomienda 

 system by which conquistadors were rewarded 

 for their services with large land grants, includ- 

 ing all of the Indians who lived thereon. By 

 law they were charged with the protection of 

 the Indians, and could demand only limited 

 amounts of work each year. Unfortunately the 

 system did not work out according to plan, and 

 the indigenous population was often reduced to 

 virtual slavery. Other towns were placed direct- 

 ly under the real corona, royal crown, with In- 



dian chiefs remaining in charge as governors, 

 and with the land conferred by a royal title to 

 all of the pueblo. Communal lands not used for 

 agriculture were known as ejidos, following 

 Spanish practice. Tzintzuntzan, as chief city 

 of the province of Michoacan, falls in the se- 

 cond category.* These Indian governors were 

 links between the friars and the Indians, and 

 served as efficient tools. They worked with the 

 priostcs, cargueros, fiscales, and others charged 

 with church work, and also attended to visiting 

 Spaniards, providing them with food and lodg- 

 ing and furnishing guides and animals. In a 

 sense, the governors were criados de honor, ser- 

 vants of honor. Nevertheless, they retained con- 

 siderable control over their subjects, and con- 

 tinued to collect tribute and personal services, 

 so that the demands of the clergy were superim- 

 posed upon those already existing. 



The number and years of arrival of Spanish 

 settlers in Michoacan are not entirely clear. It 

 is apparent that the process of mestization which 

 has reduced the original Tarascan area to a 

 small nucleus began shortly after the Conquest. 

 When Don Vasco de Quiroga sought to move 

 the cathedral to Patzcuaro from Tzintzuntzan in 

 1540, not only the Indians, but also the Span- 

 iards objected, indicating that in Tzintzuntzan 

 mestization on a continuous basis had already 

 begun. 



From this time on, data on Tzintzuntzan are 

 sketchy. With the loss of the cathedral (sub- 

 sequently transferred to Valladolid, modern 

 Morelia, in 1579) the town became just one 

 among hundreds, with only memories of former 

 greatness to console it. Apparently a hospital 

 similar to that at Santa Fe was founded, for 

 the early maps show its presence, but even Mo- 

 reno has nothing to say about it. Two interest- 

 ing maps, both probably drawn shortly after 

 1540 show that by this date Tzintzuntzan had 

 assumed approximately its modern form. That 

 of Beaumont (1932, vol. 3, pi. 2, facing p. 

 410), which may be slightly older, shows the 

 church, convent and atrium, four of the five yd- 



5 Don Vasco made a special trip to Tzintzunlzan to take 

 possession of his new bishopric in August 1538, returning to 

 Mexico City to be ordained later in the fall (Aguayo, 1938, 

 p. 53: Beaumont, 1932, vol. 2, p. 379). 



^ For a brief period, beginning in 1527, Tzintzuntzan was 

 the personal property of Cortes who, in this year, divided 

 other adjacent lands as encomiendas among his followers 

 (Toussaint, 1942, p. 14). Emperor Charles V ordered, in a 

 cedula dated April 5, 1528. that all cabeceras, or governing 

 . ities of provinces, were to be directly under the royal crown. 

 An ordinance of the first audiena'a. dated May 14, 1529, put 

 tl'is edict into effect (Aguayo, 1938, p. 89). 



