Power and Property in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1700-1820

Home , Antigua Guatemala, Economy of Oaxaca, Huatulco, Oaxaca City, Slavery in Latin America

CONVENTUAL CONTRACTS:

POWER AND PROPERTY IN OAXACA, MEXICO, 1700-1820

ELIZABETH POLAK

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY

YORK UNIVERSITY

TORONTO, ONTARIO

JULY 2012

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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada Financial interactions between convents and people in lay communities had many implications on the social and economic life in colonial Latin America. Nuns lived the contemplative life in a cloister, but at the same time they had enduring and evolving relations with the outside world. Little is understood, however, about the process of these interactions.

This is a study of the impact of the Dominican convent of Santa Catalina de Siena on the economic development of Oaxaca during the eighteenth century. It is part of the growing body of literature on convent history that explores the convents' relationships with the world around them. Quantitative data obtained from hundreds of contracts pertaining to the convent of Santa

Catalina, including censos, titles to properties and transfers of properties, bills of sale of slaves, in addition to qualitative sources such as nun's own writings and extensive correspondence between anticlerical reformers and the nuns' ecclesiastical representatives, found at multiple private, state and Church archives, broaden our understanding of the formal credit system, the slave experience, and the effects of the Enlightenment on religious life in New Spain. This research reveals that power and property defined relations between the Dominican convent and the lay community. In a specie-starved economy, the convent had access to bullion received in dowries and various investments, and regularly entered into financial contracts with people in

Oaxaca. Nuns routinely lent money to people outside the elite group, and people in the middling group, including indigenous people and mulattoes, relied on the formal credit network to borrow money. This cooperation between convent and laity promoted social mobility and growth of the middling sector. In addition to urban properties, the convent invested in rural properties and relied on Afro-Mexican slave labour at their sugar plantation. Compared to other slave owners in the area, the convent promoted family formation and sold female slaves together with their young children. Wealth and economic prosperity of the convent became jeopardized however, when the nuns rejected the 1795 education reform. They interpreted it as an attack on their property and relative autonomy by anticlerical politicians and in defending their actions and ideas, the nuns misjudged Oaxacan laity. Propertied people desired lay education for their children, and a diminished political and economic role for the Church. When these objectives were not met, the convent was not able to secure new contracts, or to hold on to its existing properties and power. This dissertation shows the complexities of the connections between the convent and the lay world, and how the two were intertwined.

iii To Anna and Ireneusz Polak

iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing about debt, lenders and borrowers in a much distant time has left me with my own kind of debt. I owe many thanks for support, encouragement and criticism that I have received over the years from many people. I owe many thanks to late Elinor K. Melville for introducing me to the dynamic history of Mexico and igniting my passion for the colonial period, as well as for guiding me through the initial steps of the Ph.D. program. I wish she was here to see the final version of my dissertation: R.I.P.

Many thanks go to my committee members, Anne Rubenstein, Bettina Bradbury and Alan Durston, for reading my work with great enthusiasm and encouragement, for pushing me to think more critically about my sources and subjects, for their expertise and patience. Many thanks also go to examining committee,

Kathryn McPherson, Gillian McGillivray, and external examiner, Pamala Voekel, for their valuable comments and criticism. I also owe many thanks to Paul Lovejoy, Jaun Maiguasha, Sonya Lipsett-

Rivera, Kenneth Mills, and Derek Williams as well as many more members of the Tubman Research

Centre and the Latin American Reading Group in Toronto, who read various parts of my dissertation at different stages of completion, offered comments and provided fruitful ground for intellectual development. Additionally, I owe many thanks to panel chairs and commentators who participated in a number of conferences, including Nancy Van Dusen, Jeremy Baskes, Marie Eileen Francois, and Laura

Shelton for insightful comments and enthusiasm. Further, thanks go to Bill Beezley and Bill French, the co-organizers and co-directors of Oaxaca Seminar IV, for introducing me to Oaxaca in 2002, its history, culture and archives, and for providing the ground for discussing crucial debates in the historiography of

Mexico. Thank you all.

This project was completed thanks to generous funding provided by the Mexican Ministry of

Foreign Affairs for one year. Dissertation Wring Scholarship from the Dean's Office at York University for one year, as well as several Research Cost Funds, Filedwork Research Funds, and Graduate

Development Funds provided by York University. None of this, however, would be possible without the help and generosity of numerous people in Mexico City and in Oaxaca. I owe many thanks to archivists

v at Archivo General de la Nacion, galeria cuatro, Museo de Antropologi'a e Historia, Mexico D.F., Centra de Estudios de Historia de Mexico (CONDUMEX), Mexico D.F., Archivo de Notarias (ANO), Oaxaca,

Archivo Historico de la Arquidiocesis de Oaxaca (AHAO), Archivo Historico Municipal de Oaxaca

(AHMO), Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO), Fundacion de Bustamante Vasconcelos,

Oaxaca, Biblioteca de Fray Francisco de Burgoa, Oaxaca and at Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de

Mexico, en Santo Domingo, Queretaro. I also owe many thanks to Gabriela Cano who helped make sense of Mexican bureaucracy when it was of most importance. To Francie Chassen de Lopez, Nimcy

Arellanes Cancino, Paco Pepe (Francisco Jose Ruiz Cervantes), Manuel Esparza and Peter Guardino for discussions about archives, documents and Oaxacan history. To Susan Deeds for providing home away from home for many summers in Mexico City, for great conversations about archives and life in D.F. I also owe countless thanks to Doris Graciela Velasco who is a great language teacher and friend, and to

Louise Clark Gammons and Ryszard Rodys who made my research days in Oaxaca more enjoyable.

Thank you.

I would especially like to thank my parents Anna and Ireneusz Polak for their love, support, and encouragement. I would like to thank my mother-in-law Anna Brzozowska for understanding the academic culture and for her moral support. Words cannot express my gratitude and appreciation for

Mateusz Brzozowski, my husband, who stood by me every step of the way, offered support, understanding and encouragement, who even read parts of the dissertation, engaged in long debates on economic interpretations, offered valuable advice and his expertise. He never dreamed of learning so much about Mexico! I would also like to thank Jasmine, Zoe, and most of all Aiden for being a constant source of amusement, inspiration and distraction, and for reminding me that there is more to life than the dissertation.

vi CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ii

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES x

CHAPTER

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. CONVENTUAL LIFE IN COLONIAL OAXACA 45

3. THE CAPELLAN1A OF SOR JOSEFA: THE PROPERTY OF ONE NUN 88

4. THE BUSINESS OF LOANS: CONVENT CREDIT POLICY AND PRACTICE 121

5. THE BUSINESS OF SLAVERY: MARKET AND CONVENT POLICY 172

6. THE 1795 EDUCATION REFORM: THE STRUGGLE OVER POWER AND CONVENT PROPERTY 219

7. CONCLUSION 262

GLOSSARY 277

WORKS CITED 280

vii TABLES

Table Page

1.1 The 1792 Census Population Distribution in the City of Oaxaca, by Ascribed Race .... II

2.1 Convent Population Distribution in Oaxaca in 1792 50

2.2 List of Mothers Superior at the Convent of Santa Catalina, 1700-1741 77

2.3 Vicars at the Convent of Santa Catalina, 1700-1812 78

3.1 Events in the Life of Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada, 1710-1800 92

3.2 Capellans and Tenants of Real Estate for the Capellania of Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada, 1730-1790 109

4.1 Distribution of Censos, by Credit Institution in Oaxaca, 1720-1800 143

4.2 Number of Lenders Involved in Financing Individual Cases of Credit, by Credit Institutions in Oaxaca, 1720-1800 144

4.3 Cash Down Payments Made by all Borrowers, by Class, Occupation, Gender, Marital Status and Race in Oaxaca, 1720-1800 147

4.4 Number and Proportion of Censos Provided to the Elite, by Credit Institution in Oaxaca, 1720-1800 149

4.5 Distribution of Urban Real Estate, by Credit Institutions in Oaxaca, 1792 155

4.6 The Role of the Convent of Santa Catalina in the Ecclesiastical Credit Market in Oaxaca, 1720-1800 159

4.7 The Role of the Convent of Santa Catalina in the Formal Credit Market in Oaxaca, 1720-1800 162

5.1 Distribution of Bills of Sale of Slaves and Manumissions, by Notaries in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1681-1844 179

5.2 Inventory of Slaves at the Hacienda y Trapiche de San Isidro, 1729 188

5.3 Gender Distribution of Slaves Sold in the Slave Market in the Valley of Oaxaca Using Records of the Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741 192

viii 5.4 Age Distribution of Slaves Sold in the Slave Market in the Valley of Oaxaca Using Records of the Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741 202

5.5 Age Distribution of Manumitted Slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1700-1741 215

6.1 Distribution of Students in Oaxaca, 1792-1803, by Formal Teaching Institutions 227

6.2 Numbers of New Professions at the Convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca, 1575-1862 256

ix FIGURES

Figures Page

3.1 Family Tree for Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada 113

3.2 Family Tree for Manuel de Leon 116

5.1 Mean Price of Slaves Sold as Single Units, Using the Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1700-1741 207

x CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This dissertation is a study of power and property in eighteenth-century Oaxaca. It analyzes social and economic developments in the region through the prism of an institution, the

Dominican convent of Santa Catalina de Siena, that was involved in a multitude of activities, including education, the formal credit market, and slavery. It analyzes various types of contracts between the convent and people in the lay community, and it focuses on the institution's policies and practices. The convent of Santa Catalina, collectively or through individual nuns, regularly participated in economic activities in the region, and contributed to the development of the economic middle sector within the lay community. In many ways people of all classes, regardless of gender, marital status or race, had financial ties to the nuns at this convent. But the convent also struggled to retain autonomy over its property during the anticlerical movement.

The story of the convent is part of a larger story: the economic intersection between the religious and the lay world in eighteenth-century Oaxaca.

Convents accompanied Spanish colonialism to the New World. They were rooted in gendered ideologies and modeled on the long established practices of Catholic doctrine and

Western thought.1 There was one exception: in the context of the New World, Church officials called for stricter obedience of all rules. By the end of the sixteenth century, proud colonial elites could claim that creole (Spanish born in New Spain / the Americas) women were as good as Peninsular (Spanish born in the Iberian Peninsula) women and equally worthy of marrying

1 Stephanie L. Kirk. Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities (Gainesville. 2007). 6.

I 2

Christ.2 New World nuns were as high-caste as any in Europe. They were of pure Spanish blood from respectable Christian families and brought large dowries with them. The endless regulations imposed on convents reflected this attitude, including barring non-white, non-elite women from taking the habit. In Cuzco, the convent of Santa Clara originally accepted indigenous women as nuns, but ceased to do so within the first generation.3 Other regulations stipulated that women could not leave the cloister of the convent, or engage in any worldly activity. In Mexico, the Church emphasized women's contemplative role, and denied any other.

The idealized male vision of female conventual life, however, differed from the reality of everyday life within the cloisters. One of the reasons why convent reform was so endemic was that nuns failed to obey many of the rules that addressed poverty and seclusion.

Beginning with the pioneering work of Josefina Muriel and Asuncion Lavrin, scholars have explored many facets of convent life.4 Much attention has been devoted to the internal aspects of convent life, including the gap between formal regulations and everyday practices.

Women's motives for entering convents, the relationships between them, and the ways in which

2 F.lisa Sampson Vera Tudela, Colonial Angeles: Narratives of Gender and Spirituality in Mexico, 1580- 1750 (Austin, 2000), 41; Kirk, Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities, 6.

1 Kathryn Burns, "Nuns. Kurakas, and Credit: The Spiritual Economy of Seventeenth-Century Cuzco," in Women and Religion in Old and New Worlds, ed. S. E. Dinan and D. Meyers (New York. 1997): 43-67; and Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela, "Fashioning a Cacique Nun: From Saints' Lives to Indian Lives in the Spanish Americas." Gender and History 9 (1997): 171 -200.

4 Josellna Muriel. Conventos de Monjas en la Nueva Espaha. 1st ed. (Mexico City. 1946); and Asuncion Lavrin. Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico (Stanford. 2008); Asuncion Lavrin. "The Execution of the Law off 'onsolidacion in New Spain: Economic Aims and Results." Hispanic American Historical Review 53 (1973): 27-49; Asuncion Lavrin. "Female Religious," in Cities Society in Colonial Latin America, ed. Louisa Shell Hoberman and Susan Migden Socolow (Albuquerque, 1986): 165-195; Asuncion Lavrin, "Problems and Policies in the Administration ofNunneries in Mexico 1800-1835," The Americas 28 (1971): 55-77; Asuncion Lavrin, "The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century." Hispanic American Historical Review 46 (Nov. 1966): 371-393; and Asuncion Lavrin and Rosalva Loreto Lopez, eds.. Monjas y Beatas: La Escriptura Feminina en la Espiritualidad Barroca Novohispana Siglos XVIIy A VIII (Mexico. D.F.. 2002). 3 they challenged patriarchal authority have been studied.5 The cultural and political implications of these relations have also been explored. But a growing body of literature, including this dissertation, focuses on the convents' relationships with the world around them. Historians no

longer consider convents as remote islands in a state of motionless suspension, but as having enduring and evolving relations with the outside world that extend beyond the realm of faith and

religion. Scholars examine the ways in which convents mirrored the world outside the cloister, and what kind of impact they may have had on it, including their role in urban development.6

This study is about the relationships that nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina had with the lay community in Oaxaca, and their socio-economic impact on that community. It reveals the complexities of the connections between the convent and the lay world, and how the two were intertwined. It is the first study that explores the extent of a Mexican convent's, and its

nuns', involvement in both urban and rural real estate, and their role as major slave owners in the area during the eighteenth century. It shows that the convent was one of the major sources of

formal credit in Oaxaca, and it argues that access to the convent's coffers was not reserved for the establishment but that it was also available to the plebeians, thereby promoting plebeian's social mobility. Further, this study explains how the convent transitioned from the Baroque era of the early eighteenth century into the era of Independence and Republicanism of the nineteenth

5 On nuns' writing see K. Ibsen, Women's Spiritual Autobiography in Colonial Spanish America (Miami. 1999); and Electa Arenal and Stacey Schlau, Untold Sisters: Hispanic Nuns in Their Own Works (Albuquerque. NM. 1989); and K. A. Myers and A Powell, eds., A Wild Country Out in the Garden: The Spiritual Journals of a Colonial Mexican Nun (Bloomington, 1999); For relationships between nuns and challenges to the patriarchal system see Margaret Chowning, Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863 (Oxford; New York, 2006); and Kirk. Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities.

b This trend is elegantly summarized in Margaret Chowning, "Convents and Nuns; New Approaches to the Study of Female Religious Institutions in Colonial Mexico," History Compass 6 (2008). 1280; for a pioneering study of convents' external relationships see Kathryn Burns, Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru (Durham, 1999); and Jacqueline Holler, "Escogidas Plantas": Nuns and Beatas in Mexico City, 1531- 1601 (New York, 2005). 4 century, and argues that the convent's power diminished as its properties crumbled, through its own actions as much as through the actions of the state.

I see convents as institutions anchored in their surrounding communities. Convents were not self-sufficient, independently functioning, entities. Instead, they relied on goods and services provided by the lay community for their daily operations and survival. Nuns reciprocated by offering services and goods they, and their slaves and servants, produced. Kathryn Burns calls these exchanges the spiritual economy.7 In addition to providing spiritual services, nuns participated in the local real estate market, in the credit market, and in the case of the convent of

Santa Catalina in Oaxaca, in the sugar industry that relied on slave labour, and in the education of young women. This dissertation shows that convents were involved in many activities that brought the nuns outside the convent, if only figuratively. During the eighteenth century, the

Dominican nuns at Santa Catalina had a great impact on the lay community, and in particular on the material existence of the people who fell in the gap between the rich and the poor.

When making arguments about convents' economic role in a society, it is crucial to distinguish between two types of convents: the calzadas (non-reformed, non-austere) convents and the descalzas (reformed, austere, and literally meaning shoeless) convents. Erroneously, sometimes scholars make generalizations about these two types of convents as if they were one, but I believe calzadas and desclazas convents had distinctively different economic roles and impact that should be highlighted.8 Most of the convents established in New Spain, and

7 Bums. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, I'eru: Hums, "Nuns, Kurakas. and Credit: The Spiritual Economy of Seventeenth-Century Cuzco."

8 In a discussion on financial management of convents in New Spain. Assuncion Lavrin lumps calzadas and descalzas convents together, writing that their mis-management of funds often led to bankruptcies, while Lowery-Timmons shows that the two types of convents faired differently in Mexico City, see Lavrin, "The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century"; and Jason J. Lowery-Timmons. "From 5 throughout much of Latin America, were calzadas convents. In 1756, over seventy-five percent of convents in New Spain practiced relaxed observance.9 Among them were the Franciscan,

Concepcionist, Dominican and Augustinian orders. Descalzas convents were less frequent; by

mid eighteenth century, out of forty-eight convents in New Spain, only eleven of them practiced strict observance.1" Carmelites and Capuchins were among these reformed convents.11

Nuns at the non-reformed convents followed the same vows as nuns at the reformed convents: vows of enclosure, chastity, obedience and poverty. But nuns at the two types of convents interpreted their vows of obedience and poverty in different ways. Descalzas nuns

followed a stricter interpretation of their rule; they practiced a vida comun (a communal life) and

relied on the alms of the faithful, while calzadas nuns led a \ida particular (individual life): they

lived in private cells inside the convents, owned material objects including jewelry, art and fine

furniture, and were required to bring a dowry. The dowry or more precisely access to money, set

the calzadas nuns further apart from the descalzas nuns. The quality of life of nuns at the

calzadas convents depended on the dowries they brought at the time of profession. The dowries

Humility to Action: The Shifting Roles ofNuns in Bourbon Mexico City, 1700-1821" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin. 2002).

q There also existed a third type of convent: the recolelas. Founded at the turn of the eighteenth century, nuns at these convents were required to bring a dowry and lead a communal life. Shortly after founding, some of these convents received Papal dispensation to abandon the communal life and have individual sleeping/living quarters (private cells). Because of how these convents conducted themselves, they are indistinguishable and therefore are included as part of the calzadas convents; Chowning, Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863. p.34.

10 For a complete list of convents in New Spain see Josefina Muriel. Conventos de Monjas en la Nueva Espaha. 2nd ed. (Mexico, 1995). appendix; and Lavrin, Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico. appendix.

11 The Dominican convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca was technically a recoleclas convent that had a Papal dispensation from 1604. to lead a non-reformed life and practice vidaparicular. and was therefore a calzadas type of a convent, see Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libra de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores, Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571-1862."' 6 were invested outside the convent, in the lay community, and the income they generated was used to pay for nuns' living expenses. Meanwhile, nuns at the descalzas convents relied on alms from the faithful and were not required to invest them: they used alms as needed.12 When upper clergy sought reform, they reformed the calzadas convents, and curtailed their lavish way of life.

The nuns routinely disagreed, objected or ignored those orders.

Living arrangements and dowry set the two types of convents apart and had numerous implications for the religious community as well as for the lay community. First, these two factors meant that the convents attracted, and admitted, different kinds of women, and perhaps for slightly different reasons. Calzadas convents admitted women from elite families who could afford the dowry and any additional expenses associated with profession, or who could find donors who would sponsor them. But descalzas convents admitted women who did not have financial backing, and may have come from impoverished elite families. Unlike descalzas nuns, women who joined the calzadas convents maintained their standards of living, including reliance on slave labour and avoidance of menial tasks. Second, as a result the two types of convents had different financial relationships with the lay community and accumulated wealth in distinctively different manners. The fact that dowries were invested to generate an income meant that the clazadas convents sought to adopt investment procedures and strategies that would let them achieve a certain level of success. Descalzas convents may have made investments but to a much smaller extent, and as a result, had less experience, and made a much smaller impact on the economic development of the lay community. Thus, this dissertation focuses on calzadas convents.

12 Asuncion Lavrin. "Values and Meaning of Monastic Life for Nuns in Colonial Mexico," The Catholic Historical Review 58 (Oct.. 1972): 375-376. 7

The convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca was one of the calzadas convents and it routinely entered into various financial contracts. David Brading argues that the Church in New

Spain provided credit to wealthy hacienda owners (agriculturalists).13 Similarly, Linda Greenow and Gisela Von Wobeser show that convents lent money only to the elites.14 Douglas Cope argues that plebeians sought credit from wealthy merchants and shopkeepers through the informal credit market.15 To the contrary, Peter Guardino did not find these types of connections between Oaxacan elites, or the upper class, and plebeians.16 Meanwhile, this dissertation shows that while elites constituted a large proportion of borrowers, they were not the only group.

Plebeians, Oaxaqueftos who had some wealth and thus constituted the middling class, also benefited from credit provided by the convent of Santa Catalina, an institution that was part of the formal credit network. In other words, the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca conducted business with people in the middling class as well as with the elites. Moreover, it conducted business with people from various racial groups.

Historians of New Spain have argued about the group of people in the middling sector, who were neither rich nor poor. They disagree about how wealthy or poor people fitted into the middle, about whether these people were a single group or many, whether their numbers were growing or shrinking, whether they should be viewed as a middle class in the nineteenth century

11 David A. Brading. Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-1810 (Cambridge. 1971).

14 Linda L. Greenow. Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara, 1720-1820 (Boulder. 1983); Gisela von Wobeser. El Credito Eclesidslico en la Nueva Espana siglo XVlll (Mexico. D.F., 1994).

15 Douglas R. Cope. The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660- 1720 (Madison, 1994).

Peter F. Guardino. The Time of Liberty: Popular Political Culture in Oaxaca, 1750-1850. Latin America otherwise. (Durham. 2005), 25. 8 sense, and even about what to call them.17 Many have found that class and race are not sufficient categories of analysis. John Chance studied the issue of class and race in Oaxaca during the colonial era, and categorized Oaxacan society based on people's occupational status. He has identified people from the middle as part of preindustrial middle groups. He based his study on the census from 1792 that listed 141 occupations for adult males. He sorted these into three categories: the elite group, the pre-industrial middle group, and the lower group. The elite group comprised 6 percent of the occupations for the enumerated population. The preindustrial middle group included professionals, high-status artisans, and small landholders comprising 20 percent of the occupations. The lower groups included low-status artisans and comprised the remaining I o 74 percent. Among the elite group, both peninsulares/Espanoles (Spaniards born in the peninsula) and Creoles (those born in the New World) dominated. Creoles dominated among the professionals, high-status and low status artisans. However, each of these categories of wealth and status included mestizos (Spanish and indigenous mix), castizos (cav/av/racially mixed people), mulatos (Spanish and Black mix), and negros (Black, African ancestry), thus indicating social mobility.19 In addition, scholarship shows that colonial society in Mexico was fluid and dynamic. Chance, William Taylor, Patricia Seed, Robert McCaa, Douglass Cope and Robert

Jackson found that people often blurred the lines between categories of class and race, or moved from one category to another as they wished, a topic I get back to later in the chapter.20 People

17 For a comprehensive discussion of class and the issue of defining the middle economic sector in Mexico see Marie Eileen Francois. A Culture of Everyday Credit: Housekeeping, Pawnbroking, and Governance in Mexico City, 1750-1920 (Lincoln. 2006), 2-6.

18 John K. Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, 1978). 159-164.

19 Ibid.. 165.

"° For a discussion on social mobility and passing see Patricia Seed, "Social Dimensions of Race: Mexico City. 1753." Hispanic American Historical Review 62 (Nov.. 1982): 569-606; John K. Chance and William B. in pre-industrial societies had opportunities for social mobility, and did not fit into a dichotomy of poor and elite.

In part, this dissertation is a study about the people who utilized the opportunities for social mobility, and about an institution that facilitated those opportunities. It shows that the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca promoted the growth of the group of people who were neither rich nor poor; they were not elites, yet they had some reasons to, and did, enter into financial contracts with the convent suggesting they were not poor either. This dissertation will use the term middling class to refer to these people.

Oaxaca

In 1529, the army of Francisco de Orozco moved south of Mexico City and conquered the Valley of Oaxaca. Colonisation of New Spain (Mexico) was a process that began in 1519.

Spaniards conquered Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) in 1521. Shortly thereafter, they sent out small convoys to the north and to the south, and did not stop until reaching the southern tip of South

America. Along the way, they met and conquered new peoples and empires, found new riches and established new administrative centres. However, some of their exploits were swifter than others. It took Spaniards roughly fifty years before they had effective political control of the former Inca Empire, while the conquest of the Valley of Oaxaca was comparatively

Taylor. "Estate and Class in a Colonial City: Oaxaca in 1792." Comparative Studies in Society and History 19 (1977): 454-487; John K. Chance and William B. Taylor. "Estate and Class: A Reply," Comparative Studies in Society and History 21 (1979): 434-442; Robert McCaa. "Calidad, Clase, and Marriage in Colonial Mexico: The Case of Parral, 1788-90," Hispanic American Historical Review 64 (1984): 477-501; Cope. The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720; Bruce A. Castelman, "Social Climbers and a Colonial Mexican City: Individual Mobility within the Sistema de Castas in Orizaba, 1777-1791," Colonial Latin American Review 10 (2001): 229-249; Steve J. Stern. The Secret History of Gender: Women. Men, and Power in Late Colonial Mexico (Chapel Hill. 1995); Robert H. Jackson. Race, Caste, and Status: Indians in Colonial Spanish America. 1st ed. (Albuquerque, 1999); and Jake Frederick, "Without Impediment: Crossing Racial Boundaries in Colonial Mexico," The Americas 67 (2011): 495-515. 10 uncomplicated. This relatively non-militarily-violent process of political conquest of Oaxaca ensured that caciques (indigenous leaders) received special land grants for their cooperation.

91 They also retained administrative powers over their people. In 1532, Antequera (Oaxaca) located in the Valley of Oaxaca was officially declared a Spanish city, and in 1535, the southern region of Mexico became the Bishopric of Oaxaca and the Province of Oaxaca, with Antequera as its main administrative centre.22 Religious and cultural conquest followed immediately, but the city developed slowly. It was not until the 1570s that major buildings were constructed and the first convent for women was established: the convent of Santa Catalina de Siena.

Oaxaca region was, and remains, one of the most ethnically diverse areas in

Mesoamerica, with at least fifteen different indigenous linguistic groups and numerous dialects.

The mountains split the central Valley of Oaxaca into three areas, each with a slightly different climate, ranging from temperate to warm, to dry. The Atoyac River and its many arms run through the city and the entire valley, making agriculture possible during pre-colonial and colonial period, which in turn enabled the support of a large population. At contact, the most populous ethnic groups in the Valley had been Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec. Spaniards, Blacks, mestizos, and mulatos appeared, some voluntarily others forcefully, after 1529.23

Oaxaca was one of the four largest cities in New Spain: in the eighteenth century, smaller than Mexico City and Puebla, it was comparable to Guadalajara. At the end of the sixteenth

William B, Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford. 1972). 35-37.

" Following Independence in the nineteenth century, the province became the state ofOaxaca with the capital renamed the city ofOaxaca de Juarez (Oaxaca).

21 The city ofOaxaca lies in a valley formed by two sets of mountains. The Sierra Madre del Sur from the West, and the Sierra Madre Oriental (Sierra Norte) from the North, divide the Central Valley ofOaxaca into three areas: the Valley of Etta, the Valley of Tlacolula. and the Valley of Zimitlan. see Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 9-11; Margarita Dalton. Breve Hisloria de Oaxaca (Mexico. D.F., 2004). 17-32; Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca, 3-34. 11

century, Oaxaca had reached a population of over 2,000. Towards the end of the eighteenth

century, in 1792, it had reached 18,288 inhabitants, with 5,149 families (table 1.1 ).24 Among

them 2,370 people were identified as mulatos, 4,773 as Indios, and 10,504 as Spanish and

Mestizos (table 1.1). During the eighteenth century the population of the Valley of Oaxaca

jumped in size from 70,000 in the 1740s to 110,000 in the 1790s; an increase of 57 percent.25

Table 1.1 The 1792 Census Population Distribution in the City of Oaxaca, by Ascribed Race

Racial category Families Male Female Boys Girls Total Espanoles, Castizos, Mestizos 2,957 3,033 4,060 2,028 1,383 10,504

Mulatos 679 673 917 424 356 2,370

Indios 1,513 1,468 1,577 1,084 644 4,773

Convents and Colleges - 332 309 - - 641

Total 5,149 5,506 6,863 3,536 2,383 18,288

Source: AGN: Padrones, ano 1792 vol.13 fs.296

Additionally, Oaxaca was the last large city en route from Puebla to Guatemala, and

while being an administrative center it served as a commercial hub, especially during the

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Three trade routes passed through Oaxaca: one from

Guatemala to Mexico City, one from Villa Alta (northern part of Oaxaca state) to Mexico City

24 The 1779 census shows Oaxaca had a population of 20,244. However, the 1792 census was the first comprehensive and reliable count of population in New Spain see Museo de Antropologia e Historia: Censo de Oaxaca. 1779 and AGN: Padrones, vol.13 fs.296; For Oaxaca population estimates over the entire colonial period see Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 18.

25 Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca. 144-145. 12 and Veracruz, and one from Manila (Philippines) via the port of Huatulco (southern part of

Oaxaca State) and Acapuico.26 Peninsular merchants dominated commerce, while Creoles dominated smaller-scale trade. During the early stages of the colony there was some activity in the silk industry. However, for the most part people in the Valley of Oaxaca were preoccupied with agriculture. They supplied foodstuff for the local market, including maze, wheat, a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as livestock for Spanish consumption. In his pioneering work on land tenure practices in Oaxaca, William Taylor shows that after the conquest much of the land in the Valley of Oaxaca remained in control of indigenous people. Spaniards had few estates, they were limited in size, and in the eighteenth century they owned less land than they had a century earlier.27 This means that a significant proportion of agricultural foodstuff depended on the participation of indigenous people in the local market. Spaniards and Creoles tended to focus on what the indigenous people did not want to supply, including wheat, sugar and livestock.

In the 1720s, economic activities in the Valley of Oaxaca underwent some changes. As merchants found buyers for the natural red dye in distant markets, the production of cochineal increased. By the 1740s, the cochineal industry had gained in importance as the number one commodity traded in Oaxaca. Jeremy Baskes shows that production of cochineal was in the hands of the indigenous people who continued to use traditional methods of production, while its distribution was in the hands of Spaniards. The popularity of the dye was related to industrial developments in Europe and the demand for it placed Oaxaca in the international market. The

"6 Ana Carolina Ibarra, Cleroy Politico en Oaxaca: Biografia del Doctor.Jose de San Martin (Oaxaca. 1995). 48, 59-60; Oaxaca was located 80 leagues (386km) from Mexico City and 200 leagues (965km) from Cjuatemala, see Dalton, Breve Historia de Oaxaca. 87; Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 3; Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 53-54.

27 Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 7-8; Hamnet found similar land tenure patterns in Brian R. Hamnett, "Dye Production. Food Supply, and the Laboring Population of Oaxaca, 1750-1820." Hispanic American Historical Review 51 (1971): 52. 13 production of cochineal was unprecedented and it became the second most important export commodity in the Spanish colonies, the first being silver. Most of the cochineal exported between 1745 and 1854 was produced in the province of Oaxaca, with a peak year in 1777.28

Another industry that gained in importance alongside the famous dye was the textile industry.

People revived their interests in silk, cotton and linen production which were reflected in the spurt of people working as tailors, weavers, hat makers and button makers as well as in the creation of a guild for cotton weavers in 1754. At the end of the century, the textile industry was employing more than 1,000 people.29

The dye and textile industries of the eighteenth century created a demand for people in a wide range of occupations. These economic activities in turn had social and political ramifications for Oaxacan society. They distributed wealth and power among various racial and social groups and created avenues for social mobility, and for political participation. In their pioneering work on race and class during the colonial period, John Chance and William Taylor show that the caste system was dying in Oaxaca because of economic opportunities and that the two concepts were not separable.30 Robert Jackson disagreed with this theory, arguing that racial identity and status were two separate concepts, and that the cast system reflected a vision of the colonizers.31 His study was based on a northern part of Mexico, and may have reflected regional variations. In Oaxaca, many of the local indigenous people did attain strong positions of wealth

~8 Jeremy Baskes, Indians, Merchants, and Markets: A Reinterpretation of the Repartimiento and Spanish- Indian Economic Relations in Colonial Oaxaca, 1750-1821 (Stanford. 2000); also see Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 144-150; the trade was so important that in 1758 a cochineal registry was set up in Oaxaca.

Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 144-150, 67-68.

,n Chance and Taylor, "Estate and Class in a Colonial City: Oaxaca in 1792." 454-487.

11 Jackson, Race, Caste, and Status: Indians in Colonial Spanish America. 118. 14 and power and they petitioned the Crown to found a convent for indigenous women. Their efforts were recognized in 1782 with the foundation of the convent of Nuestra Seflora de los

Angeles.32 Additionally, the thriving economy anchored in the cochineal and textile industries

attracted various migrants and the population of the city grew rapidly. These changes helped

transform a city on the periphery of the Spanish Empire, which served as an administrative

center to even more peripheral regions, into a political, religious, culturally diverse, and

commercial hub at an international scale.

Oaxaca's prosperity continued into the mid-nineteenth century however, not without

setbacks. The region of Oaxaca is set on tectonic plates and has been prone to earthquakes that

vary in severity; particularly damaging ones, during the eighteenth century, occurred in 1721,

and again in 1795. Additionally, throughout the eighteenth century there were a few famines,

especially significant were the ones in 1779-1780, and 1785-1787. There had also been several

epidemic outbreaks, including yellow fewer in 1739, and smallpox in 1766 and again in 1780.33

These types of disasters would have had many consequences on Oaxaqunos, including loss of

human life, loss of a source of labour, increases in the price of agricultural foodstuff as well as

building materials. Overall, regardless of the disaster, the city and its inhabitants would have

suffered financial and economic loss that would require time to recover. Furthermore, the

economic developments on the World stage, and the long-term failure of various economic and

Luisa Zahino Penafort, "La Fundacion del Convento para Indias Cacicas de Nuestra Seflora de los Angeles en Oaxaca," in El Monaclo Feminino en el Imperio Espaehol: Monasterios. Beaterios, Recogimienlos y Cok'gios. ed. Manuel Ramos Medina (Mexico, D.F., 1995), 333; originally an Indian cacique Jeronimo Espinoza y Luna founded a school for indigenous women in 1774. This was at a time in the history of New Spain when women did not have easy access to education, nevertheless, indigenous women. Yet. a small school the Collegio de Nuestra Seflora de los Remedios provided formal education to four young indigenous women, before it was transformed into a convent, see Josefina Muriel. La Sociedad Novohispanay Sits Colegios de Ninas: Fundaciones de los Sighs XVII y XVIII. 2 vols., vol. II (Mexico. 2004). 346-347.

!> Hamnett. "Dye Production, Food Supply, and the Laboring Population ofOaxaca. 1750-1820." p.6l. 15 administrative changes introduced by the Crown throughout the eighteenth century, brought on an economic depression at the end of the century in Latin America, including New Spain.

Inevitably, this also had an impact on Oaxaca, and was particularly evident after the Wars of

Independence in the nineteenth century. Carlos Sanchez Silva argues that in the case of Oaxaca, elites' desire to embrace the traditional and their reluctance to modernize at the end of the eighteenth century, contributed to the region's economic failure during the nineteenth century,

while Richard Garner and Spiro Stefanaou argue that Bourbon reforms had devastated the economy rather than the Wars of Independence .34

Political Organization of the Spanish Empire

The eighteenth century is the temporal boundary for my dissertation, although each chapter follows its own trajectory and highlights different periods within the epoch. In 1700 the administration of the Spanish Empire moved from the Hapsburg to the Bourbon monarchs. Then during the second half of the eighteenth century, the empire underwent major administrative,

legal and economic changes which eventually earned a collective title: the Bourbon Reforms.

Some of them were dictated by global, or international/inter-imperial, developments, trends, and

pressures, others by local conditions. This study focuses on a colonial town on the periphery of an empire and observes how these global and local conditions have shaped that region, and how

local population responded. It studies the interplay between a religious institution and lay community in the midst of broader developments.35

14 Sanchez Silva. Indios, Comerciantes y Burocracia en la Oaxaca Poscolonial, 1786-1860: Richard L. Garner and Spiro E. Stefanou, Economic Growth and Change in Bourbon Mexico. University of Florida (Gainesville. 1993). 16

Oaxaca belonged to the Spanish colony of New Spain, which originally was one of two viceroyalties and included the Caribbean, the Philippines, and all of Central America as well as

Oaxaca. During the eighteenth century, however, the War of Spanish Succession, and various conflicts resulting from Imperial rivalry with England and France, much reduced the size of

Spanish possessions. Additional Bourbon reforms reorganized the Empire and the territory of the viceroyalty of New Spain shrank.36 The administration of New Spain fell under the Consejo de IndiasThis was the Council of the Indies and it dealt with all non-continental possessions of the Spanish Empire. The viceroyalty was governed by the Viceroy who was appointed by the

King and who directly represented him and his council; the Viceroy was the King's most trusted dignitary.

55 The year 1700 was a year of marked political transition within the Spanish Empire. By the end of the century, this political transition spilled over into other spheres, including the economic, the social and the religious affecting all aspects of peoples' lives. When the last Hapsburg King died in November 1700, without an heir to the Spanish throne, the House of Bourbons made a claim to the kingdom. However, the unification of the two largest empires in Europe, the Spanish and the French, would have significantly altered the balance of power. This proposal met with severe objections and resulted in a War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714); a conflict on a world scale. The war ended with the signing of a treaty at Utrecht in 1713 and at Rasttat in 1714, recognizing the Bourbons' claim to the Spanish throne. Philip V had been confirmed as King of Spain under the condition that Spain and France would never unite into one kingdom. Thus, the House of Bourbons had been divided into the French Bourbons and the Spanish Bourbons who rule over Spain to the present day, albeit under very different conditions. Philip V took over a powerful, yet greatly dysfunctional Spanish Empire. The last Hapsburg, King Philip II, was physically and mentally challenged, and did not have an effective rule over his kingdom. A series of politicians and family members, including his mother, led the empire instead: each looking to reap benefits for themselves rather than for the kingdom. This lack of coherent leadership had drained the empire of its resources and brought poverty and famine to many areas. The new dynasty may have brought new blood to the Spanish kingdom but it did not breathe new life into it. Philip V was nostalgic for France, prone to depression, and indifferent to his new responsibilities. He occupied himself with hunting and with continental affairs, including various political disputes on European scale, and with the immediate duties related to Spain. Spanish colonies however, were outside the realm of his interest. His heir, Ferdinand VI, was similarly ineffective in leading the Spanish Empire. For a broader discussion see Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein. Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of C harles III, 1759-/789 (Baltimore. 2003), 10-15.

In the early eighteenth century, a Viceroyalty of New Grenada was added, and in 1776 Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata was established. Prior to that New World colonies were divided into Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) and Viceroyalty of Peru, which integrated all of Spanish South America.

17 The King was in charge of all these territories, and ruled with the assistance of two councils. The administration of the metropolis fell under the Consejo de Castilla. while Spanish overseas possessions fell under the administration of Consejo de Indias. 17

Each viceroyalty was subdivided into Audiencia (Provincial High Court) and Juzgado de

Indios (General Indian Court). All Spaniards and their descendents were subject to the

Provincial court, while all indigenous people were subject to the General Indian court; a division created to avoid abuses of the local population. The Spanish colonial population was legally restricted to urban residence, and was governed by corregidores (district governors) and alcaldes mayores (colonial representatives of head towns), in collaboration with cabildo (municipal town council.) Indigenous people were legally restricted to rural residence and the outskirts of

Spanish towns, and were governed by caciques (Indian hereditary nobles).38

This political organization of the Empire was designed to maintain peace and order, and enable the Crown to prosper from the fruits of its subjects and territories. However, several generations of poor political leadership, under the Hapsburgs and under the Bourbons, had weakened the Empire. More precisely, poor political leadership had weakened Spain, the metropolis, while at the same time it allowed its colonies to develop a degree of independence, especially economic independence. The political oversight enabled the colonies to develop their own trade networks, albeit, much of it illegal from the point of view of the metropolis. It also enabled the colonial settlers to retain a large proportion of capital within the colonies; again, much of it illegal. With economic prosperity came local political power, as the colonists were able to acquire various posts sold or auctioned off by the Crown.39 By mid eighteenth century,

,s By law. Spaniards and all other non indigenous people were restricted to a three-day stay in an indigenous community, see Terraciano, The Mixtecs of Colonial Oaxaca: Nudzahui History, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries. 340; Spanish recognized, maintained, and relied on indigenous social structure after the conquest. For a broader discussion on this subject, and on the structure and coexistence of the second republic, see Ciibson, The Aziecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519-1810, chapters 6and 7; and l.ockhart. The Nahuas After the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries, particularly chapters 2 and 5.

Robert W. Patch. "Imperial Politics and Local Economy in Colonial Central America 1670-1770," Past and Present 143 (1994): 77-107. 18 the colonies had grown so strong that it could be said that the tail wagged the dog, until Charles

III attempted to change the course on which the Spanish Empire was headed.40

His legacy was reform; more precisely, the set of reforms referred to as the Bourbon

Reforms (1759-1766) directed by Prime Minister Esquilache. The reforms were inspired by the

Enlightenment and permeated every aspect of the empire, in its every corner, including the colonies. They aimed at centralizing power and at reorienting the economy from the colonies to the metropolis. They dealt with administration and with the Church, with bureaucracy, trade, agriculture, industry, taxation and imperial security. Indirectly, the reforms also modernized cities and social space; they altered social behaviour, public holidays, and displays of worship.41

In order to achieve these reforms the Crown had to reduce the privileges and influence of the

Church, as well as to replace and appoint new bureaucrats.42 John Lynch refers to the Bourbon reforms as the re-conquest of the American colonies, while Stanley Stein and Barbara Stein point out that the intention of the new administration was to respond to the needs and demands of the

40 Charles III thought that his brother would have lost Spanish colonies had been a king much longer, and was preoccupied with reorganization of the colonies not to let that happen. When Charles 111 became King of the Spanish Empire in 1759 he immediately set out to reform the kingdom. Unlike his predecessors, he had the education and the experience of being a king and was successful at it. At an early age, Charles III had been the King of Naples, where he implemented numerous economic and political reforms, centralized power and brought prosperity to the region. When he inherited the Spanish throne (1759-1788) from his half brother, at the age of 43, he took one good look at the empire and put his experience, passion and charisma to work to revamp it to its former glory. See Stein and Stein. Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles 111, 1759-1789, p. 107, 10- 15; and Stuart F. Voss, Latin America in the Middle Period, 1750-1929, Latin American silhouettes (Wilmington, Del.. 2002). 13-15.

41 For a discussion on social changes and the purpose of festivals, and how the Crown shifted the cost of celebrating public holidays from state to private coffers see Curcio-Nagy. The Great Festivals of Colonial Mexico City: Performing Power and Identity; Also see Pamela Voekel, Alone Before God: The Religious Origins of Modernity in Mexico (Durham, 2002).

4" For a detailed discussion on clergy and reforms of the eighteenth century see Nancy M Farriss. Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico 1759-1821: The Crisis of Fxclesiastical Privilege (London. 1968), especially chapters 4-6. 19 various socio-economic groups within the empire by reducing friction between them.43 They point out that the administration of Charles III was not interested in reform for the sake of reform, nor did it want to create a new society. The reorganization, or more appropriately renovation, was intended to increase efficiency; the goal was to create an efficient empire.44

This efficiency would in turn foster prosperity.

The idea of efficiency also applied to matters of religion. Pamela Voekel shows that elites in Mexico, including the clergy, doctors and merchants, thought that the practice of individual piety, rather than corporate piety, would be more efficient in bringing people closer to

God. Following Enlightened thought, individuals would be responsible for their own redemption and quality of afterlife. Voekel argues that some of the reforms were in fact promulgated by

Mexican elites and not entirely imposed by the Spanish Crown.45

The impact of the reforms, or the restructuring of the empire, was far reaching. However, the success of this program was debatable. On the one hand, new administrative sectors, new industries and new infrastructures were created. Trade, production, and taxation increased.

More bullion arrived at the metropolis. On the other hand, increased economic activity did not result in higher profits, only in a higher volume of trade. Richard Garner argues that silver production in Mexico significantly increased, but profits did not follow. In fact, Crown subsidies discouraged inventors, the cost of extracting silver was too high, and profits did not increase.46

41 John Lynch and R. A. Humphreys, eds.. Latin American Revolutions, 1808-1826: Old and New World Origins (Norman. 1994).

44 Stein and Stein. Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789, pp.25-27.

45 The movement lor religious reform began in Mexico in the late 1760s. see Voekel. Alone Before God: The Religious Origins of Modernity in Mexico, 8-10.

4h Richard L. darner and Spiro E. Stefanou, Economic Growth and Change in Bourbon Mexico (Gainesville, 1993). Similarly, Dean-Smith argues that the Crown was successful in increasing revenue flow from the

Tobacco monopoly in colonial Mexico, but only in the short-term. In the long term, the reforms failed; the cost of production was too high and inefficient, and the monopoly bankrupted by

1810.47 Furthermore, reorganization of colonial administration and bureaucracy based on merit rather than privilege resulted in social tensions between Spanish peninsular born elites and those born in the colonies. The reorganization also created conflict between the laity and the Church.

Inevitably, all these tensions contributed to the origin of the wars of independence (in Mexico,

1810) when Spain lost all but one of its American colonies. Only Cuba remained a Spanish colony after 1828.

Three kinds of policy changes created tensions that eventually played a role in the disintegration of the Spanish Empire: reforms of the education system, the military and the

Church. First, responding to the new demand for efficient bureaucrats, universities and colleges admitted male candidates from groups other than the white elite. Also new means for obtaining necessary tuition were created. After these changes, social mobility was increasingly achieved through knowledge and experience, rather than inherited. Second, maintaining imperial security meant creating a standing army and increasing state revenue to cover the higher operational cost.

Under the Hapsburgs, the army recruited men and compensated them as needed in the time of warfare. Under the new system, there was an increased demand for military professionals who received regular compensation in time of peace as well as in time of warfare. In order to fulfill the labour demand, the army recruited men from all socio-economic backgrounds, and enabled them to advance through the ranks, based on merit rather than privilege.

47 Susan Deans-Smith. Bureaucrats, Planters, and Workers: The Making of the Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico (Austin, 1992). 21

These expensive expansions of the colonial state led reformers to search for new sources of revenue, which motivated their third set of reforms: increased regulation and control of the

Catholic Church. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Church owned a substantial

proportion of real estate and was exempt from paying taxes; this had to be changed. On the one

hand, the Church limited the availability of land ownership to the growing population. On the other, it did not contribute to state revenues. Taking Church land arguably placed real estate in

private hands, most likely in the hands of those who achieved social mobility through the ranks, and it brought Crown revenues, in the form of taxes, to pay the army thus enabling people to achieve social mobility, thereby, closing the circle. Appropriating Church property was not an easy task, however. The first bold move of the state came in 1767 with the expulsion of the

Jesuits from the entire Spanish kingdom. The Jesuits had been the most entrepreneurial branch of the Church, involved in national and international trade, agricultural production and real estate, and they were most resented by many politicians.48 Confiscation of their properties served many purposes, but it also opened a Pandora's box. In the Spanish American colonies,

increasing numbers of people, and not just the politicians, despised the Church for its wealth.

They hoped that with further state intervention, their massive loans and mortgages (censos)

would be annulled. It took nearly a century, and an entirely new political system, before the state confiscated all Church property.49 In the meantime, however, gradual state intervention in

48 Stein and Stein. Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789. pp.24-36.

4'' In Mexico, the Liberal government confiscated all Church property by 1875. For an in depth discussion of this process see J Bazant. Alienation of Church Wealth in Mexico: Social and Economic Aspects of the Liberal Revolution, 1856-1875, Michael P. Costeloe trans. (Cambridge, 1971); Michael P. Costeloe. Church Wealth in Mexico: A Study of the 'Juzgado de CapeUanias' in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856 (Cambridge, 1967); Brian R. Hamnett. "The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government: The 'Consolidacion de Vales Reales', 1805-1809." Journal of Latin American Studies 1 (Nov.. 1969): 85-113; For an example from Oaxaca see Charles Redmon Berry, The Reform in Oaxaca. 1856-76: A Microhistory of the Liberal Revolution (Lincoln, 1981). 22

Church affairs caused much social discontent. The bulk of the Bourbon reforms ended in Spain in 1766 with the fall of Esquilache as prime minister however, it took several years before many of these reforms were fully implemented in the Spanish American colonies.50

Local Conditions in the Colonies

Many aspects of political organization of the Spanish empire, as designed by the

Hapsburgs in the early sixteenth century, worked only in theory. Local conditions in the colonies quickly proved that there were many political, administrative, and social drawbacks that nevertheless were left unattended for centuries. As discussed in the above section, it was not

until the eighteenth century that they prompted the Bourbon reforms. One of the structural

building blocks that was confronted by local colonial conditions was the idea of the coexistence of two Republics; one for Spaniards and one for the indigenous people. Residential divisions

based on race were unrealistic and, in urban areas, they were quickly ignored. Keeping

Spaniards out of rural areas, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was not a daunting task.

Indigenous people were often united in keeping Spaniards out of their villages, and were quick to seek colonial authorities to keep order. However, keeping indigenous people out of Spanish

50 The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish Empire in 1766, but this reform was not implemented in the colonies until a year later in 1767. Over the following two decades, Charles III watched the effects of the reforms unfold, and lead the Spanish empire as best as he could. His heir, Charles IV (1788-1808), did not have the same experience and charisma, and was in a way an absentee King, who preferred that his wife and his prime minister Godoy, led the empire his father had re-built. At the turn of the eighteenth century, close ties with France entangled Spain in continental affairs pinning it against England, and then against Napoleon, culminating in the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Years of inattentiveness to domestic and colonial affairs, and a family feud prompted Charles IV to abdicate in 1808. His son Ferdinand VII took the throne, but only temporarily: Napoleon imprisoned the new King and plotted to take over Spain. Spanish opposition resisted French invasion and created a temporary government, the Junta: within this temporary government, the colonies, for the first time, had their own representatives. Despite these measures, a power vacuum had been created during this turbulent period, and elites/creoles in the colonies took advantage of it. Conditions for independence had long existed, but it was in 1810 that people in the colonies saw a chance at governing themselves and began a successful independence movement. 23 cities was more challenging, if not impossible. Urban centres, by their very nature, were not self-sufficient and relied on neighbouring rural areas for produce and other supplies. Indigenous farmers would supply basic food staples for Spaniards in the city. This meant that indigenous people had to enter the Spanish residential sphere to conduct their daily business; some even chose to live on the outskirts of towns and trade in local goods.51 Spaniards were on the highest level of the colonial social hierarchy, which, among many things, meant that they did not perform menial work, including cleaning and cooking. Slaves or hired help performed these tasks instead. In this manner, indigenous and African people (brought to New Spain as slaves) filled the Spanish households in the very core of the urban centres. Additionally, trades-people such as carpenters, blacksmiths, silversmiths, painters, chair makers, and their families lived on the borders of the cities. They supplied Spaniards and Creoles with labour and service, and as such, they infiltrated Spanish towns with their presence. By the eighteenth century, residential lines between Spanish and indigenous people had blurred and continued to overlap as the colonial population increased in size.52

During the eighteenth century, Mexico (and Latin America in general) experienced demographic change.53 Indigenous populations had recovered from their previous stage of decline and stagnation, while Spanish migration to New Spain remained inconsequential. The

51 Rural areas depend on the city for goods and services and the city depends on the rural areas for food. For a broader discussion on urban-rural relations see Franklin W. Knight and Peggy K. Liss. eds.. Atlantic Port Cities: Economy, Culture, and Society in the Atlantic World, 1650-1850, 1st ed. (Knoxville. 1991), especially introduction for theoretical background.

52 Social divisions based on ethnicity were strongest during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the eighteenth century, however, the lines shitted and indigenous people increasingly came in direct contact with Spanish-speaking people. For a discussion of interethnic and multicultural relations in the state of Oaxaca see Terraciano, The Mixtecs of Colonial Oaxaca: Nudzahui History, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries, especially chapter 9.

53 Some cities in Mexico doubled in size between 1750 and 1793. and then again before 1813, Voss. Latin America in the Middle Period, 1750-1929, p.4. 24 increase in population size had several effects, including increased pressure on resources such as labour, land and water. Spaniards increased their presence in the countryside, and a greater proportion of indigenous people migrated to the cities looking for work. Labour shortages ceased to be a problem because of the increase in the size of the population and because women entered the labour market at an unprecedented scale.54 This meant that the demand for African- born slave labour in New Spain decreased significantly. Also, many slaves of African descent, already in the colony, gained freedom and competed for wage labour.

The category of racially mixed people grew most rapidly. Racial mixing took place immediately following the conquest, and by the eighteenth century, castas (racially mixed people) were a significant proportion of the urban population: at mid-century castas accounted for over twenty percent of the total population in Mexico.55 Colonial administration developed new terminology to make sense of its racially mixed population. In the 1760s and 1770s, the

Crown even commissioned artists to paint representations of each racial category. However, as discussed earlier, despite the wide selection of labels, people used only a handful of terms with any degree of consistency; some labels were rarely found in documents, had only regional application, or were altogether abstract derivations.56

54 The tobacco industry flourished in eighteenth century Mexico and recruited women employees, see Deans-Smith, Bureaucrats, Planters, and Workers: The Making of the Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico: I'or a discussion of female labour in Mexico City and women's contribution to household income see Silvia Mariana Arrom, The Women of Mexico City, 1790-1857 (Stanford, 1985).

55 In the 1750s, racially mixed people constituted some twenty-one percent of the population, and by the end of the colonial period castas represented about twenty-five percent of the population, see Patricia Seed. To Love, Honor, and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts Over Marriage Choice, 1574-1821 (Stanford, 1988), 25.

56 Most common terms found in documents were Espanoles, with subcategories of peninsulares and Creoles, Indios (indigenous people), mestizos, mulalos and negros. Among other terms were Castizos, Coyote, Morisco, Zambos, Wolf Chamizos, Pardos, Lobos, Chinos, Albinas, etc. for a discussion of racial labels see Magali Marie Carrera. Imagining Identity in New Spain: Race. Lineage, and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and Casta Paintings, 1st ed. (Austin, 2003); also see Seed. "Social Dimensions of Race: Mexico City. 1753"; Chance. Race 25

The racial categories were legal constructs and colonial bureaucrats, whether Royal or religious, used them in official documentations, including baptismal and death records, court cases, testaments, property deeds, and bills of sale. Bureaucrats did not have a common template for classifying people into one category or another. Rather they assigned labels as they thought best. Therefore, it was possible for two officials to label one person in two different ways. It was also possible, though no easy task, for someone in the general castas category to pass from one racial category to another as her/she wished, or saw to his/her advantage. In everyday life, people paid less attention to racial labels. The caste system was a complex organization of society and poses challenge for the historian; interpretation of sources may vary depending on who applied what labels to whom. As mentioned earlier, numerous studies show that there was social mobility in eighteenth-century Mexico, and that race was not always an obstacle to success. Mexican censuses from 1753 and from 1811 reveal that race or ethnicity did not dictate an occupation or social position.57 The Bourbon reforms reorganized the economy and undermined the old privileged class, thereby facilitated social mobility of the castas. The result was change in caste relations, which further propelled changing class relations in colonial society.

In the case of Oaxaca, during the sixteenth century, Spaniards lived in the center of the city, while indigenous, black and all racially mixed people lived in the barrios (wards) adjacent to the city. Those who lived in the Jalatlaco barrio were predominantly Nahuatl speakers, Aztecs from the valley of Mexico City, who had migrated to the valley of Oaxaca. Most of them were

and Class in Colonial Oaxaca; and Cope, The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720.

57 See note 20 of this chapter; also see John E. Kicza, Colonial Entrepreneurs, Families and Business in Bourbon Mexico City. 1st ed. (Albuquerque. 1983). 14. 26 artisans and worked for the city. Other Indios, including Zapotec and Mixtec people, worked as day laborers or were involved in the agricultural sector within the valley58. Additionally, the city

was home to a large proportion of domestic servants, day labourers and artisans who had cut their ties to communities of origin and identified with Spanish communities instead; Spanish

referred to them as naborias. As Taylor and Chance argue, by the end of the eighteenth century,

the ethnic and racial composition of Oaxaca and its barrios had changed significantly. A handful of families spoke Nahuatl, and many of the Indios had moved away from their designated barrios and into the city proper. High intermarriage patterns also created a proportionally large group of

racially mixed people who were socially accepted.59

Church and Religious Organization

The history of Mexican convents had four phases during the colonial period (1521-

1810).60 The first phase was a formative period, subject to the Catholic Reformation in Europe,

and characterized by the establishment of the Catholic Church in New Spain. This was also a

period when the role of the Church in the administration of the colony, as well as the nature and

role of convents in the New World context were all being determined. Under the Spanish

58 Oaxaca was part of the Aztec Empire and many Aztecs lived in the area prior to the Spanish conquest. The Spanish invasion of the region was possible with the aid of Aztecs from areas already conquered, such as the central valley of Mexico. Therefore, after conquest. Oaxaca had a large population of Nahuatl speakers who migrated to the region during different time periods. During the sixteenth century, Nahuatl language was so common that it often continued to serve as the common language facilitating communication between different indigenous groups, rather than the Spanish language; Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca. 82-89.

y'Mestizos (people born from Spanish and Indigenous unions) were the third largest group, idcntitied in the 1792 city census, at 13.9 percent, Creoles (Spanish born in New Spain) were at 37.1 percent and Indios (indigenous) at 27.9 percent see Ibid., 82-89, 151-159, especially table 15; also see Chance and Taylor, "Estate and Class in a Colonial City: Oaxaca in 1792."

60 Chowning, "Convents and Nuns: New Approaches to the Study of Female Religious Institutions in Colonial Mexico." 1279-1303. 27

Empire, the Church and Crown had been intertwined; at least until the reforms of the eighteenth century. Through the patronato real system, the crown supported the spread of Christianity in the New World and the maintenance of the Church; in exchange, the Church supported the

Crown, promoted loyalty of the subjects, collected taxes, and accepted royal authority and its intervention in ecclesiastical affairs.61 Taylor argues that the Church acted as a royal army in the colony, and its presence legitimized Spanish power.62 In the political hierarchy of the empire, the King was a representative of the Pope in the New World and thus supervised all Church matters; ecclesiastics had no mechanisms for raising objections. The King, not the Pope, appointed all bishops in the Empire; the Bishops then supervised all secular clergy. The King also dictated topics for discussion, as in the case of the Fourth Mexican Council (1771), and mediated conflicts between the secular and regular clergy, as in the case of the sixteenth century.63

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Church in the New World struggled with organizational questions. Secular and regular clergy were preoccupied with the religious conversion of indigenous people, with the role of the Church in the New World, and with

61 Patronato real refers to a reciprocal arrangement between crown and Church; it gave the crown a means to control the Church. The Spanish King was the head of the State as well as the head of the Church in the Spanish American colonies. For a broader discussion of this topic see Farriss, Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico 1759- 1821: The Crisis of Ecclesiastical Privilege, see chapter I.

(>~ William B. Taylor, Magistrates of the Sacred: Priests and Parishioners in Eighteenth-Century Mexico (Stanford. Calif.. 1996), chapter I.

63 Charles III ordered the council of 1769 and set the agenda of disusing topics such as participation of indigenous clergy, and communal life among the regular clergy. Elisa Luque Alcaide, "Reformist Currents in the Spanish-American Council of the Eighteenth Century," The Catholic Historical Review 91 (2005), 743; When the secular clergy (ordained priests) had an upper hand and dictated the limits of the regular's jurisdiction, the King showed support for the regular clergy (mendicant orders), albeit temporarily. Ondina E. Gonzalez and Justo L. Gonzalez. Christianity in Latin America: A History (Cambridge; New York, 2008), 67, 71 -73; during the eighteenth century. King Charles put much effort to curtail the privileges of the regular clergy. He also eliminated ecclesiastical immunity and subjected all clergy to civil courts, see Farriss, Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico 1759-1821: The Crisis of Ecclesiastical Privilege. 7-12. 28 quarrels over jurisdiction. All these matters were debated during the First Mexican Council in

1555, where bishops gathered to discuss the role of the Mexican church, and when the initial conflict between secular and regular clergy emerged. One of the matters the council agreed on was that in addition to Papal dispensation, the regular orders required permission from the

Viceroy in order to build a monastery or a convent, thereby assuring that the Crown would maintain control over the administration of both secular and regular orders. During the Second and Third Mexican Councils, the bishops discussed the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and the implementation of its decrees in New Spain.64

One of the topics addressed by the Council of Trent, and by the subsequent Mexican

Councils, and most relevant to this dissertation, was convents. The Council of Trent outlined the general rules and regulations for convents, their purpose, and their conduct, including usury and the imposition of cloistered life. Regarding monastic life, the council insisted on female enclosure and allowed for no contact with the lay world. However, there was room for interpretation of some of the other rules, especially with regard to poverty and precise living arrangements. This loophole enabled convents to go into two directions: one camp chose a more relaxed interpretation of rules and the other chose the austere life.65 This, in turn, gave Church officials reason to keep a watchful eye over calzadas convents (non-reformed), as well as room to implement new or stricter rules. The structural divisions between calzadas and descalzas convents stem from this development.

The immediate impact of the Council of Trent was that it defined convents and simultaneously delayed their establishment in Mexico. Although the first convent was funded in

64 The Second Mexican Council met in 1565. and the Third in 1585.

05 Elizabeth Quigley Perry, "Hscudos de Monjas/Shields of Nuns: The Creole Convent and Images of Mexican Identity in Miniature" (Ph.D. dissertation. Brown University. 1999). 72-73. 29

1540, before the First Council, the next convent opened in 1568; by then the Council of Trent

had ended and the parameters of the Church, including the convents, had been established. It

took time to secure royal and papal dispensations, financing, and to begin the construction of the

actual buildings. However, once the go-ahead was given, twenty-eight of the fifty-six convents

established in Mexico opened between 1568 and 1635. During this first period of the history of

Mexican convents, colonial elites founded primarily calzadas (non-reformed) convents. They

were intended as places of seclusion for elite women, where they lived the contemplative life.

A second wave followed from 1685 to 1756, when eighteen new convents were founded

in Mexico. These were predominantly descalzas (reformed, austere) convents. Exemplary nuns

from that period were mystics, who had visions and premonitions, suffered from unexplained

medical conditions and from self-inflicted injuries, and wrote autobiographies.66 Then during the

third phase, following the 1750s, the reforms of Charles III curtailed the establishment of further

convents. Under his reign, only three convents opened, most likely because the bureaucratic

process was already under way and because they fit with the reformist currents that characterized

the eighteenth century.67 Voekel explains that this is when people shifted from baroque piety to

modesty and individual piety 68 It is no wonder that two of the three convents established under

66 For studies on that aspect of convent history see E. Arenal and S. Schlau, "Stratagems of the Strong. Stratagems of the Weak: Autobiographical Prose of the Seventeenth Century Hispanic Convent." Tulsa Studies In Women's Literature 9 (Spring, Spring, 1990), 25-42: Myers and Powell, eds., A Wild Country Out in the Garden The Spiritual Journals of a Colonial Mexican Nun: and Kristine Ibsen, Women's Spiritual Autobiography in Colonial Spanish America (Gainesville. 1999).

67 In a string of eighteenth century reforms, in 1717. the Crown prohibited the establishment of new convents, and in 1734 it prohibited the free admission of novices. Alcaide, "Reformist Currents in the Spanish- American Council of the Eighteenth Century," 746 n 15.

68 Twenty eight convents opened between 1568 and 1635. one in 1665. eight between 1685 and 1754. three under Charles III. and the last five convents opened between 1803 and 1824. see Manuel Ramos Medina, ed.. Memoria del II Congreso Internacional El Monacato Femenino en el Imperio Espanol: Monasterios, Beaterios, Recogimientos y Colegios, homenaje a Joseflna Muriel (Mexico. 1995), tables 1 -8, pp. 26-31; Voekel. Alone Before God: The Religious Origins of Modernity in Mexico. 7. 30

Charles III (1756-1788) were Capuchin orders, leading a strictly austere lifestyle. Additionally, one of them was a convent only for indigenous women; an endorsement of the participation of indigenous people in the Church hierarchy, and in line with enlightened ideas about equality.69

Reform characterized the third phase of convent history. Since the Council of Trent,

Church officials had been prone to regulate calzadas convents with one rule or another.

However, the pinnacle of convent reform was between the 1760s and 1780s.70 The vida comun reform was one of the most significant reforms of the period and it consumed much ecclesiastical energy and caused internal divisions. This reform has also received much scholarly attention.

Assuncion Lavrin shows that the bishop of Puebla orchestrated a campaign against vida particular as a response to Papal complaints about the lack of obedience of the nuns.71

Similarly, on the issue of the direction of some of the reforms in New Spain, David Brading argues that Church reforms originated with Spanish officials in Mexico.72 More recently the trend of thought has shifted. Margaret Chowning argues that the idea of communal life for reformed convents had originated from inside a Mexican Convent. It caught the attention of bishops and archbishops, was transported to Spain, then came back and spread throughout New

Spain and the rest of the Spanish Empire.73 In other words, she argues that Mexican nuns, at the

69 For history of the origin and controversy of convents for indigenous women in Mexico see Asuncion Lavrin. "Indian Brides of Christ: Creating New Spaces for Indigenous Women in New Spain," Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos 15 (Summer 1999): 225-260; for Peru see Bums. "Nuns, Kurakas, and Credit: The Spiritual Lconomy of Seventeenth-Century Cuzco:" 43-67.

70 For a list of examples of reforms restricting nuns' lavish lifestyles in Mexican convents see Asuncion Lavrin. "Kcclesiastical Reform of Nunneries in New Spain in the Kighteenth-Century," The Americas 22 (July 1965), 182-203

71 Ibid.. 185.

72 David A. Brading. The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State 1492-1867 (Cambridge. 1991).

71 Chowning. Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863, pp.7-15. 31 convent of La Purisima, had reformed themselves. As mentioned in an earlier section, Voekel shares Chowning's view, arguing that some reforms originated in New Spain.74 The matter of the communal versus private life of nuns had been one of the central topics of the Fourth

Mexican Council. Many nuns objected to the new way of life, and had the support of their

Bishops. The matter went unresolved well into the nineteenth century.

There were also other major reforms during this phase. The Crown sought to modify the purpose of convents' existence: it attempted to convert convents into lay educational institutions for women. Nuns had been teaching girls and were operating small schools from inside their convents from the beginning of the colonial era. At the end of the eighteenth century, however, the Crown expected convents to increase enrolment rates and to divide their cloister into an area for lay children and a separate area for the nuns.75 All these reforms suggest that the State attempted to control nuns by regulating their living arrangements and their activities. The cloisters would have to undergo major physical rearrangements to accommodate communal and lay living and to expand the convents' educational programme: ideas to which many nuns objected. In chapter five, 1 examine how nuns at Santa Catalina in Oaxaca responded to this particular reform.

During the nineteenth century, convents entered into their forth phase (1805-1850s). In an effort to further reduce the power and privilege of the Church, as well as to finance its continental conflicts, the Crown introduced the Law of Consolidation in 1805. According to this new law, the Crown had the right to recall all loans and liens issued by the Church and its various branches. Property owners had the option to repay their loans to the Crown or to vacate

74 See n46. Voekel. Alone Before God: The Religious Origins of Modernity in Mexico.

75 Chowning. Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863, p. 14. 32 their encumbered property. The Law of Consolidation created a lot of tension and panic among members of the Church and among lay property owners throughout New Spain. People feared losing property and income. Many properties were in fact confiscated and resold to the highest bidders. Overall, however, enforcement of the law proved to be a difficult project and in some cases, the Crown agreed to collect interest without the principal. It soon abandoned the project in 1809 in the face of major political crisis in the metropolis. While convents were the least affected branch of the Church, they did lose a substantial proportion of their investment and income.76 The economic downfall of the convents was underway and continued after the disintegration of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. In Mexico, it ended with the State confiscating all Church properties and the closing of convents in the 1850s and the 1860s. The reorganization of lending and repayment systems, and the extraction of monies from the Mexican economy and their transfer to Spain in the 1800s, affected every level of Mexican society.

Changing political and church relations, accompanied by changing socio-economic relations, by the end of the eighteenth century, had transformed New Spain into a drastically different colony than it had been at the beginning of the century. Convents, once indispensable elements of colonial Mexico, arguably a linchpin of colonial society, had become outdated and their existence threatened. Overall, membership dropped and very few new convents were founded. Those that were founded were also new types of orders that operated under a new

Rule, while the old convents and old orders struggled to find a way within the restructured environment.

7,1 For a broader discussion of the Law of Consolidation and its impact see Hamnett. "The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government: The 'Consolidation de Vales Reales'. 1805-1809." pp.85-113; and Lavrin. "The Execution of the Law of Consolidation in New Spain: Economic Aims and Results;" 27-49. 33

This dissertation focuses on one of the oldest convents in Mexico that was founded during the first phase of convent history in 1576; the convent of Santa Catalina also happened to be one of the most powerful convents in Oaxaca. It studies the socio-economic role of the convent, and the policies and activities that facilitated its success. This dissertation analyzes

power and property to determine the material relationship between the convent and the people of

Oaxaca throughout the eighteenth century, and it shows how this old convent responded to the

immense changes that forever altered its role.

Organization of the Dissertation

1 have organized the dissertation into six chapters through which the reader is intended to

make a full circle. Beginning from within the convent, the reader ventures outside the cloister,

meets the secular community and observes the socio-economic impact the convent had on it.

Then, the reader returns to the convent to see how its leadership responded to external pressures

that jeopardized the principles of the convent. In chapter 2, "Conventual Life in Colonial

Oaxaca", I examine the religiosity of Oaxaquenos and the convents they founded in Oaxaca. I offer a systematic look at the origins, the structures, as well as the rules and procedures

associated with the city's non-austere convents. I also discuss some of the most notable

members of these religious communities. This chapter serves as an introduction to female

religiosity, or conventual life, in Oaxaca and sets the stage for the analysis presented in

subsequent chapters.

Chapter 3, "The Capellania of Sor Josefa: The Property of One Nun" analyzed how one

woman used her power and property to influence her family, and by extension the lay society of

Oaxaca, between the 1720s and 1790s. The capellania (chantry) of sor Josefa, a nun at the 34 convent of Santa Catalina, serves as a window to the land owning class, family histories, and to the intersection between the sacred and the worldly. The spiritual and economic functions of the capellania empowered sor Josefa, and had a profound impact on her family. This chapter demonstrates the importance of a capellania as a mechanism of social prestige, economic stability, and as a source of power.

Chapter 4, "The Business of Loans: Credit Policy and Practice" explores the socio economic impact of one convent on the lay community of Oaxaca, from 1720 to 1797. At the institutional level, the convent of Santa Catalina, under successive leaders, adapted to local conditions and implemented credit policy that ensured the convent a steady income. This policy also promoted the social mobility and the sustainability of the middle sector within the lay community. This chapter demonstrates that (within the formal credit networks), gender, class and race did not determine people's ability to obtain credit at the convent of Santa Catalina.

Chapter 5, "The Business of Slavery: Market and Policy" examines the slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741 and the role of the convent of Santa Catalina in it.

It compares sales of slaves and manumissions deeds contracted by the convent of Santa Catalina with those contracted by the other slave owners in the Valley. This chapter reveals that the convent of Santa Catalina had different policies than the average slave owner in the area: slaves sold through the convent were able to form and maintain families more often than did slaves sold by other masters, were priced differently, and were manumitted less frequently.

Chapter 6, "The 1795 Education Reform: The Struggle over Power and Property" studies the convent's response to one of the Bourbon reforms. It analyzes the Crown's education policy, the status of female colonial education in New Spain, and the position adopted by the leadership of the convent of Santa Catalina. This chapter reveals that the policy was aimed at promoting 35 anticlericalism, and that nuns at the convent defended their faith, their philosophy and their lifestyle. Ultimately, their strongly held position against the reform compromised the convent's social function and economic position in Oaxaca.

Methodology

What started out as a study of the history of the convent of Santa Catalina and the women who lived there has become a study of the lay community through the prism of a convent, and a study of the economic interconnections between the religious and the lay world in eighteenth century Oaxaca. The availability of sources and their accessibility have guided the dissertation's periodization (1700-1820), and its evolution into a study of the inner dynamics of a convent and its relations with the lay world. The period corresponds with some of the major political and administrative changes in the Spanish Empire and in New Spain. It is therefore possible to observe how Oxacan society responded to some of these developments.

Some of the questions I seek to answer in this dissertation are, how did female religious institutions sustain themselves, what economic strategies did nuns rely on to effectively run their institution, what kind of resources were available to them, what economic role did convents and nuns play in the local lay community, and were they agents of change or followers? What was the role of the local lay community in shaping the convent's economic development? What role did class and race play in these relations? Did local conditions have an impact on these relations or did they fit a broader scheme, on the scale of the colony, the empire? How did the convent lose its prominence after centuries of successful operation? The biggest challenge in finding answers to these questions was that the convents and monasteries which existed in colonial

Oaxaca are no longer operational and the buildings they once occupied serve other functions. 36

This means that there are no archives for the ex-convents, and many of the documents have been

destroyed. The surviving documents are thus scattered among various archives. The documents

found at Archivo Genera! de la Nacion (AGN), Mexico D.F., Museo de Antropologia e Historia,

Mexico D.F., Centra de Estudios de Historia de Mexico (CONDUMEX), Mexico D.F., Archivo

de Notarias (ANO), Oaxaca, Archivo Historico de la Arquidiocesis de Oaxaca (AHAO), Archivo

Historico Municipal de Oaxaca (AHMO), Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO),

Fundacion de Bustamante Vasconcelos, Oaxaca, Biblioteca de Fray Francisco de Burgoa,

Oaxaca, and Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, in Santo Domingo, Queretaro, led

me to write a thesis on power and property in eighteenth-century Oaxcaca.

Several of the chapters of this dissertation are based on quantitative research while others

are based on qualitative research. I used the documents in many ways to best tackle the

questions I am asking, and I used gender, class, and race as the main categories of analysis.

Primary sources used in chapter 2, "Conventual Life in Colonial Oaxaca" include books of

professions for the convent of Santa Catalina and the convent of La Soledad, the 1792 census for

Oaxaca, and information on tax collections from the same year. They help analyze convents'

demography, provide clues on nuns' family backgrounds, and information on dowries, convent structure and leadership, etc. I also use a petition from the convent of la Concepcion, nuns'

testaments, two-volume vida written by madre Jacinta and the accompanied baptismal record,

letters from her doctors and the convent's vicar, as well as five loan documents, and a record of elections of convent administrator at the convent of La Concepcion. 1 also refer to the published and translated vida of madre Maria de San Jose who founded the convent of La Soledad. This set of documents help study the religious life in Oaxaca, especially the nuns, who they were, how 37 they lived, and their personal stories. Together, they enable an examination of conventual life in the city during the colonial period.

Primary sources used in chapter 3, "The Capellania of Sor Josefa: The Property of One

Nun" include the collection of documents pertaining to the foundation of sor Josefa's capellania; namely the testament with which she founded the capellania in her own name, and the subsequent entries on activities of the chantry, totaling 430folios (sheets). This collection would have been assembled by the Juzgado de capellanias and reveals the extent of legal procedures and litigations that Josefa's family and beneficiaries were involved in. It is also very telling on Josefa's spiritual, familial and economic relations at the time of foundation of the chantry, and then how they played out over several decades. Additionally, 1 relied on documents such as Josefa's two other testaments, four loan documents in which she figured as a source of credit, and again the book of professions from the convent of Santa Cataiina. These documents enabled me to reconstruct some of Josefa's activities in her long life. Furthermore, I used loan documents, a bill of sale of slaves and a bill of sale of a house in which her family members participated. I also used parish records, including birth, death and marriage registries, to reconstruct sor Josefa's family tree as well as that of her cousin Manuel de Leon, whose family had a high stake in the chantry.

Chapter 4, "The Business of Loans: Credit Policy and Practice" is based on 584 documents indicative of credit arrangements in Oaxaca, which enabled analysis of the city's credit market, policy and economic activities. Included in the documents were 519 loan/mortgage (census) contracts, fifty-two titles and transfers of properties, and thirteen bills of sale of various real estates. From these documents, 1 constructed a database and calculated descriptive statistics. The database allows for observation of patterns, trends and variations over 38 time and serves as the basis for my conclusions about the credit and social history of eighteenth century Oaxaca. Additionally, 1 again refer to the book of profession for the convent of Santa

Catalina, and four testaments of various nuns.

Findings for chapter 5, "The Business of Slavery: Market and Policy" are based on 567

bills of sale of slaves and fifty-eight manumission deeds. These 625 documents provide

information on 893 enslaved individuals as some documents referred to more than one slave,

however, some of the documents may have referred to the same slaves more than once; among

them there were 797 cases/instances of sales and acquisitions, ten donations, seventy-six cartas

de libertad (manumission deeds), and eleven other related transactions. All documents were

prepared by notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon between 1700 and 1741. From these documents 1 constructed a second database and calculated descriptive statistics. Focusing on

slavery in urban and rural areas of Oaxaca, these documents enable the study of the Dominican

convent's role in the slave market. It also enables comparisons of slaveholding practices

between the convent and other slave owners in the region. Additionally, I supplemented the

chapter with parish records of birth, death and marriage, as well as with testaments of notable

individuals to enhance some of the relevant stories.

Primary sources used in chapter 6, "The 1795 Education Reform: The Struggle over

Power and Property"include the Royal decree from 1795, and eighteen letters between the

convent of Santa Catalina, Church and Crown officials. The fifty-five folios of correspondence

is again supplemented with the 1792 census, the convent's book of professions and a petition by

the nuns at the convent of La Concepcion. Together, these documents enable me to analyze the

Dominican nuns' reaction to and consequences of the education reform. 39

The records of the notaries in Oaxaca have been most fruitful sources to uncover the economic relations and interactions between the convent of Santa Catalina and laity. The scrupulous record keeping of notaries provides a wealth of information for this type of study.77

Documents such as loans and liens, bills of sale of real estate properties and bills of sale of slaves, as well as transfers and titles of properties are the kinds of notarial documents that provide the bulk of quantitative information used in this dissertation. All notarial documents that pertain to credit information, which is the focus of chapter four, were found at the AHAO and the AGEO. While all the notarial documents that pertain to slaveholdings in the Valley of

Oaxaca, the focus of chapter five, were found at the ANO.

The reason for not using all contracts of the notaries actually deposited at the archives of the notaries was their poor accessibility. Local political and administrative conditions, including a teachers' strike from January to November 2006, limited access to the ANO during most of my research period in Oaxaca. Expecting these conditions to go on indefinitely, I searched for credit information among collections at alternative archives. After months of petitioning, when access was granted, it was granted on a very limited base. I prioritized and focused on collecting information on slaveholdings in the Valley of Oaxaca, as well as wills and testaments, because these could not be found elsewhere. I digitized the documents because there was literarily no time or physical space to consult them at the location. The same collections (protocolos) that contained slaveholding information also contained censos documents for residents of the city of

Oaxaca, but there was no time to digitize them. Since I had access to censos at other archives, 1 chose to overlook them in favour of a new set of information. As mentioned above, 1

77 For the culture of notaries and their methods of producing written records see Kathryn Burns. Into the Archive: Writing and Power in Colonial Peru (Durham, 2010). 40 constructed two separate databases from the contracts of the notaries: one compiling data on the credit market, and the other compiling data on the sale of slaves to draw conclusions about power and property in Oaxaca. Creating one database would not have been sensible as there is no overlap between the sources on the two themes.

The contracts prepared by the notaries are a rich source of information. The loan documents include information on buyers/borrowers, sellers and creditors, the type of property sold or purchased, the type of property used as collateral, the value or price of the property, any existing loans on the property, the size of loans contracted for each transaction, the number of creditors financing the transaction, the amount of cash deposited, the size of annuities, the duration of the credit term, as well as when the property was acquired by the seller and at what price. Additional information includes whether buyers and sellers had other loans, and whether they used an endorser (fiador). Their class was determined by the use of the title of don or dofia.

Also information was usually available about their gender, race, occupation and marital status, sometimes including detailed information about their spouse.

Similarly, the documents of sale of slaves provide a wealth of information. In addition to the date and location of the transaction, the contracts list who the buyer and seller of the slave(s) were. In most documents they include information on the name of the slave, his/her racial description and age. A brief history of the slave may also be included with information on the previous owner, when and for how much the slave was sold, and whether he/she was born and raised in the region or what route he or she took to get to the Valley of Oaxaca. In contracts where more than one slave was sold, a familial relationship between them was recorded. The price of the slave and the method of payment were also listed. The bill of sale then, attested to the healthy condition of the slave, and indicated that there were no liens on him/her. 41

It should be noted however, that the contracts prepared by the notaries do have limits as historical sources. They only provide glimpses of the activities people engaged in. In a formulaic fashion, they represent encounters between narrow segments of a society; between people of whom the majority had some kind of property, were most likely literate or semi- literate, and who were most likely married at some point in their lives. The documents do not explain how the various contracts came about: who were the people who contracted them, how did they acquire money for the purchase of a slave or other commodity, or what did they need the slave for, why did they need a loan, what did they plan to do with a loan, nor how they planned to repay it. In an attempt to better reconstruct the social history of eighteenth century

Oaxaca, I supplemented the study with a combination of additional documents.

Notaries were licensed by the Crown to provide people with legally binding contracts. In a typical situation, the notary produced several copies of a document solicited by his clients. The format of the document, the legal language, and procedures associated with it were standardized across the Spanish Empire. Each of the parties involved in a contract would have received a copy, and one additional copy, the master copy, would have remained with the notary. The notary's copy of the document was placed in a register that was organized in chronological order.

Then at the end of each year, the notary and his assistants would have bound all the documents into a book called the protocolos,78 Today the protocolos of colonial notaries may be found at the Archives of the Notaries; in the case of Oaxaca these are at the ANO. The bills of sale of slaves, wills and testaments used in this dissertation were found in the protocolos of Oaxacan notaries.

78 Ibid.. 82. 42

As mentioned earlier, the documents on Oaxaquenos credit history that are used in this dissertation were found at the AHAO and the AGEO, in a unique depository. They were loose, unbound papers that the notaries supplied to their clients, and they reveal credit information for formal credit institutions during the eighteenth century. It might be sensible to assume that these documents were in the possession of creditors, rather than borrowers; many of them most likely once in possession of the convent of Sana Catalina.79 1 find it unconvincing to insist that the documents belonged to borrowers who for some reason decided to part with their lien and loan documents and titles to real estate, and for all these people to deposit them neatly in an archive.

Nevertheless, all of the parties involved in a contract would have had exactly the same documents; exact copies of what were stored by notaries. The difference however, would have been in how the documents were collected, stored and preserved over the years.

It might be assumed that owners of those loan documents, found at the AHAO and the

AGEO, stored them in reasonable condition and that many have survived however no assumptions may be made as to what proportion of these documents made it to the archives, or which documents were lost, who lost them, when, how and why. Ideally this study should have been conducted based on loan documents and title deeds in the protocolos-, however, as explained earlier, this option was not possible. Use of notarial documents from the protocolos would possibly provide a clearer and more comprehensive picture of the credit market and economic conditions in the region. Arguably, this would have produced a more systematic study, but not necessarily a more representative one.80 Linda Greenow used loan documents

™ For a discussion of production of notarial records see Ibid., especially chapters 1 and 3.

80 The archive of the notaries in Oaxaca has protocolos from several notaries from the colonial period; however, access to these records had been severely restricted during my research phase, and 1 was not able to consult them in a systematic way. 43 from the protocolos to study the credit market of Guadalajara, and Gisela von Wobeser used the same method to study the ecclesiastical credit system in Mexico City.81 My findings however, are not consistent with those of Greenow or Wobeser. Unlike them, I found that indigenous people, people with low occupational status, artisans and people who did not use the title of don and dofia, figured prominently in the documents; they were borrowing from formal credit institutions, including convents and monasteries. I believe my conclusions may have been stronger if I had access to the protocolos of the notaries. I expect I would have found more cases of people in the middling class participating in the formal credit market of eighteenth century

Oaxaca. More detailed discussions of methodology, particularly discussions of periodization and databases are included in the relevant chapters.

Conclusion

The study of the economic intersections between the religious and the lay world in eighteenth century Oaxaca is an examination of complex contracts and relations between people, property and ideas. In the midst of various economic developments some people in the lay community took steps to increase their wealth and to improve their life, others made arrangements to secure the future economic and financial well being of their family members.

Many of these people chose to achieve that with the aid of formal legal arrangements: the contracts. That is when they came into contact with the ecclesiastical institutions in Oaxaca, among which the convent of Santa Catalina was the most accessible. Throughout the eighteenth century, the convent of Santa Catalina remained an integral part of the Oaxacan community.

81 Greenow, Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara, / 720-1820: Wobeser. I.I Credito Eclesiastico en la Nuera Espana siglo XVIII. 44

However, their socio-economic role altered from a vibrant credit institution supporting the city's propertied class, to one defending its principles. These changes were accompanied by changes in the larger society which was becoming more individualistic, efficient and modern. The next chapter addresses changes in the religiosity of Oaxaquefios. CHAPTER 2

CONVENTUAL LIFE IN COLONIAL OAXACA

This chapter provides the tools necessary for understanding religion and society in colonial Oaxaca, and the organization and personnel of Oaxaca's convents, establishing themes that emerge in subsequent chapters. It shows the changing expressions of piety among Oaxacan elites, and the intensity of connections between convents and lay society.

Frays followed conquistadors remarkably quickly, sometimes even accompanied them, and immediately began the process of evangelization of the indigenous people. In the province of Oaxaca, Dominican frays arrived first in 1529, and claimed jurisdiction over the region. They kept so busy with teaching and converting that construction on the first Dominican monastery did not begin until twenty years later. Franciscan, Augustinian, Carmelite, and Mercedarian frays as well as Jesuit priests arrived in Oaxaca shortly after the Dominicans did, and together with secular clergy they attended to the religious needs of people in the area.1

By the time Oaxaca (Antequera) was declared a Spanish city in 1532, Alfonso Garcia

Bravo, an architect, and Juan Pelaez de Berrio, an alcalde mayor, had already laid out plans for the city. They allocated and distributed plots for religious and public buildings, as well as for major plebian housing. The city grew gradually and as more and more Spanish settlers arrived, people erected churches and convents. They also built churches and shrines in every village.2

1 The first Dominicans arrived in 1529. Margarita Dalton. Breve Historia de Oaxaca (Mexico. D.F.. 2004). 89; Ana Carolina Ibarra. Cleroy Politico en Oaxaca: Biografia del Doctor Jose de San Martin (Oaxaca. 1995). 45- 46; William B. Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford. 1972), 165-167.

* Dalton. Breve Historia de Oaxaca. 89-98.

45 46

Construction of many of the buildings in the city, however, did not begin until the city reached

500 inhabitants in the 1570s.3

The number of religious professionals and the number of churches, convents and monasteries built during the colonial period reflected the religiosity of the people of Oaxaca as well as their wealth. The magnificent decorations that adorned the interiors of the religious buildings further attested to that. At the end of the eighteenth century, when the population of the city was over 18,000, there were 177 professed nuns among five convents and 332 monks among seven monasteries, as well as 20 high clergy and 91 secular priests.4 Additionally, there were three colleges and seminaries, three hospitals, thirty-six cofradias (brotherhoods) and many more capellamas (chantries) that were affiliated with various churches.5 Among the convents were Santa Catalina de Siena, La Concepcion, La Soledad, Capuchinas Espafiolas and

Capuchinas Indias. Among the monasteries were Santo Domingo, San Francisco, Del Carmen,

La Merced, San Pablo, and Oratorio de San Felipe Neri.6

1 Jose Antonio Gay, Historia de Oaxaca, 8 ed. (Mexico, 1982), 255.

4 The city census of 1792 indicates that 309 women lived at the convents, however only 177 were professed nuns and the rest were servants: that is 4.36 percent of the total Spanish and creold Mestizo female population. On the one hand this is a small religious population by Latin American standards: by comparison in Lima, in 1700. nearly 3,900 of the 18,955 women lived in convents or other enclosures: that is 21 percent, see Nancy E. Van- Deusen. "Defining the Sacred and the Worldly: Beatas and Recogidas in Late-Seventeenth-Century Lima," Colonial Latin American Historical Review 6 (1997): 450; On the other hand, this is comparable to other cities in New Spain. Alexander von Humboldt stated that in 1790 there were 888 nuns in 21 convents of Mexico City, 427 nuns in 11 convents of Puebla, and 143 in 3 convents of Queretaro. as quoted in Asuncion Lavrin, "Values and Meaning of Monastic Life for Nuns in Colonial Mexico." The Catholic Historical Review 58 (Oct., 1972): 367; In the Valley of Oaxaca there were 430 secular priests in 1777, but only 289 in 1792, Taylor attributes this reduction to territorial disputes between secular and regular orders over control of parishes, see John K. Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, Calif., 1978). 160-167.

5 AGN: Padrones, vol.13 fs.296; AGEO: Fondo Obispado. Leg.26. exp.3. ano 1771.

6 AGN: Padrones. vol. 13 fs.291; 1 barra. Clero y Politico en Oaxaca: Biografta del Doctor Jose de San Martin. 46-47; Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 167. 47

Looking at convents as a reflection of people's religiosity and a display of their piety, the society of Oaxaca appears to be a model of the larger society of the Spanish Empire. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the first wave of founding convents in Mexico was between

1568 and 1635. The people of Oaxaca established two calzadas convents during this period:

Santa Catalina in 1571 and La Concepcion in 1576. During the next wave of founding convents between 1685 and 1756, Oaxaquenos established two additional convents: a recoletas convent of

La Soledad in 1682 and a descalsed convent of San Jose (Capuchinas Espafiolas) in 1732.

Hardly any convents were established during the era of Bourbon reforms, yet during this period,

Oaxacenos pushed for the establishment of a descalsed convent for indigenous women.7 In

1767 they secured partial funding and a Royal decree for the establishment of the convent of

Nuestra Sefiora de los Angeles (Capuchinas Indias/Los Siete Principes) which opened its doors in 1782. In all of New Spain, only four such convents were founded.

It seems that elites in Oaxaca were, or were striving to be, at the forefront of religious and intellectual life of the colony. When the trend was to establish convents for elite Spanish women, they were one of the first to do so. When at the end of the seventeenth century, the trend had shifted to reformed convents and mystics were emphasized, wealthy Oaxaquenos founded a convent that would fit that trend. As cases of Madre Jacinta Maria Ana Catalina de San Antonio and Madre Maria de San Jose will show in this chapter, Oaxaquenos even imported mystics from other cities to fulfill the agenda. When their efforts were inconclusive, they built a truly austere

7 Descalsed, or Capuchin, nuns followed a very strict interpretation of religious duties and they depended on alms for subsistence. They were literally shoe-less. The calzadas nuns, on the other hand, followed a "loose" interpretation of their vow of poverty and enjoyed many of the privileges common to lay people. Especially, in terms of quality of food and clothing, living quarters, and help from their personal servants, see Lavrin, "Values and Meaning of Monastic Life for Nuns in Colonial Mexico." 375-376; Recoletas nuns followed a strict interpretation of their vows and practiced vida comun. However, dowries provided their main source of income. As such recoletas were somewhere in the middle between descalsed and calzadas convents, see Rosalva Loreto Lopez. Los Conventos Femininosy el Mundo Urbano de la Pueblo de los Angeles del SigloWill (Mexico. D.F.. 2000). 89-90. 48 convent: the Capuchin convent of San Jose (Capuchinas Espafiolas). However, by then the trend of mystical and visionary icons within the female religious communities had ended, and

Oaxaquenos abandoned the project. Then again, when the ideas of the enlightenment permeated colonial society and Bourbon reforms pushed to alter expressions of piety, Oaxaquenos established a convent that fit the new vision.8 They founded an austere convent for indigenous women; a gesture that symbolized their notions of modesty and equality. Elisa Sampson Vera

Tudela and Assuncion Lavrin show that the founding of convents for indigenous women exemplified changes in race, gender and class relations in eighteenth century New Spain.9

Furthermore, as 1 will show in chapter 6, during this dynamic period, elite Oaxaquenos sought to redefine the role of their oldest convent by insisting that the nuns spend their efforts on educating young women who could become productive members of society rather than professing as nuns.

The size of religious community and frequency of profession may be construed as additional indications of religiosity and changes in expressions of piety. Prior to 1750, on average two women professed at Santa Catalina annually and thereafter one woman professed every two years. There was a particular drop in professions in the 1750s, at both the convent of

Santa Catalina and La Soledad, with a slight recovery during the last quarter of the century.10

The convent of Santa Catalina had the capacity to house fifty to sixty nuns at a time, as it did

8 Luisa Zahino Pcfiafort, "La Fundacion del Convento para Indias Cacicas de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles en Oaxaca," in El Monacto Feminino en el Imperio Espaehoi. Monasteries, Beaterios, Recogimientosy Colegios. ed. Manuel Ramos Medina (Mexico, D.F.. 1995). 331-337.

l) Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela, "Fashioning a Cacique Nun: From Saints' Lives to Indian Lives in the Spanish Americas," Gender and History 9(1997): 171-200; and Asuncion Lavrin, "Indian Brides of Christ: Creating New Spaces for Indigenous Women in New Spain," Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos 15 (1999): 225-260.

l0Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571-1862," fs. 53-111; In 1774. a Royal decree limited the size of convent population. See Jose de Jesus Vega and Maria Luisa Cardenas de Vega. America Virreinal: Educacion de la Mujer (1503-1821) (Mexico. D.F., 1989), 101-102. 49 through most of the eighteen century. In 1792, there were fifty professed nuns (table 2.1). But in 1862 when the State was exerting pressure on convents and people had found different ways of expressing piety, there were only thirteen nuns at Santa Catalina.11 The convent of La

Soledad had twenty-seven professed nuns in 1792, and the convent of La Conception had thirty- nine. During the same period the descalzas convents also had smaller populations: there were thirty-five professed nuns at Capuchinas Espanolas, and twenty-six at Capuchinas Indi'as.12

Changes in the population size of the convents may in part be a reflection of changes in expression of piety and in part the result of various Royal decrees implemented during the late eighteenth century. In the following section, I will discuss brief histories of each of the convents.

" AGN: Tributos, ano 1792 vol.34, exp.7, fs. 158v; Manuel Esparza. Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena, Primera ed. (Oaxaca, 2000). 78.

12 AGN: Tributos. afio 1792 vol.34, exp.7. fs. I58v 50

Table 2.1 Convent Population Distribution in Oaxaca in 1792

Servants: Houses Total Convent Type of Order Priests Nuns Male & Owned in Population Female the City La Soledad Augustinians 1 27 9 37 64 Santa Catalina Dominican 2 50 34 97 210 La Concepcion Franciscan 2 39 48 89 113

Capuchinas: Espanolas Capuchin - 35 11 45 - Capuchinas: Indicts Capuchin 2 26 5 33 8

Total 7 177 107 301 395

Source: AGN: Padrones, ano 1792 vol.13 fs.291

The Convents of Oaxaca*

Santa Catalina de Siena

One of the largest and economically most powerful convents in Oaxaca, the

Dominican convent of Santa Catalina, began as a beaterio for young women who had a

religious inclination. Bishop Bernardo de Alburquerque of Oaxaca (appointed 1561-

1579) temporarily solicited three nuns from the convent of Santa Clara (Franciscan order)

from Mexico City to prepare the new religious establishment. In 1576, he secured

authorization from Pope St. Pius V (and his successor Pope Gregory XIII) to found the

first convent of the Dominican order in New Spain, and the first convent in Oaxaca.

Construction of the convent was already under way and the Bishop proceeded to prepare

its constitution, as well as to admit its first nuns. He stipulated in the constitution that

* The dates of foundation for each of the convents discussed here vary slightly depending on the source. I suspect this discrepancy depends on when the Royal and Papal Decrees granted permission for the establishment of the convents, when the convents were built, when the tlrst nuns arrived at these convents, and finally on. when the tlrst nuns professed at each of the convents. I have adopted dates that make most logical sense to me. It should also be noted that the book of professions for the convent of La Concepcion is missing from the archives, which makes some comparisons and conclusions impossible. 51 nuns professed at Santa Catalina should have musical skills so that they would sing to the

Divine, and that they should be able to read Latin,13 Ten women took Holy vows during the grand opening ceremony on October 20, 1577. People from all walks of life attended and celebrated in the most festive manner in the city-core and the surrounding barrios.

Two of the nuns were nieces of Bishop Alburquerque: sor Mariana de San Bernardo and sor Bernardina de Santo Domingo.14 Others included sor Juana de Santo Domingo (the first prioress), sor Juana de Santa Catalina, sor Francisca de San Augustin, sor Francisca de la Concepcion, sor Catalina de Siena, sor Maria de San Gabriel, sor Leonor do los

Angeles, and sor Lucia del Espiritu Santo.15 A few years later, one of the Bishop's nieces, sor Mariana de San Bernardo, and sor Cristina de la Asuncion left the convent to found a new Dominican convent in Mexico City. Then again, in 1610 a couple more nuns left to found a new convent in Guatemala.16

Initially designed for poor doncellas (young unmarried women with proper manners) of Spanish heritage, Santa Catalina did not admit widows and mestizos (women of mixed Spanish and Indian descent.)17 Bishop Alburquerque anticipated that the

13 Francisco de Burgoa, Geografica Description: De la Parle Septentrional del Polo Artico de la Americay Nueva Iglesia de las Indias Occidenlales, y Sitio Astronomico de esta Provincia de Predicadores de Antequera Valle de Oaxaca (Mexico, 1989), 199; Maria del Carmen Martinez Sola, El Obispo Fray Bernardo de Alburquerque: El Marquesado del Valle de Oaxaca en el Siglo XVII (Oaxaca, 1998), 388-389; Gay. Historia de Oaxaca. 258-259.

14 Burgoa. Geografica Description: De la Parte Septentrional del Polo Artico de la Americay Nueva Iglesia de las Indias Occidenlales, y Sitio Astronomico de esta Provincia de Predicadores de Antequera Valle de Oaxaca. 200-201.

15 Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la I'undacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas lntitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571-1862," fs. 53-53v.

Gay. Historia de Oaxaca. 261. capacity of the convent would not exceed twelve nuns.18 However, these regulations changed over time. The size of the dowry women brought with them (3,000 pesos brought by each black veil nun and 1,500 pesos by each white veil nun) suggests that poor women were a significant minority at the convent, albeit some impoverished novices received dowry donations from generous patrons. Also, the population of the convent quickly exceeded its original capacity and became the largest convent in Oaxaca with a community of up to seventy nuns.19

During its tenure, between 1571 and 1862, the convent of Santa Catalina housed a total of 400 nuns: women who were exemplary in their devotion, religiosity and obedience, many of whom had extraordinary lives within the cloister.20 The convent served a number of functions within the community of Oaxaca. In addition to being a cultural and religious center, it was also an economic hub. Ever since its foundation, the convent had owned extensive urban and rural properties, and developed strong financial ties to a large proportion of the lay community. William Taylor describes Santa Catalina as having an "aggressive, businesslike approach to land ownership in the seventeenth and

17 Maria Conception Amerlinck de Corsi, Conventos de Monjas: Fundaciones en el Mexico Virreinal (Mexico. 1995). p. 266; Martinez Sola. El Obispo Fray Bernardo de Alburquerque: El Marquesado del Valle de Oaxaca en el Siglo XVII, 388.

18 Gay. Hisioria de Oaxaca, 259.

19 Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundaeion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571-1862,'' fs. 53-111; in the context of convents and elites, poor usually refers to the impoverished elites, those who may have lost their wealth.

-° Ibid., fs. 53-103. 53 eighteenth centuries."21 This attitude and the financial ties of the convent are the subject of the remaining chapters of this study, particularly chapter four.

As part of Church reforms, the Liberal government shut the doors of Santa

Catalina on March 4, 1862. City officials and army guards threw the last thirteen nuns out of the convent in the middle of the night. They even moved all the belongings of the nuns, including furniture and pots of plants. The nuns, most of whom were old and ill, took refuge at the convent of La Concepcion.22 The city immediately adapted the buildings of the convent into a jailhouse, for men and women, and partly into a city hall building. Over the next several months, the State attempted to compensate the nuns with

200,000 pesos for their losses. The idea was to refund them their dowries, but the nuns refused to accept the money and as a result, the State confiscated the funds along with all the property of the convent.23 As the Church continued to lose its position, the nuns from all convents merged at the last remaining convent in the city, and finally in the 1880s, they took up residence in various private homes. Three nuns grouped per home; they participated in private Mass and received confessions from a designated priest. The last thirty nuns, while stripped of their religious titles and privileges, continued to obey their

Holy vows as best as circumstances allowed.24 Part of my task in this dissertation is to analyze how such a powerful institution as the convent of Santa Catalina became

21 Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca, 185.

" Esparza. Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena, 90; Charles Redmon Berry. The Reform in Oaxaca, 1856-76: A Microhistory of the Libera/ Revolution (Lincoln, 1981), 78.

:1 Berry. The Reform in Oaxaca. 1856-76: A Microhistory of the Liberal Revolution, 59. 77-79.

24 In 1870 there were 12 nuns from La Soledad. 5 from Santa Catalina. 14 from La Concepcion. 17 from Capuchinas Indias and 30 from Capuchinas Espanolas. Ibid., 118-119, 239-240. obsolete. In the following chapters I explore the social and economic relations between the convent and the lay society to answer that question.

Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion Regina Coeli

The second oldest convent in Oaxaca was the convent of La Concepcion. It had a troublesome history from the beginning. It was founded during the tenure of Bishop

Barthalome de Lendesma (1583-1604) with an endowment from dofia Maria de Godoy.

This, however, was insufficient to begin construction of the new convent and the Bishop added the endowment of don Juan Ruiz: whose intention was to establish a college instead. The construction of the church and the convent began thereafter. The church had a spectacular upper and lower choir, there was a spacious garden with fruits and flowers within the grounds of the convent, but due to insufficient funds, the actual convent building was only one story high.25

Initially a delegation of four nuns from La Concepcion in Mexico City came to establish the convent in Oaxaca. Sor Maria de San Antonia was the first prioress, and Sor

Francisca de los Angeles, Sor Juana de San Augustin, and Sor Ines de Jesus held the other executive posts at the convent. By 1596, their community had grown to 23 nuns.26

Similar to the convent of Santa Catalina, La Concepcion had an important role within

Oaxacan society. It accepted elite women with a religious inclination, it extended credit

"5 Amerlinck de Corsi. Conventos de Monjas: Fundaciones en el Mexico Virreinal. 269. 55 to various segments of lay community, and it owned extensive urban and rural properties.27

At the end of the eighteenth century, an earthquake damaged the convent of La

Concepcion and it needed substantial repairs. Rather than repairing the buildings, the nuns petitioned the Viceroy for a transfer to an abandoned Jesuit monastery; a building complex that stood empty since the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, and was located only a few blocks away from the nuns' current location.28 In 1790, the nuns moved to the new location. Their new home, however, sustained heavy damages from two further earthquakes in 1795 and in 1801 and the nuns found themselves in a distressed situation yet again. They had the option of repairing either the new or the old convent: both scenarios were very expensive and they would have no home during the period of the renovations. They decided to remain at the more luxurious ex-monastery of the Jesuits, and in the meantime sought temporary refuge at the Dominican convent of Santa Catalina and at the Augustinian convent of La Soledad. Two years later, they returned to the new convent of La Concepcion, only to have their community uprooted one more time in the general clampdown of the 1860s.29

"7 Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. p.189

28 The Jesuits were expelled from New Spain in 1767 and their convent in Oaxaca remained abandoned until the nuns from La Concepcion moved in. Today, the Jesuit frays occupy this structure once again. Ibarra. Cleroy Politico en Oaxaca: Biografia del Doctor Jose de San Martin. p,261

AHMO. Octubre 13. 1801; and Amerlinck de Corsi, Conventos de Monjas: Fundaciones en el Mexico Virreinal. pp. 271-272 56

Augustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Senora de Santa Monica de la Soledad

The third convent established in Oaxaca was the convent of La Soledad. In 1682, don Pedro de Otatosa y Carbajal, a prominent Oaxaquefio, endowed a project to build the church of La Soledad, thereby replacing the existing small chapel and a home to the cofradia (brotherhood) of the same name. Also in that year, Oaxaquenos received Royal decree that approved the foundation of a new Augustinian convent of La Soledad. The

Augustinian convent of Santa Monica in Puebla dispatched several nuns to set up the new religious establishment for women in Oaxaca. Among the first nuns were sor Bernarda

Teresa de Santa Cruz, sor Ana de San Jose, sor Maria de San Jose, sor Antonia de la

Madre de Dios, and one lay sister Maria Teresa.30

Elite women whose families could not afford a dowry for their marriage in the lay world, or who could not profess in one of the calzadas convents, were candidates for the convent of La Soledad. The convent was a recoleta type, which meant that the nuns brought dowries at profession, worth about half of those brought to a typical marriage.

But these nuns followed a stricter rule of obedience and practiced a communal life, rather than a vida particular, as did the older convents.31 Founded a century later, it remained the smallest of the three religious establishments and had a much smaller economic impact on Oaxaca's lay community. Still, like Santa Catalina and La Concepcion, La

Soledad was an important landowner in the Valley of Oaxaca; it owned real estate in the

10 Gay, Historia de Oaxaca. 372-373; Amerlinck de Corsi, Conventos de Monjas: Fundaciones en el Mexico VirreinaL 273-275.

11 The recolelas convents were similar to catadas convents, in a sense that nuns were required to bring a dowry and therefore had a similar role and impact on lay community. Amerlinck de Corsi. Conventos de Monjas: Fundaciones en el Mexico VirreinaL 273. 57 city and provided credit to people in the lay community.32 During its tenure, between

1694 and 1862, a total of 117 women professed as nuns of the black and the white veil.33

One of the exemplary nuns at the convent of La Soledad was sor Josepha. She was one of the convent's founding sisters, and was nominated for sainthood; I will get back to her story later in the chapter. Most women who professed at La Soledad were from prominent local families, while women from impoverished elite families who wanted to profess but did not have funding necessary for profession had to wait and choose one of the city's Capuchin convents that were established in the eighteenth century, and required no dowries from any of its members.

San Jose and Nuestra Senora de los Angeles: Convents of the Capuchinas

During the eighteenth century, Oaxacefios founded two more convents that were reformed convents of the Franciscan Capuchin order. The convent of San Jose was established by a group of nuns from Antigua, Guatemala, in 1728. This convent has been commonly referred to as the convent of Capuchinas Espafiolas to distinguish it from a convent of the same order that was founded in Oaxaca in 1782: the convent of Nuestra

Sefiora de los Angeles that was also referred to as Capuchinas Indias and Los Siete

Principes. Capuchinas Espafiolas was founded with 16,000 pesos donated by elite

Oaxaquefios. The convent was meant for poor women of Spanish heritage who could not

Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 188-189; and AHAO: Diocesano. (iobiemo, Religiosos, various

31 Fundacion Bustamante Vasconcelos. "I Jbro de Profesiones del Convento de Religiosas Agustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Madre y Senora de la Soledad de esta Ciudad de Oaxaca. Desde su Fundacion, 1697-1870." Is. 1-124. 58 afford a dowry for marriage or for profession in the other convents in the city. At the end of the eighteenth century it had a population of thirty-five nuns and eleven servants.34 In contrast, the convent of Capuchinas Indias was founded with an initial pledge of 2,000 pesos by Viceroy Marques Carlos Francisco de Croix on behalf of the Spanish Crown in

1768. The remaining funds were donated by indigenous Oaxaquefios who prospered from the cochineal boom of the eighteenth century. Only cacicas, women of indigenous elite status, were meant to profess at this convent. The first founding mothers were from the convent of Corpus Christi in Mexico City: the original, convent for indigenous women in New Spain.35 The convent remained small. At the end of the century, it had a population of twenty-six nuns and five servants.36

There has been much controversy surrounding the establishment of convents for indigenous women and only four such institutions were funded in New Spain. Several factors led to one of these convents being founded in Oaxaca, including demographic, economic and political changes. Throughout the colonial period, Oaxaca had been a region densely populated with indigenous people. Also, much like the rest of New Spain, it was a region that in the eighteenth century experienced a dramatic increase in the indigenous population. And, as mentioned in chapter one, much of the production associated with cochineal was in the hands of the indigenous people. Thus, they benefited greatly from increased trade. As Luisa Zahiano Penafort points out, the

34 AGN, Tributos. vol.34, exp.7. fs.!58v-l62v.

15 Maria Conception Amerlinck De Corsi and Manuel Ramos Medina. Conventos De Monjas: Fundaciones en el Mexico Virreinal (Mexico. D.F., 1995), 276-280; Zahino Penafort. "La Fundacion del Convento para Indias Cacicas de Nuestra Sefiora de los Angeles en Oaxaca." 331-337.

16 AGN, Tributos, vol.34, exp.7. fs. I58v-I62v. 59 corresponding growth of an indigenous elite coincided with their demand for participation in social activities on par with their economic status. This included placing daughters in convents. Combined with the Bourbon reforms and the changing political and ideological climate, the project culminated in the founding of the convent of Nuestra

Sefiora de los Angeles for indigenous elite women.37 Race and class, however, remained important issues within this convent.

Issues of Race and Class

Colonial society was organized around ideas of race and class, as discussed in the earlier chapter. Spaniards and their descendents were at the top of the hierarchy, and were entitled to the most prestigious positions. This differentiation was reflected inside religious communities. Similarly to aspirants for top administrative posts, a woman who wanted to profess as a nun had to prove her purity of blood; meaning she had to convince the authorities that both her parents were of Spanish heritage and that they were Catholic.

Supporting documents included baptismal record from the parish priest, and at least two letters of recommendation from respectable people (men) who knew the candidate and her family: the witness testimonies were prepared with the aid of notaries. Another requirement was a dowry. Women who could fulfill these requirements professed as nuns of the black veil. These nuns came from the wealthiest segment of the local elite and remained at the top of the social hierarchy inside the convents which they had the privilege and responsibility of administering. Those who had difficulties providing the

17 While this was a convent strictly tor indigenous women. Creole women were its first leaders, particularly the prioress and teacher of the novices. Zahino Pefiafort, "La Fundacion del Convento para Indias Cacicas de Nuestra Sefiora de los Angeles en Oaxaca," 333-334. 60 burden of proof, and/or could not afford the dowry, professed as nuns of the white veil and had a secondary function within the convent. Women who were not Spanish or creole, or had a mixed racial background, could only hope to join a convent as domestic servants or slaves. In this way, convents produced and reproduced the existing social

10 structure and social relations. Even when convents for indigenous women were established, they intended to admit only women of elite status, who were pure Indias.

Accordingly, the composition of the convent population in Oaxaca reflected that of its lay society. As the following examples will show, Spanish and creole nuns held top positions within convent hierarchy, and were supported by servants from all racial groups.

Madre Josepha Man'a Manuela de San Nicolas (1699-?)

Sor Josepha is representative of women professing as nuns of the black veil at the three main convents in Oaxaca during the eighteenth century. These were young women, under the age of twenty, who were of pure Spanish blood and hidalgo (elite) status.

Many of the candidates had lost one parent by the time of profession.39 It is not clear, however, whether this had any bearing on their decision to profess. Additionally, the story of sor Josepha's family illustrates how outsiders formed connections and embedded themselves within Oaxaca society.

18 Kathryn Burns, "Gender and the Politics of Mestizaje: The Convent of Santa Clara in Cuzco. Peru," Hispanic American Historical Review 78 (1998), 5-44.

w Many of the entries of profession indicate that one parent had passed away, see Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monastcrio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores, Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571-1862," fs. 53-110. 61

Josepha's father, don Santiago Valez del Orriaga, moved from Mexico City to

Oaxaca and married into a local elite family. At one point, the family lived in the village of San Augustin Mixtepec, a Zapotec speaking region in the southern part of the

Bishopric of Oaxaca, where Josepha was born. Over time the family formed ties within the city and Oaxaquefios came to consider them as vecinos (locals.) Josepha's entry into one of the convents in 1718 solidified those ties. Marriage within the community and religious affiliation were the roots that helped outsiders to establish stronger local connections and relationships.

At the age of eighteen, Josepha began to assemble the series of documents necessary to profess at the convent of La Soledad. She obtained her birth certificate/record of baptism and witness testimonies, and prepared a petition seeking profession. She proved that she was a legitimate child of capitan don Santiago Velez de

Orriaga and dofia Maria Vasquez de Tores, and that she was in fact born into a Spanish hidalgo family, of pure blood and free of any blemishes. Friends of the family described them as honorable Christian people. Josepha was christened on January 6, 1699, and received her education at home, where she grew up.40 She also indicated that by 1717 her mother had passed away, and that she had a sufficient dowry to profess as a nun of the black veil.41 At that time, the set dowry had been the customary 3,000 pesos. After a year and a half in the novitiate, Josepha professed as a nun of the black veil at La

Soledad, and became Madre Josepha Maria Manuela de San Nicolas on November 23,

40 AGEO: Legajo Anexo 3. ano 1717, Religiosa.

41 Ibid. 62

1718.42 Sor Josepha represents a typical candidate for a nun of the black veil, unfortunately, however, as with so many other nuns, little is known about her after she professed. Occasionally, there were nuns who stood out from the rest, as in the case of sor Maria de San Jose, and sor Jacinta.

Madre Maria de San Jose (1656-1719) and Madre Jacinta Maria Ana Catalina de San Antonio (1674-1720)

During the era of baroque piety in the Spanish Kingdom, there were many mystics and visionaries. Many convents housed nuns who supposedly communicated with the

Divine. These were women of extreme devotion who practiced self flagellation, often suffered various medical conditions and during moments of extreme physical weakness received word from God himself. In Oaxaca, there were two nuns who had these special abilities and wrote about them in their autobiographies: Sor Maria de San Jos6 at the convent of La Soledad, and sor Jacinta Maria Ana Catalina de San Antonio at the convent of Santa Catalina. Both women came to Oaxaca from Puebla. However, despite many similarities, including expressions of religiosity, devotion, and mysticism, the two nuns had a very different reception from their contemporaries. After her death in 1719, Sor

Maria was nominated for sainthood, while following her death in 1720 sor Jacinta was largely forgotten. Possible reasons for such diverse responses may lie in sor Jacinta's family history and upbringing that did not correspond to contemporary notions of race

42 Fundaeion Bustamante Vasconcelos. "Libro de Profesiones del Convento de Religiosas Agustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Madre y Sefiora de la Soledad de esta Ciudad de Oaxaca, Desde su Fundaeion. 1697-1870." t's. 26. 63 and class.43 Another reason could be the changing attitude towards mystical and diabolical encounters. At the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the

Church was becoming increasingly skeptical of claims to visions and supernatural encounters.44 It is likely that sor Jacinta was a victim of this paradigm shift.

In 1696, Sor Maria de San Jose traveled from Puebla to Oaxaca to found the new convent of La Soledad where she became the director of novices. She had grown up on a hacienda near Puebla, and in 1688, at the age of thirty-two she professed at the convent of

Santa Monica in Puebla. Sor Maria came from an elite family, even though they had lost their fortune when her father died. Two of Maria's older sisters also joined the life of enclosure several years before she did. What delayed Maria's profession at an earlier age were her poor health, the lack of a sufficient dowry, some family quibbles, and the lack of available space at the convents of Puebla. One day when she learned that Santa

Monica would become a convent and would accept novices, Maria used every possible family connection, and her elite status, to secure a place for herself in that community.45

Sor Maria died in 1719, at the age of sixty-three leaving some thirty notebooks recounting her life story, both lay and religious. Sor Maria de San Jose played an important role within the convent community, and she was rewarded with founding a new convent as well as teaching novices; in all likelihood, she trained sor Josepha Maria de

41 Argument put forth by Nimcy Arellanes Cancino. "La Admirada Vida y Portentosa Muerte de la Madre Sor Jacinta. Monja lluminada en la Ciudad de Oaxaca." in Camino a la Sanlidad, sighs .VI7-.V.Y. cd. Manuel Ramos Medina (Mexico, D.F., 2003). 268.

44 Fernando Cervantes, "The Devils of Queretaro: Scepticism and Credulity in Late Seventeenth- Century Mexico." Pas! and Present 130 (Feb., 1991), 61-69.

45 Jose Maria de San. Kathleen Ann Myers, and Amanda Powell, A Wild Country Out in the Garden: The Spiritual Journals of a Colonial Mexican Nun (Bloomington, 1999), 9-52. 64

Jesus Ortiz de Estrada to become a nun. But, sor Maria also experienced visions and led the life of a mystic from early childhood. Her siblings, and later nuns at Santa Monica, were skeptical and did not approve of her way of life. Kathleen Myers and Amanda

Powell translated and published her vida (an autobiography) and wrote about her extensively.46 Unquestionably, Sor Maria became an exemplary nun at La Soledad in

Oaxaca, so much so that after her death, the Bishop of Oaxaca petitioned for her beatification.

During the time that sor Maria lived in Oaxaca, sor Jacinta joined the convent of

Santa Catalina, yet the story of sor Jacinta is a story of one of the most peculiar nuns in the region. Sor Jacinta was the only nun at Santa Catalina who produced a vida, however only two of the three giant volumes she wrote have survived. Sor Jacinta represents a very unusual case for historians of religious autobiographical writings. By all contemporary accounts, sor Jacinta was a mystic, with unprecedented religious devotion and obedience, paired with visual and supernatural experiences. In spite of this, her contemporaries did not recognize sor Jacinta as a mystic; rather they saw her as a medical curiosity.

Born to unknown parents in 1674, little Jacinta was placed at the Hospital de San

Cristobal in Puebla. Her christening was few months later at the Cathedral of Puebla, where her godmother Maria Cabrera chose her name. The baptismal record from June 6,

1674 indicates that Jacinta was an orphan: hija de la Iglesia.47 Francisco de Cara and

46 Ibid., 14.37.66,97, 102-103, 117.

47 Information assembled in 1711 by Fray Miguel Valverde. Vicar at the convent of Santa Calalina and insirted in vida of Maria Ana Catalina de San Antonio, Madre Jacinta see AHAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. "Vida de Madre Jacinta. 1674-1720." 65 dona Luisa Flores de Aluirde subsequently adopted her. The couple also cared for their niece who was a similar age to Jacinta, and they quickly began to look down upon Jacinta in preference of their niece: from then on Jacinta was almost a servant in the house.48

Sor Jacinta had a long, complicated story before she entered the novitiate at Santa

Catalina in Oaxaca, in 1711 at the age of thirty-seven. Jacinta began her quest to become a nun at the age of fifteen, when she entered the Augustinian convent of Santa Monica in

Puebla (the same convent sor Maria belonged to). All the necessary financial arrangements were taken care of by don Manuel Fernandez de Santa Cruz, the founder of the convent. The convent community was impressed with Jacinta and they instantly accepted her. However, they quickly became frustrated when she developed a debilitating illness which lasted for about ten years.49 One day a miracle happened and

Jacinta regained her health. When she fully recuperated, the community of Santa Monica asked Jacinta to leave their convent: they did not think that the convent suited her health very well. However, poor Jacinta was determined to lead a religious life, and did not let this incident deter her. With the aid of some Dominican frays, on July 6 1710, Jacinta professed as habito exterior (a religious lay woman) of the Tercera Orden de Penitencia y

Milicia de Santo Domingo in Puebla.50

One year later, Jacinta petitioned to join the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca.

This petition in turn prompted church officials to look closely into her life. In November

48 Rodriguez Lopez O.P Fray Santiago. "El Monasterio de la Madre de Dios y Santa Catalina de Sena de Oaxaca. 1571-1850." in Biblioleca Burgoa (Oaxaca. 2000). 19.

40 Arellanes Cancino, "La Admirada Vida y Portentosa Muerte de la Madre Sor Jacinta, Monja Iluminada en la Ciudad de Oaxaca." 262.

50 Certificate of profession is included with information about Jacinta. AH AO: Diocesano. Ciobierno. Religiosos, "Vida de Madre Jacinta. 1674-1720." 66 of 1711, Fray Miguel Valverde, vicar at Santa Catalina, conducted an investigation. He interviewed three witnesses, all priests, who swore they had known Jacinta since her childhood. They did not know her biological parents, but were more than certain she was of pure Spanish blood, free of any blemishes, and without a hint of mulato or Indio blood, or other racial imperfections.51 The witnesses also agreed that Jacinta was very obedient, a loving and charitable person who desired to become a nun of her own free will. Neither of the witnesses could, however, verify if Jacinta, at the age of thirty-seven, was a virgin.52 Nevertheless, the answers were sufficient to allow Jacinta to join the novitiate at the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca.

The long awaited day arrived and sor Jacinta finally professed on April 22, 1713 as a nun of the choir (black veil).53 As a member of the choir, she would be involved in the highest council, would vote on all matters of the community, and would have access to various administrative positions within the convent. There is no evidence that would suggest that Jacinta actually aspired or attained any position of power. She may, however, have, attempted to display a superior religiosity, and sought authority through her mystic abilities.

51 Jacinta was "I.impia de toda raza" and "litre de toda mala raza" see information gathered about Jacinta in Ibid.

The question reads: "Assimismo siendole preguntado: si sabe que la dicha Jacintha Maria Anna de San Antonio sea casada consumata copula, o profesa en otra religion a que dijo: no saber tal cossa, solo si: el que pocos messes a tubo nlicia que hauia hecho profession de tersera descubierta del horden de Penitencia de Nuestro Padre Santo Domingo" in Ibid.

51 Entry for Nun #239 reads: "F.n veinte y dos dias del mes de Abril de 1713 ano, professo Sor Jacintha Maria Anna Catharina de San Antonio en el habito de Religiosa del Choro de esta Monasterio de Santa Catharina de Sena de Antequera exposita en la Cuna de San Christobal de la Ciudad de los Angeles" in Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libra de la l-'undacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571-1862." fs. 78. Any prominence Jacinta acquired was short lived. Once again, she became terribly ill and, by 1716, Fray Miguel Valverde proceeded with yet another investigation.

On this occasion he solicited a medical report from Br. don Juan de Torres, who was a medical examiner in the department of medicine at the Protomedicato de la Real

Universiad in Mexico City. Doctor Torres testified that until 1711, he assisted Jacinta in her illness. He also prepared a six-page report detailing her infirmities. The report indicated that Jacinta had a tumor in the lower abdomen that was the size of a lime. She also suffered from kidney failure, frequent headaches and high fevers for which there was no cure.54 The time sor Jacinta spent at Santa Catalina also corresponded to another period in her life when she concentrated on writing her autobiography: an activity that brought her solace during her illnesses.55 None of this helped, however, and sor Jacinta died on September 8, 1720, while the church of the convent of Santa Catalina was celebrating the birth of the Virgin Mary.56 Oddly, sor Jacinta would not get to rest in peace until November 1794 when sor Josefa, the abbess of the convent as well as the central figure of the next chapter, decided to transfer her bones to the upper choir of the church. Until then the remains of sor Jacinta lay in humid conditions, collecting a lot of dust. Subsequently, her bones would rest in a "tibor de China' with a wooden cross

54 The medical report is inserted in vida of Madre Jacinta. All AO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. "Vida de Madre Jacinta, 1674-1720"; Arellanes Cancino. "La Admirada Vida y Portentosa Muerte de la Madre Sor Jacinta. Monja iluminada en la Ciudad de Oaxaca," 264-265.

55 Writing the vida kept Jacinta alert during her illness while at Santa Monica in Puebla. See Arellanes Cancino. "La Admirada Vida y Portentosa Muerte de la Madre Sor Jacinta, Monja Iluminada en la Ciudad de Oaxaca," 265.

56 Fray Santiago. "El Monasterio de la Madre de Dios y Santa Catalina de Sena de Oaxaca. 1571- 1850." 21. 68 inside it; in a manner deserving of a nun.57 There is no indication that anyone attempted to seek her beatification. Until very recently, even scholars have overlooked her case.58

Sor Maria and sor Jacinta lived during the same time. Both originated from

Puebla and then ended up in Oaxaca. In addition, both received the same training at

Santa Monica (a year apart despite their age difference) and left a roughly similar amount of written accounts of their ordeals. Both suffered various unexplained medical conditions and experienced mystical visions. Yet the church proclaimed sor Maria de

San Jose a mystic worthy of beatification, while it reduced sor Jacinta to a medical curiosity. One of the most pronounced reasons for such a different reception of the two nuns could have been their cast, or purity of blood. More specifically, while both nuns were raised by elite families, sor Maria knew her parents and grew up with them and she could prove her purity of blood, whereas sor Jacinta was an orphan raised by people with whom she had no blood ties, and no one knew her parents. Throughout the colonial period in Mexico, legitimacy and lineage were of paramount importance to social cohesion. When in doubt or under suspicion from contemporaries, many people spent their fortunes clearing their family name and honor. Likewise, sor Jacinta convinced the

Church of her purity of blood in order to profess as a nun of the black veil; however, there seems to have been some doubt regarding this issue. The stories of sor Maria and sor Jacinta represent a small proportion of nuns; most nuns were less extraordinary.

Nevertheless, these two women were carbon-based and mortal, not supernatural. When

57 Letter "Traslacion de los huesos de la Madre Jacinta" included in vida of Madre Jacinta, AHAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. "Vida de Madre Jacinta, 1674-1720."

58 Nimcy Arellanes Canino considers the life of Jacinta in Arellanes Cancino. "La Admirada Vida y Portentosa Muerte de la Madre Sor Jacinta. Monja lluminada en la Ciudad de Oaxaca." 257-268; and more recently, Doris Bieriko de Peralta has been analyzing the notebooks of sor Jacinta. unpublished. 69 they professed they lived on and they continued to have needs and desires. In order to fulfill them and to live according to the rule of their order, they needed structure and organization. It may be assumed they also had ideas and plans regarding the logistics of their community. In the following sections I observe how the convents functioned on a daily basis. This will aid in understanding how a convent such as Santa Catalina in

Oaxaca obtained power and managed property; a key subject of this dissertation.

Convent operations and structures

Convents were a feature of the colonial urban landscape. They had religious, cultural, social and economic functions in society. At the same time, they were institutions that housed large groups of women; women who were devoted to their religious duties, could not exit the convent grounds and, because of their social status, were not supposed to perform menial tasks. Yet, they had material needs: they needed shelter, food and clothing. They also required a variety of services, including those of carpenters, medics and healers. It might be expected that the quality of material goods and services would correspond to the social, economic and religious status of the nuns.

So, just how did these institutions function, how were they organized? How did nuns get a hold of the necessary goods? Who provided what services, and where? What was the operational cost of a convent and who financed it? While these are central themes of the dissertation, in the following section, I examine the elementary building blocks that enabled convents and their nuns to function on a daily basis, including finances, leadership structure, and labour distribution. 70

Dowry as a Source of Income

Funding was one of the first and most important building blocks of any convent.

Before a convent was established, some of the funding for its construction had to be secured. But after a convent was inaugurated, the nuns' dowries were the most important source of funding for the descalzas and recoletas convents in the New World. Dowries provided for nuns' living expenses while they lived at the convent. More specifically, the dowry was intended to be invested in the lay community and the income it generated would cover the cost of living. The link between dowry and its dividends forever tied convents and lay communities together socially, financially, economically, and legally.

All women who professed as nuns were required to bring a dowry at the time of profession. The nun's parents or guardians provided the dowry, usually in cash (pro comuri). However, the lack of readily available cash in the colony meant that a convent often placed a lien on property that generated an annual income for them and inevitably became their property. Sometimes families donated a house or a slave in lieu of the dowry. At Santa Catalina, Maria Catharina de Jesus brought a dowry that consisted of a house and a small fruit garden, valued at 1,700 pesos.59 Other times families obtained a credit for the dowry and repaid it in installments. This was the case with don Antonio

Amable who solicited two of his business partners to obtain a credit for 3,000 pesos in order to secure a dowry payment for his daughter who professed at Santa Catalina; he repaid the loan within three years.60

59 Professed in 1587. nun #18, Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libra de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571-1862." t's. 54v. 71

While the value of the dowry was generally set, it depended on the level of religious profession, and it varied over time. Nuns of the black veil, also called nuns of the choir, were required to bring a larger dowry than were the nuns of the white veil, usually by half the amount.61 At the time of its foundation, the required dowry at Santa

Catalina was 1,500 pesos, it then increased to 2,000 pesos. By the turn of the eighteenth century, the standard dowry for black veil nuns, at Santa Catalina and at La Soledad, was valued at 3,000 pesos, and the dowry of the nuns of the white veil was set at 1,500 pesos.62 There were of course exceptions to the rule: some women at Santa Catalina were exempted based on their artistic abilities, meaning that they could sing or play musical instruments. Isabel de Jesus had a beautiful voice and her dowry was discounted by 600 pesos. Maria Guadalupe de Jesus could sing and Maria Joaquina Josepha was an organ player; their dowries were 2,700 pesos instead of the standard 3,000 pesos.63 In some cases, elite women who were considered poor or were orphans could seek an exemption to bring a smaller dowry or none at all. Rosa de Santa Maria came from an impoverished

60 Dowry was intended for Madre Maria Petrona de San Joseph Amable (nun #280). ANO: Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. Libro 43, ano 1737, fs. 273v, Obligacion por pesos.

61 Loreto Lopez. Los Conventos Fem'minosy el Mundo Urbano de la Puebla de los Angeles del Siglo XVII1, 90-94.

62 Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571-1862.'" fs. 53-111, !02v-l03; AH AO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos, "Libro de Cuenta, de la Soledad. ano 1773, fs.266.

63 Nun #164 professed in 1671. #396 professed in 1829, and #397 professed in 1834. Archivo dc la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado cn la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571-1862,'" fs. I09v. 72 family and already had brothers who were priests and monks. She received a pardon for one third of the dowry.64

Other women, whose families could not afford the lavish 3,000 pesos dowry, brought a smaller dowry and professed as nuns of the white veil. Juana de Espi'ritu Santo was an orphan, literally a child of the Church, and she professed as a nun of the white veil. Her dowry contribution was half of the value set for a black veil nun.65 Similarly,

Maria Michaela de la Assumpcion professed as a nun of the white veil, or choro bajo, and contributed a dowry of 1,000 pesos. At Santa Catalina, twenty-two nuns received full exemptions, and many more received partial exemptions. These adjustments to dowry requirements make it difficult to assess how many women professed as nuns of the white veil or the black veil. Between 1734 and 1793, nearly all of the eighty-nine nuns who professed at Santa Catalina brought dowries of 3000 pesos, which suggests that most of the nuns were destined for the black habit and very few for the white veil: an unlikely scenario, but one that could explain why the convent needed so many servants (table

2.1).66

The total value of dowries brought by nuns who professed at Santa Catalina over a period of400 years was 852,400 pesos. Prior to 1734, 271 nuns contributed 498,300

64 Nun #232 professed in 1705, Ibid., fs. 77.

65 Nun #168 professed in 1673, Ibid., fs. 67v.

66 No dowTy information was available for either La Concepcion or La Soledad convents. The records are not clear which of the 15 women (17 percent) at Santa Catalina were exempted from dowry or had reduced requirements, nor do they indicate which women professed as nuns of the black or the white veil. Ibid., fs. 102v-103; The book of professions for La Soledad indicates that 26 of the 117 nuns (22 percent) took the white habit, and records for 8 nuns are not clear. There is no mention of their dowry amounts, see Fundacion Bustamante Vasconcelos, "Libro de Profesiones del Convento de Religiosas Agustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Madre y Sefiora de la Soledad de esta Ciudad de Oaxaca, Desde su Fundacion. 1697-1870." 73 pesos; until 1793 another eighty-nine women contributed 227,100 pesos; before the convent closed in 1850, the remaining forty women brought 127,000 pesos in dowry.

Overall, nine nuns brought no dowry, ninety-five nuns brought dowries of 1,500 pesos each, 118 women brought dowries of 2,000 pesos each, 148 nuns brought dowries of

3,000 pesos each, and one nun had a dowry of 9,000, while eighteen nuns brought a total dowry contribution of 26,900 pesos.67 The convent would have reinvested all of the dowry money in the community of Oaxaca. The figures suggest that at the end of the eighteenth century Santa Catalina received an annual income of as much as 36,270 pesos, and in the 1850s, the convent could have received an income of 42,620 pesos. This income was in addition to other investments, including rentals, foreclosures and re-sales of various properties as well as from donations. By comparison, the convent of La

Soledad had fewer professed nuns during its tenure and thus had a much smaller budget from their dowries. Even if all women contributed 3,000 pesos, the convent would have earned annuities of only 17,550 pesos in the 1850s. Such low income would certainly limit this convent's economic activities within the lay community. Just how was any of this income managed, and who was in charge of making the decisions within a convent?

Leadership

Having the right leadership with sound financial and economic policies was often what made a convent function successfully. So who made what decisions? Convents had

67 Some arithmetic errors are in the summary section of the original document. 1 made inferences based on individual entries of profession, and calculations for the period after 1793 are entirely my own. see Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadorcs. I'undado en laCiudad deAntequera, 1571-1862," fs. 102v-103. 74 two types of leaders: external and internal. Convents, being part of the larger Catholic

Church, were subject to religious instructions and approvals from the Church. The Pope and the King were the highest external authority. They had the power to establish a convent, to approve its expansion and religious constitution, and to impose any rule at anytime. The second layer of authority rested with the Bishop and the Viceroy. They had the power, as well as the responsibly, to implement rules and regulations at a local level: within a particular Viceroyalty and a particular province. Within a particular religious order, the convents were also subject to the scrutiny of the head of the monastery of their branch. In the case of Santa Catalina, the head of the Dominican monastery of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca paid the convent regular, albeit infrequent, visits and monitored their activities. The greatest concern from the external authorities was for obedience, in particular, for following the rules of the Church as set out by the Council of

Trent, and for following the constitution of the convent. All infractions committed by the nuns within convents were subject to the Inquisition. Any disputes between the convent or any particular nun, and the laity, in contrast, were settled within the Kingdom's judicial system. In such cases, the convent hired legal representatives to settle the dispute without any nuns actually leaving the confines of their enclosure. Most common disputes settled in court were regarding loan defaults. When people failed to repay their loans, or stopped paying rent, convents took them to court.

In addition to the external influences, convents had an elaborate hierarchy and power structure within their organization. Nuns of the black veil were the leaders of their convent and were responsible for the daily functioning of their institution, including maintaining all religious obligations and celebrating religious festivities, arranging for the 75 acquisition of goods and services, financing and budgeting, and investing in the lay community, making decisions regarding the operation of the convent, securing provisions, providing medical attention, overseeing construction and renovations of the convent, as well as keeping track of developments outside the convent walls. The council kept track of urban and rural properties, arranged loans and property rentals, attended to various court cases, and made economic and financial decisions that affected the convent community. All of these responsibilities and obligations had to be fulfilled in accord with Church doctrine and the constitution of the convent. These responsibilities also suggest that the nuns had to have knowledge and understanding of the world outside the convent without ever leaving its grounds. They had to know their legal rights and customs, and they had to have an understanding of local economic conditions.

At the top of the internal convent hierarchy was the abbess (madre priora) or the mother superior, and next was the subpriora (mother prioress), and maestra de novicias

(mother in charge of the novices). A council of six black veil nuns aided their leadership.

Among them were two nuns who acted as advisors, three nuns who acted as difmidoras and one secretary.68 The post of an abbess was subject to elections held every three or four years. The community of black veil nuns voted on who would be the leader of the entire convent. The abbess then chose members of the council. In some cases elections created tensions between various political factions and alliances within the convent.69

During the tenure of the convent of Santa Catalina, there were ninety-one terms of office,

68 AH AO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos, Reconocimiento 1723, and autos 1782; arid ANO: Jose de Arauxa, L. 119. Is. 19v. arlo 1717.

Margaret Chowning. Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent. / 752-1863 (Oxford; New York, 2006); 76 most of which were filled by women of a mature age (table 2.2). Strong community leaders were reelected several times, while ineffective leaders were sometimes ousted early. The community of Santa Catalina reelected sor Maria de San Diego as an abbess four times (table 2.2); while the leadership of sor Antonia de San Bernardo in 1797 was so disappointing that the nuns at Santa Catalina ran elections twice that year.70

The abbess was in charge of all the affairs pertaining to her convent; however, a vicar or a mayordomo (an administrator) represented her in the lay community. The abbess instructed her vicar on how to administer the convents' properties, how to deal with sales and purchases, with notaries and with court cases. The community of black veil nuns elected each administrator and it was his job to act strictly on the orders and instructions of the abbess.71 The convent of Santa Catalina relied on the services of vicars, who were from the monastery of Santo Domingo. Over the course of the eighteenth century, at least nine vicars represented the nuns at Santa Catalina (table 2.3).

The convent of La Concepcion had a different approach than Santa Catalina: it auctioned the post of a mayordomo to a layperson. In many instances, the post was in the hands of a merchant. In 1810, merchant don Jose Antonio Bustamante represented the nuns at La

Concepcion.72

70 Sor Antonia died in 1804. see Monjas de Santa Catalina de Sena, "Libra de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera." in Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo (Queretaro, 1571-1862); and Fray Santiago, "El Monasterio de la Madre de Dios y Santa Catalina de Sena de Oaxaea, 1571-1850." p.35.

71 AHAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos, 1626. exp.16.

72 AHMO: Fondo Ordinaria. L.004. l's.83-84. 77

Table 2.2 List of Mothers Superior at the Convent of Santa Catalina, 1700-1741

Religious Name Date Professed Date Assumed Office Sor Maria de los Reyes December 21,1656 1698 (2nd time) Sor Maria de San Diego September 23, 1668 1701 Sor Juana de la Trinidad October 21, 1678 1704 (2nd time) Sor Teresa de Jesus October 20, 1675 1707 Sor Maria de San Diego September 23, 1668 1712 (2nd time) Sor Rafaela de Sata Rosa August 16, 1678 1713 Sor Maria de los Angeles April 26, 1662 1718 Sor Juana de la Soledad November 26, 1673 1719 Sor Maria de San Diego September 23, 1668 1721 (4th time) Sor Maria de San Nicolas June 3, 1672 1725 Sor Isabel de Santiago February 24, 1695 1728 Sor Manuela de la Asuncion June 3, 1692 1730 Sor Isabel de San Marcial December 28, 1707 1733

Sor Francisca Xaviera de Santo Domingo - 1736 Sor Manuela de la Asuncion June 3, 1692 1740 (2nd time) Sor Josefa Maria del Rosario June 13, 1713 1740 Sor Isabel Maria de San Marcial December 28, 1707 1745 (2nd time) Sor Maria Josefa del Sacramento September 30, 1714 1748 Sor Francisca de San Jose November 26, 1713 1753 Sor Isabel Maria de San Marcial December 28, 1707 1754 (3rd time) Sor Josefa Maria del Rosario June 13, 1713 1758 (2nd time) Sor Maria Ana Teresa de Jesus April 15, 1721 1761 Sor Maria Josefa del Sacramento September 30, 1714 1764 (2nd time) Sor Maria Catalina de Santa Barbara June 21, 1734 1766 Sor Maria Ana Teresa de Jesus April 15, 1721 1768 Sor Ana Maria del Rosario October 24, 1737 1771 Sor Maria Teresa Josefa de Jesus August 26, 1731 1774 Sor Rosalia Maria del Sefior San Jose April 12, 1739 1777 Sor Nicolasa de la Cruz November 27, 1745 1781 Sor Maria Antonia de San Bernardo August 16, 1744 1783 Sor Juana Maria del Rosario January 25, 1747 1785 Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus February 8, 1733 1792 Sor Antonia de San Bernardo August 16, 1744 1797 Sor lnes Maria Ana de San Ignacio November 17, 1749 1797 Sor Maria Ana Nicolasa de San Joaquin September 10, 1762 1801

Source: Fray Santiago Rodriguez Lopez O.P. (2000) 78

Table 2.3 Vicars at the Convent of Santa Catalina, 1700-1812

Approximate years in service Name 1703-1718 Fray Joseph Diaz 1718 Fray Juan Leonardo Ferrer 1719-1723 Fray Miguel Valverde 1723-1725 Fray Silvestre Munis de Castro 1725-1741 Fray Phelipe Mufios 1744-1769 Fray Pedro Fernandez Franco 1770-1776 Fray Joachin de Castro 1786 Fray Domingo Fernandez 1795-1812 Fray Manuel Gorvea

Source: AHAO, Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos, 1700-1812

Below the council level were the remaining nuns of the black veil. As explained earlier, these women came from families with the highest social status and they maintained a higher social status within the convent. They may have possessed special skills, such as playing musical instruments, singing or writing. In addition, they brought with them a higher dowry and as a result had a higher annual income. They could afford a more lavish lifestyle with better food, and more expensive fabrics than others could.

Nuns of the black veil had many privileges and responsibilities. Their most important

privilege was the ability to vote on the matters related to the convent. They had the opportunity to sit on the council and lead their community in new directions. As mentioned earlier, it was the responsibility of the nuns of the black veil to keep the community functioning at all levels.

Nuns of the white veil occupied the next level on the hierarchy of a convent.

They formed a smaller proportion of the convent community and had more responsibilities than privileges. In addition to religious obligations, their task was to 79 perform menial duties and unlike their sisters of the black veil, nuns of the while veil had no decision-making power. They occupied the lowest level of the religious hierarchy.

However, the level occupied by the nuns of the white veil was not the lowest position in the convent. Below them were the novices: women who studied to become nuns and had no privileges until they took the habit, whether black or white. Then there were donadas (lay women) living temporarily at the convent who did not intend to become nuns, followed by a group of domestic servants and slaves. In the subsequent sections, I will discuss the lay women and the servants who were part of the convent contingent.

Relatives at the convent

Professed nuns took the vow of enclosure, which meant that they were to live in an absolute enclosure and could not leave the confines of the convent. This was one of the regulations set by the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and applied to the Old and to the

New World convents.73 While the enclosure of nuns was real and very strict, it does not mean that the nuns were all alone and removed from the affairs of the world outside the convent, i.e. the lay world. On the contrary, nuns had many tools that enabled them to run an elaborate institution. At the calzadas convents, nuns remained connected to their families and, through them, to the world outside the walls of the convent. On the one hand, many nuns were in the company of their female relatives who joined the same

71 In addition to the vow of enclosure, nuns had to obey the vow of obedience, vow of poverty and vow of chastity, see Lavrin. "Values and Meaning of Monastic Life for Nuns in Colonial Mexico." 373- 378. 80 convent. On the other hand, relatives and devotees would arrange to meet with nuns at the convent's locutorio: a place in the convent designated for visits with the nuns. As this dissertation demonstrates, nuns had a clear awareness of the world outside of the convent walls.

People of Oaxaca expressed their piety in the establishment of several convents, monasteries and churches, as well as by joining the Church. When joining the religious profession, there was also a tendency, among the elite, to favor one institution over the others. Often, all female religious from one family would join the same convent.74

Nicolas de Liebano and Maria Ortiz had four daughters who lived at the convent of Santa

Catalina; Madre Maria de San Nicolas professed in 1702, Madre Juana de San Andres in

1707, Madre Antonia del Espi'ritu Santo in 1713, and in 1718 Ursula de Liebano was considered a child in the charge of the convent.75 Capitan don Luis Ramirez de Aguilar, regidor, and dofia Francisca Florez de Baldez had two daughters at Santa Catalina, both of whom professed on the same day in 1707.76 Similarly, Madre Augustina del Rosario and Madre Francisca de los Si'nco Senores were sisters who professed on the same day in

1740.77 Don Antonio Amable had one son who became a priest, one daughter who

74 Similar patterns were observed among the convents of Puebla. Between 1560 and 1833. 26.5 percent of nuns had one or more sisters or cousins at the same convent, see Loreto Lopez. Los Convenlos iemininos y el Mundo Urbano de la Puebla de los Angeles del SigloWill , 179.

75 AIIAO: Diocesano. Gobierno, Religiosos: Obligacion afto 1718.

76 Nuns #234, and #235in Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libra de la f-'undacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequcra. 1571-1862," fs. 77.

77 AIIAO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos: Obligacion ano 1742. 81 became a nun at Santa Catalina and one granddaughter who also professed at the same convent as her aunt.78

During the eighteenth century when the city of Oaxaca grew exponentially, many wealthy families moved to the area. Committing sons and daughters to religious life was one of the strategies these elite families used to embed themselves in Oaxacan society.

Such was the case of don Santiago Velez del Orriaga, father of Maria Manuela de San

Nicolas, as well as of Antonio Amable who was born in Cadiz. Antonio joined his father and uncle on their journeys to the New World, and became a very successful merchant in

Oaxaca.79 Having a son, a daughter and a granddaughter in the religious community increased the social status of the Amable family. It reinforced their ties to the local community and helped facilitate their economic endeavors.

Family connections at the convent of La Soledad were even more apparent.

Nearly half of the nuns had relatives at the convent.80 The abbess Madre Maria Ana

Monica de Jesus, who professed in 1728, was a sister of Madre Maria Clara de Santi'simo

Sacramento, who professed in 1736. On their mother's side, their relatives were Madre

Maria Juana Margarita de Santa Theresa, who professed in 1719, and Madre Maria

Francisca de Santa Anna, who professed in 1745. On their father's side, their relative was Madre Maria Agustina de los Dolores y Divino, who professed in 1766. Whatever

78 AIIAO: microfilms. Difuntos, ano 1756 (record of death, and last will and testament of Antonio Amable)

79 AHAO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos. various; ANO: various

80 This clarity is merely the result of record keeping. The book of professions for La Soledad includes parental information for all the nuns who professed. However, it is not without limitations: there is no mention of dowry contributions. The book of professions for Santa Catalina is inconsistent, but it has partial information about parents, dowries, and types of vocation. I-'undacion Bustamante Vasconcelos. "Libra de Profesiones del Convento de Religiosas Agustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Madre y Sefiora de la Soledad de esta Ciudad de Oaxaca, Desde su Fundacion. 1697-1870." fs. 53-111. 82 the motivation for choosing the same convent was, it meant that these women were not alone and that blood relatives surrounded them on a daily basis. In some of the convents such familial ties created political factions inside the convent and were a source of tensions.81

Having a relative at a convent may have given a family greater access to the convent's financial resources. It is possible that family connections made negotiating a loan from that particular convent easier, or ensured better terms, although I found little evidence of that for Oaxaca. Some families persuaded their daughters to profess in one convent over another. Other families persuaded their daughters to profess in various convents in the city, assuring familial connections with, and access to, more than one convent. Dofia Beatriz de Velasco and don Lucas Nufies de Estrada had seven children.

One of their daughters, Maria Manuela de San Miguel professed at Santa Catalina in

1729, while their other daughter, Catharina Josepha de la Encarnacion, professed at the convent of La Concepcion.82 Similarly, don Manuel de Figueroa and dofia Josepha de

Aragon had three daughters who professed at three different convents. Maria Antonia de

Santi'sima Trinidad was a nun at La Soledad, Antonia Josepha de San Gabriel was at La

Concepcion, and Juana Ines del Rosario was at Santa Catalina.83 Neither of the two families, however, had daughters at the convent of San Jose; the Capuchin convent for

Espanolas that relied on alms and had constrained resources at their disposal. Perhaps

81 For political divisions inside a convent see Stephanie L. Kirk, Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities (Gainesville, FL, 2007).

82 ANO: Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. Libro 44, afio 1738, fs. 73v, Testamento.

83 ANO: Juan Manuel Cervantes. Libro. 186. afio 1737. fs. 10; Libro 188, afio 1743. fs. 178 Testament: nun #36 in Fundacion Bustamante Vasconcelos. "Libro de Profesiones del Convento de Religiosas Agustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Madre y Senora de la Soledad de esta Ciudad de Oaxaca. Desde su Fundacion. 1697-1870," fs. 36. 83 the two families ran out of daughters who wanted to profess. However, it is more plausible that having familial connections at the Capuchin convent was simply not strategic enough. What exactly determined a strategy that a family adopted for choosing one convent versus several convents is not particularity clear. Nor can we know what kind of dynamics it created within the religious communities, or whether there were any political factions and feuds between certain families.

Servants at the convents

In addition to professed nuns and novices, servants formed a significant portion of each convent's population. They were very important and valuable employees of convent communities. Whether free or enslaved, servants who worked for the nuns were not subject to the same regulations as nuns. Their freedom of movement within the religious and lay communities meant that they had an important function to play at the convents, as brokers. In addition to their daily chores, servants brought news and exchanged messages between the lay and religious worlds; they were the nuns' windows onto the world outside the convent walls.84

Servants also represented the composition and social structure of the lay community. In 1792 the convent of Santa Catalina employed the services of thirty-four servants (table 2.1), twenty-three of them were Indicts, six were espanolas, and one mulata. There were also four male servants; two of them were espanoles and two mulatos. The convent of La Soledad had a smaller support network of nine servants:

84 For a discussion of the role of lay women in a convent see Kirk, Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities. 92-93. 84 there were two female servants and both were Indias, and seven male servants of whom one was an espanol, one was an Indio, and five were mulatos. At the convent of La

Concepcion the servants outnumbered the nuns. Nuns required the services of three male servants, and forty-five female servants: among the female servants thirty were Indias, nine were espaholas, and six were mulatas. Among male servants, one was an espanol, one mulato, and one Indio. At the convent of Capuchinas Espafiolas, there were three female servants one of whom was an India, one was espanola, and one was a mulata.

Among male servants, three were espanoles, two were Indios and two were mulatos. At the convent of Capuchinas Indias, there were only three female servants all of whom were espanolas. Among their male servants, one was espanol, and one Indio}5

The Oaxaca city census of 1792 shows that male servants employed at the convents usually had three types of jobs. They either worked as sacristans, as errand boys, or simply as domestic servants. They were men of all ages, races and dispositions.

Their jobs at the convent often turned into a family trade, with more than one family member providing their services to the nuns. In contrast, there were no female servants working at the monasteries. The information regarding servants working at the convents and monasteries is scarce at best. The 1792 city census provides a detailed account of all male servants; however, it does not offer any information on indigenous male servants, or any female servants. The convent of La Concepcion employed three male servants. Jose

Ramirez was a mulato. He was a single man, who at sixty-two still provided his services as sacristan. At the same point in time, Joseph Maria de Santa Monica y Rodriguez, a

85 The 1792 census was designed to assess military capabilities of the colony. AGN: I'ributos. afio 1792 vol.34, exp.7. Is. I58v. 85 single, twenty-three-year-old Spaniard, also worked as a sacristan. Jose Ramirez was too old and unfit for military service, while Joseph Maria was too short for military service.

The third servant was an Indio,86

Anyone could become a servant at a convent, and the demand for their services depended on a combination of factors including how large the community of nuns was, how many of them were black veil and white veil, as well as the type of order of the convent (i.e. whether it was a calzadas or descalzas convent), and their status of wealth.

The convents of La Concepion and Santa Catalina had the highest population of servants, while La Soledad had a considerably smaller population (table 2.1). In 1792, the convent of Santa Catalina employed one sacristan. Don Enrique Bargas was sixty-nine, he was a single Espanol, and lived permanently on the grounds of the convent. Alberto Arrazola was another Espanol, who at the age of fifty-nine worked as an errand boy. Manuel

Francisco, age thirty-five, worked as both an errand boy and as a servant.87 The convent also employed his sixteen-year-old son, Joseph, as a servant.88

The Augustinian convent of La Soledad employed seven male servants and only two indigenous female servants. One of the male servants was a fifteen-year-old Spanish orphan who worked for the nuns as an errand boy and lived on the grounds of the convent. One servant was an Indio. Then there was Pedro Gainza and four of his sons.

S6 One of the major uses of the 1792 census was to provide a reliable assessment of the military capabilities of the colony. Thus, the census provides descriptive information on all males, and their eligibility for military service. All women and indigenous men were exempt from military service and there was no need to provide detailed information on them in the census, AGN: Padrones afio 1792 vol.13 Is. 223v-227v. fs. 345v-347, and fs. 365v.

87 The records make a clear and definite distinction between the two job descriptions, AGN: Padrones ano 1972 vol. 13.

88 In one account, Manuel Francisco and Joseph are listed as mulalos. while in another account they are referred to as moriscos (Descendents of Spanish and mulatto couplcs), AGN: Padrones ano 1972 vol. 13. 86

Pedro was sixty-eight and was a sacristan at the convent church. His sons, Jaun Joseph

Gainza, age twenty-six, Joseph Mariano, age twenty-four, Manuel Vellir, age twenty-two, and Ramon Gainza, age twenty, helped Pedro in some of his sacristan duties. They also worked as servants. At the time of the survey, all four men were single and, except for the youngest Ramon who was notoriously ill and unfit, were ready for military service.89

Capuchinas Espafiolas employed one man, and two families of three. Among them was Manuel Zarate, a mulato, who at the age of twenty-five worked as a sacristan.

Felipe Olivero, at sixty-seven also worked as a sacristan, while his wife Maria Jacinta and twenty-five-year-old nephew, Manuel Zarate, worked as servants. Juan Joseph was the designated errand boy. He was twenty-eight years old and was married to Tomasa. The couple took care of, and worked with, their twenty-five-year-old niece. The two women worked as servants. While the convent of Capuchinas Indias employed only five servants. One of them was an Indio, and one was a man described as European, and the other three were Spanish. Don Pablo Duarte was a single sixty-four-year-old man who lived at the convent and performed the duties of a clerk. Juana Petrona Ascona was a seventy-year-old widow who lived and worked at the convent with her sixteen and seventeen-year-old daughters. The three women ran errands for the nuns.90 Domestic servants had an important role within any convent; they performed menial tasks but also served as brokers between the religious and the lay worlds.

8) AGN: Padrones ano 1972 vol. 13.

1X1 AGN: Padrones. ano 1792 vol.13 fs. 223v-227v, fs. 345v-347. and fs. 365v. 87

Conclusion

The Oaxacan elite administered the city, and sponsored numerous religious institutions of worship for the elevation of their own prestige. The convents in Oaxaca admitted women from elite families, from Spanish or indigenous heritage. These institutions were prestigious places of religious devotion, and their members served as models of spirituality for the entire community, even outside Oaxaca. The structure and composition of convents were also a reflection of gender, race and class relations within the lay community. In the following chapters, I will explore the interactions between one of the most powerful religious institutions in Oaxaca and the lay community. 1 will analyze the nature of the economic impact that the convent of Santa Catalina had on shaping the local society. 1 will continue this discussion, in the next section, with a closer study of the story of sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada, a nun at the convent of

Santa Catalina, and her family. CHAPTER 3

THE CAPELLANIA OF SOR JOSEFA AND THE PROPERTY OF ONE NUN

This chapter studies the impact the convent of Santa Catalina had on shaping local society at a micro level. Here, 1 explore the interactions between a nun and her family from the

1720s to the 1790s, as one way to begin to explore the broader links and interactions between the religious institution and the lay community studied in subsequent chapters. The story of sor

Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada exemplifies the duality of female religious life. As sor

Josefa became dead to the lay world, she became alive to the religious community, eventually becoming an abbess. In the process, she displayed enormous power and foresight. She founded the capellania (a chantry/ a religious trust fund) of sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada and outlived many of its beneficiaries and most likely the chantry itself. Sor Josefa's story and her use of property enable us to probe directly at the point of intersection of the lay and the religious worlds: the spiritual, the familial, and the economic relations. The story reveals the impact sor Josefa had on the lay world.

In a world where a large proportion of people were illiterate, where ink and paper were rare and expensive, where only a small proportion of the population found themselves arranging contracts at the office of the notary, where even a smaller proportion of people did it more than once in their lifetime, sor Josefa and her family stand out. They were frequently preparing legal documents, formalizing contracts with each other, as well as with people in the larger community. These contracts are one of several indications suggesting that the Ortega y Estrada family was from the highest level of Oaxacan society. More importantly, they also suggest that sor Josefa was an exceptional woman. She displayed courage, determination, and confidence,

88 and she skillfully manipulated her wealth and privilege to influence her family in the lay community as well as her religious community. Her founding of the capellania of sor Josefa, an endowment normally set up by a dying person, designed to help cover the cost of praying for one's salvation, superimposed an arbitrary hierarchy on the family while she went on to become a leader of a religious community. This way sor Josefa was simultaneously able to control the world within the walls of her convent as well as outside the cloister. By setting up the religious trust fund, she controlled family relations, pinning some relatives against others and keeping in check their access to wealth and property. As a nun of the black veil and as the abbess of the convent, she controlled spiritual activities, expecting and directing people to pray. She also controlled economic activities in Oaxaca, filtering who had access to property, credit, and to annuities.

The story of sor Josefa, the story of a nun and the story of an abbess, stands out in her choice of expression: contracts. She most likely entered the convent in the 1720s, shortly after

Oaxaca's two most profound mystics and visionaries passed away: Madre Maria de San Jose

(1656-1719) and Madre Jacinta Maria Ana Catalina de San Antonio (1674-1720). Since the exact date of her entering the convent is not clear, it is possible that sor Josefa either met the dying sor Jacinta, or that she entered shortly after when the memory of sor Jacinta was still vivid and made a lasting impression on her; strong enough to prompt sor Josefa to relocate sor

Jacinta's bones when given the chance. Sor Josefa entered the convent of Santa Catalina at a period when hagiographic writing was phasing out. As discussed in chapter two, this was a period when forms of expressions were beginning to shift from baroque piety to individual piety.

It may be speculated that nuns as well as lay people were searching or experimenting with the meaning of this shift, looking for new forms of religious expression that would be fitting and 90 appropriate with the contemporary trend of thought. It appears that capellanias, baroque instruments representing the old ways, continued to be socially acceptable forms of religious expression. Perhaps it was their duality of religious and socioeconomic function that delayed their extinction. Thus, it may be argued that sor Josefa was concerned for her spiritual well being, and that she expressed herself through a multitude of legally binding contracts; choosing capellania as the perfect vessel.

Sor Josefa: Her Life and Her Death

On February 8, 1733, Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada professed as a nun of the black veil at the convent of Santa Catalina. Her spiritual journey, however, had begun several years earlier. She spent over ten years living at the convent as a beata, or a lay woman following the religious way of life. As Rosa Ortiz de Estrada, sor Josefa began to influence the economic activities in the lay community. She provided personal loans to various people and set up a religious trust deed (table 3.1). In 1723, she lent 200 pesos in cash to Francisco de Ortega for the duration of one year.1 Similarly, she lent 2,000 pesos in cash to Nicolas Fernandez and to

Juan Leonardo Roldan. She expected them to pay it back in six years.2 In 1727, sor Josefa prepared her first testament in which she named her cousin, Manuel de Leon, and her brother,

Domingo de Ortega y Estrada, as the executors of her will.3 Two years later, she prepared a new testament in which she used her forthcoming dowry to set up the capellania of sor Josefa. In this testament, sor Josefa named the vicar of the convent of Santa Catalina as the executor, while she

1 ANO. Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1723. L.23, fs.97v, Obligacion por pesos.

" ANO. Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1727. L.29, fs.228v, Obligacion por pesos.

1 ANO. Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1727, L.29, fs.297v, Testamento. 91 named her cousin and her brother as beneficiaries.4 In additional dealings, sor Josefa placed a

1,000 pesos lien on a house of Francisco Antonio de la Muela. Francisco was then obliged to pay fifty pesos annually to sor Josefa, and in the event that she passed away, he had to make payments to the convent.5 Sor Josefa carried out all these transactions prior to professing. It is not clear, however, why she took so long to profess, or why she prepared two testaments before renouncing her inheritance on the day of profession. Nor is it clear why the testament, in which she founded the capellania, was prepared three years prior to taking the habit. It was customary for these two events to take place within days of each other, not years.6

4 ANO, Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1729, L.31, fs.355; AGN, Bienes Nacionales. vol.611. exp.I.

5 ANO, Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1729, L.31, fs. 191 v, Traspaso de Censo.

6 On the day of profession, nuns either wrote testaments or renounced their inheritance. For a discussion of the procedure of profession see chapter I of this dissertation. 92

Table 3.1 Events in the Life of Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada, 1710-1800

Date Type of Transaction Carried Out Unknown Born Rosa Ortiz de Estrada Approx. 1723 Entered the Convent of Santa Catalina February 26, 1723 Lent cash, 200 pesos, to Francisco de Ortega for one year May 12, 1727 Her parents borrowed 1,000 pesos in cash from the convent of Santa Catalina for four years May 16, 1727 Lent cash, 2,000 pesos, to Nicolas Fernandez and Juan Leonardo Roldan for six years July 17, 1727 Prepared a testament, named cousin and brother as executors of her estate June 1, 1729 Arranged a lien worth 1,000 pesos, for Francisco Antonio de la Mula October 18, 1729 Prepared another testament named the vicar as executor of her estate, and founded the Capellania of sor Josefa February 8, 1733 Renounced her inheritance, and professed at the convent of Santa Catalina 1792 Became abbess of the Convent of Santa Catalina Approx. 1794 Died

Source: ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1723, L.23, fs.97v, Obligation por pesos', 1727, L.29, fs.206v, Obligation porpesos', 1727, L.29, fs.228v, Obligation; 1727, L.29, fs.297v, Testamento; 1729, L.31, fs.355, Testamento-, 1729, L.31, fs.l 91 v, Traspaso de censo; 1733, L.46, fs.l 87v, Renuncia de herencia.

When sor Josefa prepared the second testament on October 18lh 1729, she became dead to

the lay world. The executor of her will, fray Felipe Munos, wrote about her death and her last

wishes as he prepared the capellania of sor Josefa. I show in this chapter that this capellania

created a significant dispute within the Ortega y Estrada and Leon families. It led to numerous

litigations and produced ample written documents. As the heirs of the capellania disputed each

other's rights, sor Josefa was alive and well, living at the convent of Santa Catalina until her

death in approximately 1794.7 Yet, no one had asked her to clarify or amend any of the clauses,

not that it was possible to amend the trust fund. As time went on, and as family conflicts

progressed, the memory of sor Josefa seems to have faded away for unknown reasons. Initial

references to sor Josefa were very respectful, and in full. She was referred to sor Josefa Maria de

7 Fray Rodriguez Lopez O.P Santiago. "Lil Monasterio de la Madre de Dios y Santa Catalina de Sena de Oaxaca, 1571-1850," in Biblioteca Burgoa (Oaxaca. 2000). 35; AHAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. "Vida de Madre Jaeinta. 1674-1720.'' 93

Jesus, or as madre (mother) Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada. By 1764, applicants for the capellania referred to madre Michaela Josefa de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada. One candidate even had become confused to the point that he used the name of a nun from the convent of La Conception.

In 1 111, another aspirant referred to sor Josefa as dofia Rosa Ortiz y Estrada, and as dofia Rosa

Ortiz. During the last stages of disputes, sor Josefa had been addressed as madre Ortiz de

Estrada, and simply as the founder of the capellania.8 These slight variations, alterations, and outright omission, of sor Josefa's name demonstrate the extent to which her distant relatives remembered her. They may reflect the possible lack of contact she had with her extended family and the lay community. But at the same time, being called by her birth name or lay name may have been an indication of close interaction the aspirant had with the nun. Or, alternatively, it was a sign of changing times and changing piety, all driven by the Bourbon reforms and Age of the Enlightenment. Based on the fact that sor Josefa became the mother superior of her convent, it can be speculated that as early as 1777, sor Josefa could have had powerful positions within the convent hierarchy. Positions that required close interaction with the lay world. Perhaps this really was a matter of change in people's attitudes. What is known however is that after sor

Josefa professed, or rather, after she renounced her inheritance at the time of profession, there is no indication that she gave additional personal loans, or participated in any other transactions that required the assistance of a public notary.

As sor Josefa became dead to the lay world, she led a busy life inside the convent. She became the abbess of the convent of Santa Catalina in 1792 for at least 2 years.9 As a chief

8 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, vol.611, exp.l.

'' Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. I'undado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571 -1862"; Rodriguez Lopez O.P. Fray Santiago, "El Monasterio de la Madre de Dios y Santa Catalina de Sena de Oaxaca, 1571-1850." in Biblioleca Burgoa (Oaxaca. 2000). 35. 94 executive, sor Josefa was responsible for all matters concerning the convent, including religious, legal, financial and economic.10 As discussed in chapter two, the material aspect of conventual life would have been solely in the realm of the abbess and her council. Having been elected to this post suggests that the community of fellow nuns trusted sor Josefa and believed that she was prepared to handle it, albeit after she had lived at the convent for some sixty-nine years. As a nun of the black veil, sor Josefa most likely had other important functions on the convent council during her tenure. If she had arranged any legal contracts, however, they would have been made in the name of the convent, not in hers, and would have been mediated through a broker: the vicar. Although her name would not appear on any contracts, Sor Josefa would have been aware of the inner workings of the convent and of the lay community, and would have had the power to make important decisions that affected both. Under her watch as the abbess, three nuns joined the Santa Catalina community and a new vicar took over the representation of the convent. Sor

Josefa most likely passed away while she held the post of the abbess between 1794 and 1797."

The life of sor Josefa, as a professed nun, was nearly as long as the existence of her capellania.

Capellania / Chantry

In the absence of a developed banking system, a capellania was an early colonial form of a trust fund that was prepared as part of the testament of a dying person. This type of trust fund fell under the category of pious works and had a dual function: spiritual and economic. On the

10 Susan A. Soeiro, "The Social and Economic Role ofthe Convent: Women and Nuns in Colonial Bahia. 1677-1800," Hispanic American Historical Review 54 (1974), 220-221.

" Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571 -1862." 95

one hand, a capellania provided spiritual support for its dying founder, ensuring salvation in the

afterlife. The good deed (donation of money for a good cause) performed by the founder was a

demonstration of his/her piety. The founder, and his/her family, would be rewarded for this piety

by a shorter stop in the purgatory, and a better afterlife.12 As such, capellanias were public

expressions of deep piety, in line with the baroque era. On the other hand, capellania provided

financial security. Wealthy members of society used this tool to endow their descendents with a steady income after they had passed away. The initial assumption, in the sixteenth century, was

that the capellania would help a young cleric become ordained and then teach the word of God

not having to worry about basic sustenance.13 However, by the eighteenth century, this practice expanded to include any family member: anyone regardless of gender or religious inclination

was eligible to inherit a capellania. The heir would then hire a priest to pray for the soul of the

founder. During the eighteenth century the going rate for an interim capellan was two pesos per

mass.14 Thousands of capellanias were established and many people benefited from them. The

Church even created a separate branch of judicial and administrative procedures that dealt solely

with capellanias: the Juzgado de Capellanias. By the eighteenth century, capellanias were so

popular that the practice had spilled over from the elites to the middling classes.'5

There were two types of capellanias: corporate and private. In cases of corporate capellanias, the money and property associated with a capellania belonged to the Church and the

John Frederick Schvvaller, Origins of Church Wealth in Mexico: Ecclesiastical Revenues and Church Finances, 1523-1600, 1st ed. (Albuquerque, 1985). 116.

13 Ibid.

14 AGN. Bienes Nacionales, vol.611, exp.l, fs.1-203.

15 Gisela von Wobeser. Vida Eternay Preocupaciones Terrenales: Las Capellanias de Misas en la Nueva Espafia. 1700-1821 (Mexico, 1999), 9. 96

Juzgado de Capellanias was responsible for its administration. The above description of the capellania of sor Josefa illustrates the general pattern of a private capellania, where the property and funds belonged to the family of the founder. A patron founded a capellania for his or her heirs, in the final testament. The founder allocated a specific amount of money for that purpose, and demanded that a certain number of masses be said in his/her honour at a particular altar. The capellania was designed to be perpetual, passed on from generation to generation, until the bloodline dried up. Therefore, typically, a lien in the value of the capellania was placed on a real estate property to avoid losing the investment. The Juzgado de Capellanias monitored each capellania to ensure that it met the regulations stipulated by its founder, and to mediate any potential financial disputes. Some capellanias existed for over 200 years before they were absorbed by the Church. If no one claimed a capellania, or if no one qualified to inherit it, the

Church became the sole beneficiary of it, and thus a private capellania became a corporate capellania. Other capellanias had a shorter lifespan as the Crown confiscated many of them in

1805 through the Laws of Consolidation.16 The law was designed to free encumbered properties through the forced sale of clerical property and redistribution of wealth among the laity. Most affected were the properties of pious works, including capellanias.17

16 Michael P. Costeloe, "A Capellania in Mexico, 1665-1799: A Case History." The Catholic Historical Review 62 (1976). 604-617; Wobeser. Vida Eternay Preocupaciones Terrenales: Las Capellanias de Misas en la Niteva Espana, 1700-182/; Schwaller. Origins of Church Wealth in Mexico: Ecclesiastical Revenues and Church Finances, 1523-1600, pp. 113-115; and Asuncion Lavrin, "The Execution of the Law of Consolidacion in New Spain: Economic Aims and Results," Hispanic American Historical Review 53 (1973): 27-49.

17 Michael P. Costeloe. Church Wealth in Mexico: A Study of the 'Juzgado de Capellanias' in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856 (Cambridge, 1967), 48-49; for a discussion of the Laws of Consolidation and their impact on capellanias see B. R. Hamnett, "The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government: The 'Consolidacion de Vales Reales', 1805-1809." Journal of Latin American Studies 1 (Nov.. 1969): 86-113; and Lavrin. "The Execution of the Law of Consolidacion in New Spain: Economic Aims and Results": 27-49. 97

The longevity of a capellania and the associated administration meant that each capellania produced a long trail of written documents. When family disputes erupted and courts intervened, additional documents were produced. Therefore, capellanias provide the historian with a unique window into the past. They reflect the economic conditions of the period: fewer capellanias were established during periods of economic depression and more during periods of prosperity, when people had more disposable income.18 They also provide a picture of the land owning class, and family histories. The story of the capellania of sor Josefa is an example of one family history. It demonstrates the importance of a capellania to Oaxacan society, and it illuminates the structure and family dynamics of one of the nuns at the convent of Santa

Catalina. Additionally, this particular story allows the historian to explore the intersection between the lay and the religious worlds. Considering the limited sources pertaining to the convent of Santa Catalina, and the low frequency of capellanias founded by nuns, the capellania of sor Josefa provides a rare opportunity to glimpse at that intersection.

Wealthy members of colonial society founded capellanias and bequeathed their families with these trust funds, thus ensuring their families continued access to wealth: a perpetual annuity of five percent guaranteed that access. Wealth was distributed along the masculine line and to the eldest child. Only when that option was exhausted, did other family members qualify for the bequest. Relatives of founders of capellanias, sought to administer the capellania and they went to great lengths to secure their right to use one. The frequency of litigation over the eligibility to inherit a capellania demonstrates their importance and prestige.19 Part of the social

18 Wobeser. Vida FJernay Preocupaciones Terrenales: Las Capellanias de Misas en la Nueva Espana, 1700-1821. pp.9-11: and Costeloe, "A Capellania in Mexico, 1665-1799: A Case History." 606.

For examples of litigations over the right to inherit a capellania see Costeloe. "A Capellania in Mexico. 1665-1799: A Case History": 604-617. 98 prestige of a capellania was the beneficiary's ability to control a valuable source of credit. The beneficiary decided who would borrow funds, or who would rent properties the capellania was invested in and thus, who paid annuities on it.20 To minimize the risk involved in renting properties on such a small scale, and to minimize the rate of default, the administrator of a capellania dealt with people who were in the upper echelons of society; as in deed was the case with sor Josefa's capellania.2] My own research into the credit market of eighteenth-century

Oaxaca, discussed in the following chapter, reveals that when capellania funds formed the basis of a loan, 81 percent of those loans were issued to the propertied elites (table 4.4). Capellamas, for the most part, were created by and for the elites, and they had great economic and social importance in colonial society.

Most frequent beneficiaries of the capellanias were clergy. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, founded capellanias to endow their religiously inclined family members with a steady, continuous source of income. Simultaneously, they helped maintain the social position of that family member. It was socially desirable to be a member of the Church, or at least to have a relative in the Church, albeit more so during the baroque era then later. Women were required to bring a sizable dowry to join a convent, and the more prestigious convents required higher dowries, while men who joined the Church had to have means of generating income. The income generated by a capellania helped fulfill these requirements for clerics. It also helped

211 Although rarely, cash loans were available from the Juzgados de Capellania. for specific examples see Ciisela Von Wobeser. "Las Capellanias de Misas: Su Fundacion Religiosa, Social y Economica en la Nueva Lspana." in Cofradias, Capellaniasy Obras Pias en la America Colonial, ed. Maria del Pilar Martinez Lopez-Cano, Gisela Von Wobeser, 120-130; Gisela von Wobeser, "Las Capellani'as de Misas: Su Fundacion Religiosa. Social y Hconomica en la Nueva Fspana." in Cofradias, Capellaniasy Obras Pias en la America Colonial, ed. Maria del Pilar Martinez Lopez-Cano. Gisela Von Wobeser, and Juan Guillermo Munoz Correa (Mexico, D.F. 1998), 129-130.

21 Wobeser points out that capellanias gained in popularity and by the eighteenth century, people from the moderate classes utilized them too. However, the economic depression of the early part of the century resulted in low frequency of establishing new capellanias, see Wobeser, Vida Eterna y Preocupaciones Terrenales: Las Capellanias de Misas en la Nueva Espana, 1700-1821, pp.9-10. 99 secure a socially prestigious position for the lay men and women who did not have to resort to socially unacceptable menial labour for sustenance. When the recipient had religious training, he performed all the religious obligations stipulated in the clauses of the capellania and retained all income generated by the capellania. On rare occasions, young men who were starting their ecclesiastical careers set up their own capellanias to benefit from the generated income. In these scenarios, the founder and the recipient of the capellania was the same person.22 In the cultural absence of dowry for men, these young clerics relied on the mechanisms of the capellania system to secure their own financial well-being. Inevitably, a part or all of the income generated by the capellania ended up in the hands of the Church.

The Story I: Creation

In her testament, on October 18, 1729, sor Josefa made final preparations to put her temporal world in order, and to provide relief for her soul in purgatory. Sor Josefa set up a capellania in her name, and then professed as a nun at the convent of Santa Catalina. She used her dowry of 3000 pesos as the basis for the foundation of the capellania; money that had been invested in a house at the main plaza and occupied initially by her brother Domingo de Ortega y

Estrada. She specified that every year thirty three masses would be said in her honour at the newly erected church of San Josef; at the altar of Nuestra Senora de la Assumption in particular.

The construction of the church had just been completed, and the construction of an adjacent

22 For an in-depth discussion of regulations and procedures associated with a capellania see Von Wobeser, "Las Capellanias de Misas: Su Fundacion Religiosa. Social y Fxonomica en la Nueva Espafia"; Costeloe. "A Capellania in Mexico, 1665-1799: A Case History"; and Costeloe. Church Wealth in Mexico: A Study of the 'Jitzgado de Capellanias' in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856. 100 convent of Capuchinas Espanolas had begun.23 The church was an expansion of a small temple

built by the Jesuits at the end of the sixteenth century, and the convent was a grand project

initiated by Bishop Maldonado. Both the church and the new convent, still in a baroque fashion,

boasted prestige to the city, and sor Josefa found it fitting to serve her purpose: eternal salvation.

Further in her testament, Sor Josefa specified that the capellania should go to the eldest

male in her family, and then to his eldest son and grandson. However, this beneficiary had to

have proper ecclesiastical education, meaning he had to be an ordained priest, to fulfill the obligation of performing masses in her honour, or had to designate a capellan (chantry priest)

over the age of 25, capable of carrying out these duties. She wished the beneficiary of the

capellania to receive an annual income of 5 percent derived from the lien imposed on the house.

Undoubtedly, sor Josefa was aware of the kind of complications that could potentially arise from

poorly defined terms of a capellania. These might include rivalry among family members,

lengthy litigation, even termination of the capellania, not to mention the loss of prayers for her

soul and eternity spent in purgatory. Sor Josefa attempted to avoid these complications,

although, as 1 will show in this chapter, unsuccessfully.

In practical terms, sor Josefa provided a long list of beneficiaries of the capellania, and

an order in which they qualified as heirs of the bequest. She preferred that the children of her

eldest brother, Francisco de Ortega y Estrada and his wife dona Juna Nufiez, be considered first

for the capellania, but only if they did not already have other capellanias (figure 3.1). If they

could not accept it then next on the list were the children and grandchildren of her deceased

sister dofia Mariana Ortiz de Estrada and her husband Juan Ramos Cibaja (Xibaja), then the

Maria Conception Amerlinck de Corsi, Conventos de Monjas: Fundacione.s en el Mexico Virreinal (Mexico. 1995). 276; also for briefhistory of the convent of Capuchinas Espanolas see chapter 2 of this dissertation. 101 grandchildren of her cousin, Manuel de Leon, followed by the children of Juan de Leon and

Catalina de Aguilar (figures 3.1 & 3.2). In the next round of eligible beneficiaries sor Josefa listed the children of Domingo de Ortega y Estrada, her brother, and his wife dofia Juana

Somohano (figure 3.1). In case the bloodline dried up and none of the above mentioned qualified for the bequest, the first-born from dofia Ana de Castro and don Nicolas de Torres

Castillo y Merlin were to be considered, then Nicolas de Aguilar, and then Jose Mariano. If none of these people claimed the capellania, according to the wishes of sor Josefa, a student at the

Colegio de Santa Cruz had the right to it. The student had to be of Spanish origin, a legitimate child from an impoverished family with a religious inclination. The bequest would help with food and education of the young capellan who would be appointed by the rector at the Colegio de la Sagrada Compania de Jesus (Jesuit College.) Finally, if this option failed then everything was to be transferred to the church of San Josef, and offerings made to the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.24

The case of the capellania of sor Josefa was atypical, yet not unique; on rare occasions, nuns created this type of trust funds. However, the direction of the flow of power and wealth was unconventional here. A member of the religious order, a nun, established a capellania for the benefit of her lay family. This might be interpreted as a reversal of roles. Sor Josefa took it upon herself to provide economic stability and to maintain social prestige for her blood-relatives.

It could possibly be argued that it was her life's purpose. When she entered the convent and professed to the religious life, sor Josefa elevated the elite social status of her family, and possibly eased their access to credit from the convent. Two instances suggest that her family

"4 Unless otherwise indicated, all information regarding the capellania of sor Josefa comes from AGN, Bienes Nacionales. vol.611, exp.l, fs. 1-203. 102 may have benefited from having a daughter at the convent of Santa Catalina. Once when her parents borrowed money before sor Josefa professed, and once when her brother took a mortgage on a new house after she professed. It could be argued, however, that those contracts could have been arranged with or without the capellania, or even with or without sor Josefa joining the convent. In the following chapter, 1 show that numerous people regularly borrowed money and arranged credit at the convent of Santa Catalina and there is no evidence that borrowers were all related to the nuns. Nevertheless, when sor Josefa professed she upheld the economic status of her family as well.26 When she established the capellania, sor Josefa provided a list of relatives qualified to benefit from the endowment. Thus, it may perhaps seem that sor Josefa's top priority was the socio-economic well-being of her family. Or, what we might be seeing here was sor Josefa's attempt at manipulating and managing family relations and their access to her wealth, her property. The particular arrangement of the contract might have been her form of expression and display of power politics. The decisions sor Josefa made in 1729 when setting up the trust fund were well thought out and irreversible. Her family had to accept those decisions despite lengthy litigations with the Juzgado de Capellanias.

The story of the capellania of sor Josefa shows further that sor Josefa did not follow the customary path. First, a typical nun renounced her inheritance (renuncia de herencia or testamento) on the day of profession, and pledged that upon her death (death as a human) all her worldly possessions would belong to the convent.27 Meanwhile sor Josefa prepared one

25 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1727. L.29. t's206v. Obligation por pesos-, and ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1732. L.34. fs. 101, Venta de casas.

2,1 lor an in depth diseussions see chapters 2 and 4 of this dissertation.

~7 ANO. Joaquin de Amador, 1750. L.I 08, fs.198, Renuncia de herencia; also for a discussion of dowry and procedures associated with female religious profession see chapter 2 of this dissertation. 103 testament on July 17, 1727 in which she gave power of attorney to her cousin Manuel de Leon and to her brother, Domingo de Ortega y Estrada, and where she listed lay beneficiaries of her worldly possessions (table 3.1).28 Then she prepared another testament on October 18, 1729 when she established the capellania which determined that her wealth would remain in the lay community indefinitely. She arranged these contracts a few years prior to her actual profession on February 8lh, 1733 when she renounced her inheritance, or whatever would be left of it.29 1 suspect that the gap between dates was not a mistake. The book of professions for the convent of

Santa Catalina does not list anyone taking vows in October of 1729. One woman professed on

September 11,1729 as sor Maria Micaela de San Juan and the next on November 1, 1730 as sor

Francisca de San Einrruo. It was not until February 8, 1733 that someone professed as sor Josefa

Maria de Jesus.30 While nuns re-used the religious names of other nuns who had passed away, I found no other reference to sor Josefa Maria de Jesus in the entire registry. Therefore, 1 have no doubt that sor Josefa is nun number two-hundred-sixty-eight in the registry, taking her final vows in 1733. Why then did sor Josefa prepare three documents sorting her worldly matters? In a society where a small proportion of people had anything valuable to leave behind, Rosa Ortiz de

Estrada (sor Josefa) produced not one but three documents.

Second, in a customary fashion, the family of a nun provided her with a dowry, in the form of cash or real estate, which generated income and covered her living expenses. In her

28 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1727. L.29. fs.297v. Testamento.

29 AGN. Bienes Naeionales, vol.611. exp.l. fs. 1-203; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1729. L31. Is.355. Testamento-. and ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1733. L.46. fs. 187v. Renuncia de herencia.

10 Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus who professed on February 8, 1733 also became the abbess in 1792, see Fray Santiago, "El Monasterio de la Madre de Dios y Santa Catalina de Sena de Oaxaca. 1571-1850" p.35; Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas lntitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571-1862." 104 testament from 1729, sor Josefa established the capellama in which she listed people in the lay world as beneficiaries of the income it generated. This meant that she would not have an income from her dowry: an income that was crucial to cover her annual expenses.31 Then how did she support her living expenses? Was she treated by the convent in a similar way as orphans who had no dowry? How could she be treated as such if she had a dowry that she had redirected to other family members, not to the convent? Did she have other income? Had sor Josefa's decision to establish the capellama delayed her profession by four years until she collected enough funds for the dowry? The history of her contracts suggests that on the day of profession sor Josefa had at least 3,000 pesos forthcoming in loans and liens (table 3.1). It is unlikely that this was the same money that she wanted to create the capellama with. It is difficult to judge, however. The lien for 1,000 pesos was perpetual, so she could not have counted on this money being back in time. It seems that sor Josefa had more money at her disposal than the required dowry, and therefore had that much more economic power. This makes her story more peculiar.

Third, the vicar of the convent of Santa Catalina referred to the death of sor Josefa on

October 18, 1729, and to the founding of the capellama upon her death.32 Did he mean sor

Josefa's death to the lay world? Technically, when this capellama was founded, sor Josefa did not exist yet. Rosa Ortiz de Estrada became sor Josefa three-and-a-half years later when she professed, and certainly in 1729 she was not dead yet, neither to the lay or to the religious world.

Was she supposed to profess but something went wrong and caused the delay? Could the capellama have been postponed until sor Josefa professed? The capellama took a life of its own when the first capellan took charge of it in 1730 (table 3.2). Again, it is difficult to sort out what

For an explanation ofthe purpose ofdowry and the terms of profession, see chapter 2 of this dissertation.

ACiN. Bienes Naeionales. vol.611, exp.l. 105

happened, but the larger question becomes why this woman was entering into such complicated

legal contracts with people around her.

The Story II: Organization

The Real Estate

The property used to set up the capellania of Sor Josefa was prime urban real estate. The

house was located at the zocalo (main city square) next to a giant tree, and across from the

Cathedral. At the time of foundation of the capellania, in 1729, Sor Josefa's brother, Domingo de Ortega y Estrada, lived in that house and paid the annuities. By 1735, don Miguel de Irigollen

rented the house. He quickly fell behind on payments and caused a lengthy dispute at the

Juzgado de Capellanias. Then in 1744, bachiller don Bernardo de las Heras rented the property.

Like his predecessor, he also had payment irregularities. These irregularities, however, were

more complicated. While don Bernardo rented the property of the capellania, he periodically

performed the full duties of the capellan for which he expected a payment. When payment for

his services was delayed, don Bernardo withheld rent payment, and that in turn, led to tensions

that had to be resolved by the Juzgado de Capellanias.33

The location of the property suggests that sor Josefa came from a very wealthy family. In a typical colonial city the main plaza had social, religious, political and economic importance.

At the centre lived the most powerful and most prosperous Spaniards, including high clergy, lawyers, and peninsular merchants. People of lower social status lived beyond the main square,

reducing in rank the further away from the centre. On the outskirts of the city lived indigenous

" AGN, Bienes Nacionales, vol.611, exp.l. fs.1-203. 106 people indispensable to the city, including trades people, artisans, and petty merchants. In

Oaxaca, the Cathedral, as well as municipal buildings, and shops were all located at the main plaza. Even the weekly market met there, bringing the world of goods to the centre of the town.34 The fact that sor Josefa's house was located at the main city square implies that her family was one of the city's most important families, perhaps engaged in commerce or Royal administration. It is safe to speculate that her father might have been a peninsulare.

Looking closer at the properties of the Ortega y Estrada family, it turns out that her parents owned a hacienda in the Valley of Oaxaca.35 Additionally, sor Josefa's brother,

Domingo, was wealthy enough to have purchased a domestic slave worth 270 pesos.36 It is also most likely that Domingo moved out of the house at the main plaza in 1732, when he purchased a house with an attached store, which suggests that he may have been engaged in commerce. He bought the new house for a steep 1,920 pesos.37 Meanwhile, the house of sor Josepha's capellania had been rented to non-relatives. Again, the location of the house partly dictated who would live there; I suppose that not too many people could match the social status of living at the main plaza and the value of the rent. Inquiries made by the Juzgado de Capellanias into irregularities of rent payments suggest that occupation and social status did not guarantee a solvent client, however.

The Capellans

34 John K.. Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford. Calif.. 1978). p.74.

35 ANO. Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1727. L.29. fs.206v, Obligacion por pesos.

36 ANO. Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1731, L.33, fs.683v, Venta de Esclavos.

37 ANO. Jose Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1732, L.34, fs.101. Venta de Casas. Don Francisco Ramon Cibaja y Ortiz made the first claim to the capellania of sor Josefa

Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada in September 1730. He was a legitimate child of don Juan

Ramos Cibaja and dona Maria Ana Ortiz de Estrada, sister of sor Josefa (figure 3.1), and he also studied to become a priest. The judge at the Juzgado de Capellanias recognized this claim, however, he ordered an interim capellcin to perform all the duties until don Francisco became an ordained priest (table 3.2). Bachiller don Nufio Josef de Villancencio became the interim capellan and performed thirty-three masses per year in honour of sor Josefa. By 1736, don

Francisco was a fully ordained priest and capellan of the capellania of sor Josefa, and he held that post for fifteen years (table 3.2). During his tenure however, don Francisco was gravely ill and for many years could not perform his duties. In such difficult times, bachiller don Bernardo de las Heras replaced him and prayed for eternal salvation for the soul of sor Josefa. He was paid two pesos per mass, while don Francisco collected the balance.

In 1751, with the death of don Francisco Ramon Cibaja y Ortiz, the capellania of sor

Josefa became vacant. Initially the Juzgado de Capellanias awarded the capellania to a student from the seminary. This decision, however, was bitterly contested by the Ortega y Estrada family and in 1754, the Juzgado de Capellanias recognized don Lorenzo de Ortega (table 3.2) as the eligible capellan. Don Lorenzo was sor Josefa's nephew on her brother's side: his parents were don Domingo Ortega y Estrada and dofia Juana Somahano (figure 3.2). With her husband passed away, dofia Juana took it upon herself to make the claim to the capellania for her son and bitterly fought the court to award him the privileged position. Don Lorenzo had become a priest, and at the age of twenty five, became the capellan. He held this post for ten years.

Don Lorenzo died in June of 1764 and the capellania of sor Josefa was vacant yet again.

This time, several candidates applied for the bequest. Some were family members whom sor 108

Josefa had not mentioned in her testament such as her brother don Santiago de Ortega and his children, or the grandchild of her brother don Domingo de Ortega y Estrada (figure 3.1). While the children of don Domingo were mentioned in sor Juana's will, his grandchildren were not, thus they were not eligible for the capellania, and don Eusebio Ortega was denied access to the capellania. Students at the colegio also made claims. These students were eligible in theory, but in fact, one of them sought a capellania established by a different nun at the convent of La

Conception. The court rejected his application, but another student was successful. In August

1764, the rector at the Jesuit College nominated, and the Juzgado de Capellanias approved, bachiller don Pedro Guerrero y Zarate as the next capellan (table 3.2). He occupied the post until 1777.

By 1777, however, much had changed in the Spanish colonies and the capellania of Sor

Josefa faced a new period of its existence. At the local level, Oaxaca was becoming a metropolis with political and economic importance to the empire. As we saw earlier, the city increased in size, from approximately 3,000 people, in the early eighteenth century, to over 18,000 circa

1777. The city's economic outlook changed from agricultural production for the local market, to dye and textile production on an international scale.38 At the level of the empire, the baroque era had ended and peoples' expressions of religiosity had been much more defined than in the first half of the eighteenth century. Bourbon reforms had been well anchored into the economic and political life of the colony, and there had been a growing conflict between Church and the anticlerical establishment.39

'8 Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca. 73-74.

,l> For a more detailed discussion on these issues see chapters 1 and 2 of this dissertation. 109

Tabel 3.2 Capellans and Tenants of Real Estate for the Capellania of Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada, 1730-1790

Year Capellan Year House occupied/rented by 1730 Don Francisco Ramon Cibaja y Ortiz 1725 Don Domingo de Ortega through an interim capellan br. don Nufio Josef de Villancerio 1736 Br. don Francisco Ramon Cibaja y Ortiz 1736 Don Miguel de lrigollen 1744 Various interim priests assist br. don 1744 Br. don Bernardo de las Heras Francisco Cibaja y Ortiz 1754 Br. don Lorenzo de Ortega 1754 Still, Br. don Bernardo de las Heras 1764 Br. don Pedro Guerrero y Zarate Mil Various interim capelans 1780 Interim capelan br.don Pedro Per6z 1781- Don Rosalino Ramos Moreno y Leon 1786 through an interim capellan br. don Pedro Per6z

Source: AGN, Bienes Nacionales, vol.611, exp.l

The Story III: Extinction

The death of capellan don Pedro Guerrero y Zarate exposed numerous problems for the capellania of sor Josefa. On the one hand, sor Josefa had no relatives eligible for the post and that was why the rector at the Jesuit Collage appointed don Pedro to administer the capellania; no relatives should have been expected to materialize after his death. On the other hand, while he performed his duties, the Spanish Crown expelled the Jesuits from its kingdom in 1767. This was the zenith of Bourbon reforms implemented in the colonies. In terms most relevant to the capellania of sor Josefa, it meant that in 1777, the rector of the Jesuit College was not there to appoint a new capellan, as sor Josefa had wished in 1729. The Crown official in charge of all

Jesuit possessions contemplated the option of transferring the capellania from private hands to the Juzgado de Capellanias fund, as there was no one to assume responsibility over it. Prior to making the transfer however, the Juzgado de Capellanias posted a customary thirty-day notice at the Cathedral, informing all residents of Oaxaca of the vacancy in sor Josefa's capellania. They 110 also appointed a priest, don Pedro Perez, to pray for the soul of the founding nun and to collect rent generated by the capellania (table 3.2). This straightforward case picked up momentum when several relatives of sor Josefa made claims on the capellania. Numerous claims and lengthy court disputes continued into the late 1780s.40

Bachiller don Josef Mariano Ortega y Sanchez was the first to make a claim to the capellania. He was a nephew of don Lorenzo Ortega, who was a legitimate capellan from 1754 to 1764. The parents of don Josef Mariano were don Mariano Ortega y Somahano and dona

Catharina Sanchez. He was a grandchild of sor Josefa's brother, don Domingo Ortega y Estrada

(figure 3.1). Don Josef Mariano came from the right bloodline and he had ecclesiastical training.

He was ready to assume the post of the capellan. However, like his brother, don Eusebio Ortega who petitioned for the same capellania in 1764, he was denied. The Juzgado quickly rejected the claim made by don Josef Mariano. Why did the court reject the two brothers if they had such close blood ties to sor Josefa? The reason for both rejections was that sor Josefa did not bequest the capellania to the grandchildren of her brother don Domingo; she only approved his children.

Thus, the court found both don Josef Mariano and don Eusebio not eligible for the post.

Another claim came from don Santiago Ortega. He was a legitimate child of don

Santiago Ortega (senior) and dofia Josefa de Pissa y Torres. His father, don Santiago (senior), was sor Josefa's brother, thus his relation to the founding nun was a generation closer than that of Josef Mariano and Eusebio (figure 3.1). Yet the Juzgado rejected his claim as well. They concluded that as sor Josefa did not mention don Santiago senior in her testament he was not eligible for the capellania, nor were his children or grandchildren. Don Santiago junior found

40 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, vol.611, exp.l. fs.1-203. Ill this preposterous and filed a long grievance with the court.41 It is not clear why sor Josefa had not offered the capellania to her brother and his heirs. One of the least plausible options is that her brother was not born yet when she founded the capellania, and she could not predict this scenario. Perhaps he was born after she joined the convent of Santa Catalina and she did not know him well enough. Most probable however, was that she knew him all too well and did not wish to reward him with the prestigious capellania. In 1741, eighteen years after sor Josefa joined the convent, Santiago senior was already married and giving power of attorney to his wife. This scenario suggests that he was mature and wealthy enough to deem it important to prepare such a contract. In either case, the Juzgado was bound by the clauses stipulated in the contract by sor Josefa and could not approve the claim of don Santiago junior; the legal sanctity of the contract had been preserved above all else.

Seeing how problematic the capellania of sor Josefa had become and to save everyone time and energy, the Juzgado clarified that the only relatives of the founding nun still eligible for the bequest were those from the line of her cousin don Manuel de Leon (figure 3.2). More specifically, only his grandchildren were still eligible. This announcement resurrected the interest of the de Leon family who promptly filed applications for the capellania, one after another. A decade earlier, they had showed no interest in this capellania and it had gone to a student at the Jesuit College instead of to a family member. As I will show in the following section, the family feud that resulted from this announcement exemplifies the importance of the capellania institution to colonial society. It shows the extraordinary lengths to which people went in order to secure a capellania, even in seemingly prosperous economic periods. They fought over the capellania for materialistic rather then spiritual reasons. I speculate that if they

41 AGN. BienesNacionalcs. vol.611. exp.l. fs. 1-203. 112 were concerned with the spirituality of sor Josefa, they would have come forward and made claims much earlier.

The first claim from the Leon family came from don Juan de Dios de Leon in December of 1777. Don Juan de Dios provided copious documents establishing his connection to don

Manuel de Leon, his great grandfather. He provided the Juzgado with his baptismal record from

1754, statements from his padrino (Godfather) and from several character witnesses, including a

Spaniard. These documents however, proved that don Juan de Dios was not eligible as he was too far removed from the bloodline of the cousin of sor Josefa (figure 3.2). By June of 1780, the capellania was still vacant and the Juzgado accepted two new applications. One from don 113

Figure 3.1 Family Tree for Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada

Francisco Joseph Ortega Leal

(May 17,1694)

Mariano de Ortega y Somohano Eusebio Ortega Juana Maria de Puga (Nunez) (Petitioned in 1764) Married on Jan 05,1721 Catharina Sanchez

Domingo de Ortega y Estrada 1 Lorenzo Antonio de Ortega Josef Mariano Ortega y Juana Somoano Gonzales (Aug .12, 1739) Sanchez (1697) Joseph de Capellan 1754 -1764 (Petitioned in 1777) Ortega y Estrada Married on June 07.1718

Lucia Leal de Toledo Mariana Ortiz de Estrada Francisco Ramon Cibaja y Ortiz

Capellan 1730-1754 Juan Ramos Xibaja (Cibaja)

Rosa Ortiz de Estrada = Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus

Ortiz de Estrada

Santiago de Ortega Santiago Ortega

(Petitioned in 1777) Josefa de Pissa yTorrez

Source: AHAO: Parroquial, Disciplinar, Bautismo y Matrimonio 114

Rosalino Ramos Moreno y Leon and another from don Josef Mariano Figueroa y Leon. A year later the Juzgado made a decision to award the capellania to don Rosalino who was four years old at the time, and not to don Josef Mariano who was a student at the seminary. Don Rosalino was don Manuel's grandchild while don Josef Mariano was separated from don Manuel by three generations (figure 3.2). This however, did not deter don Josef Mariano from appealing the court's decision. He appealed on the grounds that Rosalino was too young to become a capellan, and that he, don Josef Mariano, was older and aspired to become a priest and he grew up in the house of don Manuel.42 In the meantime, don Juan de Dios filed a motion that his son don

Raphael Foribio de Leon should be considered for the capellama-. completely ignoring the fact that as he himself was not eligible neither would his son be (figure 3.1).

At the end of 1781, the Juzgado de Capellama continued to review the case of don Josef

Mariano versus don Rosalino. The court also received applications from various students. Upon further deliberations, the court decided in 1782 that only don Rosalino was eligible. It decided that based on family lineage don Josef Mariano did not have any rights to the capellama of sor

Josefa, and that he could not appeal this decision further. The court extended the appointment of bachiller don Pedro Perez as the interim capellan to fulfill the obligations of the capellama, to pray for the founding mother and to collect rent, until don Rosalino came of age (table 3.2). This however, did not end the dispute within the Leon Family. Don Josef Mariano took the appeal a step further. In 1783, he brought this case against the Juzgado Superior Metropolitano del Corte de Mexico. In 1786, the case was still open. Don Josef Moreno pleaded with the court to claim the capellama for his son Rosalino Moreno y Leon, while the court warned that the capellama

42 Under the canon law. no one under the age of 14 could hold a capellania. while sor Josefa speciled that a capellan in charge of her capellania had to be at least 25 years of age. AGN. Bienes Nacionales. vol.611, exp.l; on canon law see Costeloe. Church Weahh in Mexico: A Study of the 'Juzgado de Capellanias' in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856. p.49. 115 was on the verge of extinction. Yet, don Josef Mariano was undeterred. He pursued the case against all odds.

The trail of documents related to this court case ends in 1786 without reaching a satisfactory conclusion. An interim capelldn performed all the duties while don Rosalino waited to reach the age of maturity, which had been twenty-five. All the while, don Josef Mariano kept the courts busy with his appeals. Two possible outcomes may be inferred from this case. One outcome could have been that, because the capellania was not technically vacant, don Rosalino had the opportunity to become its last capelldn. After his death, the capellania would have been transferred to the church of San Josef, as instructed by sor Josefa. The second possible outcome could have been that don Rosalino held the post of a capelldn until 1805 when the Crown confiscated the capellania of sor Josefa along with many other ecclesiastical properties under the

Laws of Consolidation, possibly turning it into a lay scholarship. The records do not help determine whether either of these possibilities occurred. 116

Figure 3.2 Family Tree for Manuel de Leon

Juan de Diosde Josef de Leon Raphael Foribio de Leon (March 8, Leon 1754) (Petitioned in 1786) Josefa Reyes (Petitioned in 1777) Juan de Leon

Catharina de Aguilar

Maria Francisca de Josef Mariano Manuel de Leon Leon Figueroa y Leon (Petitioned in 1780) Manuel Figueroa Josefa Blanco Ortiz Manuel de Leon

Mariano Josef Rosalino Ramos Moreno y Martin Moreno Leon(1777) (Petitioned in 1780) Juliana de Leon Capellan in 1781

Source: AHAO: Parroquial, Disciplinar, Bautismo y Matrimonio 117

By Way of Conclusion

In 1729, when sor Josefa founded the capellania she had an elaborate scheme that

supposedly ensured the longevity of the capellania. Then why did her scheme fall short? Was

sor Josefa short-sighted in stipulating the clauses of her capellania? Or was she purposefully

manipulating the situation to her personal satisfaction? It is certain that sor Josefa could not anticipate what would happen to the Jesuits in the Spanish kingdom, but she could anticipate

human behaviour or human nature. She could predict that greed could become the driving force

for those seeking her capellania at some time down the road; after all, economic security was one of the main functions of capellanias. I argue that sor Josefa was in fact most interested in spiritual maintenance, and that she chose the capellania to express herself; a socially acceptable

expression of her piety. In order to ensure salvation for her soul, sor Josefa deliberately designed

the clauses of her capellania. Placing the salvation of her soul, and thus the capellania and its

administration, in the hands of the Jesuits, gave her peace of mind: perhaps a degree of comfort

that someone (an aspiring cleric at the seminary) would pray for her soul unconditionally without

being corrupted by the power of money. Expecting this from a family member whom she did not

know or who did not know her, seems to have been too much of a leap. It was a common

practice to divert a capellania into the hands of the ecclesiastics when the bloodline dried up.43

In this case, however, sor Josefa had several relatives in 1764, when a student at the seminary

received the capellania, as well as in 1777 when it became vacant again. The question becomes

why sor Josefa was so discriminatory in her clauses when she wrote her will in 1729. Why did

she not acknowledge some of her siblings? Why did she acknowledge grandchildren of some

relatives but not others? In setting up the capellania sor Josefa revealed her most precious

Ibid. 118 desire: eternal salvation. The rigid clauses of the trust fund were merely an obligation in a society bound by honor and custom.44

In setting up the capellama in 1729, almost four years prior to her profession, sor Josefa also displayed enormous power. At the time of profession, she did not renounce her dowry.45

Instead of leaving it to the convent of Santa Catalina, sor Josefa redirected it to her family, if only temporarily. She very carefully arranged her wealthy family in line for the bequest. The custom was to endow a capellama to the eldest male offspring. Sor Josefa went along with this premise, but only to a point. She said that she preferred to endow the children of her eldest brother but only if they did not have other capellanias. Relatives on her eldest brother's side never claimed the capellama, which suggests they had a different capellama. She also neglected to mention one of her brothers and his heirs in her will. Effectively, only children from her third brother were eligible for the bequest and benefited from it. The second capellan was from this

44 For a discussion of honor in Mexico and Latin America see Richard Boyer, "Honor Among Plebeians." in The Faces of Honor Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque, 1998), 152-178; Mark A. Burkholder, "Honor and Honors in Colonial Spanish America," in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque, 1998), 18-44; Sueann Caulfield, In Defense of Honor: Sexual Morality, Modernity, and Nation in Early Twentieth Century Brazil (Durham, 2000); Lyman L. Johnson, "Dangerous Words, Provocative Gestures, and Violent Acts," in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque, 1998). 127-151; S Lauderdale Graham, "Honor Among Slaves," in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, cd. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque, 1998), 201-228; Sonya Lipsett-Riverra, "A Slap in the Face of Honor," in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman 1,. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra ( Albuquerque, 1998), 179-200; Muriel Nazzari. "An Urgent Need to Conceal," in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque. 1998). 103-126; Kristin Ruggiero, "Wives on "Deposit": Internment and the Preservation of Husbands' 1 lonor in Late Nineteenth-Century Buenos Aires," Journal of Family History 17 (1992): 253-270; Patricia Seed, To Love, Honor, and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts Over Marriage Choice, 1574-1821 (Stanford, 1988); Greg Spurling. "Honor, Sexuality, and the Colonial Church." in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque, 1998), 45- 67; Steve J. Stern, The Secret History of Gender: Women, Men, and Power in Late Colonial Mexico (Chapel Hill, 1995); Ann Twinam, "1 lonor. Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial Spanish America," in Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America, ed. Asuncion Lavrin (Lincoln, 1989), 118-155; Ann Twinam, "The Negotiation of Honor," in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque, 1998), 68-102; Ann Twinam. Public Lives, Private Secrets: Gender, Honor, Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial Latin America (Stanford).

45 For a discussion of renouncing inheritance at the time of profession, see chapter 2. 119 line: he was the eldest son of don Domingo (figure 3.1). Sor Josefa was most thoughtful however, about her sister dofia Maria, her children and her grandchildren (figure 3.1). The first capellan was dona Maria's son don Francisco (figure 3.1). He administered the capellania the longest, and often relied on interim capellans to fulfill his obligations. Sor Josefa was similarly generous to her cousin don Manuel and his offspring: the last eligible capellan was his grandson don Rosalino (figure 3.2). Sor Josefa also named friends and acquaintances for the bequest but that was only a symbolic gesture: they never came close to the inheritance and never petitioned for it. It seems that the founding mother preferred to leave her fortunes to her sister's family.

Was it because she liked her the most, or because she had passed away before sor Josefa professed and she felt compassionate toward her sister's children? Sor Josefa also preferred to leave the bequest to her favourite cousin rather than to her brothers. It seems this behaviour and desire defied custom. Sor Josefa displayed her power by skilfully manipulating the situation and by placing her wishes before the good of the family; an irreversible scenario that she set up prior to taking the habit. Sor Josefa spent her life doing the right thing for the family, including becoming a nun, but when preparing for her afterlife, sixty-five years in advance of her death, sor Josefa may have thought of herself first.

The capellania of sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada offers a glimpse at a family history of one of the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina. In this chapter, I relied on the story of sor Josefa to explore the point of intersection of the lay and the religious worlds in eighteenth century Oaxaca. Sor Josefa had a long and prosperous life, and as an individual female, she had a momentous impact on the lay and on the religious world. During her long life, she witnessed many changes in the world around her, even if through the prisms of a convent. Some of the changes potentially had an impact on her life within the convent, including rearrangement of 120 nuns' living conditions and rearrangement of convents' education system, as will be discussed in chapter six. Other changes she witnessed had a social, political and economic impact on Oaxaca and on New Spain in general, including economic expansion, growth of the city, Bourbon reforms, expressions of piety, the role of the Church and rise of the anticlerical movement.

Some of the changes had been so great, that it might be questioned whether at the end of her life, sor Josefa recognized the world from the time when she grew up. Yet, in that rapidly changing world, sor Josefa found ways to deal with it: if nothing else, she found a socially acceptable way to express her piety and beliefs and to ensure for her eternal salvation. I think the story of sor

Josefa is a fascinating tale of a person who had been caught between two poles; the lay and the religious worlds, baroque and individual piety, and her private and public persona. In this chapter, I showed that sor Josefa held spiritual, familial and economic power over her family, as well as within the convent. She arranged a series of legal contracts to manage her property and to express her wishes in a socially appropriate manner. By founding the capellania shortly after joining the convent, sor Josefa individually controlled family relations and the economic resources available to them, and she was a source of contestation. Within the convent, sor Josefa also held positions of power, eventually becoming an abbess and leading the religious community of nuns. As an abbess, she controlled the entire convent's socio-economic impact on

Oaxacan society, a topic that I will discuss in the next two chapters. In the following section, I will examine credit policy and practice of the convent of Santa Catalina and the impact it had on the lay community; many of the contracts and decisions were undoubtedly influenced by sor

Josefa as she would have been a member of the governing council and eventually an abbess. CHAPTER 4

THE' BUSINESS OF LOANS: CREDIT POLICY AND PRACTICE

In 1720, dofia Maria de Luna Ximenez, a cacica of the village of Macuiltianguis and vecina in the city of Oaxaca, purchased a small plot of land on the outskirts of the city of

Oaxaca, from Augustina de la Encarnacion, a morena libre (free black), also vecina, and a widow. Dofia Maria paid for this plot of land with a censo (type of a loan) provided by the convent of Santa Catalina worth sixty pesos de oro comm. Augustina had acquired this property two years earlier, from Mathias Vasquez de la Cruz, an Indio, vecino, and hat maker, for the same price as she sold it. Mathias had owned this property since 1713. Each of the owners had the same financing arrangements. They paid 5 percent annuities (three pesos) on a censo from the convent of Santa Catalina.1

In 1773, an elderly man, Lorenzo Tibursio de Leon, renewed and consolidated his obligations on the censos that he had taken from the convent of Santa Catalina in 1740 and 1747.

He agreed to continue paying the 5 percent annuities on a combined loan of 470 pesos for another generation. In the event of his death, his heirs were to transfer the censo to their own name. We first meet Lorenzo at the steps of Santa Catalina in 1740, when he took a censo to pay for a small house that he purchased from Joseph Fasardo for 200 pesos. Seven years later,

Lorenzo purchased another house worth 270 pesos, which he financed with a second censo from

Santa Catalina. The property that he acquired had been in the family of Antonia Manuela

Carrasco since 1687. They originally paid for it with a censo of 600 pesos from the same

1 AH AO: Diocesano. Gobierno, Religiosos, Censo 60, ano 1720.

121 122 convent.2 By the 1740s, the condition of the house had deteriorated and it had lost much of its value, and when Antonia became a widow, she sold it to Lorenzo. Lorenzo renovated the house and occupied it for at least an additional thirty years.

In 1760, bachiller don Nicolas Ruiz, a parish priest at San Augustin de Mixtepec, purchased a one-story-house from the convent of Santa Catalina. The property was located in the city and was worth 1,500 pesos de oro comm. Br. don Nicolas made a cash deposit of 300 pesos on the house and took a censo from the convent for the remaining 1,200 pesos, on which he would pay annuities of 5 percent.3 In yet another case from 1793, Capitan don Joseph

Francisco Morales, received a title to the newly acquired property that he purchased for 16,000 pesos. He bought a house that was a two-story structure located in the center city-square, and used to belong to a recently deceased parish priest, Br. don Joachin Alvarez. Don Joseph was an excellent merchant and he quickly seized the opportunity when he saw it, however, he needed assistance in financing the transaction. He arranged to pay 7,000 pesos cash in 6 months to the estate of Br. don Joachin, and took two loans for the remaining balance. He borrowed 2,500 pesos from the Colegio de San Barthalome, and 6,500 pesos from the convent of La Concepcion with 5 percent annuities on both loans.4

The economy of New Spain largely depended on credit. With much of the silver bullion exported to Spain, the colony was notoriously short of cash, and in the absence of a banking system, people created various formal and informal networks of credit. Merchants, shopkeepers,

2 AIIAO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos, Reconocimiento 470, afio 1773; Reconocimiento 200, ano 1740; Reconocimiento 200. afio 1747.

1 AIIAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimiento 1200. ano 1760.

4 AIIAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. Titulo de casa. ano 1793. 123 pawnbrokers, and private individuals provided some of the credit.5 But the Church supplied the bulk of credit within the colonial credit markets.6 Studies dating back to the 1960s, by Michael

Costeloe and by Brian Hamnet, show that the Church was the dominant lender in the eighteenth century.7 Arnold Bauer and William Allen found that although the Church remained an important source of capital during the second half of the eighteenth century, it no longer dominated the credit market.8 However, the Church did not act as a single monolithic agent of credit. Instead, the various ecclesiastical institutions acted independently when issuing credit to

5 For a discussion of the economy, including bullion and the banking system in colonial Mexico and Latin America see: Clement G. Motten, Mexican Silver and the Enlightenment (New York, 1972); Louisa Schell Hoberman, Mexico's Merchant Elite, 1590-1660: Silver, State, and Society (Durham, 1991); William Schell, Jr., "Silver Symbiosis: Reorienting Mexican Economic History," Hispanic American Historical Review 81 (2001): 89- 133; Peter Bakewell, Silver Mining and Society in Colonial Mexico: Zacatecas, 1546-1700. Cambridge Latin American studies, 15 (Cambridge, 1971); D. O Flynn, "Comparing the Tokagawa Shogunate with Hapsburg Spain: Two Silver Based Empires in a Global Setting," in The Political Economy of Merchant Empires: State Power and World trade, 1350-1750 (Cambridge, 1997), 332-359; R. L Garner, "Long-Term Silver Mining Trends in Spanish America: A Comparative Analysis of Peru and Mexico," American Historical Review 93 (Oct., 1988): 898-935; Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein, Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe (Baltimore, 2000); Enrique Tandeter, Coercion and Market: Silver Mining in Colonial Potosi, 1692-1826 (Albuquerque, 1993); Marie-Noelle Chamoux, Prestary Pedir Prestado: Relaciones Sociales y Credito en Mexico del Sigh XVI al AX 16c-20c. vols. (1993); Clara Garcia Ayluardo, "El comerciante y el credito durante la epoca borbonica en laNueva Espatia." in Bancay poder en Mexico, 1800-1925. ed. Leonor Ludlow and Carlos Marichal (Mexico, 1986), 27-50; Maria del Pilar Martinez Lopez-Cano, El credito a largo plazo en el siglo XVI: Ciudad de Mexico, 1550-1620 (Mexico. 1995); Maria del Pilar Martinez Lopez-Cano and Guillermina del Valle Pavon, FJ credito en nueva Espaha (Mexico, 1998); Carlos Sanchez Silva, Indios, Comerciantes y Burocracia en la Oaxaca Poscohnial, 1786-1860 (Oaxaca. 1998); Guillermina del Valle Pavon, ed.. Mercaderes, comercioy consulados de Nueva Espana en el siglo XVIII (Mexico. D.F.. 2003).

6 Each city in New Spain, and in Latin America, had an independent credit market bound by the same policy. Thus. I refer to credit •markets", and not to one global/grand credit market.

7 Michael P. Costeloe. Church Wealth in Mexico: A Study of the 'Juzgado de Capellanias' in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856 (Cambridge, 1967), 29; Brian R. Hamnett. "The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government: The 'Consolidacion de Vales Reales'. 1805-1809." Journal of Latin American Studies 1 (1969): 86.

8 Arnold .1 Bauer. " The Church in the Economy of Spanish America: Censos and Depositos in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries." Hispanic American Historical Review 63 (1983): 725; William F. Allen. "Capital Formation and Lending: The Role of the Church in Guadalajara, 1750-1800" (Tulane University. 1988). 8. 124

borrowers. Among the ecclesiastical institutions involved in the credit market were convents,

monasteries, hospitals, colleges, chantries and pious works.9

This chapter is concerned with the credit policy and practice that guided the formal

network of credit in eighteenth century Oaxaca, and in particular, how it applied to the city's

convents of which Santa Catalina was the most successful. Major sources of capital have already

been identified, in this study however, I am interested in identifying the receivers of capital as

well as the terms and conditions that determined who received credit.10 To accomplish this, I

will explore the juncture at which the convents of Santa Catalina, La Concepcion and La Soledad

encountered people such as dona Maria de Luna Ximenez, Augustina de la Encarnacion,

Lorenzo Tibursio de Leon, Bachiller don Nicolas Ruiz and Capitan don Joseph Francisco

Morales. Convents were bastions of female religiosity and seclusion, and yet nuns were the most

active agents within the ecclesiastical credit market dealing with the lay world, selling property

and providing credit on a regular basis. In this chapter I examine who the people were who

obtained credit from the convents. I argue that in eighteenth century Oaxaca, the convent of

Santa Catalina made capital available to people from the middling group, and that race, class and

gender were not a determining factor in obtaining credit. By extending credit outside the male

elite, the convent created opportunities for social and economic mobility and stability, and

" For an introductory discussion of Church and credit in colonial Mexico and Latin America see: John Frederick Schwaller. Origins of Church Wealth in Mexico: Ecclesiastical Revenues and Church Finances. 1523- 1600, 1st ed. (Albuquerque. 1985); Francisco J. Cervantes Bello, "La iglesia y la crisis del credito colonial en Puebla." in Bancaypoder en Mexico, 1800-1925. ed. Leonor Ludlow and Carlos Marichal (Mexico, 1986). 51-74; Asuncion Lavrin. "La iglesia en la economia Novohispana," in El trabajoy los trabajadores en la hisloria de Mexico, ed. Elsa Cecilia Frost. Josetlna Z. Vazquez, and Michael C. Meyer (Mexico. 1979). 874-878; Gisela von Wobeser. El credito eclesiastico en la Nueva Espana, sigh XVIII (Mexico. 1994; Gisela von Wobeser. "La Inquisicion como institucion crediticia en el siglo XVIII." Hisloria Mexicana 39 (1990); Gisela von Wobeser, "Las fundaciones piadosas como fuentes de credito en la epoca colonial," Hisloria Mexicana 38 (1989): 779-7932.

10 For studies on sources of capital see Costeloe, Church Wealth in Mexico: A Study of the 'Juzgado de Capellanias' in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856; Martinez Lopez-Cano. El credito a largo plazo en el siglo XVI: Ciudadde Mexico. 1550-1620: and Gisela von Wobeser, El Credito Eclesiastico en la Nueva Espana siglo XVIII (Mexico. D.F.. 1994). 125 thereby contributed to the growth of the middling group. Both the Crown and the Church regulated credit-related laws, and ! agree with Allen that these laws "reflected philosophical attitudes and cultural values."11 However, I also think that these attitudes and values were changing, and that local conditions determined the practices and successes of individual convents and by extension, people's access to credit. The demography and the economy of Oaxaca shaped credit practices adopted by the city's convents, especially by Santa Catalina. Various types of credit documents, bills of sale of property, and testaments reveal that in Oaxaca anyone with any kind of property could and did, participate in the city's formal network of credit, indicating that local conditions or custom played an important role in this urban credit market.

These conditions included the remoteness of the city from other large urban centers, the limited natural resources, the dense indigenous population, the nature of land distribution and control, and the power relations between ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups. In particular, the small size of the elite group, which for the purposes of this analysis includes high ranking officials as well as titled professionals, and the limits of their relative wealth led the formal credit institutions to adapt to their unique situation and to develop strategies that guaranteed a steady and reliable flow of annuities.

Methodology

I relied on quantitative research methods to study credit policy and practice in eighteenth century Oaxaca. 1 constructed a database from loan documents that most likely belonged to creditors, rather than to borrowers or notaries. These are sources that have not been traditionally utilized to study credit history or convent history. As discussed at length in the introductory

'1 Allen, "Capital Formation and [.ending: The Role of the Church in Guadalajara. 1750-1800". 167. 126 chapter of this dissertation, 1 used notarial documents found at the AHAO and AGEO rather than in the protocolos of the notaries at the ANO. I was able to consult and use the entire collection for the period of 1720 to 1800 at both the AHAO and the AGEO, and I constructed a database of

584 distinct cases of credit. The only documents 1 omitted from the database were either duplicate, illegible, too damaged to read and digitize, or were missing pages or sections of information. Among the documents used in the database, 89 percent were loan/mortgage

(censos) contracts. The remaining 11 percent were titles, transfers, and bills of sale of various real estate properties. Considering that more than one lender provided a large proportion of loans and that all lenders were listed in each contract, it is most relevant that a document from at least one lender has survived, but not so much as from which lender. No duplicates of documents were recorded in the database. 1 believe that the size of the database exhibits a representative picture of the socio-economic conditions in eighteenth century Oaxaca. The database allows for observation of patterns, trends and variations over time, and it serves as the basis for my conclusions about the credit and social history of eighteenth century Oaxaca.

The period ization of this chapter was dictated by the limits of the available sources on credit. For example, there were not enough documents for the 1700s and the 1710s to paint a meaningful and representative picture of financial activities of Oaxaquenos for those years.

Hence, the chapter begins in 1720. As even fewer credit-related documents were available for the period after 1800 that too would paint a similarly meager picture. The uneven number of cases per decade is also determined by the uneven distribution of the collection. The number of cases per decade range from forty-six to 117, with the highest number of cases available for the decades of the 1750s and the 1770s, and the least number of cases for the decades of the 1720s and the 1790s. The number of cases per individual year range from zero to nineteen, with cases 127 missing for the years 1742 and 1789, and the highest number of cases available for 1772.

Inevitably the database is a sample of the financial activities that were carried out in eighteenth century Oaxaca that enables study of the general patterns of credit practices representative of the period.

The database identifies twenty credit institutions that formed the formal credit network, and three categories of lenders who were part of the informal credit network but collaborated with the formal institutions. Among the formal institutions in Oaxaca were the convents of Santa

Catalina, La Concepcion, La Soledad, and Capuchinas Espaflolas de San Jose; the monasteries of

Santo Domingo, San Francisco, Del Carmen, San Augusti'n, La Merced, San Pablo, and San

Felipe Neri; the hospitals and colleges of Betlen, San Juan de Dios, San Cosme, Ninos de la

Presentacion, seminario de Estudios, and Infantes de Cristo. There were also numerous formal organizations grouped into the categories of cofradias (brotherhoods), capellamas (chantries) and obra pias (pious works). Among the informal networks of credit were religious and lay individuals who provided personal credit, mostly in collaboration with formal institutions, as well as miscellaneous creditors whom 1 could not readily categorize.

Context

Convents reflected colonial society and continuously interacted with it, providing spiritual, cultural and financial support. Regional variations, in Latin America as well as in New

Spain (Mexico), led to apparent differences in the nature of convents' economic interactions with the lay world. In Cuzco, the convents of Santa Clara and Santa Catalina produced and reproduced local colonial society. During the sixteenth century they admitted daughters of the

Inca nobles as well as elite mestizas and Espanolas. In their interactions with the lay world, the 128 convents extended their financial support to propertied elite families of each of the corresponding groups.12 David Brading contends that the Church in New Spain preferred to lend

11 to elites, and especially to agriculturalists. The research by Linda Greenow supports this notion. She shows that in Nueva Galicia (Guadalajara) only elite Spanish families, and individuals, participated in colonial credit, whether ecclesiastical or not. Convents and monasteries had a relatively small share of the local credit market that was restricted to the local landed, predominantly rural, elites, indicating that interactions with the lay community were limited by class and race.14 Similarly, Gisela von Wobeser shows that in Mexico City elites were most likely to obtain credit from the city's convents. Barely two percent of borrowers were artisans: the only group of borrowers that may have included a lower class, and presumably casta}5 In Mexico City and in Guadalajara, lay women rarely received credit from local convents.16 Douglas Cope shows that Mexico City plebeians had opportunities for upward social mobility, and credit or access to it fostered such mobility. The credit that was available to

Mexico City's plebeians, nonetheless, involved only petty cash, local shopkeepers or master

12 Kathryn Burns, Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru (Durham, 1999), 17, 9, 135-152.

13 David A. Brading. Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-1810 (Cambridge. 1971). 218.

14 Nearly all individuals involved in the credit market of Guadalajara had used the prefix don. and Indians did not appear neither as borrowers or lenders in any of the documents surveyed by Linda Greenow. Further. Greenow indicates that convents, including monasteries, supplied 33.6 percent ofecciesiastical credit, and merely 17 percent of total credit issued during the 18lh c.. see Linda L. Greenow. Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara, 1720-1820, Dellplain Latin American studies; no. 12. (Boulder. Colorado, 1983), 37,47, 72,75.

15 Wobeser, El credito eclesiastico en la Nueva Espafia, sigh XVIII, 116-118, 251.

Ifl Ibid., 116-118, 25; Greenow, Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara. 1720-1820, p.56. 129 artisans provided it as opposed to ecclesiastical institutions.17 According to Marie Francois women in Mexico City were most successful at obtaining cash credit at pawnshops, but this was

18 used as a temporary measure to make ends meet, rather than to improve one's social position.

Race was the most significant obstacle that stood in the way of a more dynamic social mobility and access to greater credit.19 Yet, at the same time, in Oaxaca economic relations between convents and the lay community were not restricted to the elites; many of the borrowers were commoners, in other words, people who did not have the honorific prefix of don and dona. In this chapter, 1 show that common people of the propertied middling sort, including women and

non-whites, received credit from the convent of Santa Catalina.

The nature of economic activities that involved convents and the lay community depended in part on custom, and in part on local conditions. In particular, it depended on the

relationship between an urban center and its rural vicinity, and on the power relations between various groups within that community. There was a strong connection between the elites of

Guadalajara and its rural areas. The city was a Spanish administrative and commercial center and the rural vicinity was dotted with haciendas and ranchos. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Intendancy of Guadalajara had ninety-six haciendas and 2,659 ranchos, with an overall population of 50 percent Indians and over 20 percent mulatos.20 Haciendas were also of

paramount importance in the Valley of Mexico. As early as the seventeenth century, Spaniards

17 Douglas R. Cope. The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660- 1720 (Madison, 1994), 109.

18 Marie Eileen Francois, A Culture of Everyday Credit: Housekeeping, Pawnbroking, and Governance in Mexico City, 1750-1920 (Lincoln, 2006).

|l) Cope. The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720. p. 121.

~° Eric Van Young. Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-Century Mexico: The Rural Economy of the Guadalajara Region, 1675-1820 (Berkeley, 1981), 108.28. 39. 130 owned half of the arable land. However, the structure and character of haciendas differed greatly

from those in northern Mexico.21 At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the state of Puebla

had 478 haciendas and 911 ranchos; there were also 764 pueblos (indigenous villages).22 By contrast, the indigenous people of Oaxaca were able to retain control of their land rights, and severely restricted the formation of large Spanish estates. At the end of the eighteenth century,

Spaniards owned less than one third of the land: significantly less than in the seventeenth century.23 The province of Oaxaca had 928 pueblos with a population of about 363,000 Indios.

There were only eighty-three haciendas and 269 ranchos, with only forty-two haciendas and

ranchos within the Valley of Oaxaca.24 It is apparent that the Spanish population of the city of

Oaxaca had a much weaker presence in, and links to, its countryside than was the case in the other large urban centers of Mexico. Furthermore, the region experienced rural to urban

migration as early as the sixteenth century as indigenous people came to live in the barrios

(wards) surrounding the city of Oaxaca. The combination of a dense indigenous population in

the province and Bishopric of Oaxaca that became denser during the eighteenth century, the lack of rich mineral resources that would sustain a large Spanish population as in Zacatecas or in

Eric Van Young, "Mexican Rural History Since Chevalier: The Historiography of the Colonial Hacienda." Latin American Research Review 18 (1983). 12; Cope, The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720, p. 13.

22 Brian R. Hamnett, "Dye Production, Food Supply, and the Laboring Population of Oaxaca. 1750-1820." Hispanic American Historical Review 51 (1971). 52.

William B. Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, 1972), pp. VIII. 162-163.

24 These are estimates for 1793 and 1810, see Hamnett, "Dye Production, Food Supply, and the Laboring Population of Oaxaca, 1750-1820," p.52; In 1643 there were already 41 haciendas in the valley, see John K. Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, 1978), 106; The indigenous population in the Valley of Oaxaca has been estimated at 350,000. in the early sixteenth century. By the 1560s. the population was reduced to some 150,000. The lowest point in indigenous population was perhaps in the 1630s. with 40.000 to 45,000. By the 1740s. the population increased to 70,000 and by the 1790s it has recovered to 110.000, as summarized in Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca, 17-18, 29. 131

Queretaro, and the remoteness of the area (the next large city was over 270 km/169 miles away)

led to differences in social structure from the settlements in northern New Spain.25

Economic relations between convents and lay communities also depended on the

creditors' business agenda. In particular, the convents of Mexico City, Puebla and Guadalajara

were not interested in the ownership of rural property. They gladly accepted rural landholdings

from the elites as collateral, but when the convents became owners through foreclosure, they

quickly resold such properties. While these convents were interested in various types of

investments, when it came to actual ownership, they were oriented towards urban property.26

The situation in Oaxaca was different. The convents of Oaxaca were atypical in a sense that they

owned numerous rural landholdings either through direct purchase or through foreclosure.27

They also owned urban property and financed various ventures of lay Oaxaquefios. Similarly to

convents in Oaxaca, the convents of Santa Clara and Santa Catalina in Cuzco, Peru, owned

extensive rural properties, including haciendas, ranchos, and obrajes (textile mills).28 They

relied on mita labour (forced labour of indigenous people) while, as will be discussed in the

following chapter, the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca relied on African slaves and free

indigenous labour.29 It is unknown if convents in the two cities, and two different Viceroyalties,

25 Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 6. 8.

Wobeser, El credito eclesiastico en la Nueva Espaha, siglo XVIII. 53-54; Rosalva Loreto Lopez. Los Conventos Femininosy el Mundo Urbano de la Puebla de los Angeles del Siglo XVIII (Mexico, D.F.. 2000). 189; Van Young. Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-Century Mexico: The Rural Economy of the Guadalajara Region, 1675-1820. p. 169-172.

"7 Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca, 170. 185-186.

28 Burns. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru, 85-86, 143.

Mita in South America referred to forced indigenous labour. However this was not the same as slavery; after 1542. slavery of indigenous people was not permitted. Instead they were coerced to perform labour for Spaniards for an x number of days per year. Quotas for this type of labour were sanctioned by the Crown. 132 had any contact with each other, or if they exchanged investment ideas and strategies, not even if they knew about each other.

Local conditions that were rooted in the dynamics of the community account for the phenomenon observed among the convents of Oaxaca. The strong relationship between indigenous people and the rural land in the Valley of Oaxaca, and the weak position of Spaniards in that area severely constrained the size and power of the elite.30 This resulted in a city that had a "small, wealthy elite, a large semi-skilled and unskilled work force, and a well-developed middle layer of professional and skilled occupations."31 In order to prosper, creditors may have been forced to extend credit to people in the middle layer. At the same time, by providing access to capital, they promoted the growth of that sector. Furthermore, the large indigenous population in the area and their heavy involvement in, or control of, the cochineal industry meant that they had formed a large proportion of the middling layer of Oaxacan society.32 They were more likely to own property, and seek and receive credit from formal institutions of credit in Oaxaca, than indigenous people in Guadalajara, Mexico City and even in Puebla. Such local conditions shaped the nature of interactions between convents and the lay community of Oaxaca that extended credit beyond the elite. These conditions had a distinct impact on the level of convents' involvement in the economic development of the community.

10 For the role of indigenous people in the economy of the Valley of Oaxaca. and land tenure practices see I'ay lor. Landlord and Peasani in Colonial Oaxaca, especially chapter 2; and Jeremy Baskes. Indians, Merchants, and Markets: A Reinterpretation of the Repartimiento and Spanish-Indian Economic Relations in Colonial Oaxaca, 1750-1821 (Stanford. 2000).

11 Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 164.

12 For a discussion of the cochineal industry and the role of indigenous people in it see Baskes, Indians, Merchants, and Markets: A Reinterpretation of the Repartimiento and Spanish-Indian Economic Relations in Colonial Oaxaca, 1750-1821', For a discussion of the power of indigenous elites in Oaxaca see Luisa Zahino Porta tort. "La Fundacion del Convento para Indias Cacicas de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles en Oaxaca." in El Monaclo Feminino en el Imperio Espaenol: Monasterios, Beaterios, Recogimientosy Colegios. ed. Manuel Ramos Medina (Mexico. D.F.. 1995). 331-337. 133

The Ecclesiastical Credit Market: Terms and Conditions

The ecclesiastical (formal) credit market was static and tied to land or other real property.

There were very few and rare connections beyond the local region. I found that only one in 200 loan contracts involved cities outside the jurisdiction of the Bishopric of Oaxaca. Therefore, it is most useful to talk about regional credit markets at a city, state or bishopric level. By comparison, the informal/lay credit market was much more dynamic and attached to movable goods and merchandise. Within it, the great merchants/lenders and their goods moved around, and at the same time credit, and ultimately money, moved geographically and physically with them. Despite the limited geographical scope of the ecclesiastical credit markets, the policy issued by crown and clergy unified them; connecting all the markets within the colony under one umbrella. Moreover, all of the ecclesiastical institutions, whether they were regular orders, secular clergy or chantries, operated within the same legal framework.

The Church, or any branch of it, did not provide loans in a true sense; it provided censos instead. The Church held a long lasting position against usury whereby lending money at interest, or the collection of interest on principal, regardless of its size, constituted theft and therefore a moral sin and, under the Spanish law, an illegal activity.33 As long as interest was included with a repayment of the principal, the activity was usurious. Creditors, therefore, did not demand a repayment of the principal, but borrowers could repay it at any time. Instead of charging interest, creditors charged late fees on overdue payments. They also charged compensation for taking the risk of providing a loan, for potentially losing gains from other

11 For a discussion of motives of the church on prohibiting usury between 500 and 1830 see Clyde G. Reed and Cliff T. Beker. "Religious Prohibitions Against Usury," Explorations in Economic History 40 (2003): 347-368; For a broader discussion of usury see Toon Van Houdt. '"Lack of Money': A Reappraisal of Lessius' Contribution to the Scholastic Analysis of Money-Lending and Interest-Taking," European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 5 (Spring 1998): 1-35; John Munro, "The Medieval Origins of the Financial Revolution: Usury, Renters, and Negotiability." International History Review 25 (2003): 505-562. 134 investments, and for not having access to their money when needed. Collection of this compensation resembled a rental fee on the capital invested, and such a contract was called a censo not a loan. In order to avoid usury, the law explained that these contracts had to contain real property.34 During the sixteenth century, the permitted compensation associated with risk taking was 7.14 percent (catorce mil el miliar), however, the fee was not standardized and some of the censos charged five or even 10 percent. By the eighteenth century, the Spanish Crown approved an annual fee of 5 percent (Nueva y Real Pragmatica de veinle mil el miliar)?5 What resulted was a credit system based on several types of liens and loans: all generally referred to as censos, all charging a 5 percent annuity, and indistinguishable from each other within the documents.

In the New World, in theory, there were three general categories of censo contracts or mortgages. The censo enflteutico was a long-term, or perpetual, credit contract that resembled a rental of property. That is, someone other than the owner used the property, and the price of the rental was set at 5 percent of the value of the property, as opposed to an arbitrary rental fee paid annually. The censo al quitar, sometimes called censo reservativo, was another long-term credit instrument that involved the transfer of real property and rendered more property rights to the buyer/renter than in the previous censo. The third type of contract was the censo consignativo, through which one person sold or transferred real property to another person. The buyer of the property took a perpetual credit to finance the transaction and was obliged to pay 5 percent

,4 Pope Innocent IV made this connection in 1251. Also, as long as the beneficiary of the principal paid annuities, the principal was not collected and therefore no loan was issued, and therefore no usury was committed, see Munro. "The Medieval Origins of the Financial Revolution: Usury. Renters, and Negotiability," 522-523.

15 Schwaller, Origins of Church Wealth in Mexico: Ecclesiastical Revenues and Church Finances, 1523- 1600, pp.114-116; Burns. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco, Peru, 65; Alfonso W. Quiroz. "Reassessing the Role of Credit in Late Colonial Peru: Censos. Escrituras. and Imposiciones," Hispanic American Historical Review 74 (May 1994), 196-197; Victoria H. Cummins. "The Church and Business Practices in I,ate Sixteenth Century Mexico." Americas 44 (April 1988). 429-430. 135 annuities on the principal. The new owner could however, repay the principal at any time. This device resembled a modern mortgage and was most popular during the colonial period. A subcategory of censo consignativo was censo perpetuo where someone borrowed money, rather than real property, and real property was used as collateral to secure the contract. The credit could be long-term or short term, and required the borrower to pay 5 percent annuities regardless of when he or she planned to pay back the principal.36

In practice however, there were many deviations from theory. Rarely, if ever, did lenders, borrowers and their notaries use the prescribed terminology. While most of the documents used in this study were undoubtedly censos consignativos, within this category there were at least three distinct types of credit transactions that were arranged by the convents and residents of Oaxaca. The loans Lorenzo Tibursio de Leon, whom we met earlier, obtained in the

1740s represent the most common credit transactions: the reconocimientos. In these cases, two parties transferred the ownership of real property and the buyer obtained credit from the convents to finance the purchase. The buyer/borrower was then obliged to pay annuities on the censo to the convent, whereas the principal could remain intact for a lifetime. Nearly half of the cases of

!6 Tor a discussion on censos. and the difference between liens and loans see Bauer. " The Church in the Economy of Spanish America: Censos and Depositos in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries"; Ciisela Von Wobeser. "Mecanicos Crediticios en la Nueva Espana: El uso del Censo Consignativo." Mexican Studies /Estudios Mexicanos 5 (Witnter 1989): 1-23; It should be noted that historians vary in their interpretation of the various censos and how they were practiced. According to Schwaller censo redimible was prepared when money was borrowed, according to Cummins it was censo perpetuo that involved the transfer of money, while according to Schwaller it was a lease on property, see Cummins. "The Church and Business Practices in Late Sixteenth Century Mexico." 430; and Schwaller. Origins of Church Wealth in Mexico: Ecclesiastical Revenues and Church Finances, 1523- 1600. p. 114; According to Quiroz. and Burns, censo at quitar was the same as censo consignativo. see Quiroz, "Reassessing the Role of Credit in Late Colonial Peru: Censos. Escrituras. and Imposiciones." 197; Burns. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cu:co, Peru. 64; while Taylor equates all censos with mortgages see Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 141. 136 this type involved a cash deposit on the principal, and annuities were paid on the remaining

•57 balance, as in the scenario represented by the loan obtained by Br. don Nicolas Ruiz in 1760.

The second most common type of censo encountered in the eighteenth century, the imposition, is represented by loans obtained by dofia Maria Ignacia de Lara and don Manuel

Gonzalez. In 1724, dofia Maria showed up at the convent of Santa Catalina asking to borrow

100 pesos in cash. She had been at the convent several times before and was familiar with the procedures. In 1716, she and her husband, who had since passed away, had purchased a house from Santa Catalina. The price for the house was 1,170 pesos: they paid cash deposit of 170 pesos and arranged a censo for the balance. Six months later, however, they repaid 600 pesos of their 1,000 pesos principal. They then paid 5 percent annuities on a censo of 400 pesos. On the one hand, in 1724 dona Maria understood that she had to provide collateral, in a form of real property, if she wanted to borrow cash. Thus, she used the house she had bought earlier to secure this new loan.38 On the other hand, the nuns at Santa Catalina knew that dofia Maria had a good credit history and that she could be trusted. They must have considered her a safe investment when they lent her the money in a long-term (perpetual) censo.

During the second half of the eighteenth century when Oaxaca experienced unprecedented economic growth propelled by the cochineal industry, the ecclesiastical institutions in Oaxaca changed their credit policy regarding cash censos. They stopped issuing indefinite cash censos, as in the case of dofia Maria and instead, specified a period in which

17 The database was constructed based on 89 percent of cases where loans were contracted. The remaining 11 percent of documents were bills of sale, titles to properties, or other cases that clearly spell out associated financing arrangements. The most common types of censo documents were the Reconocimienlos de X pesos de principal, and in 43 percent of them a deposit was made on the principal.

18 Cash loans comprised nearly 20 percent of censos. This particular type ofloan was the imposicion de X pesos de principal. AHAO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Roligiosos. Imposicion de 100 pesos, afio 1724. 137 borrowers had to repay the cash loans. The period of repayment ranged from one to six years, with two and four-year periods being the most common. Credit institutions also stipulated in their contracts that if repayments were late, the borrower would face penalty charges, or late fees, of two pesos de oro de minas per day, even though both the principal and the annuities were always expressed in pesos de oro comm.39 In 1777, don Manuel Gonzalez borrowed 500 pesos from the monastery of Santo Domingo, and had to repay it in four years. Like dona Maria, he used his home, worth 1,990 pesos, as collateral. The property had only one other censo placed against it for 790 pesos contracted with the same monastery.40 A good credit history and familiarity with fiscal policy enabled don Manuel to obtain a cash loan from formal credit networks. Unfortunately, the documents do not explain why either dona Maria or don Manuel needed the cash, nor how don Manuel intended to raise enough cash in four years to repay the censo. It can be speculated however, that it may have had something to do with the booming industry of the period.

A less frequent subcategory of the censos consignativos was a contract which required the borrower to repay part of the principal in a specified time, while the balance remained unpaid indefinitely. In these cases, the contracts stipulated that the borrower would repay part of the loan in anywhere from three months to four years, most often in one year. In some instances, a cash deposit could precede this type of a transaction. Consider the case of Juan Francisco Perez and his wife Maria de Mendoza, both Indios, who purchased a house in 1779. They acquired the property for 900 pesos from dofia Rita Henriquez de Cumillas. They paid her 300 pesos in cash,

39 Both peso de oro de minas and peso de oro comun were silver coins and were used in bookkeeping. The first one was worth 485 marvedises and the second 300 marvedises. An alloy coin called the peso de tipuzque was in actual circulation and was worth 272 marvedises.

40 This type of document was titled obiigacion de X pesos de principal. ACiEO: I'ondo Obispado. leg.l I. ano 1777. 138 arranged a certso for 400 pesos at the convent of La Concepcion, and made a commitment to pay

200 additional pesos to La Concepcion in nine months.41

The formal credit institutions in eighteenth-century Oaxaca were involved in the credit market, issuing censos or loans/mortgages, in a number of ways: When directly selling property, when lending cash for collateral or when financing a transaction as a third-party. Convents and monasteries sold their own property in 37 percent of the surveyed contracts, as in the cases of dofia Maria Ignacia de Lara and don Manuel Gonzalez. They provided cash in exchange for collateral in 16 percent of the cases, as in the examples of dona Maria Ignacia de Lara and don

Manuel Gonzalez. Their most notable participation, however, was providing financing as a third party, as illustrated in the cases of dona Maria de Luna Ximenez and Lorenzo Tibursio de Leon.

In 46 percent of the contracts, convents and monasteries financed religious and lay individuals, as well as other religious organizations, in their acquisition of real property. In these types of cases, it was also common for several creditors to provide funding for a portion of the cost of the property. Frequently two institutions financed one sale, and sporadically six, seven, or even nine creditors collaborated on a single case. In 1776, don Juan Francisco Noriega purchased a house and a small plot of urban land from Salvador Gomez and his wife Maria Leocadia Martinez, who were both Indios. The property was valued at 1,200 pesos. Don Juan paid 200 pesos cash directly to Salvador and Maria, and arranged two censos to cover the rest. He borrowed 200 pesos from Santo Domingo and 800 pesos from Santa Catalina. Both were long-term censos with 5 percent annuities.42

41 AGEO: Fondo Obispado, leg. 12. exp.9.

4" AHAO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimtinto de 800 pesos, afio 1776. 139

When people acquired property and sought financing for their purchases, they could also solicit loans from the broader ecclesiastical credit market that included sources other than convents and monasteries. They could borrow money, in a form of censos, from various cofradias, capellanias and obraspias, and on occasion from private individuals whether religious or not. Such organizations provided credit in collaboration with convents and monasteries, and were a source of funding in 22 percent of the surveyed contracts that 1 have found. On average, they also tended to provide larger censos than the convents did. An average credit provided by capellanias was 2,113 pesos, while the convent of La Soledad, which supplied a similar number of censos as all the capellanias combined, issued credits that averaged

1,549 pesos.

All censos were legally binding contracts. A public notary prepared each contact on a paper legalized by a Royal stamp and signed it in the presence of three witnesses, the buyer and seller of the property, and an authorized representative acting on behalf of each of the credit institutions that provided a censo. This means that theoretically, depending on how many censos were contracted to finance the purchase of one property (or one case), there could be at the very least seven people present at signing of the document.43 When the convent of La Concepcion provided financing, the transaction took place at the convent's locutorio, and the entire council of the convent was present as well, including the abbess of the convent, her five advisors, and a secretary.44 This certainly made for a crowded room of people well versed in credit policy. The other credit institutions had less formal procedures: it was sufficient if the vicar of the convent,

43 For a discussion on how legal documents were drawn up see Kathryn Burns. Into the Archive: Writing and Power in Colonial Peru (Durham. 2010). especially chapter 3.

44 For a discussion of the use of locutorios see Antonio Rubial Garcia. "Las Animas del Locutorio. Alianzas y Conflictos Entre las Monjas y su Entorno en la Manipulacion de lo Sagrado." Prolija Memoria. Estudios de Cult lira Virreinal (2006): 113-128.. 140 or the mayordomo, made a trip to the office of the notaries to formalize the transaction.45 Once all was finalized, several identical copies of the cerno document were prepared. For ten pesos per document, the seller and one of each of the creditors received a copy of the censo, while the buyer received a document that was the title to the property purchased and contained the same information as the document for the mortgage.

Risk Assessment: Credit in Practice

The business of providing credit carried enormous risks. Wrong or ill-informed decisions could mean a loss of annuities, and possibly lengthy and costly litigation. Considering the immobility of the nuns, physically confined by the walls of their convents, collecting information on potential borrowers and then collecting annuities was especially challenging. In Oaxaca this task would become more taxing as the city expanded from a population of 3,000 to over 18,000 from beginning to the end of the eighteenth century. Mismanagement of money and properties could potentially lead convents to bankruptcy. None of the convents in Oaxaca reached the brink of bankruptcy; however, scholars speculate that some of the convents in New Spain suffered greatly from financial mismanagement. Lavrin points out that this was one of the main reasons for convent reforms in the late eighteenth century.46 When analyzing credit policy it is apparent

45 Convents had an administrator or majordomo, who represented them in all linancial matters that extended to the lay world. He was responsible for transactions involving properties and rentals. 1 lowever. he did not make decisions for the convent. The abbess, and her advisors, made all the decisions and the majordomo simply fulfilled them. At the convent of Santa Catalina the vicar general was also the convent's administrator of properties, while at one point the convent of La Concepcion hired a merchant for that purpose. The prior provincial at Santo Domingo administered properties at that monastery and at San Pablo. For a greater discussion on the leadership of convents see chapter 2 of this dissertation, and also AHAO: Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno; and AGEO: Fondo Obispado; also see Asuncion Lavrin. "The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century." Hispanic American Historical Review 46 (Nov., 1966). 375. 141

that the policy took into consideration potential problems with repayment, hence the tying of all censos to real property. Also, the censos were never worth more than the property purchased or

placed in collateral. In the event that there was already a censo on a property, a borrower could obtain a new mortgage only for the portion of the value free of encumbrances. Creditors could also insist on a co-signer {fiador) to commit to the repayment of a censo, thus decreasing their

risk of losing the capital. The convents of Oaxaca used this measure in less than 5 percent of the cases, however: most often when issuing large cash loans. They also supplied loans to people

who already had an established credit history with one of the formal credit institutions, as was

the case with loans obtained by dofia Maria Ignacia de Lara and don Manuel Gonzalez.

Nevertheless, some of those borrowers still defaulted on their mortgages, and there were many

more first time or one time borrowers, who came from various backgrounds, who sought

mortgages of various sizes, ranging from forty to 16,000 pesos, and posed potential risks to the

investors.

Measuring the risk credit institutions took is not in order to argue that the convent of Santa

Catalina maximized its profits by minimizing risks, nor that any of the credit institutions engaged

in rational market-oriented behaviour. Rather it is to say that if these institutions wanted a steady

income and to avoid bankruptcy, and they did, they most likely wanted to minimize the risk of

borrowers defaulting on loans. Thus, 1 measure or evaluate their success by their ability to achieve that goal. I think that the colonial credit institutions expected to make a profit; after all calzadas convents relied on reinvestment of money collected in dowries, and not on alms as did descalzas convents. Nor is there any evidence that any of the convents in the Spanish Empire

46 Lavrin points out that mismanagement of funds prompted convent reforms of the late 18,h c. however the outhor did not differentiate between calzadas and decahas convents in that discussion, see Asuncion Lavrin, "Ecclesiastical Reform of Nunneries in New Spain in the Eighteenth-Century." The Americas 22 (July. 1965): 182- 203 . 142 were in the habit of engaging in business activities for the sake of losing their investments in favour of promoting any individual or organization. However, I do not think that convents were there to maximize profits either. Profit maximization may very well have been a personal goal or agenda of one convent administrator or another, but it cannot be readily studied. The limited availability of sources on convents, or on credit, does not permit for interpretations on that topic.

At this point only basic credit policy can be studied, and part of that includes the strategies adopted to avoid risk.

Formal credit institutions devised several strategies that helped reduce the risk of lending.

One strategy was to provide smaller rather than large loans. From the perspective of a creditor, smaller loans were safer because the potential loss of an investment was smaller, while supplying

large loans was risky because the potential loss was proportionally greater. As seen through the

records in my database, the most successful credit institution, the convent of Santa Catalina,

provided loans that averaged 1,131 pesos each with a total of 367,480 pesos invested in the community of Oaxaca during the eighteenth century. The size of an average loan from La

Soledad was 1,549 with a total of 61,952 pesos invested. The smallest loan issued by the

monastery of San Francisco was 2,000 pesos, and the size of an average loan provided by capellanias was 2,113 pesos with 120,415 pesos of total amount of money invested (table 4.1). I attribute the success of the convent of Santa Catalina partly to its strategy of diversifying

investments. The convent spread the risk across a larger pool of borrowers and was not

interested in issuing large loans as a sole lender, but rather only in collaboration with other

institutions. The size of the credit issued, or the amount of money involved, indicates whether the convents considered the loans safe or risky. 143

Table 4.1 Distribution of Censos, by Credit Institution in Oaxaca, 1720-1800

Average Minimum Maximum Total Credit Proportion of Institutions Credit Size of Size of Issued Total Money Issued Size Credit Credit Lent Convents Santa Catalina 325 1,131 40 16,000 367,480 38 La Concepci6n 81 1,267 100 11,900 102,608 10 La Soledad 40 1,549 200 6,000 61,952 6 Capuchinas: San Jose 9 544 200 1,000 4,900 1

Capuchinas Indias 0 - - - - - Total Convents 455 55

Monasteries Santo Domingo, Dominican 104 1,028 50 6,000 106,926 11 San Francisco, Descalzos 2 3,500 2,000 5,000 7,000 1 Del Carmen, Descalzos 6 718 160 1,000 4,310 0 San Augusti'n, Calzados 7 791 300 1,870 5,535 1 La Merced 7 1,278 100 2,000 8,944 1 San Pablo, Dominican 26 901 300 2,000 23,421 2 Oratorio de San Felipe Neri 8 1,313 300 6,200 10,500 1 Total Monastereis 160 17

Hospitals Betten 1 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 0 San Juan de Dios 11 1,475 300 2,225 16,225 2 Hospital Real de San Cosme 4 600 200 1,000 2,400 0 Total Hospitals 16 2

Colleges Nifias de la Presentaci6n 3 1,077 100 2,400 3,230 0 Seminario de Estudios 6 1,518 200 6,000 9,108 1 Infantes de Cristo 0 - - - - - Total Colleges 9 1

Other Personal Loans: Religious 27 968 50 5,200 26,134 3 Personal Loans: Lay 24 881 50 3,700 21,146 2 Cofradias 13 527 71 1,273 6,849 1 Other 47 808 80 2,600 37,968 4 Capellanias 57 2,113 200 9,000 120,415 12 Obra Pi'as 15 2,466 100 9,000 36,994 4 Total Other 183 25

Overall Total 823 986,544

Sources: Archivo Historico de la Arquibispado de Oaxaca (AHAO): Fondo Diocesano, Gobiemo, Religiosos 1720-1800; and Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO): Fondo Obispado, 1720-1800 144

Another strategy to reduce the risk of lending was to collaborate with other creditors to finance a single contract, as was illustrated by the story of don Juan Francisco

Noriega from 1776. When a credit institution had doubts and considered a censo too risky an investment, it provided only a portion of funding and other creditors provided the balance. In such cases, the lenders took a smaller risk and potentially absorbed smaller losses: this was especially practical in cases of large loans. In eighteenth-century

Oaxaca, the number of lenders increased in proportion to the size of loans (table 4.2).

When one lender provided credit, the average size of a mortgage was 1,102 pesos; when two lenders provided credit, the average size of a mortgage was 1,929 pesos; when three creditors provided a loan then the average size of a mortgage was 3,016 pesos, with an additional 1,000 pesos added-on with each consecutive lender involved. On average, larger loans were riskier than smaller loans, and collaboration among creditors was one of the measures to reduce the risk.

Table 4.2 Number of Lenders Involved in Financing Individual Cases of Credit, by Credit Institutions in Oaxaca, 1720-1800

Number of Lenders Number of Proportion Average Minimum Size ofMaximum Size of per Case Cases of Cases Credit Size Total Censos Total Census 1 418 73 1,102 40 16,000 2 87 15 1,929 217 9,000 3 39 7 3,016 400 10,000 4 or more 29 5 7,831 2,700 22,900

Total 573 100

Sources: Archivo Historico de la Arquibispado de Oaxaca (AHAO): Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos 1720-1800; and Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO): Fondo Obispado, 1720-1800 145

A third strategy that helped reduce risks associated with lending was for creditors to demand a cash deposit, or cash down payment on purchases by their potential borrowers. In the case of the formal credit institutions in Oaxaca, there was a substantial difference between the average size of loans when a cash contribution was made and when it was not (table 4.3), as well as in terms of the average price of property acquired.

The average size of a mortgage with a deposit was 2,036 pesos and without deposit it was

1,442 pesos, while the average price of property when deposit was paid was 2,738 pesos and 1,985 pesos with no deposit. An average borrower who asked for a large loan would be required to obtain a censo from more than one institution and would have to make a cash deposit. In addition to the sheer size of a loan, other criteria also determined a risky loan and required a cash deposit. Lay elites paid deposits 48 percent of the time and their loans averaged 2,573 pesos, while 43 percent of plebeians (meaning individuals without an honorific title attached to their name) made a deposit when, on average, borrowing only 739 pesos (table 4.3). Clergy, who were not part of lay elites, paid a deposit 36 percent of the time when on average borrowing 3,633 pesos, and certainly posed the least risk (table 4.3).47 In terms of occupation, professionals borrowed an average of 3,519 pesos and paid a deposit 38 percent of the time, while low-status artisans on average borrowed 377 pesos and paid a deposit 39 percent of the time (table 4.3). Men and widows also posed a smaller risk than married women or castas. Men paid a deposit 45

47 Secular clergy could have private incomes and church incomes. Those employed in parochial activities, in addition to private incomes, had a guaranteed income from the Crown, and used the tithe for the administration of the parishes. Others could derive income from their professions as lawyers or doctors, and received higher salaries than non-religious/lay professionals did. All secular clergy were from the elite class, and were ordained only if they secured a minimum income of 300 pesos a year, whether from estate of their parents, income from pious works and chantries, or from canonical or professional appointments. Therefore secular clergy as a group represented a very safe investment and seemed capable of paying the annual annuities on their censos. See Schwaller. Origins of Church Wealth in Mexico: Ecclesiastical Revenues and Church Finances, 1523-1600. pp. 5-10. 146 percent of the time and averaged loans of 2,457 pesos. Widows paid a deposit 26 percent of the time and averaged loans of 1,339 pesos (table 4.3). In the mean time, married women deposited cash 33 percent of the time and their loans averaged 772 pesos; people of various castas paid deposits 41 percent of the time and their loans averaged 453 pesos

(table 4.3). On average, providing loans to certain groups of people was less of a risk than providing loans to other groups, and in such cases, the cash deposit represented a certain form of insurance. There was no fixed cost of this insurance or no fixed proportion of deposit relative to the value of property, or censo sought. Depending on the level of risk, borrowers provided a deposit of up to 50 percent of the property value. 147

Table 4.3 Cash Down Payments Made by all Borrowers, by Class, Occupation, Gender, Marital Status and Race in Oaxaca, 1720-1800

Paid Cash Down Payment No Cash Down Payment

Average Proportion of Average Proportion of Credit Size All Cases Credit Size All Cases Cash Deposit 2,036 44 1,442 56

Class/Occupation Clergy 3,633 36 2,346 64 Lay Elites 2,573 48 1,739 52 Plebeians 739 43 650 57 Professionals 3,519 38 2,419 62 High-status Artisans 1,200 57 1,403 43 Low-status Artisans 377 39 695 61

Gender Men 2,457 45 1,647 55 Women 1,339 43 930 57

Marital Status Single 2,203 52 1,113 48 Widows 1,127 26 1,243 74 Married 772 51 1,309 49

Race Castas 453 41 444 59

Sources: Archivo Historico de la Arquibispado de Oaxaca (AHAO): Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos 1720-1800; and Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO): Fondo Obispado, 1720-1800

Lending money to elites was understood to be safer than lending to commoners, and while nearly all credit institutions at some point provided mortgages to plebeians some did so very rarely.48 The convent of La Soledad provided 88 percent of its loans to people with an elite status. The Oratorio de San Felipe Neri had a small share of the

48 Brading points out that the Church saw hacendados and their haciendas as the safest investment, and mines and obrajes as carrying the most risk. Brading. Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-18!0. p.218. credit market, but 88 percent of its loans also went to the elites (table 4.4). The monastery of San Pablo had a larger share of the credit market, but it too preferred to lend to the elites and did so 85 percent of the time. San Juan de Dios, San Cosme, Capellanias and Obra Pias shared similar preferences. As a group, plebeians who sought censos from formal credit institutions were most successful borrowing at the convents of Santa

Catalina and La Concepcion, and at the monastery of Santo Domingo, where forty, thirty- eight and thirty-nine percent of the loans went to such borrowers, respectively.

Administrators of some institutions paid much attention to the socioeconomic status of their borrowers, and used that status as a reliable measure of risk assessment, and preferred to extend credit to some groups rather than to others. This notion, however, is contradictory, or counter-intuitive, to the other three measures of risk assessment. Nor does it explain the overwhelming success of the three institutions that did not follow this premise: just why were Santa Catalina, La Concepcion and Santo Domingo more successful, or risk averse, if they took risks lending to plebeians and did not follow the safest route of lending only to the elites as did the less successful institutions? 149

Table 4.4 Number and Proportion of Censos Provided to the Elite, by Credit Institution in Oaxaca, 1720-1800

Number of Censos Proportion of Censos Issued to Elites Issued to Elites Convents Santa Catalina 194 60 La Concepcion 50 62 La Soledad 35 88 Capuchinas: San Jose 4 44

Capuchinas Indias 0 - Total Convents 283

Monasteries Santo Domingo 63 61 San Francisco 2 100 Del Carmen 4 67 San Augustin 4 57 La Merced 5 71 San Pablo 22 85 San Felipe Neri 7 88 Total Monasteries 167

Hospitals Betten 1 100 San Juan de Dios 9 82 San Cosme 3 75 Total Hospitals 13

Colleges Nifios de la Presentation 1 33 Seminario de Estudios 6 100

Infantes de Cristo 0 - Total Colleges 7

Other Personal loans: Religious 18 67 Personal loans: Lay 16 67 Cofradias 9 69 Other 31 66 Capellanias 46 81 Obra Pias 11 73 Total Other 131

Overall Total 541

Sources: Archivo Historico de la Arquibispado de Oaxaca (AHAO): Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos 1720-1800; and Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO): Fondo Obispado, 1720-1800 150

The size of loans, the number of lenders financing a loan, and the presence of cash deposits were reliable measures that reduced the risk lenders faced when providing credit. They explain the nature of the ecclesiastical credit market in eighteenth-century

Oaxaca, as well as credit practices and what guided them. Formal credit institutions combined credit policy and practical knowledge to minimize their risk, and to maintain a steady flow of annuities. In the case of Santa Catalina the convent diversified its investments by lending to a wider clientele, and it used various measures to guard itself against high-risk loans. The market, including demand, supply and risk avoidance, guided the actions and business choices of the convent.

Credit Institutions: Their Sources of Investment and Funding

Convents and monasteries exerted economic influence on their lay communities.

In the Valley of Oaxaca, they were the major sources of credit for the elite, for the professionals, and for high-status artisans. They were also a viable option of credit for people from the lower socio-economic groups who held real property; particularly the low-status artisans.49 It is not possible to measure the true volume of money invested in the community, but records show that throughout the eighteenth century, at least close to a million pesos was distributed through censos and generated a steady flow of annuities

(table 4.1 ).50 On the one hand, the annuities covered the necessary expenses the

4'' For a definition of the three socio-economic groups see Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 159-164.

50 Measuring inflation for the colonial period is best through grain prices. Prices for maize are most complete between 1525 and 1820 and reveal an inflation rate of 0.4 percent per year: meaning that it took 125 years for the price of maize to double. However. Richard Garner and Spiro Stefanou point out that short term price fluctuations varied greatly and were effected by seasonal cycles and famines, especially those of 1714. 1750. and 1785. During the eighteenth century the price of maze increased by 0.8 percent 151 institutions incurred. On the other hand, credit institutions reinvested much of the annuities back into the community of Oaxaca. Nor were annuities the only source of revenue and investment for the credit institutions. Convents also generated their wealth from dowries brought by their professed nuns, from donations brought by the faithful, from purchases and foreclosures of property, from rental of real property, as well as from their rural land holdings. All surplus income gained from these sources would have been reinvested back into the community, and would finance the mortgages of both elites and plebeians. It served as a source of capital for the middling group and facilitated their economic growth.

Dowries and donations were a significant source of income for convents. The nuns professed at Santa Catalina contributed 725,400 pesos between 1570 and 1793, in dowries alone. Most of this amount would have been in cash and would generate annuities of up to 36,270 pesos. Any real property that was contributed in lieu of cash, would have been rented or sold, and would also be reinvested in the community.51

People made donations as they wished and as such these were a less reliable, or less

per year: meaning that the price doubled every eighty to ninety years. Quarterly measure of inflation for the eighteenth shows no change between each quarter, and 0.6 percent within each quarter. Another way of measuring economic growth is by studying real income information. Garner and Stefanou attempt to assess the size of income necessary for a "decent living" and show that at the end of the eighteenth century, the annual per capita personal income was in the range of 20 to 30 pesos. They also estimate that a low income family needed an annual income of 129 to 262 pesos to sustain themselves: that is an income of about 2.8 to 5.7 pesos per day. see Richard L. Garner and Spiro E. Stefanou. Economic Growth and Change in Bourbon Mexico. University of Florida social sciences monograph: 80. (Gainesville. 1993), 27-36.

51 Dowries at the convents of La Conception and La Soledad were set at the same level as at Santa Catalina. as was the case for all cakadas convents across the Spanish colonies. For more information on dowries see chap.2 of this dissertation; Fundacion Bustamante Vasconcelos. "Libro de Professiones del Convento de Religiosas Augustinas Recolectas de Nuestra Madre y Senora de la Soledad de esta Ciudad de Oaxaca. Desde su Fundacion. 1697-1870"; Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas lntitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores, Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera. 1571 -1862." 152 predictable, source of income and investment for convents and were much more difficult to estimate. However, donations were treated in a similar way to dowries. The faithful endowed the convents with anything ranging from money for its foundation, for candles and wax, to slaves and real property. The bequests could be of any value, and made for any reason. The religiosity of lay men and women during the colonial period meant that donations were rather frequent. However, 1 would expect that they were higher and/or perhaps more frequent during the baroque era, when people placed emphasis on outwardly expressions of piety. Many donations also came from the nuns of the convents, who willed their inheritance to the institutions.52 In 1714, madre Maria

Josepha del Sacramento petitioned to have access to her paternal inheritance while she was a nun at the convent of Santa Catalina. She also wanted to add her maternal inheritance to her possessions when the time came. She promised to donate her entire inheritance and all her belongings to the convent at the time of her death. As requested, madre Maria received permission to keep her inheritance, and went on to have a great administrative career at the convent. It is not clear, however, whether access to greater financial resources increased her chances at becoming the convent's abbess in 1748.53

Taken together, donations made an impact on both the convents and the lay community where they inevitably ended up as a source of investment.

5" Lavrin. "The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century," 372-374.

51 This is in stark contrast to the story of sor Josefa in chapter 3 of this disertation. ANO: Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. Libro 15, fs. 160, ano 1714. Testamento de monja; Nun #245 in Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571-1862." 153

Direct purchases and foreclosures of properties were also substantial sources of funding for convents and monasteries: these properties generated income when institutions were resold or rented out. The convent of Santa Catalina regularly purchased both urban and rural properties. In 1792, the convent owned 210 houses in the city: that was more than any other institution in Oaxaca at that time and represented ten percent of all urban housing (table 4.5). It also owned several rural properties.54 In 1760, the convent had in its possession seven haciendas and trapiches: subsequently it sold some of them, rented them out, or acquired new ones. As mentioned earlier, the extensive ownership and rental of rural properties by the convent of Santa Catalina was in stark contrast to convents in Mexico City, Puebla, or Guadalajara.55

The convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca, obtained the Hacienda de San Diego in

Zimitlan through foreclosure, in 1756, and then sold it in 1762. During the same year, the convent sold another Hacienda de San Lorenzo also in Zimitlan. In 1749, Santa

Catalina purchased Sitio de Duhuatia and then sold it in 1769. In 1772, the convent sold a steel mill in Cuilapan. In 1783, the convent purchased the trapiche de Nuestra Seriora de las Nieves. In 1784, the convent sold Hacienda de La Palma. In 1786, it sold the

Hacienda de Los Reyes y Santa Rosa in Zimitlan, and the Hacienda de San Miguel in

54 This is significant also by the standards of New Spain, not just Oaxaca. In 1744. the 12 convents in Mexico City together owned 306 houses, 280 stores and other urban property but they had no rural properties, see Wobeser, El Credito Eclesiaslico en la Nueva Espaha siglo XVIII. 54.

55 See Greenow. Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara, 1720-1820', Wobeser, El Credito Eclesiaslico en la Nueva Espana siglo XVIII.. Rosalva Loreto Lopez. Los Convenlos Femeninos y la Civilidad urbana en la Puebla de los angeles del siglo XVIII (1995). 154

Xoxo. In 1766, the convent of Santa Catalina rented out Hacienda de San Isidro in

Zimitlan, and again in 1786. The convent also rented out estancia La Soledad in 1798.56

The convent of La Concepcion also owned urban and rural properties. In 1792, it had 113 houses in the city, and in 1760, it owned at least four haciendas. The convent of

La Soledad was less active in the real estate market and owned only sixty-four houses at the end of the eighteenth century. Among the monasteries, San Pablo had the most dynamic policy. It owned 131 urban houses as well as several rural properties. The secular clergy had 170 urban houses in their possession, and various pious works had 182 houses. Less than 40 percent of urban property was in the hands of the laity, and most of it was burdened with censo contracts from formal credit institutions. In other words, whether it was through direct ownership and rental of properties, or through censos, the ecclesiastical institutions of Oaxaca controlled the real estate market and were a major source of funding for the laity, with numerous sources of investment.

56 AHAO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos, Reconocimiento 3000, afio 1762; the convent of Santa Catalina sold "molido de moler de metales" to Don Joseph Antonio Garcia. He would re-pay 1,000 pesos within a year and arranged a perpetual censo for the balance see Reconocimiento 3.400, ano 1772; Reconocimiento 2,000. afio 1783; Reconocimiento 5,000, ano 1784; Reconocimiento 16,000. afio 1786; Reconocimiento 13.999. ano 1786; Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. 177-178. 222-223. 155

Table 4.5 Distribution of Urban Real Estate, by Credit Institutions in Oaxaca, 1792

Number of Urban Proportion of Houses Owned Total Urban Housing (%)

Convents Santa Catalina 210 10.4 La Concepci6n 113 5.6 La Soledad 64 3.2

Capuchinas: San Jose 0 - Capuchinas Indias 8 0.4 Total Convents 395 19.5

Monasteries Santo Domingo 70 3.5

San Francisco 0 - Del Carmen 32 1.6 San Augusti'n 41 2.0 La Merced 55 2.7 San Pablo 131 6.5 San Felipe Neri 68 3.4 Total Monasteries 397 19.7

Hospitals Betlen 7 0.4 San Juan de Dios 24 1.2 San Cosm6 22 1.1 Total Hospitas 53 2.7

Colleges Niflos de la Presentacion 7 0.4 Seminario de Estudios 17 0.8 Infantes de Cristo 1 0.1 Total Colleges 25 1.3

Other Religious Secular Clergy 170 8.4 Obra Pias 182 9.0

Total Lay People (with Censos) 794 39.4 Total Religious 1,222 60.6 Overall Total 2,016 100

Source: AGN: Tributos, vol.34, exp.7, 1792 156

Santa Catalina's Credit Practice

Creditors who participated in the formal credit networks in eighteenth century

Oaxaca provided loans to a wide range of clients, and invested in both rural and urban properties. Among them, the convent of Santa Catalina had the most inclusive business attitude. It provided loans to plebeians, to both men and women, to pardos and Indios, as well as to Spanish elites. It helped people purchase urban property and regularly lent money to women and to the non-elite. The convent tended to provide many small loans and collaborated with other institutions when borrowers sought large loans. These practices allowed the non-privileged segments of Oaxaca's society access to credit and to money. These people moved up the social ladder by borrowing from Santa Catalina, which set Oaxaca apart from what we know about formal credit networks in other colonial Mexican cities. The tactics practiced by Santa Catalina also enabled it to dominate the local ecclesiastical credit market, and set Oaxaca further apart from other regional credit markets in New Spain.

The 574 contracts analyzed in this study show that convents, as a category, were by far the most important source of credit in Oaxaca, providing 54 percent of the total money lent between 1720 and 1800, while monasteries provided 17 percent, hospitals and colleges 3 percent, some thirty six brotherhoods, various chantries, and numerous pious works supplied the remaining 25 percent. Among them, the convent of Santa Catalina was the single most active and the most important lender in the city supplying 37 percent of all the money, and participating in 39 percent of censos issued during the eighteenth century (table 4.1). A typical Oaxacan borrower could expect near half of his/her loan to 157 come from Santa Catalina.57 The convent of Santa Catalina provided 50 percent of the funds lent in the cases analyzed in this study. By comparison, La Concepcion provided only 10 percent of all the money and Santo Domingo 11 percent. Santa Catalina participated, as a sole lender in 44 percent of the cases (251 cases) with an average loan amount of 1,118 pesos, and 13 percent of the time (seventy-four cases) the convent was a co-lender. In 43 percent of the cases, other institutions provided loans that averaged

1,859 pesos.

Throughout the eighteenth century, the convent of Santa Catalina continued to fund this proportion of the ecclesiastical credit market, despite the expanding formal credit network, and it consistently supplied smaller than average loans to the community.

During the 1720s and 1730s, an average borrower who approached Santa Catalina for a loan could expect to obtain credit of around 862 pesos (table 4.7), and those who approached any other institution could, on average, expect a loan of 1,434 pesos. These bigger borrowers acquired larger, more expensive properties and could afford to pay higher annuities than the borrower who obtained credit only at Santa Catalina. The gap between borrowers was smallest during the 1740s and the 1750s (a period coinciding with the boom of cochineal and textile industry); when the average loan provided by the

Dominican nuns was 1,049 pesos, while other institutions averaged 1,360 pesos. The largest gap between borrowers at Santa Catalina and other lenders was during the 1760s and the 1770s (with 1777 being the pick year for the cochineal industry) when the difference in the average loan was nearly half: Santa Catalina provided loans averaging

57 The difference between Santa Catalina's role in the credit market (37 percent) and what the convent meant to an individual (49 percent) is due to the fact that Santa Catalina provided many small loans to many individuals. These small loans constitute a little fraction of total amount of money lent but a relatively large proportion of instances of when the convent issued the loans. 158

898 pesos, and other institutions provided loans that were 671 pesos higher. During the

1780s and 1790s (a period associated with economic depression in Latin America, including New Spain), Oaxaquenos became more indebted to the local credit institutions and borrowed significantly more than during any other part of the eighteenth century; the average size of loans reached nearly 3,000 pesos. When acting as a sole lender the convent of Santa Catalina provided loans to 39 percent of the market and increased the average loan to 2,067 pesos, while other institutions averaged loans at 3,419 pesos. This indicates that while the convent of Santa Catalina adapted to the demands of the market, it maintained its policy of issuing credit in small increments to a wider community than the other institutions. The convent of Santa Catalina participated most frequently in

Oaxaca's ecclesiastical credit market, and provided the largest amount of funding to the community. 159

Table 4.6 The Role of the Convent of Santa Catalina in the Ecclesiastical Credit Market in Oaxaca, 1720-1800

Proportion of Average Size of Proportion of Average Size of Santa Catalina Observations; 1720s Censo; Observations; Censo; and 1730s 1720s and 1730s 1740s and 1750s 1740s and 1750s Not Involved 42 1,434 29 1,360 Sole Lender 50 862 54 1,049 Co-Lender 8 4,219 17 3,070 Total 100 100

Proportion of Average Size of Proportion of Santa Catalina Observations; 1760s Censo; Observations; Average Size of Censo; and 1770s 1760s and 1770s 1780s and 1790s 1780s and 1790s Not Involved 53 1,569 49 3,419 Sole Lender 33 898 39 2,067 Co-Lender 13 2,436 12 4,107 Total 100 100

Sources: Archivo Historico de la Arquibispado de Oaxaca (AHAO): Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos 1720-1800; and Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO): Fondo Obispado, 1720-1800

Socio-economic Status: Class & Occupation

High-status and low-status artisans had access to credit in Oaxaca's formal credit

market. In 1766, two silversmiths figured in a real estate transaction, and the buyer

contracted a censo at the convent of Santa Catalina. In this case, don Juan de Gusman

mediated in a transaction between the underage children of his recently deceased family

friend dofia Francisca Diaz, and Francisco de Oliviera. Francisco purchased a house

from them for 1,500 pesos; he paid 520 pesos cash to don Juan and needed financing for

the remaining 980 pesos which he obtained from Santa Catalina.58 A few years later, in

another case, Juan Francisco Fernandez, a hat maker, inherited a house with a small plot

from his father-in-law, Joseph Antonio del Poro. To keep the property in his possession.

58 AHAO: Diocesano, Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimiento 980, ano 1766. 160

Juan had to renew a censo contract at Santa Catalina for 128 pesos. Joseph had purchased this property back in 1733 for 450 pesos. He had paid half of the value in cash, and took a censo for the other half. Later he repaid part of the principal. In 1769, the convent transferred the censo and accepted annuities from Juan.59

The most important factor that determined the chance of obtaining credit at the convent of Santa Catalina was the solvency of a borrower. This policy enabled people from the non-privileged segments of Oaxacan society to gain access to credit at Santa

Catalina more often than they did at all the other institutions. While the elites had greater and more frequent access to credit, they did not have a monopoly. The convent of Santa

Catalina provided 54 percent of loans to the elites and professionals, averaging 1,617 pesos per loan, and provided 46 percent of loans to plebeians, averaging 540 pesos (table

4.7).60 At the same time, other institutions provided credit to the elites 63 percent of the time, averaging 2,364 pesos per loan, and to plebeians 35 percent of the time with censos averaging 819 pesos. Both elites and plebeians, however, on average received smaller censos from Santa Catalina than from the other institutions, suggesting that the convent was either very cautious when distributing funds or that it catered to the poorer people in each category.

Lay elites received loans from Santa Catalina nearly as often as from other institutions; on average, however, they received 516 pesos less. Clergy (ordained elites) who sought censos were more successful at borrowing from institutions other than Santa

5" AH AO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimiento 128. ano 1769.

60 Plebeians, in this study, are people who figure in the censos documents without an honorific prefix in front of their names. Catalina. The convent provided less than 9 percent of loans, averaging 1,330 pesos, to clergy, while other institutions issued nearly 17 percent of loans at 2,768 pesos to the same category of borrowers. Only indigenous nobility had higher chances of obtaining greater loans from Santa Catalina than from other institutions: 3 percent at 637 pesos, versus 1 percent at 450 pesos.61 Considering that clergy, with their guaranteed annual income, were a safer investment, it appears that Santa Catalina was more interested in providing credit in small increments to the poorer segments of its society and reaching a wider market, than in providing safe loans to a narrow market that had many suppliers.

61 Spaniards honoured the pre-Hispanic social distinctions between elites and commoners: caciques cacicas faired higher on the colonial social ladder than indigenous commoners. For a discussion on this issue see Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca: Robert H. Jackson. Race, Caste, and Status: Indians in Colonial Spanish America, I st ed. (Albuquerque. 1999); and Cope. The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720. 162

Table 4.7 The Role of the Convent of Santa Catalina in the Formal Credit Market in Oaxaca, 1720-1800

Other Formal Credit Santa Catalina as a Sole-Lender Institutions Proportion of Average size of Proportion of Average Size of Observations Censo Observations Censo Class All Elites 54 1,618 63 2,364 Lay Elites 43 1,732 45 2,248 Ordained Elites 9 1,330 17 2,768 Indian Caciques 2 637 1 450 Plebeians 46 540 35 819 Merchants 6 2,976 8 3,414 Professionals 12 1,256 25 2,938 Landowners 4 4,719 8 3,477 High-Status Artisans 3 664 4 1,488 Low-Status Artisans 8 533 4 556 Occupation not Provided 66 784 50 967

Gender Men 55 1,309 69 2,026 Women 30 878 23 1,412 Groups* 15 905 8 1,143

Race Spanish, Creoles, Castizos 51 1,663 64 2,344 Castas 16 315 8 407 Race not provided 32 658 26 949

* Refers to the total cases where more than one person solicited a contract

Sources: Archivo Historico de la Arquibispado de Oaxaca (AHAO): Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos 1720-1800; and Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO): Fondo Obispado, 1720-1800

Santa Catalina's policy of casting a wider net in Oaxaca's credit market to people who were solvent but not necessarily the most privileged becomes even more apparent when studying borrowers' occupational status. Nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina issued loans to artisans in 10 percent of all surveyed contracts (19 percent of men), while other institutions provided credit in 8 percent of all cases (12 percent of men). 163

Silversmiths, painters, and pharmacists, those who were high-status artisans, borrowed on average as much as 1,489 pesos from institutions other than Santa Catalina. At Santa

Catalina people with these occupations on average borrowed 664 pesos. In the mean time, low-status artisans such as carpenters, bricklayers, shoemakers, hat makers, pottery makers, and chair makers had higher chances of obtaining censos at Santa Catalina than elsewhere. Nearly twice as many low-status artisans borrowed from the Dominican nuns as from other credit institutions, and their average censos were 533 pesos.

Borrowers who identified themselves as merchants, landowners or members of various professions obtained censos at Santa Catalina only, less often and in smaller amounts than at other credit institutions; meaning that Santa Catalina did not seek to be a sole lender for the elites. Many of the borrowers who had an elite status, however, had more than one occupation, and it is impossible to sort them beyond the ascribed occupational identity.62 Merchants borrowed money from the convent of Santa Catalina in 6 percent of all the cases (10 percent of men) with censos that averaged 2,976 pesos.

The other institutions provided merchants with loans 8 percent of the time (11 percent of men) that averaged 3,414 pesos. Professionals such as Alcades Mayores, Regidores, scribes, notaries, lawyers, doctors and various clergy obtained 12 percent of all surveyed censos from Santa Catalina (22 percent of men), with an average loan at 1,256 pesos.

The other institutions were more generous and provided credit to professionals 25 percent of the time (37 percent of men) at an average loan of 2,938 pesos. The landowners received credit from Santa Catalina in 4 percent of the cases at an average of 4,719 pesos

62 At the end of the eighteenth century, the merchants of Oaxaca were unique in that they participated in everything: they were merchants, politicians/bureaucrats, and rural landowners. See Sanchez Silva. Indios, Comerciantesy Burocracia en la Oaxaca Poscolonial, 1786-1860, p. 142. 164 per censo.63 The other formal credit institutions provided landowners with credit 8 percent of the time at an average of 3,477 pesos per case. When the great merchants and landowners sought large loans from Santa Catalina, the convent supplied them with lavish censos but always in collaboration with other credit institutions. In such cases merchants averaged censos of4,776 pesos, landowners obtained credit for 2,987 pesos, and professionals for 4,463 pesos. The convent credit policy was to place limits on how much it was willing to lend and to whom as a sole lender and as a co-lender. But what policy did the convent apply to borrowers whose occupational status has not been listed in the loan documents?

The socio-economic status of a large proportion of borrowers escaped the attention of the notaries and was never recorded. Nearly 66 percent of borrowers who obtained loans only at Santa Catalina (i.e. the convent as a sole lender) did not provide their occupation, versus 50 percent of borrowers who had censos at other credit institutions (these figures include women who did not have any listed occupations). The size of an average censo for borrowers at Santa Catalina, with an unspecified occupation, was 784 pesos, and at the other institutions, the average censo was 967 pesos.

Considering that the less privileged segments of Oaxaca's society tended to obtain smaller rather than larger loans, it may be predicted that a significant proportion of

61 In this study, the landowners obtained credit only in 9 percent of all cases of cenos, and in 6 percent of cases at Santa Catalina, (whether the convent was a sole lender or co-lender). That is substantially less than in Guadalajara where hacendodos received 43 percent of total money lent from the leading convent of Santa Maria de Gracia, see Greenow. Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara, 1720-1820. p.75; During the same period, in Mexico City the hacendodos represented 16 percent of the ecclesiastical credit market, see Wobeser, El credito eclesidstico en la Nueva Espana, siglo XVIII. p.251. 165 borrowers with an unspecified occupation were from the pre-industrial middle and lower groups of Oaxaca.

Gender and Marital Status

Many women of all ages and marital status participated in the real estate market and had access to credit at the convent of Santa Catalina. At the age of twenty, dona

Barbara de Frontalva purchased a house from dofia Nicolasa Frontalva, her older sister.

Dofia Nicolasa had bought the property in 1746 for 1,900 pesos. She paid 900 pesos cash and contracted a censo from Santa Catalina for 1,000 pesos. Years later, when dona

Nicolasa was on her deathbed, she sold her house to her younger sister for the value of the censo. The property was still worth 1,900 pesos, however, dofia Barbara had earned the 900 pesos by taking care of her ill sister for many years. In 1759, Santa Catalina transferred the censo from dofia Nicolasa to dofia Barbara and continued collecting annuities of fifty pesos.64 In another case, in 1761, dona Maria Sabina Ruiz was a widow and an executor of her husband's estate. She purchased a piece of urban land from

Vicente Sarmiento for 375 pesos. Dofia Maria paid 225 cash for the property and contracted a censo at Santa Catalina for the remaining 150 pesos. Three years later she would purchase another piece of land that was located near her house. The second property was worth 306 pesos and dona Maria took a censo from Santa Catalina for 280 pesos to cover the cost. In 1766, her combined annuities were twenty-one pesos four reales.65

M AHAO: Diocesano. Gobierno, Religiosos. Reconocimiento 1.000. afio 1759.

bS AHAO: Diocesano, Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimiento 150. ano 1761; Reconocimiento 280, afio 1764. 166

Examination of gender distribution and marital status of borrowers, who contracted censos, reveals that these were not determining qualifiers for contracting a loan, and it leads further support to the notion that borrowers' solvency was a more important element in credit policy among the formal credit institutions in Oaxaca and especially at the convent of Santa Catalina. Men held a privileged position within colonial society: they were the merchants, the professionals and administrators, the artisans, and the clergy, and they had greater access to money and to wealth than women did. However, the men of eighteen-century Oaxaca did not have a monopoly on landownership, on property ownership, or on access to credit. Many women successfully participated in the city's formal credit market, obtaining 25 percent of all surveyed censo contracts. They were however more successful at receiving credit at the convent of Santa

Catalina than at the other credit institutions. When the Dominican nuns issued loans as a sole lender, nearly one-third (30 percent) of censos went to women and these averaged

878 pesos per loan (table 4.7). The largest loan the convent supplied as a sole lender went to a woman. In 1786, Santa Catalina sold the Hacienda de San Miguel in the town of Xoxotlan to dofia Isabel Martin Dominguez for 15,999 pesos. At the time, dofia Isabel was a young single woman. She paid a deposit of 2,000 pesos in cash on the property, and obtained a censo contract for the remaining 13,999 pesos: her annuities were 699 pesos 7.5 reales.66 Most of the censos women obtained at Santa Catalina, however, were in the range of 600 pesos. The other credit institutions were more likely to provide larger loans to women, but did so less often than Santa Catalina: women represented 22 percent of their borrowers.

w' AH AO: Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos. Reconocimiento 13.999. ano 1786. 167

Single women such as dona Isabel, widowed women, and married women or married couples were more likely to obtain credit from Santa Catalina than from other institutions. Single women contracted censos at Santa Catalina in 5 percent of the surveyed cases, and in 4 percent of cases at other institutions (table 4.7). Widowed women represented 7 percent of the cases and on average borrowed 606 pesos at Santa

Catalina. Other institutions catered to widows less frequently, but lent them greater amounts: loans were in the range of 1,523 pesos. Married people were more successful contracting small censos at Santa Catalina then elsewhere. In 13 percent of surveyed cases married people on average borrowed 901 pesos at Santa Catalina, and in 11 percent of the cases they borrowed 1,186 pesos from other institutions. Married couples, most of whom were from the pre-industrial middle and lower groups, also had more success borrowing at Santa Catalina than at other institutions. Nearly all (98 percent) of them represented the un-privileged Oaxaqueflos: people who either did not have the honorific title added to their names, who identified themselves as Indios, pardos or mestizos, or who were artisans. Couples borrowed from the Dominican nuns in 15 percent of the surveyed cases at an average censo of 2,072 pesos, and from other institutions, they borrowed in 8 percent of cases at an average loan of 1,143 pesos (table 4.7).

Race: Indios and Pardos

Afro-Mexicans and indigenous people figured prominently in Oaxaca's real estate market and regularly contracted loans from the formal institutions of credit. The Porras family, who had deep roots in the community of Oaxaca and the notary considered them vecinos, is but one example of this. Some of the Porras family members were pardos 168 libres (free racially mixed black people) and others were still slaves. They had a knack for business, and presumably, this is how they obtained money to buy freedom. In

November 1727, four siblings, Rosa de Porras, Basilio, Thomas and Brigida de Porras, used their savings to purchase a small house and two stores from the convent of Santa

Catalina. The value of their new property was 625 pesos; they paid 400 pesos cash and contracted a censo from the convent for 225 pesos with 5 percent annuities of eleven pesos two reales. Twenty years later, Basilio and Gertrudis de Porras, free pardos, together with Thomas Antonio and Calista Theresa de Porras, slaves, re-sold the property to Santa Catalina for 552 pesos. They automatically cancelled the existing censo of 225 pesos and kept a profit of 327 pesos.67 This case is fascinating as it documents that freed slaves had access to credit, and that they purchased property and operated not one but two businesses. It shows that former slaves were accepted in free society and took advantage of available resources and experienced upward social mobility. The case also poses questions as to why slaves participated in the sale of property; legally a master owned property of his/her slaves. Then whose property did they sell? Why was it important for

Thomas Antonio and Calista Theresa to participate in this transaction? Unfortunately, it remains a mystery as to how the law applied in this scenario.

In another case, in 1731, Ines Theresa purchased a plot of urban land. She was

India and a single woman, and the only person in the entire collection of documents of the notaries that I have consulted who figures without a last name. The Dominican monastery in the town of Cuilapa sold her the property for 250 pesos. Ines made a

67 Originally, the convent of Santa Catalina purchased this property at a public auction few months earlier. AH AO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimiento 225, ano 1727; and Titulo de casa y 2 asesorias. ario 1747. 169 deposit of fifty pesos and contracted a censo from them for the balance. By 1770, Ines had married and obtained a last name; she had three children, and still owned the plot of land with a censo on it. That is when her eldest son, Dionicio Flores, re-paid 100 pesos of the principal and reduced their credit to a censo of 100 pesos.68

Later, in 1747, Theresa de Betancur, parda libre, purchased a small plot of land from dofia Juana de Castro y Medina. Located on the edge of town, the property was attached to a house and was worth sixty-three pesos. The plot of land was actually a farmyard, where Theresa, like dona Juana before her, raised chickens to make a living.

Theresa had no savings of her own to pay for the property, and contracted a censo from the convent of Santa Catalina for the entire amount.69

Then in 1773, there was Joseph Vicente Lopez who contracted a perpetual censo from the convent of La Concepcion for 410 pesos in cash. He was an Indio, and a principal of the village of Yxtepec who had resided in Antequera long enough to be considered a vecino. Joseph was also a relatively successful merchant who owned two houses and a plot of land worth 660 pesos. He already had one encumbrance on his properties for 110 pesos, which still left plenty of room to contract further credit. Joseph explained he needed the cash for his business activities, and La Concepcion easily complied.70

People of colour were more likely to borrow from the convent of Santa Catalina than from other institutions. Among the few cases that clearly indicate the race of

68 AGKO: Fondo Obispado. Anexo 2. Reconocimiento 200. ano 1770.

69 AH AO: Diocesano. Gobierno, Religiosos. Titulo de cito. ano 1747.

70 AH AO: Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos. Reconocimiento 410. ano 1773. 170 borrowers, twice as many Indicts, pardos and mestizos borrowed from Santa Catalina than from any of the other institutions. When the convent provided loans as a sole lender, castas contracted forty cases of censos, or 16 percent of Santa Catalina's cases, and averaged 314 pesos per censo. In contrast, other institutions provided credit to castas in twenty cases, or to 8 percent of their market, and averaged 406 pesos per censo. People identified as Spanish or creole obtained credit less often and in smaller amounts at Santa

Catalina than at other institutions. They contracted censos from the Dominican nuns in

51 percent of surveyed cases at an average of 1,663 pesos. Meanwhile the other institutions provided credit 64 percent of the time at an average of 2,344 pesos per loan.

In those documents where race was not specified, as with those that did, the convent of

Santa Catalina provided more loans in smaller amounts than did other institutions, reinforcing their pattern of providing loans to the less privileged segments of society.

Again, we see that the convent practiced a credit policy of cooperating with a wider range of borrowers than was conventional, while also taking practical measures to minimize credit risk.

Conclusion

Credit policy determined the successes of institutions involved with the formal credit networks in the Spanish Empire. Local conditions guided the practice of credit and shaped the development of each credit market. In the case of eighteenth-century Oaxaca, the formal credit institutions provided loans to a very wide market of borrowers, but each institution developed different practices. People from the un-privileged segments of society, regardless of gender, class, social status, racial or marital status, had many 171 opportunities to contract censos from the formal credit network. Among the formal credit institutions, the convent of Santa Catalina was most lenient towards, and even seems to have preferred to lend to, underprivileged borrowers. People from the middling and lower groups, regardless of gender and race, were more successful at arranging many small censo contracts from the Dominican nuns than from any other institution. Local conditions, including location of the city, population size and its ethnic, racial and economic composition, determined credit policy that dominated the ecclesiastical credit market in Oaxaca. The limited size of the local Spanish elite population led some institutions to develop lending strategies that assured a steady and reliable income.

Limited by common contemporary credit policy, the most sensible strategy was to expand the pool of borrowers. The convent of Santa Catalina was the front-runner in adapting to the demands of the market, and successfully cooperated with a wide range of borrowers. Access to capital stimulated economic growth and the convent of Santa

Catalina was a reliable source of capital for a much wider sector of the population than was typical elsewhere in New Spain. Access to credit by Oaxacan plebeians helped develop and sustain a very diverse middling group in this urban centre. Next 1 will turn to discuss the convent of Santa Catalina's role in Oaxaca's rural region. I will analyze the convent's reliance on enslaved Afro-Mexican labour and the convent's slave policy and its role in the local slave market. CHAPTER 5

THE BUSINESS OF SLAVERY: MARKET AND POLICY

As its broad, inclusive credit policies suggest, the convent of Santa Catalina was an institution engaged in a range of activities that involved every layer of Oaxacan society. In this chapter, I explore yet another facet of this religious institution: the convent as a major slave owner in the Valley of Oaxaca.1 In addition to being a prominent owner of urban properties, the convent of Santa Catalina owned rural properties and slaves. The convent owned sugar producing haciendas and trapiches, and utilized both free and enslaved labour. In this chapter, I show the extent to which the convent of Santa Catalina was involved in sales and purchases of slaves during the first half of the eighteenth century, and how their role compared with other slave owners in the slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca. This chapter further explores the convent's socio-economic impact on the lay community at a macro level, encompassing the entire Valley of Oaxaca; meaning beyond the physical limits of the cloister and the city.

The mother prioress (abbess) made final decisions regarding rural estates, their production and labour supply.2 She was physically distant from the environment over which she presided, but she and her council of nuns were acutely aware of the conditions of their estates, their slaves, and the slave market. The analysis of the slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca 1700 to 1741, reveals several subtle and a few striking differences between slaves owned by the

1 Most of the Bishopric ofOaxaca has become the State ofOaxaca. The convent of Santa Catalina de Siena was located in Antequera. which has been renamed Oaxaca City and is located in the Valley ofOaxaca. Antequera has been, and the City ofOaxaca continues to be, a central city in this state.

: Susan A. Soeiro. "The Social and Economic Role of the Convent: Women and Nuns in Colonial Bahia. 1677-1800." Hispanic American Historical Review 54 (1974): 220-221.

172 173 convent of Santa Catalina and by the other slave owners in the region. For one, the convent had a family-oriented policy. Unlike other slave owners in the Valley of Oaxaca, the convent of

Santa Catalina tended to sell its slaves in groups or in family units rather than break them up and sell them as individual units. This method would have helped slaves maintain their families and social networks. Also, slaves who lived at the rural estates of the convent and were subsequently sold had a balanced gender ratio and a high reproductive rate. Children from the convent's estates, who were sold within the Valley's slave market, tended to stay longer with their mothers than those who were sold by other slave owners in the area. Additionally, during the first half of the eighteenth century, rural slaves of the convent of Santa Catalina sold at a lower price than did other rural or urban slaves in the Valley.

This chapter reveals that the convent of Santa Catalina was the most active agent in the slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca during the first half of the eighteenth century. No other institution or individual participated in the market to the extent this convent did. Furthermore, in the absence of a direct presence of the owner, and given frequent turnover of renters, slaves were often the only constant and continuous presence at the estates of the convent of Santa Catalina; their knowledge and skills undoubtedly added to the value of the estates. The sheer volume of slaves owned by the convent and the frequency of sales and manumissions reveals the important role the convent and its slaves played in the formation of Oaxacan society.

Slavery and Slave Trade in New Spain

Slavery was a permanent feature of colonial Latin America, including New Spain. Slaves in Mexico played an important economic, and inevitably social and cultural, role. The demand for slave labour in the colony coincided with the demographic shifts among the indigenous 174 population. The major influx of slaves from Africa was between the mid-sixteenth and mid- seventeenth century, which was a period with the lowest indigenous population.3 Portuguese merchants had the asiento (a licence from the Spanish Crown) for supplying slaves to Spanish colonies, and delivered some 2,000 slaves to the port of Veracruz annually. Colin Palmer refers to this period of slavery as the maturity phase because this was when the slave trade was well developed and at its peak.4 The slave trade was significantly reduced after 1640, and entered a period of decline. For the most part, the end of the Spanish and Portuguese union put an end to the Portuguese asiento. With the exception of a few cases, contraband trade delivered African slaves to the Spanish Empire until the British secured an asiento in the eighteenth century. After the Portuguese asiento ended, however, the demand for slaves greatly decreased and the Spanish

Crown was not pressured to supply them. At the same time the indigenous population had stabilized, and Spanish settlers in Mexico could rely on indigenous day labourers and hence did not need an additional labour supply.5 Carroll Patrick points out that when the indigenous population expanded during the eighteenth century the demand for African slave labour in

Jalapa, near Veracruz, nearly ceased.6 Similarly, Frank Proctor III found that after 1750, slavery

3 For detailed estimates on indigenous population in colonial Mexico, including Oaxaca see Sherburne Friend Cook and Woodrow Wilson Borah, Essays in Population History: Mexico and the Caribbean, 3 vols. (Berkeley, 1971); also see summary in John K. Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, 1978), 144- 145.

4 Colin A Palmer. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650 (Cambridge and London. 1976). 3; Dennis N. Valdes, "The Decline of Slavery in Mexico." The Americas 44 (1987): 167-194.

5 For a comprehensive study of the slave trade and slavery in colonial Mexico see Palmer. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650; Colin A Palmer, Human Cargos: The British Slave Trade to Spanish America, 1700-1739 (Chicago and London, 1981); Ben Vinson 111 and Bobby Vaughn. Afromexico: El Pulso de la Poblacion Negra en Mexico: Una Historia Recordada, Olvidaday Vuelta a Recordar, la ed„ Historia. Herramientas para la historia. (Mexico, D.F., 2004); and Herbert S. Klein and Ben Vinson III, African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2nd ed. (Oxford; New York. 2007).

6 In the region of Jalapa. near Veracruz slave trade nearly disappeared after 1670. Until then, each planter purchased two to three slaves per year, and after 1670 only ten slaves from Africa were purchased for the entire 175 lost its economic importance in the colony.7 This does not mean, however, that slavery had ended. On the contrary, it continued in Mexico until Independence. In the case of Mexico it meant that, with the exception of a small proportion of slaves from Africa, all slaves were bom in the New World and were scattered throughout the colony.

In the region of the Valley of Oaxaca, slaves were an important source of labour, especially in the urban environment and in the domestic sector, but less so in the agricultural sector. In the city, some slaves would have been hired out to earn wages, or sent to the marketplace to sell goods for their owners. Others would perform domestic duties of cleaning, cooking, and nurturing children for their masters. As early as 1570, fifty African slaves lived in

Antequera along with 350 Spaniards. For the later period, however, the size of slave population for the Valley of Oaxaca awaits estimation.9 The demand for slave labour in the agricultural sector would most likely have been limited. Rural slaves were cowpunchers, and labourers at the sugar haciendas. As mentioned elsewhere, during the colonial period, the Bishopric of Oaxaca already had a dense indigenous population in the seventeenth century and it grew denser over the eighteenth century.10 Indigenous people maintained land in their own hands, which in turn

region. The demand for slaves from Africa did not resurface until the end of the eighteenth century, see Patrick J. Carroll, Blacks in Colonial Veracruz: Race, Ethnicity, and Regional Development, Second ed. (Austin, 2001), 30.

7 Frank "Trey" Proctor 111, "Slaver, Identity, and Culture: An Afro-Mexican Counterpoint, 1640-1763" (Emory University, 2003)., and Vinson III and Vaughn. Afromexico: El Pulso de la Pohlacion Negra en Mexico: Una Historia Recordada, Olvidaday Vuelta a Recordar ,15.

8 Palmer, Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650 , p.46;

° It has been estimated that at the end of the eighteenth century, the province of Oaxaca had a population of 16.767 free blacks and free mulattos. 1,670 lived in the jurisdiction of Antequera. and 416 in the mining and sugar areas, see William B. Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, 1972), 21.

10 It has been estimated that at the time of conquest the Valley of Oaxaca had an indigenous population of 350,000. By the 1560s, the population was reduced to some 150,000. The lowest point in indigenous population was perhaps in the 1630s, with 40.000 to 45,000. By the 1740s, the population increased to 70.000 and by the 1790s it has recovered to 110.000, as summarized in Ibid., 17-18. 29. 176 limited the number and size of Spanish estates.11 Consequently, local demography and land tenure practices created low demand for African slave labour in the agricultural sector in the

Valley of Oaxaca. Slavery in this region has received limited scholarly attention, though there has been a recent resurgence of interest in the subject.12 This lag may have been because the

Valley was never a slave-based plantation society, and because the African slave population was not comparable to that of other parts of New Spain, the Caribbean or Brazil.13 Nevertheless,

African slavery made an economic and cultural contribution to the Valley of Oaxaca. John

Chance's study of social stratification in Antequera reveals a degree of this contribution.

However, his study of marriage patterns and occupations considers the free descendents of

African slaves and not the slaves themselves.14 In this chapter, 1 take a step back and study the people in bondage.

" Ibid., 21.

12 Attention to the impact of African slavery on the southern part of the State of Oaxaca came from Carlos Basauri, Breves Notas Etnograficas Sobre la Poblacion Negra del Districto Jamillepec, Oaxaca (Mexico City, 1943); For a study of runaway slave community in the State of Oaxaca, on the border with the State of Veracruz, see Patrick J. Carroll and Aurelio de los Reyes, "Amapa, Oaxaca: Pueblo de Cimarrones," Boletin / Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia 2 (1973): 43-50; Patrick J. Carroll, "Mandinga: The Evolution of a Mexican Runaway Slave Community, 1735-1827," Society for Comparative Studies in Society and History 19 (1977): 488- 505; For studies of slave labour at Haciendas de Marquesado del Valle see Ruth Maria Flores Maldonado, "Kstudio Comparativo de los Sefiorios Castellanos y el Marquesado del Valle de Oaxaca" (Maestria en Historia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico UNAM, 1965); for Tehuantepec (in the State of Oaxaca) see Lolita Gutierrez Brockington, The Leverage of Labor: Managing the Corte: Haciendas in Tehuantepec, 1588-1688 (Durham, 1989); for the State of Morelos and other parts of New Spain, see Ward Barrett, The Sugar Hacienda of the Marqueses Del Valle (Minneapolis, 1970); For studies on slavery in the northeastern part of the State of Oaxaca see Arturo J. Motta Sanchez, "Huellas Bantu en el Nordeste del Estado de Oaxaca," in Poblaciony Culturas con Herencia Africana en Mexico. Retosy Perspectivas, ed. Maria Elisa Velasquez and E. Correa (Mexico, D.F.. 2005).

13 For a discussion of slave-based plantation societies see Herbert S. Klein, African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (New York and Oxford, 1986), especially chap.3 and 5; Enriqueta Vila. "The Large- Scale Introduction of Africans Into Veracruz and Cartagena," in Comparative Perspectives on Slavery in New World Plantation Societies, ed. Vera Rubin and Arthur Tuden (New York, 1977), 267-28; Gerald Cardoso. Negro Slavery in the Sugar Plantations of Veracruz and Pernambuco, 1550-1680: A Comparative Study (Washington, D.C., 1983); Cathy Duke. "The Family in Eighteenth-Century Plantation Society in Mexico," in Comparative Perspectives on Slavery in New World Plantation Societies, ed. Vera Rubin and Arthur Tuden (New York. 1977); and Philip D Curtin. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex: Essays in Atlantic History. 2 ed. (Cambridge. 1998). 177

I offer a comparison of slaveholding practices between the convent of Santa Catalina and other slave owners in the Valley of Oaxaca. I draw on bills of sale of slaves and manumission deeds from 1700 to 1741 to establish the presence of slaves, frequency of their sales and basic characteristics of the slave market. No other study of convents in Latin America, to my

knowledge, offers an analysis of convents' role in a local/regional slave market.15 The analysis of Santa Catalina's role in the local slave market necessitates a broader examination of slaveholding practices in the Valley of Oaxaca. It then enables me to assess the role of the convent in the slave market, and to sketch the living and working conditions of slaves in a

broader perspective. The chapter is divided into sections discussing methodology, including

periodization, sample size and a discussion of the bills of sale used, the rural setting in which the slaves of the convent of Santa Catalina lived, sold slaves' demographic characteristics and ways of obtaining freedom.

Methodology: Periodization and Sample Size

The intensity of the slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca, and the degree to which the convent of Santa Catalina participated in it has guided my choice of the period in which to study

14 Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca ; Also see: John K. Chance and William B. Taylor. "Instate and Class in a Colonial City: Oaxaca in 1792." Comparative Studies in Society and History 19 (1977): 454-487; John K. Chance and William B. Taylor. "Estate and Class: A Reply," Comparative Studies in Society and History 21 (1979): 434-442; and Patricia Seed and Philip F. Rust. "Estate and Class in Colonial Oaxaca Revisited." Comparative Studies in Society and History 25 (Oct.. 1983): 703-710.

15 Scholars established that slaves belonged to convents and to particular nuns; however, discussions of such cases are limited and anecdotal rather than systematic. For examples see Kathryn Burns, Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco. Peru (Durham, 1999), 114-115; Susan A. Soeiro, "Catalina de Monte Sinay: Nun and Entrepreneur," in Struggle and Survival in Colonial America, ed. D. G. Sweet and Ci. B Nash (Berkeley, 1981), 257-273; and John James CI une, "A Cuban Convent in the Age of Enl ightened Reform: The Observant Franciscan Community of Santa Clara of Havana, 1768-1808," The Americas 57 (Jan 2001): 309-327. 178

slaveholding in this region. Transactions in the slave market in the Valley were more frequent during the first half of the eighteenth century than during the second half. Further, as table 5.1 demonstrates, the period of 1700 to 1741 was the most active period in which the convent of

Santa Catalina carried out transactions of sale of slaves and manumission deeds.16 During the decline phase of African slavery in Mexico, sales of slaves in the Valley were slowly phasing out. Of the 1,571 bills of sale of slaves in the protocolos of notaries in the Valley of Oaxaca

since 1681, less than one hundred were arranged after 1750, and the convent of Santa Catalina

did not participate in any of these transactions.17 The last recorded sale of a slave in the Valley

was that of Simon Istaris, who was sold at the age of fifteen for 200 pesos in 1799.18 Hence, I

focus on the period from 1700 to 1741.

Among the six notaries who had Royal licence to prepare legal contracts in Oaxaca

during the early eighteenth century, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon appears to have been the

preferred notary of the convent of Santa Catalina (table 5.1). The nuns at the Dominican convent

sought his services for nearly all their slave-related transactions. Forty-three of the documents in

Albarez de Aragon's protocolos that deal with sales and manumissions of slaves represent 86

percent of all slave-related documents in which the convent of Santa Catalina was involved in

during the eighteenth century (table 5). This included 147 slaves, 141 of whom were purchased,

sold or re-sold, and six of whom were manumitted. Only seven other documents were arranged

ANO. 1700-1741. Venta de esclavos.

17 ANO. 1680 to 1844; For a discussion of three phases of slavery in Mexico: formation, maturity and decline see Palmer. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, p.3; Valdes, "The Decline of Slavery in Mexico."; Additionally, for a discussion on the relationship between indigenous population and the supply of African slaves see Palmer, Human Cargos: The British Slave Trade to Spanish America, 1700-1739, pp.3-4; Frederick P. Bowser, The African Slave in Colonial Peru, 1524-1650 (Stanford, 1974), chap.l and 5; in the case of Mexico see Cardoso, Negro Slavery in the Sugar Plantations of Veracruz and Pernambuco, 1550-1680: A Comparative Study. especially chap.l and 2.

18 ANO. Joseph Alvarez, 1799, L.63, fs.46c. Venta de esclavos. 179 by two additional notaries. Thus, I chose to focus only on documents by notary Albarez de

Aragon. However, in order to have a point of reference and to be able to draw comparisons and paint a meaningful picture of slaveholding practices in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1 also analyzed bills of sale of slaves and manumission deeds that lay slave owners solicited with the same notary as the Dominican nuns.

Table 5.1 Distribution of Bills of Sale of Salves and Manumissions, by Notaries in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1681-1844

Total Total Number of Bills Number of Number of of Sale and Name of the Notary Time Period Bills of Manumission Manumissions for Sale* Documents'1' Sta. Catalina** Diego Benais 1681-1712 582 93 2 Diego Diaz Romero 1683-1713 126 14 0 Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon 1700-1741 567 58 43 Jose de Arauxo 1711-1743 135 18 5 Alonso Palacios 1712-1730 24 3 0 Juan Manuel Cervantes 1734-1747 46 6 0 Joaquin de Amador 1749-1761 17 5 0 Agustin Thomas de Cafias 1752-1760 23 6 0 Manuel Franco de Lara 1757-1776 45 7 0 Pedro Auvray 1773-1797 3 4 0 Joseph Alvarez 1780-1821 3 7 0 Vicente Castillejos 1824-1834 0 0 0 Andrez Matias Nufiez 1835-1844 0 0 0 Total 1681-1844 1,571 221 50

Source: ANO, catalogued documents of all the notaries in Oaxaca for period 1681 to 1844

* Each document may deal with multiple slaves, and the same slaves might appear in multiple documents ** Each document may deal with multiple slaves

I have constructed a database using all the bills of sale and manumission deeds found in the protocolos of notary Albarez de Aragon between 1700 and 1741, and from it, I calculated 180 descriptive statistics. Included were 625 such contracts: forty-three that involved the convent of

Santa Catalina, and 582 that involved lay slave owners as well as other religious institutions

(table 5.1). I have consulted, and counted, all 1,203 documents pertaining to sales and manumissions of slaves in the Valley between 1700 and 1741 that were available at the archive of the notaries, and 1 have determined that the contracts prepared by Albarez de Aragon constitute 52 percent of all slave sales and manumission contracts for this period and region.

However, 1 did not analyze the remaining bills of sale and I have no knowledge of how many slaves appear in the transactions prepared by the other five notaries. As such, this database represents a non-random sample of all purchases, sales, re-sales and manumissions of slaves arranged in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741. Although in the database I have included all the documents prepared by one notary, by no means should this database be thought of as a population of these types of contracts for the region or for the convent, or as one including the slave population during this period and region. The database is however, representative of the slave market and the slave population in the Valley of Oaxaca between

1700 and 1741, provided that there were no systematic differences between transactions prepared by Albarez de Aragon and the remaining notaries. Moreover, even in the presence of such systematic differences, given that I am analyzing more than 50 percent of all conducted transactions that involved slaves during this period and region, at the very least, I offer an insight into a rather significant portion of the market.

The detailed analysis of the bills of sale of slaves and manumission deeds found in the protocolos of notary Albarez de Aragon between 1700 and 1741 revealed that on some occasions the contracts pertained to more than one slave. Therefore, the database contains 893 individual slaves who appear in these documents. Included were a total of 796 cases/instances of sales and 181 acquisitions, ten donations, seventy-six cartas de libertad (manumission deeds), and 11 other related transactions during the period of study. One hundred and forty-seven (or 16 percent) of the 893 slaves in this database were involved in transactions which pertained specifically to the convent of Santa Catalina. Unfortunately, most records only indicate slaves' first names, and the poor record keeping about their ages and general characteristics make it nearly impossible to determine which slaves appeared in the records more than once. As a result some of the slaves may have appeared in the sales transactions on more than one occasion.

It is important to distinguish between the slave market and the slave population. The slave market represents only part of the slave population, as not all slaves had to enter the market, and the size of the slave market would have been determined by the number of sales of slaves in a region and in a particular period. Slave owners in Oaxaca could have acquired slaves prior to the year 1700 and never sold them, or slaves could have been born into a household and never sold, or they could have been born into a household and been sold after 1741. At the moment, there is no data available on the entire slave population in Oaxaca.19 Furthermore, the slave market was also different from the slave trade. The slave market was similar to the credit market discussed in the previous chapter. A slave market should not be mistaken for a market as a store, a place of business with a specific location and boundaries, a place where slaves might have been brought to for value assessment, or were auctioned off. It is most likely that that type of market did not exist in eighteenth century Oaxaca. Rather, for the purposes of this study, a market refers to an abstract space without boundaries in which various transactions were carried out.

,l> The total slave population in the Valley of Oaxaca for early eighteenth century remains unknown. However, the city census lor Oaxaca from 1792 identities a free population of 2.370 mulatos (people of a mixed African and Spanish ancestry), with 10.504 Espafioles, Casiizos and Mestizos combined, and 4,773 Indios. see table 1.1 and AGN: Padrones. afio 1792, vol.13 fs.296. 182

The convent of Santa Catalina was the single most frequent participant in the surveyed

slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca, between 1700 and 1741.20 Among other institutions

heavily participating in the sale of slaves were the Jesuit and the Dominican monasteries.21 The database suggests that few lay individuals were involved in the market on a significant scale.

Lay individual merchants and vecinos of the Valley were no match for the various religious orders, pious institutions, and clergy who controlled a substantial portion of the slave market in

the Valley. Among the most important lay merchants trading slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca was don Antonio Amable. He was a Spaniard from Cadiz who married into the Oaxacan elite and

had risen to a prominent position. Part of his success depended on his connection to a trade route

with Guatemala City, where his father resided. Don Antonio Amable also had a daughter and a

granddaughter at the convent of Santa Catalina, and one of his sons had become a priest.22 It is

not clear, however, whether don Amable's business activities benefited from his connections to

the convent of Santa Catalina.

Sales: Venta de Esclavo

Documents such as Venta de esclavo (bill of sale of a slave) enable examination of the

nature of the slave market in a particular region.23 They establish the existence of a market and

:o It was responsible for over 16.46 percent of slaves sold and manumitted during this period: there were 147 slaves sold or purchased, or manumitted by the convent of Santa Catalina. and 893 slaves sold or manumitted in the entire market in the Valley of Oaxaca, see ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741.

For a study of Dominican friars who owned sugar producing estates and owned many slaves in seventeenth century Guatemala see Paul Lokken. "Marriage as Slave Emancipation in Seventeenth-Century Rural Guatemala." The Americas 58 (2001): 175-200; for Jesuits who utilized slave labour see Herman W. Konrad. A Jesuit Hacienda in Colonial Mexico: Santa Lucia, 1576-1767 (Stanford. Calif., 1980), especially chap. 10.

22 AH AO. Sagrario Metropolitano, Catolica; ANO. Joseph Manuel de Lara. 1763 Libra 224. fs.235v Testamento. 183 the role that slaves and their masters played within it. The transactions of sales of slaves indicate the frequency of sales and the frequency at which slaves changed workplaces. Rina Caceres points out that the cost of slaves was valued in terms of the work they did, as well as in monetary terms. Those who purchased slaves could have spent their money on other expenses and commodities. In the case of Costa Rica, people's willingness to spend money on slaves indicates the importance of slave labour in agriculture and livestock.24 Considering that during the colonial period there was limited cash circulating within the economy, and that people purchased slaves strictly in exchange for cash, further illuminates the importance of slave labour. In the case of the Valley of Oaxaca, nearly all sale transactions involved the exchange of cash. This was contrary to what was happening in the credit market (as discussed in chapter 4) where people contracted perpetual censos and delayed repaying the principal. Even the elites were short on cash, and some of them took credit to pay dowries when their daughters professed as nuns. In those cases, buildings used as loan collateral could be repossessed when a borrower defaulted, however slaves could die and the lender would lose the investment. Therefore in transactions of venta de esclavos cash was preferred. Further, the fact that people spent cash to purchase slaves when cash was in such short supply suggests that slaves were a luxury item during the eighteenth century. Potential slave owners had to save the necessary amount of money in advance of their purchase and had to collect the actual coins, and then risked loosing the slave if that slave died or fled. Most people in the lay community, who participated in the

21 For a discussion on the use of notary records to study the social and economic history of slavery, see Frederick P. Bowser. " The Free Person of Color in Mexico City and Lima: Manumission and Opportunity. 1580- 1650." in Race and Slavery in the Western Hemisphere: Quantitative Studies, ed. Stanley L. Engerman and Eugene D. Genovese (Princeton. 1975). 331-368.

'* Rina Caceres. Negros, Mulatos, Esclavosy Libertos en la Costa Rica del siglo XVII (Mexico. D.I .. 2000). 46-47.

~5 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 184

slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca, acquired one or two slaves for urban and domestic employment, which suggests the low importance of slave labour in the Valley's agricultural

sector. Institutions, however, such as the convent of Santa Catalina, obtained slaves

predominantly as labour for the agricultural sector. The large numbers of slaves living on rural estates were an important and costly investment (table 5.3). It is no wonder, that the convent of

Santa Catalina, the wealthiest institution in the Valley of Oaxaca, utilized slave labour on their

estates. I have shown in chapter 4 that the Dominican nuns controlled the credit and the circulation of cash in the region. They could afford a large enslaved labour force which they

supplemented with seasonal paid labour: during periods of the highest demand for labour, the

convent employed indigenous day labourers from nearby villages.

A document of venta de esclavo was legally binding, and also served as a title to

property: the slave. It had to be prepared by a notary and was formulaic. It provided the date

and location of the transaction. It listed who the buyer and seller of the slave(s) were. The

name, racial description, and age of the slave were also included. Further, the document

provided a brief history of the slave, including information on the previous owner, when and for

how much the slave was sold for, and whether he/she was born and raised in the region or what

route he or she took to get to the Valley of Oaxaca. If more than one slave was involved in a

single transaction, the document indicated any familial relationship between them, whether they

were husband and wife, mother and child, or siblings. The price of the slave and the method of

payment were also listed. The bill of sale then attested to the healthy condition of the slave, and

indicated that there were no liens on him/her. The buyer, seller, and notary signed each

document. Additionally, when the convent of Santa Catalina was involved in a transaction,

every document attested that the mother prioress of the convent of Santa Catalina approved the transaction: only she had the power to buy, sell or free slaves.26 Some of the things that the document did not mention, however, were the purpose for which people acquired slaves, what skills the slaves had, or what work they would perform. In many cases, it was possible to determine whether a slave was in an urban/domestic service or lived at a rural estate.

The Rural Setting

The Valley of Oaxaca is formed by two sets of mountains. The Sierra Madre del Sur from the West, and the Sierra Madre Oriental (Sierra Norte) from the North, which divide the

Valley of Oaxaca into three areas: the Valley of Etla, the Valley of Tlacolula, and the Valley of

Zimitlan. Each region has a slightly different climate, ranging from temperate, to warm, to dry.

The region of Etla has been the most productive in the Valley, yielding as many as two or three harvests per year. The Atoyec River and its many arms, run through the city of Oaxaca and through the entire valley, making agriculture possible which in turn enabled the support of a large population during the pre-conquest period.27 The land was divided between cacicazgos

(estates of caciques), pueblos and Spanish estates. As discussed earlier, by the eighteenth century there were forty-two Spanish owned haciendas and ranchos within the Valley of

Oaxaca.28 They developed as a response to food demand from the city, rather than with the intention of reaching a wider market. For the most part, these estates supplied wheat and

Monasteries had a similar structure of power; see Konrad. A Jesuit Hacienda in Colonial Mexico: Santa Lucia, 1576-1767, p.247.

"7 Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, 9-11, 82; Margarita Dalton, Breve Historia de Oaxaca (Mexico. D.F., 2004). 17-32; Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca , 9-34.

"8 These are estimates for 1793 and 1810. see Brian R. Hamnett. "Dye Production. Food Supply, and the Laboring Population of Oaxaca. 1750-1820," Hispanic American Historical Review 51 (1971): 52; In 1643 there were already 41 haciendas in the valley, see Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca . 106. 186 livestock, including cows, horses, and sheep, as well as maize, beans, peppers, and a variety of fruits. Ranching and agriculture, however, were not prosperous ventures: cattle suffered from fatal epidemics, while grain suffered from droughts, frost and wheat blight. Sugar was cultivated in the Valley of Oaxaca in a number of areas, and with limited success. There were only a few estates, in the area of Zimitlan and Etla, with large enough capital to invest in technology and labour, others had small plots of sugar cane.29 The limited prosperity offered by the agricultural sector transpired into little interest from peninsulares in ownership of rural estates. William

Taylor found that the turnover in ownership tended to be frequent and that many people preferred to rent or lease the estates instead. After the 1740s, when cochineal began to be produced for export on the international market, it became the single most lucrative item produced in the region. Until the 1780s its production was in the hands of the indigenous people.

Spaniards and others benefited from the industry through trade, but not through production.30 In this environment, the convent of Santa Catalina had owned several haciendas, labores and estancias scattered throughout the Valley of Oaxaca. Taylor, in his study of land tenure practices in the Valley of Oaxaca, notes that "Santa Catalina took a remarkably practical attitude toward land ownership, disposing of lands that were of no long-range use or that could yield a quick profit by resale."31 Further, he observes that most of the estates that the convent owned were pastured lands located in the southern arm of the valley.32 Some of Santa Catalina's estates

2'' Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca, 16-17, 47. 127-128.

10 Ibid., 12-27..35-66; Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca . 105-119. 147; for cochineal production and the role of indigenous people in the industry see Jeremy Baskes, Indians, Merchants, and Markets: A Reinterpretation of the Repartimiento and Spanish-Indian Economic Relations in Colonial Oaxaca, 1750-1821 (Stanford, 2000).

" Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca, 187.

" Ibid.. 186-188. specialized in raising livestock including cattle and sheep, others in sugar production. Many of these properties were, however, rented out.

The estates that the convent of Santa Catalina owned for an extensive period of time relied on slave labour. The database reveals that over 80 percent of the slaves who were purchased or sold by the convent worked and lived at a hacienda or a trapiche (sugar mill). The convent relied on slave labour particularly at sugar plantations such as the Hacienda y Trapiche de San Isidro in the jurisdiction of Nexapa, near present day Cuilapan in the sub-Valley of

Zimitlan.33 The inventory of items sold to a new renter of San Isidro and additional sales of slaves from that hacienda in 1729 indicate that thirty-eight slaves lived at that estate prior to the transfer of their ownership. Among them were twenty adults and adolescents, each valued at 200 pesos or higher and 18 children, each valued below 200 pesos (table 5.2). Judging by the number of slaves who worked at the San Isidro estate, it is apparent that the convent owned one of the larger estates in the Valley of Oaxaca.34

" Santa Catalina owned this estate until at least the early nineteenth century, see Ibid.. 222-223. 126-128; There is ample literature on slavery and sugar in Latin America. For an introduction to this theme see Klein. African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean; John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800. Second ed. (Cambridge, 1998); In the case of Mexico see Palmer. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650 . especially chap.3.

34 In the case of Mexico some of the larger estates owned between ten and twenty slaves, some estates had more, see Palmer, Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, p.44; Taylor also estimates that the estate of San Isidro was the largest rural property that belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina; it was valued at 26,358 pesos in 1766. and received the most administrative attention from the convent throughout the eighteenth century, see Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca , p. 188. 188

Table 5.2 Inventory of Slaves at the Hacienda y Trapiche de San Isidro, 1729

Name of Slave Racial description Age Price (pesos)

Juan Blanco married to Mulato bianco 58 200 Manuela Mulata blanca 45 200 Juan Antonio Mulato 20 200

Phelipe - 18 200 Manuela Mulata 16 200 Simona Mulata 14 200 Carlos Mulato 9 100 Maria Xacob Mulatilla 7 100

- Mulatillo 5 100 Manuela Blanco Mulatilla 3 100 Gregorio Mulato 15 200 Miguel Mulato cocho 14 200

Juan Manuel - 12 150 Simon Negro 20 200 Rosa Mulata 30 300 Francisco Mulato 4 100

Lorenzo - 1 100 Barthalome de Jesus married to Negro 28 200 Maria de la Natividad with children Negra 25 200 Alexo de la Cruz Negro 5 100 Maria de la Cruz Negrilla 5 100 Vicenta Maria Negra 0.5 100 Antonio Mulato 25 200 Michaela Negra 25 200 Nicolas Negro 9 100 Leonada Negra 12 200 Juana Franc i sea Negra 5 100 Antonio Mulato 14 200 Melchora Mulata 30 200 Juan Mulato 1 100 Nicolas Antonio Negrillo 7 130 Marcial Negrillo 8 170 Juan Fernando married to Negro 58 Antonia with children Mulata Cocha 35 Octavio Negro 9 600 Francisco Negro 2 Rosalva Maria with child Mulata Prieta 25 Isidro Mulatillo 5 300

Source: ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, year 1729, Libro 31, fs.19, Venta de Esclavo; Libro 31, fs.36v, Venta de Esclavo; Libro 31, fs42v, Venta de Hacienda y Esclavo; Libro 31, fs.67, Venta de Esclavo; year 1734, Libro 38, fs.50, Retrocesion de Esclavo 189

Most rural slaves who belonged to the convent moved between the convent's rural estates. Some slaves were moved between Hacienda Lachihuiro, Hacienda Miahuatlan, and

Trapiche Chunoban. Other slaves remained on the same land while changing owners as in the above mentioned case at the Hacienda y Trapiche de San Isidro. The convent of Santa Catalina owned the estate of San Isidro for many years, but it rented it out to various investors for periods of five to six years. For the duration of each contract, the new tenant became the owner of all the slaves, livestock and tools at the estate, but not of the land. In 1729, the convent rented out

Hacienda y Trapiche de San Isidro to don Antonio Machorro for 6,904 pesos. The transaction

included the sale of thirty slaves. Five years later when the terms of the contract ended, don

Antonio Machorro sold twenty-six of the thirty slaves back to the convent.35 During the tenure of the contract, tenants of haciendas were responsible for providing food, clothing, medical and

religious/spiritual care to the resident slaves. They were also responsible for any deaths of

slaves, and were expected to replace human loss of labour whether in cash or in kind. Tenants

were also responsible for any crime committed by their slaves. While slaves born during the

period of the contract belonged to the tenant, it was customary for the owners of the estate to buy

them out in order to maintain slave families.36

15 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. year 1729 Libro 31, fs.42v. Venta de Hacienda y Esclavo; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. year 1734. Libro 38, fs.50, Retrocesion de Esclavo.

36 Lolita Gutierrez Brockington, The Leverage of Labor: Managing the Cortes Haciendas in Tehuanlepec, 1588-1688 (Durham and London. 1989). 28. 190

Slaves and the Slave Market in the Valley of Oaxaca

The bills of sales of slaves, by notary Albarez de Arag6n for the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741, reveal that all slaves who were sold or purchased by the convent of

Santa Catalina were rural slaves, while many of the slaves who were sold or purchased by the other slave owners in the Valley of Oaxaca were urban slaves. The documents pertaining to slaves of the convent of Santa Catalina mention what estate they were coming from or going to.

For slaves acquired by the other slave owners in the region this was not always the case. The general residential distribution of slaves in the Valley however, is likely reflected in gender distribution of the slaves sold, in how they were sold, and in the price they were sold for.

Moreover, studying these characteristics of slaves in the slave market, as well as their age distribution and naming practices, reveals a number of differences between slaveholding patterns in the Valley, those of the convent of Santa Catalina and those of the other slave owners.

The gender distribution of slaves sold through the convent of Santa Catalina was atypical for rural estates in the New World. In the forty-year long period, the convent owned, purchased, or sold seventy-one female slaves and ninety-two male slaves. Female slaves constituted 43 percent of the slaves sold through the convent of Santa Catalina, and male slaves constituted 56 percent (table 5.3).37 The inventory of slaves at the sugar-producing Hacienda y Trapiche de San

Isidro, which belonged to the convent, indicates that there were ten male and ten female adult slaves, and thirteen male and five female children born into slavery (table 5.2). Based on this inventory it would be reasonable to assume that the sales of slaves in the market are representative of slave populations at the estates of the convent of Santa Catalina, in which case the data collected suggests that gender distribution among the slaves who belonged to the

17 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741. 191 convent was uncommon. Typical plantations that depended on African slave labour in the New

World acquired male slaves rather than female slaves. Therefore, 1 expected to find a much greater gap in gender ratio, with proportionally fewer female slaves. Plantation owners perceived male slaves as stronger and more suited to the demands of cultivating and collecting sugar cane and processing it in the sugar refinery. As a result of the gender imbalance, the typical enslaved population on a plantation also had a low reproductive rate.38 It would be sensible to expect that females at those plantations would have not been sold with great frequency. Slaves at the estates of Santa Catalina however, had a much higher female to male ratio and reproductive ratio than plantations in the New World. The proportionally high ratio of female slaves at the rural estates of the convent of Santa Catalina makes this gender distribution uncommon (5.3).

Meanwhile, the other slave owners in the Valley of Oaxaca sold female slaves more often than male slaves. Among the slaves sold who did not belong to the convent of Santa Catalina, 60 percent were female, 39 percent were male and 1 unspecified (table 5.3). This finding suggests that a majority of surveyed slaves sold in the Valley were urban slaves, or slaves engaged in the domestic sector. Overall, 57 percent of all surveyed slaves sold in the Valley of Oaxaca were female and 42 percent were male (table 5.3). In a typical urban environment in the New World,

38 In the case of Mexico, the gender balance of enslaved African rural population had a ratio of 3 men to I woman . there was also a high infant mortality rate, see Palmer, Slaves of the While God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570- 1650, pp.47-48; however, the Jesuits had a policy of promoting family formation, and increased their slave population through natural reproduction. Slaves at the Jesuit rural estates had a balanced gender ratio, see Konrad. A Jesuit Hacienda in Colonial Mexico: Santa Lucia, 1576-1767, pp.254-258; gender ratio among slaves at rural estates of the convent of Santa Catalina were similar to those at the Hacienda of the Marqueses del Valle. Ward Barret studied one of the Cortes estates, a sugar plantation in the state of Moreios (neighbouring the state of Oaxaca), from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth-century. He found that during the eighteenth century a balanced gender ratio contributed to a healthy reproductive rate among the slaves. It is not entirely clear why gender distribution among rural slaves in Oaxaca and in Moreios was different than elsewhere in the New World. See Ward J. Barrett. The Sugar Hacienda of the Marqueses del Valle (Minneapolis, 1970), 79-80. 192 there was a greater demand for female slaves than for male slaves, therefore it can be expected that female slaves would have entered the slave market more frequently than male slaves.39

Table 5.3 Gender Distribution of Slaves Sold in the Slave Market in the Valley of Oaxaca Using Records of the Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741

Gender Santa Catalina Non - Santa Catalina Total Sales

N° of Cases % N° of Cases % N° of Cases % Female 61 43 406 60 467 57 Male 79 56 267 39 346 42 Unknown 1 1 3 1 4 1 Total 141 676 817

Source: ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741

Another characteristic of the surveyed slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca was how slaves were sold. Rural slaves were often sold in groups, while urban slaves and those engaged in the domestic service, tended to sell individually rather than in groups. The convent of Santa

Catalina owned predominantly plantation slaves, and 36 percent of them were sold individually.

In contrast, 69 percent of slaves who did not have connections to the convent sold in individual transactions. Overall, nearly 25 percent of the sales of slaves in the Valley involved unions of two or three slaves.'10 These findings suggest that urban slave owners tended to own (and sell) one slave: usually a female slave or a female slave and her children. When they sold an adult woman, they sold her together with her children as when Josepha and her fifteen-month-old son

w For a discussion ofthe urban slavery in Mexico and the practice of hiring out slaves (the practice of jornal) see Palmer. Slaves ofthe White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, pp. 43-46.

40 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 193 changed owners together.4' Similarly, at the age of 38, Nicolasa de Canceco, who was married to a free person, was sold together with her four-year-old daughter to a new master.42 In a typical urban situation where slave owners tended to own one or two slaves, it would have been more common and easier to sell one slave, or occasionally a female slave and her child, than selling larger groups.43 In the Valley of Oaxaca, group sales were a feature of plantation slavery, and not a feature of urban slavery. Slave owners frequently sold slaves together with the plantation, and it was common for them to sell more than four plantation slaves in one transaction.44 Such was the case when the convent of Santa Catalina sold its slaves at the estate of San Isidro in 1729 (table 5.2). The Jesuits carried out similar transactions when they sold thirteen slaves together with one of their estates in 1723, and seven in another transaction in

1724.45

Gender distribution of sold slaves, information on how many slaves were sold per transaction, as well as naming patterns, enable me to piece together social and familial networks of slaves who were sold in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741. The sales of slaves indicate that many of the slaves who lived on the rural estates of the convent of Santa Catalina formed families.46 It was common to find married couples with children. Anna Maria was

41 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1725, Libro 26, fs.169, Venta de esclavos.

42 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1727, Libro 29. fs. 118v. Venta de esclavos.

43 Palmer, Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, p.46.

44 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741.

45 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1723, Libro 24. fs.200v. Venta de esclavos; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1734, Libro 24, fs.366v, Venta de esclavos; ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, year 1729. Libro 31, fs42v. Venta de Hacienda y Esclavo.

46 For a discussion of limitations of the slave system on social stability and family formation see Stuart B. Schwartz, Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society: Bahia. 1550-1835. Cambridge Latin American Studies (Cambridge; New York. 1985). especially chap.14; and for a discussion of successful community formation 194 married to Pedro Chincoa and they had a daughter Maria Jacoba. Anna Maria also had two sons,

Juan and Analtacio, before she married Pedro, and they all lived together.47 Another married couple, Barthalome and Maria, had three children. Alexo and Maria were twins, and Vicenta was four years younger.48 Plantations enabled slaves to form larger family networks, making it possible for a couple to live with their parents and siblings in one household. Leonarda married a free person, and they had a daughter. The three of them lived with Leonarda's parents, Manuel

Antonio and Michaela de la Concepcion, and with her younger siblings, Nicolas Mansueto and

Juan.49 Over half of the slaves who belonged to the convent had relatives on the same plantation.

These familial networks would have facilitated social cohesion and strengthened cultural identity.50

The contracts made by the convent of Santa Catalina reveal that the convent had a policy of keeping enslaved people's families intact. As mentioned earlier, it was a common practice for the convent to sell entire family units when they rented out their haciendas, rather than to break families and sell family members individually. The convent tended to purchase, or sell, family units such as a mother and her children, or extended families, where they sold three generations in one transaction. The sale of mothers and their children was proportionally as frequent for the convent as for the other slave owners, 17 and 18 percent respectively. However, the data shows that the proportion of sales of larger family units was higher for the convent (35 percent) than

in seventeenth century Mexico Cily see Herman L. Bennett. Colonial Blackness: A History of Afro-Mexico (Bloomington, 2009).

47 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1728. Libro 30, fs.183. Venta de esclavos.

48 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1734, Libro 38, fs.54v, Venta de esclavos.

49 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1734, Libro 38. fs.53. Venta de esclavos.

50 For an introduction to studies of cultural identity within a plantation society or slave society see Klein and Vinson III. African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean . especially chap.8. 195 among the other slave owners (1 percent) in the Valley.51 The slave market, custom, and the ways the convent managed their rural holdings dictated this pattern.52 This pattern also related to the rural environment in which the slaves lived and worked, rather than to an exceptionally benevolent position of the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina, or of the mayordomo who administered their properties.53

While the convent of Santa Catalina followed the custom of selling mothers with their children and even large family units together, the fate of the enslaved children remained precarious. The story of Juana Francisca demonstrates this insecurity. As mentioned earlier, in

1729, when Juana Francisca was only five years old, the convent of Santa Catalina leased the sugar Hacienda y Trapiche de San Isidro to don Antonio Machorro. While don Antonio

Machorro leased the real estate, he purchased all the tools and slaves for the duration of the lease.54 This transfer of property meant that Juana Francisca's relatives and friends, essentially her entire world, remained physically unchanged. They all remained on the same estate. Only their owner had changed. However, during the period in which don Antonio Machorro leased the estate, he could sell or acquire property, as he desired. This was precisely the moment when the unpredictability and instability of the life of a slave child was most apparent. The ink on the paper was not dry yet, covering the transactions of lease and sale of property, when don Antonio

51 The convent sold 37 percent of their slaves in individual transactions, in contrast to other slave owners who sold 69 percent of the slaves in individual transactions. ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741.

52 For a discussion of the Siete Pallidas (a legislation regarding sales and manumissions) and its application in Latin America see Bowser. The African Slave in Colonial Peru, 152-4-1650 , especially chap. 10; and Palmer. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650. especially chap.4.

53 Konrad argues that the Jesuits at Santa Lucia had a policy not to separate families through sale, and that this policy set them apart from other rural slave owners, see Konrad, A Jesuit Hacienda in Colonial Mexico: Santa Lucia. 1576-1767. especially chap.10.

54 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1729. Libro 31. fs.47. Venta hacienda y venta de esclavos. 196

Machorro sold Juana Francisca to a new home. At the age of five, Juana Francisca became a slave of dofia Isabel and dofla Ines de Gasca. Her new masters were two sisters, who lived in

Antequera, and it is not clear why they purchased such a young slave. Perhaps there was a child

in their household already and they wanted a playmate, and a same age companion for that child.55 Regardless of the reasons for which she was acquired, for Juana Francisca this change of ownership was more drastic than the initial one. Now, she had two new owners who were more directly involved in her life, she had no family around her, and she had to adapt to a new environment and new customs.56

Analyzing name patterns may further reveal the extent of slaves' social networks. Slaves

sold in the Valley shared three naming practices, whether they belonged to the convent of Santa

Catalina or to other slave owners, and whether they were urban or rural. Slaves typically had one or two first names. Some of the most frequent names for women were Maria, Juana,

Josepha, Manuela, Theresa, Francisca, and Antonia. Women also used these names in addition

to other names such as Barbara Francisca, Juana Catarina, Josepha Antonia, or Josepha Maria.

Among other name combinations were Magdalena Ignacia, Magdalena Gertrudis, or Maria

Manuela. The most common names for men were Juan, Joseph, Manuel, Antonio, Francisco,

Sebastian, and Ignacio. Their name combinations included Juan Antonio, Juan Pedro, Juan

Fernando, Lucas Antonio, and Manuel Antonio. It was extremely rare for slaves sold in the

Valley of Oaxaca to have a last name, either that of their master or their own. Instead, slaves had

descriptive names added to their first name, often with a religious connotation to it, or invoking

55 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1729, Libro 31, fs.49, Venta de esclavos.

5(> For a discussion on the relocation of rural slaves to urban environments and slaves' possible benefits related to this relocation see Christine Hunefeldt. Paying the Price of Freedom: Family and Labor Among Lima's Slaves, 1800-1854 (Berkeley. 1994). especially chap.2. 197

the name of a saint. Female slaves had names such as Catalina de San Juan, Maria del Rosario,

Maria de la Concepcion, Theresa de Jesus, and Theresa Maria de la Cruz. Men had a similar

naming pattern that included names such as Juan de la Cruz, Simon de la Cruz, Juan de Dios,

Thomas de los Santos, and Gaspar de los Reyes.57

Naming patterns can be used as a window to people's social status. Rebecca Horn argues

that naming patterns identify and differentiate people from each other. Analyzing Nahua naming

patterns, she found that the more detailed the name one had, the more important he/she was in

the community. Having one common name meant that the person was one of many. However,

having one common name followed by another more unique name, meant that this was how

people identified that person in the public sphere. Further, having an additional last name helped

identify a person as belonging to one of the ruling families in the region.58 At the same time,

analyzing naming patterns of slaves sold in the Valley of Oaxaca explains why it is nearly

impossible to trace slaves over time through documents, even among the bills of sale of slaves.

However, analysis of naming patters of slaves suggests that slaves may have had a social

hierarchy, and that slaves with longer names may have been more involved within Oaxaca's

community.59

57 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-174; Palmer found that, unlike in Oaxaca. slaves had one first name, and occasionally had a last name that was the same as that of their master, for further discussion of naming patterns in Mexico see Palmer, Slaves of the While God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650 , p.39.

58 Rebecca Horn. "Gender and Social Identity: Nahua Naming Patterns in Postconquest Central Mexico." in Indian Women of Early Mexico, ed. Susan Schroeder, Stephanie Wood, and Robert flasket (Norman. 1997). 105- 107.

50 It has long been understood that slaves had social hierarchy; that slaves had honor, and that honor among slaves was as important as among any other social or racial group in colonial Latin America. In this chapter, examining name patterns of slaves sold, however, may be the only way at seeing evidence ofthat in the case of the Valley of Oaxaca. For a discussion of honor in colonial Latin America and among slaves see Sandra Lauderdale Graham. "Honor Among Slaves." in The Faces of Honor: Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America, ed. Lyman L. Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Riverra (Albuquerque. 1998), 201-228; For a discussion of Afro-Mexican community formation see Bennett, Colonial Blackness: A History of Afro-Mexico. 198

Age distribution and residence of sold slaves were related to their price fluctuations in the slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741. Enslaved children and elderly slaves, as well as rural slaves, and particularly those of the convent of Santa Catalina, were sold at a lower price than adult slaves, urban slaves or those who belonged to other slave owners in the Valley. The bills of sale reveal that slaves under the age of twelve were generally sold with their mothers and cost fifty, 100 or 150 pesos. At the age of twelve, the value of slaves increased to 200 and they sold separately from their mothers with greater frequency. By the age of fourteen, a male slave would have reached adulthood and could cost 300 pesos. As the story of

Juana Francisca indicates, however, age did not fully protect children from sale and from separation from their family. Nor did it protect them from labour. Barrett argues that the importance of children in the work force was reflected in the price. He shows that at the sugar plantation of the Marqueses del Valle, in Oaxaca's neighbouring state of Morelos, children first worked at the age of ten, performing light duties such as assisting in irrigation of the fields.

Their contribution to work increased by the age of twelve and continued until they were sixty.60

During the eighteenth century, people also referred to children by using belittling racial descriptions. Children were mulatillos and mulatillas, negrita and negrito, or negrillo and negrilla instead of the typical mulato/a or negro/a. These descriptions strictly depended on age.

All slaves in the database who were fourteen years old or younger who belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina had such descriptions, and over 53 percent of slaves in the database, under the age of fifteen who belonged to other slave owners in the Valley had the same descriptions.

60 Barrett, The Sugar Hacienda of the Marqueses Del Valle . 82-83. 199

There were only three instances of older slaves sold with these descriptions: two of them were fifteen years old and one was eighteen.6'

Enslaved children under the age of twelve who were owned by the convent of Santa

Catalina resided with their mothers longer than children owned by other slave owners in the

Valley of Oaxaca. The database reveals that the convent sold nearly 13 percent of the enslaved children without their mothers by their side, compared to 35 percent of enslaved children sold alone by the other slave owners in the Valley.62 Juana Francisca was the youngest child sold from the slaves belonging to the convent. Slaves who belonged to other slave owners, however, sold at a much younger age. Maria Antonia was only two-years-old when dona Petrona de

Gusman purchased her for the price of 200 pesos.63 Similarly, Miguel Lino was sold and separated from his mother at the age of three: a priest at the Cathedral Church paid 100 pesos for him.64 Manuel was five-years-old when he was sold to don Francisco Achutegui Gandarillas for eighty pesos.65 The database reveals that enslaved children who were sold by the convent of

Santa Catalina spent their early years by their mothers' side longer, and their childhood would have been more predictable than that of children who belonged to other slave owners in the

Valley.

Turning attention to the other end of the life cycle, the data suggests that old age came at the age of fifty for many slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca. As they aged, they were sold less often

61 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741.

62 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741.

w ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 17236, Libra 40. fs.248, Venta de esclavos.

M ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1723, Libro 23, ts.l20v. Venta de esclavos.

65 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1734, Libro 38. fs.74v. Venta de esclavos. 200 and at a lower price. People aged fifty or older comprised only 3 percent of slaves sold. The convent of Santa Catalina sold all except one of its elderly slaves in larger groups, as part of a

family unit.66 The convent sold Pedro Chincoa and his wife Anna Maria, age fifty-five and fifty

respectively, together with their three children and two other families.67 Similarly, Manuel

Portugues was sold by the convent of Santa Catalina, together with six other slaves. He was seventy-three years old and was the oldest slave on record.68 Only Francisco Rivera was sold alone at the age of fifty-five for 100 pesos.69 Elderly slaves sold by the other slave owners in

Oaxaca, between 1700 and 1741, were sold individually at prices ranging from eighty to 250

pesos.70 Isabel de Serra was valued at 150 pesos at the age of fifty, while Maria de la O was

valued at 250 pesos.71 At the age of sixty, Maria de la Concepcion was valued at 106 pesos and

Maria Gonzalez y Alegria only at eighty pesos.72 The oldest slave sold in the Valley of Oaxaca

was Antonio Piflelo. At the age of eighty, he was sold together with Petrona de la Cruz who was

forty years old for a combined price of 300 pesos.73 Again, the bills of sales of slaves lack

information on how elderly slaves lived out their lives, what duties they were expected to

perform or how well they performed them. As mentioned earlier, in the formulaic manner, the

66 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741.

67 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1728, Libro 30. fs.l 83, Venta de esclavos.

68 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1728, Libro 30. fs.286, Venta de esclavos.

(,l> ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1728. Libro 30. fs.349. Venta de esclavos.

70 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741.

71 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1710, Libro 10. fs.38, Venta de esclavos; ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1731, Libro 33, fs.520, Venta de esclavos.

72 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1723, Libro 23, fs.489, Venta de esclavos; ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1736, Libro 40. fs.251, Venta de esclavos.

71 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1723, Libro 23, l's.210. Venta de esclavos. 201 documents indicate that even the elderly slaves were in good health. Can this information be

taken as given, or was there a subtext to this phrase? Santa Catalina's policy to maintain slave

families possibly helped slaves overcome many weaknesses. The family of a slave may have

functioned as a buffer for the youngest, the oldest, and the most vulnerable members. The sales

of slaves suggest that this would not have been an option for slaves who belonged to other slave owners in the Valley.

The dominant age category within the surveyed slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca was

adulthood. The data suggests that adults and those coming of age were sold individually, as

couples, as part of a family, or in other combinations. The adolescent slaves made up 22 percent

of the surveyed slave market, and those in their twenties made up 21 percent (table 5.4). Fewer

adolescent slaves who belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina entered the market when

compared to those sold by other slave owners. However, when it came to adult slaves in their

twenties, there was no difference in behaviour, or sale and purchasing patterns, among the

various slave owners. The convent of Santa Catalina sold and acquired slaves in this age group

with a similar frequency to other slave owners in the region between 1700 and 1741 (table 5.4). 202

Table 5.4 Age Distribution of Slaves Sold in the Slave Market in the Valley of Oaxaca Using Records of the Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741

Age Group Santa Catalina Non-Santa Catalina Total Sales N° of Cases % N° of Cases % N° of Cases % New born to 11 58 41 122 18 180 22 12 to 19 23 16 161 24 184 22 20 to 29 31 22 146 22 177 21 30 to 39 18 13 113 17 131 16 40 to 49 1 0 64 9 65 8 50 to 59 6 4 11 2 17 2 60 to 80 2 1 5 7 7 1 Unknown 2 1 54 8 56 7 Total 141 676 817

Source: ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741

Slaves thirty years old and older were sold less frequently than those in their teens and twenties (5.4). Moreover, sales of slaves over the age of forty-nine were relatively rare whether they belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina, or to other slave owners (table 5.4). It is not clear why slaves above the age of thirty sold less frequently, but several explanations may account for this change. Perhaps by the time slaves reach the age of thirty or so, they were paired with their masters for a longer period of time. In the case of the urban environment, this matching may have even been for the life of the slave. Considering that a significant proportion of slaves sold in the slave market were most likely born in the Valley of Oaxaca, it may have been possible that slave owners sold them once slaves reached adolescence or were in their twenties. It may have also been possible that slaves in their twenties were still tested out for their skills, temperament, adaptability, strength, health, and therefore resold frequently. By their thirties, slaves may have reached a master who was satisfied with their labour, and provided them with a more permanent ownership. A high mortality rate is an unlikely explanation for the reduced frequency of slaves sold after the age of thirty in Valley of Oaxaca. High mortality is 203 generally associated with, and would be expected in, rural environments, especially on plantations where the demands for physical labour in the agriculture sector were high, and where extremely poor nutrition and poor living conditions would have been common.74 However, the sales of slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca, suggest that the majority of slaves sold in the region were most likely urban slaves or were engaged in the domestic service. Therefore 1 would not expect high mortality rates among Oaxacan urban slaves, nor did I find any evidence of that.

The cost of slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741 depended on several variables, including age, gender and skills or place of residence. However, the process of price evaluation was more complicated and merits more attention. Additionally, the bills of sales of slaves indicate that slaves owned (sold or purchased) by the convent of Santa Catalina were priced less than slaves sold by other slave owners in the Valley.

The convent of Santa Catalina obtained slaves through purchase, and occasionally through foreclosure. In each case, it paid the market price for them. During the first half of the eighteenth century, the overall average price for a slaves sold through the convent was 154 pesos. However, the least expensive slave who belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina was

Maria del Carmen. At the age of twenty-two, she was sold for fifty pesos even though she was

"healthy and without defects".75 In 1729, the convent obtained Maria del Carmen through foreclosure for unpaid loans by her master don Rodrigo de la Chica. The convent subsequently sold Maria del Carmen for the same amount. Another slave sold at a very low price was

Manuela Ramirez in 1737. The mother prioress of the convent of Santa Catalina, sold Manuela

74 For a discussion of mortality rates see Palmer. Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, pp.49-51.

75 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1729, Libro 31. fs.309v. Venta de F.sclavo. 204

Ramirez to fray Pedro de la Fuente from the Santo Domingo monastery. At the age of thirty- five, Manuela Ramirez was valued at 100 pesos together with her four-year-old son.76 Similarly,

Francisco Rivera at the age of fifty-five sold for 100 pesos in 1728.77 On the other side of the spectrum, Santa Catalina's most expensive slave was Joseph de Catalan: a forty-five-year-old slave who was sold for as much as 350 pesos in 1718.78

Unfortunately the bills of sale of slaves did not provide explicit information on how the price was set or what determined the value of a slave. Attributing these price differences to inflation however, would be erroneous. On the one hand, Carlos Newland and Maria Jesus San

Segundo show that slaves were a stable commodity not affected by seasonal variations or droughts.79 On the other hand, Richard Garner and Spiro Stefanou estimate that the rate of change in grain price was 0.8 percent for the entire eighteenth century. I am not suggesting that prices of slaves and grain had a comparable distribution; however, assuming that the rate of overall inflation was similar to grain would mean that the price of slaves in 1700 should have doubled by the 1780s.80 This was not the case in Oaxaca (graph 5.1). Another way of measuring inflation is to examine income earned; however, it seems that inflation in Mexico may have been even slower. Annual salary for a mayordomo (administrator) at the Hacienda of the Marqueses

lb ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1737. Libra 43. Is.366. Venta de Esclavo.

77 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1728, Libro 30. fs.349. Venta de Esclavo.

78 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1718. Libro 18. fs.248. Venta de Esclavo.

79 Carlos Newland and Maria Jesus San Segundo, argue that slave prices were stable across Spanish- America, and that their value was first related to their labour or skills, then to age, and then to gender. Carlos Newland and Maria Jesus San Segundo. "Human Capital and Other Determinants of the Price Life Cycle or a Slave: Peru and La Plata in the Eighteenth Century." The Journal of Economic History 56 (1996): 699.

80 Richard L. Gamer and Spiro E. Stefanou. Economic Growth and Change in Bourbon Mexico. University of Florida social sciences monograph; 80. (Gainesville. 1993), 27-36. 205 del Valle was 500 pesos thought out the eighteenth century.81 Again, this is not what has been observed for price of slaves in Oaxaca. The bills of sale of slaves for the region of Oaxaca indicate that the average price of slaves sold as single units (not in groups) slowly decreased between 1700 and 1742 (graph 5.1). If there was inflation in the general economy, it would mean that the real price of slaves was even lower in the 1740s than has been observed in terms of nominal price. This finding supports the notion that in Mexico during the eighteenth century slavery was in decline, and that it was losing its economic importance.82

Evaluating the price of slaves was a complicated and formalized process. Many characteristics determined the value of a slave, and to ensure fairness, each transaction involved an independent bureaucrat to make an estimate. Analysis of over half of the bills of sales of slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741, suggests that in addition to skills and health, price changed according to the age and gender of the slave. All slaves who belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina and were between the age of fourteen and eighty cost on average

157 pesos. Children under the age of eleven cost 150 pesos, those between the age of twelve and thirteen cost 170 pesos. Female slaves at the estates of the convent tended to cost slightly more than male slaves. The average price depended on the age group and varied between three and 37 pesos.83 As mentioned earlier, the convent of Santa Catalina sold and acquired the majority of its slaves in grouped transactions where four, five or even twenty-six slaves were assessed at one

81 Mayordomo at Cortes estate was one of the two highest paid individuals, and earned a constant maximum annual income of 500 pesos whether in 1702, 1718, 1779. or 1811, see Barrett. The Sugar Hacienda of the Marqueses del Valle 133. table 27.

82 For a discussion on decrease in slave trade and decrease of slavery in economic importance see Palmer, Human Cargos: The British Stave Trade to Spanish America, 1700-1739 and Proctor III. "Slaver. Identity, and Culture: An Afro-Mexican Counterpoint, 1640-1763".

81 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 206 common price. This poses a particular challenge when estimating the value of each of these slaves, because the attributes of individual slaves blend in with those of everyone else. At the age of twenty-two, Theresa de Jesus and her seven-month-old son Raphael sold for 225 pesos. A couple of years later, when Dionisio Thomas was the same age as Theresa de Jesus, he was sold for 225 pesos.84 This suggests that when Theresa de Jesus and her son were sold, most likely no value was attached to little Raphael. Taking an average value from such transactions, underestimates the average price, which was 154 pesos. However, based on transactions where only a single slave was sold, or where all slaves were assigned individual values, the average price for an adult slave who belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina was 200 pesos.85

84 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1726, Libra 28. fs.294. Venta de Ksclavo: ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1728. Libra 30, fs.405v. Venta de Esclavos.

85 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 207

Figure 5.1 Mean Price of Slaves Sold as Single Units, Using the Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1700-1741

o o CO

o o CD

O o

o o CM

O -

1705 1710 1715 1720 1725 1730 1735 1740 Year

Mean Price

Source: ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741 208

The prices of slaves who did not belong to the convent of Santa Catalina are more telling.

The evaluation process and the characteristics determining the price of slaves were the same for

all slaves in the database, whether they belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina or not.

However, slaves in the lay population were priced on an individual basis with greater frequency,

and therefore, their price history is more accurate, or more representative of the slave market in

the Valley of Oaxaca. The average price of slaves, who did not belong to the convent of Santa

Catalina, was 202 pesos. Female slaves cost on average 205 pesos, while male slaves on average

cost 197 pesos. A breakdown based on age reveals that children under the age of twelve

averaged 153 pesos, slaves ages twelve to thirteen averaged 193 pesos, and those who were

above the age of fourteen averaged 215 pesos. The price difference based on gender was

between one and twenty-one pesos depending on the age group. There was essentially no price

difference between rural and urban slaves who belonged to other slave owners than the convent

of Santa Catalina. An urban slave who did not belong to the convent on average cost 190 pesos,

and rural slaves cost 193 pesos. However, the average price of rural slaves differed by thirty-

nine pesos depending on whether they belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina or not. Rural

slaves who were sold by the convent sold for 154 pesos while those who were sold by other rural

slave owners in the Valley sold at an average price of 193 pesos.86 It is possible that this rural

price difference relates to price assessment practices: prices on individual basis vs. group prices,

a discount for children and the elderly or less valuable family members.

Most adult slaves who were sold in the surveyed slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca

sold for around 200 pesos.87 There were however some notable exceptions. One of the least

86 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741.

87 For an impact of age on price see a discussion in the previous section. 209 expensive slaves was Antonio. At the age of twenty-one, Antonio sold for fifty pesos. His poor health dictated this low price. It is not possible to determine what exactly was wrong with

Antonio. His owners, however, felt so strongly about his condition that they stipulated in the bill of sale that no one should ever sell him for more than fifty pesos, and that he should not procreate.88 The most expensive slave on the surveyed slave market in the Valley of Oaxaca was an African born woman who did not have a name. She disembarked in Veracruz, and was only identified as negra pieza de Indias (a unit of measure of slaves used in the asiento). In 1707, she was valued at 660 pesos.89 This was an exceptionally high price even for slaves from Africa who were typically more expensive than those born in the New World. In the region of Oaxaca, other slaves imported from Africa cost less. In 1701 Francisco Xavier sold for 400 pesos, in 1713

Maria Ignacia sold for 450 pesos, in 1737 Joseph Antonio sold for 300 pesos, and in 1738 Maria sold for 270 pesos.90 Many people were sold as slaves within the slave market in the Valley of

Oaxaca, and their price depended in part on a number of the above outlined variables.

88 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1718, Libro 18, fs.119v, Venta de Esclavos.

89 Terms such as piezas de Indias, calibrado, carfe and bozal were used in colonial Latin America to refer to newly disembarked slaves, including by Oaxacan notaries. For a discussion of terminology see Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (Madison, 1969), p.22; In 1707 a female slave identified as piezas de Indias was brought to Oaxaca from the port of Veracruz. She was a recent arrival, identified in this way. but not by name. Six years later, her next bill of sale indicates that Maria Ignacia was of Mandinga origin, indicating that she was likely Muslim. This is an interesting description, as all slaves were intended to be converted to Christianity upon disembarking in the New World; it suggests that her conversion may have not been immediate. ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1707, Libro 6, fs.27, Venta de Esclavo; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1713. Libro 14. fsl37. Venta de esclavos; The term Mandinga was used to indicate African origins of a slave, most likely of someone from West Africa and Muslim, see Carroll. "Mandinga: The Evolution of a Mexican Runaway Slave Community, 1735-1827," p.494.

90 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1737. Libro 43. fs.455v. Venta de Esclavo; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1738, Libro 44, fs.300v. Venta de Esclavo; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1701, Libro 6, fs.62v. Venta de Esclavo; ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1713. Libro 14. fs.137. Venta de Esclavo. 210

Manumission Deeds: Cartas de libertad

Slaves had limited options for gaining freedom. The most common options were running away, or purchasing their own freedom. Some male slaves married free women to ensure a free future for their offspring, if not for themselves.91 Other slaves hoped for the mercy of their masters, who might offer freedom in exchange for good service, loyalty, obedience, or for other good deeds.92 The most successful and permanent method of gaining freedom in the Spanish

Empire was the legal route through manumission. This method was based on an exchange, whether monetary or in service, and involved signing a contract between the slave and his/her former master.93 Because this was a legal matter, it should have been well documented by contemporary notaries. Manumission deeds for slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca reveal that granting freedom was not a particularly common practice among Oaxaquenos. Among the 1,571 bills of sale found at the archives of the notaries, there were only 221 manumission deeds signed between 1681 and 1821 (table 5.1). Notary Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, the primary notary dealing with slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca between 1700 and 1741, recorded only fifty eight manumission deeds for seventy-six individuals in the region.94

The convent of Santa Catalina granted freedom to six individuals, or to 4 percent of its slaves. This statistic however, is not particularly informative. In effect, the convent freed one individual and one family of five over the forty-one-year period. The individual who gained

" Lokken, "Marriage as Slave Emancipation in Seventeenth-Century Rural Guatemala." 178-179.

92 For a discussion of manumission methods and practices see Bowser, The African Slave in Colonial Peru. 1524-1650, especially chap.10.

For a discussion of free manumission and self-purchase see Klein, African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean 227-230; for a discussion of manumission based on gender relations, for sexual relations and or legitimacy of offspring see Frank "Trey" Proctor III. "Gender and the Manumission of Slaves in New Spain." Hispanic American Historical Review 86 (2006):309-336.

^ ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 211 freedom was Joseph Manzano. He grew up at the sugar producing estate of San Isidro that belonged to the convent. In 1738, Joseph Monzano was already married to a free person and had children with her. He purchased his freedom in exchange for his "good service" and 200 pesos.95

The convent of Santa Catalina also granted freedom to the family of Maria de la

Concepcion. As a slave, Maria de la Concepcion lived and worked at the sugar estate of San

Isidro. She married Pedro Eugenio, a free mulato working at the estate, and she had four children with him. However, in accordance with the law of the womb, all their children were slaves too, taking the status of their mother. To change the future of his family, Pedro Eugenio worked tirelessly to free them. In 1727, he asked the convent to release his three-year-old son from slavery. The convent freed Thomas Victoriano for 100 pesos.96 Eleven years later, Pedro

Eugenio asked the convent to release his wife and three other children from slavery. In

November 1738, Maria de la Concepcion, Pedro Eugenio's wife, and their children, Petrona de la

Rosa, Maria Francisca, and Gaspar de los Raises, gained their freedom for 600 pesos.97

Unfortunately, the documents do not say why Pedro Eugenio waited so long to free his entire family, or what strategies he used to save all the money he needed to pay for their freedom. Had he purchased the freedom of his wife earlier he would not have had to pay for the freedom of his children later. Did he inherit money and use it to free his family? Or was the convent posing obstacles on the road to Maria de la Concepcion's freedom? If that was the case, what changed the administrator's mind in 1738? What had happened to the convent administration and its

05 "el buen servicio". ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1738, Libra 44. Is. 128v. Carta del.ibertad; For a discussion of how slaves accumulated savings see Palmer, Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570- 1650, pp..44-45; and Hunefeldt, Paying the Price of Freedom: Family and Labor Among Lima's Slaves, 1800-1854, pp. 109-117.

1)6 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1727, Libro 29. ts. 138. Carta de Libertad.

17 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1738, Libro 44. fs.419. Carta de Libertad. 212 labour policy? The year 1738 was the second-last year for sales of slaves and manumissions carried out by the convent. After 1739, there was no activity recorded in the surveyed slave market for the convent of Santa Catalina.98

The database reveals that slaves who did not belong to the convent of Santa Catalina had greater chances of obtaining freedom. This is consistent with my findings that the majority of slaves, who had owners other than the convent, were urban slaves and therefore had higher chances of manumission." Masters granted freedom to nearly 8 percent of the slaves (to seventy individuals). Most of the time, slaves did not have to pay for their freedom: 66 percent of slaves did not pay a monetary fee for freedom, while all slaves at the convent of Santa Catalina did.

Juana Lorenza, a mulata slave, was about to marry a free Spaniard, Juan Mathias de los Reyes, and did not pay for her freedom. Her owner, Manuela de Quero did not demand payment for releasing Juana Lorenza from slavery either because she was about to marry a free Spaniard, or because the slave was donated to her by her brother a priest from San Pablo Mitla.100 Since the slave did not cost Manuela de Quero a fixed price, perhaps she did not feel she was losing an investment, and thus freed Janua Lorenza at no additional cost. Similarly, Maria Josepha obtained freedom at no cost when she was two-and-a-half years old. Meanwhile, her mother,

Anna Maria was a mulata slave who had secured a conditional freedom for herself: a freedom that would come into effect with the death of her master.101 It was common for slave owners to

98 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez. de Aragon, 1700-1741.

w For a discussion of manumissions as an urban phenomenon, and among skilled slaves see Klein. African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean, 229; Hiinefeldt, Paying the Price of Freedom: Family and Labor Among Lima's Slaves, 1800-1854, pp.91-92; Palmer, Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, especially chap.7; and Elowser. "The Free Person of Color in Mexico City and Lima: Manumission and Opportunity. 1580-1650."

100 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1722, Libro 22, fs.235v, Carta de Libertad. 213 relieve the burden of slavery for their slaves in their wills. In her will, sor Manuela de la

Concepcion, a nun at the convent of la Concepcion, granted freedom to her personal slave

Antonia. When sor Manuela de la Concepcion died, Antonia was twenty-one years old and obtained freedom at no monetary cost.102

Further, the database shows that for slaves who did not belong to the convent of Santa

Catalina, age helped determine the terms of manumission. While anyone could be lucky and secure manumission at no cost, those above the age of twenty-eight rarely paid a fixed price. Of the sixteen cases of slaves who were older than twenty-eight years of age, only two paid for their freedom. A thirty-one-year-old Antonio de Salazar, paid 300 pesos, and a fifty-year-old Catalina paid 100 pesos for freedom.103 Slaves under the age of twenty-nine paid for manumission half of the time.104 It is possible that older slaves had more time to form relationships with their masters that secured their eventual freedom based on loyalty, good service, sex, and other non monetary exchanges.

Manumissions differed from sale transactions in the sense that there was no pattern or any particular characteristics that determined the frequency of manumissions. These transactions were personal, and depended on the individual relationships formed between people in bondage and their masters. Female and male slaves of all ages had comparable chances of receiving freedom: 56 percent of slaves who obtained freedom were women and 44 percent were men.105

101 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1705. Libro 4, Is. 11 v. Carta de Libertad.

ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1729. Libro 31, fs.385. Carta de Libertad; for a discussion of possible reasons for manumission see Proctor 111. "Gender and the Manumission of Slaves in New Spain." 315-328.

101 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1705. Libro 4. fs.81v; ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1726. Libro 28. fs.251. Carta de Libertad.

104 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741. 214

This gender proportion is lower than those found in other regions of Latin America, but similar to that found in Guanajuato.106 Age was also a weak predictor of the chance for freedom (table

5.5). Slaves in the age category of fourteen to nineteen had the same chances at freedom as slaves in the age category of thirty to thirty-nine. Similarly, slave aged twenty to twenty-nine had the same chances as those ages forty to forty-nine. Only slaves in their fifties had higher chances at obtaining freedom than others.107 Similarly price was insignificant to manumission, where only one third of slaves in the surveyed deeds paid a fixed price for freedom.108

105 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1700-1741.

106 The general consensus is that women were manumitted more often than men. see Klein. African Slavery in I.alin America and the Caribbean p.227; in Mexico City 82 men (35%) and 158 women (65%) were manumitted between 1673 and 1676. in the case for Guanajuato (1699-1750). gender gap was narrower, where women were manumitted 55% (125 cases) of the time and men 45% (101 cases) of the time, see Proctor 111. "Gender and the Manumission of Slaves in New Spain," 310-31.

107 This is an unexpected finding: elsewhere in Mexico and other Latin American cities slaves over the age of 46 were manumitted at a much lower rate than in Oaxaca. For Mexico City the rate of manumission was between 12 and 17%, and for Guanajuato it was 8%. While children under the age of 14, were manumitted in Oaxaca half as frequently as in other parts of Latin America, see Proctor 111. "Gender and the Manumission of Slaves in New Spain." 310-311.

108 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741; the average age at manumission in Salvador de Bahia was 15 years of age. see Klein. African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean. 221. 215

Table 5.5 Age Distribution of Manumitted Slaves in the Slave Market in the Valley of Oaxaca, 1700-1741

Age Group Santa Catalina Manumissions Non-Santa Catalina Manumissions N° of Cases Proportion of N° of Cases Proportion of Cases (%) Cases (%) New born to 11 1 17 8 6.5 12 to 13 - - 0 0 14 to 19 - - 4 3 20 to 29 - - 17 11 30 to 39 - - 3 3 40 to 49 - - 7 10 50 to 59 - - 6 35 60 to 80 - - 0 0 Unknown 5 83 24 30 Total 6 70

Source: ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1740-1741

Similarly, the surveyed documents show that race did not predict anyone's chances for manumission. The convent of Santa Catalina granted freedom to a family of mulato slaves and to one individual who was identified as negro. Other slave owners also granted freedom to mulatos and negros. Racial descriptions of manumitted slaves, however, tend to be even more general than in instances of sales and acquisitions. In these documents, slaves were rarely identified with racial subcategories such as negro cocho or mulato cocho. Racial subcategories were used in only eight of the 76 cases: one was mulata cocha and seven were mulatos blancos.m

Skills, broadly defined as rural or urban and domestic, may have determined chances at manumission. Slave owners manumitted slaves who worked and lived in an urban environment or who performed domestic duties more often than they did those in the agricultural sector."0

109 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741.

110 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 216

Again, this would suggest that freedom was related to the relationships, or the level of interactions, between slaves and their masters. Further, this helps to explain why the convent of

Santa Catalina manumitted fewer slaves than did other slave owners. A significant majority of slaves who belonged to Santa Catalina resided on the various rural estates of the convent and the nuns administered these properties indirectly through a third party. This meant that there was virtually no relationship between these slaves and their owner that might result in a manumission.

While the manumission of large family units was rare, as rare as their presence in the urban and domestic environment, there were instances when two or three individuals received freedom together. Sometimes a mother with a child, or even mother with two children, received manumission. Maria Vozal and her two children, Raphaela and Joseph, obtained a conditional freedom in 1704. The condition was that Maria Vozal would continue to serve her former mistress and her sister until they died.111 In 1732, the convent of Santo Domingo purchased

Maria Polonia and her two-year-old son, Estevan Domingo, and in the same year granted them an unconditional freedom.112 Occasionally a married couple or siblings also received freedom at the same time. In 1732, Antonio de la Cruz and Andrea de San Joseph were both granted freedom when they were forty-three and forty-seven years old, respectively."3 The twins,

Joseph Manuel and Juan Antonio were in their early forties when they received unconditional freedom."4 Over 66 percent of manumissions however, were of one slave per transaction."5

11' ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1704.1Jbro 3. fs.22. Carta de Ubertad.

112 ANO, Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1734, Libro 34, fs.500v. Carta de Libertad.

11' ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon, 1732, Libro 34. fs.539v. Carta de Libertad.

114 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1736. Libro 40. fs.38v. Carta de Libertad. 217

Manumissions were infrequent and unpredictable in the Valley of Oaxaca. They depended on the relationships formed between slaves and their masters, and on the benevolence of the slave owners. Hence, elderly and urban, or domestic, slaves had a higher probability of manumission. Other characteristics such as gender, or race, did not predict chances of gaining freedom. Some slaves received freedom at no cost, and others had to pay a monetary sum.

However, when slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca obtained freedom, there was no guarantee that they were free to do as they pleased. While free from bondage, they often had to serve their former master without pay until the master passed away. The convent of Santa Catalina manumitted slaves less frequently than average: behaviour related largely to the rural environment and the slave owners' physical separation from their slaves.

Conclusion

Investment in rural estates and sugar production was one of the many activities the powerful Dominican convent of Santa Catalina was involved in. To fulfill its labour demand, the convent also invested in slaves. The analysis of sales of slaves and manumission deeds in the

Valley of Oaxaca suggest that the nuns in charge of the convent and its policy knew and understood the conditions of the slave market, as well as the traditions and local customs of slavery. The convent played an important role in the slave market in the Valley, and in its economic domain the convent developed a policy that could be distinguished from the local custom. Therefore, slaves who belonged to the convent of Santa Catalina faced slavery somewhat differently from the other slaves in the Valley. The convent's rural estates provided a

115 ANO. Joseph Manuel Albarez de Aragon. 1700-1741. 218 space where family life could be maintained. Families were not broken up through resale, and children stayed with their mothers longer than did children in other slave households. Many slaves married free persons who worked at the same plantation or lived in the nearby villages.

The slave market priced slaves at the estates of Santa Catalina lower than it did any other slaves.

Freedom for slaves in the Valley of Oaxaca was attainable. However, manumissions were rare at the plantations of the convent of Santa Catalina where there were no direct personal relations between slaves and their convent-living owners.

This chapter examined the intersection between the religious and the lay worlds at the macro level (within the entire Valley of Oaxaca) in the context of the slavery market during the first half of the eighteenth century. In the following chapter, I will continue the discussion of the convent's socio-economic impact on the lay community at the micro level (within the city limits) and at a later period. I will discuss the convent's role as educators and their fragile position within the Royal bureaucracy at the turn of the century. CHAPTER 6

THE 1795 EDUCATION REFORM: THE STRUGGLE OVER POWER

AND PROPERTY

The 21 July 1795 Papal Brief and the Royal Proclamation of 26 December 1795 addressed the education of young and privileged girls at the convents in the New World.

The point of the address was to increase the enrolment rate and to separate the pupils from the nuns. The proclamation indicated that there was great demand among honourable families to educate their female children and that the existing colonial public schools did not have sufficient space to admit all of them. The convents had a long history of providing education and, the proclamation called on them to increase their enrolments to help meet the new demand. The Crown, however, was only interested in providing lay education and argued that it was vital that children who entered a convent to receive education live in separate quarters from the nuns. The students had to be at least seven years old and could remain at the school-convent until they married, took the religious habit, or reached the age of maturity at twenty-five. The students had to obey the rules of the convent, wear modest clothes, and refrain from wearing jewellery and expensive fabrics, and from using servants.1 This seemingly straightforward proclamation however, met with stark opposition from various convents.

In 1803, the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca entered into a heated debate with colonial officials regarding the education of nifias (young girls). The Royal

1 AGN: Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820, Brave and Real Cedula of 1795.

219 220

Proclamation of 1795, addressing education in the colonies, sparked this debate. It dictated the use of convent property and activities, and as such it undermined the power and autonomy of calzadas convents and that of the Church. The seemingly theoretical and abstract discussion among Church and Crown officials had significant and concrete socio-economic ramifications for colonial society. The lengthy correspondence between the convent of Santa Catalina and Crown officials shows that the nuns strongly objected to the demands imposed by the Crown and presented numerous excuses and explanations as to why they could not obey the orders. The correspondence also reveals a new development in convent reforms; the nuns took a stand against anticlericalism.

In this chapter I point out that in the struggle over the use of property and control of behaviour, the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina set aside their long established role as teachers and responded to the larger cause instead. They challenged the contemporary anticlerical movement and the idea of eliminating the Church-run education system. The nuns' response was not in tune with Oaxacan society, and their decision, and action, inevitably contributed to the long-term destruction of the economic power of the convent of Santa Catalina. As such, this chapter offers another way in which to explore the crossroads of the sacred and the worldly. In the following sections I will briefly discuss access to education during the colonial period and the developments that brought about the education reform in 1795. Using the Royal decree from 1795 and the correspondence between the convent of Santa Catalina, Church and Crown officials I analyze the nature of the reform, nuns" response to it and the consequences of their decision. The eighteen letters are supplemented with census records, records of 221 profession at Santa Catalina, and a petition filed by nuns at the convent of La

Concepcion.

Background: The Status of Colonial Education

Access to education in the Spanish empire was limited in terms of who could teach, who could study, and what could be learned. Education was predominantly in the hands of the Church, access was granted based on gender, race and class, and the curriculum was gender biased. Since the early sixteenth century, the mendicant orders were particularly preoccupied with education. The Jesuits order, however, was among the most prestigious educators. Frays (friars) and priests offered their skills to young men, regardless of whether they sought religious profession or remained laity. The

Church created various colleges where frays taught rudimentary writing and math. Men could also receive higher education in the liberal arts and become bachilleros. At the universities, they studied Latin, logic, philosophy and the sciences.2

In Mexico City there was also a teachers' guild for lay men, which had operated since 1601. Its members offered private elementary education to male children of elite families. In 1786, there were thirty-three private schools for boys in the colonial capital.

In addition, that year, the city's Ayuntamiento (city council) established twenty-seven free schools for the poor. The free public primary schools for boys were a form of public assistance in response to the great famine of 1786. The purpose of the schools was to combat vagrancy. Dorothy de Estrada points out that the founders of this project were

" Antonio Rubial Garcia, Monjas, Cortesanosy Pkbeyos: La Vida Cotidiana en la Epoca de Sor Juana (Mexico. D.I .. 2005), 201-204. 222 influenced by ideas circulating in Europe, especially in England, France and in Spain.

She also points out that the initiative for free public schools, which were held in parishes and monasteries, came from "local city government, rather than from the viceroyalty or from the king".3 The enrolment rate in Mexico City was at its highest at the end of the eighteenth century when 65 percent of boys aged six to twelve attended the city's fifty- five primary schools. Many of these schools were escuelas pias: primary schools for the poor, which were located in parishes and monasteries.4

Boys and young men outside the vice regal capital had more sporadic access to education. In Oaxaca the Jesuit College opened in the late sixteenth century and admitted some 170 students.5 After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, however, children could only receive education either at the Colegio Seminario de Estudios, that in 1792 admitted forty-five Spanish and sixteen indigenous boys, or at the Colegio de Infantes de Cristo, that in the same year admitted twelve boys of Spanish origin and one boy of indigenous origin.6

Girls and young women had much more limited access to education, however.

Colonial society mostly expected women to concern themselves with raising children, learning prayers and becoming well-mannered, docile wives.7 Nevertheless, even this

1 Dorothy T. de Estrada. "The "Escuelas Pias" of Mexico City: 1786-1820." Americas 31 (July 1974): 51-55. 54.

4 In 1790, some 3.734 boys attended the city's 55 institutions, 64% of them attended escuelas pias (2.415 boys). Between 1786 and 1820 the enrolment rate increased by 87% from 2.000 to 3.734. See Ibid.. 63-65.

5 Pilar Oonzalbo Aizpuru, Historia de la Education en la Epoca Colonial: La Education de los Criollosy la Vida Urbana (Mexico, D.F., 1990), 180 n.48.

AGN. Tributos vol.34, exp.7, fs,158v-162v. 223 kind of knowledge had to be acquired somewhere. Escuelas de Amigas, Colegios de

Nifias, and convents offered the necessary rudimentary education. In many Spanish

American cities, beatas, meaning women who shared a set of religious beliefs and a set of rules but who did not profess to life in enclosure, operated small schools called, interchangeably, Escuelas de Ami gay, beaterios or rocegimientos. Education was one of their many purposes, and accordingly, they admitted young mestizos (women of mixed

Spanish and Indian descent) with a range of needs and interests. Some girls joined the beaterios and recogimientos to learn good manners and to wait for marriage. Others joined them for safe keeping purposes: it was common for traveling fathers to place their daughters, even their wives, at the beaterios and recogimientos while they were out of town for extended periods of time. Some women were placed in these institutions as a form of correction. The civil and Church authorities sometimes sentenced misbehaving women to serve their sentence at these institutions. Still other girls or women with religious inclinations joined these facilities instead of joining convents.8 This cross between school, jail, and religious devotion, remained largely unchanged until the mid eighteenth century when public interest in female education increased.9 At the end of the eighteenth century, there was one such recogimiento in Oaxaca. However, the city census from 1792 indicates that it stood empty with no pupils in its care (table 6.1).

7 For a discussion of "the perfect wife" in the early modern period in Spain and the educational history of women see I .isa Vol lendorf, The Lives of Women: A New History of Inquisitional Spain. 1 st ed. (Nashville. 2005). especially chapter 8.

8 Nancy E. Van Deusen, Between the Sacred and the Worldly: The Institutional and Cultural Practice of Recogimiento in Colonial Lima (Stanford, 2001), 51-57; Carlos Newland. "Spanish American Elementary Education before Independence: Continuity and Change in a Colonial Environment." Itinerario 15 (1991): 82.

9 Gonzalbo Aizpuru, Historia de la Educacion en la Epoca Colonial: La Educacion de los Criotlosy la Vida Urhana . 322-326; Jose de Jesus Vega and Maria Luisa Cardenas de Vega. America Virreinai. Educacion de la Mujer (1503-1821) (Mexico, 1989), 45. 224

Colegios de Nifias were another alternative for female education. Designed as orphanages for the destitute, colegios admitted young Spanish girls between the age of eight and fourteen and in addition to providing education, they raised dowries for their marriage. The first such institution opened during the sixteenth century in Mexico City.

It was meant to remain small in scope, admitting up to thirty-two rtinas}0 In reality, the colegio admitted mestizos and creolas from wealthy families and underwent a significant expansion. By 1554 it was admitting fifty-four students at a time. By the end of the colonial period, the orphanage became an elaborate two-story structure with many gardens and patios.11 In Oaxaca, the Colegio de Ninas de la Presentacion was launched at the end of the seventeenth century and it operated for nearly 200 years. In 1792, the

Colegio housed twenty-eight students: twenty-six Spanish and two indigenous girls.12

Convents offered the most prestigious and most comprehensive female education. From the mid sixteenth century on, the Conceptionist and Dominican nuns educated young girls. The enrolment rates were low and mostly likely relatives of the nuns and close acquaintances had access to these schools. Except for three convents of the Augustinian order, there were no other orders officially concerned with education, or which could admit children for the purposes of their education. Orders such as the

Franciscans and Capuchins admitted young girls under the pretext of having to care for

10 Rubial Garcia. Monjas, Cortesanos y Plebeyos: La Vida Colidiana en la Epoca de Sor J nana, 219.

" Vega and Vega. America Virreinal: Education de la Mujer (1503-1821). 60-64.

Sometimes also referred to as Colegio de las Ninas de Educadas. AGN. Tributos vol.34, exp.7. fs.l58v-162v; Josefina Muriel, La Sociedad Novohispanay Sus Colegios de Ninas: Fundaciones de los SighsXVIIy XVIII. 2 vols., vol. II (Mexico, 2004). 161-165. 225

j •} them, or as servants, and as 'children of the convent' - meaning orphans. Many of the children came to live with the nuns for various other reasons, but inevitably, all of them received an education. Whether officially or unofficially engaged in contemporary education, many convents established throughout New Spain disseminated knowledge, even if only the most basic.

In Oaxaca the convent of Santa Catalina was one of five convents for women.

However, at the end of the eighteenth century, it was the only convent that offered education to nifias. Since the foundation of the convent many children received an education at Santa Catalina. A school that began as Beaterio del Santisimo Rosario in

1568 became annexed to the convent of Santa Catalina in the 1570s, and most likely it was the same school that operated into the nineteenth century.14 By 1701, it became clear that the children were a distraction to the nuns and the nuns had to make a difficult decision whether to teach or not to teach. The convent obtained papers from Crown and

Church officials that on the one hand, formally recognized their teaching efforts, and on the other hand, limited the size of their school to the maximum of twelve students.15

Oaxacan elites were pleased with nuns' teaching efforts, and as the city grew in size during the eighteenth century, so did the plea for their skills. The demand for female education was so high that in 1777, the community of Santa Catalina took care of twenty-

" The calzadas convents only offered education to females. Thus, when I refer to children at a convent, it means female children or nifias: Gonzalbo Aizpuru, Hisloria de la Educacion en la Epoca Colonial: La Educacion de los Criollos y la Vida Urbana, 335-337.

14 Muriel. La Sociedad Novohispana y Sus Colegios de Ninas: Fundaciones de los Siglos XVIIy XVIII. 46-49.

15 AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820. 226 eight children. Only four of these girls were destined to take the habit.16 The ratio between nuns and students would have been higher than at the beginning of the century, suggesting that the nuns might have been more overwhelmed with teaching than before, yet they continued to teach. In 1792, the official number of pupils was eleven, and in

1803, it increased to twenty (table 6.1). When confronted about admitting more students than they were allowed to, the nuns at Santa Catalina argued that many of these young girls were to profess as nuns and therefore they did not consider them real students.17

One such case was Ursula de Liebana. Her three sisters had already professed at Santa

Catalina and she resided at the convent, supposedly awaiting her profession. However, she never took the habit at Santa Catalina.18 Considering all available teaching resources at the end of the eighteenth century in Oaxaca, a total of approximately forty girls were receiving formal education annually (table 6.1).

16 Manuel Esparza. Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena, Primera ed. (Oaxaca, 2000), 70.

17 AGN. Tributos. vol.34, Exp.7. fs,158v-162v; AGN, Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64, ts.785-820.

18 AH AO, Diocesano. Gobierno. Religiosos 1718. exp.22; Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "I.ibro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monaslerio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571- 1862." 227

Table 6.1 Distribution of Students in Oaxaca, 1792-1803, by Formal Teaching Institutions

1792 1803 Number Number of Number Number of of Nuns Students of Nuns Students Convent of Santa Catalina (Girls) 50 11 52 20 Colegio de Nifias de la Presentacion (Girls) 28 Recogidas (Girls) .... Colegio Seminario de Estudios (Boys) 1579 - 61 Colegio de Infantes de Cristo (Boys) - 13 - -

Sources'. AGN: Tributos, vol.34, Exp.7, fs.l58v-162v; Templosy Conventos, vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820

Young women not only had limited access to education but they had an even

more limited curriculum, applied through questionable teaching methods. The few

institutions that offered education to women did so only at the primary level. Whether

they were schools run inside the convents of New Spain, Brazil or anywhere in between,

they focused on teaching reading, writing and simple math. They also emphasized

women's domestic roles as mothers and housewives.19 Carlos Newland and Maria Jesus

San Segundo note that the curriculum was rather uniform across Spanish America and

that it had two levels. During the first stage, students learned to read using word

recognition and then through catones (songs) that had a religious content. In the second

stage, students learned to write in Spanish. All female children learned good manners,

sewing, embroidery, cooking, and simple math. In some of the convents, nuns taught

children music, drama, history and Latin.20

19 Pilar Foz y Foz and Instituto Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo. La Revolution Pedagogica en Nuera Fispana 1754-1820: Maria Ignacia de Azlory Echeversy los Colegios de la Ensenanza. 2 vols., vol. I (Madrid. 1981). 204-206; . 228

Teachers, whether religious or lay, commonly practiced corporal punishment to enforce discipline in the classroom. Their methods ranged from having students kneel down, to flogging. Throughout the eighteenth century, parents increasingly objected to the use of these methods, and some teachers opted for indirect punishment and insisted on students fasting, or spending time in isolation. Parental objections were so successful that by the early nineteenth century, the Crown banned corporal punishment in schools in the Spanish Kingdom. Schools adopted a more favourable teaching method that promoted learning through competition. Teachers praised students for successes and shamed them for failures. The convents of Compafiia de Maria, in New Spain, adopted such techniques.21 The curriculum and teaching methods used during the colonial period in the Spanish Kingdom suggest that female education was in its infancy, while the enrolment rates suggest that females were severely underrepresented in the education system. This was addressed by the Crown when it issued the Royal Proclamation of

1795.

20 Newland, "Spanish American Elementary Education before Independence: Continuity and Change in a Colonial Environment." pp.83-84; John James Clune. "Redefining the Roles of Convents in Late Eighteenth-Century Havana." Colonial Latin American Historical Review 10 (Winter. 2001): 129; Susan A. Soeiro, "The Social and Economic Role of the Convent: Women and Nuns in Colonial Bahia. 1677-1800." Hispanic American Historical Review 54 (1974): 228-229.

Newland, "Spanish American Elementary Education before Independence: Continuity and Change in a Colonial Environment." 84-85. 229

Rationale for Policy Transition

During the Age of Enlightenment reason and individual rights were emphasized, while aristocracy, monarchy and religious authority were condemned. European thinkers criticized female contemplative monasteries for scandalous behaviour, for removing women from the marriage market, and keeping them from being productive members of society. They also criticized the convents for forcing women to live against nature, repressing their sexual desires, and thus causing insanity among many of their members.22 In the Western world, there was a slow movement towards anticlerical ism, where the political role of the Church would be diminished, or eliminated. Coinciding with this movement was a change in expressions of piety where people transitioned from baroque Catholicism to individual piety. In eighteenth-century France, the cradle of the

Enlightenment, the debate on convents shifted from questions of authority over convents to questions about their purpose and utility. Convents symbolized the ills and wrongs of the Old Regime, and politicians and lawyers worked tirelessly to undermine the authority of the clergy, as well as French Bourbon absolutism, through anticlerical reforms.23

French convents unsuccessfully challenged these anticlerical policies and had to close.24

Arguably, the convents of New Spain were more successful.

As the eighteenth century wore on, the ideas of the philosophers spread and reflected the changing society. Jo Ann Kay McNamara points out that "without strong

22 Jo Ann Kay McNamara, Sislers in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia (Cambridge. MA. 1996). 547-550.

23 Mita Choudhury. Convents and Nuns in Eighteenth-Century French Politics and Culture (Ithaca. 2004). 4-12.

24 Ibid.. 12. 230 support from the nobility, convents were exposed to the depredations of the hungry state."25 This was evident in the case of French convents that lost public support and the

State shut them down by the end of the eighteenth century. Similarly, the convent of

Santa Clara in Cuba lost the support of the local elites and immediately lost prestige and its social and economic role in the community.26 In addition, fewer women professed in the New World convents in late eighteenth century than had in the early decades. At the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca the number of nuns dropped from around seventy to fifty between the beginning and the end of the eighteenth century.27 Ellen Gunnarsdottier argues that the new Bourbon elite did not ascribe to the social norms of the old elite. By not sending their daughters to profess in the convents, they undermined the importance of these institutions.28 Convents became the subject of many reforms. In the case of

Mexico, internal colonial political struggles, wars of independence, and further political struggles of the new nineteenth-century republic shifted attention away from the convents and postponed their ultimate demise until the 1850s and the 1860s.29

25 McNamara, Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia, 552.

"6 James Clune, "Redefining the Roles of Convents in Late Eighteenth-Century Havana." Colonial Latin American Historical Review 10 (Winter. 2001)'- 143-145.

27 This decrease in profession could have been the result of policy from 1734 that prohibited convents from exempting novices from dowry. However, considering the patterns of exemption at Santa Catalina. this policy would most likely only account for a population decrease of 10 percent, see Archivo de la Provineia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio dc las Monjas intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores. Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571 -1862": Elisa Luque Alcaide. "Reformist Currents in the Spanish-American Council of the Eighteenth Century." The Catholic Historical Review 91 (2005): 746. n!5.

28 Ellen Gunnarsdottir, "The Convent of Santa Clara, the Elite and Social Change in Eighteenth Century Queretaro," Journal of Latin American Studies 33 (2001): 257-290.

2<) For a discussion on Liberal reforms in Mexico and the separation of Church and State see Charles Redmon Berry. The Reform in Oaxaca, 1856-76: A Microhistory of the Liberal Revolution (Lincoln. 1981). 231

The bulk of anticlerical reform in the Spanish empire began during the second half of the eighteenth century and was a significant part of Spanish Bourbon reforms.

William Taylor argues that the Crown was against the power of the Church and their role in State politics and administration, but was not against religion.30 Thus, the reforms were pushing an anticlerical agenda but were not promoting secularization, and the two issues should be viewed separate. As Liberal thought persuaded people, government policy moved toward anticlericalism. One of the boldest moves of some European states was the expulsion of the Jesuits. The Spanish monarchy expelled Jesuits from the entire kingdom in 1767. This successful policy increased the confidence of such states and anticlerical reformers implemented further policies that either placed restrictions on convents and monasteries, or demanded from them a greater contribution to social welfare.31 As discussed in chapter one, the 1767 policy reflected the Spanish monarchy's attempted to centralize power, reclaim economic strength in the American colonies and re-establish itself as a European power. Brian Larkin explains, "Religious reform sought to undermine pious practices that funnelled wealth to religious ends, allowing the faithful to redirect resources to production... religious reform supported and was supported by the Bourbon attempt to increase production and create prosperity."32 This pattern formed the basis for the proclamation of 1795 regarding education in Latin American convents.

10 William B. Taylor. Magistrates of the Sacred: Priests and Parishioners in Eighteenth-Century Mexico (Stanford. Calif., 1996), 14-15.

31 McNamara. Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia. 553.

Brian Larkin, " The Splendor of Worship: Baroque Catholicism. Religious Reform, and Last Wills and Testaments in Eighteenth-Century Mexico City." Colonial Latin American Historical Review 8 (Fall. 1999): 409. 232

In light of the changing political, moral and religious culture, education was on people's minds. As the population and economic activities increased in New Spain, so did opportunities for reading. Newland and San Segundo remind us that there was greater access to printing presses, that four times as many books were published during the second half of the eighteenth century than the century before, and that many more books were imported from Europe than earlier. These increased opportunities for reading simultaneously increased the demand for access to education.33 The demand however was for lay education; preferably provided by the Crown rather than the Church.

Margaret Chowning points out that as early as the mid eighteenth century founders and supporters of the convent of La Puri'sima, in San Miguel de Allende in New Spain, envisioned the nuns operating a small school. However, wealthy elites thought that a

"clear division between the secular world and the convent world was to be maintained by separating the girls' living quarters and daily activities from those of the nuns."34 It seems that King Charles III may have interpreted this as an example of a call for secularization as opposed to a call for an increased access to education.

In 1774, the Crown outlawed education in the convents. With the Royal proclamation from that year, the King expelled all lay people, including the ninas, from all the convents in Spanish dominions. Any convents that failed to obey were in danger of excommunication from the Church.35 This policy was catastrophic for the convents and for the children. On the one hand, convents lost income derived from student

35 Carlos Newland and Maria Jesus San Segundo, "Spanish American Elementary Education Before Independence: Continuity and Change in a Colonial Environment," Itinerario 15 (1991): 87-89.

14 Margaret Chowning, Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863 (Oxford: New York, 2006), 160.

K Vega and Vega. America Virreinai. Fditcacion de la Mujer (1503-1821). 101-102. 233 admissions. Some of the convents that had re-oriented their focus towards education, such as La Esenanza, were especially affected by the loss of income. On the other hand, young girls lost access to education. When convent schools shut down, alternatives were even more limited. In Mexico City some children were shifted to colleges. However, there was not enough space to accommodate all the ninas, and not all cities had this option.36 Perhaps this explains why the convent of Santa Catalina ignored the prohibition and continued to admit students: in 1777, the convent admitted twenty-eight students.37

It seems that the prohibition of schools operating inside convents did not deter people's desire for knowledge and education. By the end of the eighteenth century, people wanted increased access to public education. They demanded education for boys and for girls, for the wealthy and for the poor. They also wanted greater government involvement in various other social programs.38 King Charles IV may have recognized that fact, and with political troubles at home, he may have attempted to appease his subjects in the colonies. This could explain why he turned his attention to reforming the educational system in the dominion even though he insisted that free education was not in the budget.

Perhaps, he reckoned that greater access to education would potentially create a more productive society, and in the long-term, increase the Royal coffers and weaken the position of the Church.39

I'oz y Foz and Instituto Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo. La Revolucion Pedagogica en Nueva Espana 1754-1820: Maria Ignacia de Azlory Echevers y los Colegios de la Ensenanza. 266-267, 355-356.

17 Esparza, Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena. 70.

18 Estrada. "The "Escuelas Pi'as" of Mexico City: 1786-1820"; Jason J. Lowery-Timmons, "From Humility to Action: The Shifting Roles of Nuns in Bourbon Mexico City. 1700-1821" (Ph.D. dissertation. University of Texas at Austin, 2002), 74.

,l> Conclusion derived based on AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158. e\p.64. Is.785-820. 234

Utilizing convents to provide education seems to have been a sensible decision.

For a long time convents in Latin American educated young females. Nuns had both the experience and the respect of the lay community in teaching young girls. Expanding in that direction may have been deemed a natural progression. This also meant that the

Crown would be relieved of the expenses of building new schools and hiring teachers.

The only obstacles in this project were the limited enrolment rate and the religious component in the curriculum that was automatically included in the package. After all, as discussed in an earlier section, children learned through catones that had a religious content. Also it will become clear from the 1803 correspondence, which is outlined in the next section, that girls who received education at the convent of Santa Catalina resided with individual nuns in their cells. Each of the nuns cared for and educated the children in her care.40 Inevitably, they taught the children about religion and prayers to the point that some pupils may have been inspired to take the religious habit as well.

Similarly Kathryn Burns points out that at the convent of Santa Clara, in Cuzco, all the children in the care of the convent lived with nuns in their private cells. They received a comprehensive education in Spanish customs and especially in Christian doctrine.41 This was precisely the kind of education Bourbons, as well as many colonial elites, did not want the children to acquire. To solve this predicament, in 1795, the King revoked the prohibition of 1774 42 The King decreed that convents had to increase enrolment rates,

40 For a discussion of the role of lay women in convents, including children, and for their purpose and living arrangements see Stephanie L. Kirk, Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities (Gainesville, FL, 2007), 92-93.

41 Kathryn Burns. Colonial Habits: Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco. Peru (Durham. 1999). 27-32.

4: AGN: Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820. 235 and most importantly, had to provide separate living arrangements for the children: an idea that was not new to some of the convents. Any costs associated with accommodation of the reform, of course, had to be covered by the various convents engaged in teaching. With this policy, the Crown attempted to control convents' use of property, control their teaching activities, their business practices and financial prosperity. As such, the crown undermined the power and autonomy of convents involved in education. Simultaneously, this policy potentially ensured that more female children would receive a rudimentary lay education, and would thus become productive subjects at no cost to the Crown. The long-term, desirable, impact of the 1795 policy was increased revenues and a greater gap between Church and Crown. The convent of Santa

Catalina in Oaxaca strongly objected to this imposition.

The Correspondence

The education reform of 1795 did not become an issue for the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina, in Oaxaca, until 1803 when the newly appointed Viceroy don Jose de

Iturrigaray arrived in New Spain and seemed determined to clean up the colony. In June of that year, he initiated a lengthy correspondence with the convent of Santa Catalina inquiring into the limited education offered in Oaxaca and urged the nuns to comply with

Royal orders immediately. He even delegated the fiscal de lo civil (prosecuting attorney) to assess the situation and to report to him directly.43 Other people involved in this conversation were the Bishop of the province of Oaxaca, and the Father Provincial - the

43 AGN:Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820; Susan Socolow defines fiscal de lo civil as prosecuting attorney, see Susan Migden Socolow, The Bureaucrats of Buenos Aires, 1769-1810: Amor al RealServicio (Durham, 1987), 39. 236 head of the Dominican order in the province of Oaxaca. The nuns at the convent of Santa

Catalina relied on their brokers, Fray Julian Camae and Fray Antonio Pavon, to respond to the Viceroy's inquiries.

The initial reply from Fray Julian offered in June 1803, on behalf of the convent of Santa Catalina, was a blunt, yet respectful, refusal to comply with the orders. He claimed that the convent could not accommodate the demands of the proclamation and presented several explanations. Among the most significant reasons was the lack of available space in the convent. Fray Julian argued that the convent no longer had a common infirmary, its small garden, or a common patio. One of the recent earthquakes had destroyed the convent's facilities, and it was not possible to find the required space.

He pointed out that according to the proclamation, convents were expected to provide education if there were no other schools in the area. In Oaxaca, there was already a public school for nifias (girls), the Colegio de Ninas de la Presentacion, and therefore the convent was not the only option. The convent of Santa Catalina did not have the physical space to organize separate living arrangements for the children, and thus it could not fulfill the demands of the proclamation.

The nuns also feared that if they were to admit any additional children they could face excommunication for not following the guidelines of the Church; they would be too busy with the children and would not have enough time for religious duties. Fray Julian explained that in 1701, nuns at Santa Catalina had obtained official permission to educate children. Accordingly, they could admit up to twelve nifias-, they could take care of them and teach them while the children lived with some of the elder nuns in their private cells.

The nuns had followed all points of this agreement. In recent years, however, there had Ill been twenty ninas living at the convent: twelve of them were children in the convent for the sole purpose of receiving education and the remaining eight were destined to profess at the convent. Fray Julian continued that the children were a great distraction to the nuns. Even though, the children lived with nuns in their private cells, their upbringing and education came at the expense of the entire community. The nuns responsible for the care and education of the children were especially busy and could not fully participate in the religious community as was expected of them.44 Increasing enrolment would further disrupt their religious duties and they could face excommunication for failure to follow the rule of their order.

In September 1803, Fray Antonio Pavon, acting as another broker between the worldly and the sacred, wrote directly from the convent of Santa Catalina. He lamented that it was not fair to impose the changes set out in the 1795 proclamation. He explained that the Dominican nuns received permission to educate children and to raise them in their private cells back in 1701, and that for a century they had done everything in accordance with these regulations. He reminded the Viceroy that the nuns did not commit any infractions in this respect. He also explained that the provincial had not visited the convent for at least four years and was not aware of the current circumstances.

Meanwhile, Fray Antonio was at the convent every day, and did not think that the convent could comply with the orders of the 1795 proclamation. He informed the authorities that the ninas currently residing at the convent would continue living with the

44 A(iN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158. exp.64, fs.785-820. 238 nuns in their private cells, and that any new children admitted in the future would live under the same arrangements.45

In a letter from October 18th, 1803 the fiscal reported on the availability of space, and on other matters, at the convent of Santa Catalina to Viceroy Jose de Iturrigaray. He reiterated the convent's claim that the demands set out in the 1795 proclamation were difficult to achieve, and he provided a detailed description of the conditions of the convent along with his opinions regarding accommodation of the reforms. The fiscal described the convent of Santa Catalina as consisting of seven patios. Three patios were average in size and four were small. At the most seventy-two nuns lived at the convent at the same time. By 1803, the community was reduced to fifty-two nuns and they occupied only half of the space of the convent. The other half was under renovation from the damages caused by a recent earthquake.46 The fiscal thought that space was not an issue and that schoolchildren could have separate living arrangements. He pointed out that space was not an issue after the earthquake of 1801 when the convent of Santa Catalina extended its help to the convent of La Concepcion, and it should not be an issue now.

Following the earthquake, Santa Catalina offered temporary shelter to those nuns at La

Concepcion who were raising children. To accommodate these special circumstances some of the Dominican nuns relocated and shared their cells with other Dominican nuns; they lent the vacant cells to the nuns of La Concepcion. The fiscal also spoke with the lay female teachers who taught at the convent of Santa Catalina and they supported the

45 AGN: Templos v Conventos. vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820.

4" AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64. fs.796. 239 convent's claim that there was no space to accommodate separate living arrangements for the schoolchildren.

It turns out that the fiscal never actually entered the convent of Santa Catalina and could not personally verify any of the information regarding availability of space. He attempted to enter the convent twice. On both occasions, however, the nuns were supposedly too close to the area that he needed to inspect and they denied his entry.

Nevertheless, he claimed that he saw enough to form an opinion. He indicated that he saw that the entire structure of the convent took up a lot of physical space, and that there were no farmlands or gardens attached to it. He thought that he could settle the issue of space if he could only talk to the architect, but unfortunately, the architect was out of town. It would also help if he could enter the convent but every time he tried to go inside, the nuns told him it was not a good time for a visit. He thought that a special dispensation from the Viceroy announcing his visit would speed up the process. The fiscal wrote that he could not make a precise recommendation but his opinion was that there was space to accommodate the new living arrangements for schoolchildren. He also noted that in fact, twenty children received education at the convent, and all of them lived in private cells with various nuns. This however, was in strict violation of the 1705 proclamation, which limited the enrolment rate to twelve children.

The fiscal concluded that the issue of education was a very delicate matter indeed, and that the proposed changes to living conditions were undoubtedly difficult for the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina to accept. He spoke with one parent who had a daughter at the school-convent and he assured him that the Dominican nuns were proper, delicate, well-mannered ladies. They were very devout (leading a vida contemplativa), 240 and were very active and hard working. The fiscal had no doubts that education at Santa

Catalina was of excellent quality, and that it would be useful to utilize them even though the city already had a school for girls (Colegio de Nifias de la Presentacion) with lay teachers and principal. He wrote that all Espaholas (Spanish born) came to the convent to receive their education, and that some of the leading families in the city send their nifias there, and that for these children it was a great distinction to receive education at the convent of Santa Catalina.47

Viceroy Jose de Iturrigaray, in a letter from November 1803, agreed with fiscal's opinions. He thought that the demand for education by the Dominican nuns from the leading families of Oaxaca reflected well on the convent, on the Bishop, and on the leadership of the Dominican Order. He also thought that it was a unique situation that the convent lacked space for accommodating separate living arrangements for the nuns and for the ninas. The Viceroy pointed out that the Colegio de Nifias de la Presentacion and the Recogimiento did not have sufficient capacity to meet the demand for enrolment, and therefore it was especially important for the convent of Santa Catalina to conform to the new proclamation. Based on the description provided by the fiscal, it seemed to the

Viceroy that the convent already had sufficient space to provide separate living arrangements, and that after the renovations were completed, there would definitely be space. The provincial would have to negotiate with the nuns to comply with the proclamation, and in the meantime, they could teach up to twenty children.48 The

47 AGN: Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64. fs.796-799v.

48 AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820. 241 message from the Viceroy was short: the convent had space, and the nuns had to conform.

A couple of weeks later, the head of the Dominican order warned that after the completion of the renovations from the earthquake, the Dominican nuns would have to comply with the proclamation of 1795. He emphasized the importance of following orders and indicated that any infractions of the earlier proclamations would result in excommunication and other punishments. The provincial pointed out that there was a demand for education of children among the leading families, and that he believed that the convent had sufficient space to accommodate separate living arrangements.49

At the end of November 1803, fray Julian Camae wrote a reply to the Viceroy, and insisted that there was no space to accommodate separate living arrangements for the students. He argued that the Viceroy had information based only on the fiscal* s visual assessment of the exterior of the convent, which was not sufficient to draw any conclusions. Fray Julian was inside the convent and was aware of all its issues and conditions. As large as the convent may have appeared from the outside, inside there were only two communal areas, and fifty-six private rooms including two rooms that served as an infirmary and others that were the offices of the Mother Superior and a secretariat.50 Fray Julian argued that he was in a much better position to provide an assessment, and he was certain that the convent could not comply with the Proclamation.

Colonial officials placed a lot of pressure upon the convent, and by December, fray Julian was very frustrated with this situation. In yet another letter to the Viceroy, he

49 AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820.

50 AGN; Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820. 242 expressed this frustration, and asked for precise instructions on how to comply with the

Proclamation. The Viceroy arranged for the fiscal to visit the interior of the convent and to make the required assessments. However, he did not show up as he was out of town and it was not clear when he would return. In the mean time, pressure was building up; every day fray Julian had to deal with the impossible task of finding new space for the students.51 Fray Julian claimed he knew the limits of the convent and the colonial officials did not, but they were not listening to him. Therefore, he was calling upon them to provide him with detailed instructions on how to solve the problem of the lack of space and what actions to take in order to comply with the Proclamation.

By the end of January 1804, the fiscal had yet to visit the convent of Santa

Catalina, and no changes had taken place. The Viceroy appointed the Bishop of Oaxaca to press the fiscal to make an assessment, and to ensure that the convent would comply with the orders.52 The trail of correspondence ends with high colonial officials agreeing to visit the convent, to force the convent to modify the living arrangements for students and for the nuns, and with the convent stalling and refusing to comply with the orders.

The correspondence between the Crown, clergy and the convent of Santa Catalina is a great source of information about political relations between them, and about the convent itself, its activities, concerns, and priorities, but the collection of eighteen letters also poses some methodological issues for the historian, including questions regarding who participated in the conversation. To what extend were the nuns at Santa Catalina involved, if at all, in that conversation? Or was this a discussion between elite men?

51 AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820.

52 AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64, fs.785-820. 243

Also, in terms of the contents of the letters, it could be asked what proportion of the information the nuns provided was truthful and what proportion was invented or modified to support their objections.

Considering the convents' operations, leadership, and responsibilities, as discussed in chapter two of this dissertation, it could be assumed that the nuns spoke through their broker. In economic, legal and financial matters, the nuns at Santa Catalina explicitly instructed their vicar on what actions to take; they chose their vicar from frays at the Dominican monastery. Chowning defined the vicar of a convent as a "local priest who served as the liaison between the convent and the bishop."53 In other convents, such as La Soledad in Oaxaca, the role of the broker was given to a mayordomo

(administrator), usually a lay merchant. In either case, the community of nuns voted and elected their representative, and it was his job to act on their behalf. Now, in the conversation regarding the proclamation of 1795, the nuns would have similarly instructed the broker on what their wishes were. The position taken by the convent of

Santa Catalina was in opposition to the instructions of the Viceroy, but also to those of the fiscal, the Bishop, and the Father provincial, all of whom supported the decree, even if only symbolically. Since none of the letters were actually written by any of the nuns at

Santa Catalina but by heir male representative, it could be assumed that their position was not truly expressed, rather that the broker expressed his own position on the issue. If such was the case however, what motive would the broker have to stand against his male superiors? The role of the broker in this story seems to have been more complicated.

The broker, whether fray Julian or fray Antonio, expressed the convent's position, but he

51 Chowning. Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863. p.61. 244 also wrote much from what he could personally observe. This is clear in instances where

Fray Julian wrote that he knew what was going on at the convent because he was there everyday. This could have been his way of increasing his authority in a conversation with people so high at the top of the colonial order that they no longer used their names, only their official administrative titles.

It is difficult to judge to what extend the Dominican nuns and the convent's brokers may have exaggerated conditions of the cloister in their letters. The limited sources about the convent of Santa Catalina were of little help; many of those that are available, as discussed in chapter one, have been written by third parties, and rarely by the nuns themselves. Nevertheless, certain details may be confirmed. Including the fact that the convent offered education to ninas on regular basis and it was one of a very few places in Oaxaca that did that. There was an earthquake in 1801 that brought destruction to the city, it devastated the convent of La Consepcion and the convent of Santa Catalina did provide shelter to the Franciscan nuns and the children in their care.54 Whether the claim regarding availability of space at the convent was real or not is less certain.

However, space was not the real issue at hand. Even if the convent had space, or if it had the finances to create space, I anticipate that the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina would have not complied either. Despite methodological issues, the correspondence from 1803-1804 is a rich source of information that should not be dismissed. It reveals certain patterns common to the historiography of convents, and it also offers new interpretations regarding reforms and nuns' responses.

54 AHMO. Oct, 13. 1801, fs.40-47. 245

The Nature of Convent Reforms

The power struggle over reform was a recurring theme in convent history. The

Church and the Crown imposed a series of reforms on convents in the Old and in the

New World that addressed the behaviour and thoughts of the nuns. Coming out of the

Age of Reformation, the Council of Trent (1545-63) was a milestone in Catholic worship as Bishops established basic rules for the Church, including the convents. Subsequent reforms were implemented to amend the conduct of nuns and convent life. Some reforms restricted contact between lay and convent space. Church officials insisted that the door to the sacristy be locked outside of mass time so that communication between the nuns and laity was not possible. Father provincial fray Geronimo Moreno, gave such instructions to the nuns at Santa Catalina, in Oaxaca, in 1628.55 Other reforms attempted to modify the dress of the nuns so that it was in line with their vow of poverty. Bishop

Francisco de Manso y Zeuiga y Soya began such a campaign in 1635.56 During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, bishops attempted to put an end to various practices at the locutorio, such as dancing and playing music, and limiting visits from family and friends.57 Reforms also addressed living arrangements in the convents: whether nuns should lead a communal life (vida comuri) or live in private cells (vidaparticular).

Furthermore, they instructed about how many servants were allowed to live inside a

55 Archivo de la Provineia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo. Queretaro. "Libra de la I'undacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas Intitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores, Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera, 1571-1862."

56 Elizabeth Quigley Perry, "Escudos de Monjas/Shields of Nuns: The Creole Convent and Images of Mexican Identity in Miniature" (Ph.D. dissertation. Brown University. 1999). 74-75.

57 Asuncion Lavrin, "Female Religious." in Cities & Society in Colonial Latin America, ed. Louisa Shell llobermanand Susan Migden Socolow (Albuquerque, 1986), 174. 246 convent, and how much chocolate the nuns could consume.58 The success of these reforms however, varied between convents and Church officials reintroduced reforms from time to time, suggesting they had not been implemented. They frequently reminded nuns to behave modestly.

Scholars argue that nuns rejected reforms for two main reasons. One of the prevailing reasons was resistance to patriarchal rule. Asuncion Lavrin, and similarly

Jacqueline Holler, argues that patriarchal domination was at the core of many of the earlier reforms, and that nuns objected to them based on gender.59 Lavrin argues that their response to the vida comun reform was the nuns' way of objecting to male authority that attempted to reorganize their established way of life. Church superiors administering convents had no understanding of women's needs and that caused tensions.60 Similarly,

Mita Choudhury argues that nuns were part of a gendered discourse in eighteenth century

France. In the Age of the Enlightenment, the French literary public was worried about challenges to patriarchal authority and to masculinity; they saw convents and nuns as too powerful, too influential. They began to view convents in a new light, considering them obsolete places and reminders of the Old Regime. As such, convents became

58 For a debate on the vida comun reform see: Asuncion Lavrin. "Ecclesiastical Reform of Nunneries in New Spain in the Eighteenth-Century." The Americas 22 (July 1965): 182-202; Isabel Arenas 1'rutos. Dos arzobispos de Mexico -Lorenzana y Nunez de Haro- ante la reforma conventual femenina, 1766-17 (2004); Margaret Chowning, "Convent Reform, Catholic Reform, and Bourbon Reform in Eighteenth-Century New Spain: The View from the Nunnery." Hispanic American Historical Review 85 (2005): 1-38; Kirk, Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities . and Asuncion Lavrin. Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico (Stanford, 2008).

59 Lavrin, Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico 275-309; Jacqueline Holler. "Escogidas Plantas": Nuns and Beatas in Mexico City, 1531-1601 (New York, 2005), 244-245.

60 Lavrin, Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico. 275-309. 247 increasingly contested spaces. Choudhury further argues that, "the convent and the nun were ... metaphors for tyranny and social disorder."61

Another reason that resonates in some of the responses to convent reform was

Creole patriotism. Elizabeth Quigley Perry argues that during the late eighteenth century

Creoles used escudos de monjas (type of decorative pins, or shields, with an image of a nun) as symbols expressing their rejection of Spanish authority, and that these even became icons of patriotism: the "audacity of the escudos de monjas may have functioned for the convents as a symbolic form of resistance to the unwanted reforms."62 Perry shows that unreformed (calzadas) convents used shields of nuns as a unifying symbol in their struggles against the Spanish bishops, and that by the end of the eighteenth century all convents in Mexico City and in Puebla (except one) adopted this practice.63 In other words, nuns rejected various convent reforms, not only because they contested male authority but also, because as Creoles they rejected Spanish authority over their cultural life. In a similar tone, Chowning argues that some of the reforms originated from within

New Spain, particularly the vida comun.64 David Brading disagrees and points out that

Church reforms were introduced and implemented by peninsular officials in New

61 Choudhury. Convents and Nuns in Eighteenth-Century French Politics and Culture, 6. 21 -23.

b: Perry. "Escudos de Monjas/Shields of Nuns: The Creole Convent and Images of Mexican Identity in Miniature." 175. 180.

61Shields were images, of various sizes and made of various materials, that nuns pinned to, and proudly displayed on, their wardrobe. Ibid.. 189. 193.

64 Chowning, "Convent Reform, Catholic Reform, and Bourbon Reform in Eighteenth-Century New Spain: The View from the Nunnery,"; for similar arguments also see Asuncion Lavrin, "The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century." Hispanic American Historical Review 46 (Nov. 1966): 371-393; Nancy M Farriss. Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico 1759-1821: The Crisis of Ecclesiastical Privilege (London, 1968); Teresa Yolada Maya Sotomayor, "Reconstruir la Iglesia: HI Modelo Eclesial del Episcopado Novohispano. 1765-1804" (El Colegio de Mexico, 1997), 21. 248

Spain.65 Based on the correspondence from 1803-04 pertaining to the convent of Santa

Catalina in Oaxaca, it can be observed that the education reform was likewise pushed by peninsular officials and not necessarily by creole Church officials; the viceroy, the

Bishop and the fiscal would have been peninsulares.

Equally, objections by the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina, in Oaxaca, to the

1795 education reform were more than just objections to an increased enrolment rate and to reconfiguration of their living space. The conflict over education turned into a battle of wills, and I argue, that in addition to contesting patriarchy and perhaps exhibiting a degree of patriotism, it revealed struggles on another level. Yes, the reaction of the nuns at Santa Catalina to the education reform was in part a response to patriarchal authority.

In rejecting the orders to reconfigure their living arrangements, yet again, and to change their daily activities, the nuns may also have objected to the loss of companionship that the children provided. Nuns may have objected to giving up their role as mentors, or even their role as adoptive mothers, the reforms therefore took away their only chance at motherhood.66 These would have been some of the issues that contemporary elite men could not have understood which would have been sources of tension.

Also, to a lesser extent, creole patriotism may have played some role in the debate, although not necessarily. Creole elites fought with Spanish authority, or Royal peninsular dignitaries. The nuns, and their immediate superiors, came from elite families that were rooted in local society and had a vast interest in promoting creole identities.

65 David A. Brading. The FirsI America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State N92-I867 (Cambridge. 1991). 497.

For a discussion on nuns and motherhood in early-modern Spain see Vollendorf, The Lives of Women: A New History of Inquisitional Spain, 131-136. 174-175. 249

Those who opposed the education reform dealt with bureaucrats whose interests were oriented towards Spain. This included the Bishop of Antequera.67 Initially Bishop

Antonio Bergosa y Jordan only monitored the conflict, but then the Viceroy delegated him to solve the problem. In the conflict over education reform, the peninsular lay- reform-minded politicians disregarded creole clerical authority over religious matters.

They had an agenda and insisted on fulfilling it while rejecting all excuses that creole convent officials offered. At the same time however, if the nuns had accepted the reform, they would have educated a larger proportion of creole children than Spanish children.

Therefore, Creole patriotism could not have been the sole root of the debate, and there is no immediate evidence that would suggest otherwise.

I argue instead that nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca rejected the education reform based on a new and different reason: they objected to the anticlerical movement and to the meddling of lay male politicians in matters of the Church. The correspondence regarding the Royal Proclamation of 1795 reveals that Santa Catalina had a long education history. It shows that the nuns had been involved in teaching since the founding of the convent in the 1570s and had an excellent reputation as teachers. The local elite families sought their skills, and sent their daughters to the convent school generation after generation. The correspondence claims that the nuns took pride in

<>7 At the end of the colonial period, peninsulares were awarded the highest administrative posts in the colonies: an issue that was bitterly contested by the Creoles and contributed to the wars of independence. This trend characterized lay as well as church administrative structures. Bishop Antonio Bergosa y Jordan was born in Spain, and served as the Bishop of Oaxaca between 1801 and 1817. He returned to Spain to become an Archbishop of Tarragona in 1817. see The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church: Archdiocese of Antequera, Oaxaca; available from http://www.catho!ic- hierarchy.org/diocese/dante.html; Internet; accessed 11 May 2009. 250 teaching and that they followed the arrangements established in 1701.68 It might be expected then, that the nuns would welcome the move towards increased enrolments. In practice however, it seems that Santa Catalina disobeyed all education reforms during the eighteenth century. The convent admitted more children than stipulated in 1701, disregarded the prohibition of 1774, and refused to abide by the orders of 1795.69 Royal government officials forced education policy on the convents, gradually reducing their autonomy, and by extension their economic power.

Through the 1795 reform, the Crown also dictated how convent space would be used and what kind of activities nuns could and could not participate in. They had to section off a part of the convent, in other words part of Church property, to provide access to laity, both students and children. This implied significant and costly renovations. Additionally, the nuns could no longer teach. This implied changes to daily routines, schedules, and most likely their sense of worth. Many of the nuns would have been devoted to their job as mentors and teachers, and each would have been engaged in it for decades. It could be assumed that pride in their activities was why they defied many of the earlier education reforms throughout the eighteenth century. It may be expected that making changes in activities related to education would have a significant negative impact on the nuns involved in that trade. It would seem the State had crossed a line when it meddled in the matters of the convent. Nuns at Santa Catalina objected to the potential loss of power and autonomy, and they refused to aid the Crown in a transition from Church run to State run education system.

68 AGN: Temples y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820.

fc<) AGN: Templos y Conventos. vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820. 251

The Dominican nuns cleverly avoided undesirable compliance as well as the consequences of their unruly behaviour. They explained that they differentiated between girls who received education and those destined for the habit. That was why there were eight more children at the convent than allowed. Nor did the nuns want to disregard the rules of the Church in order to comply with Royal orders. Rather, they explained that increasing enrolment would put a strain on their religious obligations, which they would not be able to fulfill.70 With this explanation, the nuns made their allegiance clear: their first obligation was to the Church.

In their response to the proclamation in 1803-1804, the nuns at Santa Catalina made it clear to the Royal authorities that they understood the limitations of the Royal order. They pointed out that in Oaxaca there was already a Colegio de Nifias and therefore they did not feel it was necessary for them to modify their living and teaching arrangements.71 Here, the nuns conveniently ignored the fact that the two institutions catered to different social classes and had different prestige. In offering their explanation, perhaps the nuns relied on the ignorance of the Royal authorities on the issue of education, and on the ignorance ofpeninsualres on the colonial social order.

Eight years after the Royal orders circulated, the issue of non-compliance was heating up and the nuns still evaded a convent inspection by the fiscal. They did not let the fiscal inside their convent. The nuns purposefully walked about the areas that the fiscal needed to visit in order to asses their claim to the lack of space, or at least they said

70 ACiN: Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820.

71 ACiN: Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820. 252 they were in that area.72 The validity of their claim to lack space is not particularly relevant. What is more important is that they expected the authorities to take their word for it, they expected that that should be sufficient to end the discussion. It was also important not to let Royal authorities inside the convent as that might bring on a series of new, unforeseen demands.

It is not clear from the correspondence why Santa Catalina operated a school during the period of prohibition, circa 1774. The city census shows that there were 11 students at the school convent in 1792 (table 6.1) and, as mentioned earlier, the education policy prohibited nuns from teaching, or even admitting ninas to the convent, between

1774 and 1795. How were they able to operate without any consequences for such defiance? The convent did not hide what it was doing. Why then, did the Royal authorities not even comment on this issue? Especially when they were quick to point out supposed infractions on agreements from 1701? Was the policy so unpopular that it was disregarded in the colonies? Or, were the bureaucrats not informed about some of the policy? The convent of La Puri'sima, in San Miguel, seems to have disregarded the same orders, and allowed over thirty children to reside with them during the period of prohibition.73 Convents defied authority for numerous reasons. Here I add to existing explanations by arguing that secularization or more specifically anticlericalism was at the core of the new wave of reforms, and that convents objected to these reforms as they objected to the anticlericalism rooted in the Enlightenment.

72 AGN: Templos y Conventos, vol.158, exp.64. fs.785-820.

71 In the late 1780s. there were 51 ninas residing at the convent of La Puri'sima. however 19 of them were actually lay women over the age of 40 and even 50 years old. Approximately 30 ninas were school age children. Chovvning. Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863. pp. 160-161. 253

Ramifications of the Royal Proclamation of 1795

In addition to education, the 1795 proclamation had an impact on convent administration, its wealth and prestige. Church administration over convents shifted from the authority of regular orders to Episcopal authority. After 1795, Bishops were responsible for all the convents rather than the convents' corresponding mendicant orders; prior to that there were jurisdictional differences in the Americas. This gave

Bishops the power to impose a different direction in matters of the Church than mendicant leaders would. Bishops were also more likely to respond to ideas, demands, or trends circulating among lay elites. They were more likely to address concerns of the public than mendicant leaders would. Such was the case in Havana. When the Bishop gained authority over convents he immediately catered to the demands and expectations of the city elites. He began a campaign to force convents to abide by the 1795 proclamation and provide lay education to lay elites.74 It seems that opinion regarding education was similar among the elites of Havana and Oaxaca: they wanted their daughters to receive an education without necessarily taking the habit. Enlightenment ideas and the anticlerical movement seem to have been a common thread in the Spanish colonies. Changes in Church administration of convents also had an impact on their wealth and prestige, especially if they contested the new authority.

Convents in Havana refused to follow the order of the proclamation as early as

1796. The convents of Santa Clara and Santa Catalina successfully convinced the Bishop

74 Clune. "Redefining the Roles of Convents in Late Eighteenth-Century Havana," 139; Bishops in New Spain, however, had authority over convents much earlier. This is clear in the debate over vida comun. which had originated at around mid eighteenth century. Bishops pushed for this reform in the IV Provincial Council in 1771 and insisted that convents would fall in line. See Asuncion Lavrin. "Ecclesiastical Reform of Nunneries in New Spain in the Eighteenth-Century." The Americas 22 (1965): 183-203. 254 of Cuba that they did not have sufficient space to separate children from the rest of the community and continued to admit girls who were only destined for the habit. James

Clune argues that this decision was out of touch with eighteenth century realities, and cost these convents their prestige and popularity. By the early nineteenth century, habaneros (residents of Havana) sought education for their daughters at the newly established Ursuline convent that dedicated itself to female lay education. The refusal of the old convents to abide by the 1795 proclamation was one of the most significant causes of their diminished social and economic position within Havana society.75 In contrast, those convents in the Austrian Netherlands, ruled by the Spanish Emperor, which abided by various reforms that expanded their contribution to social welfare, prolonged their longevity.76 Those convents that offered education or other social services closed much later than those that did not. Similarly, Jason J. Lower-Timmons argues that the convents in Mexico City that contributed to social welfare, especially to education, received greater support from the elites than did the austere convents that had other priorities. At the end of the colonial period, non-reformed (calzadas) convents were more successful and were in a better financial position than the reformed

(idescalzas) convents. Further, he adds that elites shared the attitudes of the government

75 The convents of Santa Clara and Santa Catalina were overcrowded in part because of the Treaty of Basle and the subsequent immigration of nuns from Santo Domingo. However, their failure to adjust to the changing eighteenth century attitudes regarding secularization/anticlerical movement, and to accept the Royal Cedula ofl795and the convents' new role as educators resulted in their marginalization within the community of Havana. The third convent of Havana, Santa Teresa, petitioned against the 1795 order, arguing that their rigorous lifestyle did not allow for distractions that were associated with educating lay children. The nuns devoted all their time to prayers and did not even have time for sewing, embroidery, or cooking. See Clune. "Redefining the Roles of Convents in Late Lighteenth-Century Havana." 138-145.

76 Spain and the House of Hapsburgs ruled over Austrian Netherlands and the Low Countries from 1482 to 1794. to varying degrees: McNamara. Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia. 553. 255 that religious women should become productive members of society and they reflected it in their behaviour.77

The precise impact of the education reform on the convent of Santa Catalina in

Oaxaca cannot by fully measured: many additional variables could contribute to similar result. I infer, however, that nuns' objections to implementing the reform had an overall negative impact on the convent and its relations with the lay community. The period of struggle over the 1795 education reform coincided with a downward spiral of the convent's wealth and prestige. Fewer women professed at the convent during the first half of the nineteenth century than during any other earlier period (table 6.2). Between thirty-five and fifty-one women professed every twenty-five years from the convent's foundation in the sixteenth century to 1749. The size of the Dominican community slightly diminished in size, accepting fewer women between 1750 and 1799, but not as few as in the nineteenth century. Between 1800 and 1824, only twenty-one women took the habit, and from then until the convent closed in 1862, only ten women professed

(table 6.2). This downsizing could have been the result of altered convent policy or changed expressions of piety within the lay community, as well as political and ideological changes, including attacks on Church property and the levy added for entering a convent. The bottom line however, was that this meant that fewer dowries were available for reinvestment within the lay community, and that fewer properties generated income for the convent. Downsizing, whether caused by causes internal or external to the convent, inevitably diminished the wealth of the convent.

77 Lowery-Timmons. "From humility to action." 74-78. 256

Table 6.2 Numbers of New Professions at the Convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca, 1575-1862

Year Number of New Professions 1575-1599 40 1600-1624 47 1625-1649 42 1650-1674 46 1675-1699 49 1700-1724 35 1725-1749 51 1750-1774 28 1775-1799 31 1800-1824 21 1825-1849 10 1850-1860 0 Total Nuns 400

Sources: Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo, Queretaro, "Libro de la Fundacion del Convento y Monasterio de las Monjas lntitulado Santa Catalina de Sena de la Orden de Predicadores, Fundado en la Ciudad de Antequera

Another indication that the convent of Santa Catalina had a weaker economic position during the nineteenth century was its real estate ownership. Taylor and then

Manuel Esparza have taken it for granted that "Santa Catalina de Sena passed into the national period with its wealth intact, and its assets continued to grow until the sales and confiscations of the late 1850s".78 My evidence suggests otherwise. In 1792, the convent of Santa Catalina owned 210 houses in Oaxaca, and numerous haciendas in the countryside.79 By 1824, however, the convent's urban real estate ownership had dropped to seventy-five houses, and by 1856, it owned only sixty-seven houses.80 This drastic fall in participation in the urban real estate market suggests the wealth of the convent had

78 William B. Taylor, Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, 1972), 188; also quoted in Esparza. Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena. 73.

n AGN: Tributos. vol.34, exp.7, fs.l58v.

80 Esparza. Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena. 74. 88. 257 been substantially reduced. My own research on Santa Catalina's participation in the credit market, discussed in chapter four, only covers the eighteenth century, but it reveals that towards the end of the century, the convent provided larger loans to the wealthiest segments of Oaxacan society, and that the middling sector of society was not taking loans as frequently as before. If the elites were taking out large loans and could not repay them, or did not want to repay them, the wealth of the convent would have experienced a significant strain.

There was no one precise reason for the fall of Santa Catalina's wealth and prestige. However, the convent's decision to withdraw from the education scene, or more precisely, the nuns' choice not to expand their education program may have contributed to its socio-economic collapse. Combined with the convent's reduced participation in the real estate market and in the credit market, it triggered a domino effect. The ideological debate over the Proclamation of 1795 had a direct negative impact on the economic well- being of the religious community of Santa Catalina.

The Last of the Reforms

Throughout the nineteenth century, lay-reform-minded politicians brought more reforms to religious institutions. A trend that began with education reform had expanded into other areas and nearly every reform was more cataclysmic than the last one. In 1804 the Crown passed the disentailment decree. This reform ordered all charities and poor houses to liquidate all their properties and deposit their incomes in the Royal Treasury.

While it did not attack convents in particular, the reform had an impact on education, 258 especially on female education. Many schools, seminaries, Colegios de Ninas, and recogimientos had reduced incomes as a result of the reform.81 Then in 1812, the Junta introduced an early version of income tax. It required all convents to pay a 10 percent fee on their annual income obtained from rental properties. The levy was paid to the Royal

Treasury, and would help finance the war.82 This tax put additional strains on convents, especially on those that were still restructuring to comply with earlier education reforms.

Directly related to reforms of education were the decrees from 1816 and 1817.

King Fernando VII made a last attempt to maintain hold of the colonies, when he returned to the throne. It seems he may have understood the changes in contemporary society and the importance of education. Initially, he ordered the establishment of primary schools in all Indian towns. A year later, he decreed that convents and monasteries must provide elementary education to the poor.83 Coincidently, this was the decree that convinced convents in Havana to open their doors to nifias.84 These convents resisted one of the most intrusive reforms for over 22 years and paid dearly for their decision. But they too understood changes in contemporary thought and knew that if they wanted to hold on to whatever power they had left within their communities, they had to abide by the new rules. And so, they re-established schools within their convents.

81 Newland, "Spanish American Elementary Education before Independence: Continuity and Change in a Colonial Environment," 86; Asuncion Lavrin, "Problems and Policies in the Administration of Nunneries in Mexico 1800-1835." The Americas 28 (1971): 58; B. R. Hamnett, "The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government: The 'Consolidation de Vales Reales'. 1805- 1809," Journal of Latin American Studies 1 (Nov.. 1969): 86,93-97.

82 Lowery-Timmons, "From humility to action," 51.

83 Estrada, "The "Escuelas Pias" of Mexico City: 1786-1820." 66-67; Newland. "Spanish American Elementary Education before Independence: Continuity and Change in a Colonial Environment." 88. 84 Clune. "Redefining the Roles of Convents in Late Eighteenth-Century Havana." 143. 259

Under the new Republic, Mexican Liberals made an enormous effort to expand the education system. However, they no longer saw the importance of convents. Instead of utilizing existing structures, they emphasized the public education system. By 1845, public primary schools flourished in Oaxaca and one of every seven residents in the state was literate. In 1848, the city had 68 primary schools, and by 1852, one hundred schools operated. There were also nineteen Escuelas de Amiga. Access to education remained segregated according to gender however, and ninas were significantly under represented.

In 1852, of the 30,637 children who attended primary schools in the state of Oaxaca, only

4,429 were females.85

During the nineteenth century, the state took a greater interest in public welfare.

It took over many of the functions that had been associated with religious institutions, partly making convents obsolete places. The Liberal government gradually introduced many Church reforms, but the last blow to the female branch of the Church came in 1862 when it outlawed convents. The nuns continued to resist, but they had very few options left. As mentioned in chapter two, in the case of the convent of Santa Catalina, the

Mexican state closed the doors of this convent on March 4, 1862. The city officials literally threw the last thirteen nuns out of the convent in the middle of the night. The nuns, most of whom were old and ill, took refuge at the convent of La Concepcion.86

City officials and their guards transferred all the belongings of the nuns, including furniture and plants, to their new location. They immediately transformed the building

85 Victor Raul Martinez Vasquez. Hisloria de la Educacion en Oaxaca, 1825-1940 (Oaxaca de Juarez. Oax. 1994). 13-17.

86 Ksparza. Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catalina de Sena 90; Berry, The Reform in Oaxaca, 1856-76: A Microhistory of the Liberal Revolution, 78. 260 partly into a jailhouse, and partly into a municipal building. Over the next several months, state officials attempted to compensate the nuns with 200,000 pesos for their losses. The idea was to refund the nuns' dowries, but the nuns refused to accept the money. As a result, the state confiscated the funds along with all the property of the convent.87 As the Church continued to lose its position, nuns from all convents merged at the last remaining convent in the city. Finally, in the 1880s, they took up residence in various private homes. They were grouped three nuns per home and designated vicar, heard their confessions and offered private Mass. The last thirty nuns, while stripped of their religious titles and privileges, continued to obey their Holy vows as best as circumstances allowed.88 Education, however, was no longer on their agenda.

Conclusion

Education reform was a by-product of ideological transformations that were occurring in the eighteenth century. Ideas about reason, logic, individualism, free market, and equality spread through Europe and Latin America. Religion and baroque piety symbolized the old ways of living and thinking, and came under attack. People had new expectations of the responsibilities of the State and demanded social programs. The

State's answer to some of these issues was to reorganize existing infrastructures, and order convents to accommodate the state's literacy program. Convents in New Spain had a long history of educating women. However, as much as they wanted to respond to the

87 Berry. The Reform in Oaxaca. 1856-76: A Microhistory of the Liberal Revolution. 59. 77-79.

88 In 1870, there were 12 nuns from La Soledad, 5 from Santa Catalina, 14 from La Coneepcion, 17 from Capuehinas Indias and 30 from Capuchinas Espafiolas. Ibid.. 118-119, 239-240. 261 call of duty, they saw education reform as a threat to their way of life. The reform of

1795 dictated their use of property and instructed what they were allowed to do, and therefore it infringed on their relative autonomy. Anticlerical politicians designed the education reforms. On each occasion, they ordered nuns to reorganize their established way of life, and promoted secularization, particularly the anticlerical movement. Nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca objected to this trend, and rejected every education reform during the eighteenth century. Nuns throughout Spanish America were famous for fighting with their superiors over nearly every reform. However, the fundamental difference between the early reforms and the education reform was their source, or power base. Throughout most of the colonial period, calzadas nuns were the targets of the peninsular reform-minded bishops.89 During the nineteenth century, all convents became subject to anticlerical-reform-minded politicians. Education was an issue that marked a transition to the second period of reform, and reasons for these reforms denote a departure in contemporary thought. In this chapter I argue that when it came to the proclamation of 1795, the Dominican nuns in Oaxaca defended their faith, their philosophy, their property and their lifestyle. Their decision to resist lay authority in assuming greater responsibility over education was miscalculated. The position held by the nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina was contrary to the wishes of Oaxacan society and contributed to the decreasing economic importance of the convent.

8l> Perry, "Escudos de Monjas/Shields of Nuns: The Creole Convent and Images of Mexican Identity in Miniature." 74. CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION

In Oaxaca, power and property defined relations between the Dominican convent of

Santa Catalina and the lay community. Established in the 1570s, the convent benefited from the generous donations of money, land, houses and other property from Oaxaquenos. Its main sources of income however, were the surplus generated from investments of dowries, as well as from rents on rural and urban properties, from operating rural estates, and from operating a school for young girls. Simultaneously, the convent was a major source of capital for the lay community; people relied on the convent for financing their entrepreneurial ventures.

Participation in these activities tied the convent of Santa Catalina to people in the lay community socially, financially, economically and legally. By the end of the seventeenth century, the convent had well developed close economic ties with its lay community. It was highly respected in that regard; it was successful and had the support of the local elites.

The elites sent their daughters to the convent of Santa Catalina, as pupils and as novices, and along with them, a proportion of their wealth in the form of dowries and donations. The elites also expected the convent to reciprocate these gifts by providing access to its coffers; however elites were not the only group who benefited. Examining various types of contracts involving the convent of Santa Catalina clarifies many of the relationships the convent had with the world around it. Equally important, the contracts also show who entered into what arrangements with the convent. As such the contracts provide a unique picture of the economic intersection between the religious and the lay world. They reveal that people in the middling

262 263 group, who had some property or who were in the process of acquiring some property, as well as the elites had access to capital and to opportunities for social and economic mobility.

During the eighteenth century, Oaxaca transformed from a small agriculturally based political and religious centre on the periphery of the Spanish empire to a vibrant metropolis with economic importance to the empire. Through the cochineal and textile industries, the periphery became the centre of the empire, and the city experienced population increase from some 3,000 to over 18,000 people between the beginning and the end of the century. In this transition capital, property and power, played an important role. Examining the contracts of one of

Oaxaca's largest financial institutions of the era helps to understand this process of change. The contracts of the convent of Santa Catalina show that the convent and the lay community of

Oaxaca were equally dependent on each other. On the one hand, the convent granted laity access to capital and fostered their economic growth. On the other hand, the laity kept the business activities of the convent in line with the trends and norms of the lay society. During the eighteenth century, when ideological and economic currents shifted in Western society their global impact included Oaxaca in its realm. The long term economic effect was similarly disastrous for the convent and for Oaxaquenos. During the nineteenth century, the convent gradually lost its prominence while Oaxaquefios retreated to a peripheral position in the World economy. The focus of this dissertation was to trace some of those eighteenth century developments while studying the convent's relationship with the world outside the cloister.

The city of Oaxaca may have been located in a remote region of southern Mexico, but during the colonial period it served as a political, religious, and social centre for even more remote parts of the Bishopric of Oaxaca. The religiosity of Oaxaquenos and their expressions of piety were in line with that of the major centres in the Spanish empire. The elites and people of 264 property strove to be at the forefront of the religious and intellectual life of the colony. They established numerous religious buildings and places of worship, including calzadas convents, descalzas convents, and convents for indigenous women. The convent of Santa Catalina was the first convent of the female branch of the Dominican order established in New Spain. Its nuns later traveled to establish subsequent new convents in the Viceroyalty. Oaxaca was also one of the very few cities to have established a convent for indigenous women. When at the height of

Baroque piety nuns' engagement in hagiographic writing that described their mystical experiences and visions were deemed as the ultimate level of spirituality, Oaxaquefios recruited two nuns from a convent in the city of Puebla who laid claim to that level of religiosity. One of the recruited nuns, sor Maria de San Jose (1656-1719), was exceptional in her devotion, spirituality and connection with the Divine. So much so that Oaxaquefios attempted to elevate her status to a saint. Their recruitment of sor Jacinta Maria Ana Catalina de San Antonio (1674-

1720) proved less successful as her story did not fully conform to society's expectations and she was deemed deviant, on the opposite side of the spectrum to sor Maria, rather than a saint.

Over time, as expressions of piety changed among people in the Spanish metropole as well as in the colonies, Oaxaquefios also modified their behaviour. As the eighteenth century drew to a close, fewer elite families sent their daughters to profess at the convent of Santa

Catalina or any of the other convents in the city. This societal shift was supported by the Royal decision to limit the size of cloistered populations in the empire, including nuns and their domestic servants. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Oaxaquefios found new ways of expressing piety which did not involve convents. In the new post-colonial political system, they elected representatives who further curbed the role of the Church and forced the closure of 265 convents. This adds support to the notions that the religiosity and expressions of piety of

Oaxaquefios were in tune with that of other major urban centres in the former Spanish empire.

While the presence of various Church structures and institutions, and participation in related activities, reflected people's religiosity and expressions of piety, the convent's internal organization reflected the society outside the cloister. Similarly to other cities and convents, the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca had a social hierarchy that reflected the lay community. At the top of the hierarchy were the nuns of the black veil who were drawn from the highest social level in the lay community. They formed the internal leadership of the convent and voted on matters pertaining to the material needs of the convent and the nuns within it. They relied on various brokers, including vicars, administrators, priests, servants, lay visitors, lay women and girls residing at the convent, and on slaves to communicate with the outside world and to stay informed. At the lower level, were the nuns of the white veil who had fewer privileges and less power than the nuns of the black veil; they were drawn from and represented impoverished elites. Below them were domestic servants and slaves, who did not have any privileges or religious obligations. Their labour was highly valuable, but their cast, social or economic status was of no consequence to the convent. Regardless of status, women who lived in a convent had many opportunities to express their will, to form internal political factions and support one side or another, to influence the material interests of the convent as well as those of the lay community. However, relative to male Church superiors, they had limited impact on matters of faith and religion.

The convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca, collectively as well as through individual nuns, utilized various methods to exert economic influence on its religious and lay community. One such mechanism was the capellama which functioned as an early form of a trust fund, and as a 266 gateway to heaven. Sor Josefa Maria de Jesus Ortiz de Estrada (171 Os-1794) funded such a trust fund just prior to professing as a nun, in 1729. In this legal contract, sor Josefa provided an elaborate list of potential beneficiaries of the annuities from her endowment, carefully arranging her relatives in line to access the capital. After she made arrangements that would last nearly a century, sor Josefa went on to profess as a nun of the black veil. Eventually she become the mother prioress and directed the entire convent. As such she controlled the world outside and inside the cloister. On the one hand, she dictated family relations and their access to her capital.

Although she made financial arrangements as a novice at Santa Catalina, her family had to follow those arrangements over several decades and did not have the option to make changes.

On the other hand, sor Josefa led the spiritual life of the convent and of the lay community, and was in charge of the convent's material culture, both as the leader and as a member on the council.

Sor Josefa understood that power came from access to property, and in her life she entered into many contracts that controlled property. As a lay person residing at the convent of

Santa Catalina for ten years, sor Josefa already entered into a number of contracts that helped lay people gain access to capital and property. Then when she established the capellani'a, as a novice, sor Josefa helped provide economic stability and maintain social prestige to generations of her family members. However, by selecting only a few particular members while overlooking others, sor Josefa seems to have manipulated her family relations and their access to wealth. Her family's claim to the bequest, and their legal battles with each other for the right to use the capellanta, illustrate the economic and social importance of the trust fund, and the power sor

Josefa held over the family. Regardless of their actions and how much time had elapsed, the clauses of her trust fund, her wishes and desires, ultimately her word, could not be altered. 267

Sor Josefa, however, was more interested in the spiritual aspect of the capellania, and the eternal salvation that it offered, than in its economic role. It seems that sor Josefa's founding of

the capellania, defied custom, and while it was not unheard of for a nun to do so, it was unusual.

The manner in which she arranged the contract deviated further from the norm. Her desire for eternal salvation explains some of her choices. Sor Josefa entered the religious life at a time

when baroque piety was loosing momentum and was slowly phasing out, and people were searching for new and acceptable ways of expressing piety. She was painfully aware of the story of her fellow nun, sor Jacinta, and how she was perceived by contemporaries. Perhaps in order

to avoid a similar reaction, sor Josefa chose to express herself through contracts, and particularity

through a contract that had a dual function: economic and spiritual. She deliberately designed

the clauses of the capellania, quickly diverting the trust fund to young clerics studying at the

Jesuit seminary; young clerics who would pray for her salvation. Sor Josefa may have been most concerned with her afterlife and took steps that would assure a socially acceptable way of achieving eternal salvation. In the process she displayed a zest for life, as well as skill and

knowledge in legal custom, material culture, economic and social relations, and convent politics.

As an individual, sor Josefa managed to hold spiritual, familial and economic power over her

family and over the convent. Inevitably, as a nun of the black veil, and later as an abbess, sor

Josefa also participated in the decision making process of the convent. For most of the eighteenth century, she partially controlled material culture and the contracts of the convent,

influencing the lay community of Oaxaca.

The convent of Santa Catalina had a much greater economic impact on the lay community at an institutional level than did any of its individual members. During the colonial

period in New Spain, convents were the most active agents within the ecclesiastical credit 268 market. Within this formal credit market, the convent of Santa Catalina utilized a number of credit tools to provide Oaxaquenos with access to capital and property, and in return it collected annuities to cover its material needs. During the eighteenth century, people contracted three types of censos consignativos at Santa Catalina. The most common type of censo was a loan to finance the purchase of property, where buyer took a mortgage type of a loan from the convent to pay for the property. Depending on the size of the loan, one or more institutions provided the credit, and the majority of such transactions included a deposit or a down payment. The loan was perpetual and the borrower paid annuities nearly indefinitely. Another common type of censo was a cash loan that had to be repaid in a specified time, and the borrower paid annuities.

The least common censo was a mix of the two earlier tools of credit. A borrower contracted a perpetual loan that resembled a mortgage, but in addition to annuities, had to repay a portion of the loan in a specified time. In some of the cases, the convent sold its own urban or rural property and financed the buyer. In most cases, however, the convent financed transactions as a third party, providing censos to buyers who purchased property that did not belong to the convent. In other cases still, the convent collected rent from properties that it rented to people in the lay community.

Providing loans potentially carried enormous risks, and creditors used various strategies to minimize the risk to their investments. That is one of the reasons why all censos were tied to real property, and were never worth more than the property purchased or placed as collateral.

Some of the credit institutions in Oaxaca, and particularly the convent of Santa Catalina, minimized their risk by issuing smaller rather than larger loans. They also collaborated with other institutions to issue large loans, so a loan of 15,000 pesos could be divided among several creditors. Additionally, creditors required a down payment from borrowers seeking large censos; it signalled to a creditor that a borrower was most likely solvent and would be able to pay annuities. Certain people or groups were deemed to pose more of a risk than others to creditors.

Perceived among some of the safest borrowers, or least risky investments, were clergy, then elites, then men and widows, further down the list were married women and then castas. This of course does not mean that people in the top groups were most solvent and did not default on their

loans; but they were seen as such by the creditors. This faulty perception was observed in the case of capellans responsible for the capellania of sor Josefa in chapter three. In Oaxaca, as well as in other parts of New Spain, preconceived notions that elites were safe and solvent borrowers

guided credit policy of many credit institutions.

The convent of Santa Catalina was one of many formal institutions that provided loans in

Oaxaca; however, it had a policy and practice that stood out from the other creditors.

Throughout the eighteenth century, Santa Catalina had the most inclusive business policy. The

convent provided loans to lay commoners, men as well as women, to pardos and Indios, as well

as to Spanish elites; to high-status and low-status artisans, as well as professionals, merchants

and landowners; to single women, married women and widows. It provided many small loans

and collaborated with other creditors when asked for large loans. As such, the convent of Santa

Catalina was a source of capital for a large proportion of Oaxaquefios. Its practice of casting a

wider net, and lending to the non-privileged, yet propertied, middling group, enabled many

people to acquire urban and rural property and to have access to cash. Therefore, people who

borrowed from the convent of Santa Catalina had opportunities for social and economic mobility.

The credit policy and practice of Santa Catalina helped the convent dominate the formal credit

market in Oaxaca, and set it apart from similar institutions in Mexico. 270

Contracts that tied the convent of Santa Catalina and the lay community of Oaxaca reveal how the two were depended on each other, and who had access to the convent's financial resources. The contracts show that while in the Spanish kingdom, credit policy was determined by contemporary philosophy and cultural values, there was room for local conditions to influence its practice. In the case of Oaxaca, the remote location of the city, the small size of the Spanish population, the region's ethnic and racial composition, and the regions' economic resources guided credit policy and practice. In this environment, the convent of Santa Catalina adapted to the demands of the credit market and expanded the pool of its borrowers beyond their conventional contemporaries.

Additionally, local conditions in Oaxaca, prompted convents, including Santa Catalina, to expand their participation in the real estate market and to invest in rural properties. Throughout the colonial period, the convent of Santa Catalina owned and operated several rural estates. Its ownership of some estates was more long term than others, and it seems to have preferred estates producing sugar and wheat. Some estates were run by an administrator, others were regularly rented out. Most of the labour, however, was performed by Afro-Mexican slaves, and during peak seasons this labor force was supplemented with indigenous day labourers. The convent was an absentee owner, functioning through the council of nuns and an elected mother prioress as well as through a series of lay and religious brokers and administrators, and had a peculiar grip on its rural properties. In many instances slaves were the only constant at the estates. Slaves lived at the estates, performed all duties and most of the labour, and they had knowledge of the ins and outs of the estates, while all the other personnel had a relatively temporary presence.

A collection of documented sales and purchases of slaves reveals that the convent of

Santa Catalina was one of the largest slave owners in the Valley of Oaxaca during the first half 271 of the eighteenth century. Many of its slaves were re-sold several times to renters of estates and then purchased back by the convent, but the majority of slaves remained at the same estate over a long period of time, even over a lifetime. The contracts also reveal that the convent practiced slave policy that was slightly different than that of the other slave owners in the Valley of

Oaxaca. The convent promoted family formation and was not interested in separating family units; three or four generations of slaves could be found at some of the estates, and children remained with their mothers much longer than elsewhere. Slaves who belonged to Santa

Catalina had a balanced gender ratio and had a relatively high reproductive rate. The convent tended to sell groups of slaves rather than individual slaves and did so at a lower price than did other slave owners in the Valley. Freedom was rarely granted and most attainable through intermarriage with indigenous women, and thus passed on to the next generation, rather than through self purchase. The convent of Santa Catalina heavily depended on the labour of enslaved Afro-Mexicans at its rural estates and its policy and practice shaped the social, economic and cultural life of the Valley of Oaxaca.

The nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca were tied to the lay community as individuals and collectively as an institution. Power and property defined their relations, and the convent's impact extended beyond the cloister, into the city and the Valley of Oaxaca. But the

Dominican nuns also tried to exert their influence beyond those physical or geographical boundaries; albeit unsuccessfully. When it came to politics at the Viceroyalty level, nuns found themselves in a vulnerable position. At the end of the colonial period when the Royal administration reformed the Church and its role in the political sphere of the Spanish Empire, the

Crown also had a new vision for the role of the convents. In the face of ideological developments about reason, logic, individualism and free market, the Crown expected convents Ill to participate in its social programs, particularly in its literacy program. In 1795, the Crown issued a decree that ordered calzadas convents to reorganize their living arrangements; to divide their cloisters into separate dormitories and classrooms for lay school girls and for nuns, and to allow lay teachers to take over the teaching duties of the nuns. The nuns at the convent of Santa

Catalina interpreted this reform as an attack on their property and relative autonomy, and they rejected it. The nuns spent years ignoring the reform, and then a few more years arguing with colonial officials about why they could not comply with the Royal orders. The Dominican nuns and their brokers attempted to influence colonial policy without success. While the nuns defended their faith, philosophy, property and lifestyle, they misjudged the lay community of

Oaxaquenos. The elites and the propertied middling people desired lay education for their children, and a diminished political and economic role for the Church in lay society; something the nuns at Santa Catalina either chose to ignore or did not address properly. Inevitably the convent's response to these issues contributed to its decreasing economic importance in the

Oaxacan community. The gradual loss of power and property culminated with the closure of the convent in 1862.

The education reform of 1795 represents a transition in the nature of convent reforms and signals a shift leading into the fourth phase of convent history in Mexico (1805-1860s). It was one of the first reforms driven by anticlerical-reform-minded politicians, rather then by peninsular reform-minded bishops interested in curtailing the splendid lifestyle of calzadas convents. This reform was about increasing state power and diminishing the political power of the Church, in part by offering its citizens access to social lay programs. During the nineteenth century these reforms were followed by a more aggressive anticlerical policy adopted by the

Crown and further expanded by liberal politicians during the national period in Mexico. Unable 273

to influence colonial policy, and failing to adapt to the changing trends in Oaxacan society, the convent of Santa Catalina was not able to secure new contracts, or to hold on to its existing

properties and power. The laity had developed new ways of expressing piety and had new expectations of the State and its role in social, political, and economic life, and viewed convents

as archaic and obsolete.

A series of legal contracts drawn up during the eighteenth century between the convent of

Santa Catalina and people in the lay community proved to be a fruitful avenue to explore. They

reveal the impact the convent had on the social, financial and economic life in the world around

it. They showed how the convent and its nuns provided for their material needs, as well as which

Oaxaquefios were legally bound to the convent and may have benefited from those arrangements.

However, much research remains to be done in the area of the history of Oaxaca, as well as in

the area of convent economic history, and convents' relations with the world around them.

Following leads deriving from this dissertation, future research could look into court cases and

litigation that involved the convent of Santa Catalina and people in the lay community. Looking

at contract disputes could reveal whether the convent's credit policy and practice benefited the

convent as intended; it could also reveal who was most likely to default on payments and why. It

could help assess whether casting a wide net of borrowers was a good long term strategy or a

short term strategy; if it contributed to the expansion of the economic impact of the convent or to

its demise. Another topic to look into would be rural land holdings of the convent of Santa

Catalina. A systematic analysis of rural estates that belonged to the convent could reveal the

convent's role in the Valley of Oaxaca as an agricultural producer, foodstuff supplier and an

employer. Looking at slavery in the city and the Valley would also be a fruitful topic to explore.

Little is understood about the impact of African culture on the region of Oaxaca, or why and how 274 precisely the institution of slavery phased out in that region in advance of official abolition.

What happened to the institution of slavery, labour relations, and to Afro-Oaxaquefios during the period post 1741 ?

Future research could also focus on studying urban development in Oaxaca and exploring the role of the convent of Santa Catalina in it, as well as that of other credit institutions. This would require mapping out all urban properties on an eighteenth century map of the city, and tracing the movement of people and credit on that map. It would show clusters of housing development that depended on capital supplied by each of the credit institutions. On a broader level, future research could explore how nuns utilized capellanias. This would require looking into the records of the Juzagado de Capellania and identifying nuns who founded these trust funds in Oaxaca, in other parts of New Spain, and in the Spanish American empire. Little is known about how many nuns practiced this form of financial control, and why. How did this tool help lay communities and the families of nuns? What impact did these individual nuns have on family relations and social cohesion during the colonial period in Mexico?

This dissertation examined one convent and its social, financial and economic relations with the world around it. Relying on qualitative and quantitative research methods, it looked at the interactions between the religious community of the Dominican convent of Santa Catalina and the lay community of Oaxaca from several angles. It agrees with William Taylor and John

Chance, who show that regional differences between Oaxaca and other parts of New Spain that were nested in land tenure practices and social composition were unique in Oaxaca, but it also shows that these characteristics may have contributed to the convent's economic approach.1

Building on the works of Linda Greenow, Gisela Von Wobeser, and Douglass Cope, this study

1 William B. Taylor. Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford. 1972); John K. Chance. Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, California. 1978). 275 broadens our understanding of the colonial economy and its credit system.2 On the one hand, it reveals that convents lent money to people outside the elite group, and on the other hand, it shows that people in the middling group relied on the formal credit network to borrow money.

This cooperation between convent and laity promoted social mobility and growth of the middle sector. The convent's willingness to do business with a wide range of clients set it apart from other financial institutions in the Spanish colonial world.

Further, this dissertation builds on the works of Assuncion Lavrin, Rosalva Loreto Lopez,

Kathryn Burns and Margaret Chowning, and likewise shows that convents were an integral part of social and economic life of their surrounding region, depending on it and influencing it.3

Additionally, the study shows that convents had a great interest in, and invested in, rural properties, relied on slave labour and on numerous brokers to conduct their business. Many colonial women found their way to the convents. In Oaxaca as elsewhere in Mexico or Latin

America, they found the convent a familiar place: a place that resembled the social and political structure of the lay community, and a place where they met many of their female family members and friends. However, women who professed as nuns of the black veil at the convent of Santa Catalina in Oaxaca also found themselves running an economically powerful institution, and made decisions that had an immediate economic impact on their cloistered community and on the lay community. Collectively they were well aware of legal, social, and economic matters.

2 Linda L. Greenovv. Credit and Socioeconomic Change in Colonial Mexico: Loans and Mortgages in Guadalajara. 1720-1820, Dellplain Latin American studies; no. 12. (Boulder, Colorado. 1983); Gisela von Wobeser. El Credito Eclesiastico en la Nueva Espaha siglo XVIII (Mexico, D.F., 1994); Douglas R. Cope. The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720 (Madison. 1994).

1 Asuncion l.avrin. Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico (Stanford. 2008);Asuncion Lavrin, "The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century." Hispanic American Historical Review 46 (1966); 371-393; Rosalva Loreto Lopez. Los Conventos Femininosy el Mundo Lirbano de la Puebla de los Angeles del Siglo XVIII (Mexico. D.F.. 2000); Margaret Chowning. Rebellious Nuns: The Troubled History of a Mexican Convent, 1752-1863 (Oxford; New York. 2006). 276

They experimented with innovative business policy and defended their way of life when it metered the most. Nuns at the convent of Santa Catalina were devout, living the contemplative life and obeying their sacred vows, but they were also economic actors and ingenious businesswomen. GLOSSARY

Alcalde Mayor - Spanish official in charge of district and representing the authority of the King.

Beata - Woman living under religious rule without taking formal vows.

Beaterio - Community of women living under religious rule without taking formal vows, also called recogimiento.

Cacica- Indian noblewoman, hereditary Indian chieftain.

Cacique - Indian noble man; hereditary Indian chieftain or ruler.

Calzadas - non-reformed/ non-austere/ non-recollect

Capellam'a - Chantry.

Capellan - Priest in charge of a capellam'a.

Carta de libertad - Manumission deed.

Castas - racially mixed people.

Cedula Royal - Royal decree.

Censo - Loan resembling a mortgage.

Cofradia- Lay religious brotherhood, a sodality.

Colegio de la Sagrada Compama de Jesus - Jesuit College.

Creole - Someone of European descent born in the Americas; term predominantly used in Latin America.

Descalzas - (discalced/reformed/ austere/ recollect) branches of the mendicant orders that followed stern interpretation of religions rule.

Doncella - Well mannered woman of marriageable age.

Esclavo - Slave.

Espafiol - Person of Spanish descent, born in Spain or in the New World.

Fiador - Guarantor, co-signer.

277 278

Fiscal - The top legal advisor to the King "legal officer representing the Crown with the duty of advising the Council or audiencia in preparing legislation and making judicial decisions (Farris, 1968)"

Fiscal de lo civil - The top legal advisor to the Viceroy "Colonial fiscal who advised the audiencia in civil suits and certain administrative matters (Farris, 1968)"

Friar - Brother, a member of a mendicant order. Includes Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and Carmelites

Hacienda - Landed estate, an agricultural property of any size.

India, Indio - Person of indigenous descent.

Locutorio - Place designated to receive visitors in a convent.

Madre priora - Abbess.

Maestra de novicias - Head nun in charge of teaching the novices.

Mayordomo - Administrator, a manager of an estate.

Mestizo, mestiza - Person of mixed Spanish and Indian descent.

Monja - Nun, a woman who professed in a convent.

Monk - a member of a monastic order

Mulata, mulato - Person of mixed Spanish and Black descent.

Ninas-Girls.

Oaxacafios - Residents of Oaxaca.

Obra Pia - Charitable fund.

Padrino - Godfather.

Parda, pardo- Person of White, Black and indigenous descent.

Peso de oro comun - Monetary unit of eight reales.

Peninsulares - Person born in Spain or Prtugual.

Prior - The elected head of a mendicant order. 279

Province - Administrative unit that consists of nuns and friars from the same order in one Region.

Provincial - Elected head of a Province.

Recogimiento - Community of women living under religious rule without taking formal vows, also called beaterio.

Regidor - Community representative to municipal council.

Regular clergy - Members of regular orders, including the Jesuits. They answered to their prelates.

Seglar - Secular female temporarily living at the convent, for example, a school girl.

Secular clergy - Priests who did not belong to religious orders, they answered to the bishop.

Solar - House plot.

Suppriora - Mother prioress.

Trapiche - Sugar mill.

Vecina, vecino - Permanent resident of a municipality.

Velo bianco - Nun of the white veil, a lower ranking nun who contributed half of the dowry requirement and did not have membership on the council and had no voting privileges.

Velo negro - Black veil nun, a nun with higher ranking who had contributed a full-dowry requirement and had all the privileges and responsibilities associated with professing.

Venta de esclavos - Bill of sale of slaves.

Viceroy-The highest-ranking administrative representative in the colonies, who answers directly to the King.

Vida - Life, refers to nuns writing their autobiographies

Vida comun - Communal life in a convent.

Vida particular - Life in a convent individually organized.

Zocalo - Central city square. WORKS CITED

Archives Consulted

Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN), Mexico D.F.

Fondo Bienes Nacionales

Fondo General de Parte

Fondo Padrones

Fondo Templos y Conventos

Fondo Tierras

Fondo Reales Cedulas

Museo de Antropologi'a e Historia, Mexico D.F.

Centro de Estudios de Historia de Mexico (CONDUMEX), Mexico D.F.

Archivo de Notari'as (ANO), Oaxaca

Agustin Thomas de Cafias

Alonso Palacios

Digo Benais

Joaquin de Amador

Jose de Arauxa

Joseph Alvarez

Juan Manuel Cervante

Manuel Franco de Lara

Pedro Auvray

281 281

Archivo Historico de la Arquidiocesis de Oaxaca (AHAO)

Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Correspondencia

Fondo, Diocesano, Gobierno, Religiosos

Fondo Parroquial, Disciplinar, Bautismo

Fondo Parroquial, Disciplinar, Padrones

Fondo Diocesano, Gobierno, Mandatos

Archivo Historico Municipal de Oaxaca (AHMO)

Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO)

Fondo Alcadi'as Mayores

Fondo Obispado

Fondo Real Intendencia

Fundacion de Bustamante Vasconcelos, Oaxaca

Biblioteca de Fray Francisco de Burgoa, Oaxaca

Fondo Diocesano

Archivo de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico, en Santo Domingo, Queretaro

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