CONQUEST COLONIZATION AND THE CROSS: RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF THE CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION OF HONDURAS 1524-1700 by CHAD McCUTCHEN Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON May 2011 Copyright © by Chad McCutchen 2011 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would not have been able to accomplish this thesis without the help of several individuals. I would like to first acknowledge Dr. Douglas Richmond who introduced me to the idea of studying Honduras, and served as my committee chair mentoring me throughout the process. I also owe thanks to Dr. Kim Breuer and Dr. Sarah Davis-Secord for their assistance in this work and their continual support serving on my thesis committee. I would also like to thank the staff at the special collections for being very accommodating during the research process. Outside of the University of Texas at Arlington I owe special thanks to Omar Fiallos who assisted me in Honduras in accessing the Archivo Nacional in Tegucigalpa as well as helping me tour the region around the capital. In addition I would like to thank the people at the Archivo Genral de Centro América in Guatemala City who helped my research there. Personally, I owe a special thanks to my girlfriend Peggy Dillon who has supported me throughout the research and writing of this thesis. Finally, I owe the largest debt of gratitude to my mother and my late father who have always supported me in all my endeavors, and who have been, and will continue to be a positive influence in life. April 13, 2011 iii ABSTRACT CONQUEST, COLONIZATION AND THE CROSS: RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF THE CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION OF HONDURAS 1524-1700 Chad McCutchen, M.A The University of Texas at Arlington, 2011 Supervising Professor: Douglas Richmond Religiosity pervades the conquest and colonization of Honduras. The secular church, the missionaries, and the colonial aristocracy all played vital roles in the process. The Hispanic social consciousness emerged out of the Reconquista which allowed a fusion of religiosity and conquest, and this psyche manifested in the New World. Spain became equally dependent on the sanctioning of the Catholic Church to justify their enterprises in the Americas. However, the extreme poverty in Honduras created a unique situation in which the ecclesiastics depended on the local mining economy to survive. Therefore the clergy in Honduras struggled to balance their economic pursuits and their spiritual causes. The crown depended on the clergy to protect the native populations, which in turn supplied the labor and later the tributes to maintain the colonies larger economic interests. The missions also became involved in the colonization process attempting to pacify and convert the natives on the peripheries, particularly in the locations where precious metals existed. What emerged was a codependency between the secular clergy, the missions, and the aristocracy which were all tied to the perpetually struggling economy. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS..............................................................................................................vii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................... viii Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………..………..….. ..................................... 1 2. THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF HONDURAS 1502-1545 .............................. 9 2.1 Discovery and the First Attempts at Conquest ................................................. 9 2.2 Spanish Background of the Individual Motivation for Conquest .................... 13 2.3 The Second Phase of the Conquest of Honduras ......................................... 15 2.4 The Close of Conquest and the Precursors to Colonization of Honduras ..... 23 2.5 The State of the Church in Honduras at the Close of Conquest ................... 25 3. COLONIZATION: THE PUSH TO THE INTERIOR ..................................................... 30 3.1 Spanish Perceptions of the Early Colonial Indigenous Population ................ 31 3.2 The Historical and Sociological Context for Honduran Colonization ............. 36 3.3 Historical Context of the Encomienda in Honduras ....................................... 40 3.4 The Colonial Economy in Honduras .............................................................. 47 3.5 Religious Aspects and Analysis of the Colonization of the Interior ................ 50 4. CHURCH, GOVERNMENT, AND THE MISSIONS ..................................................... 53 4.1 The Missions in Honduras .............................................................................. 54 4.1.1 The Franciscans ............................................................................. 56 4.1.2 The Mercedarians .......................................................................... 60 4.1.3 Analysis of Missionary Activity in Honduras .................................. 62 iii 4.2 Church and Government in Honduras ........................................................... 64 4.3 Emerging Religiopolitical Threats to Honduras .............................................. 70 4.3.1 The Zambos-Mosquitos ................................................................. 70 4.3.2 The English .................................................................................... 72 4.3.3 Reasons for the Emerging Threats ................................................ 73 4.4 The State of the Church at the Close of the Seventeenth Century ................ 74 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 76 NOTES ........................................................................................................................................... 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 87 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION .................................................................................................. 90 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1.1 Map of Colonial Honduras……………………………………………………………………….........8 3.1 Modern Mineral Deposits of Precious Metals in Honduras .................................................. …51 3.2 Linda Newson’s Map of Major Indigenous Groups in Honduras .............................................. 51 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1 Encomiendas in Population Centers ........................................................................................ 45 3.2 Ecclesiastic Organization of Honduras in Population Centers ................................................. 46 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Reconquista had profound effects on the formation of the Spanish social consciousness, the effects of which manifested in the Early Modern era as the Spaniards searched the Americas for new frontiers. Religiosity, forged from the constant conflict with the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula, played an instrumental role in the conquest and colonization of the new provinces. A delicate fusion was formed in which the Spanish monarchs attempted to balance the conversion of the natives with their emerging economic needs. Because of this balance, a synthesis occurred between the political, economic, and ecclesiastic elements of the conquest. This approach was multifaceted, and it often involved several clerical and secular components. The crown would implement the system of encomiendas in order to supplement the economy and provide for the proselytization of the indigenous populations there. The missions would serve a vital role in the peripheries as the avant garde of Hispanic acculturation. The church, constantly infused in local politics and frequently struggling to serve its own purposes, constantly found itself torn between its imperialistic and ecclesiastic role in the colonization and conquest of the New World. Honduras was no exception. However, due to the experiences that the Spanish had already undergone in the Americas at the time of the conquest and colonization of the province, there were exceptional and distinct aspects of its subjugation and population. Yet Honduras has received very little scholarly research up to this point, especially in English. This is particularly true when comparing it to Mexico and Peru, or even Guatemala within the same audencia. Therefore the purpose of this research is to determine exactly what role religion played in the process of the conquest and the colonization, with particular focus on the various 1 mediums, namely the colonial aristocracy, the Honduran Church, and the Franciscan and Mercedarian missions, and in what ways they affected the overall course of events in the province. Only two major works exist in English concerning colonial Honduras. The first to contribute to the research was Robert Chamberlain in his book The Conquest and Colonization of Honduras 1524-1550. By his own admission, he arrived at Honduras through his research of Montejo in his studies of the Yucatan. The main focus of the work deals with the various conquistadors and heads of