Joaquín García Icazbalceta (August 21, 1824 – November 26, 1894) was a Mexican

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. He edited writings by Mexican writers who preceded him, wrote a biography of

Juan de Zumárraga Juan de Zumárraga, OFM (1468 – June 3, 1548) was a Spanish Basque Franciscan prelate and the first Bishop of Mexico. He was also the region's first inquisitor. He wrote ''Doctrina breve'', the first book published in the Western Hemispher ...

, and translated

William H. Prescott William Hickling Prescott (May 4, 1796 – January 28, 1859) was an American historian and Hispanist, who is widely recognized by historiographers to have been the first American scientific historian. Despite having serious visual impairm ...

's ''Conquest of Mexico''. His works on

Colonial Mexico Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

continue to be cited today.

Life

García Icazbalceta was born in Mexico City to a wealthy

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

family. The family was exiled to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1829, shortly after the recognition of

Mexican independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

, by an act of Congress, and was not able to return until seven years later. He was educated by tutors and through independent reading. He learned several Continental languages and delved into the study of Iberoamerica. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, in which he took part. After the war he returned to scholarly pursuits. He married Filomena Pimentel (who died in childbirth), granddaughter of Count of Heras. He spent the better part of his life amassing a large collection of books, documents, and manuscripts from the colonial era, which he used in his work.

Work

García Icazbalceta wrote his biography of

, the first

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Mexico, during a time when Mexican history was being reevaluated, resulting in criticism of the Archbishop and the mendicant orders who converted the natives. In it, he countered Liberal and Protestant charges that the Archbishop was "ignorant and fanatical" by casting him and other Franciscans in the role of the saviors of the Indians, from the brutality of the civil authority. He also highlighted the Archbishop's role in fostering early educational institutions such as the Colegio Santa Cruz and credits him with bringing the first

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

to the

Western hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...

. He especially objected to charges—levelled by Mier, Bustamante, and Prescott—that Zumárraga had played any role in the destruction of native

Aztec codices Aztec codices ( nah, Mēxihcatl āmoxtli , sing. ''codex'') are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico. History Before the start of the Sp ...

, arguing that most of the destruction had occurred before Zumárraga's arrival, that no Spanish chroniclers mention any book burnings, and that the one mentioned by Alva de Ixtlilxochitl was committed by

Tlaxcala Tlaxcala (; , ; from nah, Tlaxcallān ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipaliti ...

ns in 1520. He also used the book to criticize the hypocrisy he viewed in Liberal legislators, who, while attacking the Archbishop for cruelty to the Indians, betrayed the indigenous heritage of the nation by lifting limitations on the export of ancient works of art and artifacts. The book was sufficient to restore the credibility of the Archbishop and the place of the Franciscans as founders of the Mexican society in the Mexican consciousness, but it raised other questions. Many people were uncomfortable with the lack of any mention of the apparition of the Virgin Mary as

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

or Zumárraga's construction of a chapel in her honor. In fact, García Icazbalceta had written a chapter on the subject, which he elected not to include in the final draft at the behest of Francisco Paula de Verea, bishop of

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. In it, he divulged that he had not found any contemporary documents referring to the apparition, identifying Miguel Sánchez's 1648 ''Imagen de la Virgen'' as the first to appear. Despite his prestige as Mexico's pre-eminent historian of the time, his political conservatism and his devout Catholicism, attacks were made against his reputation by defenders of the historicity of the apparition. In response to a demand made by Pelagio Antonio de Labastida, Archbishop of Mexico, he wrote a detailed account of "what history tells us about the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to

Juan Diego Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, also known as Juan Diego (; 1474–1548), was a Chichimec peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of the Virgin Mary on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac a ...

". In it, he detailed all of the historical problems with the traditional legend of the apparition. These included the silence of historical documents on the phenomenon, especially that of Zumárraga, the lack of any of the Nahuatl documents mentioned by previous historians, the unremarkability of the blossoming of flowers during the month of December (an important aspect of the traditional narrative), and the improbability that "Guadalupe" was a Nahuatl name. He further cited inconsistencies between the studies of the icon as reasons to doubt the apparition's historicity. He started work on a dictionary of Mexican Spanish, ''Vocabulario de Mexicanismos'', which was only finished up to the letter "G" and was published posthumously. Icazbalceta was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1881.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
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Death and legacy

García Icazbalceta died of "cerebral

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

" at the age of 70. His writings on the work of the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

Order in

influenced the work of

Ignacio Manuel Altamirano Ignacio Manuel Altamirano Basilio (; 13 November 1834 – 13 February 1893) was a Mexican radical liberal writer, journalist, teacher and politician. He wrote ''Clemencia'' (1869), which is often considered to be the first modern Mexican novel. ...

, a contemporary historian.

Bibliography

*''Apuntes para un catálogo de escritores en lenguas indígenas de América''. México, 1866. *''Don fray Juan de Zumárraga, primer obispo y arzobispo de México''. (Rafael Aguayo Spencer y Antonio Castro Leal, editors). Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa, 1947 (originally published 1881). *''Investigación histórica y documental sobre la aparición de la virgen de Guadalupe de México'' (with

Alonso de Montúfar Alonso de Montúfar y Bravo de Lagunas, O.P., was a Spanish Dominican friar and prelate of the Catholic Church, who ruled as the second Archbishop of Mexico from 1551 to his death in 1572. He approved and promoted the devotion to Our Lady of ...

and

Primo Feliciano Velázquez Primo Feliciano Velázquez Rodríguez (6 June 1860 – 19 June 1953) was a Mexican journalist, attorney and historian who specialized in regional history. He was a translator of Nahuatl and Latin and a connoisseur of local literature. In 194 ...

). México: Ediciones Fuente Cultural : distribuidores exclusivos Librería Navarro, 1952. *''

Carlos María de Bustamante Carlos María de Bustamante Merecilla (4 November 1774 – 29 September 1848) was a Mexican statesman, historian, journalist and a supporter of Mexican independence. His historical "work early initiated an important Mexican national tradition o ...

(colaborador de la independencia)''. México: Talleres tipográficos de el Nacional, 1948. *''Indice alfabético de la Bibliografía mexicana del siglo XVI''. México: Porrúa, 1938.

References

External links