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Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (August 14, 1645 – August 22, 1700) was one of the first great
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
s born in the
Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
- Spanish viceroyalty of
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
(
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
). He was a
criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish colonial system. Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South America. * Criollo cattle, a group of cattle bre ...
patriot, exalting New Spain over Old. A
polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...
and writer, he held many colonial government and academic positions. Sigüenza is considered the ''da Vinci mexicano'' ("Mexican da Vinci") and among the most important intellectuals from Colonial Spanish America— alongside Juan de Espinosa Medrano.


Early life

Sigüenza was born in
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
in 1645 to Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Benito, originally from Madrid, and to Doña Dionisia Suárez de Figueroa y Góngora, born in Seville, Spain, whom the elder Don Carlos met following his arrival New Spain in 1640. Sigüenza was the second oldest and first male of nine siblings. He was related to the famous baroque Spanish poet
Luis de Góngora Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic prebendary for the Church of Córdoba. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widel ...
through his mother. He studied
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
under the direction of his father, who had been a tutor for the royal family in Spain.


Expulsion from the Jesuits

Sigüenza entered the
Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
as a
novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...
August 17, 1660, took
simple vow Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by John ...
s August 15, 1662 at
Tepotzotlán Tepotzotlán () is a city and a municipality in the Mexico, Mexican state of Mexico. It is located northwest of Mexico City about a 45-minute drive along the Mexico City–Querétaro road at marker number 41. In Aztec times, the area was the c ...
. But he was dismissed from the Jesuits in 1668, for repeatedly flouting Jesuit discipline and going out secretly at night. He repented and pleaded to be reinstated, but the head of the Jesuits, the General of the Order, rejected his plea, saying "The cause of the expulsion of this person is so disreputable, as he himself confesses, that he does not deserve this boon f being readmitted" This dismissal was not only a grave disappointment and a blot on his reputation, but it also meant that he would be financially insecure for the rest of this life. He became a secular priest without a parish or a steady income, so the multiple offices he sought during his lifetime were to support himself and his extended family, all of whom, including his father, were dependent on him to the end of his life. He was ordained a secular priest in 1673.


Career in Science

He studied at the ''Real y Pontificia Universidad de México'' (
Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico () was a university founded on 21 September 1551 by Royal Decree signed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles I of Spain, in Valladolid, Spain. It is generally considered the first university fou ...
) following his dismissal from the Jesuits, and excelled at mathematics and developed a lifelong interest in the sciences. When a faculty position in Mathematics & Astrology (when he held it he taught mainly
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
) was available, Sigüenza sought to compete for it, although he did not hold a doctoral degree in the subjects. It was not clear that he could even be eligible to compete, but Sigüenza argued successfully to do so. Selection for university posts was via ''oposiciones'' or competition between candidates. A question was posed and the candidate had to complete a response within 24 hours to be judged by a panel. Ghost writers or ringers sometimes completed the exercise and Sigüenza successfully argued that his chief rival for the position, and the person who vociferously argued that Sigüenza had no standing to even compete, had to be kept under surveillance during the competition to prevent cheating. On July 20, 1672, he was named to the chair of Mathematics and Astrology. His record as a professor was marred because he was frequently absent from the classroom due to his researches on various topics and to the pressing of other obligations he took on for fiscal reasons. One of his biographers suggests that his absences from the university might be attributable to his disdain for astrology, which he considered "a diabolical invention and consequently, alien to science, method, principle and truth." In 1681 Sigüenza wrote the book ''Philosophical Manifest Against the Comets Stripped of their Dominion over the Timid'' in which he tried to dismiss fears of impending superstitious predictions that linked comets to calamitous events; in the work he takes steps to separate the fields of astrology and astronomy. The Tyrolean Jesuit
Eusebio Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Jesuits, SJ (, ; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was an Italian Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer, mathematician and astronomer born in the Prince-Bishopric of Tre ...
, who had come to New Spain to evangelize on the northern frontier, met Sigüenza at his home in Mexico City. Both men had observed the comet of 1680 and both were keenly interested in the phenomenon. The warm feelings between the two soured quickly, with Sigüenza believing that Kino belittled Mexican-born Spaniards' (creoles) level of learning. Kino published a strong criticism of Sigüenza's opinion on comets, without naming him specifically. Kino's criticism was that because they were contradictory to established astronomical/astrological belief in the heavens. Sigüenza often cited authors such as
Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
,
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
, Descartes,
Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of p ...
, and
Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, ; 14 December 154624 October 1601), generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer of the Renaissance, known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations. He ...
. In 1690, Sigüenza moved to defend his previous work by publishing "Libra Astronómica y Filosófica"; it was unlike many of his other writings, which remained in manuscript form because he could not afford to publish them. He directly attacks Kino by saying "I hereby point out that neither his Reverence inonor any other mathematician, even if he is
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
himself, can set up dogmas in these sciences, because authority has no place in them at all, but only proof and demonstration." Theology was known as the "Queen of the Sciences", but Sigüenza's stance is on the side of science as defined in the modern era.


Royal geographer

In the 1680s, he prepared the first-ever map of all of New Spain, which won high praise and was widely copied. He also drew
hydrologic Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...
maps of the
Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico (; ), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico, is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, ...
. In 1692 King Charles II named him official
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
for the colony. As royal geographer, he participated in the 1692 expedition to Pensacola Bay,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
under command of
Andrés de Pez Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...
, to seek out defensible frontiers against French encroachment. He mapped Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
: in 1693, he described the terrain in ''Descripción del seno de Santa María de Galve, alias Panzacola, de la Mobila y del Río Misisipi''. When a Spanish attempt to colonize Pensacola Bay in 1698 was thwarted by the arrival of a French fleet, Sigüenza was blamed by the leader of the expedition, Andrés de Arriola, for inciting the French action. He successfully defended himself against these charges in 1699.


Other professional pursuits

In order to supplement his modest salary as a professor, he took on a number of other posts. He was chaplain of the Hospital del Amor de Dios (now Academia de San Carlos) from 1682 until his death. This post provided him with living quarters, which given his strapped financial circumstances was a major benefit. It also was a steady income from celebrating masses for a fixed fee. He also served as Chief Almoner for the Archbishop of Mexico, Don Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas, distributing alms to poor women, a charity the "misogynistic prelate could not abide." Sigüenza not only pursued his interests in science, but he was also a poet, non-fiction writer,
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 species; as well as the ...
,
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...
, and cosmographer of the realm. Such was his prestige that the French King
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
tried to induce him to come to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. He published his first poem in 1662. From 1671 to 1701 (posthumous) he published a yearly almanac. A. Margarita Peraza-Rugeley has studied the surviving almanacs in her 2013 book. In 1690 Sigüenza published a pirate captivity narrative which has been considered Latin America's first novel, ''Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez'' (''The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez''). However, new archival evidence discovered by Fabio López Lázaro (2007, 2011), José F. Buscaglia (2009, 2011), and A. Margarita Peraza-Rugeley (2013) proves that this incredible story of a Puerto Rican taken captive by English pirates off the Philippine Islands is a historical account, not a fictional one. The archival documents contain dozens of eyewitness accounts corroborating not only the existence of Ramírez, his marriage in Mexico City, and also his capture in 1687, his life with pirates (most notably William Dampier), his collaboration with them, and his return to Mexico in 1690, at which time Spanish colonial authorities suspected Alonso of piracy. López Lázaro was the first to discover archival evidence (published in 2007) for the historical existence of Ramírez, his meeting with the Viceroy of New Spain, and the writing of ''Los infortunios'' in 1690. Buscaglia corroborated the existence of Alonso Ramírez as a true historical figure in 2009, citing his marriage certificate and pinpointing with exactitude, after two expeditions to the coast of Bacalar, the site of his shipwreck. López Lázaro's and Buscaglia's studies are the most significant findings in more than a century of scholarship on the book. The new archival evidence leaves no room to doubt that Sigüenza's key role in creating ''Los infortunios de Alonso Ramírez'' was in editing Alonso's coarse narrative into a superior literary piece. According to López Lázaro's analysis, the book was commissioned by the Spanish administration during the war against
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
to solidify Madrid's commitment to the struggle against French colonial rivals and their buccaneer collaborators but also to warn them about Spain's unreliable English and Dutch allies. In his critical bilingual edition of th
Infortunios/Misfortunes
Buscaglia argues that the work opens a door into the intricacies of early American subjectivity. In the same edition, Buscaglia furnishes concrete proof of having found the shipwreck of Ramirez's frigate in Punta Herradura, on the coast of Yucatán, Mexico.


Friendship with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Seventeenth-century Mexico City had two savants, Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and Doña Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, known to posterity as the Hieronymite nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. It is unclear at what point the two made their acquaintance, but they lived a short distance away from each other, he in the Amor de Dios Hospital and she in the convent where she had taken vows following a time spent in the viceregal court. Although Sor Juana was cloistered, the Hieronymite order followed a more relaxed rule and nuns could have visitors in the ''locutorio'' or special room for conversation in the convent. Known as the "Tenth Muse", she was a formidable intellect and poet, and was encouraged in her scientific studies by Sigüenza. Each was well known in circles of power and with the arrival of the new viceroy to New Spain, each was tapped to design a triumphal arch to welcome him, a signal honor to them both. Sor Juana's final years were extremely difficult ones, and when she died in 1695, Sigüenza delivered the eulogy at her funeral. The text of that address is now lost, but in 1680 he had praised her, "There is no pen that can rise to the eminence that hers o'ertops... he fame ofSor Juana Inés de la Cruz will only end with the world."


The Ixtlilxochitl-Sigüenza-Boturini collection

Sigüenza had a strong interest in the indigenous past of Mexico and began learning
Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
following his dismissal from the Jesuits in 1668. He collected books and other materials related to indigenous culture. At the Hospital de Amor de Dios Sigüenza became a close friend of Don Juan, the son of indigenous nobleman Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, (1587?-1650). Sigüenza helped Alva Ixtlilxochitl's or Don Juan de Alva with a lawsuit against Spaniards attempting to usurp his holdings near the great pyramids at San Juan Teotihuacan. Don Juan in gratitude for Sigüenza's aid, gifted him the manuscripts and codices of his historian father, Don Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl. This was a rich collection of documents of his royal ancestors and the kings of Texcoco. In 1668, Sigüenza began the study of Aztec history and Toltec writing. On the death of Alva Ixtlilxochitl in 1650, he inherited the collection of documents, and devoted the later years of his life to the continuous study of Mexican history. When Sigüenza made his will shortly before his death, he was very concerned about the fate of his library, since its "collection has cost me great pains and care, and a considerable sum of money." His original intention was to have his library transferred to European repositories, including the Vatican and the Escorial, and to library of the duke of Florence, but in the end he willed them to the College of San Pedro and San Pablo. He was particularly concerned about the native materials in his collection. For an account of what happened to these documents after the death of Sigüenza, see Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci.


The Virgin of Guadalupe

Sigüenza wrote ''Indian Spring'' whose full title in Spanish is ''Primavera indiana, poema sacrohistórico, idea de María Santíssima de Guadalupe'' (1662). The work contributed to the midseventeenth-century outpouring of writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe. Sigüenza wrote in praise of Guadalupe, especially her role in aiding creole patriotism. Among these documents was purported to be a "map" (
codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...
) documenting the 1531 apparition of the
Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
as
Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe (), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with four Marian apparitions to Juan Diego and one to his uncle, Juan Bernardino reported in December 1531, when t ...
that Luis Becerra Tanco claimed to have seen in the introduction to his 1666 defense of the apparition tradition. Sigüenza writings on Guadalupe were not extensive, but he encouraged Becerra Tanco and Francisco de Florencia to pursue the topic. Because of his association with these early documents, Sigüenza played a significant role in the development of the Guadalupe story. He was a devotee of the Virgin, and wrote Parnassian poems to her as early as 1662. But his most lasting impact on the history of the apparition was his assertion that the '' Nican mopohua'', the
Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...
-language rendition of the narrative, was written by Antonio Valeriano, a conception that persists to this day. He further identified Fernando Alva de Ixtlilxochitl as the author of the '' Nican motecpana''. This declaration was stimulated by Francisco de Florencia's ''Polestar of Mexico'', which claimed that the original Nahuatl account had been written by Franciscan Fray Jerónimo de Mendieta.


Creole patriotism and the triumphal arch to welcome the viceroy in 1680

In 1680, he was commissioned to design a
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...
for the arrival of the new
Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...
, Cerda y Aragón. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was commissioned to design the only other one, which were erected in the Plaza de Santo Domingo, near the main square or Zócalo. No image of the triumphal arches is known to be extant, but both Sigüenza and Sor Juana wrote descriptions of the works. Sigüenza's work was entitled ''Theater of Political Virtues That Constitute a Ruler, Observed in the Ancient Monarchs of the Mexican Empire, Whose Effigies Adorn the Arch Erected by the Very Noble Imperial City of Mexico.'' Sigüenza's title was meant to convey to the new viceroy that his tenure in office was in a long line of Mexican monarchs. On the arch were images of all twelve Aztec rulers, "each taken to embody different political virtues. Also represented was the god Huitzilopochtli, whom Sigüenza claimed was not a deity but a "chieftain and leader of Mexicans in the voyage that by his command was undertaken in search of the provinces of Anahuac." Sigüenza's gigantic wooden arch (90 feet high, fifty feet wide) was a manifestation of creole patriotism that embraced the florescence of the Aztecs as a source of their own pride in their patria. He hoped that "on some occasion the Mexican monarchs might be reborn from the ashes to which oblivion had consigned them, so that, like Western phoenixes, they may be immortalized by fame" and be recognized as having "heroic ... imperial virtues." Sigüenza praised the arch that Sor Juana had designed, but hers took the theme of Neptune in fable and did not manifest any explicit theme "contribut ngto the growth of creole patriotism."


Ideas about the ancient Mexicans

Sigüenza's ideas about the ancient Mexicans were informed by the hugely valuable manuscripts from Alva Ixtlilxochitl, but he also developed ideas of his own about the origin of the Mexicans. He was one of the first persons, during Spanish rule, to dig around the Pyramid of the Sun at
Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
. He took Italian traveler Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri to that ancient site. Sigüenza's ideas about the origins of the ancient Mexicans were influenced by German Jesuit
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...
, who saw ancient Egypt as the source of all natural wisdom. Sigüenza embraced Kircher's ideas and in the publication accompanying his triumphal arch for the arrival of the new viceroy, ''Theater of Political Virtues That Constitute a Ruler'', "he boldly pronounced that the Mexican Indians were the descendants of the Naphtuhim, the son of Misraim, founder and ruler of Egypt," and further asserted that Naphtuhim was a variation on the name Neptune, the ruler of Atlantis, populated by Egyptian colonists. In advocating an Egyptian origin for the ancient Mexicans, he rejects
Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
fray Juan de Torquemada Juan de Torquemada (c. 1562 – 1624) was a Franciscan friar, active as missionary in History of Mexico#Spanish rule (1521–1821), colonial Mexico and considered the "leading Franciscan chronicler of his generation." Administrator, enginee ...
's dismissal of that theory. Sigüenza, also as opposed to Torquemada, believed that St Thomas the Apostle evangelized Mexico and identified him with Quetzalcoatl. He gave notice that a pamphlet entitled ''Phoenix of the West. St Thomas found with the name of Quetzalcoatl'' would be published, but whether he wrote it or not is unclear, since many of Sigüenza's works remain in title only.


1692 Mexico City riot

Considering the small proportion of the Spanish population in Mexico as opposed to the Indian and mixed-race
casta () is a term which means "Lineage (anthropology), lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish America, Spanish Empire in the Americas, the term also refer ...
populations and that the fact that there had been few challenges to Spanish rule since the early sixteenth-century conquest, likely meant the huge riot on June 8, 1692, was a shock to Spaniards. A mob of Indians and castas partially destroyed the viceregal palace and the building of the city council (''cabildo'' or ''ayuntamiento''). Painter Cristóbal de Villalpando's 1696 painting of the Zócalo still shows the damage to the viceregal palace from the mob's attempt to burn it down. Sigüenza wrote a lengthy "racy, vivid account of the riot...he also offered a fascinating profile of his own reactions to the dramatic events." It is a major source for the Spanish version of events, published as "Letter of Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to Admiral Pez Recounting the incidents of the Corn Riot in Mexico City, June 8, 1692." In 1692, there was a severe drought in New Spain and a disease attacking wheat, called in Nahuatl "chiahuiztli". The crown sought sources of corn outside the general sourcing area for the capital, but the price of corn rose significantly. This caused a severe shortage of food for the poor. Tensions rose significantly in the capital, and came to a flashpoint when neither the viceroy nor the archbishop, to whom the crowd of petitioners appealed as legitimate authorities, would meet directly with them. Following the failed attempt to get any official audience or promise of aid, the crowd began throwing stones and set fire to the major buildings around the capital's principal square. Sigüenza saved most of the documents and some paintings in the
archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
, at the risk of his own life. This act preserved a considerable number of colonial Mexican documents that would otherwise have been lost. Scholars have noted the importance of the 1692 riot in Mexican history.


Later career and death

In 1693, he (along with Admiral Andrés de Pez y Malzarraga), set sail from Veracruz, Mexico and discovered the East Bay River of
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
and the land where the city of
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
is now located. In 1694, he retired from the university. His final years were marked by even more financial and personal troubles. He became ill, with what physicians identified as either gallstones or kidney stones and he was in considerable pain. His patron the Archbishop Aguiar y Seijas died and Sigüenza lost his lucrative post of Chief Almoner. He also lost the position of University Accountant. The death of his patron the Archbishop was clustered with the death of Sigüenza's father and favorite brother. His dear friend Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz died and he delivered the eulogy at her funeral. In November 1699, Sigüenza was named ''corregidor general'' (book examiner) for the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
, a position that paid little and which took up considerable time vetting books for possible heresy. As his health deteriorated in these circumstances, Sigüenza prepared for the eventuality of his death, which came in 1700. A scientist to the end, he requested that his body be autopsied, so that physicians could determine what had afflicted him. He explicitly laid out the reasons and concerned that this radical step might be opposed on religious or other grounds by his relatives, he said "I ask in God's name that this utopsybe done for the common good, and I command my heir not to interfere, for it matters little that this be done to a body which, within a few days, must be corruption and decay." The autopsy revealed a kidney stone the size of a peach. Sigüenza left his library and scientific instruments to the Jesuit Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo in Mexico City. He was buried at the chapel of this Colegio, which could point to his having been reconciled with the Order. He also left a number of unpublished manuscripts, only fragments of which survived the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the viceroyalty in 1767.


Works

*''Oriental planeta evangélica, epopeya sacropanegyrica al apostol grande de las Indias S. Francisco Xavier'' (1662). *''Primavera indiana, poema sacrohistórico, idea de María Santíssima de Guadalupe'' (1662). *''Glorias de Querétaro'' (1680) (poem) *''Teatro de virtudes políticas que constituyen a un Príncipe'' (1680). heater of Political Virtues That Constitute a Ruler, Observed in the Ancient Monarchs of the Mexican Empire, Whose Effigies Adorn the Arch Erected by the Very Noble Imperial City of Mexico*''Glorias de Querétaro en la Nueva Congregación Eclesiástica de María Santíssima de Guadalupe... y el sumptuoso templo'' (1680). *''Libra Astronomica, y Philosophica en que D. Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora Coʃmographo, y Mathematico Regio en la Academia Mexicana, Examina no ʃolo lo que à ʃu Manifiesto Philosophico contra los Cometas opuʃo el R.P. Eusebio Francisco Kino de la Compañia de Jesus; ʃino lo que el miʃmo R.P. opinò, y pretendio haver demoʃtrado en ʃu Exposicion Astronomica del Cometa del año de 1681 '' (1690).Facsimile (2001) edited by Sociedad Mexicana de Bibliófilos A.C. *''Manifiesto philosophico contra los cometas despojados del imperio que tenían sobre los tímidos'' (1681). *''Triunfo parthénico que en glorias de María Santíssima... celebró la... Academia Mexicana'' (1683). *''Parayso Occidental, plantado y cultivado en su magnífico Real Convento de Jesüs María de México'' (1684). *''Piedad heróica de Don Hernando Cortés, Marqués del Valle'' (1689). *'' The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez'' (1690). *''Relación de lo sucedido a la armada de Barlovento en la isla de Santo Domingo con la quelna del Guarico'' (1691). *''Trofeo de la justicia española en el castigo de la alevosía francesa'' (1691). *''Letter of Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to Admiral Pez Recounting the incidents of the Corn Riot in Mexico City, June 8, 1692'' (1692) *''Descripción del seno de Santa María de Galve, alias Panzacola, de la Mobila y del Río Mississippi'' (1693). * ''Mercurio volante con la noticia de la recuperacion de las provincias de Nuevo Mexico'' (1693) *''Elogio fúnebre de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz'' (1695).


See also

* List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * *


In Spanish

* ''12,000 Minibiografías''. Panama City: Editorial América, 1991. * García Puron, Manuel, ''Mexico y sus gobernantes'', v. 1. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrúa, 1984. * * Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, ''Historias del Seno Mexicano'', José Francisco Buscaglia Salgado, ed., intro. Havana: Casa de las Américas, 2009. * Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora,
Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez: Edición crítica de José F. Buscaglia
', José F. Buscaglia Salgado, ed., intro., Madrid: Polifemo/Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2011. * Orozco Linares, Fernando, ''Gobernantes de México''. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, . * Peraza-Rugeley, A. Margarita, ''Llámenme el mexicano: los almanaques y otras obras de Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora''. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2013. Currents in Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures Series. Vol. 215. * Solchaga Zamudio, Noé and Solchaga Peña, Luisa A., ''Efemérides Mexicanas'', v. 1. Mexico City: Editorial Avante, 1992.


External links




El Mercurio Volante
An Electronic Edition (in English)
Carlos Sigüenza y Góngora in Polymath Virtual Library of Ignacio Larramendi Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siguenza Y Gongora, Carlos de 1645 births 1700 deaths Mexican cartographers 17th-century Mexican historians Historians of Mexico Mexican philosophers Mexican scientists Mexican male poets Historians of Mesoamerica Mexican Mesoamericanists Novohispanic Mesoamericanists 17th-century Mesoamericanists Scholars of the Aztecs Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Catholic clergy scientists Writers from Mexico City 17th-century cartographers 17th-century male writers Baroque writers 17th-century philosophers