Autore
Cunill, Caroline

Titolo
Defining Oneself as «Poor» and «Miserable» in two Petitions to the King of Spain Written in Maya Yucatec Language by the Caciques of Yucatan (Sixteenth-Century)
Periodico
Quaderni storici
Anno: 2024 - Volume: 176 - Fascicolo: 2 - Pagina iniziale: 387 - Pagina finale: 406

From the 1540s, the status of "persona miserabilis" started to be applied to the Indigenous peoples of Spanish America. This concept was invoked to justify the appointment of lawyers specialized in representing the Natives and of interpreters of autochthonous languages in the American courts of justice. But how did Indigenous peoples make use of this concept in their communication with the king of Spain? This article addresses this issue through the analysis of two petitions written in Maya Yucatec and translated into Castilian that a series of caciques from Yucatan sent to Philip II in 1567 and 1580. We examine how the caciques translated the word «miserable» into Maya Yucatec and how they used this concept to convince the king the meet their claims. We argue that the discourse on the Passion of Christ, as translated into Yucatec Maya under Franciscan supervision, might have been pivotal in the translation of the concept of "persona miserabilis" into Maya Yucatec language.



SICI: 0301-6307(2024)176:2<387:DOA«A«>2.0.ZU;2-X
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.1408/116983
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1408/116983

Esportazione dati in Refworks (solo per utenti abilitati)

Biblioteche ACNP che possiedono il periodico