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Amores Prohibidos: The Consequences of the Clash of Juridical Norms in Sixteenth Century Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Susan Elizabeth Ramirez
Susan Elizabeth Ramirez*
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas
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Extract

Laws make criminals.

Lao-tzu, Chinese Philosopher

(circa sixth century B.C.E.)

Fundamental to the establishment of Spanish colonial power in America was the formation of a system of laws and the invention or extension of institutions needed to implement them. In Peru, a more systematic imposition of Spanish regulation began in the 1540s with the introduction of the New Laws (1542), which were directed to the west coast of South America in 1543 by the first appointed Viceroy, the ill-fated peninsular noble, the caballero (gentleman) Blasco Nuñez Vela.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , July 2005 , pp. 47 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2010

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References

1 Sifuentes, Carlos Rojas, “La introducción del derecho occidental en el territorio Andino central,” Boletin del Instituto Riva Aguero (Lima) XXVI (1999), especially pp. 316–17, 321-23, 326Google Scholar; Ortega, Eudoxio H., Manuel de historia general del Perú (Lima: Impresores Tipo-offset, 1970), p. 159 Google Scholar; Caballero, René Ortiz, “Derecho Español y derecho indígena, los primeros años de la colonia,” Boletín del Instituto Riva-Aguero (Lima) XVII (1990), p. 300 Google Scholar; Martínez, Teodoro Hampe, Don Pedro de la Gasea (Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1989)Google Scholar; “Continuidad en el mundo andino: Los indígenas del Perú frente a la legislación colonial (siglo 16),” América Indígena (México) XLV: No. 2 (abril-junio 1985). pp. 357-90; Rementería, Carlos J. Diaz, “La costumbre indígena en el Perú,” Anuario de estudios americanos XXXIII (1976), especially pp. 4–5 Google Scholar. Spelling and accentuation are preserved as in the original to the extent that consistency makes possible.

2 On the rebellion, called the Taqui Onqoy, see Millones, Luis, El retorno de las huacas (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1990)Google Scholar. On the early history of the area, see Ramirez, Susan E., Provincial Patriarchs: Land Tenure and the Economics of Power in Colonial Peru (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986)Google Scholar, especially Chapters 2 and 3; and The World Upside Down: Cross Cultural Contact and Conflict in Sixteenth Century Peru (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996)Google Scholar.

3 Urteaga, Horacio, “La organización judicial en el Imperio de los Incas,” Revista histórica IX (1928): p. 43 Google Scholar; Ramírez, , Provincial Patriarchs; To Feed and Be Fed: The Cosmological Bases of Authority and Legitimacy in the Andes (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005)Google Scholar, especially Ch. 4; Archivo General de las Indias (hereafter AGI)/Escribanía 528C, folio (hereafter f.) 1313 and 1315v. See Ramirez, The World Upside Down, Chapter 2 for a first statement on the translation of the phrase “dueño de indios” and “From People to Place and Back Again: ‘Back Translation’ as Decentering, An Andean Case Study,” Ethnohistory (forthcoming) for a further refinement on its meaning from an emic point of view.

4 Diaz Rementeria, “La costumbre,” makes the argument that native “usos y costumbres” were allowed to remain in effect by the Spanish when they did not contradict their own civil and ecclesiastical mandates. On the distinction between despotism, termed tyranny, versus natural lords and biases in the early sources, see Pierre Duviols, “Revisionismo histórico y derecho colonial en el siglo XVI: El tema de la tiranía de los Incas,” in lndianidad, etnocidio, e indigenismo en América Latina (México: Instituto Indigenista Interamericano,’1988), especially pp. 25-27. See also how authorities like Governor Castro and Viceroy Toledo spread the idea of tyrannical native lords in Assadourian, Carlos Sempat, Transiciones hacia el sistema colonial Andino (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1994)Google Scholar, especially Ch. 6.

5 Moore, Sally F. discusses Malinowski’s work on the Trobriands in her book Law as Process: An Anthropological Approach (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), especially pp. 218–19)Google Scholar. Malinowski, she writes,

was little concerned with prohibitions and sanctions, but instead was struck by the positive inducements to conformity to be found in reciprocal obligations, complementary rights, and good reputation. He perceived the social and economic stake of the man who wished to remain in good standing among his fellows as the dynamic force behind the performance of obligations. This seems to fit the behavior of the traditional lords of the Andes.

6 Santillán, Hernando de, Relación del origen, descendencia, política y gobierno de los Incas (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1563/1968), pp. 4, 104Google Scholar as cited by Concha, Rafael Sánchez, “El Licenciado Hernando de Santillán y sus observaciones en torno de las formas tiránicas de los curacas,” Histórica XX: 2 (diciembre 1996), pp. 290–91 Google Scholar; de Solórzano, Juan, y Pereira, , Política indiana (Madrid: Compañía Ibero-Americana de Publicaciones, 1930)Google Scholar, Lib. Il, tit. 27, nos. 7 and 8; España, , Recopilación de las leyes de los reinos de las Indias, 3 tomos (Madrid: Consejo de la Hispanidad, 1552/1628/1654/1943)Google Scholar, Lib. VI, tit. VII, 1. viii; Ayala, Phelipe Guarnan Poma de, El primer nueva coránica y buen gobierno (Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 1980), 3 vols., ff. 711 [725]-713 [727], 762 [776]- 763 [777], 768 [782]-769 [783]Google Scholar; Saignes, Thierry, “De la borrachera al retrato: Los caciques andinos entre dos legitimidades,” Revista Andina 5:1 (Julio 1987), pp. 139, 150Google Scholar; AGI/Justicia (hereafter J) 461, f. 862; Patronato 187, ramo 20, f. 3v; Matienzo, Juan de, Gobierno del Perú (Paris and Lima, Institut Français d’Etudes Andines, 1567/1967)Google Scholar cited by Rojas Sifuentes, “Derecho occidental,” p. 315. Note that don Juan had been ruler of Collique as early as March 1558 (Archivo Regional de Trujillo (now Archivo Regional de La Libertad (hereafter ART))/Corregimiento (hereafter Co), Juez de Comisión, 1. 272, exp. 3369, 26-VII-1557); Palacios, 19-IX-1610. An example of a local historian with such opinions is Guillermo Figueroa Luna (personal communication, July 1999).

7 España, Recopilación, Lib. VI, tit. VII, ley. 13, f. 248.

8 Ramírez, Provincial Patriarchs; “From People to Place”; To Feed and Be Fed, especially Chapter 4; José Cereceda, L. Martínez, Autoridades en los Andes, los atributos del Señor (Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1995)Google Scholar; Rowe, John H., “The Kingdom of Chimor,” Acta Americana (México) VI (1948), p. 40 Google Scholar.

9 On women, see Juan Polo de Ondegardo, “Informe del Licenciado Juan Polo de Ondegardo ... al Licenciado Briviesca de Muñatones sobre la perpetuidad de las encomiendas en el Perú,” Revista histórica XIII (1940), especially p. 139; “Del linaje de los Incas y como conquistaron,” Colección de libros y documentos referentes a la historia del Perú IV (Lima, Imprenta y Librería Sanmartí y Ca., 1917), especially pp. 81-83; Guamán Poma de Ayala, “Primer coránica,” ff. 299 [3O1]-301 [303]; AGI/J461, ff. 859v, 861-63, 866-66v; Audiencia de Lima 128, 2-VI-1587, ff. 4v, 12; Escribanía 528C, f. 30; Urteaga, “La organización judicial,” p. 34; Hamilton, Joe, “Plebe and Potentate: History and Society of Prehispanic North Central Coast Peru,” (Austin: University of Texas, 1978), p. 51 Google Scholar. On trial by ordeal, see Pease, Franklin, “Notas sobre élite y derecho entre los Incas,” Anuario de Estudios Americanos XXIII (1966), p. 528 Google Scholar.

10 AGI/J461, ff’. 859v-60, 861-v, 863-v, 866v-67.

11 Moore, Sally Falk, Power and Property in Inca Peru (Morningside Heights, New York: Columbia University Press, 1958), pp. 78–79 Google Scholar; Xerez, Francisco de, “Verdadera relacion de la conquista del Peru y Provincia del Cuzco,” in Crónicas de la Conquista del Perú (Mexico: Editorial Nueva España S.A., n. d.), p. 51 Google Scholar; Biblioteca Nacional of Spain, Manuscript 2010, n. d. (15767); Guamán Poma de Ayala, “Primer corónica,” f. 307 [309]. See also Pease, “Elite y derecho,” pp. 507-35; Fernando de Trazegnies Granda, “Hay un ‘derecho’ prehispánico?” lus et veritas, Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Año 3, No. 4 (1992), pp. 44-49; Millones, , Historia y poder en los Andes centrales (Madrid: Editorial Alianza, 1987), p. 86 Google Scholar; Castro, Cristobal de and de Ortega, Diego, y Morejan, “Relación de Chincha (1558),” in Biblioteca Peruana: El Perú através de los siglos (Lima: Editores técnicos Asociados, S.A., 1968), Primera serie, t. 3, p. 484 Google Scholar; Ondegardo, Polo de, “Instrución contra las ceremonias, y ritos que vsan los indios conforme al tiempo de su infidelidad,” Revista histórica I: 2 (1906), p. 212 Google Scholar; Trimborn, Hermann, El delito en las altas culturas de América (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 1968)Google Scholar; Urteaga, “La organización judicial,” 17, pp. 42-50.

12 Moore, Power and Property in Inca Peru, p. 79; Urteaga, “La organización judicial,” pp. 18-20, 44; “Información ... acerca de las costumbres que tenian los Incas del Perú ... (1582),” in Gobernantes del Perú, Cartas y papeles. Siglo XV I. Documentos del Archivo de Indias. 14 vols. Levillier, Roberto, ed., (Madrid, 1921-26), IX: pp. 273, 281Google Scholar.

13 Urteaga, “La organización judicial,” p. 42; Santillán, “Política indiana,” pp. 58, 120 as quoted by Sánchez-Concha, “Santillán”, pp. 293-96; Castro and Ortega Morejon, “Relacion de Chincha,” pp. 473, 482, 485; Saignes, “De la borrachera,” p. 139. It can be argued that Inca rule was never so complete as to be able to enforce “laws” at the local level at all times and places. See Ramirez, To Feed and be Fed, especially Chapter 6.

14 According to the witnesses, the incident had taken place from 4 to 10 years earlier. The most common number given was 8 years before the trial. ART/CoResidencia (hereafter R), 1. 274, exp. 3424, 27-III-1565.

15 ART/CoR, 1. 274, exp. 3424, 27-111-1565, f. 2v, 20v. Another similar case is reported by Diego de Trujillo, who wrote an account of early contact years in the 1570s. He recounted how the native ruler of the Sintos (a coastal ethnicity that lived next to and probably among the Colliques) executed a Spanish conqueror named Ginés for allegedly looking at his wife (Una relación inédita de la conquista: La crònica de Diego de Trujillo [Lima: Editorial Minerva, 1970], p. 47).

16 Note that the word “province” was used in many different ways in sixteenth century documents. It should be understood that it was defined in terms of ethnic-religious identification and was not at that time a defined and recognized, fixed territory.

17 ART/CoR, 1. 274, exp. 3424, 27-111-1565, ff. lv, 2v-3, 16, 17v, 18v, 22, 26.

18 Biblioteca Nacional del Perú/A158, 1567, ff. 65, 69v.

19 Urteaga, “La organización judicial,” pp. 34-36; Guamán Poma de Ayala, “Primer coránica,” ff. 303 [305]-305 [306] on jails.

20 Ortiz Caballero, “Derecho español,” pp. 297-98; Rojas Sifuentes, “Derecho occidental,” pp. 317-18, 328; Miguel Angel Gonzalez de San Segundo, “El Doctor Gregorio Gonzalez de Cuenca, Oidor de la Audiencia de Lima, y sus ordenanzas sobre caciques e indios principales (1566),” Revista de Indias 42 (July-December 1982), pp. 643-67; Martínez, Hampe, “Continuidad en el mundo Andino: Los indígenas del Perú frente a la legislación colonial (Siglo XVI),” Anuario indigenista XIV: 2 (abril-junio 1985), pp. 369, 383-84Google Scholar. See Cuenca’s ordenanzas for the people of Jayanca in AGl/Patronato 189, ramo 11,1566.

21 Recopilación, Lib. VI, tit. VII, ley 13, f. 248. According to Spanish law, native “uses and customs” could not be observed, whenever they contradicted Spanish order. Upon the destruction of the Inca state, curacas had assumed de facto authority over their subjects with the right over life and death. But, as early as 17 July 1551, a royal provision prohibited curacas from killing or mutilating subjects and this was the law that Dr. Cuenca chose to enforce. This was part of the larger process of reshaping New World laws that protected Spanish privilege and rule. See Sabine G. MacCormack, “History, Language and Law in the Early Modern Spanish Empire: The Case of Peru,” (copy on http://web.gc.cuny.edu/dept/renai/conf/papers/keynote/maccorma.htm), p. 10; Hampe Martínez, “Continuidad,” pp.362, 370; and Segundo, Miguel Angel González de San, Derecho pre-Hispanico e instituciones indigenas en el ordenamiento jurídico indiano (notas para su estudio) Madrid: Universidad Complutense, 1980), p. 22 Google Scholar.

22 Recopilación, Lib. VI, tit. VII, ley 13, f. 248; ART/CoR, 1. 274, exp. 3424, 27-III-1565, ff. 4, lOv, 24, 27v; AGI/Escribanía 501A, ff. 1-10. On dividing up subjects of another lord, see Ramírez, “De pescadores y agricultores: una historia local de la gente del valle de Chicama antes de 1565,” Bulletin de ľ Institut Français d’Etudes Andines (Lima), 24 (1995), pp. 245-76.

23 See footnote 2 and AGl/Escribanía 528C, ff. 807, 820v and 1313v. Indeed, the judicial record indicates that don Juan’s two sons were dispossessed. Don Juan’s position was given to an interim curaca in his stead (AGI/Escribanía 528C, f. 820v). Jacques Poloni-Simard in a presentation of a paper entitled “Los indios ante la justicia: el pleito como parte de la consolidación de la sociedad colonial” at the University of Chicago Workshop on Latin American Colonial History (April 2004) argues that unlike don Juan, natives, in general, did not question the authority of the Spanish courts.

24 AGl/Escribanía 528C, ff. 797v, 807-807v, 809v, 813v, 836, 1287v, 1290. Dr. Cuenca later wrote a letter justifying his actions. It is published in Levillier, Roberto, Don Francisco de Toledo: Supremo Organizador del Perú (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S.A., 1935), p. 263 Google Scholar. Lizarraga, Fray Reynaldo de (“Descripción y población de los Indias [1604],” Revista histórica 2:3 [1907]: p. 381)Google Scholar commenting on another case wrote that a curaca found his wife committing adultery, so he killed her and her lover. He was condemned to death, because, although a curaca, he did not have the right to kill them, although a Spaniard in similar circumstances would have gone free.

25 España, , Setena Partida (Salamanca: Andrea de Portonarijs, 1555), ff. 65–71 Google Scholar; Black, Georgina Dopico, Perfect Wives, Other Women: Adultery and Inquisition in Early Modern Spain (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2001), pp. 114–15 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Rojas Sifuentes, “Derecho occidental,” p. 333. On the “smear campaign” against the curacas, see Assadourian, “Transiciones,” especially Ch. 6; and Saignes, “De la borrachera,” pp. 139-170 and especially the quote on p. 139.

27 Assadourian, “Transiciones,” pp. 160-63, 166-69, 228, 243, 248, 253, 255-57, 260, 262-63; Spalding, Karen, De indio a campesino (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1974)Google Scholar, Ch. 2; Powers, Karen Viera, “A Battle of Wills: Inventing Chiefly Legitimacy in the Colonial North Andes,” in Dead Giveaways: Indigenous Testaments of Colonial Mesoamerica and the Andes, Kellogg, Susan and Restall, Matthew, eds. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1998), pp. 183–214 Google Scholar; Ramírez, , “Chérrepe en 1572: Un análisis de la visita general del Virrey Francisco de Toledo,” Historia y cultura XI (1978), pp. 79–121 Google Scholar; To Feed and be Fed, especially Ch. 4.