PEDRO DE LEÓN PORTOCARRERO DESCRIPTION OF LIMA (early 17 th century) The eight most important streets of Lima converge in the city s plaza mayor [central square, or plaza de armas], with two entering at [and leaving from] each corner. First there is the Street of the Plaza Mayor next to the [viceregal] palace and between the arsenal and the houses of the municipal council. Another street leaves from the palace and the houses of the archbishop and proceeds straight to the east, passing the College of Santo Toribio and the houses of the main postal office, and continuing to the square of the Inquisition, some three blocks east from the plaza mayor. Another street leaves [the plaza mayor] by the Clothiers Street. These shops [more than twenty, according to Salinas] stock clothing for Blacks. This street goes straight south and passes by the side of the Mercedarian friars monastery and leads directly to the convent of the nuns of the Incarnation, the most renowned [religious] house in Lima, in which there are more than four hundred professed nuns. Many of the rich nobles daughters come [to stay in this house] to learn good manners, and they leave it [ready] to marry. In this convent there are splendid and intelligent women, endowed with a thousand graces, and all of them, both nuns and [pious] lay women, have Black women slaves to serve them. Another street leaves by the main one, [and] that is the Merchants Street, along which there are always at least forty shops [but Salinas claimed more than twenty warehouses and at least two hundred shops] packed full of assorted merchandise, whatever the riches the world has to offer. All merchants are exceedingly skilful in their buying. A merchant will collect all the manifests of shipments brought to the plaza for sale, and quickly refix their prices, and from there choose and buy whatever seems best to him. This gives an idea of the merchants of Lima. [Everyone] is involved, from the viceroy to the archbishop; all have dealings and everyone is a merchant, even if it is through a third party or on the sly. From among the arcades [on the plaza mayor] where there are four streets and the Merchants Street [already described], another street leaves, beginning with the Street of the Mantas [cloaks and coverings of coarse cotton cloth], which is also lined with merchants shops. This street, like the Merchants Street, takes up its own block. Along this entire street, proceeding directly west, there are many shops with different specialities: chandlers, confectioners, boilermakers who work with a lot of copper, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. And it passes next to the Espíritu Santo hospital for sailors who are gathered there and cured when they are ill, [then] under the arch and on to the church of Monserrat. On another street that runs behind the Jesuits establishment is the College of San Martín, also belonging to the Society of Jesus; it has more than five hundred students, the sons of notables throughout the kingdom [of Peru] who send them there to study, and to pay the Jesuits an annual fee of 150 ordinary pesos for each one, from which sum the students are fed [as well as instructed]. The Jesuits offer a very elaborate course of studies incorporating many branches of learning. Extending from east to west, another street passes close to the Jesuits church and into the Street of he Silversmiths [with more than forty public shops, says Salinas, and
over two hundred people trained to work in silver and gold], which runs from the corner of the Street of the Mantas [with more than thirty shops selling clothing mostly to native Andeans] to the corner of the Merchants Street. Off this Street of Silversmiths is the Hatters Alley, [which] leads to the church of San Agustín. In this block there are a great number of apothecaries, and all of them are more than a block from the [central] plaza. Taken from Pedro de León Portocarrero s Description of Lima, Peru, in Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, eds. Kenneth Mills, William B. Taylor, and Sandra Lauderdale Graham (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 2002), 190 195.
PEDRO DE LEÓN PORTOCARRERO DESCRIPTION OF LIMA (early 17 th century) The eight most important streets of Lima converge in the city s plaza mayor [central square, or plaza de armas], with two entering at [and leaving from] each corner. First there is the Street of the Plaza Mayor next to the [viceregal] palace and between the arsenal and the houses of the municipal council. Another street leaves from the palace and the houses of the archbishop and proceeds straight to the east, passing the College of Santo Toribio and the houses of the main postal office, and continuing to the square of the Inquisition, some three blocks east from the plaza mayor. Another street leaves [the plaza mayor] by the Clothiers Street. These shops [more than twenty, according to Salinas] stock clothing for Blacks. This street goes straight south and passes by the side of the Mercedarian friars monastery and leads directly to the convent of the nuns of the Incarnation, the most renowned [religious] house in Lima, in which there are more than four hundred professed nuns. Many of the rich nobles daughters come [to stay in this house] to learn good manners, and they leave it [ready] to marry. In this convent there are splendid and intelligent women, endowed with a thousand graces, and all of them, both nuns and [pious] lay women, have Black women slaves to serve them. Another street leaves by the main one, [and] that is the Merchants Street, along which there are always at least forty shops [but Salinas claimed more than twenty warehouses and at least two hundred shops] packed full of assorted merchandise, whatever the riches the world has to offer. All merchants are exceedingly skilful in their buying. A merchant will collect all the manifests of shipments brought to the plaza for sale, and quickly refix their prices, and from there choose and buy whatever seems best to him. This gives an idea of the merchants of Lima. [Everyone] is involved, from the viceroy to the archbishop; all have dealings and everyone is a merchant, even if it is through a third party or on the sly. From among the arcades [on the plaza mayor] where there are four streets and the Merchants Street [already described], another street leaves, beginning with the Street of the Mantas [cloaks and coverings of coarse cotton cloth], which is also lined with merchants shops. This street, like the Merchants Street, takes up its own block. Along this entire street, proceeding directly west, there are many shops with different specialities: chandlers, confectioners, boilermakers who work with a lot of copper, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. And it passes next to the Espíritu Santo hospital for sailors who are gathered there and cured when they are ill, [then] under the arch and on to the church of Monserrat. On another street that runs behind the Jesuits establishment is the College of San Martín, also belonging to the Society of Jesus; it has more than five hundred students, the sons of notables throughout the kingdom [of Peru] who send them there to study, and to pay the Jesuits an annual fee of 150 ordinary pesos for each one, from which sum the students are fed [as well as instructed]. The Jesuits offer a very elaborate course of studies incorporating many branches of learning. Extending from east to west, another street passes close to the Jesuits church and into the Street of he Silversmiths [with more than forty public shops, says Salinas, and
over two hundred people trained to work in silver and gold], which runs from the corner of the Street of the Mantas [with more than thirty shops selling clothing mostly to native Andeans] to the corner of the Merchants Street. Off this Street of Silversmiths is the Hatters Alley, [which] leads to the church of San Agustín. In this block there are a great number of apothecaries, and all of them are more than a block from the [central] plaza. Taken from Pedro de León Portocarrero s Description of Lima, Peru, in Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, eds. Kenneth Mills, William B. Taylor, and Sandra Lauderdale Graham (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 2002), 190 195.
LUIS LASO DE LA VEGA (17 th century) HUEI TLAMAHUIÇOLTICA (THE GREAT HAPPENING...) (1649) Here Is an Ordered Account of All the Miracles that the Heavenly Lady, Our Precious Mother of Guadalupe, has Performed The very first of the miracles that she worked was when they took her to Tepeyacac for the first time after her temple was finished. For at this time the procession in which they took her was performed in the grand fashion. All the priests that there were, and the various Spaniards in whose hands the city was, and also all the Mexica rulers and nobles, came out together, as well as the people from other altepetls all around. Great preparations were made so that things would be well adorned all along the causeway which leaves Mexico as far as Tepeyacac, where the temple of the heavenly Lady had been erected. There were many things for amusement and celebration along the way. The causeway was full of moving people, and since the water of the lake was still very deep on both sides, numerous commoners went by boat; some went along skirmishing, encountering one another in battle. One of the archers who were dressed like Chichimeca drew his bow quite taut, and without warning the arrow flew off and hit one of those who were engaged in skirmishing there; it passed through his neck, and he fell. When they saw that he had died, they took him to the consummate Virgin our Queen; they went and laid him before her. His relatives cried out to her to deign to revive him. And after they pulled the arrow out of him, she not only revived him and gave him life, but he was also immediately healed where the arrow had passed through; all that remained were marks where the arrow entered and came out. Right away he stood up and left; the heavenly Lady sent him on his way, making him joyful. Absolutely everyone marveled greatly and praised the consummate Virgin, the heavenly Lady, Saint Mary of Guadalupe, for the way she was now carrying out the pledge she made to Juan Diego that she would always help and defend the local people and all those who invoked her. It is said that from that moment on this humble person remained at the precious home of the heavenly precious Lady; there he used to sweep her temple and home for her. * * * * * * * A Discalced Franciscan friar named fray Pedro de Valderrama was gravely ill; one of his toes pained him. He was in great extremity; he could no longer recover at all unless they should cut the toe off, because a large cancer had grown on it. Thereupon they hurriedly took him to the precious home of the heavenly Lady of Guadalupe. When he arrived in her presence, he undid the cloth in which his toe was wrapped. He showed it to the heavenly lady, and with all his heart he prayed to her to heal him. Just at that very moment he was healed, and rejoicing he returned on foot to Pachuca. * * * * * * * A sacristan named Juan Pavón, who took care of the churchly home of the heavenly Lady, our precious mother of Guadalupe, had a small child, and it contracted a swelling of the neck. It was gravely ill and about to die; it was no longer able to breathe.
He took it before her and anointed it with the oil that burns in her lamp. At that very moment it was healed, favored by the heavenly Lady. Taken from Luis Lasso de la Vega, The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega s Huei tlamahuiçoltica of 1649, eds. and trans. Lisa Sousa, Stafford Poole, and James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 93 95, 109, 111.