public ceremonies and mulatto identity in viceregal lima

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Public Ceremonies and Mulatto Identity in Viceregal Lima: A ColonialReenactment of the Fall of Troy (1631)Jos R. Jouve Martn aa McGill University, Montreal

To cite this Article Martn, Jos R. Jouve(2007) 'Public Ceremonies and Mulatto Identity in Viceregal Lima: A ColonialReenactment of the Fall of Troy (1631)', Colonial Latin American Review, 16: 2, 179 201

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Public Ceremonies and MulattoIdentity in Viceregal Lima: A ColonialReenactment of the Fall of Troy (1631)

Jose R. Jouve Martn

Colonial Spanish America was a highly ritualized society. From single events to

cyclical celebrations, the numerous civic and religious ceremonies that took place

throughout the year helped legitimize European authority over religious and

administrative matters of fundamental importance for the conservation of the

colonial order. While these ceremonies fostered social cohesion by promoting

collective participation, the various groups present in colonial society also saw them

as an opportunity to affirm their trade, race or social position (Dez Borque 1985;

Acosta 1997). However, not all saw their actions equally immortalized in the pages of

history. When describing these events, historical sources tend to focus particularly onthe ruling classes and to minimize or disregard the participation of other groups. This

can be explained in two ways: Firstly, the amount of money that the privileged classes

were able to spend on the organization of their festivities greatly surpassed that of

other, less fortunate sectors of society, which lacked the resources to match these

more extravagant displays. Secondly, the historians and chroniclers in charge of

narrating these events often belonged to the European elite, and their texts were

usually commissioned or read by those in the upper echelons of society, most of

whom showed very little interest in the cultural and social life of the lower castes.

Only in cities and towns with a sizable indigenous population such as Cuzco or Quitodid chroniclers describe the participation of mestizos and indiosin public ceremonies

on a regular basis, as illustrated by the studies of Espinosa (1990) and Dean (1999),

among others. Other castas, particularly those of African origin, are almost never

mentioned in the so-called relaciones de fiestas, or chronicles of festivities, and, if they

are, it is usually only in passing. Nevertheless, it is in part due to such brief references

that we know that blacks and mulattos attended public civic and religious ceremonies

in Spanish colonial America not only as silent spectators, but also as active

participants.

McGill University, Montreal

ISSN 1060-9164 (print)/ISSN 1466-1802 (online) # 2007 Taylor & Francis on behalf of CLAR

DOI: 10.1080/10609160701644490

Colonial Latin American Review

Vol. 16, No. 2, December 2007, pp. 179201


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This article aims to analyze one of the few cases in which the involvement of a caste

of African origin in a public ceremony is amply documented in the historical record:

the festivities organized by the mulattos of Lima on the occasion of the birth of

Prince Baltasar Carlos in 1631, during which they staged a version of the abduction of

Helen and the fall of Troy. This event offers us the opportunity to observe theinteraction of peoples of African descent with sophisticated forms of colonial lettered

culture as well as the complex ways in which texts and narratives passed from

dominant to subordinate groups. It also allows us to reconstruct the collective efforts

of the mulatto group to redefine its identity in the framework of seventeenth-century

Lima caste relations. More specifically, their staging of the fall of Troy was intimately

linked to their attempt to differentiate themselves from the much larger black

population. In colonial society, the possibility of negotiating identity was linked to a

great extent to the ability to manipulate biographical, historical and even literary

narratives, as attested by the participation of the mulattos in the celebration of PrinceBaltasar Carlos. My analysis of the event is based on previous studies of Afro-colonial

identity in Peru (Aguirre 1993, 1999, 2000; Flores Galindo 1991; Hunefeldt 1988,

1994; Jouve Martn 2005). It also seeks to expand upon the work on literacy and the

indigenous manipulation of written culture done by scholars such as Adorno (1986),

Gruzinski (1988) and Rappaport (1990), an approach that has seldom been used in

the analysis of the cultural life of African communities in the Spanish colonial world. 1

Finally, it builds upon the analysis of colonial ceremonies and the theatrics of political

power in Viceregal America carried out by Acosta (1997), Curcio-Nagy (2004) and

Caneque (2004), among others.

Descriptions of the festivities that took place in Lima on the occasion of PrinceBaltasar Carloss birth are found in the works of Juan Antonio Suardo and Captain

Rodrigo de Carvajal y Robles. Juan Antonio Suardos Diario de Limais a narration of

the most important events that took place in the Ciudad de los Reyes between 1629

and 1639. This work was commissioned by the Council of Indies in the name of King

Philip IV through royal decrees dated 16 December 1623 and 23 November 1631

(Vargas Ugarte 1936, 1:vivii). The manuscript was kept in the Archivo General de

Indias, section Lima, files 45, 46, 47 and 48, until Ruben Vargas Ugarte transcribed,

edited and published it in Lima in 1936. As its title indicates, Diario de Limatakes the

form of a social and political diary, with information presented and commentedupon according to the dates when the events occurred. Almost everything considered

curious or relevant in the daily life of the city, from political decisions to crimes,

marriages, deaths and trials, is mentioned in its pages. This allows Suardo to include

in his text occurrences that would not otherwise be noticed or considered significant

by other historians. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that Suardo would turn

his attention to the celebrations upon which the city embarked to commemorate the

birth of Prince Baltasar Carlos in 1630. What is out of the ordinary is the detailed

description of the mulattos participation in the event, particularly if we take into

account that blacks and mulattos are usually mentioned in his Diario in connection

with killings and small thefts and that the chronicler shows otherwise no curiosity

180 J. R. Jouve Martn


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about their social or cultural life. The normally concise Suardo dedicates several pages

of his text to report on the mulattos staging of the fall of Troy. This is significantly

more space than the few paragraphs that he devotes to the celebrations organized by

other groups and guilds.

The second text that informs us about the mulattos staging of the fall of Troy isCarvajal y Robless Fiestas de Lima por el nacimiento del Prncipe Baltasar Carlos,

published in Lima in 1632. In contrast to Suardo, this book is entirely devoted to the

narration of this important occasion. Similar to other works belonging to the genre of

relaciones de fiestas published in both the colonies and the metropolis during the

seventeenth century, Fiestas de Lima is not written in prose, but in verse, converting

the narration of the past into something more than a story, making it instead a work

of art. The book is divided into 16 silvas, poems consisting of a combination of verses

of seven and 11 syllables. In each of these silvas, Carvajal y Robles narrates the main

events of these festivities, which stretched on for several months, paying particularattention to the celebrations organized by city guilds. The first three silvas detail the

actions carried out by the Viceroy and the Audiencia upon learning of the Princes

birth. From the fourth to the eighth silva, Carvajal y Robles describes the celebrations

organized by the small merchants, confectioners, tailors, shoemakers, silversmiths

and blacksmiths in honor of the future king. A brief reference to the participation of

blacks in this event is found at the end of the eighth silvawhereas the following one,

the ninth silva, is entirely devoted to the staging of the fall of Troy organized by the

mulattos. The remainder of Carvajal y Robless text discusses the festivities that were

organized by the most important merchants of the city, as well as the university and

the companies of the army. The book culminates in three solemn poems dedicated tothe king, the prince, and the son of the viceroy. While Carvajal y Robless description

of the participation of blacks in these events is expressed in rather mocking terms, he

does not hide the surprise and admiration with which the people of Lima followed

the elaborate display that the mulattos were able to stage to celebrate the birth of the

Prince.

According to both chroniclers, news of the birth of Prince Baltasar Carlos reached

the city of Lima early on the morning of 3 November 1630. The document informing

colonial authorities of this important event was first brought to the city council,

where it was ceremoniously read. A procession was then formed to reach the palace ofthe viceroy, in front of which the text was read aloud to the people of Lima,

announcing the birth of an infant who, had he not died at a young age, would in time

have become their new sovereign.2 With bells tolling in every church, the document

was then proclaimed in various parts of the city before it was delivered to the Viceroy

Marquis of Chinchon and to the members of the Audiencia. After the ritual reading

of the manuscript, the Viceroy and the rest of the retinue left the palace with much

pomp and ostentation, heading first to the church of Santo Domingo and afterwards

to the cathedral, where, dressed in their ceremonial robes, the Archbishop and the

rest of the clergy were solemnly waiting. Upon their arrival, a Te Deum Laudamuswas

sung followed by a mass attended by the wealthiest and most distinguished residents

Colonial Latin American Review 181


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of the city. According to Suardo, the celebrations continued that evening with

military parades and artillery demonstrations, after which the city was illuminated

with torches and candles, and its residents participated in a spectacular masquerade,

which concluded with a much enjoyed display of fireworks (1936, 1:112).

During the following days and months, the main square of the city became thepolitical and symbolic space in which different colonial institutions and guilds held

festivities in honor of Prince Baltasar Carlos. The guild of small merchants was given

the honor of being the first to celebrate the event. For this purpose, they built a forest

resembling the one to which Jason sailed in search of the Golden Fleece, and

populated it with armed men, snakes and monsters, as well as with characters taken

from classical mythology. After the merchants, the confectioners organized a bullfight

and the representation of Juan Perez de Montalbans play, No hay vida como la honra.

They also presented the viceroy and the archbishop with a large platter of pastries and

sweets and sent a similar gift to the members of the Audiencia and the city council.However, the latter did not reach its destination por quanto los muchachos y

negritos que estaban en la plaza arrebataron mas de la mitad de ellas sin poderlo

resistir las personas que las llevaban con que parece que se regocijo mas la fiesta

(because the children and little blacks that were at the moment in the square

snatched more than half of the pastries without those who carried the platter being

able to resist them, which in all seemed to enliven even more the celebration)

(Suardo 1936, 1:114). The tailors, blacksmiths and carpenters organized in turn a

variety of comedies, spear jousts and bullfights, which were much enjoyed by the

people of Lima (Suardo 1936, 1:115

19). The silversmiths for their part designed sixtriumphal chariots representing the allegories of Fame, the New World, the Faith, the

Prince, the City of Lima and their own guild, respectively. And the main merchants of

the city put in place an extravagant parade with chariots resembling real and

mythological animals whose interiors were filled with a spectacular display of

fireworks (Suardo 1936, 1:12930). The university was among the last of the

participants in these celebrations, and it organized a parade with triumphal chariots

that carried the effigies of pagan gods such as Neptune, Mars, Apollo and Jupiter as

well as allegories of the military and political might of the Spanish monarchy

(Carvajal y Robles 1950, 15960).

The fact that the city and its people undertook such efforts and expense was not

surprising, since few occasions could be deemed more appropriate for celebration.

Alongside feelings of joy, there was hope not only that the future monarch would

increase the glory and power of the metropolis, but that his reign would prove fair

and beneficial for the colony as well. Perhaps more importantly, festivities played a

crucial role in legitimizing the monarchy itself. If the participants in the events saw

these as a means of showing their allegiance to the new prince, they were also giving

the future sovereign the recognition that only the people could grant. This

recognition was an integral part of the construction of royal authority as a legitimate

power in Spain and Spanish America. As Caneque has argued,



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[w]hat separates the Spanish monarchy from the theory of the Divine Right ofKings is the idea that the people originally participated in the constitution of themonarchy; in other words, kings were created by the people. The fundamentalconsequence of the premise that power came from the people is the idea that themonarchs interests were not above those of the community; therefore, themonarch had the inescapable obligation of ruling for the benefit of the commongood. In other words, the kings chief mission was to administer justice, procuringthe security and well-being of his subjects . . . This did not mean that the power ofthe king could not be absolute, because, as many authors sustained, once thepeople had surrendered their power to the king, they could not impose their willupon the sovereign or any limitations to his power. (Caneque 2004, 55)

As with the coronation of kings, the birth of an heir to the throne presented an

opportunity for the rituals and theatrics of political power, a cyclical occasion to

reenact the foundational narratives of the monarchy and the political agreement

between the king and his subjects both in the metropolis and in the colonies (Monod1999, 84). It was a moment of renewal, but also of profound continuity with the past.

The princes presence ensured the permanence of the political edifice, the viability of

civil society and, perhaps more importantly for the people of Lima, the perpetuation

of colonial order.

Despite the general grandeur of the festivities, none caught the eye of the public

more than the one organized for the occasion by the guild of mulattos, according to

Suardo and Carvajal y Robless accounts. Their celebration began four months after

news of the birth of the prince had first reached Lima, and after a frightful earthquake

forced authorities to suspend celebrations for over a month. Early on the morning of3 February 1631, the limenos awoke to discover their main square transformed, by

means of paintings, fabrics and platforms, into an immense allegory of the city of

Troy. The performance began at approximately four oclock, and a triumphal chariot

decorated with jasper, ivory and gold made its entrance into the square carrying the

portrait of King Philip IV. The chariot was escorted by two guards of mulattos, one of

them disguised as archers and the other as halberdiers, and was closely followed by

the four mulattos in charge of the organization of the festivities (comisarios de la

fiesta) as well as by others who imitated political figures of the Spanish Court such as

the Count of Benavente, the Count of Osuna and the famous Count-Duke of Olivares

(Suardo 1936, 1:137; Carvajal y Robles 1950, 99). After entering the square, the

chariot was placed in front of the platform where the story of Troy was to be

performed. According to Carvajal y Robles, this location was chosen in order to

dedicar la lid de aquel torneo/ de Felipe a la estampa reluciente,/ que como si

animada/ all estuuiese, fue reverenciada (to dedicate their performance to the kings

image, which was to be revered as though he himself were present) (1950, 99). By

doing so, the mulattos were following custom, in which everything that represented

the king, from writings to seals and portraits, was symbolically considered to be an

extension of his person, and therefore had to be treated with the respect and

ceremony that the king himself was due (Rappaport 1994, 271

92; Marin 1988;



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Caneque 2004, 12021). By having his portrait preside over the event, the mulattos

were in fact directing their performance to their sovereign and construing themselves

not only as loyal but also valuable subjects. At the same time, by choosing to perform

the fall of Troy, they were presenting the king and his descendant with a glorious story

that they could strive to emulate and surpass in their own time, an exemplarynarration of the kind frequently found in the books known as Espejo de prncipes

(Mirror for Princes) (Caneque 2004, 2632). As Carvajal y Robles put it, Llegando a

la estampa refulgente/ del Rey de las Espanas,/ le ofrecen por anuncio aquella historia/

de otra mayor victoria,/ que espera el mundo ver de sus hazanas,/ para que

estimulado de su exemplo/ el nino Baltasar, su decendiente, aprenda a ser valiente,/ y

a defender el templo,/ con su Fe, de la Iglesia Militante/ para ser colocado en la

Triunfante (Presenting themselves before the shining portrait of the King of Spain,

they offered him the story of Troy as the preamble to another greater victory that the

world expects to see from his heroic feats, and as an example to Prince Baltasar, hisdescendant, so that he might learn to be courageous and defend with his Faith the

Church and lead to its triumph,) (1950, 115).

The mulattos actions followed approximately the order set in Homers poems.

Immediately after the portrait of the king was set in place, the audience admired the

arrival of a ship carrying the beautiful Helen and her lover Paris, and saw Priam

welcome them to his unfortunate city. Shortly afterward, a mulatto in the role of

Ulysses and others transformed into Greek warriors made their appearance from a

lateral street demanding the return of Menelauss wife. According to Suardo, he did so

in a very sophisticated manner con unos verssos muy al propo sito que dixo ante SuExcelencia y ante el Rey Priamo en la ciudad de Troya y se salio de la plaza, quedando

publicada la guerra (with some very fitting verses that he spoke before His

Excellency and before King Priam in the City of Troy and left the square with war

declared) (Suardo 1936, 1:137). During the rest of the evening, and in fact during the

following days, the mulattos staged jousts resembling the fights between the Trojans

and Greeks, and the crowd saw other members of this caste make their appearance

disguised as Agamemnon, Menelaus and Aeneas. From the besieged city emerged

Hector, who jousted first with Achilles and then with Menelaus. An Amazon

appeared shortly thereafter, announcing to the Viceroy and to Priam the arrival of

Penthesilia, who was followed by an allegorical chariot devoted to Fame para que se

eternize en viua historia/ del Principe de Espana la memoria (so that the memory of

the Prince of Spain is immortalized in the deeds of history) (Carvajal y Robles 1950,

107). The fights between Penthesilea and Achilles were followed the next day by those

of Pyrrhus and Hector. Finally, on the evening of 7 February, an enormous horse

made its entrance into the square. Carvajal y Robles described it as una horrible

tramoya/ de un cauallo disforme de Madera,/ prenado de valientes Capitanes,/ cuya

ardidosa mana,/ les dio de la Real Troya/ el triunfo (a terrifying horse made entirely

of wood, and pregnant with brave captains, whose clever scheme finally led to their

triumph over royal Troy) (1950, 112). Subsequently, the mulattos staged the



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destruction of the city, the flight of Aeneas and the defeat of Priam. Suardo reports

that, once the horse had burned to ashes,

Salieron todos los troyanos por su orden y el Rey Priamo entre ellos y fueron

delante de los griegos como gente vencida; tras ellos seguian los griegos triunfantescon la victoria llevando a su Elena en el carro triunfal y, por la retaguardia, llevaronel carro del Retrato Real y se salieron todos con buena orden y universal gusto detodos, pues estas han sido las mejores [fiestas] que se han hecho en este Reyno,anssi de lucimiento de galas y libreas como de dispussicion y se dice que hancostado quince mil patacones.

[The Trojans and King Priam abandoned the city in good order, marching past theGreeks like vanquished people. They were closely followed by the Greeks,triumphant in victory. They placed Helen in a triumphal chariot and left thesquare in an orderly fashion and to everybodys content carrying with them the

Royal Portrait. Theirs have been the most admired festivities that have ever takenplace in the kingdom, due to the splendor of their attire as well as their disposition,and it is said that they spent over fifteen thousand patacones on it.] (1936, 1:141)

In order to explain the mulattos elaborate participation in the festivities on the

birth of Prince Baltasar Carlos, it is necessary to start by taking into account the

growing importance of peoples of African descent in the social, economic and

political life of the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. African slaves came with the

Spaniards as early as the first expeditions of conquest and colonization to Peru. After

the fall of the Inca empire and the creation of the city of Lima, their number rapidly

began to grow. According to colonial censuses, blacks and mulattos became animportant part of the citys total population during the last decade of the sixteenth

century and continued as such throughout most of the seventeenth century. The

numbers presented to the Crown by the Archbishop of Lima in 1593 established that

approximately half of Limas inhabitants were members of these castes (Bowser 1974,

339). Similar figures were shown two decades later in the census conducted by the

Marquis of Montesclaros in 1614, counting 11,867 Spaniards, 10,386 blacks and 744

mulattos from a total population of 25,167 (Salinas y Cordova 1957 [1630], 245).

These numbers were a cause of concern back in the metropolis, but, in spite of the

requests made by Philip IV and the Council of the Indies to control the number of

blacks and mulattos present in Lima, a new census ordered by the archbishopric in

1619 revealed that, for the first time, residents of African ancestry significantly

surpassed the number of Spaniards. According to this census, there were 11,997

blacks, 1,116 mulattos and 9,706 Spaniards living in the city at that time (Bowser

1974, 340). This ratio remained almost unchanged 17 years later in the census taken

by the Marquis of Chinchon, under whose authority the festivities in honor of Prince

Baltasar Carlos took place. Completed in 1636, the census showed that Lima had a

total of 10,758 Spaniards, 13,620 individuals classified as blacks and 861 as mulattos

(Bowser 1974, 341).3 Therefore, Lima had become by then a predominantly black

city, a trait that was accentuated by the fact that its indigenous population had been



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moved in 1590 to the nearby town of Santiago del Cercado, situated in the outskirts

of the city (Harth-Terre 1973, 3745). The concentration of the indigenous

population in a town with its own political and municipal structure also explains

the fact that this population was not represented in the festivities organized by the

city of Lima in honor of Prince Baltasar Carlos.Blacks and mulattos became an important part of Lima not only from a strictly

demographic point of view, but also socially and economically. While Spaniards for

the most part occupied the upper echelons of guilds and crafts, and dominated the

administration of the colony and its commerce, they routinely employed people of

African descent as artisans or as skilled laborers, sometimes training them in a

particular craft both for the benefit that they could obtain from their work and

because the acquisition of professional skills increased their value in the slave market

(Harth-Terre 1971; Tardieu 1990, 1997). The fact that most guilds established clauses

in their charters against the acceptance of blacks and mulattos as members onaccount of their caste and their alleged social and moral inferiority did not deter

many Spaniards from using them and teaching them the skills of their trade. Colonial

documentation shows that, even though most blacks and mulattos were used in

agricultural tasks on the outskirts of the city, they also became blacksmiths,

confectioners, carpenters and bricklayers, among other professions. In this sense,

although the historical record does not provide much information about the material

factors that led to the mulattos performance of the fall of Troy, and we have no

indications who did exactly what in this event, we know that they were in fact skilled

enough to recreate the scenery, the chariots and the dresses used during the spectacle,

without necessarily needing help from other castes. Describing the economic life ofthe city of Lima and the integration of its various castes in the citys guilds and more

precisely their work as tailors, Fray Buenaventura de Salinas y Cordova mentions in

his Memorial (1630) that los sastres espanoles, tienen cincuenta tiendas, como consta

de las juntas de su Cofrada, pero los Negros, Mulatos, Indios, y Mestizos maestros

examinados, que tienen tiendas, passan de ciento con muchos oficiales (According

to the books of their confraternity, Spanish tailors own fifty stores, but there are more

than a hundred blacks, mulattos, Indians and mestizos who are certified masters and

have their own shops with many journeymen,) (1957, 255). The fact that many

Africans were in daily contact with this kind of trade helps explain not only thegarments that the mulattos wore on that occasion, but also the complexity of their

representation.

If the mulattos could but did not necessarily seek the help of Spaniards to carry out

their performance, they did their best to portray themselves as a group clearly

differentiated from the much larger black population of the colony and organized

their festivities separately. In spite of the two castes being frequently mentioned and

grouped together in seventeenth-century colonial legislation and despite the fact that

they were intimately linked by family and social relationships, the reality was that

blacks and mulattos did not play by the same rules. As partial descendants of

Spaniards, mulattos were accorded different treatment by colonial authorities, which



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translated into better jobs and higher social status (Ares Queija 2000, 8385). No

matter their suspicions about the moral and racial integrity of racially mixed

individuals, these authorities were prepared to grant mulattos exceptions to the

supposedly rigid labour and administrative rules of the colony, which excluded

peoples of African descent from the clergy and the colonial administration on the

basis of their racial heritage, exceptions that were not made available to other

descendants of slaves. In fact, both colonial authorities and the mulattos themselves

fostered this separation. As Soulodre-La France has pointed out in her study on

slavery in Nueva Granada,

Aside from their enslavement, slaves did not necessarily share a sense of collectiveidentity, since as a group they were not a homogeneous entity with clearly definable

characteristics. Their very fluidity of identity and their ability to recreate themselves

when the need arose gave slaves and other subaltern groups their strength, but this

also means that their identities and consciousness will always remain slightly out ofreach (Mallon 1994, 1498). Identity within such groups was varied and situational

and can perhaps best be traced in actions rather than as innate traits. (Soulodre-LaFrance 2001, 8889)

One means by which mulattos achieved the goal of establishing their own identity

as separate from blacks was through the constitution of religious brotherhoods.

According to Bernabe Cobos Historia de la fundacion de Lima (1639), there were in

Lima 19 brotherhoods of blacks and mulattos, of which three were exclusively for

individuals classified as mulattos: one in the Dominican church of Nuestra Senora del

Rosario and two in the Franciscan churches of San Juan Bautista and San Juan de

Buenaventura (Tardieu 1997, 512). Banned from any kind of political representation,

religious brotherhoods often played an important role in establishing communal

relationships and in developing a sense of group identity among peoples of African

descent (Egoavil 1986; Howard 1998). Brotherhoods were defined according to a

charter in which their founders specified the identity of those who could join as well

as the duties and obligations of their members. Although religious authorities were

charged with their supervision, the daily life of religious brotherhoods was largely left

in the hands of their affiliates, who took care of their administration and the

organization of their participation in processions, religious festivities and funerals.Some of the religious festivals in which brotherhoods participated, such as Easter,

Christmas and other special celebrations, were carefully choreographed and entailed a

high degree of complexity from the point of view of their organization and display

(Jouve Martn 2005, 13744). Public performance was therefore not fundamentally

alien to the mulattos experience of colonialism. On the contrary, their involvement

in the religious life of the city should be seen as a precedent to their participation in

the more secular festivities that took place to celebrate the birth of Prince Baltasar

Carlos and also as a preliminary attempt to define their own identity in the

framework of Limas sociedad de castas.



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In addition to forming religious brotherhoods, the mulattos of Lima were allowed

to organize themselves into a guild in the late 1620s, which also explains their

presence in the celebrations at hand alongside other colonial guilds and the fact that

they are designated as such in Suardos Diario de Lima. While most colonial guilds

were organized following a professional criterion, the mulattos guild was primarilyconceived along racial lines. This does not mean that colonial authorities did not

envision a special occupation for it. According to Bowser, the guilds responsibilities

included the collection of tribute, the recruitment of colored militia companies and

the collection of special contributions for various religious and civic festivities

(Bowser 1974, 306). But, beyond its specific duties, the guild of mulattos seems to

have formed according to principles similar to those of their religious brotherhoods

and, in this way, it was intended to affirm group identity and not any specific

professional activity.4 Once they had the opportunity to display themselves in public,

mulattos chose to present themselves as a group separate from blacks, which led themto hold their own independent festivities on the birth of Prince Baltasar Carlos.

The separation between blacks and mulattos in these festivities is reflected in both

Suardos and Carvajal y Robless accounts. Although blacks lacked the sophisticated

legal, economic and identity frameworks provided by colonial guilds, they were

allowed to participate in the celebrations, and some of them did in a rather

spectacular manner, adopting European visual and cultural codes of chivalry.

According to Suardo, in the early morning of 22 January 1631,

amanecio fixado en las esquinas de los portales de los escrivanos un cartel de un

negro, en que hizo saber a todos los de su color y naciones como, a las cinco de latarde, en esta plaza y delante de palacio estara en campo armado para justar conlanza y adarga con todos los que quisieren ser aventureros en onrra del nacimientodel Principe Nuestro Senor y en esta conformidad se fue por la tarde a el dichocampo con estacadas y, a su tiempo, se pusso a la cabecera un pabellon y un bufetecon sobremesa carmes y, a las seis de la tarde, entro el dicho mantenedor armadode punta en blanco en el dicho campo, acompanado de dos padrinos y unacompana de soldados arcabuceros y, aviendo passeado el campo y hecho lascortesias devidas a Sus Excelencias que estavan en los corredores con todos lossenores de la Real Audiencia y sus mugeres, se fue a su puesto y despues entraronseis aventurreros cada uno de por s y, aviendo hecho las mismas ceremonias,rompieron tres lanzas y se dieron cinco golpes de espada cada uno con el dichoaventurero y todos con particular gracia y donayre, assi en las acciones como en lascolores que cada uno saco diferentes y representavan los mas valientes soldados queha tenido Espana y generalmente todos los que vieron el torneo se olgaron por serde personas tales y concurrieron infinitas a la fiesta.

[A black hung a piece of paper on the corners of the porticos where the notarieshave their offices in which he announced to those of his race that, at five in theafternoon, he would be in the main square in front of the Palace of the Viceroyarmed with spear and shield in order to joust with whoever accepted his challengein honor of the birth of the Prince, Our Lord. When the time came, he marked thebattlefield with posts and erected a pavilion where he placed a table with a crimson

cloth over it. At six in the afternoon, the man entered the field armed and perfectly



12/24

dressed for the jousting tournament, accompanied by two assistants and a companyof soldiers with harquebus in hand. After having walked the field and made thecourtesies owed to Their Excellencies, who were watching from the corridors withall the gentlemen of the Real Audiencia and their wives, he went to his position.Having done the same ceremonies, six challengers began to joust, first by breakingthree spears and then by giving each other five blows of the sword. Both their dressand their actions were particularly graceful and charming. They imitated the mostvaliant soldiers that Spain has ever had, and all that saw the tournament enjoyedwatching the spectacle.] (1936, 1:13435)

The fact that the announcement of this event was done through a written text, and

that the protagonists actions followed the European rules of chivalry, makes it clear

that the mulattos were not the only ones who understood the value of these cultural

conventions when interacting with the dominant elite. However, this performance

seems to have been organized spontaneously and individually, relying on the help of a

small group of people and the consent of the colonial authorities. This does not mean

that the black people of Lima were not present in the festivities as a group. Both

Suardo and Carvajal y Robles mention their participation in the celebrations, but

they do not give any information about who the members of this group were and

how representative they were of the larger black population of the city. All they say is

that they devoted only one day to their festivities and that, in stark contrast to the

elaborate display that the mulattos were able to organize, theirs was amusing, but not

very sophisticated.5 During that day,

Hicieron sus fiestas al nacimiento del Prncipe Nuestro Senor y mandaron, por latarde, jugar toros, que no fueron muy buenos, pero fueron de mucho gusto y rissapara todos, porque salieron hasta 30 negros a la plaza con capas y gorras milanesasa jugar los toros que hicieron figuras muy ridculas y algunos dellos hicieronalgunas suertes de consideracion en dar garrochones, con que la fiesta vino a ser demayor gusto que todas.

[They celebrated the birth of the Prince, Our Lord, and, in the evening, organized abullfight. The bulls turned out not to be very good, but everyone enjoyed the eventand had a good laugh, since up to thirty blacks entered the square carrying capesand wearing Milanese caps; these fought the bulls and gave occasion for some really

ridiculous situations, and some of them fought with finesse against the bulls usingspears. This made their celebration the most appreciated of all.] (1936, 1:133)

In short, as these texts illustrate, the black population of Lima, while also willing to

participate individually and collectively in the festivities in honor of the prince,

simply lacked the organization and resources that the mulattos enjoyed and their

celebrations were no match for the elaborate performance that the mulattos were able

to stage.

If the participation of mulattos in the economic life of the capital of the Viceroyalty

of Peru attests to their ability to create the material world needed to stage their play,

and their involvement in the life of guilds and brotherhoods serves to underline their



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familiarity with public performances and the colonial discourses of identity, their

enactment of the abduction of Helen and the fall of Troy would nevertheless have

been impossible without a close relationship to the colonial lettered culture of their

time, from which scholars have often thought that peoples of African descent were

excluded. For the large population of African origin enslaved in haciendas andplantations of the continent, the organization of space into two clearly separate areas,

such as the house of the master and the barracks, huts and fields where slaves lived

and worked, prevented contact with written documents or any other forms of literacy

(Keith 1976, 7680, 10611, 13038; Cushner 1980, 6163). In contrast, the blacks

and mulattos who resided in Lima during the seventeenth century lived in what Angel

Rama called a lettered city. They lived in a context in which written texts were daily

objects. The creation and interpretation of these texts was a fundamental part of

social organization, and the ability to interact with written texts constituted a

necessary part of the individuals adaptation to his environment, regardless of theirliteracy skills and even their legal status (Rappaport and Cummins 1994, 89109).

The familiarity of blacks, mulattos and zambos, both free and enslaved, with the

instruments of written culture was fostered by the myriad of lettered discourses

emanating from civil institutions: from edicts and sentences to public ceremonies.6

Historical records show that, far from being only passive recipients of these

discourses, blacks and mulattos interacted with written texts more often than

previously assumed. Some of these documents, such as bills of freedom, were in fact

of crucial importance for their daily lives. Wills were common among those who had

money and property, no matter how humble these people were. Some of them listed

books among their possessions, whereas others used written texts to defy their ownersor to negotiate with members of the colonial elite (Jouve Martn 2005, 5375).

Moreover, in spite of the institutional difficulties faced by peoples of African

descent in accessing formal instruction, some of them, mostly mulattos, did develop

advanced reading and writing skills. Such was the case, for instance, of some mulattos

who became scribes and even priests, being exempted from the defecto de los

naturales, which usually excluded Indians, blacks and mulattos from the priesthood

on the grounds of their alleged racial and moral defects.7 These individuals were in a

position to act as intermediaries between other blacks and mulattos and the broader

lettered world controlled by members of the European elite. The existence of thesecultural brokers is an important aspect when it comes to evaluating the ways in which

lettered narratives and discourses crossed the racial divide. Although the texts of

Suardo and Carvajal y Robles do not single out a specific person as responsible for the

organization of the performance that the mulattos staged in honor of Prince Baltasar

Carlos, both point out that the mulattos themselves were in charge of the ceremony.

In his description of the event, Suardo mentions that the image of the king presiding

over the enactment was guarded by four individuals named by Suardo as comisarios

de la fiesta, or those in charge of the festivity (Suardo 1936, 1:137). Unfortunately, the

identity of these comisariosis not known, and we have no information other than that

the chronicler describes them as mulattos. The mulattos knowledge of the story of



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Troy could have come from one or more of the aforementioned cultural brokers or it

could simply have been obtained by less intellectually sophisticated mulattos through

the myriad of references to Greek mythology and literature that were common in

colonial ceremonies. However, what is crucial is not so much the knowledge

deposited in one individual, but the ways in which the group made use of thisknowledge, as I would like to discuss next.8

The story of Troy performed by the mulattos was hardly a novelty. Greek and

Roman mythology figured prominently in secular paintings and literary compositions

of the Baroque era and the use of classical history in public ceremonies both in the

metropolis and in the colonies during this time is well documented (Curcio-Nagy

2004, 2). Far from lacking relevance for an occasion such as the birth of a prince, the

Trojan cycle was one of the most appropriate narratives with which to remember the

origins of secular power in the seventeenth century. Just as the Book of Genesis offered

the starting point of religious history for the Christian world, the Trojan cycle markedwhat was considered to be the beginning of political history in the West (Ingledew

1994). Already in classical times, the story of Troy was used as a means of asserting the

social, cultural and political superiority of the Greek city states first, and that of Rome

and its imperial project afterwards. Virgils rewriting of the origins of Rome in his

Aeneidmade Aeneas the founder of the city and by doing so he linked Roman history,

the Augustan political order and the Hellenic past. The influence of the Trojan cycle

did not wane after the collapse of the Roman empire, but continued throughout the

Middle Ages (McKendrick 1991). In the case of the Iberian Peninsula, its influence

notably increased from the thirteenth century onwards. In the Historia General

(General History) of King Alfonso the Wise, the narrative was introduced as a way toaffirm the transfer of power from classical times to medieval Christian emperors, and

consequently was viewed as playing a part in his own imperial ambitions. Alongside its

political role, the story of Troy became increasingly popular in the literary tradition of

the Iberian Peninsula, from Enrique de Villenas Glosas a la Eneidato Juan de Menas

Homero Romanzado. By the late Renaissance, it was being used in public ceremonies,

comedies and plays, such as Cristobal de Monroy y Silvas La destruccion de Troyaand

its main events were frequently depicted in paintings and tapestries both in Spain and

in the colonies. Besides its popularity as a literary, historical and mythical theme, it

served to establish the idea oftranslatio imperii, a transfer of imperial power from theGreeks to the Romans, from the Romans to the medieval emperors and finally from

these medieval emperors to the Spanish monarchy and its colonies. Like other

monarchies in Europe, such as Elizabethan England (Heather 1997), the Hapsburgs

saw Greek and Roman iconography as a means of construing themselves as the

legitimate heirs of antiquity and as an important tool in their quest for political and

cultural hegemony (Brown and Elliot 1980; De Armas 1986).

But if the story of Troy itself was commonplace in seventeenth-century

transatlantic culture, the concrete meaning of this narrative varied from place to

place according to the context in which it was staged and those involved in its

production. Far from being just an archetypical version, the narrative was reshaped



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by the mulattos according to the social and political context of seventeenth-century

Lima. One way to achieve this goal was to include in their reenactment some of the

most powerful figures of the Spanish Court of the time, alongside the more familiar

Greek characters of Hector, Ulysses and Priam. According to Carvajal y Robles,

[entre los mulatos] qual remedaua al Principe excelente/ Conde de Benauente,/Mayordomo mayor, qual al de Osuna,/ que de Espana es firmissima coluna,/ qual al

de Feria, qual al de Escalona, y qual al Almirante de Castilla, en quien la sangre Real

de Espana brilla,/ qual la graue persona/ retrato del mayor Cauallerizo, aquel gran

Conde Duque de quien fia/ el Supremo Espanol la Monarquia (among the mulattos

that participated in the event, one imitated the excellent Count of Benavente, Lord

Chamberlain of the king; another represented the Duke of Osuna, who is like a firm

column that supports Spain; another was the Duke of Feria, one was the Duke of

Escalona, and yet another the Admiral of Castile, in whom the royal blood of Spain

shines; and lastly, there was a mulatto who imitated the Count Duke [of Olivares], theillustrious gentleman to whom the king has confided the monarchy) (Carvajal y

Robles 1950, 99). By disguising themselves as these powerful figures and including

them as part of their representation, the mulattos underscored the connection and

continuity between the great political figures of the past and the great political figures

of the present. The fact that they were being played by mulattos also introduced a

fundamental ambivalence in these European figures so important for the adminis-

tration and political stability of the empire. They were visually re-inscribed in the

discourses of race and caste that dominated colonial society and influenced the

perception of the mulattos actions. These discourses figure prominently in both

Suardos and Carvajal y Robless accounts, but they are explicitly formulated by thelatter. Characterizing them as a group, Carvajal y Robles did not hesitate at the

beginning of his narration to underline the character of the mulatto caste as a

combination of extremes:

A esta fiesta siguio la de la gente [los mulatos]/ en quien Naturaleza/ de mezcla sevistio, mas que de gala,/ por lo que se senala/ en el variar la prospera riqueza/ de suvirtud potente,/ aunque lo vario sea/ de vna especie hermosa, y otra fea,/ como enesta se vido,/ que lo feo en lo hermoso confundido,/ y lo hermoso en lo feo/aumenta su recreo/ de ver conglutinado/ lo que fue blanco y negro noguerado.

[The festivities continued with the celebrations of the people {the mulattos}, whomNature dressed in mixed clothes more than in elegant garb, so as to demonstratewith such a combination of beauty and ugliness Her power and riches, since it is asource of admiration and joy for all to see the one blended with the other, blackmixed with white, as was the case on this occasion.] (1950, 97).

Additionally, the mulattos also incorporated into their performance elements from

the colonial landscape that were essential for the economic prosperity and survival of

the colony. One such element was the Hill of Potos, which appeared in striking and

anachronistic opposition to the Trojan setting. According to Carvajal y Robles,

[t]raxo el Griego escuadron un nuevo mundo/ en un carro tirado/ de dos grifos, que



16/24

el cerro levantado,/ primero sin segundo,/ del rico Potosi representaba/ del mundo en

cuatro ninos vestidos de cambray y piel de arminos/ en fe de que este cerro las

sustenta/ como a ninos pequenos, con su renta (The Greek side brought a chariot

pulled by two griffins with the depiction of a mountain, the Hill of Potos, which

symbolized the New World. Four boys dressed in linens and ermine skin stood for thefour parts of the world, which this Hill richly provides with income) (1950, 101).

Potos as a symbol of wealth was in turn incorporated into the political narrative of

the Spanish monarchy. Carvajal y Robles continues his description of this mountain

by pointing out that encima deste monte, vna coluna/ se leuantaua, de marfil

brunido,/ que daua propio nido/ al fenix en su cumbre, y ella cuna/ en sus hombros al

nino generoso/ Baltasar, por emblema misterioso,/ y cierta profecia/ de que al mundo

seria/ en la prudencia y prospera fortuna/ de la paz y la guerra/ vn fenix sin igual, solo

en la tierra (A column of polished ivory was placed on top of this mountain as if it

were to nest a phoenix at its summit, but cradling instead the generous child Baltasar.This mysterious emblem made reference to the prophecies that foretell that the prince

will be like a phoenix himself and will have in prudence and in fortune, both in peace

and war, no equal on Earth) (Carvajal y Robles 1950, 10112). By introducing

American elements in the classical narratives used to praise and legitimize the

Spanish monarchy, the mulattos were in fact expanding those narratives to include

the colonial setting of which they were an integral part.

The mulattos performance was also a serious attempt to present themselves to the

king of Spain and the members of Limas elite as valuable subjects. Carvajal y Robles

does not hesitate to point out that their festivities were widely celebrated and referred

to with admiration by all kind of people in Lima (Carvajal y Robles 1950, 112). At theend of his narration of the mulattos participation in the event, this chronicler sums up

the general opinion, saying that [tanto nobles como plebeyos] celebraron la prospera

largueza/ de su leal franqueza,/ digna de que la estime el Rey de Espana/ por singular

hazana,/ pues de gente tan pobre como aquesta,/ los gastos que hicieron a su fiesta,/

fueron avaliados/ en mas suma, que valen de ducados (both nobles and common folk

celebrated the prosperous liberality of the loyal generosity of the mulattos, and

considered it worthy of esteem by the King of Spain as a singular deed, since, being

themselves so poor, the money that they spent in their celebrations was for them more

valuable than what the actual sum of ducats that it cost might indicate) (1950, 115).Although the tone of Carvajal y Robless text is clearly paternalistic, his words indicate

that the mulattos succeeded in changing, at least for the moment, the way they were

seen by colonial society and more specifically by the colonial elite, of which Carvajal y

Robles was at the same time a chronicler and a member. Not a small feat for a caste

that was constantly reminded of its subordinate position in colonial society and whose

members were deemed morally and intellectually inferior to persons of pure European

origin.

The political character of the event was also underlined by the fact that during their

performance the mulattos used a series of insignias, emblems and hieroglyphs

specifically addressed to the monarch and his son the prince. The mulatto who



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impersonated Hector carried a shield upon which he had painted an emblem that

represented a death figure and whose legend said, De griegos soy cruda muerte/ y de

quien niega que el Rey/ de Espana, por justa ley,/ es el mas poderoso y fuerte (I am

cruel death to the Greeks and to all who deny that the King of Spain is justly the

mightiest and strongest) (Suardo 1936, 1:137). The mulatto who played Achilles hadon his shield the emblem of a spear followed by a text announcing that Solo a mi

robusta mano/ obedecio aquesta lanza/ y yo y ella, con pujanza,/ hoy, al Principe

cristiano (This spear follows only the commands of my robust hand, and my spear

and I obey only our Christian prince) (Suardo 1936, 1:138). According to Suardo,

other mulattos displayed similar messages. For example, Pyrrhus, son of Achilles,

wore a shield with the depiction of a basilisk and a legend in which he glorified the

festivities that the city was celebrating: Basilisco armado soy,/ defiendo que nunca a

avido/ tales fiestas y que ha sido/ digno de su honor preciado/ solo el principe nacido

(I am an armed basilisk, and I contend that there have never been festivities like thesethat we celebrate today in honor of the newborn prince) (Suardo 1936, 1:140). For

his part, the mulatto in the role of Priam, King of Troy, appeared on scene at the end

of the performance wearing a shield on which there was a depiction of the newly born

prince with an imperial crown above his head, and many other crowns from other

kings at his feet, with the following legend: Todos los Reyes del mundo/ oy al

prncipe espanol/ se rinden por rey y sol/ y el no conoce segundo (All the kings of

the world submit to the Spanish prince and acknowledge him as their sovereign and

sun, as he is second to no one) (Suardo 1936, 1:141). Regularly employed in

tournaments and other special occasions from late medieval times, emblems and

hieroglyphs were used not only for practical reasons, as an appropriate way to conveyan idea within a limited physical space, but also as proof of their creators ingenuity

in combining visual and textual elements with the purpose of expressing their

affections or a political truth (MacPherson 1998, 10110; Caneque 2004, 2829). By

including them in their performance, the mulattos were showing their familiarity

with the games of courtly culture and correctly interpreted their relevance as a means

of communication with the colonial social and political elite.

Significantly, the mulattos pledged to uphold the monarchy and the colonial order

it represented disguised as Greek warriors and through a full-scale performance of the

story of the fall of Troy. That is, they pledged their allegiance through the historicaland mythical past of the colonial elite, rather than through the narratives of their

African ancestors. As Curcio-Nagy points out, this can be explained by the fact that

colonial festivals and ceremonies were tools of cultural hegemony used to reassert

periodically and symbolically the moral and political values of the colonial elite and

to promote a shared history (2004, 312). But we would be wrong if we saw these

festivities only as forms of subordination and acculturation. They were at the same

time means by which members of different social groups actively sought to redress or

redefine their position in colonial society. The mulattos had nothing to gain by

recreating any aspect of their African past in daily life or in a public ceremony. It was

much more important for their possibilities of advancement in colonial society to



18/24

distance themselves from blacks as much as possible and to construe themselves

symbolically as a separate, more valuable group by stressing their European rather

than their African roots. Their active appropriation of European history and myth led

them to a performance in which it was possible at the same time to be a classical

Greek and a colonial mulatto and to assert both publicly before those with the powerto reshape laws and customs.

In all, despite their efforts, the mulattos guild was short-lived and their attempt to

establish themselves as a stable and coherent group clearly separate from blacks in

colonial Lima was hindered in the long run by several factors. The first of these was

that the colonial authorities failed to recognize many of those actually fathered by

Spaniards as belonging to the mulatto caste. If a Spaniard did not acknowledge the

paternity of a child, or if the childs skin was considered insufficiently fair in color, the

newborn child of a black woman was usually classified as black, which helps to

explain the consistently low number of mulattos in colonial censuses. On the otherhand, in the absence of a paper trail that could firmly establish the identity of an

individual, the colonial authorities were not always able to tell the difference between

a mulatto and a Spaniard if his or her complexion resembled that of a European.

Officials and census-takers of the city often complained that the life stories of such

individuals were hard to verify, rendering difficult the job of classifying them in their

proper caste.9 Mulattos passing as Spaniards were sometimes able to obtain positions

as notaries and clerks, and in some cases only after a thorough investigation of

judicial and ecclesiastical records were colonial officials able to disprove the narratives

they had fashioned about their past.10 Those who were classified as mulattos

distanced themselves from their caste as soon as they had the opportunity to pass as

Spaniards. Spanish bureaucracy made this difficult, but not impossible. In fact,

individuals from the lower castes frequently attempted to alter their classification.

This was possible because, as Chance has pointed out in his study of race relations in

colonial Antequera (Mexico), a man regarded his racial identity not so much as an

indicator of group membership or even as a badge of self-definition within a static

and rigid social system, but rather as one component of his personal identity that

could be manipulated and often changed (1978, 13031). The mulattos recreation of

the abduction of Helen and the destruction of Troy shows that they were willing to

create a collective identity for themselves in the framework of colonial race relationsand that they were able to manipulate sophisticated social practices and literary and

political discourses to achieve this goal. However, collective efforts were frequently

hindered by individual gains, and those who could master the lettered discourses of

identity in colonial society often preferred to pass as Europeans rather than continue

to be associated with the descendants of slaves.

Notes

1 My previous research has also focused on the role of writing and literacy in the daily life of

African slaves in Lima from 1650 to 1700 (Jouve Mart n 2003a; 2005). Parts of the present article



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are based on a conference paper published in Spanish as part of the proceedings of the 33rd

International Congress of the Ibero-American Institute on a CD-ROM entitled La literatura

iberoamericana en el 2000 (Jouve Martn 2003b).2 Although destined to inherit the throne as first-born male of Philip IV, Prince Baltasar Carlos

never reached it. Born in Madrid on 17 October 1629, he died in Zaragoza on 9 March 1646.

Philips successor to the throne of Spain was Charles II. Baltasar Carloss birth was

commemorated throughout the empire with festivities similar to those orchestrated in Lima,

as can be seen for instance in the relacion de fiestawritten by Gabriel de Santiago in 1629, whose

title was Relacion verdadera de las fiestas reales, toros, y juego de canas q[ue] se celebraron en la

corte a doce de diciembre, por el nacimiento del Principe nuestro senor, con las declaracion de los

trages, galas, y libreas de todas la quadrillas. For more information on the life of this Spanish

prince, see also Beruete y Moret (1954).3 A discussion of these and other censuses is found in Bowser (1974, 33741). Bronner (1979) and

Szmik (1991) also discuss this historical information. Although colonial censuses are by no

means to be taken as objective and undisputed realities, they do offer us a glimpse of the main

groups present in colonial society from the point of view of the officials in charge of compiling

them. The growing demographic importance of blacks and mulattos in the daily life of the city

of Lima was a source of concern for colonial authorities. As early as 1608, Philip IV expressed his

disgust with this situation to his viceroy, Marquis of Montesclaros, urging him to put an end to a

trend that he considered a threat to the well-being of the colony:

Marques de Montesclaros, mi Virrey, Gobernador y Capitan General de las provincias

del Peru. Habiendose considerado en mi Consejo de las Indias la mucha cantidad de

negros, mulatos y Mestizos que hay en esas partes y los que cada da se van

multiplicando y cuanto convendra ir previniendo con tiempo los inconvenientes que

de ellos podran resultar, ha parecido ordenaros como os lo ordeno y mando que trateis

y confirais con personas inteligentes y cuales convengan que remedio podra tener el

crecimiento de esta gente y que forma de gobierno se les podra poner, con que seejecute y ellos vivan como es menester y la tierra este sin el riesgo y peligro que hay y se

puede temer, y de lo que a todos os pareciere, me avisare is en la primera ocasion y

tambien del numero de mulatos, negros y Mestizos que hubiere en esas provincias y

como se podran desaguar, para que visto todo provea y mande lo que mas convenga.

[Marquis of Montesclaros, my viceroy, governor and captain general of the Peruvian

provinces: Having considered in my Council of the Indies the great quantity of blacks,

mulattos and mestizos that there are in those parts of the world, their daily increase

and the need to prevent the inconveniences that can result from them, it has been

resolved to order, as I now order and command, that you discuss and confer with

intelligent and appropriate individuals how to remedy the increase of these peoples andwhat form of government can be imposed on them so that they live according to the

law, and so that the land be without the risks and dangers that they now pose and can

be feared from them in the future. You will advise me at the earliest convenience of all

that is agreed upon as well as of the number of mulattos, blacks and mestizos present in

those provinces and how we can reduce them, so that I can make the most reasonable

decision.] (Konetzke 1958, 2:145)

4 Unfortunately, the information available about this guild and its members is very limited. Both

Suardo and Carvajal y Robles explicitely state that they were exclusively mulattos. Bowser also

mentions a document in which the guild is named as gremio de mulatos or guild of mulattos:

Archivo General de Indias Escribana de Camara, 1023b, Pedro Martn Leguisamo contra



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Gremio de Mulatos (Bowser 1974, 412). Given that racial designations in colonial society were

not as fixed as has sometimes been assumed, it is possible that blacks passing as mulattos could

have joined the guild. However, this does not change the fact that the guild was conceived

according to the racial categories in use in seventeenth-century Lima and that it was thought of

primarily as a professional association for those of Spanish and African descent.5 Although the active participation of blacks in other civic and religious ceremonies of the

viceroyalty cannot be ruled out, it is difficult to find a description of their activities. This does

not mean that blacks were not frequently present, and many celebrations included them at least

allegorically. For instance, Antonio Rodrguez describes in his account of the festivities on the

occasion of the declaration of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1618 that one of the

chariots that took part in the procession included a personification of Asa, King of Judea,

holding in his hand a halberd with the head of a black king:

ASA REY, adornauale de passamanos turca marlota y capella de brocado verde

guarndecida de passamanos de Milan y sembrada de joyas y flores de perlas; cabellera

alxofarada y sobre ella corona hecha de cintillos y gruessas perlas netas . . . quatro pajes

con hachas de de librea azul y amarilla, y otro vestido de rocagante ropa azul sobre

tunicela de tafetan Colorado, en la mano una alabarda y en ella atrauessada la cabeza

coronada de un Rey negro.

[ASA REY, dressed in a Turkish tunic adorned with braids and a Moorish cloak of green

brocade ornamented with braids from Milan and covered with jewels and flowers of

pearls; his hair also full of small pearls and on it a crown made of ribbons and thick

pure pearls . . . four pages dressed in blue and yellow livery carrying halberds, and

another, dressed in a long blue robe over a tunic of red taffeta, bearing in his hand a

halberd on which is transfixed the crowned head of a black king.] (Rodrguez 1618, 23)

6 Colonial public ceremonies frequently entailed an elaborate iconography charged with referencesto religious and profane texts. These events offered blacks and mulattos the opportunity to

acquaint themselves visually and performatively with the prevailing narrative models of colonial

society, thus somewhat compensating for the limitations imposed by their reduced access to

formal education. As one anonymous chronicler from the seventeenth century put it,

Siempre tienen en Lima muchas fiestas, grandes procesiones con muchas danzas y

mucho estruendo de instrumentos, y con tantas intervenciones que [en] Espan a no hay

ciudad donde hagan tantas cosas como en Lima, ni en donde cuelguen las calles con

mas riquezas; toros y canas se juegan todos los meses; comedias y musicas son

ordinarias, [durante la] entrada de virreyes la ciudad con fiestas y todos se empenan

por echar entonces galas.

In Lima, there are always many festivals, large processions with dances and much racket

from musical instruments, and so many performances and pastimes that there is no

city in Spain where they do as much as in Lima, or where they adorn the streets with

greater riches; there are bullfights and mock jousts with canes every month; comedies

and music are common, [during the] entrance of the viceroys the city has many festive

events, and all make a point to wear their best attire. (Descripcion 1958, 5455)

7 This is the case, for instance, of Francisco de Santa Fe, a free mulatto who presented a petition to

be ordained as priest and therefore be exempted from the defecto de los naturales. Some of the

questions that the ecclesiastical authorities formulated to prove the suitability of Francisco de



21/24

Santa Fe were aimed at ascertaining his intellectual skills and, more specifically, his ability to

understand the Gospel. According to the transcript of the case, one of the witnesses who backed

Francisco de Santa Fes petition, the Dominican priest Fray Pedro Rodrguez, declared the

following on that matter:

[e]l dicho hermano Francisco de Santa Fe es estudioso y siempre le ha visto inclinado a

saber procurando entender la lengua latina para con eso ascender a las ordenes asta la

de sacerdocio por lo cual y por lo que tiene declarado en la cuarta pregunta y entender

epstolas y evangelio le tiene por capaz para recibir a Nuestro Senor en el alto

ministerio del altar.

[Brother Francisco de Santa Fe is studious and has always seemed inclined to learn and

understand the Latin language in order to ascend the various orders that lead to the

priesthood. For this and for what he [Fray Pedro Rodrguez] has declared in the fourth

question, and the fact that Francisco de Santa Fe is able to understand the Epistles and

Gospel, he thus considers him capable of receiving Our Lord in the high ministry ofpriesthood.] (Archivo Arzobispal de Lima, Orden de Predicadores de Santo Domingo,

III:13, fols 7v8r)

The depositions of the remaining witnesses confirmed that Francisco de Santa Fe was able to

read and write and had devoted some time to learning Latin. By ordaining him as priest, the

colonial authorities not only endowed him with the prerogatives accorded to this ecclesiastical

position, but also recognized him as a letrado, that is, a member of the political and cultural elite

that had access to lettered culture. There are at least two other cases in which persons of African

descent were able to become letrados: the first, around 1630, in which Alonso Sanchez de

Figueroa opted for an escribana; and the second, in 1632, in which Jose Nunez de Prado bought

the title ofprocuradorfrom his owner, the Spaniard Alonso de Castro. Both men were describedas mulattos in the historical record (Bowser 1974, 31415).

8 As Barton points out, it is important to shift from a conception of literacy located in individuals

to examine ways in which people in groups utilize literacy. In this way, literacy becomes a

community resource, realized in social relationships rather than in a property of individuals.

This is true at various levels; at the detailed micro level it can refer to the fact that in particular

literacy events there are often several participants taking on different roles and creating

something more than their individual practices. At a broader macro level it can mean the ways

in which whole communities use literacy (2000, 13).9 The officials in charge of conducting the censuses could not always count on the cooperation of

the population to carry out their work. The distrust towards giving information that couldfacilitate new taxes or obligations was profound among the most disadvantaged sectors of

society. Miguel de Contreras, designated by the Marquis of Montesclaros to conduct the 1613

census of the Indian population, did not hesitate to complain about the problems he ran into:

Respecto de ser cosa cierta y a ellos muy notoria que al tiempo que se comenzo y fue haciendo el

dicho padron se ausentaron y escondieron muchos [indios] para no hacerlo y que pueden haber

vuelto a esta dicha ciudad y andan en ella (It is a true and notorious fact that when the census

began many Indians went into hiding so as not to take part in it. It is very possible that many of

them have since returned to live in the city) (Contreras 1968, 468).10 The anxiety caused by this in the colonial administration was made evident in the royal decree

sent to the Audience of Lima on 7 June 1621:



22/24

He sido informado que de algunos anos a esta parte han pedido y conseguido en mi

Consejo de las Indias ttulos de escribanos publicos algunas personas de poca

satisfaccion como son mulatos y Mestizos presentando en el informaciones hechas en

esas partes ante las justicias y jueces de ellas, sin hacer mencion de las dichas naturalezas

. . . Para cuyo remedio he acordado de ordenaros y mandaros como lo hago, que por

ningun caso admitais ni consintais que se admita para este efecto en todo el distrito deesa Audiencia informaciones de mulatos . . . Y si acaso con el mismo engano que por lo

pasado se dieron algunos de los dichos ttulos, y os constare que los que los hubiesen

conseguido son mulatos, no les consentireis usar de ellos, recogiendolos de manera que

no puedan volver a su poder, y hareis que esta mi cedula se pregone para que de oficio o

a pedimiento de parte se ejecute lo que por ella se dispone.

[I have been informed that some individuals of dubious reputation such as mulattos and

mestizos have in past years requested and obtained from my Council of the Indies the

title of public notary without mentioning their origins to the authorities . . . In order to

prevent this, I have decided to command you not to admit under any circumstance

petitions coming from mulattos in this regard in all the territory of the Audiencia. . .

And if you find that, due to such trickery, some of the aforesaid titles have in fact been

awarded to mulattos, you will not allow them to use them and you will take them away

from them and ensure that they are not able to receive them again, and you will take the

necessary steps so that this decree is publicly announced, so that its resolutions can be

enacted.] (Konetzke 1958, 2:260)

Manuscript sources

Archivo Arzobispal de Lima (Lima), Orden de Predicadores de Santo Domingo, III:13, fols 7v8r.

Autos promovidos por el hermano Francisco de Santa Fe, hijo natural de una morena libre,religioso donado de la orden de Santo Domingo, 1663.

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public ceremonies and mulatto identity in viceregal lima

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