A Note on Torquemada’s Native Sources and Historiographical Methods
Historians generally see their tasks broken into three main stages: as comprehensive as possible collection of relevant documentation, followed by critical and evaluative appraisal of it, and finally, a synthesis based on verified data. Contrary to a considerable body of hostile secondary discussion, critical examination of Juan de Torquemada’s Monarquia Indiana indicates a surprisingly high level of workmanship in at least the first two phases. Although what he strove for in synthesis—an accurate record that would place native Mexican cultures on a par with ancient, classical, and for him modern societies—is an early and interesting example of a comparative approach, the classical and Biblical citations he employed for such comparisons are now largely of curiosity value, except as clues to his own ambience and personal outlook.