Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (born August 15, 1645 in Mexico City ; † August 22, 1700 ibid) was a polymath in the transition period from the Baroque to the Early Enlightenment and one of the most brilliant intellectuals of the viceroyalty of New Spain , today's Mexico. Above all, he emerged as a mathematician, historian, geographer and writer. In addition, he held many public offices.
Life
Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora was the second of nine children from his parents. His mother, who was born in Seville, was related to the Spanish baroque poet Luis de Góngora . His father, who was born in Madrid, was an adviser to the royal family and emigrated to Mexico in 1640, where he worked as an administrator and endeavored to ensure that his children were properly educated.
Carlos Sigüenza began his studies with the Jesuits in Tepotzotlán at the age of 15 in order to prepare for the priesthood. In 1662 he continued his studies at the Colegio Espíritu Santo in Puebla and published his first poems. However, he was not ordained due to a lack of discipline and unauthorized removal from the college at night. In 1667 he returned to the Royal and Papal Universities of Mexico and studied mathematics. He also learned Nahuatl during this time .
In 1673 he was ordained a priest. He lived in the Amor de Dios hospital, which he also administered, and met Juana Inés de la Cruz , who lived in a monastery nearby . He had a close exchange with her, which was possible because of the relaxed rules of the order; Rumors of a close friendship or enmity are probably unfounded.
Works
In 1671 he published his astronomical observations in the form of a lunar calendar. As early as 1672 he was given a chair in astrology and mathematics, without being able to prove the necessary qualifications, and became an important promoter of mathematics in New Spain. He regularly published astronomical calendars.
In 1675, the first archaeological excavations of the colonial times in Teotihuacan were carried out under Sigüenza's direction . His ideas about the ancient Mexican civilization were influenced by Athanasius Kircher : He assumed that the Aztecs had been civilized by the Apostle Thomas and that they had worshiped him as the god Quetzalcoatl .
In preparation for the arrival of the new viceroy in 1680, Sigüenza and Juana Inés de la Cruz were commissioned to design a triumphal arch each . Sigüenza's triumphal arch, adorned with allegories, was almost 30 meters high and can be considered an early forerunner of Criollismo , Creole self-confidence: depictions of Aztec deities also found their place on it.
In 1681 Sigüenza wrote a work in which he combated the superstitions associated with the appearance of the Great Comet in 1680 and fears of the end of the world, and subsequently advocated a separation of astrology and astronomy. After attacks by the Jesuit Eusebio Kino , he represented his position even more clearly in another work in 1690, citing Copernicus , Galileo Galilei , Descartes , Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe . His novel Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez (1690) about the conquest of the frigate of Captain Alsonso Ramírez by English pirates in the Philippines and his return to New Spain was considered fiction by most experts until 2009, but the story has now proven to be real. According to current knowledge, William Dampier was among the pirates .
After massive rains in 1691, there was wheat and corn rot, famine and outbreaks of violence against business and government buildings. Sigüenza managed, at risk of death, to save the archive of the City of Mexico and the paintings in the City Hall from burning.
As a geographically educated person, he drew the first accurate map of New Spain in the 1680s. He created hydrological maps of the Valley of Mexico and accompanied Admiral Andrés de Pez , the founder of Pensacola , in 1692 as the official royal Mexican geographer on an expedition to the northern Gulf of Mexico . There he mapped Pensacola Bay and the Mississippi Estuary . In 1698/99 he again took part in an unsuccessful expedition to Pensacola and was accused of having misjudged the possibilities of settling in this region.
In the last years of his life, Sigüenza collected material for a history of Mexico, which, however, remained unfinished. He evaluated manuscripts and records that had been written by Hernando de Alvarado Tezozómoc , a mestizo and grandson of Moctezuma II and descendants of the ruling house of Tezozómoc and handed over by descendants of the mestizo historian Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl . This also included the Crónica Mexicana . Sigüenza's own manuscripts were lost after his death. Mexican historiography was only continued 80 years later by Francisco Javier Clavijero .
Sigüentes donated his valuable library and his scientific instruments to the Jesuit college San Pedro y San Pablo in Mexico City. His body bequeathed medical science to investigate the cause of death.
Works (selection)
- Oriental planeta evangélica, epopeya sacropanegyrica al apóstol grande de las Indias S. Francisco Xavier (poems, 1662)
- Primavera indiana, poema sacrohistórico, idea de María Santíssima de Guadalupe (poems, 1662)
- Teatro de virtudes políticas que constituyen a un Príncipe (textbook, 1680)
- Libra astronómica (1681)
- Manifiesto philosóphico contra los cometas despojados del imperio que tenían sobre los tímidos (Astronomical-Philosophical Manifesto, 1681)
- Piedad heroica de Don Hernando Cortés, Marqués del Valle (historical work, 1689)
- Descripción del seno de Santa María de Galve, alias Panzacola, de la Mobila y del Río Misisipi (travel description, 1693)
- Elogio fúnebre de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz ( Funeral oration on Inés de la Cruz, 1695, missing)
- Revisions
- Obras históricas. Edición y prólogo de José Rojas Garcidueñas. Mexico City: Porrúa, 1983.
- Historias del Seno Mexicano. Edited by José Francisco Buscaglia Salgado. Havana: Casa de las Américas, 2009.
- The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez: The True Adventures of a Spanish American with 17th Century Pirates. Translation: Fabio López Lázaro, University of Texas Press, 2011.
literature
- Irving A. Leonard : Baroque Times in Old Mexico. Chapter A Baroque Scholar. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 1959.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ El Universal , August 14, 2014.
- ↑ Bárbara Skinfill Nogal, Eloy Gómez Bravo (ed.): Las dimensions del arte emblemático. Colegio de Michoacán 2002, p. 195.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sigüenza y Góngora, Carlos de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Mexican polymath |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 15, 1645 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mexico city |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 22, 1700 |
| Place of death | Mexico city |