Francisco Ximénez

Title page and bilingual first page (Quiché and Spanish) of the oldest surviving version of Popol Vuh in the translation by Francisco Ximénez

Francisco Ximénez (born November 23, 1666 in Seville , † 1721 ) was a Spanish Dominican and historian.

Born in Seville, he arrived in Guatemala (then part of the viceroyalty of New Spain ) in 1687 . He then learned the Mayan languages Quiché , Kakchikel and Tzutuhil . During a stay in Chichicastenango in 1702 he was informed by a group of local Indians about the existence of a holy book of the Quiché, the Popol Vuh , which was located under the altar of the temple of Chichicastenango. Instead of destroying the book, he decided to translate it into Spanish in order to preserve it for posterity.

Francisco Ximénez is also the author of a work on regional history, the Historia de la Provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala de la Orden de predicadores . Ximénez died in Spain in 1721.

literature

• Gudrun Schumacher and Gregor Wolff: Legacies, manuscripts and autographs in the possession of the IAI, Department 2, Section 1: Legacies and special collections . Ibero-American Institute, Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin 2004.