Lorenzo Boturini de Benaducci
Lorenzo Boturini de Benaducci (* 1702 in Sondrio , Lombardy , Italy ; † 1751 (according to other sources 1753 or 1755) in Madrid , Spain ) was an Italian historian who researched the pre-Columbian history of Mexico .
After training in Europe, Boturini went to Mexico as a scholar in 1736 with the permission of the Spanish government. He learned the Nahuatl language and collected numerous historical artifacts of the indigenous people, including maps, manuscripts and legal provisions .
In addition to the early history of Mexico, he also dealt with the history of the apparitions of the Madonna of Guadalupe . He wanted to put a golden crown on the statue of the Madonna and for this purpose he collected donations from the population and the clergy.
His intense conflict with the Indians aroused the distrust of the authorities, who always feared that hostile foreigners could incite the Indians to revolt against the Spaniards. Viceroy Pedro Cebrián y Agustín had his collections confiscated in 1743. Boturini was arrested on the grounds that he had come to Mexico without a valid entry permit and was sent back to Spain.
There he was able to rid himself of all reproaches; however, he never managed to get his collection back. The Mexican historian Mariano Fernández de Echeverría y Veytia later used Boturini's notes and sources as the basis for his comprehensive historical work Historia Antigua de México . Parts of Boturini's collection were lost; others can now be found in museums such as the National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico) and the National Library of Paris.
From memory and his remaining notes, he wrote two treatises in Spain on the history of Mexico before the conquest by the Europeans: "Idéa y ensayo de una historia general de la América setentrional" , which appeared in Madrid in 1746, and "Cronología de las principales naciones de la América Septentrional ” from 1749.
Neither the planned history of the Marian apparitions of Guadalupe nor the complete works on pre-Columbian Mexico could be written down. He died in Madrid in the 1750s.
swell
- Biography (spanish)
- Entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) (English)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Boturini de Benaducci, Lorenzo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Boturini de Bernaducci, Lorenzo; Boturini Benaduci, Lorenzo (other spellings) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian historian, explorer of the pre-Columbian history of Mexico |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1702 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sondrio , Lombardy , Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1751 or 1753 or 1755 |
| Place of death | Madrid , Spain |