While the fame of the Augustinians does not equal that of the Franciscans or Dominicans, they were undoubtedly one of the most important forces behind the efforts to convert the Indians of New Spain and to introduce them to Western civilization. Diego Basalenque’s Historia, first published in 1673, is a chronicle of their educational, social, and religious work in the Augustinian province of San Nicolás de Toletino de Michoacán from its beginnings in 1537 until 1644. In addition, it contains numerous brief biographies of many of the men involved in this endeavor. Along with the accounts of Juan de Grijalva, Matías de Escobar, and Juan González de la Puente, it is one of the richest sources of Augustinian history in New Spain.
Basalenque describes in considerable detail such subjects as catechetical methods, towns and schools founded for the Indians, hospitals and convents established, and administration of both the order and the Indian communities. The Augustinians were the first religious order in New Spain to send missionaries to the Philippines, and Basalenque devotes several pages to their work there.
Although the Historia is divided into three libros which follow one another chronologically, the author skips around frequently from period to period and year to year. It should be remembered, however, that this is a characteristic of many works of this nature, and that the seventeenth century was not as concerned with time as is the twentieth.
Basalenque cites Grijalva’s important Crónica de la orden de N.P.S. Agustín. . . . (México, 1624) as one of his sources. He does not choose to acknowledge his debt to González de la Puente upon whose Primera parte de la Crónica agustiana de Mechoacán (México, 1624) the Historia is largely based. This is not to say that Basalenque’s work lacks originality or its own particular value. The author knew many of the important figures in the history of the province. He was himself an active participant in the events he describes, being prior of convents in San Luis and Valladolid. From 1623 to 1626 he was provincial of the order in Michoacán. He was experienced in working with the Indians and wrote a Tarascan grammar published in Mexico in 1714.
The present edition is not based on the original, as one might expect, but rather on the second edition published by La Voz de México in 1886. Spelling and punctuation, which were not changed in the 1886 edition, have been modernized in the present one. An introduction, notes, and index by José Bravo Ugarte are included. In the introduction Bravo Ugarte indicates the place of Basalenque’s work in the literature on the Augustinians and gives a brief biography of the author. He rightly points out the grace and beauty of Basalenque’s style but is perhaps overly enthusiastic when he says that the Historia makes little use of González de la Puente as a source. The notes are informative though not as numerous as one might wish. The index is wholly inadequate, usually indicating only the first page of reference and never more than two page references for persons and places mentioned throughout the book. The text itself, however, is faithful to the original, and because both the earlier editions are rare, Editorial Jus has made a valuable contribution to the study of early Mexican history in republishing it.
