This volume is a collection of ten letters written from a Mexico City jail in 1533 and 1534 by the encomendero Juan Infante to his mayordomo, Cristóbal de Cáceres. Warren’s introduction provides biographical detail on Infante and a brief commentary on the letters. Not a participant in the conquest, Infante received the encomienda of Comanja, northeast of Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán, as a political favor.
The letters, now in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, are full of Infante’s advice to Cáceres concerning tribute collections and the raising of pigs for sale in Mexico City and other markets. They reveal the contentious spirit of Infante, who angered Bishop Vasco de Quiroga for fraudulently aggrandizing his encomienda holdings, stubbornly forbade his Indians to assist in building a Franciscan monastery, and struggled to protect his claims against those of rival encomendero Francisco de Villegas. His inability to supervise his encomienda in person proved frustrating; Cáceres failed to answer his letters or to send funds to secure his release from jail.
In collecting and publishing Infante’s letters, Warren has given us a rare and fascinating glimpse into the activities of early encomenderos.
