The Suma y epíloga de toda la descripción de Tlaxcala is a previously unpublished fragment of a relación geográfica of Tlaxcala. The draft manuscript, 69 folios in length, was discovered by Wayne Ruwet in 1982 among a collection of Mexican documents in the library of the Bible Society in London. In his introduction to this book, Ruwet relates the convoluted and fascinating history of this unusual manuscript collection and provides information on its other manuscripts, including, among other things, the Crónica mexicáyotl.
Andrea Martínez Baracs contributes a sharply focused critical essay that clarifies the origin and dating of the manuscript and points out some of its more interesting and valuable features. Dated to 1588-89, the orthography of the Suma y epíloga matches that of the great Tlaxcalan chronicler Diego Muñoz Camargo; and Martínez cautiously concludes that the author of the Suma y epíloga and the author of the Historia de Tlaxcala and the Descripción de la ciudad y provincia de Tlaxcala are one and the same.
As Martínez explains, the Suma y epíloga appears to be the second part of a draft version of a relación geográfica of Tlaxcala. The manuscript is missing its final section, but Martínez believes that this loss is relatively insignificant. Martínez poses an intriguing mystery in observing that the Suma y epíloga does not follow the 1577 questionnaire of the relaciones geográficas, and although the author refers to an instrucción to which he responded, its origin and nature remain uncertain. Nevertheless, Martínez avers, the Suma y epíloga, in the way it follows a prepared set of questions, appears to be much more like a relación geográfica than the Descripción.
As for content, the Suma y epíloga presents a richly textured picture of Tlaxcala in the late sixteenth century. In addition to geographical descriptions, it includes detailed data on economic production and a great deal of social and political information on both native and Spanish inhabitants. Especially interesting is the list of Spanish vecinos of the province, their occupations, and their economic activities. Churches, monasteries, and religious activity also receive fairly detailed description and commentary. In addition, the document is laced with interesting tidbits on a wide range of topics.
The Suma y epíloga will be most useful, of course, to scholars working on sixteenth-century central Mexico; but all specialists in colonial Latin America will profit from the study of this source.
