Гаспар Перес де Вильягра: Хроникер Новой Испании и Нью-Мексико

Spanish explorer

Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá (1555–1620) was a captain and legal officer (procurador general) in the Juan de Oñate expedition that first colonized Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1598. Between 1601 and 1603, he served as the Alcalde mayor of the Guanacevi mines in what is now the Mexican state of Durango. He is better known for his authorship of Historia de la Nueva México, published in 1610. He was born in Puebla de Los Angeles, New Spain. His father, Hernan Peréz de Villagrá was a Spaniard while his mother's identity remains unknown. He received the opportunity to study in Europe and received a bachelor of letters degree from the University of Salamanca in the early 1570s, where he studied Greek and Roman historians and rhetoricians after which he returned to New Spain.

Known not only as one of the early chroniclers of the conquest of the Americas but as one of the forerunners of Latino literature in the United States for his epic poem Historia de la Nueva México, Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá was born in Puebla de Los Ángeles (near México city) in 1555. His father, Hernan Pérez de Villagrá, was a Spaniard from Campos de Villagrán. Although Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá was Criollo by birth, his generation of Spaniards born in the New World did not feel any less Spanish than those born in Spain. Little is known about his youth or his early adulthood. He was, however, part of the small group of privileged Criollos who studied in Spain, obtaining his degree from the University of Salamanca. It is not known when Pérez de Villagrá returned to New Spain, but it must have been prior to his association with Don Juan de Oñate, in 1596. He was made captain and legal officer of Juan de Oñate's expedition into New Mexico.

In 1579 an Indian captive, held in Santa Bárbara, spoke of big cities beyond the Chihuahua desert. The news reached the Franciscan Friar Agustín Rodríguez, who conveyed the news to the viceroy. This was the beginning of a series of expeditions that would lead to Oñate's request to conquer and govern New México in 1595. His request for the expedition was approved in 1598 by the viceroy. Oñate's expedition in 1598 was perhaps the best prepared, and his purpose was not only to capture the riches but also to establish a colony with his important force of settlers. Oñate's expedition, comprising about 400 participants, initiated its journey from the state of Zacatecas in northern México. After various impediments, mostly of a political nature, the expedition was able to depart on January 26, 1598, and work its way through mountainous terrain, deserts, and raging rivers. After many hair raising and near death adventures, the expedition was finally able to cross the turbulent and rapidly flowing waters of the Rio Grande River at what today is El Paso, Texas, in July 1598. In an act of thanksgiving, Oñate ordered a Mass to be said, after which the men and women relaxed by watching a play written by one of the soldiers for the occasion; this was the first Western European drama performed in the United States. These secular dramas, such as Los Moros y Cristianos, were performed in part as a strategy to demonstrate the mighty power of the Spanish Empire to the astounded Indian masses who marvelled at the deafening sound of the firing cannons. The expedition established its headquarters in San Juan, and from there Oñate sent Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá and his other captains into expeditions in search of towns, riches, and resources. The first Spanish settlers in New Mexico moved from San Juan in 1598, to the river valley settlement of San Gabriel in 1601, then to a spot twenty miles south at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, named Santa Fe in 1607. Oñate was also known for his brutality toward the Indians, and soon the Pueblo, who were subjugated, mistreated, their food stolen, and their lands taken away in the name of the king of Spain, began to rebel. Soon thereafter, in 1599, the deadly battle of Acoma transpired, where hundreds of the Native American population were massacred and driven from their homes, marking the defeat of the Pueblo and the triumph of the Spanish colonizers.

In 1610, Villagrá published his first literary work, Historia de la Nueva México, an epic poem that details the events of the Oñate Expedition in New Mexico, beginning with its march from Mexico City in 1596 and concluding with the Spaniard's attack on the Acoma Pueblo in 1599. '</blockquote>

The first edition of the poem was produced in an octavo text, consisting of 287 leaves of verse. The poem gained little notoriety and very few copies of the original exist today. In 1900, a facsimile reprint was published by the Museo Nacional de México; however, because the text was in Spanish, little academic attention was paid to it. In 1933 a translated, English version was produced by Gilberto Espinosa; since then the reputation of the poem has shifted and more admiration is paid to Villagrá's efforts, style, and historical contents. Historia de la Nueva México is now considered a valued part of colonial literature.

After he participated in the judgment of the people of Acoma, Villagrá wrote a second book, now rare: El Capitán Gaspar de Villagrá para justificarse de las muertes, justicias y castigos que el adelantado don Juan de Oñate dizen que hizo en la Nuevo México (Madrid, 1612). When translated, the title of his second literary work reads: Captain Gaspar de Villagrá to Justify the Deaths, Justices and Punishments that they say the Adelantado Don Juan de Oñate did in New Mexico, which clarifies his participation in the events that led to his expeditions many recriminations and strife. Information regarding this work remains elusive.

There are two forms of criticism that center around Historia de la Nueva México. The first form criticizes Villagrá's attempt to assimilate history with poetic aestheticism since he is restricted as an artist by the historical contents of the poem. Villagrá's limits himself in artistic form because he still must present the historical material chronologically and accurately; this format leaves little leeway for Gaspar to be creative. While his is trying to develop a literary work that can be compared with Homer and Virgil, the contents of the poem leaves him grounded to the facts. As historian Miguel Encinias suggests, "Villagrá's poem contains practically nothing that may be considered novelistic or fantastic." Villagrá envisions his work becoming a masterpiece, but ultimately fails to meet his expectations because of the conflict with its form. The second form of criticism finds Villagrá's overuse of classical and literary elements stifling and redundant. Encinias notes "the poem is overly filled, with poetic comparisons" and calls his use of the comma "burdensome excess." Villagrá's attempts to associate the people of the Oñate expedition with classical characters of Greek and Roman mythology becomes absurd by the overabundance of connotations he develops between them. This absurdity is further exacerbated by the abundance of commas he uses to create lengthy sentences. While the commas create momentary pauses of reflection, they hamper the pace of the poem, making it appear longer than it already is. Some critics have considered the Historia to be an advance to what would later become the historical novels of the 19th century Europe, but within the poetic tradition of the Renaissance. Although Pérez de Villagrá was in Spain at the same time that Cervantes published Don Quixote, it is not known if the authors had knowledge of each other's works. In recent years – and especially since the publication by the University of New Mexico Press of the critical edition of Historia de la Nueva México in 1992 – there has been an attempt to place Pérez de Villagrá as one of the foundational figures in the Latino literary tradition. He is untrustworthy when it comes to historical and chronological events, his depiction of the aboriginal population has been criticized as paternalistic, and as a poet Pérez de Villagrá can be uninspiring and repetitive. Still, his work announces some of the leitmotifs that would define the tradition for future generations, in particular from the late 19th century onward.