Collective Franciscan Letters. Friar Toribio de Benavente Motolinia's Epistolario

El Epistolario de fray Toribio de Benavente Motolinía

Abstract

The individual and collective letters sent from Nova Spain by the missionary friars during the period of evangelization conform a unique archive which has not been wholly gathered and is scattered around different libraries and collections across the world and therefore it is not yet systematized or analyzed in a manner that focuses on its relevance, the information it provides and its enunciative positioning. In this article I analize the ten collective letters sent to the emperor and viceroy in which Franciscan Friar Toribio de Benavente Motolinia participates together with other friars. In these letters, the denunciation of the injustices against the indigenous people, the apathy of the religious people that goes against the evangelization, the defens of the Franciscan work in the New World and the king's petition for more presence and involvement are the main engines of a controversial and interesting collection of letters which is fundamental for studying colonial literature.