Almost every modern author has written on Diego de Landa. More than 10 editions of his manuscript undoubtedly prove the immense importance of his work, and we frequently use him as a source for our study. We made even an authorized facsimile edition for mayanists, historians, ethnographers, paleographers, etc. Therefore it is necessary to give some background information on his work and life. Brasseur de Bourbourg expresses his views on Landa in his "Avant-propos" of the first edition of the manuscript (Landa, 1864:vii-viii. Bowditch 1910:7-10. See also Tozzer 1941:vii-x, 77-85, Genet 1934, Cogolludo, and Lizana):

"Landa has in turn been considered a saint and an odious persecutor. According to Cogolludo, his first biographer, he died in the odor of sanctity, and according to another biography, inserted as an appendix to the second edition of Cogolludo, published at Campeche in 1842, he is stigmatized as a fanatical, extravagant and cruel man. But if circumstances and the times which also make men, it is often the circumstances and the times which also make their reputation.

Of the two biographers of Landa, one exagerates his faults, which shocks us of this age and especially the liberal writers of Yucat n, but which, nevertheless, were virtues in the eyes of Spaniards of earlier times. In order to appreciate Landa's true character, it is only necessary to run through what he accomplished. He had a severe character, but an investigating one, wiser than one would think, and sincerely friendly to the natives, whom he protected constantly from the violent acts of the conquerers.

From the point of view in which he placed himself, he may well be excused for having delivered to the flames so many statues and valuable documents, a fact which he acknowledges most ingenously. In doing this he was no more culpable than Zumarraga in Mexico and Las Casas in Guatemala. But in the midst of this excess of zeal, which we deplore so much today, Landa rendered an immense service to historical science in compiling the precious information which we publish here, and in preserving the characters of the Maya alphabet. His book wipes out over and over again his faults, which were those of his century; for it is the key of American inscriptions; without it they would have remained an enigma, perhaps forever, like the hieroglyphs of Egypt before the discovery of the Rosetta stone and the splendid work of Champollion."

Landa (or the copyist) must have written his manuscript after 1555 for another good reason: by official decision, starting with January 1, 1556, New Year for Spain and Portugal began on January 1st. In his manuscript he begins indeed his example of the Indian year with January first. The text is written in 3 different handwritings. With the exception of Sahagún, there is no other manuscript of New Spain which adequately covers a similar range of subjects. Landa present almost every phase of the social anthropology of the ancient Mayas, the history of the Spanish discovery and conquest, the native and ecclesiastical history, religion and rituals, and the first knowledge of the hieroglyphic writing.

Diego de Landa of the noble house of Calderon, was born in Alcarria (Toledo, Spain) on November 12, 1524. At the age of 16 he became franciscan in 1541 at the Convent of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo. At that time it was a custom that the friars took the name of a town or place who was important in their life, such as : Pedro de Gante, Andrès de Bruselas, Bernardino de Sahagún, Antonio de Ciudad Real...

In 1972 we found in the "Diccionario coriográfico" a village with the name Landa, at 16 km of Vitória and 3 km of Arrazua-Ubarrindia, 250 km north of Cifuentes, in the Province Alava in Spain. Miek and Suzanne Malfliet, two members of the "Flemish Institute for American Cultures", visited this region and they say that it is now submerged because of the construction of a dam. What was the connection Landa (man) - Landa (village) ?

In 1549 Fray Diego de Landa accompanied Fray Nicolas de Albate and 5 other friars to Yucatán. (The 5 other friars are: Alonso de Alvarado, Francisco Navaro, Antonio de Valdemoro, Antonio Figueras, and Pedro Noriega)

In the year of his arrival he was assigned to the newly founded mission of and he was appointed as assistant to the Guardian. At the same time he was a teacher with already many pupils. Landa tells us that in that same year the Indians, "to oblige us", gave one of the ancient constructions at Izamal as a place for a monastery.

Late in 1550 he was elected custodio, and he was sent to Guatemala to represent the Yucatecan Franciscans before the President and Audiencia. Returning to Yucatán, he brought with him the famous statue known as "Our Lady of Izamal".

For some time Landa lived at the Convent of Conkal. In 1553 he became guardian, or official head of the convent at Izamal. He was in charge of building the monastery "because up to now there were some little houses of straw in which the clergy lived". In the same year he supported many Indians in the great famine.

He worked up from 4th "Definidor" of the Province to the 1st in 1556. The "definidors" were elected by the Chapter to assist or advise the "provincial" or "custodio". There were usually 4 of these, normally serving for 3 years.

In 1560 he was appointed President of the "Capítulo", and he became "guardian" of the convent in Mérida.

The first "Capítulo Provincial" was celebrated in Mérida on September 13, 1561, under the presidency of Francisco de la Torre, and Landa was elected as the first "Ministro Provincial" and first "definidor" of the new Franciscan province of St. Jozef of Yucatán and Guatemala. This Province had been separated in 1559 from the Mexican Provincia Santo Evangelio (Holy Gospel).

The following Spring, evidence of idolatry came to light. This resulted in the famous inquisitorial proceeding against the Yucatecan Indians. Prior to the arrival of Bishop Toral, the heads (Comisario, Custodio or Provincial) of the Franciscan order served as governing prelates for the whole body of the Church of Yucat n, with authority to serve as ecclesiastical judges and to perform all episcopal functions, except those that could be exercised only by a consecrated bishop. This was established by various papal bulls, notably the "Exponi Nobis" of Adrian VI, dated May 10, 1522.

Under Landa's auspicies as prelate, the investigation was carried out with considerable severity. He made an Inquisition followed by the famous "auto de fé" (techichinoliztli) of San Miguel de Maní on Sunday, July 12, 1562. He destroyed statues and burned a large number of books. He said:

We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which there were not to been seen superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction.

It is a fact that the destruction of the manuscripts was so radical, that only three Maya codices survived, all to be found in Europe. Lizana and Cogolludo (1633, Pt. 12, VI:5 and 1688, 6, I) are the first authors to speak of the burning of books at Maní in 1562.

Lizana after relating the discovery of the idols in the cave and of Landa being called to Maní, writes :

"Thus he collected the books and the ancient writing and he commanded them burned and tied up. They burned many historical books of the ancient Yucatan which told of its beginning and history, which were of much value if, in our writing, they had been translated because today there would be something original. At best there is no great authority for more than the traditions of these Indians."

And Cogolludo writing later, says of this "auto de fé" at Maní :

"With the suspicion of this idolatry, they collected all the books and ancient writings which the Indians had and in order to erase all the danger and memory of their ancient rites, as many as they were able to find were burned publicly on the day of the "auto" and at the same time with this (were destroyed) the history of their antiquities."

Another early authority was Acosta (1590, 6, VI), who writes :

"In the province of Iucatan, where is the so-called Bishopric of Honduras, there used to exist some books of leaves, bound or folded after fashion, in which the learned Indians kept the distribution of their times and the knowledge of plants, animals and other things of nature and the ancient customs, in a way of great neatness and carefullness."

It appeared to a teacher of doctrine that this must be to make witchcraft and magic art; he contended that they should be burned and those books were burned and afterwards not only the Indians but many eager-minded Spaniards who desired to know the secrets of that land felt badly.

The same has happened in other cases were our people, thinking that all is superstition, have lost many memories of ancient and hidden things which they might have used to no little advantage. This follows from a stupid zeal, when without knowing or even wishing to know the things of the Indies, they say as in the sealed package, that everything is sorcery and that the peoples there are only a drunken lot and what can they know or understand. The ones who have wished earnestly to be informed of these have found many things worthy of consideration.

Speaking of the Maya codices, Ciudad Real (1588 1932:314) adds in the Ponce " Relación", an interesting detail :

"Afterwards some of our friars understood and knew how to read them, and even wrote them, but because in these books were mixed many things of idolatry, they burned almost all of them, and thus was lost the knowledge of many ancient matters of that land which by them could have been known. It is shocking to realize that some friars could read and write the Maya hieroglyphs, and that we ourselves have been studying already all a century long to know so little of the writing system. We have to find the note-books of these friars in order to move ahead faster."

Previously Yucatán was included in the Diocese of Chiapas, established in 1538. The first Bishop of Chiapas, Juan de Artega, never visited Yucatán. His successor, Las Casas, was in Campeche for 2 weeks in January 1545, on his way to Chiapas. In 1547 Montejo, the "cabildo" of Mérida, and the Franciscans asked the Crown to name a bishop for Yucatán."

By a "Cedula" of 1552 the King named Fray Juan de San Francisco as first Bishop of Yucatán. Prefering the appointement of "Ministro Provincial" of the province of Santo Evangelio, he resigned the bishopric. Fray Juan de la Puerta was then appointed Bishop on July 17, 1555. He died before he was able to take office. From 1545 to 1562, when Toral arrived in Yucatán, the ecclesiastical affairs were in the hands of the "prelados".

Francisco Toral came to México in 1542. He was the third person who was appointed Bishop of Yucatán and Campeche. He was consecrated in 1562. Toral had an important part to play in the adjustement of difficulties regarding Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. He ordered him to write his famous " Historia ..." in Nahuatl and Spanish, and even assisted him in many ways. Maybe he also ordered Landa to write his " Relación ...".

Then came the well known bitter Toral-Landa controversy. Toral arrived in Yucatán on August 14, 1562, just after the famous "auto de fé" at Mani, full of prejudice against Landa, disapproving his methods of christianization and "stupid zeal".

At the end of March or early in April 1563, after preparing a "Probanza" and presenting his resignation as Provincial, Landa set out for Mexico and Spain to seek redress from the Bishop's attitude. Of course Landa took with him on his trip a mass of notes and documents to defend himself. This means , that his notes concerning the calendar, date from before April 1563, which is important to know.

On February 26, 1564, just before Landa's departure for Spain, and naturally unknown to him, Toral orders were dispatched to various officials in Mexico and in Yucatán, demanding that Landa and other friars, who had taken part in the Maní investigations, should be sent to Spain together with all the documents concerning the case. It took Landa almost a year and a half to reach eventually Spain in October 1564. He was shipwrecked and also delayed by a serious illness. In the copy of the manuscript of Landa (1941:80-84) we read:

"... At this time, there arrived at Campeche Fray Francisco Toral, a Franciscan friar, a native of Ubeda, who had been 20 years in the (bishopric) of Mexico, and who came now as Bishop of Yucatán. He, on the information given him by the Spaniards and on the complaints of the Indians, undid what the friars had done and ordered the prisoners to be set at liberty. And the provincial (Landa) took offense and determined to go to Spain, carrying his complaints in the first place to Mexico. And so he came to Madrid, where the members of the Council of the Indies censured him severely on account of his having usurped the office of Bishop and Inquisitor. He alleged as his plea the powers which his Order had received for those countries from Pope Adrian, at the request of the Emperor, and the aid which the Royal Audiencia of the Indies had ordered to be given him, similar to that which had been given to the bishops."

And the members of the Council showed still more irritation at these excuses, and resolved to send him and his papers and those which the bishop had sent against the friars to Fray Pedro de Bobadilla, the provincial of Castile, to whom the King wrote, giving him orders to look into the matter and to do justice. And this Fray Pedro, on account of sickness, intrusted the examination of these procedings to Fray Pedro de Guzman, one of his own order, a man learned and well experienced in matters connected with the inquisition. There were presented the opinions of 7 learned men of the kingdom of Toledo, ...., who declared that the provincial had acted justly in making the "auto de fé", and also in the other things which he had done in punishment of the Indians...

After reviewing the case, the Council of the Indies remitted it to the Franciscan provincial of Castile, and in January 1569, Landa was acquitted and formerly absolved of the charges against him. Moreover, he received in the convent of San Juan de la Cabrera a 'Real Cédula', saying that he was appointed Bishop on April 30, 1572 by Philip II, one year after the death of his bitter enemy Toral in Mexico in April 1571. The bulls of Gregorio XIII of 15 and 16 november give all the details concerning the election and relative explanations. In 1572 he sailed away, with 30 franciscans and fray Pedro de Cardete as 'comisario', from Sevilla for Yucatan.

He wrote certainly his manuscript in Spain in 1566, and undoubtedly he brought it to Yucatán after his exoneration and election as Bishop. Setting out from Spain in 1572, he arrived at Campeche in October 1573, accompanied by 30 friars whom his friend Philip II had alloted him. The natives gave him a great welcome.

Landa died in Mérida, April 29, 1579, at the age of 54, in a katun 7 Ahau, as we can read twice in the Chilam Balam book of Chumayel :" Vuc ahau : cimci obispo de Landa. Uuc Ahau : machabi u tunil lae, lay u Katunil cimci Obispo de Landa lae, tixuli uhel obispoxani." He was buried in the local Church of San Francisco, his bones were transfered to the tomb of his fathers in the village of Cifuentes, Spain. After his death, his manuscript was conserved in the Franciscan Convent at Mérida, and it is certain that copies of his work were sent to Spain, for the fact is mentionned in the "Relación de Chunchucha", dated 1581.

It is interesting to quote here Miguel Rivera's "Introducción" of his Landa edition (1985:25-26):

"Desde el convento de San Francisco de la capital yucateca los restos del prelado fueron traslados a España casi siglo y medio después, suponiéndose que quien se hizo cargo de ello fue su pariente don Diego Ladrón de Guevara Orozco Calderón, obispo de Panam  y virrey del Perú, que, auque fallecido en México en 1718, tal vez pudo dejar terminados los arreglos pertinentes. El académico de la Historia don Juan Catalina Garca descubrió el enterramiento de Landa en una excursión que le llevo a Cifuentes y sus inmediaciones, dando cuenta del hallazgo en el tomo 16 del 'Boletín' de la Academia con estas palabras: Al entrar en una de las capillas del templo (parroquial de El Salvador de Cifuentes) a la cual llaman de los Calderones o de Cerecedo, mis ojos puse en un nicho abierto a bastante altura en la pared de la derecha como se entra en la capilla.... Pero a la hora satisfizo mi curiosidad una inscripción abierta sobre una losilla de alabstro, en que léi lo siguiente/ "Aqui están colocados los guesos del Illmo. Sr. D. Fr. Diego de Landa Calderón, Obispo de Yucatán. Murió año de 1572. Fue sexto nieto de D. Iban de Quitós Calderón que fundó esta capilla, año 1342, como consta de la fundación..."

This sepulchre was destroyed during the civil war of 1936. There is a modern statue of Diego de Landa on the plaza of Izamal where he was guardian.

Diego de Landa gave us the symbols of days and months, as well as a so-called alphabet and a first knowledge of the hieroglyphic writing system in the Mayan pictorial manuscripts. Landa tells us of his intimacy with Don Juan (Nachi) Cocom, the halach uinic or "true man" of the Province of Sotuta, but another interesting source of information was certainly a native interpreter, Gaspar Antonio Chi, who was converted at the age of 15 and educated by the Franciscans. His Indian name was Na Xiu Chi and his Spanish name Don Gaspar Antonio de Herrera, after his teacher father de Herrera (see Genet). In Genet's "Landa" (1928 I:15-17) we read : :

"... Gaspar Antonio Chi, de son nom indigène Na Xiu Chi, tait né à Mani ou dans les environs de cette ville, vers l'année 1531. Il était le petit-fils, par sa mère, du roi de Mani, Na Moochan Xiu, qui règna dans les premières années du xvie siècle. Le père d'Antonio Chi, nommé Na Puc Chi, était Ah Kulul, ou grand prêtre, de Mani. Il devait mourir dans le guet-apens de Otzmal, le 29 août 1536, laissant plusieurs enfants dont notre historien, âgé alors de 5 ans environ. A l'arrivée des Espagnols, la plupart des seigneurs de Mani s'étant converti au christianisme, le jeune Antonio fut, à l'âge de 15 ans, confié aux religieux; il suivit notamment l'enseignement du père de Herrera dont il prit le nom et c'est ainsi que les sources espagnoles le désignent parfois sous le nom de Gaspar de Herrera. Connaissant le maya, le nahuatl et l'espagnol, Antonio Chi devint le secrétaire des conquérants et un grand nombre de documents de l'époque sont écrits de sa main ou portent sa signature.

C'est ainsi que pour les Pech il rédigea les chroniques de Chac-Xulub-Chen, de Yaxkukul et différents autres documents datant de 1553, pour les Espagnols; il prit part à la rédaction des procès-verbaux relatifs aux limites de la province de Mani (1556), à la composition de la "Relación de la ciudad de Mérida" (1579) et á celles des villes de Chunchuchu y Taby, de Quinacama o Moxopipe, de Tecauto y Tepacan, de Zan, Panabachen y Mona, de Tecal, de Cicontun, de Quizil y Sitipeche, de Quitelcam y Cabiche, de Zucal y Chalante, de Izamal y Santa Maria, de Teav y Tec y Tiscolum, toutes ces relations datant de 1581... (Voir Genet: La chronique d'Antonio Chi, Introduction).

Dans la "Colleción de documentos ineditos", 2e série t. XI:264, on dit clairement d'Antonio Chi "que Francisco Toral et Diego de Landa faisaient grand cas de lui et le tenaient en haute estime comme la personne la plus docte dans les coutumes et particularités des anciens temps".

Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar (1892 XX:295) says of Antonio Chi that he was the son of Kinchi :

"... Yo le conoci Organista en esta santa Iglesia, y despues Interprete general del Governador. Defendia a los Indios en sus pleitos, e les hazia peticiones, o los componia. Llamanvase Gaspar Antonio de Herrera : fue hijo de un Sacerdote de su gentilidad llamado Kinchi, que fue muy leal vassalo de su Magestad, y de los primeros que dieron obediencia, y se bautizaron..."

Kinchi is maybe Ah Kin Chi, the high priest Chi. We do not know much about Landa's linguistic works. He was probably one of the first to open a school in the monastery of San Antonio at Izamal, where priests learned Mayathan, the language of the Maya. Cogolludo (1688 lib. v, cap. xiv) writes about him in regard to the language : "El que más prestó, y con mayor perfección la supo, fue el bendito Padre Fr. Diego de Landa, de quien se dize (no sin admiración) que a poco días la hablaba, y predicaba, como si fuera su lengua nativa".

LANDA'S ALPHABET

With regard to the so-called Maya alphabet we can quote Landa (1941:169-170) :

"These people also made use of certain characters or letters, with which they wrote in their books their ancient matters and their sciences, and by these and by drawings and by certain signs in these drawings, they understood their affairs and made others understand them and taught them. We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which there were not to be seen superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction. Of their letters I will give here an A, B, C, since their ponderousness does not allow anything more; for they use one character for all aspirations of their letters and afterwards another for joining the parts together, and thus they go on doing "ad infinitum", as can be seen in the following example: see Landa 45r

LE means a noose and to hunt with it; in order to write it with their characters, we have made them understand that there are two letters, they wrote it with three, putting as an aspiration of the l, the vowel, é, which it has before it; and in this way they are not mistaken, even though they should be employed in their skilful device, if they wish to. For example: see Landa 45r

Then they add at the end, the part which is joined. Ha means water, and, because the sound of the letter H has a h, in front of it, they write it at the beginning with a and at the end in this way, They also wrote it in parts, but in both ways. I should not place it here nor should I treat it, except to give a full account of the affairs of this people. Mainkati means "I do not wish"; they write it in parts in this way.

Here follows their a b c :see Landa 45r

This language is without the letters which are not given here, and it has others, which it has added from ours to represent other things of which it has need; but already they do not use at all these characters of theirs, especially the young people who have learned ours."

Landa told us here that the Maya hieroglyphic writing is composed of letras (letters), caracteres (characters), figuras (figures) "which the writings signified", and señales (signs).

On July 12, 1562, Landa held at Mani (Yucatán) his famous "auto de fé". Bernardino de Lizana (1633 Historia general de las Indias ... y la conquista de México y de la Nueva España, Zaragoza) was the first author to write about the burning of books at Mani :

"... Thus he collected the books and the ancient writing and he commanded them burned and tied up. They burned many historical books of the ancient Yucatan which told of its beginning and history, which were of much value if, in our writing, they had been translated because today there would be something original. At best there is no great authority for more than the traditions of these Indians..."

Diego Lopez Cogolludo (1688 Historia de Yucatan, Madrid) followed Lizana, saying :

"... With the suspicion of this idolatry, they collected all the books and ancient writings which the Indians had and in order to erase all the danger and memory of their ancient rites, as many as they were able to find were burned publicly on the day of the "auto" and at the same time with this (were destroyed) the history of their antiquities..."

The Maya alphabet according to Diego de Landa, cannot have been a real alphabet. This is demonstrated by the fact that there are: 3 x A, 2 x B, 2 x L, 2 x O, 2 x K, 2 x Q, 2 x X, and 2 x U.

Many researchers tried to decipher Maya writing without success. They relied on the Landa-alphabet, which was not sufficient for the deciphering.

Yet the author of this book could benefit from this alphabet and the characters for days and months, be it from a different point of view : the thorough, comparative phonetic analysis. They are probably the initial letters of syllables or short words. Some can be explained as follows :

• a = the head of a turtle, ac or aac in Mayathan;
  
• b = bé = road = foot print between two lines (road);
  
• t = ch = ché = tree; in fact it is the 'ch-sound;
  
• ca = k = camil = death = closed eyes;
  
• h = is in fact the (h)ex, the loin cloth for men;
  
• o = on = avocado-pear (upper part of the glyph);
  
• pp = b = road;
  
• cu = is the day glyph cauac;
  
• x = xaman = Polaris, Polar Star; north;
  
• u = uooh = character...

Landa (1941:27-9) also tells us something else about the Mayan writings:

"... The natives of Yucatan were as attentive to the matters of religion as to those of the government, and they had a high priest whom they called Ah Kin May (*) and by another name Ahau Can Mai (9), which means the Priest Mai, or the High-Priest Mai. He was very much respected by the lords and had no "repartimiento" of Indians, but besides the offerings, the lords made him presents and all the priests of the towns brought contributions to him, and his sons or his nearest relatives succeeded him in his office.

In him was the key of their learning and it was to these matters that they dedicated themselves mo- stly; and they gave advice to the lords and replies to their questions. He seldom dealt with matters pertaining to the sacrifices except at the time of the principal feasts or in very important matters of business.

They provided priests for the towns when they were needed, examining them in the sciences and ceremonies, and commited to them the duties of their office, and the good example to people and provided them with books and set them forth. And they employed themselves in the duties of the temples and in teaching their sciences as well as in writing books about them. They taught the sons of the priests and the second sons of the lords who brought them for this purpose from their infancy, if they saw that they had an inclination for this profession.

The sciences which they taught were the computation of the years, months and days, the festivals and ceremonies, the administration of the sacraments, the fateful days and seasons, their methods of divination and their prophecies, events and the cures for diseases, and their antiquities and how to read and write with the letters and the characters, with which they wrote, and drawings which illustrate the meaning of the writings.

Their books were written on a large sheet doubled in folds, which was enclosed entirely between two boards which they decorated, and they wrote on both sides in columns following the order of the folds. And they made this paper of the roots of a tree and gave it a white gloss upon which it was easy to write. And some of the principal lords learned about these sciences from curiosity and were very highly thought of on this account although they never made use of them publicly."

(*) Ahau Kin means "he of the sun"-. He is an astronomer and astrologer in the first place and he is also a high-priest. There were 4 functions of Ahau Can or Ahau Tzab Can for the 4 world directions :

1. Zac Ahaucan = white Ahaucan, for the north;
2. Ek Ahaucan = black Ahaucan, for the west;
3. Chac Ahaucan = red Ahaucan, for the east; and,
4. Kan Ahaucan = yellow Ahaucan, for the south.

RESUMEN

• 1524 nacimiento en Cifuentes de Alcarria, España;
  
• 1541 ingreso a la orden de Menores, San Juan de los Reyes, Toledo;
  
• 1549 llegada a Yucatan;
  
• 1552 Guardián de Izamal.
  
• 1556 Custodio de Yucatán.
  
• 1560 Guardián de Mérida.
  
• 1561 Provincial.
  
• 1572 Obispo de Yucatán.
  
• 1579 29 de abril, muerte.

SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR, Pedro
1639 Informe contra idolorum cultores de Obispado de Yucatan, Madrid; 2nd ed. Anales del Museo Nacional, México vol. 6, 1892:15-122.

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