Encomenderas in Iberian America
Male encomenderos and female encomenderas occupied the top social echelons in the Iberian New World. They held encomiendas—Spanish-introduced grants of free Indian labour and tribute with which the Crown rewarded conquistadors of new lands—in return for defending the realm and evangelising Indians under their control.12 An encomendera could be either the wife of an encomendero or the grant-holder in her own right.
Both indigenous and Spanish women inherited encomiendas from their husbands. By 1583 there were sixty encomenderas in Peru, a clear indicator of the significance of this institution as a power base for women. Three were of the royal blood of the Incas, while the rest were Spanish. Dona Beatriz Ysasaga, daughter of the Inca ruler Atahuallpa, became one of the richest women in colonial Peru, holding 9,434 encomienda Indians. Dona Beatriz Clara Coya, daughter of Sayri Tupac, the last ^apac Inca, inherited four of the richest encomiendas in Peru, given to her father for surrendering to the Spaniards in 1558, with an annual income of between 10,000 and 20,000 pesos.13 In Mexico, as in Peru, the Crown bestowed encomiendas on indigenous noblewomen and promoted their incorporation into colonial society through marriage to elite Spanish men.Sexual liaisons with the already married conquistadors Cortes and Pizarro led several indigenous women to become encomenderas. Such was the case of Techichopotzin, a daughter of the Aztec emperor Moteucqoma, in Mexico, and Quispi Sisa, a sister of Ata- huallpa, in Peru. They became part of the colonial elite, not least by giving birth to the conquerors’ children. Moteucqoma offered Techichopotzin in marriage to Cortes, who took three of the defeated Aztec ruler’s daughters into his custody. Techichopotzin, baptised with the name of Dona Isabel, became his mistress and bore him a daughter.14 She received, in her own right, a wealthy encomienda.
Cortes arranged her marriage to the nobleman Alonso de Grado. Having previously been married to her father’s three successor rulers, who all died during the Spanish conquest, the serial widow Techichopotzin married two other Spaniards. Her children from her three Spanish marriages became part of the colonial nobility of Mexico—a remarkable journey for a woman from the ranks of the defeated.15 Marriages between noblewomen and Spaniards attracted by their rich dowries occurred throughout Iberian America and Brazil.Similar circumstances allowed the Inca noblewoman (nustd) Quispi Sisa, baptised as Dona Ines, to become an encomendera. After she became Francisco Pizarro’s concubine and bore two children (Francisca and Gonzalo), the conquistador arranged her marriage to Francisco de Ampuero, who received an encomienda. Francisca Pizarro inherited two encomiendas, as well as rule over three cacicazgos, and thus became the richest woman in Peru. The Crown ordered Francisca’s exile in 1550 to prevent anti-monarchical schemes inspired by her illustrious ancestry. The 17-year-old embarked for Spain in 1551 never to see Peru again.16 The presence of indigenous encomenderas until the demise of encomiendas after independence in 1824 indicates that the exercise of power and authority remained open to colonised women, although only under exceptional circumstances.17
In 1541, King Charles I of Spain awarded grants of nobility to men and women of the Inca elite, recognising their royal lineage as equivalent to the Spanish noble title of hidalgo, by virtue of their direct descent from any Inca emperor. Women’s noble titles of coya, nusta and palla continued to be recognised by the Spanish legal system throughout the colonial era, with the title of ‘Dona’. Moreover, after some indigenous noblewomen became victims of lustful and rapacious conquistadors, the Crown sought to protect them from further exploitation. Two royal decrees of 1541 ordered them to be placed in the care of married Spanish women, who would instruct them on how to become good Spanish wives and Christians.
They were given a suitable dowry to attract Spanish husbands, with the Crown retaining a veto over their selection so as to prevent the return of their assets to indigenous hands.18 Having an elite Indian mother and a Spanish father carried some cachet among the nobility and proved no impediment to social advancement.Less common in the colonial history is the elevation of non-elite women into positions of power. No other woman, however noble and wealthy, managed to attain the iconic status of Malintzin or La Malinche (baptised as Dona Marina), one among the women given as servants to Cortes in Campeche. In his chronicle of the conquest of Mexico, the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo argued that Malintzin had been heir to a cacicazgo but, after her father’s death, her mother had sold her into servitude to allow her stepbrother to rule in her place. The trajectory of Malintzin, who became the cultural broker par excellence of the conquest, illustrates the potential for social and political advancement through personal talents and agency. Owing to her linguistic ability, which earned her the nickname ‘La Lengua’ (The Tongue)—she spoke Nahuatl and several Maya dialects, and, within months of joining the Spaniards, Spanish—and perhaps her elite upbringing, she became Cortes’ inseparable interpreter, sexual companion and mother to his son.19 In 1525 Cortes oversaw her Catholic marriage to one of his men, who received a wealthy encomienda. They had a daughter, but Malintzin did not live long to enjoy her encomendera status; she died around 1527. In declaring that Malintzin held command over absolutely all the Indians in New Spain, Diaz del Castillo pointed out the power amassed by a woman initially presented as a servant to Cortes.20