Ni con pequeño trabajo, ni con pequeño favor de Dios. Fray Pedro Aguado y Fray Antonio de Medrano frente a la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada 1550-1582

Abstract

Taking a trip into unfamiliar territory usually brings a lot of uncertainty, as well as high expectations. When we arrive at the place we want to keep all the images in mind to try to repeat each step when we narrate our adventure. This, apparently, was the same sensation experienced by the chroniclers who came to the mainland of the New World in the early years of the conquest. When we read the writings of those who came to evangelize and conquer these lands, we take a trip back in time, recreating what the authors lived through with the images that are formed with their descriptions. To that extent, facing a historical text involves asking various types of questions. In the first place, how its reading is assumed depending on the interest of the researcher. Second, considering that written texts are sources of information, what type of source are they. And finally, it is necessary to take into account the discipline from which the text is analyzed.

The interest of this work is centered in a chronicle of the first years of the conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada. The text written by Fray Pedro Aguado and Fray Antonio de Medrana will be taken as a "chronicle", according to the discussion that has been generated around the classification of the texts that were written during the time of the conquest and the Spanish colony. between the 16th and 18th centuries. For example, we can cite the work of José Carlos González Boixo, who from the literature has made an attempt to classify them. The author states that the fact that the Spanish Crown created the title of "chronicler of the Indies" already implied that those who dedicated themselves to this task were producing chronicles. However, it is necessary to dig a little deeper into this definition. In this work it is stated that the terms "chronicle" and "chronicler", being of medieval origin, lose their meaning from the 16th century on. Survival must be explained by the official character that the Crown gives to the position of "chronicler" until the 18th century (González Boixo 1999,227-237; Mignolo, 352-402).