{"product_id":"child-martyrs-and-militant-evangelization-in-new-spain-missionary-narratives-nahua-perspectives-hardback-9781477330548","title":"Child Martyrs and Militant Evangelization in New Spain; Missionary Narratives, Nahua Perspectives (Hardback) 9781477330548","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eChild Martyrs and Militant Evangelization in New Spain\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eMissionary Narratives, Nahua Perspectives\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eStephanie Schmidt (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781477330548, University of Texas Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 8 April 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e224 pages, 10 b\u0026amp;w photos\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.426 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eThrough an incisive, stimulating, and enterprising analysis of Nahuatl-language manuscripts and other sources, \u003ci\u003eChild Martyrs and Militant Evangelization\u003c\/i\u003e in New Spain breathes new life into a canonical martyrdom account embraced, but also strategically repurposed, by missionaries and ecclesiastics to depict Indigenous Christianity in the early Americas.\u003c\/div\u003e - David Tavárez, Vassar College, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ritual Language, author of Rethinking Zapotec Time \u003cdiv\u003eDrawing on Nahuatl language sources and accounts from early missionaries, Stephanie Schmidt offers a nuanced analysis of the use of children in the early Franciscan missionary activities in Mexico. Using the account of the child martyrs of Tlaxcala, she probes the mentality of the friars as she considers opposing views such as that of the jurist and chronicler Alonso de Zorita. This is an excellent work that analyzes a critical aspect of the early evangelization of New Spain.\u003c\/div\u003e - John F. Schwaller, University at Albany (SUNY), author of The Stations of the Cross in Colonial Mexico: The Via crucis en mexicano by Fray Agustin de Vetancurt and the Spread of a Devotion \u003cdiv\u003eWith increasing frequency and effectiveness, scholars of early colonial Mexico are reinterpreting the history of contact through careful translation and analysis of Native-language documentation. Stephanie Schmidt’s engrossing study makes a new and insightful contribution to this critical turn. By calling attention to a little-known manuscript copy of a lost Nahuatl account of the killings of three Nahua youths in the 1520s, Schmidt effectively recontextualizes critical events in the early history of the church in Latin America. Her analysis superbly teases out the ways the text’s Nahua authors subtly injected Native perspectives, softened certain aspects of the better-known Spanish account, and couched the Christian message in language that would have been familar to and respectful of the ancestral traditions of the text’s Native audience. Schmidt’s skillful analysis testifies to the importance of Native-authored testimonies dating to the contested early moments of first contact.\u003c\/div\u003e - Ben Leeming, independent scholar, author of Aztec Antichrist: Performing the Apocalypse in Early Colonial Mexico\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eExamines the many iterations of a story of child martyrdom in colonial Mexico.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e A cornerstone of the evangelization of early New Spain was the conversion of Nahua boys, especially the children of elites. They were to be emissaries between Nahua society and foreign missionaries, hastening the transmission of the gospel. Under the tutelage of Franciscan friars, the boys also learned to act with militant zeal. They sermonized and smashed sacred objects. Some went so far as to kill a Nahua religious leader. For three boys from Tlaxcala, the reprisals were just as deadly. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e In \u003ci\u003eChild Martyrs and Militant Evangelization in New Spain\u003c\/i\u003e, Stephanie Schmidt sheds light on a rare manuscript about Nahua child converts who were killed for acts of zealotry during the late 1520s. This is the Nahuatl version of an account by an early missionary-friar, Toribio de Benavente MotolinÍa. To this day, Catholics venerate the slain boys as Christian martyrs who suffered for their piety. Yet Franciscan accounts of the boys’ sacrifice were influenced by ulterior motives, as the friars sought to deflect attention from their missteps in New Spain. Illuminating Nahua perspectives on this story and period, Schmidt leaves no doubt as to who drove this violence as she dramatically expands the knowledgebase available to students of colonial Latin America. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e List of Illustrations \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Introduction \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 1. The Nahuatl Vida de Tres NiÑ\u003cbr\u003eos Tlaxcalecas: Christian Hagiography, Nahua Perspectives \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 2. Cristobalito and His Father, Acxotecatl \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 3. The Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala: Lordly Warriors, Christian Exemplars \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e 4. Child Converts as Christian Militants, Friars as Men at War \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Conclusions \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Acknowledgments \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Notes \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e References \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Index \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52734462099736,"sku":"9781477330548","price":30.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/child-martyrs-and-militant-evangelization-in-new-spain-missionary-narratives-nahua-perspectives-hardback-9781477330548","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}