Book description
On July 21, 1578, the Mexican town of Tecamachalco awoke to news of a
scandal. A doll-like effigy hung from the door of the town's church.
Its two-faced head had black chicken feathers instead of hair. Each
mouth had a tongue sewn onto it, one with a forked end, the other with
a gag tied around it. Signs and symbols adorned the effigy, including
a sambenito, the garment that the Inquisition imposed on
heretics. Below the effigy lay a pile of firewood. Taken together, the
effigy, signs, and symbols conveyed a deadly message: the victim of
the scandal was a Jew who should burn at the stake. Over the course of
four years, inquisitors conducted nine trials and interrogated dozens
of witnesses, whose testimonials revealed a vivid portrait of
friendship, love, hatred, and the power of rumor in a Mexican colonial town.
A story of dishonor and revenge, Death by Effigy also
reveals the power of the Inquisition's symbols, their susceptibility
to theft and misuse, and the terrible consequences of doing so in the
New World. Recently established and anxious to assert its authority,
the Mexican Inquisition relentlessly pursued the perpetrators. Lying,
forgery, defamation, rape, theft, and physical aggression did not
concern the Inquisition as much as the misuse of the Holy Office's
name, whose political mission required defending its symbols. Drawing
on inquisitorial papers from the Mexican Inquisition's archive, Luis
R. Corteguera weaves a rich narrative that leads readers into a world
vastly different from our own, one in which symbols were as powerful
as the sword.
"Corteguera unearths a memorable and multifaceted story from
deep inside the still little-known society of early colonial Mexico.
Sophisticated in its treatment of a great array of topics, from early
modern religion, morality, and sexuality, through an interweaving of
inter-ethnic rivalry, Inquisitional symbology and procedure, to the
pervasiveness of a culture of rumor and reputation, Death by
Effigy is a significant contribution."-Kenneth Mills,
University of Toronto
Luis R. Corteguera is Associate Professor of History at the
University of Kansas.
