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| Comentarios Reales | |
|---|---|
| Name | Comentarios Reales |
| Author | Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca) |
| Title orig | Comentarios reales de los incas |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre | History, chronicle |
| Pub date | 1609 (Parte primera), 1617 (Parte segunda, posthumous) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | variable |
| Country | Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish Empire) |
Comentarios Reales Comentarios Reales is a two-part historical chronicle written in early modern Spanish by Garcilaso de la Vega, known as El Inca. It combines narrative history, genealogy, and ethnography of the Inca civilization and the Andean world with memoir elements from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, linking indigenous lineage to Iberian institutions and major Atlantic contacts. The work has been central to debates involving Francisco Pizarro, Atahualpa, Manco Inca Yupanqui, Diego de Almagro, and the policies of the Viceroyalty of Peru, and it influenced later writers such as Benito Jerónimo Feijóo, Alexander von Humboldt, and José María Arguedas.
Garcilaso de la Vega (1539–1616), the son of a Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and an Inca noblewoman Isabel Chimpu Ocllo (often associated with the lineage of Huayna Capac and Túpac Yupanqui), grew up in the colonial milieu of Cuzco and later moved to Seville. His bicultural upbringing positioned him between Iberian and Andean traditions, and his military and clerical acquaintances in Spain exposed him to humanist historiography and classical models such as Plutarch and Livy. Composition occurred over decades, informed by oral testimony from Inca descendants like Sayri Tupac and spatial memory linked to sites such as Machu Picchu and Sacsayhuamán; it reflects dialogues with contemporaries including Pedro Cieza de León, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (namesake confusion), and Bernabé Cobo.
The first part appeared in Lisbon in 1609 under a printer associated with Iberian royal circles; the second part was published posthumously in 1617 in Madrid. Manuscript transmission passed through networks in Seville, Madrid, and Lima and intersected with colonial censorship tied to institutions such as the Spanish Inquisition and the Council of the Indies. Later presses in Paris, London, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires issued critical editions in the 19th and 20th centuries, while philologists like Marcel Bataillon, Paul Rivet, and Juan José Vega produced annotated texts. Bibliographic history involves rival editions by printers connected to families like the Couto and scholarly editions in university presses at Oxford, Harvard, and Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
The narrative opens with Inca cosmogony and dynastic genealogy tracing rulers from mythical founders to historical sovereigns including Manco Capac, Viracocha, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, and Huayna Capac. It treats conquest episodes involving Pedro de Valdivia, Francisco Pizarro, and Almagro rebellion with moralizing commentary about legitimacy, lineage, and ritual practice. Themes include syncretism of Andean rites with Catholic observance, the architecture of ceremonial centers like Coricancha, agricultural practices tied to terraces of the Sacred Valley, and legal-administrative interactions with the Casa de Contratación and the Audiencia of Lima. Ethnographic passages describe social institutions such as ayllu leadership, mita labor arrangements under figures like Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, and the ceremonial functions of mamacuna choirs and qullqa storehouses.
Garcilaso relied on oral testimony, family recollection, archival documents, and classical historiographical models; he cites informants including Inca nobles, Dominican and Jesuit missionaries, and Spanish veterans like Juan de Betanzos and Hernando Pizarro. Historians compare his accounts with chronicles by Fray Martín de Murúa, Pedro de Cieza de León, José de Acosta, and archaeological findings from sites excavated by Hiram Bingham, John Rowe, and Wilder Penfield (anthropological collaborations). Critics note chronological compression, idealizing tendencies favoring Inca nobility, and occasional conflation of mythic and documentary material; defenders argue for his reliability on family-controlled traditions and continuity with Andean mnemonic systems like quipu exemplified by Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua.
Early modern reception in Spain and Portugal ranged from encomiastic to skeptical among officials of the Council of the Indies and clergy in Lima. Enlightenment scholars such as Voltaire and naturalists like Linnaeus and Alexander von Humboldt referenced Garcilaso for New World antiquities. In the 19th century, independence-era intellectuals including Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín engaged with his depiction of indigenous polity during nation-building; literary figures from Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer to Jorge Luis Borges and José Martí drew on his imagery. Twentieth-century indigenistas like Ricardo Palma and José María Arguedas invoked his synthesis in debates on mestizaje and cultural identity.
Translations include early Italian and French renderings in the 17th century and substantial English translations in the 19th and 20th centuries by editors in London and Cambridge. Notable translators and editors encompass William H. Prescott-era commentators, 20th-century Hispanists at Harvard University and Universidad de Salamanca, and modern bilingual editions published in Lima and Madrid. Critical apparatuses address textual variants across printings from presses in Lisbon, Seville, and Madrid and integrate comparative notes with manuscripts preserved in archives like the Archivo General de Indias and the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
The work shaped Peruvian historiography, national mythmaking, and heritage discourse surrounding sites such as Machu Picchu and festivals like Inti Raymi. It influenced legal and cultural claims by indigenous movements represented in institutions like the Congreso de la República (Peru) and intellectual currents in latinamericanismo and indigenismo debates led by scholars at UNESCO and regional universities. Artistic and popular culture references appear in paintings by José Sabogal, novels by Ciro Alegría, and theatrical adaptations in Lima and Cusco, while academic fields including Andean archaeology, ethnohistory, and colonial studies continue to reassess Garcilaso’s narrative for its blend of memory and historiography.
Category:16th-century books Category:Peruvian literature Category:Spanish-language chronicles