Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán

Title page of Volume I of the 1882 edition of the Recordación Florida

Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán (1643–1700) was a Guatemalan historian and poet. His only surviving work is La Recordación Florida.

Biography

Fuentes y Guzmán was born in Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala in 1643. He was the descendant of the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, historian of the Indies. In 1661 he held the position of Regidor Perpetuo de Guatemala (Perpetual Regidor of Guatemala). He was also the mayor of Totonicapán and Sonsonate. He worked many years as the Cronista del Ayuntamiento (Chronicler of the Municipal Government). He is thought to have died in Totonicapán in 1700.

La Recordación Florida

La Recordación Florida, also called Historia de Guatemala (History of Guatemala), is Fuentes y Guzmán's only surviving work. It was the first Guatemalan history book written by a colonial Guatemalan author of Spanish descent.^[1] The book was written in 1690 and is regarded as one of the most important works of Guatemalan history.^[2] In the book, he describes the customs and rites of indigenous people, the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, and notable facts in the history of Guatemala until the 16th century. His goal in this work was to be considered el Cronista de la Corona (the Crown's Chronicler).

Other works

• El Milagro de América, describing the inauguration of the Catedral de Guatemala
• La Vida de Santa Teresa de Jesús, describing the festivities in Guatemala when King Carlos II of Spain turned 13
• La Cinosura Política o Ceremonial de Guatemala.
• El Norte Político.

Notes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Recordación Florida.

Spanish Wikisource has original text related to this article: Recordación Florida

Further reading