Don Juan de Rojas (gen. 14)

Junto con su hermano, don Juan Cortés, el señalado don Juan de Rojas forma parte de la decimocuarta generación del linaje Kaweq. Son hijos de Tekum y Tepepul, los líderes de la generación previa que fueron torturados y ejecutados por Pedro de Alvarado en la invasión española, conforme al estudio del profesor k'iche' Sam Colop (2008).

With his brother, don Juan Cortés, don Juan de Rojas forms part of the fourteenth generation of the Kaweq lineage. They are the sons of Tekum and Pepeul, the leaders of the thirteenth generation who were tortured and executed by Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish invasion of Guatemala. Anthropologist Allen J. Christenson (2007: 297n862) explains the history of don Juan de Rojas in an extensive footnote, which we reproduce in full, below.

According to Christenson, "Juan de Rojas, son of Tecum (9 Jaguar), was eventuallly recognized by the Spaniards as the Ah Pop of the Cavec lineage. At some point following the Spanish conquest, the surviving lords of the highland Maya lineages were baptized as Christians and adopted Spanish names. Ximénez doubted that this took place when Alvarado invaded highland Maya territory, and suggested that the baptisms began several years later when the first missionaries arrived in Guatemala (Ximénez 1929-31, I.xli.128). Roman Catholicism was not formally established in Guatemala until 1534, when Bishop Francisco Marroquín arrived in the capital city of Santiago de los Caballeros (Pueblo Viejo, a town not far from the present-day city of Antigua), recently founded by Jorge de Alvarado, the brother of the conqueror Pedro de Alvarado. Over the next few years, Bishop Marroquín sent a few missionary friars with portable altars to the various Indian towns and villages to baptize the inhabitants and destroy any remnants of 'idolatry' and 'paganism' that may have survived the purges of the conquest itself. There were instances of serious resistance to the labors of the missionaries. The following is an account given by Ximénez:

It happened in this kingdom soon after being conquered that, hearing of the lives of Christ and of Our Lady, John the Baptist, and Saint Peter and others which the priests had taught them, there arose a Mexican Indian, a pseudo-prophet. He taught them that Huhapu [Hunahpu] was God, and that Hununapu [One Hunahpu] was the son of God; Xuchinquezal, which is Mexican, or Aquiexquic [Xkik', or Lady Blood] was Saint Mary; Vaxaquicab was Saint John the Baptist, and Huntihax was Saint Paul. This caused so much commotion among the Indians that the kingdom was nearly lost because of it, for they came to imagine that our Holy Gospel told them nothing new and that they already knew of it (Ximénez 1929-31, I.xxiii.57).

Early evangelization efforts focused on survivors of the old highland Maya nobility in the hope that they would set an example for the rest of the people. Baptism was also a necessary step for any Maya of noble birth who aspired to a place in the new political order, since without it the Spanish authorities would not recognize their legitimacy or territorial claims. That this is the case here is evident by the title 'Don.' This was given to those Maya noblemen who professed faith in Christ as well as those who could prove their legitimacy in court. Many of the documents composed by the Maya in the sixteenth century were 'titles' written for the purpose of establishing the legal legitimacy of former ruling lords and their descendents in an effort to recover hereditary honors. As noblemen recognized by the Spanish Crown, they were allowed to receive some tribute from their subjects, to be exempt from compulsory labor, and to ride horses. In addition, baptism afforded a measure of protection from the excesses of Spanish rule. Without it, unconverted Maya were subject to enslavement until the reforms of Governor Alonso López de Cerrato abolished the practice after 1548. Don Juan de Rojas was likely named after the Spanish captain Diego de Rojas who came to Guatemala at the orders of Hernán Cortés in the latter half of 1524 with fifty Spanish soldiers (Akkeren 2003). Thus, Juan de Rojas must have been born sometime between this year and ca. 1530 when Diego de Rojas departed for Peru. When his father was hung in ca. 1535, Juan de Rojas would have been too young to rule, leaving the Quichés without effective leadership for some time. He had begun to exercise some measure of power by at least 1550, when he became involved in a land dispute and demanded that certain merchants from the Utatlan area pay tribute to him (Lutz 1994, 25-26 n. 28). In his mature years as a native cacique, Juan de Rojas collected tribute, carried out censuses, provided labor, enforced church attendance and instruction, and acted as the principal judge in local disputes (Carmack 1981, 313). According to Ximénez, Juan de Rojas was given a special hall at the Royal Palace of Guatemala next to that of the president. Here he administered the affairs of the Maya as the vassal lord of the Spaniards (Ximénez 1929-31, I.xxviii.79)."