CÓRDOVA Y SALINAS, DIEGO DE

Franciscan historian; b. Lima, 1591; d. there, 1654. Fray Diego was a full brother of Fray Buenaventura Salinas y Córdova, a descendent of converted Jews, and a member of one of the prominent Peruvian families of colonial times. The studious and quiet Fray Diego was several times novice master as well as guardian of the Franciscan friary of Lima. His appointment in 1620 as historian of the Franciscan province of Peru marked the beginning of a new epoch in his life. He began his work by contacting as many old friars as possible and taking depositions of their reminiscences. However, the first work published by him was Vida, virtudes y milagros del nuevo apóstol del Perú, el venerable P. Francisco Solano (Lima 1630). Its chapters seem to be lectures to his novices rather than the life of a living person. After completing this work, Diego's main efforts were directed to fulfilling his commission as provincial historian. By 1638 he was able to send a synopsis to Tomóas Tamayo de Vargas, official royal historian of the Spanish Indies. Vargas never used the manuscript nor did his successor Gil González Dávila; but Diego incorporated the material in the Corónica. In 1642 a similar synopsis was sent to Luke Wadding. By 1646 Diego's main task was almost complete when he received a renewed appointment as chronicler of all Franciscan Peruvian provinces. The provincial history was so enlarged and changed that Diego himself could say with truth "that it seems a new history." However, at times, the more modest origins peek through in Corónica franciscana de las provincias del Perú (Lima 1651). The huge volume is a factual and objective narrative of the work and plans of the Franciscan provinces of almost all Spanish South America during the 1st century after Pizarro's conquest. The main emphasis, however, remains on Lima and its province. Diego obliged his friend Pedro Villagomez, Archbishop of Lima, by writing in 1650 a description of the Archdiocese: Teatro de la Santa Iglesia Metropolitana de los Reyes (Lima 1959).

Bibliography: d. de cÓrdoba y salinas, Corónica franciscana de las provincias del Perú, ed. l. g. canedo (2d ed. Washington 1957).

[l. g. canedo]