Juan González de Mendoza

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Most Reverend

Juan González de Mendoza
Bishop of Popayán
Church
Bishop of Chiapas
(1607–1608)

Juan González de Mendoza,

Sir George T. Staunton, Bart.
(London, 1853–54).

González de Mendoza's Historia was mostly superseded in 1615 by the work of much more informed

Jesuit missionaries who actually lived in China, Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas. Much of González de Mendoza's work was plagiarised from Escalante's Discurso de la navegacion[1]

Biography

First page of the chapter on Chinese language in González de Mendoza's 1585 book, reproducing the characters published by Escalante in 1577. According to Staunton, of the two characters shown on this page, the first (said to mean "heaven") is hard to identify, although he guesses that it might be 𨺩 (a variant of 乾).[2] Modern Chinese translators of González de Mendoza's books suggest that 穹 may have been meant.[3] (May it though be a combination of two characters, with the one on top being a 天, perhaps in seal script?). The second (said to mean "king") is a poorly written 皇.[2]

González de Mendoza was born at

La Rioja (Spain)) in 1545. He joined the army but after some years resigned to enter the Order of Saint Augustine. He published his most famous text in 1585, Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China. It was based on the journals of Miguel de Luarca[citation needed], whose 1580 trip to Ming China provided a simple majority thereof. He never set foot in China[citation needed], but spent two years in Mexico before returning to Spain
.

On 31 May 1593, he was appointed during the papacy of

Bishop of Castro del Lazio, serving as co-consecrators.[4]
On 24 May 1599, he resigned as Bishop of Lipari.[4] On 7 May 1607, he was appointed during the papacy of
Bishop of Chiapas.[4]
On 17 November 1608, he was appointed during the papacy of Pope Paul V as
Bishop of Popayán.[4]
He served as Bishop of Popayán until his death on 14 February 1618.[4]

Episcopal succession

While bishop, he was the

principal co-consecrator of:[4]

  • Bishop of Lugo
    (1599);
  • Bishop of Santiago de Guatemala
    (1600); and
  • Bishop of Santiago de Chile
    (1600).

Bibliography

  • Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China (original Spanish; Rome, 1585)
  • The history of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof (English translation by Robert Parke, 1588)
    • an 1853 reprint by Hakluyt Society: Mendoza, Juan González de (1853) [1588]. Staunton, Sir George Thomas (ed.). The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof. Vol. 1, 2. Translated by Parke, Robert. Hakluyt Society.; vol. 1 at archive.org vol. 2 at archive.org; vol. 1 at Project Gutenberg; vol. 2 at Project Gutenberg
  • Links to many other translations: "Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China". Biblotheca Sinica 2.0 in Universitaet Wien. 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2020-08-30.

See also

References

  • wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
    New International Encyclopedia
    (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  1. ^ Lach, Donald F. (1965). Asia in the Making of Europe. Vol. I:The Century of Discovery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 750.
  2. ^ a b See footnotes to pp. 121–122 in the annotated 1853 English edition: The history of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof
  3. ISBN 7-101-01587-5
  4. ^
    [self-published]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Juan González de Mendoza.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Bishop of Lipari

1593–1599 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Bishop of Chiapas

1607–1608 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Bishop of Popayán

1608–1618 		Succeeded by
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