Novae Hispaniae

[Galen Brokaw]

Brad,
The author you are interested in is more commonly known as Francisco
Hernandez. You will probably find a lot more information searching under
that name. At one point, he was the personal physician of Phillip II,
and later named protomedico of the Indies. He was supposed to travel
around the world in the sixteenth century to gather medicinal
information from other societies, discover new herbs, medical
treatments, etc. But he arrived in Mexico and got so wrapped up in
studying indigenous medicine there that he never left. Evidently, he did
a lot of experiments on himself to see how indigenous medical treatments
would work. I think the only English translation of any of Hernandez's
works is a report dealing with the Yuctec Maya appearing along with
other short texts on the Maya in a book titled _Reports on the Maya
Indians of Yucatan_. But I'm not sure if this was taken from the work
you are interested in or not. Historia 16 published a Spanish
translation of this text titled Antiguedades de la Nueva Espana. The
introduction to that edition would probably provide the kind of
information you are looking for. Stanford University Press also recently
published a volume on Hernandez, titled _The Mexican Treasury: The
Writings of Francisco Hernandez_.

Galen



Coon, Brad wrote:
> Greetings,
> My library recently had a facsimile edition of Francisco Hernando's "De
> Antiquitabtibus Novae Hispanae" donated to it.  I have become very
> frustrated in my attempts to learn more about the work.  I have found
> references to what appears to be a Spanish translation, is there an
> English equivalent?  Any information you can share about this book would
> be appreciated.
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Brad Coon                                 406-994-6026
> Reference Librarian                     bcoon at montana.edu
> Montana State University
>     All your base are belong to us.
>