The Brotherhood of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Complaints and Indigenous Defenses Before the Ecclesiastical Justice. Colina, Chile, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century. A Case Study

Abstract

This study aims to show daily life of a rural doctrine of central Chile where is exhibited the high participation of indigenous people in devotional activities, such the administration of brotherhoods, for example. In the particular case of the doctrine of Colina, processes tell us an interesting case in which the Indians, by the protector of naturals, raise a complaint against the lawyer Juan de Astorga for despoiling of the assets of the brotherhood of Our Lady of Guadalupe, founded by themselves. The case illustrates, on one side, the ability of the indigenous to recognize their possibilities of action within the Spanish legal system, the knowledge of their rights as a group and the identification of their properties and communal belongings, here defended fiercely. Furthermore, it recreates the institutional framework that works in conjunction with the doctrines, while knowing the peculiarities of life in rural zones, marginal areas, of the central Chile during the colonial period.