Talk:Francisco de Toral

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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Chris.fried96. Peer reviewers: Bvesper, Sicarex.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:47, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Experiences in Yucatán Draft
Landa’s behavior in the Yucatan prior to Toral’s arrival contextualizes Toral’s actions as the first Bishop of Yucatan. Arriving in 1549, Landa ordered the destruction of more than 20,000 Mayan artifacts that were determined to be cult images over his time in the region. In addition to his overseeing of these artifacts’ destruction, he actively tortured Mayans in order to produce confessions of idolatry. Mayans that confessed to idol worship faced severe penalties, ranging from flogging to ten years of forced labor for minor offenses.

Toral arrived in 1562 to a province that was in a great state of unrest. There was a large controversy among Mayans and secular government officials with regards to Landa’s treatment of allegedly idolatrous Indians. Toral was shocked by the violent behavior of the Franciscan friars. He believed that the clergy had both a right and duty to physically punish Mayans resisting conversion, but Toral was skeptical that the confessions Landa elicited were legitimate and the resulting punishments were an overreaction to the situation. In Toral’s eyes, Landa was doing work outside of the position he had been designated. With this conflict began a period of distrust between Toral and the Franciscans of the Yucatan.

In response to these events, Toral forced Landa’s return to Spain in 1563 in order to answer the accusations that were being drawn against him. As Toral began to exercise his authority, he freed hundreds of Mayans that Landa had imprisoned. Under his supervision only the most extreme cases of idolatry were investigated, and even those resulted in fairly light sentences. In addition to this, Toral began to cooperate more with local secular authorities in order for his religious order to be as effective as possible. HE removed Franciscan missionary clergy from the administration of ecclesiastical justice, urging his secular clergy to use verbal persuasion to draw Mayans away from idolatry.

Toral’s distrust of Franciscans and his inability to control the friars still holding authority resulted in a large amount of tension between himself, the Franciscan order, and local government authorities, namely Governor Luis de Cespedes y Oviedo. Charges were brought against him by Governor Cespedes for usurping royal jurisdiction as animosity towards him as a religious leader began to grow. . Landa was eventually absolved of his charges in 1569. Following this and his ongoing dilemmas in Yucatan, Toral requested he be relocated to serve in Mexico City before ultimately abdicating his position in 1570 and dying in Mexico. Chris.fried96 (talk) 15:07, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

I don't think that the first sentence really fits with the style of an encyclopedia. It seems to be making an argument, which an encyclopedia entry should not. I suggest removing it. Other than that your edits look good. The last sentence of the third paragraph starts with "HE," which should be "He." That is just a minor typo though. The links all work for me and the sources seem to be fairly neutral and academic. Bvesper (talk) 14:29, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

I agree with Bvesper that the first sentence does not fit and should be removed, though if you do that then you should reword the second sentence to better fit being the beginning of a paragraph. (e.g. "Before Toral, Diego de Landa had arrived in 1549 and...") There also seem to be some discrepancies between your edits and the existing article. Namely, the current article states Toral served as Bishop of Yucatan until his death in 1571 whereas you say Toral abdicated his position shortly before his death. That should be cleared up. Sicarex (talk) 03:14, 2 November 2017 (UTC)