Juan González de Mendoza

Juan González de Mendoza, O.S.A. (1545 – 14 February 1618) was a Spanish bishop, explorer, sinologist, and writer. He was the author of one of the earliest Western histories of China. Published by him in 1585, Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China (The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof) is an account of observations of several Spanish travelers in China. An English translation by Robert Parke appeared in 1588 and was reprinted by the Hakluyt Society in two volumes, edited by Sir George T. Staunton, Bart. (London, 1853–54).

Most Reverend

Juan González de Mendoza
Bishop of Popayán
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseDiocese of Popayán
In office1608–1618
PredecessorJuan de La Roca
SuccessorAmbrosio Vallejo Mejía
Orders
Consecration7 June 1593
by Filippo Spinola
Personal details
Born1545
Torrecilla en Cameros (La Rioja (Spain))
Died14 February 1618 (aged 72–73)
Popayán, Colombia
NationalitySpanish
OccupationBishop, explorer, sinologist, writer
Previous post(s)Bishop of Lipari (1593–1599)
Bishop of Chiapas (1607–1608)

González de Mendoza's Historia was mostly superseded in 1615 by the work of much more informed Jesuit missionaries who actually lived in China, Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, De Christiana expeditione apud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 Torrecilla en Cameros (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, whose 1580 trip to Ming China provided a simple majority thereof. He never set foot in China, but spent two years in Mexico before returning to Spain.

On 31 May 1593, he was appointed during the papacy of Pope Clement VIII as Bishop of Lipari.[4] On 7 June 1593, he was consecrated bishop by Filippo Spinola, Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina, with Cristóbal Senmanat y Robuster, Bishop of Orihuela, and Lorenzo Celsi (bishop), 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 Pope Paul V as 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]

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
      • reprint: Mendoza, Juan González de (1970) [1853]. Staunton, Sir George Thomas (ed.). The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof. Vol. 1. Translated by Parke, Robert (reprint ed.). B. Franklin. ISBN 0833723618.
      • reprint: Mendoza, Juan González de (1970) [1854]. Staunton, Sir George Thomas (ed.). The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof. Vol. 2. Translated by Parke, Robert (reprint ed.). B. Franklin. ISBN 0833723626.
  • 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
  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. 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. Juan González de Mendoza (门多萨) (1998), 中华大帝国史 (Zhonghua da di guo shi) / History of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof, 中外关系史名著译丛 (Zhong-wai guan xishi mingzhu yi cong) (Collected translations of famous works on Sino-Western relations), translated by He Gaoji (何高济), Beijing: 中华书局 (Zhonghua shu ju), ISBN 7-101-01587-5
  4. Cheney, David M. "Bishop Juan Pedro González de Mendoza, O.S.A." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. [self-published]
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