Blas Valera - The Miccinelli Documents

The Miccinelli Documents

Blas Valera (1544–1597) was a distinguished member of the Jesuit missionaries in Peru. He was admired for his knowledge of the Andean language, and renowned for his collaboration in the translation of the official catechism of the Third Lima Council (1582–1583) into Quechua and Aymara. However, in 1583 this storyteller of the Incas, due to unknown reasons, faced rejection from his people, was imprisoned for three years, and later deported from Spain where he supposedly died in 1597.

However, Blas Valera remained an ambiguous character of history until the early 1990s in which a group of Italian researchers led by Laura Laurencich Minelli discovered a set of documents owned by a private collector in Naples, which included Valera's writings; yet, with the discovery of these documents, questions to the accuracy of Valera's life arouse. Controversially, one of the writings found in the Naples documents was dated after Valera's supposed death in 1597. This erratum of dates led to the assumptions of different versions of the truth. The documents stated that Valera was secretly condemned by his order for his radical pro-Incan beliefs, and especially for his claim that Incan religion was equivalent to Christianity. There is a version in the documents that assures that after having faked his death, Valera returned to Peru where he wrote the famous Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (New chronicle and good government), which has been attributed to the native writer Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala.

The revelation of the "Naples documents", has led to controversial disputes among scholars as to how these documents should be evaluated. Many Andeanists consider the manuscript as forgeries fabricated by the owner Clara Miccinelli and her friend Carlo Animato and argue that the content of these documents cannot be taken literal. Likewise, Francesa Cantú, from the Universitá di Roma, and Maurizio Gnerre, from the Instituto Universitario Orientale, also found documents in public archives in Italy that connect with aspects of the story found in the Naples documents. Likewise, these two scholars have also been accused of manufacturing false documentation. Moreover, many Peruvians argue that the Naples documents were forged by Jesuit followers of Valera after his death in order to express political opinions, which would otherwise be censured by Society. Those pertaining to this chain of thought, also argue that Valera did not write Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno. Lastly, there are those who believe that the Naples documents are authentic and true regarding his fake death and life.

In addition, the discovery of the Naples documents not only raises questions with regards to Valera's life, but also raises assumptions that the Incas had a secret, phonetic writing system and that the writings in Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno are evidence of indigenous resistance to Spanish domination. Valera's discrete crimes show an attachment to his people, his radical condemnation of the Spanish conquest, and his belief that the Incas understood the key Christian truths. The Naples Documents also talk about Quipu writing, which is supposed to be a phonetic form of language that supposedly was used by the Incas, if this is true, many of the secrets and ambiguities from the colonial Andes would be solved.