Book contents
- Death in Old Mexico
- Death in Old Mexico
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Murder
- Part II Context
- Part III Justice
- Part IV Characters
- Part V Consequences
- 13 Ceremonies of Death
- 14 Punishment
- 15 Law Enforcement Reform
- Part VI Interpretations
- Part VII Texts
- Conclusion Death in Old Mexico
- Bibliography
- Index
13 - Ceremonies of Death
from Part V - Consequences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2023
- Death in Old Mexico
- Death in Old Mexico
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Murder
- Part II Context
- Part III Justice
- Part IV Characters
- Part V Consequences
- 13 Ceremonies of Death
- 14 Punishment
- 15 Law Enforcement Reform
- Part VI Interpretations
- Part VII Texts
- Conclusion Death in Old Mexico
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Palace guardsman José Gómez Moreno started his diary with anecdotes relating to the strange occurrences which seemed to happen so frequently in late eighteenth-century Mexico City. Freak accidents, fires, murders, kidnappings, and assaults were not uncommon. While he certainly showed a fascination for the oddities of the day – from balloons to the viceroy’s wig – the halberdier paid special attention to the 246 executions that he witnessed over the course of twenty-two years, an average of just over eleven per year. Some years saw more hangings, garrotings, and burnings than others. Annual executions peaked in 1790, with a total of thirty-two in the first full year of Viceroy Revillagigedo’s reign.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Death in Old MexicoThe 1789 Dongo Murders and How They Shaped the History of a Nation, pp. 137 - 149Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023