«Descendientes de los primeros». Las probanzas de méritos y servicios y la genealogía cacical. Audiencia de Charcas, 1574-1719

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the «Probanzas» of merits and services of well-known chiefdom lineages of colonial Charcas from a questioning view which takes into consideration how the writing of the document was developed, looking at the actions of notaries, solicitors and legal advisers as key players in the adaptation and transmission of its discourse. The comparative reading of different «probanzas» of merits reveals the imitation of a leadership model in the interstices of colonial Spanish formulae. Therefore, the paper proposes some reflections on the uses of the «probanzas» of merits and services for the knowledge of Pre-Hispanic and colonial past.