“Conforme a la común costumbre de los escritores”. Modelos historiográficos en los Comentarios reales del Inca Garcilaso

Abstract

Our paper intends to trace the models that the Inca used in building his main piece of work. We know from Jose Durand’s research -specifically the one in which he reveals the names that filled the Inca’s library- some books that could have been decisive when it comes to adopting a mode of writing. Taking this data as a starting point and comparing the Inca’s writing with that of other works and authors he knew (Pliny, the Historia general de las Indias by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, the Historia natural y moral de las Indias by Jose de Acosta we will probe into a series of traditions that served as a model for the writing of History of the Incario: the constant turning to the authority of the ancients and , closely linked to it , the taking into consideration of some aspects of natural history; the influence of a Judeo-Christian conception of history; the authority granted to ‘having seen’, originating in Greek historiography; the validity of the Renascentist historiographic model.