Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/197

Rh marriage. Although the greater part of the people, the lower and middle classes, possessed but one wife, yet many of the rich and the noble had quite a number, and since the Christian religion permitted no such indulgence, the polygamists were ordered to discard all but one spouse, to whom they like the other husbands must be joined anew with Christian ceremonies. It was found no easy matter to determine which of the wives, as the legitimate consort, had the right to be preferred, and so it was decided, after years of doubt, to accord it to the first wife, and when this could not be determined, to the one chosen by the husband. Meanwhile little attention was paid by polygamists to the exhortations of the fathers, and even in later times the law was disregarded.

These and other rites in connection with Indians were discussed in a council of friars and jurists which appears to have been held in the autumn of 1526, with the assistance of Cortés. Therein were determined not only points bearing on baptism, confession, and communion, but on the treatment and rule of natives, the more difficult questions being embodied in representations to the transatlantic authorities. The importance of the meeting, both in respect to the number and quality of the attendants, and to the discussions, has caused it to be signified as the first synod of the church in New Spain.