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The Will of Nuño de Guzmán; President, Governor and Captain General of New Spain and the Province of Pánuco, 1558
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
For several years the life and times of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán has occupied my scholarly interests. On two occasions I have carried out extended periods of research in Spanish archives. In the notary archive of Valladolid I spent three weeks in a fruitless search for Guzmán's will. I reluctantly concluded that the document was not where it ought to be and accepted the likelihood that it would never be found—if indeed it was extant. I was therefore astonised to see the will advertised in 1973 as an item for sale in Catalogue No. 490 of the firm of Hellmut Schumann AG (Zürich, Switzerland). The asking price was an astronomical 11,000 Swiss Francs for eighteen folios. At that time the equivalent value in U. S. dollars was nearly $4,000.00.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1978
References
* I wish to acknowledge Ms. Sharon L. Duran, my research assistant, as co-translator, and the Faculty Research Committee of North Texas State University for its continued support of my scholarly efforts.
1 The syntax of the will is often tortuous and repetitive in the manner of Spanish legal documents. Nevertheless, we have chosen to present a literal translation of the text though in some instances it has been necessary to change the order of sentences and clauses for the sake of clarity. Punctuation and capitalization have likewise been inserted for clarity.
2 Guzmán’s intent here is subject to interpretation. He may have ordered that the masses normally said in nine days be extended to three days for each one, i.e. twenty-seven days in total.
3 Sabina de Guzmán bore Nuño's surname and shared his household, but she was not his legal spouse.
4 The language of this article makes it apparent that Guzmán did not categorically free his personal slave.
5 For treatment of Nuño de Guzman’s immediate family see Chipman, Donald E., “New Light on the Career of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán,” The Americas, 19 (1963), 341–348 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Nuño de Guzmán and the Province of Pánuco in New Spain (Glendale, Calif., 1967), pp. 111–137.
6 The valleys of Oxitipa refer to the region of modern Valles, México.
7 The years referred to are 1527–1535.
8 Guzmán was placed under house arrest in the Spanish court in 1539 or 1540.
9 These encomienda towns were removed from Guzmán by Diego Pérez de la Torre, judge of residencia for New Galicia.
10 The amount taken from the royal treasury is usually placed at 10,000 castellanos. The agreement of the officials of the Audiencia refers to Diego Delgadillo and Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, both of whom were cohorts and tools of Guzmán.
11 The date of Guzmán’s death was October 26, 1558. Notations on the reverse side of the last two folios are: “Will of Señor Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, who resides in glory,” and “The will of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, to be sent to the Indies.”