¹ Some of the material in this article was included in a paper delivered by the author at the Rocky Mountain Social Science conference at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, 1967. Research in Spain was in part supported by the Del Amo Foundation (1964) and the Faculty Improvement Committee of Colorado State University (1967).

² AGI, Patronato 246, No. 14, Ramo 2.

³ There is a discussion of these transactions in Keniston, Hayward, Francisco de los Cobos, Secretary of the Emperor Charles V (University of Pittsburgh, 1958), 106–107.Google Scholar This excellent study errs, however, in stating that Alvarado first married doña Beatriz de la Cueva and then her sister Francisca. It was the reverse.

⁴ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 128, “Un Libro de Tasaciones de los Naturales del as Provincias de Guatemala, Nicaragua, Yucatan y Pueblos de Comayagua, año de 1548 a 1551.” Seven hundred of these came as part of the pueblo of Çacatepeque and twenty from Joanagaçapa. Some of the villages mentioned here no longer exist, and the names of some have been changed. There are many variations in spellings, but in most instances the names appear as they are written in the manuscripts.

⁵ Scholes, France V., “The Spanish Conqueror as a Business Man: a chapter in the history of Fernando Cortés,” New Mexico Quarterly, 28, No. 1 (Spring, 1958), 1–29.Google Scholar For a detailed study of the same subject see Riley, G. Michael, “The Estate of Femando Cortés in the Cuernavaca Area of Mexico, 1522–1547.” (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of New Mexico, Department of History, 1965.)Google Scholar The author gives a partial summary of this in “Fernando Cortés and the Cuernavaca Encomiendas, 1522–1547,” The Americas, XXV, no. 1 (July, 1968), 3–24.

⁶ Cook, Sherburne F. and Borah, Woodrow, The Indan Population of Central Mexico, 1531–1610 (Ibero-Americana: 44, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1960), 25,Google Scholar suggest that prices rose about 50 per cent between 1519 and 1533 in Mexico.

⁷ Even the share of Cortés in the treasure of Moctezuma is not known precisely; but Scholes, op. cit., 12–13, writes that, “if we accept Cortés’ statement that in 1522 he possessed 500,000 pesos, mostly in gold, silver, and jewels, a large part of it must have come from these sources.”

⁸ Cook and Borah, op. cit., 62, 68, show the estimated population of Izúcar as 5,247 and Xochimilco as 23,166, from which I take somewhat less than a third as being tributaries. Their figures are for the year 1568, when their populations must have been smaller.

⁹ AGI, Patronato 60, No. 5, Ramo 3. Cook and Borah, op. cit., 60, list the population of Chieda as 2,567 in 1568.

¹⁰ In Ramírez, José Fernando (ed.), Proceso de Residencia contra Pedro de Alvarado, 1529 (Mexico, 1847), 177, the following appears:Google Scholar

Cedula de Deposito para Pedro de Alvarado de los Pueblos Tututepeque:

Por la presente se deposita en vos Pedro de Alvarado vezino de la villa de Segura la Frontera los señores y naturales de los pueblos de Tututepeque con Quizquitali y Apichagua y Chacaltepeque y Centepeque y Teteltongo y Chila que le son subjetos y el señor y naturales del pueblo de Xalapa para que os syrvais dellos e os ayuden en vuestras haziendas e granjerias conforme a las ordenanzas que sobresto estan hechas e se haran e con cargo que tengais de los yndustriar en las cosas de nuestra Santa fee catholica poniendo para ello la vigilancia e solicitud posyble e necesaria fecho a XXIV de agosto de MDXXII anos.

Cook and Borah, op. cit., 89, 91, show the population of Jalapa in 1568 as being 2,736, and that of Tututepeque (with Nopala) as 9,075. Some indication of the wealth of the region is shown by Alvarado's admission, in Ramírez, op. cit., that the Indians of Tututepeque gave him a gold chain and about 35,000 or 36,000 pesos de oro which, however, he said he sent back to the treasury in Mexico City. Scholes, op. cit., 15, notes that during the early years Tututepeque paid tribute in gold dust.

¹¹ In a personal note, Professor Scholes informs me that Tututepeque subsequently went to Cortés, who held it “en compañía”" with another Spaniard until Cortés gave up his part of it in 1526.

¹² Nevertheless, infraction of the ruling was not rare. For instance, in AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 9, Lic. Herrera to Carlos V (Gracias a Dios: 10 de julio, 1545), it is mentioned that the adelantado Francisco de Montejo simultaneously held encomiendas in Honduras, Chiapas, and Yucatán. See also AGI, Patronato 60, No. 5, Ramo 3, fol. 163, for the statement of Alvaro de Paz, who was Alvarado's majordomo for almost a dozen years. Perhaps the law was vague on this point, for the probanza in favor of Jorge de Alvarado, the adelantado’s brother, in Patronato 67, Ramo 2, “Información de los méritos de D. Antonio de Saavedra Guzman, casado con la nieta de Jorge de Alvarado, etc.” (Tenochtitlan: 10 de septiembre, 1566), States that when Jorge left Guatemala to live in Mexico his Guatemalan holdings were taken away, “sin causa ni razon.”

¹³ AGI, Justicia 295 (Residencia of Pedro de Alvarado, 1535), fol. 132v., testimony of Pedro de Paredes; and AGI, Justicia 296 (2nd legajo of the 1535 residencia), fol. 22, interrogatorio. These pueblos were Yzcuyntepeque, Guaçacapan, Tecoçistlan, Tequepanatitan, Totonicapan, Quesaltenango, and Atitlán (shared with Sancho de Barahona).

The sources also indicate that he held the town of “Guatimela” and Petapa. Petapa lay four leagues outside Santiago, and it was a large town, as indicated in the “Cuenta del Pueblo de Petapa,” of 1562, AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 45, Tasación (Barrio de Santa Ines: 1 de febrero, 1562). But 25 or 30 years before it was no doubt much larger when it was divided between Juan Pérez Dardon and Francisco Arévalo, as shown, AGI, Justicia 296, fol. 66, testimony of Antonio de Salazar.

¹⁴ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 9, Lic. Maldonado to Carlos V (Puerto de Caballos: 15 de enero, 1543). The holdings Usted were the pueblos of Tencoa, Yamala, and Posta, all near the Spanish settlement of Gracias a Dios; Tecosquin, Lexamani, and Guorora (?), near Comayagua; and close to the city of San Pedro the villages of Naco and Coçimba. In AGI, Patronato 60, No. 5, Ramo 3, witnesses testified that the adelantado also held the island of Guanaxa, off the Honduran coast. Other villages are mentioned, but the manuscript is watersoaked and much of it is almost illegible. Alvarado did, apparently, hold additional encomiendas in Honduras, and they appear to be as follows: Xalapa, Maldez (Malaz?), and near the Spanish town of San Pedro the villages of Jujila, Balitama, Enza, and half of the pueblo of Tematepec. In the vicinity of Trugillo other towns listed as belonging to Alvarado appear to be Pato, Pélelas, and Managua. These would bring his encomienda holdings to at least eighteen in Honduras alone, but it is possible that he did not hold all of them at once.

¹⁵ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 45, Çurrilla (contador), Castellanos (teso-rero), and Ronquillo (factor) to Carlos V (Santiago: 28 de noviembre, 1531). These officials remonstrated that Alvarado, “no se contenta con tener la mitad de la tierra y lo mejor en perjuizio de muchos conquistadores y vecinos desta cibdad sino q. agora nuebamente enbia a pedir a V. Mt. lo que queda de la trra. pa. q. absolutamente sea señor de toda la gouernacion.”

¹⁶ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 128, op. cit., reveals the following numbers of tributaries: Queçaltenango, 200; Atitlán, 1,000; Teqpanatitan, 1,000; Tecoçistlan, 600; Guaçacapan, 400. These total 3,200, but Alvarado held only half of Atitlán. No figures are shown for Totonicapan and Yzquentepeque, but they were surely pueblos of good size.

¹⁷ AGI, Patronato 60, No. 5, Ramo 3, statement of Alvaro de Paz, who made the account.

¹⁸ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala 9, Montejo to Carlos V (Gracias a Dios: 1 de junio, 1539). Montejo complained that, “si el trae Io q. dize yo y todos los conquistadores quedamos syn indios y el sobre los muchos q. tiene en mex^co y los muchos en guatimala con los mas desta tierra porq. de sus rrepartimi^os tome yo parte y de la mitad se pro-bieron diez hu doze vezinos y los q se an estado en sus casas gozaron de lo que los tristes an trabajado sobre todo V. Mt. provea lo q. mas servido.” AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 128, op. cit., does not show towns that correspond to Alvarado’s holdings; however, because of variations in spelling, some could be the same. Fer example, Tengusquin (60 Indians) could be the same town as Tecosquin; Laxaman (100 Indians) could be Lexamani; and Coroni (80 Indians) is possibly a variation of Guorora. The real value of the Honduran encomiendas is not clear. In contradiction to the statement above by Montejo, Bishop Marroquín, who was the executor of the Alvarado estate, wrote the Emperor, in AGI, Patronato 184, Ramo 35 (Santiago: 20 de febrero, 1542) that they were “poblezillos,” and he goes on to say that the adelantado “tenia unos pueblos en honduras pequeños y de poco prouecho solo entendían en hazer sementeras para los esclauos q. sacauan oro.” In a dispute over the Honduras region, Alvarado had sued for damages suffered by Montejo’s seizure of his possessions in that area. Those holdings included not only the pueblos, but also a house, planted fields, slaves, and supplies of corn to feed his slaves. Much of the loss probably consisted of the gold that had been mined by his cuadrillas, and Alvarado claimed damages in the large amount of 15,000 ducats. In this claim, don Pedro was sustained by the Crown, as indicated in AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala 402, Libro I, fols. 225-226 (Valladolid: 30 de enero, 1538).

¹⁹ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 128, op. cit. At this time the pueblo of Jacaltenango (Xacaltenango) belonged to the youngest son of Gonzalo de Ovalle, and the annual tribute assessment was as follows: 1 sementera de maiz de 12 hanegas (fanegas—1 fanega equaling about 1.6 bushels); 1 sementera de frisoles (frijoles) de 1½ hanegas; 1 sementera de algodon de 4 hanegas; 400 mantas; 100 xicoles (jackets); 100 mastiles (breech cloths); diez docenas de gallinas de Castilla; 80 petates (“para barbacoas o casitas”) ; 4 petates grandes; 1 sementera de trigo de tres hanegas; 6 hanegas de sal; 12 caquimas; 12 petacas; 12 chiaibites; 2 arrobas (50 pounds) de miel; and 25 cargas (50 arrobas) de agi (aji). In addition, the town was to provide six Indians for guarding livestock.

²⁰ ibid. Earlier, however, the tribute for Atitlán had been mixed. Alvarado had shared the town with Sancho de Barahona, but he took the other half from Barahona and gave it and Tecoçistlan to his brother Jorge while he, Alvarado, went to Peru. Later Alvarado took back those Indians and instead gave Jorge, who was a vecino of Mexico, the fruits and tribute of Izúcar and Xochimilco. These transactions were the cause of complaint in AGI, Justicia 295, “Sancho de Barahona con el adelantado Dn. Pedro de Amarado” (Guatemala, 1537). See also the testimony of Francisco Calderón and others in the same suit. de Cossío, Francisco González, El Libro de las Tasaciones de Pueblos de la Nueva España Siglo XVI (México, 1952), 304–307,Google Scholar notes that when Alvarado’s widow died shortly after his death, the encomienda of Xochimilco passed to the Crown. Tribute at that time was assessed as follows: “Cada ochenta dias cincuenta tejuelos de oro de a diez quilates, que pese cada uno diez pesos de oro. Item, otros diez tejuelos que pesen todos treinta y siete pesos de la dicha ley. Item, el servicio de comida cada dia según su pintura, seis gallinas, seis cargas de maiz, diez cargas de yerba, una braza de leña, veinte huevos, ocote y algun aji y tomates y doce indios de servicio y que al tiempo den fruta de la tierra la que hubiere: son las gallinas, maiz y huevos de tributo para el Rey y lo demas para el Corregidor.” The gold payment, at that time worth about 3,620 pesos, was later commuted. In the complaint cited above, Barahona stated that Jorge de Alvarado took from his Indians at Atitlán 250 slaves, 1,200 jiquipiles of cacao, and 2,000 pieces of clothing which, “a la sazón valdría todo tres o cuatro mill pesos de oro.”

²¹ Tozzer, Alfred M. (trans, and éd.), Landd's Relación de to Cosas de Yucatán, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Vol. 18 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1941), 95.Google Scholar Tozzer is citing Oviedo, who makes specific reference to Nicaragua.

²² See note 20. It is tempting to postulate that the lesser figure of 3,000 pesos would be about standard tribute for 1,000 tributaries. Starting from that premise, and assuming that Alvarado had 12,000 tributaries, we might speculate that his encomienda tributes totaled some 36,000 pesos a year—or a sum approaching $216,000. That figure may well have been his total earnings for some years, especially if we consider his many other sources of income. But such reasoning must be rejected as specious, because if anything Barahona would have exaggerated the value of his own losses from Atitlán, and it cannot, in any event, be taken for granted that the tribute for that pueblo was standard.

²³ See note 20.

²⁴ Scholes, op. cit., 11.

²⁵ For a discussion of Alvarado’s slaving interests, see Sherman, William L., “Indian Slavery in Spanish Guatemala, 1524–1550” (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of New Mexico, Department of History, 1966).Google Scholar

²⁶ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 34, Çurrilla, et al., op. cit. By comparison, Scholes, op. cit., 18–19, writes, “ It would be difficult to estimate how many Indian slaves Cortés owned at any given time, but certainly he had no less than 3,000 after the conquest of Mexico, of whom two-thirds or more died from hard labor or neglect in placer mining. At his death in 1547 he still owned more than four hundred.” The same writer notes that Cortés did have a comparatively large number of the expensive Negro slaves, and that at his death he held about 125 of them.

²⁷ AGI, Justicia 295, fols. 489-489v. Later found guilty of nepotism, the adelantado was fined a third of his salary. de Altolaguirre, Angel y Duvalo, , Don Fedro de Alva-rado, Conquistador del Reino de Guatemala (Madrid, 1927), p.165,Google Scholar writes that on De-cember 18, 1527, when Alvarado was appointed adelantado and Governor of Guatemala he was given a salary of only 562,000 maravedís, or about 1500 ducats. It is generally agreed that the peso de oro was worth 450 maravedís. There is some vagueness regarding the value of the ducat, but I favor the opinion that it was 375 maravedís thus making it 5/6 of a peso. The elusory conversion of the ducat is hardly clarified by the refrán offered by the Diccionario de la Lengua Española of the Real Academia Española (Madrid, 1956), 501 : “Si quieres saber lo que vale un ducado, pídelo prestado.”

²⁸ See note 43.

²⁹ AGI, Justicia 295.

³⁰ Ibid.

³¹ In his suit against Jorge de Alvarado, ibid., Sancho de Barahona estimated that his crew of 100 slaves took out 2,000 pesos worth of precious metal in ten months. Diego de Monroy testified that a miner told him that the same Indians altogether took out six or seven pesos daily. However, the great difference in the amount mined by the Indians can be seen in the statement in AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 9, Montejo to Carlos V (Naco: 28 de Julio, 1537), as follows: “… las minas andan como a V. Mt. hize relación a quatro y a seis reales por hordinarío cada yndio sin las abenturas q. suben de mas cantidad.” And a few years later, AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 9, Maldonado to Carlos V (Puerto de Caballos: 15 de enero, 1543), this statement appears: “Las minas de Ulancho han afloxado algo pero todauia se saca mucha cantidad de oro saca cada esclauo medio pesso por dia y a ducado. …”

³² The five ships alone must have represented a large capital investment, though obviously their value depended upon their size and equipment. But, to give some idea of a ship’s worth, in AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 50, Martín Esquivel to Carlos V (Nicaragua: 30 de diciembre, 1545), it is noted that Pedro de los Rios, the treasurer in Nicaragua, had “tres nauios grandes q. balen mas de quinze mill pesos.”

³³ The list of Alvarado’s “bienes” in 1538 is shown in AGI, Justicia 295, fols. 510-511v, as follows:

• “E despues de lo susodho. en honze dias del dho. mes de henero del dho. año yo el dho. escribano norifiq. el dho. auto y respuesta e mando arriba cont^po a aluaro de paz pr^co del dho. adelant^do en su persona testigos anton de morales escribano publico y luys perez escribano de su magt. y fran^co de la milla e juan marquez bezinos y estantes en esta dha. cibdad etc. La memoria de los bienes del dho. adelantf^do …

• primeramente unas cassas en q. bibia

• yten titras casas nuebas en la plaça

• una quadrilla de esclauos yndios e yndias q. anda en las minas de plata q. la mantiene el pueblo de qsaltenango y q. tiene cient esclauos honbres y mugeres con sus adereços

• yten una mina de plata entera y otra en conpañia de un pero gomez yten dos quad-rillas desclauos yndios q mantienen en las minas del oro el pueblo de totonicapan q. la una tiene nouenta esclauos y la otra ochenta y çinco honbres y mugeres con sus herramientas e bateas

• yten otra quadrilla de esclabos quien tiene el pueblo de teqpanatitan en las minas del oro q. tiene nouenta esclauos yndios honbres y mugeres con sus herramientas e bateas

• yten otra quadrilla desclauos q. mantiene el pueblo de atitan q. tiene sesenta e çinco esclauos honbres e mugeres yndios con sus herramientas y bateas

• yten unas tierras en este baile q. tienen poblados en ellas nouenta esclauos yndios con sus mugeres

• yten ciento y beynte e çinco cabeças de yeguas chicas e grandes yten seys cientas e treynta e çinco reses bacunas chicas y grandes en las quales tiene el baquero el partido de lo q. an multiplicado despues que se le encargaron yten quarenta y syete cabras chicas y grandes

• yten mili e ciento cabeças de obe j as chicas e grandes machos y henbras

• yten un nauio llamado san juan

• yten otro nauio q. se llama santetiago [sic]

• yten dos galeones questan en el astillero

• yten un bergantín pequeño

• yten quinze negros q. todos están en los nauios sirbiendo a la obra dellos

• yten otros adereços de los nauios de xarcia e fierro e pes e otras cosas para el armada

• yten un pueblo q. se llama yzquentepeq.

• yten otro pueblo q. se llama guaçacapan con los tributos dellos

• yten otro pueblo q. se llama tecoçistlan

• yten otro pueblo q. se llama teqpanatitan

• yten otro pueblo totonicapan

• yten otro pueblo q. se llama qsaltenango

• yten la mitad de otro pueblo q. se llama atitan

• Con las rentas y tributos de todos ellos … paso ante mi Anton de morales escribano publico y del consejo.”

³⁴ Again, for purposes of comparison, Scholes, op. cit., 16, 27, estimates conservatively that Cortés’ income from tribute was about 40,000 pesos annually in 1524. By 1528-1529 these had increased to 80,000 to 100,000 pesos a year. At his death in 1547, Cortés had, according to Scholes’ calculations, a gross income of something like 70,000 pesos yearly,

³⁵ AGI, Patronato 60, No. 5, Ramo 3, fols. 179-179v. Among those so testifying were the adelantado’s agent, Alvaro de Paz, fols. 189v-190, and Bernal Díaz del Castillo, fols. 198-198V. Up to the year 1569, a witness maintained, Alvarado’s pueblos had provided the Crown with an income of over 500,000 pesos in the twenty-seven years or so since they had become crown towns.

³⁶ The adelantado frequently picked up money illegally by gambling. In one high stakes game he relieved a Pedro del Espinar of the large amount of 4,000 pesos. AGI, Justicia 295, fols. 488v-489. Called to account for this, Alvarado noted piously that if Espinar wouldn’t gamble he wouldn't lose. Anyway, the adelantado added, he had the better use for the money because he used it to pay artisans working to prepare his armada for the expedition to Peru. The judge was not moved, and Alvarado was ordered to give up the 4,000 pesos. The Alvarado brothers were avid gamblers and allowed wagering to flourish, even though it was illegal. Don Pedro was not a graceful loser, and he was known to have threatened those who bested him, and even to send his criados to recover his losses, by force if necessary.

³⁷ Alvarado, whose vanity was celebrated, appreciated finery. Recinos, Adrian, Fedro de Alvarado, Conquistador de México y Guatemala (Mexico, 1952), 129–130,Google Scholar notes that when Alvarado returned from Spain in 1528 he was arrested in Mexico and his goods seized. Recinos quotes Bishop Zumárraga, who wrote, “que fue tanto aparato y cosas tan ricas como un conde principal de esos reinos pudiera traer. … De todo lo le han dejado un pan de coma; la plata mucha y por extremo bien labrada, la tapicería mucha y muy buena y otras cosas de mucho valor, hoy dia las tienen y se sirven de ellas del presidente y oidores como les cupo de sus partes; caballos y acémilas y todo lo demás le han tomado, y solo una mula que le quedaba, en que andaba por estas calles con luto por su mujer. …” Added to the grief over the recent loss of his new bride, the adelantado sustained a great financial blow as a result of this 1529 residencia. Accused of greed, Alvarado testified that he did not have more than 1,500 pesos altogether, which was hardly likely. Ramírez, op. cit., 102–103. In AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 9, Bishop Pedraza to Carlos V (Gracias a Dios: 18 de mayo, 1539), writes of the landing of Alvarado’s large force of armed men at Puerto de Caballos in April, 1539. The three ships also carried “veynte doncellas hijasdalgo de muy buenos jestos para casar,” as well as “treynta mill ducados de mercaduría de muchas cosas rricas ansi de brocados y telas de oro y de plata y todo genero de sedas y tapaçeria de médina del canpo.”

³⁸ AGI, Justicia 295.

³⁹ In ibid. Alvarado states that when he left on the Peru expedition he owed 30,000 pesos de oro. His complaint about the deception of Pizarro and Almagro appears in AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 9, Alvarado to los magnificos señores del Consejo de Indias (Ciudad de Guatemala: 20 de noviembre, 1535). In AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 110, Probança hecha por el adelantado d. Pedro de Alvarado sobre las ropas de mantas que vendió en Peru (Santiago: 9 de octubre, 1536), he testified that he had sold Pizarro “ropas de manta” worth 2,000 ducats, and that Pizarro had never paid him. On the armada to Peru Alvarado illegally took 1,000 Indians. In his residencia, AGI, Justicia 295, fols. 486v-487, he was sentenced to pay 100 gold pesos for each Indian. Moreover, he was to pay for the return of all those who had been left in Peru. Perhaps the sum of 100,000 pesos involved was no coincidence, since it was the same amount he supposedly received from the business transaction with Pizarro. In the light of subsequent developments, it appears that after appeal this sentence was either commuted or set aside.

⁴⁰ Ibid. His representative stated that all of the gold, silver, and jewels that Alvarado brought from Peru were gone. A detailed list of his bills was presented, amounting to over 36,000 pesos. What the Peruvian metals were worth with all the copper mixed in would be impossible to say without an assay report.

⁴¹ AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 45, Oficiales to Carlos V (Santiago: 15 de septiembre, 1546), includes the following: “El thesorero francisco de castellanos y el contador zorilla [Çurrilla] y el veedor gonçalo Tronquillo prestaron al adelantado don pedro de aluarado quinientos pesas de oro de la caxa de vra. magt. para acabar de despacharse con su armada quando salio desta cibdad para poblar las yslas de la china q. capitulo con vra. magt. en el quai viaje murio en lo de Xelisco y como los pueblos q. teneya se pusieron en cabeça de vra. magt. sea serbido de ynbiar una cedula para q. se pasen en cuenta los dhos. quinientos pesos al thesorero pues se gastaron en seruicio de vra. magt. y el tambien perdio la vida y gasto toda su hazienda en su real seruicio.”

⁴² Alvarado’s two marriages had resulted in no offspring; but this casts no doubt on the virility of don Pedro, for he fathered at least five mestizo bastards. In AGI, Audiencia de Guatemala, Legajo 39, Francisco de la Cueva to Carlos V (Guatemala: 20 de septiembre, 1541), notes that the adelantado’s children were left destitute, “sin abrigo ninguno.” He was a cousin of Alvarado’s wives, and he was named lieutenant governor when Alvarado left for Mexico on the second armada. Shortly after the adelantado’s death, followed by the death of his wife, Francisco de la Cueva married Leonor de Alvarado. Leonor was Alvarado’s daughter by doña Luisa (Tecuilhuatzin), daughter of the Tlaxcalan cacique Xicotencatl (Xicotenga).

We gain some idea of Alvarado’s financial state at the time of his death in AGI, Patronato 184, Ramo 35, Marroquín to Carlos V (Santiago: 20 de febrero, 1542). The Bishop said that Alvarado’s Honduras encomiendas served only to feed the slaves in the mines. This, he said, was the “treasure” that the conqueror had left to pay his debts, and that without the towns the slaves would be lost for lack of food. Marroquín asked that the towns, which had already been assigned to others, be allowed to continue paying for the support of the slaves, at least until the debts of the adelantado had been paid. He also requested that half the tribute from the Guatemalan encomiendas be applied toward the obligations because that income, along with the mines, would, he said, be able to liquidate all of the debts in four years. There were attempts on the part of the creditors to have Alvarado's estate put up for public auction, but Francisco de la Cueva was of the opinion that if the slaves in Honduras were sold they could not produce the income necessary to pay the debts.

Alvarado’s encomiendas went to Doña Beatriz at his death, but she was killed about two months later. Eventually the holdings became crown towns by a royal provision given at Monçón, October 2, 1542. Shortly thereafter Alonso de Maldonado, who had been in Guatemala as juez de residencia, implemented the ruling. Subsequently he was named President of the first Audiencia de los Confines.

⁴³ Archivo de Protocolos (Sevilla), Año 1550, Oficio 3^o, Libro. This manuscript was brought to my attention through the kindness of don Miguel Maticorena, who has plans to publish it.

⁴⁴ Ibid.