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Portrait of an American Viceroy: Martín Enríquez, 1568–1583*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Philip Wayne Powell
Philip Wayne Powell*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara, California
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Extract

In the vast panorama of colonial American government, Martín Enríquez de Almansa, Señor de Valderrábano, must be ranked among the most effective, intelligent, and conscientious governors sent to this hemisphere by Spanish monarchs. As fourth viceroy of Mexico (1568–1580) and sixth of Peru (1581–1583), Enríquez was of that distinguished official company—Mendoza, La Gasca, Toledo—which consolidated the loyalty of Spain’s Indies during a critical period of separatist pressures. Though often damned as a cantankerous character and handicapped by advanced age and poor health, Martín Enríquez firmly grasped and stubbornly held the reins of monarchical prestige, giving a restive Mexico twelve years of solid training in toeing the mark of viceregal authority. His twenty-two months in Lima, with death at his elbow, can be considered, at the least, a valuable “breather” which helped lessen irritations growing out of Toledo’s dynamic performance. And it was no small achievement that Martín Enríquez stayed in viceregal office so long during such critical years; this in itself points to an unusual personality, meriting investigation. But there is, of course, much more in the Enríquez story.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , July 1957 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1957

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Footnotes

*

This article is a revision and expansion of a paper presented at the December, 1956, meeting of the Latin American Conference of the American Historical Association. Since I have not yet completed my study of the Enríquez period, this essay is inevitably a preliminary portrait; a fuller treatment including, of course, some of the Enríquez life prior to arrival in America will be contained in the larger study upon which I am now working. P.W.P.

References

1 Major documentation of these two Spanish-English encounters is contained in: Wright, Irene Aloha (ed. & tr.), Spanish Documents Concerning English Voyages to the Caribbean, 1527–1568 (London, Hakluyt Society, 1929)Google Scholar; Nuttall, Zelia (ed. & tr.), New Light on Drake: A Collection of Documents Relating to his Voyage of Circumnavigation, 1577–1580 (London, Hakluyt Society, 1914)Google Scholar. See also, Armas, Antonio Rumeu de, Los viajes de John Hawkins a América, 1562–1593 (Sevilla, 1947), especially pp. 265–304 Google Scholar.

2 See my Soldiers, Indians and Silver: The Northward Advance of New Spain, 1550–1600 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1952), especially Part Three; and my “Presidios and Towns on the Silver Frontier of New Spain, 1550–1580,” Hispanic American Historical Review, XXIV (1944), 179–200.

3 See below, pp. 17–21

4 Both in Mexico City and in the notorious situation at Vera Cruz. In exposing the deplorable state of Real Hacienda, the contador de cuentas, Martín de Irigoyen, was a principal figure, sent over at the outset of the Enríquez administration for this purpose. Documentation on this is scattered through AGI (Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla), Aud. Mex. (Audiencia de Mexico), 19, 20, 101, 105; Contaduría 671B; Indiferente General 1967.

5 Enríquez to the king, December 6, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19; March 18, 1575, Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), Ms. 19692. [Unless otherwise stated, all letters henceforth cited were sent from Mexico City.] On the ordenanza itself, see Padden’s, Robert Charles excellent “The Ordenanza del Patronazgo, 1574: An Interpretative Essay,” The Americas, XII, No. 4 (April, 1956), 333–354 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 See below, pp. 10–11.

7 For some general comment on this institution, see Simpson, Lesley Byrd, Many Mexicos (3rd ed.; Berkeley, University of California Press, 1952)Google Scholar, especially pp. 55, 57, and 112. The AGN (Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico), Ramo de Indios, is the documentary record of this court.

8 Enríquez to the king, May 30, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

9 Juan Vázquez to the king, December 10, 1578, AGI, Aud. Mex. 102.

10 Enríquez to the king, March 30, 1571, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

11 Same to same, May 28, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

12 Same to same, February 6, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

13 Same to same, October 2, 1575, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

14 Same to same, from Acamalutla, January 29, 1581, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

15 Enríquez to Juan de Ovando [president of the Consejo de Indias], n.d. [arrived in Spain in the fleet of August 12, 1574], Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), Ms. 19692.

16 Juan Velázquez de Salazar to Pedro de Ledesma (secretary in the Consejo de Indias), December 19, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104.

17 Enríquez to the king, October 23, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

18 Same to same, from Otumba, October 30, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

19 “Quiero empezar mi carta quejándome de que V. S. me agravie en el estilo de escribir, que V. S. no me ha de tratar sino como superior y cierto que lo siento de manera que me obliga V. S. a que no responda a sus cartas…,” Enríquez to Juan de Ovando, October 8, 1573, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

20 Enríquez to the king, October 31, 1576, AGI, Aud. illex. 19.

21 Same to same, September 2, 1574, and September 23, 1575, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19; also, October 30, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

22 Same to same, September 23, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

2 Enríquez to Juan de Ovando, October 8, 1573, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

24 Dr. Santiago de Muñón (maestrescuela de México) to Juan de Ovando, October 22, 1575, AGI, Indiferente General 858.

25 Juan de Cueva to the king, January 15, 1570, AGI, Aud. Mex. 168.

26 Enríquez to the king, from Otumba, December 5, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

27 I am alluding here to the Avila-Cortes conspiracy, the character assasination of Viceroy Marqués de Fakes (1566–1567), and the ruthless, bloodthirsty behavior of Lie. Alonso de Muñoz—a series of developments which immediately preceded the arrival of Enríquez.

28 Enríquez to the king, January 10, 1574, Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), Ms. 19692.

29 Enríquez to the king, October 23, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

30 Enríquez to Juan de Ovando, January 9, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

31 Enríquez to the king, October 20, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

32 Same to same, September 22, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

33 Same to same, October 31, 1576, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19; April 8, 1579, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

34 Same to same, October 19, 1577, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

35 Enríquez to Juan de Ovando, October 8, 1573, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

36 Enríquez to the king, May 28, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

37 Juan de Cueva to the king, December 17, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104.

38 Enríquez to the king, May 30, 1572, and December 10, 1576, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

39 Same to same, December 10, 1576, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

40 Same to same, December 6, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

41 Same to same, October 23, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

42 Duro, Cesáreo Fernández, Armada española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y de Aragón (Madrid, 1895–1903), II, 226 Google Scholar. Rumeu de Armas’ judgment of this is especially valuable, op. cit., p. 303.

43 Enríquez to the king, October 20, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

44 Same to same, October 23, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

45 Same to same, February 6, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

46 Alonso Calderón to Juan de Ledesma, November IS, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104.

47 Drs. Francisco de Sande and Lope de Miranda (alcaldes del crimen) to the king, April 28, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 69; Enríquez to the king, October 10, 1573, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

48 Audiencia to the king, December 1, 1573, AGI, Aud. Mex. 69.

49 Enríquez to the king, October 23, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

50 Enríquez to the king, February 6, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

51 Same to same, December 5, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

52 Llorente, Juan Antonio, Historia crítica de la Inquisición de España… (Madrid, 1822?), IV, cap. xx, pp. 196–198 Google Scholar; also, Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid), Papeles de Inquisición, Leg. 4, no. 5.

53 See No. 33 of the “Capítulos of 1572,” p. 35.

54 Fray Melchor de Benavente to the king, from San Francisco de México, August 27, 1570, AGI, Aud. Mex. 282.

55 Enríquez to the king, October 23, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

56 Juan Vázquez de Cearreta to Juan de Ovando, October 24, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 99.

57 Relación of a letter of Enríquez to the king, October 31, 1576, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

58 See No. 9 of the “Capítulos of 1572,” p. 28.

59 See especially capítulos 8, 9, 26, 28, and 32.

60 Enríquez to the king, from Otumba, October 30, 1580, and December 15, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

61 Same to same, from Callao, May 8, 1581, Gobernantes del Perú: Cartas y papeles, siglo XVI…, ed. by Levillier, Roberto (Madrid, 1925), IX, 37 Google Scholar.

62 Same to same, March 30, 1571, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

63 See especially Nos. 16 and 27 of the “Capítulos of 1572.” There are several documents in AGI, Aud. Mex. 19, which list household items and jewelry which Enríquez sold to provide alms for the poor or gave directly to charity (during 1569, 1570, and 1571) and this seems to give the lie to the author of the “Capítulos.”

64 AGI, Contaduría 671B.

65 Enríquez to the king, March 18, 1576, Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), Ms. 19692.

66 Enríquez to the king, from Lima, March 23, 1582, Gobernantes del Perú, IX, 87; also, Sebastián de Mosquera (contador of Arequipa) to the king, Lima, February 15, 1583, AGI, Aud. Lima 126.

67 Enríquez to the king, March 20, 1574, AGI, Indiferente General 738; Francisco de Sande to the king, March 30, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 69; the alcaldes del crimen (Sande and Lope de Miranda) to the king, April 28, 1572, Aud. Mex. 69; Enríquez to Juan de Ovando, May 30, 1572, Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), Ms. 19692.

68 Enríquez to the king, December 23, 1577, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

69 Groot, José Manuel, Historia eclesiástica y civil de Nueva Granada (2nd ed.; Bogotá, 1889), I, 208–209 Google Scholar, et seq.; Peláez, García, Memorias para la historia del antiguo reino de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1943), I, 214 Google Scholar. Miramón, Alberto, in his recent El Doctor Sangre (Bogotá, 1954), presents a revised estimate of this controversial figureGoogle Scholar.

70 Velasco to the king, September 13, 1579, AGI, Aud. Mex. 103.

71 The Convento de Santo Domingo de México to the king, March 28, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 285; Velasco to the king, March 29, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104.

72 Velasco to the king, November 1, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104; Archbishop of the Philippines to Juan de Ledesma, from Mexico City, November 1, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 285; Velasco to Juan de Ledesma, November 3, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104; Dr. Hernando de Robles to the king, December 17, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 70; Velasco to Juan de Ledesma, October 26, 1581, AGI, Aud. Mex. 105.

73 From testimony of the Franciscan prelates in favor of Ribera, April, 1572, AGI, Aud. Mex. 282.

74 “Vista no hay que responder más del recibo y que así se creyó y cree lo que él dice y que lo gobernara como conviene” (Consejo marginal comment on a letter of Enríquez to the king, October 7, 1573, commenting on the charges against him), AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

75 A quantity of these complaining letters of Moya to the king and the consejo are to be found in AGI, Aud. Mex. 336; also, Moya to Cardinal de Sigüenza (Inquisitor-General), October 31, 1571, Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid), Inquisición de México, Libro 1047.

76 On the cover of a letter from Moya to Juan de Ovando, December 20, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 336.

77 Enríquez to Juan de Ovando, December 1, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 19.

78 Moya to Antonio de Padilla y Meneses (president of the Consejo de Indias), October 30, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 336.

79 I refer to Enríquez here as valisoletano because he considered Valladolid his home and residence and it is possible that he was born there (though more likely in Zamora), although the family home of his parents appears to have been in Toro and they are interred in Alcañices.

80 Enríquez to the king, December 2, 1573, Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid), Ms. 19692.

81 Juan de Cueva to Juan de Ovando, December 7, 1574, AGI, Aud. Mex. 99.

82 Enríquez to the king, October 19, 1577, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

83 Same to same, December 25, 1578, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

84 Same to same, September 11, 1579, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

85 Same to same, March 20, 1580; AGI. Aud. Mex. 20.

86 Same to same, from Otumba, October 30, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

87 Same to same, January 29, 1581, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20; Juan Velázquez de Salazar to Pedro de Ledesma, October 31, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 104.

88 Enríquez to the king, October 30, 1580, AGI, Aud. Mex. 20.

89 Audiencia of Lima to the president and oidores of Quito, March 18, 1583, AGI, Aud. Lima 93; Enríquez to the king, from Lima, September 22, 1581, Gobernantes del Perú, IX, 49–53.

90 Enríquez will and testament, May 19, 1582, Archivo de Protocolos, Madrid, Libro 290, fols. 1412–1413. Also, the codicil contained in Archivo Nacional, Lima (Pedro Arias Cortes, notary).

91 The Toribio, Santo epitaph is: “Hoy (12 de Marzo) murió el Virrey, de que ha tenido esta ciudad grande sentimiento y por su salud se hizo procesión general, fuera de otras muchas particulares que se hacían cada día y mañana se hará el entierro con mucha solemnidad, donde irá el Concilio y todas las Ordenes. Ha perdido esta tierra mucho en faltarle tal persona, por la mucha cristiandad y buen celo que tenía de acertar a servir a Nuestro Señor y favorecer las cosas de la Iglesia y socorrer las necesidades de los pobres, a que acudía con muchas veras. Nuestro Señor lo tenga en el cielo.” From Ugarte, Rubén Vargas, Historia del Perú: Virreinato (1551–1600) (Lima?, 1949), p. 335 Google Scholar. The comments of king and Consejo de Indias are in Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España. (Madrid, 1842–1895), LI, 271–272.