My 13x-great-grandfather, Antonio Ruiz de Castañeda, son of the conquistador Juan Ruiz de Alanís and Leonor de Castañeda, was the first cousin of Leonor Bello, wife of Gil González de Ávila (one of the principal conspirators in the rebellion of 1566). Antonio was also a second-generation encomendero , having inherited his father’s encomienda of half of the pueblo of Tehuacán. These circumstances entangled Antonio in the investigation into the rebellion.   On 1 August 1566, t

Isabel Moctezuma, or Tecuichpochtzin (aka Tecuichpo) in Nahuatl, was the legitimate daughter of Emperor Moctezuma. She made her last will and testament in Mexico City on 11 July 1550, but used the Nahuatl name for the city, Tenochtitlan. Because she was very ill, the document is rather brief but explained how she wished to convey her assets to her heirs after her death. She named her six legitimate children as: Juan de Andrada from her marriage with Pedro Gallego; and Pedro,

The audiencia real  of Mexico City summoned my 13x-great-grandmother Antonia de Benavides to testify in the trial of Alonso de Ávila (aka Dávila) Alvarado and his brother Gil González Dávila, who were accused of conspiring with don Martín Cortés, the Marqués del Valle , to overthrow the government. Her testimony was not critical to the case, but it is one of the very few examples that exist of a woman’s testimony in a high-profile criminal trial of the era.   We can imagine

Juan Montes Vigil III made another will in Zacatecas on 25 April 1683, just over six months after his previous one . The second will is shorter and less detailed because Juan’s circumstances had changed. His son Francisco Montes Vigil was now married, so Juan no longer needed to name a guardian for him and could entrust him and María de Cantillana, Juan’s sister, as co-executors. In addition, Juan prepared the second will because he was getting ready to depart for a trip, not

There are two known wills of Juan Montes Vigil III, native of Mexico City, the son of Juan Montes Vigil II and Catalina de Herrera Cantillana. He made the first one on 1 October 1682 in Zacatecas. In it, he named his parents, both natives of Spain (Castile), his sister María de Herrera Cantillana, and his “natural” son (born out of wedlock), Francisco Montes Vigil. He also named Carlos Vigil, a two-year-old orphan child who he and his sister cared for and raised in their hous

In 1611, Juan Montes Vigil applied for a license of passage to go to Peru, via New Spain, as an “aide” ( criado ) in the service of don Jacinto de Olmos. One might be tempted to assume that don Jacinto was a man of considerable wealth and status to employ Juan, who himself was an hijo d’algo  (a member of the privileged class). But Jacinto’s own license of passage reveals that he was not a man of such stature. Rather, he was only 14 years old and a native of Cusco, Peru! Not

Recently a user posted on the FamilySearch profile for Juan Montes Vigil II questioning his estimated year of birth. I know of only two primary sources that provide his age. One is the license of passage from 1611, which states that he was 25 years old that year. The other is the license of passage, also from 1611, for don Jacinto de Olmos . Juan Montes Vigil was going to Peru, by way of New Spain, as his aide. In that document, he was recorded as  being 24 years old. Therefo