Exploring the Legacy and Lineage of Conquistador Alonso de Benavides (Part 1 of 3)

Coat of Arms of Juan Alonso Pimentel, First Count of Benavente

Thanks to Damien Aragon’s research on the lineage of Francisco Valdés Altamirano, we know he was the descendant of several conquistadors who were with Fernando Cortés during the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). I have since found several primary sources that confirm this lineage and trace one branch of his ancestry to the noble house of the Condado de Benavente of Zamora, Spain and the Condado de Santisteban of Jaén, Spain through his ancestor Alonso de Benavides.

One secondary source that provides information on the Conquistador Alonso de Benavides is the widely cited Diccionario Autobiográfico de Conquistadores y Pobladores de Nueva España, published in Madrid in 1923 by Francisco A. Icaza. The work draws upon several primary sources, most notably documents dated circa 1547 from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville. In Icaza’s publication, Benavides does not appear on the list because he was already deceased, but his daughter Antonia de Benavides does. She appears as No. 281 under the category “description of the wives and children of conquistadors so that they may receive consideration in the royal treasury, which they currently do not have, and they also don’t have Indians [paying tribute through encomiendas].” The description reads (I have translated it from Spanish):

“That she is the legitimate daughter of Alonso de Benabides (Benavides), who came to discover this land with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, and later he was with the Marquess of the Valle [of Oaxaca] (i.e. Fernando Cortés), and participated in the conquest of this city; and later he (Cortés) sent him with the shipment of artifacts [of the conquest] to His Majesty, when Quiñones and Alonso Dávila went; and the French captured them; and later he returned to this land and was given in encomienda the town of Maxcalgingo (Mexicaltzingo) and he married María de la Torre, her mother, who is now the wife of Dorantes, and she (her mother) has the town [in encomienda], and gives her two hundred pesos a year, which is not sufficient to provide her [daughter] a dowry and support her.”

There is a lot of history summarized in these few sentences, so let’s go back to the beginning. Who was Alonso de Benavides?

Alonso de Benavides, my 14x-great-grandfather, was a Spanish nobleman, soldier and smelter (fundidor) who departed Spain for the “New World” of the Caribbean Indies on 17 February 1517, at a time when Spain had just begun to establish its presence in the Americas. The record of passage indicates he was from Benavente, the son of Pedro de Benavente and Leonor Díaz, vecinos of Benavente.

Record of passage for Alonso de Benavente (Benavides)

17 February 1517

 Archivo General de Indias, Contratación, 5536, L.1, F.464(8)

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Alonso de Benavente, natural de Benavente, hijo de Pedro de Benavente y de Leonor Díaz, vecinos de Benavente, pasa en la nao de [?]

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Alonso de Benavente, from Benavente, son of Pedro de Benavente and Leonor Díaz, residents of Benavente, he goes in the ship of [?]

In 1517, Diego Velázquez de Cuellar, the conqueror and first governor of Cuba, authorized Francisco Hernández de Córdoba to lead an expedition to the Bahamas in search of native slaves. Córdoba set out with three vessels and a company of soldiers, among them, Alonso de Benavides. A series of heavy gales blew the ships off course and after three weeks, the ships found themselves on an unknown coastline. Upon landing on shore and asking the natives they encountered the name of the country, they answered “Tectetan,” meaning, “I do not understand you.” The Spaniards misinterpreted the response as the name of the place, which became corrupted to “Yucatán,” as the peninsula is known to this day. They were amazed at the advanced civilization in the region, which included buildings constructed of stone, people clothed in fine cotton garments and gold ornaments, and warriors that were not as easily vanquished as those on the Caribbean Islands. The company lost about half its men in skirmishes with the natives, ultimately returning to Cuba several months later with reports of their discovery.

This exciting news prompted Governor Velázquez to dispatch more expeditions to the Yucatán, paving the way for the one headed by Fernando Cortés. Velázquez appointed him to explore and establish trade with the natives of the Yucatán (not conquer it). However, growing wary of Cortés’ ambitions and questionable loyalty, and jealous of his popularity, Velázquez revoked the appointment and named another in his place. Having already sunk his own fortune into the endeavor, Cortés ignored the governor’s order and departed Cuba on 18 February 1519 with 11 ships, 508 soldiers and 100 sailors.  Benavides was one of the soldiers under Cortés’ command. After establishing a base of operations on the coast, Cortés and a small Spanish force entered the Aztec capital on 8 November 1519. Benavides, as a member of Cortés’ entourage, witnessed the historic face-to-face meeting between Cortés and Emperor Moctezuma. Initially, the emperor treated the Spaniards as his guests, but he was later placed under house arrest and kept as a hostage.

Meanwhile, Velázquez had received the official title of adelantado from Spain’s king, Charles V, and resolved to send a sizable force to exert his authority in the Yucatán and arrest Cortés. Unable to lead the army himself due to his duties as governor of Cuba, he selected Pánfilo Narváez as commander of this force. It consisted of eighteen vessels carrying 900 men, including 80 cavalry, 80 arquebusiers, 150 crossbowmen, as well as a thousand Cuban natives and a large supply of ammunition and military stores.

When Cortés learned that the Narváez army had landed at Cempoala in April 1520, he led a contingent of his men (including Benavides) back to the coast, leaving approximately 150 soldiers in the Aztec capital under the command of Pedro de Alvarado. Cortés then led a surprise attack against Narváez, routing his forces and capturing his rival. He then received disturbing news from Tenochtitlan—the Spaniards left behind had massacred many of the Aztec noblemen out of fear that they were organizing an attack. He was needed back in the city at once.

Reinforced with Narváez’s sizable army, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan. As the Spanish forces sought to restore Spanish control over the capital, Moctezuma was killed (historians differ on the circumstances of his death). Realizing they were greatly outnumbered and in a precarious position, Cortés and his men decided to plan a stealthy retreat from the city during the middle of the night on 1 July 1520. The Spanish soldiers loaded themselves with as much treasure as they could carry in preparation for their flight from the city under cover of darkness, but they came under attack when they were discovered by sentries who sounded the alarm. During the battle of retreat, the Spaniards abandoned much of the treasure. That night was later remembered as the Noche Triste (Sad Night), for the Spanish army lost as many as 450 men.

Cortés and the remnants of his forces encamped at a strategic location at Tepeaca, where he drafted documents to explain his actions to the king. Benavides was one of nine witnesses who provided testimony, which proves his participation in all the events already described. All the witnesses blamed Narváez and Governor Velázquez for the retreat from Tenochtitlan, which had entailed such a great loss of men and treasure during the Noche Triste. They asserted that Narváez had undermined and destabilized Cortés’ position with the natives. If Cortés had not been forced to leave the city to confront Narváez, they would never have lost control of the city.

Portion of testimony of Alonso de Benavides against Diego Velázquez and Panfilo Narváez, Tepeaca, 4 September 1520

Archivo General de Indias, Patronato,180, R.2

Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan with his army, reinforced by thousands of native allies who were enemies of the Aztecs. After a three-month-long siege, Cortés finally managed to capture the new Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc on 13 August 1521, which marked the fall of the city. I have not yet found in the historical record any account of Benavides’ actions during the final battle of Tenochtitlan, but according to Icaza’s documentation, he participated in the conquest of the city.

Although the Spanish army and its native allies had emerged victorious, Cortés’ position was not yet secure, for he had received no official word from Spain regarding his authority. Therefore, he drafted a letter to the king, dated 15 May 1522, describing the final siege of the capital. To demonstrate the value of the conquest, he also prepared a large shipment of artifacts—gold, jewelry, fabrics and specimens of food and animals—to send to the king. He entrusted the letter and valuable shipment to a reliable officer, Alonso de Ávila, who departed for Spain with a crew of men, which included Benavides. Unfortunately, the French captured the party on their voyage home soon after they departed the Azores, and the men and property fell into the hands of the King of France, Francis I.

Continued in Part 2. Subscribe to the blog to receive email updates.

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Sources

Francisco A. de Icaza, Diccionario Autobiográfico de Conquistadores y Pobladores de Nueva España (Madrid: Imprenta de “El Adelantado de Segovia,” 1923).

William H. Prescott, The History of the Conquest of Mexico (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1843).

Hugh Thomas, Who’s Who of the Conquistadors (London: Cassell, 2000).