Quintana Royal Lineage
- Steven Perez
- Sep 4
- 6 min read
If you are a descendent of New Mexico Colonist Miguel Matías de Quintana or José de Quintana, your ancestry can be traced to the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, founder of the Carolingian dynasty in Europe.
The Quintana lineage from Charlemagne runs through the royal Castilian House of Ivrea (House of Burgundy) and the Spanish noble houses of Saavedra and Cervantes before making its arrival in the Americas with the immigration of hijo d’algo Juan de Cervantes Casaus from Seville to Puerto Rico—making him a “Gateway Ancestor” to Charlemagne.
Shortly after the conquest of Tenochtitlan, in 1524, Emperor Charles V named Juan de Cervantes Casaus as the factor (overseer of royal properties) and veedor (overseer of the king’s share of precious metals) of Pánuco, a newly established province of New Spain. When the emperor named Luis Ponce de León as residencia judge for Fernando Cortés, he wrote a letter to Cervantes informing him of this appointment and instructing him to assist him:
“Juan de Cervantes, our factor. We are informed of your person, and of how much you have served us, and of the will you have to continue doing so, for which we thank you, and we have you in service. And we entrust that from here forward you will continue to do so, with all certainty that in everything that may occur, we will order you to be honored and favored as a steadfast servant of ours, as later on our behalf, Licenciado Luis Ponce de León will tell you, who we are sending to be our residencia judge of those lands, to whom, giving full faith and belief, you will assist with everything that he has to do in the service of God Our Lord, and ourselves, by which you will give me pleasure and render me service. From Toledo on the 4th day of November 1525. [Signed] I, The King. By command of His Majesty. Francisco de los Cobos.”
Excerpt of letter from Emperor Charles V to Juan de Cervantes Casaus
Source: “Méritos: Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes Casaus,” Archivo General de Indias, Indiferente, 113, N.155, fol. 6r-6v
Cervantes later became the Lieutenant Governor and then Governor of Pánuco before relocating to Mexico City where he married his first cousin Luisa de Lara Andrada, daughter of a Comendador of the Order of the Knights of Santiago, Leonel Gómez de Cervantes, and his wife Leonor de Andrada.
Cervantes was the ancestor of New Mexico Colonists Miguel Matías de Quintana and José de Quintana through their mother Nicolasa de Valdés y Cervantes. Miguel and his wife Gertrudis de Trujillo were Velasco Farfán Colonists who were recruited in Mexico City, arriving in Santa Fe on 23 June 1694. His brother José arrived afterwards and married Antonia Luján in Santa Fe on 31 May 1696.
There is only one part of the royal lineage where there is conflicting information from two secondary sources, but they both lead to King Sancho IV. Juan Félix Francisco Rivarola y Pineda’s work, Monarquía Española, Blasón de su Nobleza, vol. 1 (p.220) states that Lope Fernández Pacheco married a woman named Doña Brasila Sánchez de Villalobos, who was the daughter of King Sancho IV. And that their daughter, María López de Villalobos, married García de Saavedra. However, there is other evidence that Fernández Pacheco was married to the granddaughter of King Sancho IV, not his daughter. The epitaph inscribed on Fernández Pacheco’s tomb, located in the Cathedral of Saint Mary Major in Lisbon, states:
...[he] was married to Doña María, daughter of Don Ruy Gil de Villalobos and of Doña Teresa Sánchez, who was the daughter of King Don Sancho of Castille.
Pifferer’s Nobiliario de los reinos y señoríos de España states that Juan García de Saavedra married Doña María López de Villalobos, granddaughter of King Sancho IV, but if we follow the lineage as written on Fernández Pacheco’s tomb, she would have been King Sancho’s great-granddaughter.
Credit to uncovering this path goes to all the genealogists who have collaborated on the WikiTree site, particularly Austin Perez, who connected the Cervantes and Saavedra lineages to King Sancho IV of Spain; Damien Aragon, who traced the lineage of Francisco de Valdés Altamirano to the Valdés and Cervantes families of Mexico City in his article in the New Mexico Genealogist; and those who contributed to the Wikipedia page for Lope Fernández Pacheco. Since the lineage from Charlemagne to King Sancho IV is already well-documented, I have listed their WikiTree profiles as sources. For the remainder of the lineage, I provide a list of sources.
I will update this genealogy as new information is uncovered. Subscribe to the blog to receive email updates.
Sources:
WikiTree Profile Links:
Charlamagne: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carolingian-77
Lothair I: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carolingian-93
Lothair II: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carolingian-120
Bertha of Lorraine: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carolingian-57
Willa of Tuscany: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Toscana-1
Adalbert: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ivrea-9
Otte-Guillaume: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ivrea-13
Guillaume I: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bourgogne-55
Raymond of Burgundy: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bourgogne-51
Alfonso VII: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Castilla-99
Ferdinand II: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Castilla-107
Alfonso IX: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Castilla-106
Ferdinand III: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Castilla-105
Alfonso X: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Castilla-113
Sancho IV: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Castilla-112
Epitaph on tomb of Lope Fernández Pacheco, Vanda Lourenço, “Lopo Fernandes Pacheco: um valido de D. Afonso IV,” Medievalista, (https://doi.org/10.4000/medievalista.900 : accessed 24 Aug 2025), p. 17 (Footnote No. 69)
Profile of Afonso Sánchez, Historia Hispánica, Real Academia de la Historia, Spain
Telmo Mendes Leal, Master’s thesis “Pequenas arquiteturas para grandes túmulos: a microarquitetura no final da Idade Média,” setembro 2014, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, p. 78
D. Francisco Piferrer, Nobiliario de los reinos y señoríos de España, tomo II (Madrid, 1858)
Juan Félix Francisco Rivarola y Pineda, Monarquía Española, Blasón de su Nobleza, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1736)
“Méritos: Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes Casaus, Archivo General de Indias, Indiferente, 113, N.155, (https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/238338?nm : accessed 24 Aug 2025)
Ricardo Ortega y Pérez Gallardo, Historia genealógica de las familias más antiguas de México, tomo ii, primera parte, (México: Imprenta de A. Carranza, 1908)
“Información de limpieza de linaje de Alonso de Valdez, de doña Luisa de Cervantes, de Gaspar de Valdez y doña Luisa Lara Cervantes.” Archivo General de la Nación, Inquisición, Tomo 197, Expediente 3, Repositorio Documental Digital (https://repositorio.agn.gob.mx/ : accessed 24 Aug 2025)
“Inheritance case of the deceased Gaspar de Valdes, involving his son, Don Agustin de Valdez y Portugal, his daughter, Doña Francisca de Valdez Cervantes, and her spouse, Don Agustin de la Torre Altamirano. Mexico City.” Huntington Library, Mexican Records collection, 1586-1857, Call Number: mssHM 71065-71156, Volume/Box: Box 5, Item Number: HM 71151
Marriage of Francisco de Valdés Altamirano and Juana de la Fuente González, "México, México, registros parroquiales, 1567-1970," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939X-QBCS-Q?cc=1837908&wc=MGNK-YWL%3A164303701%2C164303702%2C168239701 : 21 May 2014), Cuautitlán de Romero Rubio > San Buenaventura > Matrimonios 1644-1750 > image 186 of 509; parroquias Católicas, Estado de Mexico (Catholic Church parishes, Estado de Mexico).
Baptism of Nicolasa de Valdés, "México, México, registros parroquiales, 1567-1970," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939F-VH9P-V?cc=1837908&wc=MGLB-JWG%3A166557601%2C166557602%2C166598401 : 20 July 2015), Toluca de Lerdo > El Sagrario > Bautismos 1626-1709 > image 85 of 660; parroquias Católicas, Estado de Mexico (Catholic Church parishes, Estado de Mexico).
Marriage of Nicolasa de Valdés and Joseph de Quintana, "México, Distrito Federal, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1514-1970," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-5TS1-9?cc=1615259&wc=3P6L-3TL%3A122580201%2C141333601 : 20 May 2014), Asunción Sagrario Metropolitano (Centro) > image 674 of 869; parroquias Católicas, Distrito Federal (Catholic Church parishes, Distrito Federal).
Baptism of Miguel Matías de Quintana, "México, Distrito Federal, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1514-1970," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-RMNB-7?cc=1615259&wc=3P6L-GPD%3A122580201%2C126405801 : 14 December 2021), Asunción Sagrario Metropolitano (Centro) > Bautismos de españoles 1674-1685 > image 230 of 1017; parroquias Católicas, Distrito Federal (Catholic Church parishes, Distrito Federal).
Velasco Farfán Colonist list, 1 September 1693. New Mexico State Archives, Spanish Archives of New Mexico, vol. II, Civil Records of New Spain 1621-1821, Twitchell 39-55d (Serial 10099), File No. 54c, Image 538/780 (Ancestry.com).
Baptism of José de Quintana, "México, Distrito Federal, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1514-1970," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-RMN9-S?cc=1615259&wc=3P6L-GPD%3A122580201%2C126405801 : 14 December 2021), Asunción Sagrario Metropolitano (Centro) > Bautismos de españoles 1674-1685 > image 395 of 1017; parroquias Católicas, Distrito Federal (Catholic Church parishes, Distrito Federal).
Marriage of José de Quintana and Antonia Luján, Fray Angélico Chávez, "New Mexico roots ltd : a demographic perspective from genealogical, historical and geographic data found in the diligencias matrimoniales or pre-nuptial investigations (1678-1869) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe : multiple data extracted and here edited in a uniform presentation by years and family surnames," 1983, vol. 8, p. 1508 (https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cswr_reference/5 : accessed 24 Aug 2025)
Prenuptial Investigation of José de Quintana and Antonia Luján, 16 May 1696, Microfilm of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Roll No. 59, Frames 631-633.
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