Antonio de Mendoza
| Don Antonio de Mendoza | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 1st Viceroy of New Spain | |
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In office April 17, 1535 – November 25, 1550 |
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| Monarch | Charles I of Spain |
| Succeeded by | Luis de Velasco |
| 3rd Viceroy of Peru | |
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In office September 23, 1551 – July 21, 1552 |
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| Monarch | Charles I of Spain |
| Preceded by | Pedro de la Gasca |
| Succeeded by | Melchor Bravo de Saravia |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco c. 1495 Alcalá la Real, Jaén, Spain |
| Died | July 21, 1552 (aged 56–57) Lima, Viceroyalty of Peru |
Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco (Spanish: Antonio de Mendoza) (1495 – July 21, 1552) was the first Viceroy of New Spain, serving from April 17, 1535 to November 25, 1550, and the third Viceroy of Peru, from September 23, 1551, until his death on July 21, 1552.
Mendoza was born at Alcalá la Real (Jaén, Spain), the son of the Second Conde de Tendilla, Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones and Francisca Pacheco. He was married to María Ana de Trujillo de Mendoza.
Mendoza became Viceroy of New Spain in 1535 and governed for 15 years, longer than any subsequent viceroy. On his arrival in New Spain, he found a recently conquered territory beset with Indian unrest and rivalry among the Spanish conquerors and Spanish settlers. His difficult assignment was to govern in the king's name without making an enemy of Hernando Cortés. Cortés himself had expected to be made the permanent ruling crown official of New Spain, since he had led the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. The Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) and the Council of the Indies judged Cortés too independent of crown authority to be made viceroy and had created a high court (audiencia) in New Spain in 1528, appointing Nuño de Guzmán, a rival of Cortés as its president to counter Cortés's power. In 1530 the crown granted Cortés the title of the Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca with multiple encomiendas. With the arrival of Viceroy Mendoza in 1535, Cortés pursued his own economic interests from his palace in Cuernavaca.
Although the Spanish had occupied and expanded explorations, conquest, and settlement in the Caribbean, it was not until the conquest of central Mexico that the crown appointed a viceroy (vice king), who would be the king's living image in Mexico and envisioned to effectively assert royal authority in the Kingdom of New Spain. Mendoza's status as a noble and his family's loyalty to the Spanish crown made him a suitable candidate for appointment.
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Wikipedia