Diego Delgadillo

Diego Delgadillo (b. Granada, Spain, d. 1533, Granada) was a judge of the first Audiencia of New Spain, which governed the colony from December 9, 1528 to January 9, 1531.

Delgadillo was a native of Granada. He graduated as a lawyer from the University of Alcalá.

Ever since the conquest by Hernán Cortés, New Spain had been governed by a military government, generally violent, arbitrary and exploitative of the Indigenous. Hoping to establish a more orderly and just government (and perhaps also to reduce the authority of Cortés), on December 13, 1527 the metropolitan government of Charles V in Burgos named a Real Audiencia to take over the government of the colony. This consisted of a president and four oidores (judges). The president was Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán and the oidores were Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, Delgadillo, Diego Maldonado and Alonso de Parada. Delgadillo left Spain for the Indies in August 1528.

At the time Beltrán de Guzmán was already in New Spain, at Pánuco, so Charles ordered the judges to assemble in Veracruz and from there make a joint entrance into the capital. However, Beltrán de Guzmán was delayed. The oidores from Spain did not wait for his arrival, but proceeded directly to the capital. They arrived there on December 8, 1528, taking over the government on the following day. They were given a splendid reception by the city government. Beltrán arrived a little after the others. Two of them (Maldonado and Parada) were sick on their arrival and soon died. They did not take part in the government.

The Audiencia was instructed to improve the treatment of the Indigenous and to conclude the juicios de residencia into the conduct of Cortés and his associates Pedro de Alvarado, Alonso de Estrada, Rodrigo de Albornoz, Gonzalo de Salazar and Pedro Almíndez Chirino within 90 days. Most of these associates had participated in the government in the proceeding few years while Cortés was in Honduras or Spain, with a lot of in-fighting among themselves and injustices to the population, both Indigenous and Spanish.

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