Francisco de Montejo

Francisco de Montejo (Salamanca, 1479-Salamanca, 1553) was a Spanish soldier and explorer who, in his capacity as advance of the Spanish empire and in the company of his son and nephew, the three of the same name, conquered the Mayab in the 16th century, then the domain of the Mayan peoples in the southeast of present-day Mexico.

Family environment

His parents were Juan de Montejo and Catalina Álvarez de Tejeda; In his youth he had a son with Ana de León; Born in December 1508 in Seville, he bore the same name as his father and was considered a legitimate son. Both participated in the conquest of Yucatán and to distinguish them they were nicknamed el Adelantado and el Mozo, respectively. In Spain, on a trip that Hernán Cortés sent him, Montejo married Beatriz de Herrera; The couple had a daughter, Catalina de Montejo y Herrera, who married Alonso de Maldonado, president of the Royal Court of the Borders of Guatemala and Nicaragua (1543-1548) and president of the Royal Court of Santo Domingo (1556-1558).) on the island of Hispaniola; In addition, she had another son named Juan Montejo and Diego, the latter a mestizo, an illegitimate son born to an indigenous woman.

Military career

In 1514, he embarked for the Indies, arriving at Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola, then he moved to the island of Fernandina (Cuba) and participated in 1518 in Juan de Grijalva's expedition; Since he was rich, he provided one of the ships and many supplies, so he was a partner and captain.

On the trip they traveled a route similar to that of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, but the current led them to discover the island of Cozumel. They skirted the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and during the expedition they had clashes with the Mayans of Chakán Putum led by the halach uinik Moch Couoh. Five soldiers under his charge were wounded, but he managed to advance until reaching Veracruz lands, from where he returned to Cuba in the boat commanded by Pedro de Alvarado. Given the adverse circumstances, he refused, along with Captain Alonso de Ávila, to leave soldiers to begin establishing positions in the newly discovered territories.

The following year he accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition. They followed the same route as Juan de Grijalva and founded Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, today known as the Port of Veracruz, the starting point for the conquest of Mexico. On April 22, 1519 he was appointed mayor and councilor along with Alonso Hernández Portocarrero, a position they held briefly.

Francisco de Montejo distinguished himself for his diplomacy, which earned him being sent by Cortés to Spain to inform the Royal Court of the results of the expedition. Together with Portocarrero and the pilot Antón de Alaminos they embarked on July 26, 1519 with the first letter of relationship and the Quinto Real in order to assert Cortés' interests before Charles I.

On December 8, 1526, Carlos I authorized him to undertake the conquest of Yucatán with the titles of advance, governor and captain general, the same ones that his son Francisco de Montejo el Mozo inherited. In 1527 he left Sanlúcar de Barrameda for American lands.

Pacification of Tabasco

The advanced Francisco de Montejo arrived in Santa María de la Victoria, capital of the province of Tabasco where he established his "Royal", in 1528 with the title of Mayor of Tabasco having as its mission that of pacifying and populating it and conquering Yucatán.

Upon his arrival, Montejo found himself in a province practically outside the control of the Spanish authorities and where the indigenous people had revolted. The few Spaniards lived quartered in the town of Santa María de la Victoria, so Montejo began an intense campaign to reconquer the territory. From 1528 to 1530 he battled in Tabasco lands until finally, with the help of the merchant Juan de Lerma, he was able to achieve partial pacification of the province. His actions were interrupted because the First Court relieved him of the position of Mayor.

In 1535, the Second Audience reestablished him in office, since the indigenous people of the province had risen up again. Due to the instability that existed in Tabasco and Yucatán as a result of the pugnacity of the region's natives, Montejo traveled to Spain to request help, getting Queen Juana I to issue him a Royal Cédula that granted him the Government of Yucatán, Cozumel and Tabasco, region comprised from the Cupilco River in Tabasco to the Ulúa in Hibueras (Honduras).

Montejo managed with difficulty to partially pacify Tabasco after many efforts and suffering serious hardships until 1537. Once partial pacification was achieved, he focused his efforts on the conquest of Yucatán.

In 1539, Montejo obtained for his son the appointment of Mayor and Governor of Tabasco and sent him to Santa María de la Victoria to assume the position and continue with the military campaign to completely pacify the province. Although the total pacification of Tabasco would not be achieved until 1560, after defeating the brave Cimatecos, who were the last to surrender to the Spanish in that province. By then, Montejo, who prided himself on being the great conqueror of Tabasco, had already died several years ago.

The conquest of Yucatan

It took three campaigns and 20 years to conquer the Yucatan Peninsula. Together with Captain Alonso Dávila he carried out the first campaign in the east of the Yucatán Peninsula, later establishing a garrison in the vicinity of Chichén Itzá; He divided his military forces by ordering Dávila to carry out campaigns in Bacalar and Chetumal, the Mayans realized this and forced Montejo to mobilize his men to Campeche. "The Advance" He requested support from the Spanish crown, and in response to his favorable request, Queen Juana I of Castile issued a Royal Decree granting him the governorship of the territory from the Copilco River in Tabasco to the Ulúa River in Hibueras. Montejo moved to Central America to carry out military campaigns against the Lencas, but Pedro de Alvarado had been sent for the same purpose by the viceroy Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco. Due to the conflict of interests, an exchange of the territory of Chiapas that belonged to Alvarado for the territory of Hibueras was carried out; Given this perspective, Montejo moved to Ciudad Real de Chiapa.

However, Pedro de Alvarado died in the Mixtón War in 1541. When the governorship of Hibueras became vacant, the Royal Court of the Confines asked Montejo to hold office again. However, he had to leave the appointment and the governorships of Hibueras and Chiapas, presenting their respective residency lawsuits.

He appointed his son Francisco de Montejo the young man the title of mayor and governor of Tabasco and sent him to finish pacifying the territory of Santa María de la Victoria in the current Mexican state of Tabasco; Afterwards he appointed him lieutenant general of Yucatán to carry out the third military campaign of the conquest of Yucatán, his son founded the cities of San Francisco de Campeche in 1540 and Mérida, Yucatán in 1542. His nephew, Also called Francisco de Montejo, founded the town of Valladolid in 1543.

In 1546 at an advanced age, he met in San Francisco de Campeche with his son and nephew, the objective of the conquest of the Yucatan Peninsula had been achieved, but the Mayans revolted again and it was not until 1547 when & #34;the waiter" and "the nephew" They were able to quell the uprisings in much of the territory. The pacification of the Mayans regarding the war of conquest that had been undertaken by the Montejo, did not occur, however, until 1697, 150 years later, when the last Itza stronghold located in the town of Tayasal in the Petén Guatemala was conquered by force of arms by the Spanish under the command of Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi.

Francisco de Montejo exercised his appointment as adelantado, governor and captain general of Yucatán from 1546, but in 1550 he was accused of irregularities in his administration, especially of committing abuses against the indigenous people. Mayans. Due to these accusations he was dismissed and required to present his defense before the Council of the Indies, however the process remained unfinished because & # 34; the Adelantado & # 34; He died in his native Salamanca, on September 8, 1553, very far from all the other Salamancas with which his desire as a conqueror and colonizer was dotting the coasts of Yucatan and the rivers of Tabasco.

Testament

Jorge Rubio Mañé, author of the prologue to the second, corrected, edition of the Spanish translation of the Conquest and Colonization of Yucatán, by the Mayanist Robert S. Chamberlain, says:

"Among the happy findings of Dr. Chamberlain in the Spanish archives (it should be) to mention the will of the Adelantado Francisco de Montejo, made a few days before his death in Salamanca, his own hometown, the "day of Our Lady", September 1553, already very old. This testament was signed in Valladolid, on August 16th of that year, in front of Francisco Cerón's notarial faith. He found it in the Provincial Historical Archive of Valladolid, in the protocols of the aforementioned scribe, volume II, legajo 128".

Biography

Bernal Díaz del Castillo said of him:

The Adelantado Francisco de Montejo was of a medium stature, a joyful face, and a friend of gladness and a good rider; and when he passed here he was thirty-five years old, and was more given to business than to war; he was frank and spent more than he had an income.

True story of the events of the conquest of the New-Spain, 1863 edition, volume 2, page 357