Lope Díaz de Armendáriz

Lope Díaz de Armendáriz

Lope Díaz de Armendáriz , Marqués de Cadereyta (also different: Lope Díez ) (* before 1575 in Quito ; † not before 1640 ) was a Spanish colonial administrator who was the first Creole to be appointed viceroy of New Spain .

Origin and military career

Lope Díaz was born in Quito (today: Ecuador ), which at that time was part of the Spanish viceroyalty of Peru . His father served there as President of the Real Audiencia of Quito .

Díaz entered the service of the Spanish Navy and served on the warships with which Spain secured the trade routes in the Atlantic between America and the motherland from privateers from Holland, France and England. He later helped build the patrol fleet that was supposed to protect the Gulf of Mexico from the Veracruz base .

Tenure as Viceroy of New Spain

In 1635 the Spanish King Philip IV appointed Díaz as the new Viceroy of New Spain to Mexico. This was a sensational decision. Although Díaz belonged to the Spanish nobility by his origin, he was not born in motherland Spain. He was the first Criollo (Creole) to be given such an outstanding position, which until then had only been reserved for aristocrats born in Spain.

In September 1635 he entered Mexico City ceremonially and took over the office of viceroy from his predecessor.

In January 1637 a severe earthquake destroyed parts of the new drainage system, so that the project was thrown back. On the advice of engineers, Díaz had an open canal built in place of a drainage tunnel that had been destroyed by the earthquake and which lasted until the time of independent Mexico.

During Díaz's tenure, the papal edict of Urban VIII fell , which forbade the enslavement of the indigenous population in America. Philip IV consequently forbade the practice - also within the framework of the encomienda - of keeping locals as slaves. This did not affect the keeping of African slaves, which was still allowed.

To protect the northern areas of Mexico against rebellious Indian peoples, Díaz had several forts built, and he founded the Heiliggeist-Spital ( Hospital of the Espíritu Santo ) in Mexico City .

When Juan de Palafox y Mendoza came to Puebla as bishop, Díaz quickly became an enemy, be it because of his character or because of hostility from third parties. Palafox made grave allegations against him and his administration and soon after his arrival the king dismissed Díaz without giving a reason.

The king had a judicial review process ( Juicio de Residencia ) carried out over his administration of office (and later also over that of his successor) . The examiner was Archbishop Palafox of all people.

Díaz handed over his office to his successor Diego López Pacheco in August 1640 . The sources give no information about his further life.

literature

• Juana Vázquez Gómez: Dictionary of Mexican Rulers, 1325–1997 . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport CT 1997, ISBN 0-313-30049-6 , pp. 28 ( Google Books ).

Web links

• Short biography (Spanish)
• Biography (spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Rodrigo Pacheco y Osorio	Viceroy of New Spain 1635–1640	Diego López de Pacheco Cabrera y Bobadilla