Pedro Nuño Colón de Portugal

Pedro Colón de Portugal

Pedro Nuño Colón de Portugal , Duke (Spanish: duque) of Veragua and de la Vega, Margrave (Spanish: marqués) of Jamaica and Villamizar, Count (Spanish: conde) of Gelves, Spanish grandee (* 1615 in Madrid , Spain ; † December 13, 1673 in Mexico City , now Mexico ) was a Spanish officer and colonial administrator who served as Viceroy of New Spain.

Life

Origin and youth

Pedro Colón was born in Spain as the only son of Álvaro Jacinto Colón de Portugal, the fifth Duke of Veragua. He was the direct great-great-great-great-grandson of Christopher Columbus in two respects, namely through the line of his mother, Catalina de Portugal y Castro.

Pedro Colón de Portugal was accepted into the Order of the Golden Fleece . He embarked on a military career and fought for the Spanish in Flanders , Algeria and Catalonia . There he served as general of the royal guard and as admiral of the navy.

In 1645 he married Isabel de la Cueva y Enríquez, the daughter of the Duke of Alburquerque and sister of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva , who was viceroy in New Spain from 1660 to 1664, and of Diego Benavides de la Cueva , viceroy of Peru from 1661 to 1666 . Isabel died in 1647. In 1663 Pedro Colón de Portugal married a second time, this time his cousin María Luisa de Castro, Girón y Portugal.

Tenure as Viceroy of New Spain

After the Spanish court had given in to the resignation of the Viceroy Antonio Sebastián de Toledo of New Spain in 1672, Enrique de Toledo y Osorio, Margrave of Villafranca, was supposed to take over the office - but he refused the appointment in June 1672. In his place, Pedro Colón de Portugal was appointed, who embarked for America that summer, accompanied by his son Álvaro, who later made a career in the navy, while his first-born (and title heir) from his first marriage, Pedro Manuel, stayed in Spain. Colón de Portugal reached Veracruz in September 1673. He stayed there for some time, once to recover from the grueling crossing, but also to oversee the improvement of the defenses that were required since Spain was at war with France .

In November he made his way inland and reached Chapultepec on November 16, 1673. His health was already very poor, so that although he took over the official duties of his predecessor on November 20, he did not settle in until December 8, 1673 was able to hold the ceremonial entry into Mexico City , the ceremony of which sealed the official assumption of office.

His tenure as Viceroy of New Spain lasted only six days. Accordingly, he could not achieve any special performance. He lowered the prices for corn and cocoa and ordered measures to stimulate trade and wanted to improve the situation of the indigenous population.

He died on December 13, 1673 - so suddenly that he could no longer receive the sacraments . His body was first buried in the Cathedral of Mexico City, but later transferred to the family crypt in Spain.

Like every viceroy, he brought a sealed envelope with him from Spain in which the successor was determined in the event of his death. In this case the court had envisaged the assumption of office by Payo Enríquez de Rivera , the Archbishop of Mexico.

The Mexican poet Juana Inés de la Cruz , a pupil of his predecessor, dedicated a poem to his fate.

literature

• Juana Vázquez Gómez: Dictionary of Mexican Rulers, 1325–1997 . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT, USA 1997, ISBN 0-313-30049-6 , pp. 32 ( books.google.de ).

Web links

• Biography (Spanish: PDF)
• Biography (spanish)
• Short biography (Spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Antonio Sebastián de Toledo	Viceroy of New Spain 1673	Payo Enríquez de Rivera