Pedro de Moya y Contreras

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Archbishop of Mexico, Pedro de Moya y Contreras

Pedro de Moya y Contreras , (also: Pedro Moya de Contreras ) (* between 1525 and 1530 in Pedroche, Province of Cordoba , Spain ; † January 14, 1592 in Madrid , Spain) was a Spanish bishop of the Roman Catholic Church , who served as Inquisitor and officiated as Viceroy of New Spain.

Life

Origin and education in Europe

Pedro de Moya came from a noble family from Andalusia . His maternal uncle Acisclo Moya Contreras was Archbishop of Valencia . At the urging of his uncle, his parents took Pedro to the royal court at a young age, where he began his service as page to Juan de Ovando , who was president of the Council of India . Ovando quickly recognized the young man's extraordinary intelligence and made him his secretary and private scribe.

From 1551, Pedro de Moya was allowed to quench his thirst for knowledge while studying at the University of Salamanca - on behalf of and on account of his patron Ovando. By 1554 he received the degree as a doctor of canonics and legal theory .

Careers in Europe

Moya returned to the service of Juan de Ovando after completing his studies. At the side of Ovando and in the vicinity of King Philip II , he worked in the closest circle of the administration and political direction of the Spanish overseas colonies. In 1560, as an award for his loyal and skillful service, he was appointed head of the Canary Islands Cathedral School .

He did not hold this office long before the king called him back to the mainland and appointed him head of the Inquisition of Murcia . He worked there until 1570.

Church career in New Spain

Then Philip II transferred him to the New World in almost the same position. Moya was to become Inquisitor General of New Spain and set up and lead the Tribunal del Santo Oficio . The background to this appointment was that Philip and his advisers feared that the wave of the Reformation , which had divided Europe confessionally, could also affect the Spanish colonies in America. He wanted to counter this and secure the unique position of the Catholic faith in New Spain.

Pedro de Moya reached Mexico in 1571. With him traveled as other inquisitors Cristóbal Cervantes, who of course died on the crossing, as well as Alonso Fernández de Bonilla and Antonio Bazán. On November 11, 1571, the tribunal began its work.

It was only after his arrival in Mexico that Pedro de Moya was ordained a priest and held his first mass.

In 1572 Moya was appointed coadjutor of Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar, whose successor he should succeed. In June 1573 he was appointed bishop by Pope Gregory XIII. ; Montúfar died in 1573, and on December 8, 1573, the Bishop of Puebla , Antonio de Morales, consecrated him as the new Archbishop in the Cathedral of Mexico City .

On February 12, 1574, Moya held a major auto dafe in Mexico City . In a letter to King Philip II on March 24, 1575, he complains about the lack of knowledge of canon law and the poor level of education of the 175 priests in his archdiocese.

Construction of the pilgrimage church of Guadalupe began during his tenure as Archbishop .

The work of the Jesuit order - especially the endeavor to educate the locals - found Moyas full support.

In February 1584, Archbishop Moya called the III. Provincial Council of Mexico ( III Concilio Provincial Mexicano ), which met in January 1585 in the old cathedral of Mexico City. Here - in the spirit of the Counter Reformation - the standards and regulations of the Catholic Church in Mexico were laid down, which were to last until the end of the colonial era. Another result of the council, the results of which were recognized both by the king in Madrid and, much later, by Pope Sixtus V , was the strict ban on enslavement of the indigenous population.

Political career

Competition and enmity quickly developed between viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almansa and the new archbishop. The viceroy took the view that as secular ruler he was on an equal footing with the clergy, if not preceded by it - comparable to the role that the king of Spain had towards the highest representatives of the Church in Spain. In contrast, the ambitious and religiously strict archbishop saw himself in the double role of supreme shepherd and inquisitor general overriding secular concerns in New Spain and only answerable to the king. Everything else has to be subordinated to the defense of the true faith - represented by him.

The viceroy was an energetic man, but his arguments were weak, especially since the civil administration of the colony did not constitute a domestic power for him. It was corrupt and weak, Enríquez de Malansa saw his main task in remedying these abuses, which he only partially succeeded. The ongoing conflict with the Inquisitor General seems to have drained the Viceroy's strength and nerves, as Enríquez de Malansa suggests in a letter to his successor Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza , Count of Coruña, after his transfer to Peru in 1580 .

Moya apparently had an easier time with this new viceroy, who came to Mexico in 1580, since the Count of Coruña did not come close to his predecessor, intellectually and in terms of assertiveness.

Visitador and Viceroy of New Spain

Like his predecessor, Viceroy Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza tried to fight or at least contain the rampant corruption in the Real Audiencia of Mexico and the civil colonial administration. These efforts had not been very productive under Viceroy Enríquez de Almansa, and Mendoza was also unable to control the situation on its own. He asked the king for a visitador to act as arbitrator between the viceroy and the audiencia and its subordinate organs.

The close correspondence and the ongoing reports, which allowed the politically adept Moya to be present in Madrid, now paid off: King Philip II unceremoniously appointed the Archbishop as Visitador of New Spain. He used the new power immediately, held rigorous judgments about a number of Oidores , which he removed from office for corruption and incompetence and had some executed.

When Mendoza died in June 1583, the office of viceroy was formally transferred to the dean of the Audiencia; as a Visitador, Pedro Moya remained the actual decision-maker. In 1584 he was formally appointed the new viceroy by the king. As Archbishop, Viceroy, Inquisitor General and Visitador, he united all positions of power in New Spain in his position and was able to rule freely.

In October 1585, the new Viceroy Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga , sent from Madrid, arrived in Mexico. Moya retained his office as archbishop and inquisitor.

Return to Europe

In June 1586, Moya made his way back to Europe. He was received in Madrid and appointed to the Council of India for his services. He also acted as Juez de los jueces , i.e. the chief judge of the judiciary. The King later promoted Moya to President of the Council of India; He could no longer exercise this office, however, as he died on January 14, 1592 after several months of illness in Madrid.

The fact that Pedro de Moya was zealous in faith and unscrupulous in terms of power politics, but at the same time had personal integrity, may prove that he was so poor when he died that the court had to pay for his funeral.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fray Francisco de Bustamante y fray Alonso de Montúfar: "Información por el Sermón de 1556" . In: Ernesto de la Torre Villar, Ramiro Navarro de Anda (eds.): Testimonios históricos guadalupanos . Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), Mexico City 1982, pp. 36-141.
predecessor Office successor
Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza Viceroy of New Spain
1584–1585 		Álvaro Manrique de Zuñiga
personal data
SURNAME Moya y Contreras, Pedro de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moya de Contreras, Pedro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Mexico and Viceroy of New Spain
DATE OF BIRTH between 1525 and 1530
PLACE OF BIRTH Pedroche, Cordoba Province , Spain
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1592
Place of death Madrid