Beltrán de Cetina
Encyclopedia
Beltrán de Cetina y del Castillo (Alcalá de Henares
1521 - Mérida de Yucatán
1600?) was one of the original conquistador
-founders of Mérida in the modern Mexican state of Yucatán
. His siblings included: Renaissance poet Gutierre de Cetina
; Ana Andrea del Castillo, self-described conquistadora and wife of Francisco de Montejo the Younger; and Gregorio de Cetina, also a conqueror of Yucatán.
His father, Beltrán de Cetina
y Alcocer, was born to Gutierre de Cetina y Hurtado de Mendoza
and Mencía de Alcocer (of partial converso
ancestry) circa
1498. The parents came, for the most part, from old hidalgo
families long resident in Alcalá de Henares, although the patrilineal descent ultimately stemmed from the village of Cetina
, in the Kingdom of Aragon
. As a youth Beltrán de Cetina y Alcocer moved to Seville
, where he met and married Francisca del Castillo y Zanabria
, daughter of García del Castillo and María Mayora, a local of likely Morisco
descent. The nuptials were celebrated in 1518 in Seville. In 1519 was born Gutierre, in 1521 Beltrán in Alcalá de Henares, in 1525 Ana Andrea, and in 1527 Gregorio.
The family lived for many years in the parish neighborhood of Santa María la Blanca
, within the old aljama
or Jewish quarter of Seville. The father, possibly owing to family influences, obtained in 1536 the job of almoxarife mayor (chief tax official and treasurer
) for the city and its ports. The Cetina family's comfortable position allowed them to own slaves
(some of them Indian) and to realize the construction of a family tomb in the Dominican
convent
of Madre de Dios de la Piedad, in which would also be laid the remains of doña
Juana de Zúñiga and doña Catalina Cortés, wife and daughter of Hernán Cortés
, respectively; as well as the great-granddaughters of Christopher Colombus.
In 1535 occurred the immigration to New Spain
of the siblings: Andrea Cetina, Beltrán Cetina, and García del Castillo, accompanied by their aunt, Antonia del Castillo (wife of Gonzalo López, another notable Sevillian, who five years before had participated in Nuño de Guzmán
's campaign to conquer the lands that later would become Nueva Galicia
).
In 1539 Andrea del Castillo married Francisco de Montejo y León; the couple would eventually help found and settle the city of Mérida. The marriage produced three children: Beatriz de Montejo (born ca.
1543), Juan de Montejo (born ca. 1544), and Francisca del Castillo (born. ca. 1545). Although the union is mentioned in passing by Bishop de Landa
(who knew the family personally) in his Relación (ca. 1566), it is Fray
Diego López de Cogolludo
who relates in his Historia de Yucatán (1688) that Montejo y León died insolvent, bequething to his son Juan the encumbrence of paying his significant remaining debts, and causing his widow to petition the King of Spain, with both unusual assertiveness and effectiveness, for a pension and the right of retaining ownership of the complex of properties (solares) on the plaza mayor
of Mérida (part of which, the Casa de Montejo, would continue to be lived in by her descendants into the 19th-century).
In 1541 Beltrán de Cetina y del Castillo was named by his brother-in-law, Montejo "the Younger," as his civil and military lieutenant
(capitán y justicia mayor
) in the garrison of San Francisco de Campeche
. The following January the city of Mérida was founded, inscribed in the roster of first citizens (vecino
s) appears the name of the aforementioned Beltrán de Zetina (sic). Beltrán's role as a conquistador is documented in the list of men who conquered the Yucatán with Montejo compiled by chronicler Baltasar Dorantes de Carranza, son of Andrés Dorantes, survivor of the fateful Narváez expedition
.
In 1547 this same Beltrán was made, along with other close associates, a regidor
or city councilman by the adelantado
Francisco de Montejo y Álvarez de Tejeda
. The following year his father (his mother already having died) named in his testamento or will as his principal heirs his eight children (all were legitimate, though some did not opt to use the paternal surname): Gutierre de Cetina, García del Castillo, Beltrán de Cetina, Gregorio de Cetina, Mencía de Santo Domingo Alcocer, Leonor de Cetina, María del Castillo, and Ana Andrea del Castillo.
In 1550 Gregorio de Cetina obtained permission to travel to New Spain, along with his cousins Pedro and Diego López, in order to help in the administration of the properties of his uncle, Gonzalo López. The latter, who had attained the rank of maestre de campo
during Cortés's Conquest of Mexico, had previously been accompanied by the eldest of the brothers, Gutierre, during a trip to New Spain in 1546, realized for the purposes of serving as procurador general (procurator general) of the colony.
In 1553, sons of former Mérida regidor Beltrán de Cetina and his Sevillian wife Isabel de Velasco, Beltrán and Gregorio de Cetina y Velasco (there was also another, more obscure, brother named Antonio), traveled to New Spain on a ship captained by Juan de Andino, to live as encomenderos
, ultimately leaving multiple descendants in Yucatán, Tabasco
, Campeche, and places further afield.
In 1554, Gutierre returned to Mexico only to die in Villa del Espíritu Santo
as a result of an infected facial-wound received on April 1 of that year while residing in Puebla
, and which was inflicted by the volatile son of one of Panfilo de Narváez
's followers, Hernando de Nava, who mistook the poet for Francisco de Peralta, rival for the favors and amours of Leonor de Osma, a lady married to the notable and elderly physician Pedro de la Torre. A portrait, purported to be a true likeness of Gutierre, accompanied by a biographical sketch, is included by painter
and poet Francisco Pacheco
in his 1599 Libro de descripción de verdaderos Retratos de Ilustres y memorables varones (Book of the Description of the True Portraits of Illustrious and Memorable Men).
García del Castillo, having married Catalina López de Olivares, daughter of the notable Sevillian judge Juan de Olivares and his wife Beatriz López, settled in the City of Mexico
; numbering among his children the bachiller and presbyter cleric (clérigo presbítero) Beltrán de Cetina (born ca. 1558), a graduate of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico
. María del Castillo (the third sibling so surnamed) married influential conquistador Francisco Tamayo de Pacheco and settled in Mérida.
Gregorio de Zetina y del Castillo, having settled in Mérida, married Mariana (or María) de Quijada y Contreras, niece of Diego de Quijada, alcalde mayor
of Yucatán from 1561–1565, and daughter of Cristóbal Gutiérrez (a conquistador and settler of Chiapas
) and Ana de Contreras; their numerous children were Francisca del Castillo, Beltrán de Cetina, Gregorio de Cetina, Diego Quijada, Juan Quijada, Gutierre de Cetina, Hernando de Porras, Gabriel de Cetina, Cristóbal Quijada, and Andrés del Castillo (the surnaming custom was not necessarily linear). Gregorio de Cetina was for a time steward
of the chapel of San Juan Bautista, in Mérida, position from which he profited financially. Many of the brothers, their relatives and dependants, left record of their migratory movements in the Casa de Contratación de Indias
of Seville. The Cetinas were related by blood or marriage to the Montejos
, the Pachecos, the Ortizes de San Pedro, the Rozas, among others, all of whom are counted as being among the first colonizers of Mexico and other lands.
] (N.B.
link may require refreshing) Obras de Gutierre de Cetina Andrea del Castillo's defense in the original Spanish Photo of the sepulchral slab of Beltrán de Cetina y Alcocer
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
1521 - Mérida de Yucatán
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
1600?) was one of the original conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
-founders of Mérida in the modern Mexican state of Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
. His siblings included: Renaissance poet Gutierre de Cetina
Gutierre de Cetina
Gutierre de Cetina a Spanish poet and soldier, was born at Seville. He was the brother of Beltrán and Gregorio de Cetina, lesser known conquistadors. He served under Charles V in Italy and Germany, but retired from the army in 1545 to settle in Seville...
; Ana Andrea del Castillo, self-described conquistadora and wife of Francisco de Montejo the Younger; and Gregorio de Cetina, also a conqueror of Yucatán.
From Andalusia to Mexico
His father, Beltrán de Cetina
Cetina, Aragon
Cetina is a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon. It is situated in the southeast of the province.The town of Cetina forms part of the Cid's Road, the path taken by El Cid according to El Cantar del Mio Cid followed the course of the Jalón river, with the relevant lines stating that...
y Alcocer, was born to Gutierre de Cetina y Hurtado de Mendoza
House of Mendoza
The Mendoza family was a powerful line of Spanish nobles. Members of the family wielded considerable power, especially from the 14th to the 17th centuries in Castile. The family originated from the town of Mendoza in the province of Álava in the Basque countries...
and Mencía de Alcocer (of partial converso
Converso
A converso and its feminine form conversa was a Jew or Muslim—or a descendant of Jews or Muslims—who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. Mass conversions once took place under significant government pressure...
ancestry) circa
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1498. The parents came, for the most part, from old hidalgo
Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)
A hidalgo or fidalgo is a member of the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. In popular usage it has come to mean the non-titled nobility. Hidalgos were exempt from paying taxes, but did not necessarily own real property...
families long resident in Alcalá de Henares, although the patrilineal descent ultimately stemmed from the village of Cetina
Cetina, Aragon
Cetina is a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon. It is situated in the southeast of the province.The town of Cetina forms part of the Cid's Road, the path taken by El Cid according to El Cantar del Mio Cid followed the course of the Jalón river, with the relevant lines stating that...
, in the Kingdom of Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
. As a youth Beltrán de Cetina y Alcocer moved to Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, where he met and married Francisca del Castillo y Zanabria
Spanish-Moors surname
Spanish-Moors surnames, are surnames whose origins are dated back to Andalusia's Moorish dynasty* Abreu* Almonte* Aybar* Alzugaray* Aznar* Bauza* Bazán* Berroa* Burrieza* Casald* Cora* Edo* Frois* Garza* Ibanez* Icaza* Lara* Lima* Lora...
, daughter of García del Castillo and María Mayora, a local of likely Morisco
Morisco
Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...
descent. The nuptials were celebrated in 1518 in Seville. In 1519 was born Gutierre, in 1521 Beltrán in Alcalá de Henares, in 1525 Ana Andrea, and in 1527 Gregorio.
The family lived for many years in the parish neighborhood of Santa María la Blanca
Santa Cruz, Seville
Santa Cruz, is the primary tourist neighborhood of Seville, Spain, and the former Jewish quarter of the medieval city. Santa Cruz is bordered by the Jardines de Murillo, the Real Alcázar, Calle Mateas Gago, and Calle Santa Maria La Blanca/San José...
, within the old aljama
Aljama
Aljama is a term of Arabic origin used in old official documents in Spain and Portugal to designate the self-governing communities of Moors and Jews living under Christian rule in the Iberian Peninsula...
or Jewish quarter of Seville. The father, possibly owing to family influences, obtained in 1536 the job of almoxarife mayor (chief tax official and treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
) for the city and its ports. The Cetina family's comfortable position allowed them to own slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
(some of them Indian) and to realize the construction of a family tomb in the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
of Madre de Dios de la Piedad, in which would also be laid the remains of doña
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Juana de Zúñiga and doña Catalina Cortés, wife and daughter of Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
, respectively; as well as the great-granddaughters of Christopher Colombus.
In 1535 occurred the immigration to New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
of the siblings: Andrea Cetina, Beltrán Cetina, and García del Castillo, accompanied by their aunt, Antonia del Castillo (wife of Gonzalo López, another notable Sevillian, who five years before had participated in Nuño de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán or sometimes Nuño de Guzmán was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was Governor of the province of Pánuco from 1525–1533, and of Nueva Galicia from 1529–1534, President of the first Audiencia from 1528-30. He founded several cities in...
's campaign to conquer the lands that later would become Nueva Galicia
Nueva Galicia
El Nuevo Reino de Galicia or Nueva Galicia was an autonomous kingdom of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was named after Galicia in Spain...
).
The Lives of Andrea, Beltrán, Gregorio, and Gutierre de Cetina
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1543), Juan de Montejo (born ca. 1544), and Francisca del Castillo (born. ca. 1545). Although the union is mentioned in passing by Bishop de Landa
Diego de Landa
Diego de Landa Calderón was a Spanish Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. He left future generations with a mixed legacy in his writings, which contain much valuable information on pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and his actions which destroyed much of that civilization's...
(who knew the family personally) in his Relación (ca. 1566), it is Fray
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
Diego López de Cogolludo
Diego López de Cogolludo
Diego López de Cogolludo was a Spanish Franciscan historian of Yucatán.His work, the Historia de Yucatán, appeared at Madrid in 1688, and was reprinted in 1842 and 1867. It contains information personally gathered at a time when older sources, written and oral, that have now partly disappeared,...
who relates in his Historia de Yucatán (1688) that Montejo y León died insolvent, bequething to his son Juan the encumbrence of paying his significant remaining debts, and causing his widow to petition the King of Spain, with both unusual assertiveness and effectiveness, for a pension and the right of retaining ownership of the complex of properties (solares) on the plaza mayor
Plaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
of Mérida (part of which, the Casa de Montejo, would continue to be lived in by her descendants into the 19th-century).
In 1541 Beltrán de Cetina y del Castillo was named by his brother-in-law, Montejo "the Younger," as his civil and military lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
(capitán y justicia mayor
Corregidor (position)
A corregidor was a local, administrative and judicial position in Spain and its empire. He was the highest authority of a Corregimiento. In the Americas a corregidor was often called an alcalde mayor. They began to be appointed in fourteenth century Castile and the institution was definitively...
) in the garrison of San Francisco de Campeche
Campeche, Campeche
San Francisco de Campeche is the capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche, located at,...
. The following January the city of Mérida was founded, inscribed in the roster of first citizens (vecino
Vecino
In Spanish-speaking areas, a vecino is nowadays a neighbor, or a resident of a place.In older times throughout the Spanish Empire, a person who has a house and home in a town or city and contributes to its expenses, not necessarily living near to the person referring to him; a local figure of some...
s) appears the name of the aforementioned Beltrán de Zetina (sic). Beltrán's role as a conquistador is documented in the list of men who conquered the Yucatán with Montejo compiled by chronicler Baltasar Dorantes de Carranza, son of Andrés Dorantes, survivor of the fateful Narváez expedition
Narváez expedition
The Narváez expedition was a Spanish attempt during the years 1527–1528 to colonize Spanish Florida. It was led by Pánfilo de Narváez, who was to rule as adelantado....
.
In 1547 this same Beltrán was made, along with other close associates, a regidor
Regidor
A Regidor is a member of a council of municipalities in Spain and Latin America. Portugal also used to have the same office of Regedor.-Mexico:...
or city councilman by the adelantado
Adelantado
Adelantado was a military title held by some Spanish conquistadores of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.Adelantados were granted directly by the Monarch the right to become governors and justices of a specific region, which they charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the...
Francisco de Montejo y Álvarez de Tejeda
Francisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo y Alvarez was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America.Francisco de Montejo was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1479 to Juan de Montejo and Catalina Alvarez de Tejeda. He left Spain in 1514, and arrived in Cuba in time to join Grijalva's expedition along the coast of...
. The following year his father (his mother already having died) named in his testamento or will as his principal heirs his eight children (all were legitimate, though some did not opt to use the paternal surname): Gutierre de Cetina, García del Castillo, Beltrán de Cetina, Gregorio de Cetina, Mencía de Santo Domingo Alcocer, Leonor de Cetina, María del Castillo, and Ana Andrea del Castillo.
In 1550 Gregorio de Cetina obtained permission to travel to New Spain, along with his cousins Pedro and Diego López, in order to help in the administration of the properties of his uncle, Gonzalo López. The latter, who had attained the rank of maestre de campo
Maestro de Campo
Maestro de Campo was a rank created in 1534 by the Emperor Carlos V, inferior in rank only to the Capitán General and acted as a chief of staff. He was chosen by the monarch in the Council of State, and commanded a tercio. Their powers were similar to those of the old Marshals of the Kingdom of...
during Cortés's Conquest of Mexico, had previously been accompanied by the eldest of the brothers, Gutierre, during a trip to New Spain in 1546, realized for the purposes of serving as procurador general (procurator general) of the colony.
In 1553, sons of former Mérida regidor Beltrán de Cetina and his Sevillian wife Isabel de Velasco, Beltrán and Gregorio de Cetina y Velasco (there was also another, more obscure, brother named Antonio), traveled to New Spain on a ship captained by Juan de Andino, to live as encomenderos
Encomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....
, ultimately leaving multiple descendants in Yucatán, Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
, Campeche, and places further afield.
Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, on the Coatzacoalcos River. Coatzacoalcos comes from an indigenous word meaning "Site of the Snake" or "Where the snake hides"...
as a result of an infected facial-wound received on April 1 of that year while residing in Puebla
Puebla, Puebla
The city and municipality of Puebla is the capital of the state of Puebla, and one of the five most important colonial cities in Mexico. Being a planned city, it is located to the east of Mexico City and west of Mexico's main port, Veracruz, on the main route between the two.The city was founded...
, and which was inflicted by the volatile son of one of Panfilo de Narváez
Pánfilo de Narváez
Pánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas. He is most remembered as the leader of two expeditions, one to Mexico in 1520 to oppose Hernán Cortés, and the disastrous Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527....
's followers, Hernando de Nava, who mistook the poet for Francisco de Peralta, rival for the favors and amours of Leonor de Osma, a lady married to the notable and elderly physician Pedro de la Torre. A portrait, purported to be a true likeness of Gutierre, accompanied by a biographical sketch, is included by painter
Spanish art
Spanish art is the visual art of Spain, and that of Spanish artists worldwide. Whilst an important contributor to Western art and producing many famous and influential artists Spanish art has often had distinctive characteristics and been assessed...
and poet Francisco Pacheco
Francisco Pacheco
Francisco Pacheco was a Spanish painter, best known as the teacher of Diego Velázquez and Alonso Cano, and for his textbook on painting that is an important source for the study of 17th-century practice in Spain...
in his 1599 Libro de descripción de verdaderos Retratos de Ilustres y memorables varones (Book of the Description of the True Portraits of Illustrious and Memorable Men).
García del Castillo, having married Catalina López de Olivares, daughter of the notable Sevillian judge Juan de Olivares and his wife Beatriz López, settled in the City of Mexico
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
; numbering among his children the bachiller and presbyter cleric (clérigo presbítero) Beltrán de Cetina (born ca. 1558), a graduate of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico
Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico
The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico was founded on 21 September 1551 by Royal Decree signed by Charles I of Spain, in Valladolid, Spain. It is generally considered the first university officially founded in North America and second in the Americas.After the Mexican War of Independence it...
. María del Castillo (the third sibling so surnamed) married influential conquistador Francisco Tamayo de Pacheco and settled in Mérida.
Gregorio de Zetina y del Castillo, having settled in Mérida, married Mariana (or María) de Quijada y Contreras, niece of Diego de Quijada, alcalde mayor
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
of Yucatán from 1561–1565, and daughter of Cristóbal Gutiérrez (a conquistador and settler of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
) and Ana de Contreras; their numerous children were Francisca del Castillo, Beltrán de Cetina, Gregorio de Cetina, Diego Quijada, Juan Quijada, Gutierre de Cetina, Hernando de Porras, Gabriel de Cetina, Cristóbal Quijada, and Andrés del Castillo (the surnaming custom was not necessarily linear). Gregorio de Cetina was for a time steward
Steward (office)
A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent him or her in a country, and may have a mandate to govern it in his or her name; in the latter case, it roughly corresponds with the position of governor or deputy...
of the chapel of San Juan Bautista, in Mérida, position from which he profited financially. Many of the brothers, their relatives and dependants, left record of their migratory movements in the Casa de Contratación de Indias
Casa de Contratación
La Casa de Contratación was a government agency under the Spanish Empire, existing from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which attempted to control all Spanish exploration and colonization...
of Seville. The Cetinas were related by blood or marriage to the Montejos
Francisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo y Alvarez was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America.Francisco de Montejo was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1479 to Juan de Montejo and Catalina Alvarez de Tejeda. He left Spain in 1514, and arrived in Cuba in time to join Grijalva's expedition along the coast of...
, the Pachecos, the Ortizes de San Pedro, the Rozas, among others, all of whom are counted as being among the first colonizers of Mexico and other lands.
Sources
- Barreda y Acedo-Rico, Juan de la (2003) Viejas familias de Alcalá de Henares
- Dorantes de Carranza, Baltasar (1604) Sumaria relación de las cosas de la Nueva Espana
- Landa, Diego de (1566) Relación de las cosas de Yucatán
- López de Cogolludo, Diego (1688) Historia de Yucatán
- Rubio Mañé, D. J. Ignacio (1941; November 1943) La casa de Montejo en Mérida de Yucatán; "Los Primeros Vecinos de la Ciudad de Mérida de Yucatán", Academia Mexicana de la HistoriaAcademia Mexicana de la HistoriaThe Academia Mexicana de la Historia is a national academy in Mexico, whose purpose is to promote and propagate historical studies within Mexico, conduct research into all aspects of the history of Mexico, and to contribute towards the preservation of the national cultural heritage...
- Pike, Ruth (January 1990) The Converso Origins of the Sevillian Poet Gutierre de Cetina, Iberoromania
External links
http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas/servlets/Control_servlet?accion=3&txt_id_desc_ud=1993880&fromagenda=NCatalogue of Passengers to the IndiesSpanish West Indies
The Spanish West Indies was the contemporary name for the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean...
] (N.B.
Nota Bene
Nota bene is an Italian and Latin phrase meaning "note well". The phrase first appeared in writing circa 1721.Often abbreviated as "N. B.", nota bene comes from the Latin roots notāre and bene . It is in the singular imperative mood, instructing one individual to note well the matter at hand...
link may require refreshing) Obras de Gutierre de Cetina Andrea del Castillo's defense in the original Spanish Photo of the sepulchral slab of Beltrán de Cetina y Alcocer