Marcos de Aguilar
Encyclopedia
Marcos de Aguilar is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, d. March 1, 1527, Mexico City
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...
) was briefly royal governor of 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...
(from July 16, 1526 to March 1, 1527).
Marcos de Aguilar was a licenciado
Licentiate
Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...
. He served in various judicial capacities in Seville. Before his arrival in New Spain, he had been Inquisitor of the Indies and alcalde mayor of Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, with his residence on the island of Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
.
In 1525 or 1526 news of the rivalry between Alonso de Estrada
Alonso de Estrada
Alonso de Estrada was a colonial official in New Spain during the period of Hernán Cortés's government, and before the appointment of the first viceroy...
and Gonzalo de Salazar
Gonzalo de Salazar
Gonzalo de Salazar was an aristocrat, and leader of several councils that governed New Spain while Hernán Cortés was traveling to Honduras, in 1525-26.- Early life :...
in the government of 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...
reached Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, as did rumors of the death 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...
at the hands of the Indigenous
Indigenous peoples of Mexico
Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...
. (Cortés had not been killed. He was absent from the capital on an expedition to Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, but word had not been heard from him for some time.) King Charles I
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
(Emperor Charles V) ordered a juicio de residencia
Juicio de residencia
A juicio de residencia was a judicial procedure of Castilian law and the Laws of the Indies. It consisted of this: at the termination of a public functionary's term, his performance in office was subject to review, and those with grievances against him were entitled to a hearing...
(a commission of inquiry) to investigate Cortés and ascertain the true situation in the colony, and the state of the interim government.
To carry out these orders, Charles named Luis Ponce de León
Luis Ponce de León (governor of New Spain)
Luis Ponce de León was a Spanish judge and briefly the governor of New Spain, from July 4, 1526 to July 16, 1526.Luis Ponce de León was an educated man and a knight of Cordoba...
as judge of the residencia and governor of New Spain. Ponce de León sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Sanlúcar de Barrameda is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River opposite the Doñana National Park, 52 km from the provincial capital Cádiz and...
on February 2, 1526. Ponce de León was delayed in Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
until May 31, 1526 for repairs to his ship. When he sailed again, he was accompanied by Licenciado Marcos de Aguilar. Aguilar was sent as visitador (inspector), specifically charged with investigating the religious topics that might come up in Cortés's residencia.
Ponce de León arrived in Mexico City and presented himself to the ayuntamiento (city government) on July 5, 1526. He carried with him a decree from Toledo dated November 4, 1525 granting him the extraordinary powers.
He left all the officials of the ayuntamiento in their positions. He was about 65 years old and ill with fever contracted on his arrival in Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
. The fever did not let up even after his arrival in the capital. After taking office, he retired from public occupations and then died. Before his death he turned over his functions to Aguilar. Aguilar took over the government on July 16, 1526. Also on that date, Diego Hernández de Proaño became alguicil general (general bailiff), named by the king.
Four days later Ponce de León died.
The day after his appointment, Aguilar named Gerónimo de Medina his associate in the government of the colony. The cabildo (city council) of Mexico City, composed of partisans of Cortés, at first rejected his authority. However, Aguilar was a man of energy and ability, and soon imposed his authority. Cortés himself disdained to recognize him. On December 1, 1526 Cortés, as captain-general of New Spain, announced some decrees that caused public friction between the two.
On January 7, 1527, Antonio Cordero became alguicil de campo (bailiff of the countryside), named by Aguilar. The alguicil general had a voice and a vote in the municipal councils that governed the capital and other towns. The alguicil de campo represented the farmers and ranchers outside of the cities.
Like his predecessor, Aguilar, also aged, died after governing only a short while (7½ months). Shortly before his death, he named Treasurer Alonso de Estrada as his successor. Cortés was suspected of poisoning both royal officials.