Bartolomé de Argüelles (? - ?) was the lieutenant treasurer, royal

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

and co-interim governor of La Florida (1595–1597) with Alonso de las Alas and

Juan Menéndez Márquez Juan Menéndez Márquez y Valdés (1531–1627) was royal treasurer and interim governor of Spanish Florida, and governor of Popayán Province (in present-day Colombia). He was the father of Francisco Menéndez Márquez, who succeeded him as g ...

. He served as lieutenant treasurer during the administration of governor

Pedro Menéndez de Márquez Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Galician language, Galician name for ''Peter (given name), Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic fo ...

(1577-1594).

Career

In 1586, during the governorship of Pedro Menéndez Márquez, the English

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

attacked and burned St. Augustine (San Agustín), the capital of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

(La Florida), destroying many documents including records of account, so that Argüelles had to make a new inventory of property that remained after the fire. When Governor Domingo Martínez de Avendaño died in 1595, the three treasury officials, treasurer Juan Menéndez Márquez, accountant Bartolomé de Argüelles and factor-overseer Alonso de las Alas, became acting co-governors of La Florida.On the death, unauthorized absence, retirement or removal of a governor, the treasury officials often jointly governed Florida until a new governor appointed by the king could take up his duties. Such joint interim governorships occurred in 1595-1597, 1612-1613, 1631-1633, and 1646-1648.() At the time of Avendaño's death, Argüelles was in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

to retrieve the ''situado'', the annual subsidy from the treasury of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

to support the

presidio A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th century, 16th and 18th century, 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Captaincy Genera ...

at St. Augustine. Menéndez Márquez and Las Alas were reported to have quarrelled over the governance of Florida until Argüelles returned from Mexico City. Argüelles, who had been in Florida since the 1570s and had become accountant in 1591, aspired to be governor.Argüelles served as lieutenant of the Santa Elena garrison from 1583 to 1587. He returned to Spain in time to serve as a captain of infantry with the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

. The ship he claimed to have served on, however, wrecked in Ireland with only one known survivor, who was executed by the English. Argüelles soon returned to Florida, and was appointed accountant.(Francis & Kole: 115) Argüelles sent a petition to be appointed as governor to the King shortly after Avendaño's death. The King turned down Argüelles's request, and appointed Gonzalo Méndez de Cancio y Donlebún, who had never been to Florida, as governor. Méndez arrived at St. Augustine in 1597. Soon after Méndez reached St. Augustine, he encountered resistance over a payment from the royal treasury to the new garrison priest, Father Ricardo. Argüelles and factor-overseer Las Alas refused to make the payment, saying that there was no authorization for it. Menéndez Márquez sided with governor Méndez on the issue. Shortly afterwards, Méndez charged Las Alas with embezzling funds from the royal treasury, and suspended him from office. Las Alas claimed that Méndez and Menéndez Márquez had conspired against him. The king had given governor Méndez authorization to name his own lieutenant and successor, and Méndez chose his nephew, Juan García de Navia. Rather than attack governor Méndez directly, Argüelles conducted a letter-writing campaign against García and other officials appointed by Méndez, and against Méndez's handling of the

Guale Guale was a historic Native American chiefdom of Mississippian culture peoples located along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida established its Roman Catholic missionary system in the chiefdom in the late 16th ...

rebellion.Francis & Kole: 116-118 Alarmed at repeated incursions into the province of

by French sassafras traders, who were coming and going unmolested in the harbors of the coast, Argüelles implored Governor Menéndez Márquez to send

Timucuan The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The var ...

allies with Spanish troops to seize their canoes and burn their food crops, as well as to seize some of the young men and enslave them. Menéndez Márquez's successor, Méndez de Canço, employed these tactics, thus reviving Márquez's "war of fire and blood" against the rebel

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Arguelles, Bartolome Royal Governors of La Florida 16th-century births Year of death unknown