Gabriel J. de Yermo
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Gabriel J. de Yermo (1757 Sodupe, near
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
, Spain – 1813,
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 ...
) was a wealthy landowner in New Spain, leader of the anti-independence party, and leader of the coup that overthrew Viceroy
José de Iturrigaray José Joaquín Vicente de Iturrigaray y Aróstegui, Order of Santiago, KOS (27 June 1742, Cádiz, Spain – 22 August 1815, Madrid) was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of Viceroyalty of New Spain, New Spain, from 4 January 1803 to 1 ...
in 1808.


Life before the coup

When Gabriel de Yermo moved from Spain to New Spain, he married María Josefa de Yermo, his first cousin and heiress of the
hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...
s of
Temixco Temixco is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Morelos. It stands at in the west-northwest part of the state. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name. The municipality rep ...
and San Gabriel, in the current state of
Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...
. Later he came to control the monopoly on
aguardiente (Spanish), or (Portuguese) ( eu, pattar; ca, aiguardent; gl, augardente), is a generic term for alcoholic beverages that contain between 29% and 60% alcohol by volume (ABV). It originates in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) and in I ...
and the sale of meat in Mexico City. In 1790 Yermo celebrated the birth of his first child by freeing all of his more than 400
slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. In 1797, acquired the hacienda of Jalmolonga, which belonged to the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
and did the same with the slaves that worked there. In 1808, to celebrate the saint day of his wife, 200 slaves belonging to the Hacienda de Temixco were freed. This was one of the reasons why these former slaves did not contribute to the independence movement, but were instead on the
royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
side, initially helping to defeat Viceroy Iturrigaray in 1808 and later remaining loyal to the King of Spain into the 1820s, after many Spanish-born generals and civil servants had switched their loyalty to an
independent Mexico Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...
.


Discontent and the movement for independence of New Spain

News of the abdication of the Spanish king,
Ferdinand VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...
, in favor of Napoleon was received in Mexico on July 14, 1808. It produced immediate discontent among the
Criollos In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of Spanish descent born in the colonies. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majo ...
(Spaniards born in New Spain). On July 19, 1808, members of the Cabildo (city council) of Mexico City
Juan Francisco Azcárate y Ledesma Juan Francisco Azcárate y Lezama (1767, Mexico City – January 31, 1831, Mexico City) was a lawyer, a Mexico City councilman, and a leader of the movement for Mexican independence from Spain. Azcárate y Ledesma, born in Mexico City, was a C ...
and
Francisco Primo de Verdad y Ramos Francisco Primo de Verdad y Ramos (June 9, 1760, Ciénega del Rincón, New Spain – October 4, 1808, Mexico City, New Spain) was a Novohispanic lawyer and politician and a proponent of Mexican independence from Spain. He was imprisoned by the ...
presented a plan to form a
junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...
—that is, a provisional, autonomous government—of New Spain, with Viceroy Iturrigaray at its head. The plan was accepted by the viceroy and the Cabildo, but not by the Audiencia. It was also vehemently opposed by the
Peninsulares In the context of the Spanish Empire, a ''peninsular'' (, pl. ''peninsulares'') was a Spaniard born in Spain residing in the New World, Spanish East Indies, or Spanish Guinea. Nowadays, the word ''peninsulares'' makes reference to Peninsular Sp ...
(Spaniards resident in New Spain, but born in the mother country). On September 1, 1808, Melchor de Talamantes, a Peruvian priest and the intellectual leader of the Criollo party, delivered two tracts to the Cabildo, in favor of separation from Spain and of the convoking of a Mexican congress. His premises were that all ties to Spain had now been broken with the abdication of the
Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish ...
; that regional laws had to be made, independently of the mother country; that the Audiencia could not speak on behalf of the king; and that the king having disappeared, sovereignty was now vested in the people. It looked as if open fighting would break out between the partisans of the Audiencia (the Peninsulares) and those of the Cabildo (the Criollos).


The coup and the deposition of the viceroy

Iturrigaray, because of his sympathy with the independence party, was held in great suspicion by the Spanish party. The latter chose Yermo as its head. Iturrigaray was on the point of resigning when, on September 15, 1808 Yermo and his partisans arrested him. Yermo was supported by the rich Spanish merchants, by the oidores Aguirre and Bataller, by the archbishop, and by the judges of the Inquisition. Five hundred well-armed conspirators attacked the viceregal palace at 2 in the morning. One soldier was killed. The members of the Cabildo were also arrested. Marshall
Pedro de Garibay Pedro de Garibay (1729, Alcalá de Henares, Spain – July 7, 1815, Mexico City) was a Spanish military officer and, from September 16, 1808 to July 19, 1809, viceroy of New Spain. Military career Born in Alcalá de Henares in 1729 (some sourc ...
, a puppet of the Spanish party, was installed as the new viceroy. Yermo was created marquis, by king Fernando VII. He died in 1813, during the course of Mexico's war of independence.


References

* "Iturrigaray y Aróstegui, José de," ''Enciclopedia de México'', v. 8. Mexico City: 1987. * "Toros," ''Enciclopedia de México'', v. 14. Mexico City: 1987. * "Yermo, Gabriel de," ''Enciclopedia de México'', v. 13. Mexico City: 1987. * Orozco Linares, Fernando, ''Gobernantes de México''. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, . * Alaman, Lucas, "Historia de Méjico desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año 1808 hasta la época presente", Parte Primera, tomo IV. México: 1851 {{DEFAULTSORT:Yermo, Gabriel de 1757 births 1813 deaths Colonial Mexico