Diego de Montemayor ( – 1611) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

conquistador, explorer, officer, and the governor of Nuevo Reino de León.

Early life

Historians dispute his date of birth, place of birth, and the identity of his parents. However, Antonio Morales Goméz and Carlos Pérez Maldonado have stated, without proving it, that Montemayor was born in the year 1530. In the ''Catalogo de Pasajeros a Indias'', a certain "Diego de Montemayor" appears to have sailed toward

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 A ...

from

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, he is described to be a resident of

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...

, son of Juan de Montemayor and Mayor Hernández, and the husband of Inés Rodríguez.

Founding of Monterrey

Montemayor is credited with the founding of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

, the capital of the northeastern

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state of

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. Wit ...

, on September 20, 1596. The establishment was officially called ''Ciudad Metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey'' ("Metropolitan City of Our Lady of Monterrey," partly to curry favor from the Viceroy of the time, the Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey. Montemayor's founding was the third effort. The two previous ones bore the names ''Santa Lucia'' and ''San Luis Rey de Francia'' and were headed by

Alberto del Canto Alberto del Canto (c. 1547 – 12/10/1611) formally ''Alberto Vieira do Canto'', was a noble and military Portuguese conquistador who explored the north of Mexico, where he was founder from various cities. Biographical synthesis Birth and y ...

, the future arch-enemy of Montemayor, and the second by

Luis de Carabajal y Cueva Luis de Carvajal (sometimes Luis de Carabajal y de la Cueva) ( – 13 February 1591) was governor of the Spanish province of Nuevo León in present-day Mexico, slave trader, and the first Spanish subject known to have entered Texas from Mexico a ...

. Montemayor brought forty people with him from Saltillo to populate Monterrey; nine married couples, three men without families, fourteen boys, four girls, and one Indian named Domingo Manuel.

Personal life

Montemayor served as

governor of Nuevo León The Mexican state of Nuevo León has been governed by more than a hundred individuals in its history, who have had various titles and degrees of responsibility depending on the prevailing political regime of the time. Under the current regime, e ...

from 1588 to 1610 after he reconquered the province. He may have been married three times. His probable first wife was Inez Rodríguez, who came with him from Spain to the New World in 1548; then second María de Esquivel, and third Juana Porcalla de la Cerda. Montemayor had three children, one from each of his wives. His children were Inez, Diego, and Estefanía. During the

Chichimeca War The Chichimeca War (1550–90) was a military conflict between the Spanish Empire and the Chichimeca Confederation established in the territories today known as the Central Mexican Plateau, called by the Conquistadores La Gran Chichimeca. Th ...

in 1550, Montemayor was often away from his third wife, Juana Porcallo de la Cerda, and her attention soon focused on

, only a few years her elder. When Montemayor later confronted her about the ongoing affair, an argument ensued, he drew his sword and killed her. Montemayor fled into the wilderness to the north, but was eventually cleared of all charges (perhaps because a law at the time allowed a man to kill his unfaithful wife). His daughter with Juana Porcallo, Estefanía, later married

and had three children with him, though the two separated in 1596. Estefanía moved back to Monterrey with her father, and her children took the last name of Montemayor. Montemayor never met his vow to kill

.Duaine, Carl. With All Arms, 1987 He died about 1611 in Monterrey, and is believed to be buried in the place where the Convento de San Francisco previously was, in the city of Monterrey.

Notes

External links

Short biography
(in Spanish)

(in Spanish) * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120320184440/http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fundaci%C3%B3n_de_Monterrey.jpg Depiction of the Founding of Monterrey by Crescenciano Garza Riverabr>Monument in Monterrey to Diego de Montemayor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montemayor, Diego 1611 deaths Colonial Mexico Governors of Nuevo León Mexican people of Spanish-Jewish descent Spanish explorers History of Monterrey People from Málaga People from Monterrey 1530 births Explorers of Mexico Spanish emigrants to Mexico Mexican Sephardi Jews