Note 336 — Chapter 1

Nuño Beltrán de Guzman was appointed governor of Pánuco, Mexico, in 1526, assuming the office in May, 1527. In December he became president of the Audiencia, the administrative and judicial board which governed the province, and in the following year participated in the trial of Cortés, his personal and political enemy, for strangling his wife to death in 1522. Guzman's barbarous cruelty, especially to the natives, whom he enslaved and bartered for his personal gain, resulted in a protest to the crown by Bishop Zumárraga, and in the hope of finding new fields for the gratification of his avarice he raised a large force, including 10,000 Aztecs and Tlascaltecs, and started from Mexico late in 1529 to explore the northwest (later known as Nueva Galicia), notwithstanding Cortés had already penetrated the region.

He conquered the territory through which he passed, laying waste the settlements and fields and inflicting unspeakable punishment on the native inhabitants. Guzman built a chapel at Tonalá, which formed the beginning of the settlement of the present city of Guadalajara, named from his native town in Spain; he also founded the towns of Santiago de Compostela and San Miguel Culiacan, in Tepic and Sinaloa respectively, and started on his return journey late in 1531. Meanwhile a new Audiencia had arrived in New Spain, and Guzman was summoned to appear at the capital. This he refused to do, and when Luis de Castilla was sent by Cortés, the captain-general of the province, to subdue him, Guzman captured him and his force of 100 men by a ruse. In May, 1533, the king commanded him to submit to the provincial authorities; many of his friends and adherents deserted him, and he was stripped of his title as governor of Pánuco. In 1536 (March 17) the licentiate Diego Perez de la Torre was appointed juez de residencia, an officer whose duty was to conduct a rigid investigation of the accounts and administration of governmental officials—this time with special reference to Guzman. By Torre's order, Guzman was arrested and confined in jail until 1538, when his case was appealed to Spain; but from this he received no comfort. He was banished to Torrejon de Velasco, where he died in 1544, penniless and despised.