The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 22 of 55 / 1625-29 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.

by Unknown

Report of the Spanish Council of State on Appointment of a Governor for the Philippines

Sire:

On the occasion of a letter written to your Majesty by Don Alonso Fajardo de Tenzá, governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, and president of the royal Audiencia established therein, on the seventeenth of August of the past year 623, petitioning among other things for permission to come to España, the Council advised your Majesty of what occurred to them with regard to the appointment to that office. Your Majesty was pleased to order that persons be proposed for it, and that a relation be made, in the report of the Council, of the pretensions of Don Alonso; and that action be immediate, so that he whom your Majesty should appoint might sail in the trading-fleet bound for Nueva España—or, if he should be in the Yndias, that he might be advised so that he could sail in March of the coming year for Filipinas. [Your Majesty also ordered] that Don Alonso’s pay should run until his departure thence in the first vessel, and one year longer, in order that he might come here. In fulfilment of your Majesty’s orders, it appears that the demands of Don Alonso Fajardo are reduced to a better office in reward for his services and those of his father and forbears; and that your Majesty, by providing what you deem best, make good his pay during all the time while he should be detained there without power to embark, and one year longer, to enable him to come to these kingdoms, offering his person to serve in this interim at the order of his successor. Don Juan Fajardo, his brother, wrote to me, the president, in a letter of November 4 of the past year that, since Don Alonso desires leave to go to España, it must be after there has been time to conclude the inspection that was ordered to be made of him and the Audiencia, and after your Majesty has assigned him a post in the Council of War with an adequate salary. In accordance with the charges against him, Don Juan petitions that the permission be revoked until he himself shall return from the expedition of Brazil and come to this court. Will your Majesty show him the favor that may be your pleasure.

The Council having examined personally the services and merits that follow for this office (which carries a salary of eight thousand pesos de minas, of four hundred and fifty maravedis apiece), those who are considered most fitting to receive that office—which must be held for eight years, in accordance with the order given regarding it—are proposed to your Majesty. The first two have seven votes.

Don Geronimo Agustin, of the habit of Calatrava, who has served from the year 88. In that of 89, the duke of Terra Nova, while governor of Milan, assigned him a Spanish infantry company of arquebusiers in the regiment of Lombardia. The same year he went to Flandes, where, at different periods, he served for ten years with appointments and infantry companies; and the last three years as captain and sargento-mayor of the regiments of the masters-of-camp, Don Yñigo de Borja, Don Alvaro Huaser, Don Fernando Giron, and Don Alonso de Leyla. He commanded some of the regiments; and for special services that he performed, the king our sovereign (may he rest in peace), your Majesty’s father, granted him four hundred reals[1] income in Milan. In the year 60–[?] he was appointed master-of-camp of a regiment of men in the fleet of the Ocean Sea, in which he has served. Embarking with his regiment, he went to the Terceras to relieve three ships of Yndia which had arrived there in a dilapidated condition; and afterward went with the marquis of Santa Cruz to the undertaking of Alarache. Thence he went to the Mediterranean Sea until he sighted Tunez [i.e., Tunis], in whose bay were burned twenty-two pirate ships and one galliot.[2] On his return from the expedition, he took part in the expulsion of the Moriscos[3] from Valencia, Aragon, and Murcia. Finally, he went with his regiment to La Mamora, and was in full command of all the companies in which served the seigniors and cities of Andalucia and three hundred soldiers of the coast of Granada. Through his determination, the men whom he headed were landed; and they gained and occupied those positions, responding with great courage to their defense and to the fortifications. In consideration of that, he was in the former year of 617 considered for the offices of governor and captain-general of the province of Panama and those of Chile, and as president of the royal Audiencia of those provinces. On account of your Majesty’s assurance in his person and services, you granted him the office of viceroy of Mallorca, which he holds at present.

Don Gaspar Ruiz de Pereda, of the habit of San Tiago, has served for more than thirty-six years in the Terceras, in the expedition to Ynglaterra, in the States of Flandes, and in the fleet of the Ocean Sea, where considerable pay and appointments were granted him. Afterward he served in Bretaña; and the Council of State entrusted to him matters touching the right of the infanta to that state.[4] He was corregidor and war-captain of the four towns of the seacoast. He attended to the preparation and building of ships and the despatch of fleets satisfactorily. At the conclusion of his office, he returned to that coast, and became superintendent of it all from La Raya of Portugal to Francia. The king our sovereign (may he rest in peace) granted him the government of Habana, which he exercised for nine years. In the residencia taken from him he was regarded as free from blame; and, on his arrival at these kingdoms, was appointed corregidor of Malaga. Later, on account of the satisfaction given by his person, your Majesty appointed him inspector-general in the States of Flandes.

The following three have five votes apiece.

Don Juan Nino de Tavora, who, having been gentleman of the bed chamber to the archduke Alberto, and cavalry captain in the States of Flandes, is at present master-of-camp of Spanish infantry there. With his services and capacity there is entire satisfaction. He is the son of Don Gabriel Nino, formerly chief master-of-camp of the king our sovereign who is in glory.

General Don Juan de Venavides, of the habit of San Tiago, is the son of the marquis of Jaralquinto. He has been in the service for the past twenty-two years, seven of them with additional pay under the marquis of Santa Cruz in the galleys of the kingdom of Portugal, and thirteen years with the pay of thirty reals [sc. ducados?] per month in the trade-route to the Yndias. He made five voyages, in that of 610 going as captain of one of the infantry companies of the trading-fleet of Tierra Firme. That same year, the flagship of the galleons having been lost at the departure from Buen Aire, he, having escaped naked, stayed to rescue the men of the ship; and having done this, took them in a patache to Cartagena. In the year 613 he went as admiral of the trading-fleet of Nueva España. On the return trip some ships of the fleet were lost in a storm. He was carrying in his ship more than one million [pesos] of silver belonging to your Majesty and to private persons. The masts and the rudder were snapped in twain; the ship began to leak at the bow; and yet he repaired it and anchored in the port of San Lucar without having thrown anything overboard. In 615 he again filled the same office of admiral, and, the flagship from Honduras having been wrecked, he saved many of its crew. In 617 he was recommended as commander of the trading-fleet of Nueva España, and was granted the office of its admiral. Finally, he was twice proposed as commander of the Filipinas fleet. On January 13, 620, he was appointed commander of the trading-fleet of Nueva España, from which post he came with good reputation and fame. Licentiate Pedro de Vergara Gaviria, in a letter that he wrote to your Majesty from Vera Cruz, where he was inspecting the royal officials, declares that he has seen in his person an excellent zeal and a manner of procedure quite different from what is said there of other commanders, and accordingly he is obliged to give account of it; and that the honors and rewards that your Majesty would be pleased to bestow on him will be well employed. In the year 623, he was for the second time granted the office of commander of the said trading-fleet of Nueba España (whence he had come the year before); he took the fleet and brought it in safety. While at the port of Vera Cruz, the Mexican Audiencia committed to him, on the occasion of the rebellion of that city, the fort of San Juan de Ulua, and appointed him as its commandant, and as military captain of all that coast. He served in that capacity until he returned to España, desiring to obtain the quiet and peace of that kingdom. In the residencias that have been taken of the appointments as commander that he has held, he has been declared a good official, and worthy of greater honors and emoluments. This present year he was proposed for the office of commander of the trading-fleet of Nueba España.

The master-of-camp, Don Francisco Zapata Ossorio, knight of the habit of Santiago, has served for twenty-two years, sixteen in Flandes, at fifty reals [sc. ducados?] pay. He was later captain of a Spanish infantry company, with which he took part as occasion offered. He, went to Napoles and was there governor and military captain of the province of Calabria. In the residencia taken of that office, he was exonerated. He commanded the galley of the Napoles squadron at the appointment of Cardinal Çapata, in the absence of the regularly-appointed commander, with pay of one hundred and fifty reals [sc. ducados?] per month. In the year of 622 the said cardinal appointed him master-of-camp of the seven companies of Spanish infantry that went to the state of Milan, and captain of one of them, namely, the one that belongs to him as master-of-camp. He came with the permission of the duke of Alva, who wrote to your Majesty recommending him and mentions the said Don Francisco. Your Majesty has ordered him to go to visit the duke of Lorena; also that, going to Flandes, he be given there the first regiment that falls vacant, and that in the meanwhile he enjoy the salary of master-of-camp of halberdiers—namely, one hundred and sixteen ducados per month. His father served more than fifty years, and was in the battle of Lepanto, in the States of Flandes, the war with Portugal, the Terceras Islands, and the expedition to Ynglaterra; he served twice in the inspection of many men in the department of Sevylla, and served in the government of Alcantara, and as corregidor of Joro, and lastly in that of Cordoba. His uncle, Don Juan Çapata Ossorio, was bishop of Çamora; and his other ancestors, paternal and maternal, died in the service.

Don Garcia Giron has four votes. He has served since the expedition to Ynglaterra. He was lieutenant of the cavalry captain, Don Fernando Giron, his brother, in Lengua-doc [i.e., Languedoc], whence he went to Bretaña as arquebusier captain. He took part in all the sieges and in all the reënforcements that occurred during his time, many times having in charge convoys. When the said his brother took two thousand infantrymen for the fleet, he served on it. The adelantado-mayor of Castilla gave him command of a galleon, and later the command of twenty companies when coming from Vigo. When some thirty companies went to Ytalia with the count of Fuentes, he took charge of them by order of the duke of Medina-Sidonia. On those occasions and in Flandes, while serving as captain and sargento-mayor, he gave an excellent account of his person and served with satisfaction to his superiors. In the year of 610, his Majesty who is in glory bestowed upon him the government of Cartagena, I mean of Benezuela. At the expiration of the time for which he was appointed, he was granted the government of Cartagena, and now he has been given that of Habana.

The following seven have each one vote.

Don Antonio Sarmiento, son of Count Gondomar. After having served on various occasions, your Majesty bestowed upon him a post in the Council of the Treasury, in which he serves with approval.

Don Sancho de Zeyba, of whose capacity and of the services of his forbears and his own, your Majesty has full notice.

General Don Geronimo Gomez de Sandoval, of the habit of Santiago, captain of a company of men-of-arms in the guards of Castilla, who has served for twenty-three years past on various occasions. In 602, the city of Cartagena appointed him to raise one hundred and fifty infantrymen who were embarked in the galleys of España. He went on the expedition of Argel with appointment as Spanish infantry captain. In the year of 604, his Majesty who is in heaven granted him twenty-five ducados pay, which was later increased to thirty. His father being appointed governor and captain-general of Ysla Española [i.e., Hayti], and president of that Audiencia, Don Geronimo went with him, having been appointed commandant of the fort of Santo Domingo. At the order of the Audiencia, he took command of the ships of the fleet there for its defense for more than four years. As commander of them, he sailed out at various times to clear that entire coast of enemies, engaging them with great valor. Once he captured two lanchas, and on another occasion a ship, while he sank another. His services were held as very considerable at that time. Having come to this coast to request the office of commander of some fleet, he was granted the post of admiral of that of Nueba España, which came in 621. On that voyage, he helped the ships that were unmasted and unrigged, both going and coming. By his great diligence he helped to withdraw one that was burning in the port of San Juan de Ulua from among all the fleet, by which act the greater part of the fleet escaped the fire. It was a great peril, for all the silver and merchandise was embarked for the voyage. In respect to that service, the prior and consuls, as those interested in it, petitioned, in a letter to your Majesty, that you be pleased to give him the place of commander of the fleet in the following year. Having consulted in regard to it, your Majesty was pleased to grant him that of admiral for the good account that he had given of the offices which he had had in charge. Your Majesty will have an account of his person. On this voyage he served with especial approval as an excellent and careful mariner, and is fitted for employment in any command of importance of this kind. Accordingly, he was proposed for the place of captain-general of the trading-fleet that is to go to Nueba España this year, which your Majesty bestowed upon Don Lope de Hou y Cordova; and now your Majesty has bestowed upon him that of Tierra Firme. He is the son, as above stated, of Don Diego Gomez de Sandoval (whose capacity is very well known), who, having served more than forty years in various offices, died in the past year of 623, as governor and captain-general of Ysla Española, where he was for five years. The Audiencia, the archbishop, and the secular cabildo of Santo Domingo wrote in a letter to your Majesty how well he served in governmental affairs, and in those of war, justice, and peace. He left many debtors because he had conducted his government uprightly; and his property was not able to pay them. They consider Don Geronimo, his son and successor, as capable and worthy of what your Majesty pleases to do for him and what charge you may give him.

Don Rodrigo de Vivero, who, having come to these kingdoms from Nueva España, where he was born, and having served Queen Doña Ana, your wife, who is in heaven, as a page, returned to that country. There he was appointed from his youth to the most important duties by the viceroys, for they knew his ability and good qualities. That being known to the king our sovereign who is in glory, your Majesty’s grandfather, he appointed him governor and captain-general of the provinces of Nueha Vizcaya, where with great valor, continuous toil, and at his own cost, he made war upon the rebel Indians, until he had reduced more than sixty towns, and brought down many men from the mountains, where they were committing great depredations. By those means they were able to discontinue several presidios, and save the great expense that these occasioned to the royal revenues. Having been attacked by a serious illness that was induced by the hardships of the war, he was forced to return to Mexico, where the viceroy, Marquis de Salinas, his uncle, appointed him governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, because of the arrival at that juncture of news of the death of Don Pedro de Acuña. Without stopping to consider the discomfort and lack that he was causing his family, and the short time in which his successor would arrive, he accepted and went to take charge of the said duties. During the period of his government, he made peace with the Mindanaos, and reënforced the kingdom of Maluco, then besieged by the Dutch, besides performing other special services. Don Juan de Silva, his successor, having arrived, and he having embarked to return to his home, a storm overtook him that forced him to put in at the coast of Japon. There the ship foundered and many of those aboard it were drowned. He escaped on a plank, and was captured with the others who were rescued. That emperor afterward treated them well, gave them a ship and passage, and lent money to Don Rodrigo. He asked the latter to make a treaty with the king, our sovereign (may he rest in peace), in his name, in regard to certain matters touching trade and commerce with Nueba España. He granted passage to those who wished to return to Filipinas. Everything was well directed on account of Don Rodrigo’s energy. The viceroys, and finally the marquis of Guadalcazar, have given very approving relation of the good qualities that concur in his person, and of his character, prudence, and good management. Thereby it is learned that they are thoroughly satisfied of his person by their treatment. In consideration of that, he was in the former year of 620 elected governor and captain-general and president of the Audiencia of Tierra Firme, which office he at present holds.

Don Diego de Cardenas, of the habit of Santiago, brother of the count of La Puebla de Llesena, has served ten years, six of them in the States of Flandes, on all the occasions that offered in his time, especially at the siege of Ostende for thirty months, where he was wounded by an arquebus-shot in the face and a pike-thrust in the arm. Through the satisfaction that Archduke Alebrto had in his person and services, he was given command of a company of Spanish pike infantry, which he had at the victories of Alinguin, Aldoncel, and Arinverque, and at the capture and relief of Grol, and in that of Bolduque, Obstrat, and Gave. After the conclusion of the war, he came to España, by the permission of his Highness; and his wife, infanta Doña Isavel, wrote to the king, our sovereign who is in glory, your Majesty’s father, recommending him. The marquis of Espinola did the same, and in the year 609 granted him a permit to raise two hundred and fifty infantrymen, whom he led to the expulsion of the Moriscos from the kingdom of Valencia. Having been retired on half-pay, he went with the marquis de la Ynojosa on the expedition of Alarache. Lastly, he was in that of La Mamora, serving at his own cost. In the year of 620, your Majesty rewarded him with the office of governor and captain-general of the province of Yucatan, which he is filling with approval, and with especial attention [to his duties], which he exhibited in the gift that that province sent to your Majesty.

Don Juan de Velasco Castañeda, of the habit of San Tiago, has served for thirty-eight years, commencing his service on the expedition to Ynglaterra. Thence he went to the States of Flandes. There he was given thirty ducados pay to serve near the person of the duke of Parma. He was present at many sieges, captures, and reliefs. He came to these kingdoms in the year 96 to the relief of Cadiz, with Don Pedro de Velasco, who gave him command of an infantry company; and in the year of 593 the adelantado-mayor of Castilla gave him another. With it, he returned to the said States, taking under his charge a troop of ten companies. He continued his services on all occasions that offered, fighting and proving himself therein as a gallant gentleman and a valiant soldier, until the year of 609, when he took part in the expulsion of the Moriscos from Andalucia and the kingdom of Granada. Later he was at Milan where the constable of Castilla employed him in commissions very important to the service of your Majesty. In the year of 617 he was granted the government of Cremona, and afterward made lieutenant of the captain-general of the soldiers of the kingdom of Aragon, having in charge the castle of Xaca; in those places he has served three years with much approval, valor, and prudence, and, in order to preserve his jurisdiction and preëminences, has often risked his life. For that your Majesty has considered yourself well served, and ordered him rewarded for it. Because of the satisfaction that the Council found in his person, they proposed him to your Majesty for the government of the province of Cartagena, to which your Majesty was pleased to appoint him; but as he did not choose to accept it, your Majesty gave it to another person.

Don Geronimo de Silva, knight of the Order of St. John—to whom after having served on various occasions, the king our sovereign who is in heaven, your Majesty’s grandfather, granted him title as captain in the year 89. He raised two hundred and fifty men for the defense of Portugal. In the year 92, Don Alonso de Bargas gave him a company in the Aragon expedition, where his Majesty ordered him to go to serve with twenty-five ducados pay per month. Having gone to Flandes, he continued with his company in the assaults of Durlans, and in the captures of Chatelet and Cambray, always acting as a valiant and respected gentleman. There he was grievously wounded. In the year 96 the duke of Medina-Sidonia appointed him captain and sargento-mayor of the infantry that he was sending to Portugal. That same year, his Majesty granted him one of the ordinary companies of light cavalry of the state of Milan. In consideration of that, in the year 609 he was given the place of commandant of the forces of Terrenate, and governor of the soldiers of that presidio, which he served until the year 616, when he was promoted to the post of master-of-camp of the military forces of the Filipinas Islands, which he is serving, notwithstanding that the Council has received certain letters condemning his actions.

Will your Majesty appoint one or other of these, according to your pleasure. Madrid, March 7, 1625.

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[1] Our transcript reads “reals,” but both in this and in other instances in the present document, this is evidently an error of transcription for “ducados.” It would be very easy for the error to arise from the extremely bad handwriting of many Spanish documents, in which the Spanish abbreviations for the two above terms might bear a close similarity. “Ducados” is used later in the document, when speaking of similar instances.

[2] These expeditions against the Mediterranean Moors were undertaken because of their continual depredations on Spanish commerce and near Spanish coasts. In 1602 Spain and Persia united against Turkey, and in 1603 the marquis of Santa Cruz, with the Neapolitan galleys, attacked, and plundered Crete and other Turkish islands. Many operations were conducted against the Moorish states of north Africa, but no effective check was applied to their piratical expeditions. See Hume’s Spain, p. 210.

[3] Spain has never recovered from the expulsion of the thrifty Moriscos, who were the descendants of the old Moors. The edict of expulsion against the Valencian Moriscos was issued on September 22, 1609, by the viceroy Caracena. Its political excuse was negotiations between the Moriscos and English to effect a rising against Felipe III. “With the exception of six of the ‘oldest and most Christian’ Moriscos in each village of a hundred souls, who were to remain and teach their successors their modes of cultivation, every man and woman of them were to be shipped within three days for Barbary on pain of death, carrying with them only such portable property as they themselves could bear.” In six months one hundred and fifty thousand Moriscos were driven from Spain. In the winter of 1609–10 the Moriscos were also expelled from Aragon, Murcia, Andalucia, and Cataluña, and other places. See Hume’s Spain, pp. 210–213.

[4] Referring to the claim of Isabella, eldest daughter of Felipe II, to the province of Bretagne (or Brittany), in France, as an inheritance in right of her mother, since the Salic law was inoperative in that province.