Luis Ponce de León (governor of New Spain)

"Luis Pounce de León (b. ca. 1461, d. July 20, 1526, Mexico City) was a Spanish judge and governor of New Spain, from July 4, 1526 to July 16, 1526.

Luis Pounce de León was a learned man and a knight of Cordoba. He was a friend and aide of the corregidor of Toledo, Martín de Córdoba, conde de Alcaudete.

In 1525 or 1526 news of the rivalry between Alonso de Estrada and Gonzalo de Salazar in the governing of New Spain reached Madrid, as did rumors of the death of Hernán Cortés at the hands of the Indigenous. (Cortés had not been killed. He was absent from the capital on an expedition to Honduras.) King Charles I ordered a "juicio de residencia" (a commission of inquiry) to investigate Cortés and ascertain the true situation in the colony, and the state of the interim government.

To carry out these orders, Charles named Luis Pounce de León as judge of the "residencia" and governor of New Spain, at an annual salary of 3,000 ducats of gold. Ponce de León sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on February 2, 1526. He was detained in Hispaniola until May 31, 1526 for repairs to his ship.

Pounce de León arrived in Mexico City and presented himself to the ayuntamiento (city government) on July 5, 1526. He carried with him a decree from Toledo dated November 4, 1525 granting him these powers.

He left all the officials of the ayuntamiento in their positions. He was about 65 years old and ill with fever contracted on his arrival in Veracruz. The fever had continued through the 12-day journey to the capital and did not let up even after his arrival there. After taking office, he retired from public occupations and then died. Before his death he turned over his functions to Marcos de Aguilar, his assistant who had accompanied him to the colony. Aguilar also had a royal appointment. He took over the government on July 16, 1526.

Four days later Pounce de León died. He was interred in the first parochial church in Mexico City, facing the Plaza Mayor.

Aguilar, also aged, also died after governing only a short while. Cortés was suspected of poisoning the two royal officials.

References

*es icon García Puron, Manuel, "Mexico y sus gobernantes". Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
*es icon Orozco Linares, Fernando, "Gobernantes de México". Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.

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