New Leon, and by special commission from Viceroy Monterey he proceeded to reorganize the government and settle the province. It is claimed that for this purpose he brought thirty-four Spanish families, but it seems more probable that he undertook the task with those he may have brought thither at the beginning, or those who remained of Carabajal's colony, and the Indians gathered at the mission by Father Andrés de Leon. There is no evidence that Montemayor ever left the province after his first arrival.
On the 20th of September, 1596, the lieutenant-governor solemnly incorporated the capital of the province, changing the name of Leon to the City of Our Lady of Monterey, in honor of the ruling viceroy; but the province retained the name of New Leon.[1] This act of incorporation shows that Montemayor himself was the first to introduce disorder, and lay the foundation of future discontent, by giving to the ayuntamiento and the church of the new city six Indian tribes in encomienda.
The civil and judicial affairs of New Leon continued subject to the government of Mexico, while ecclesiastical matters were under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Guadalajara. Father Andrés de Leon was the first to receive the appointment to the curateship proper of Monterey. Of the general progress of that city during the latter part of the sixteenth century little is known. During the early years of the next century more Franciscans arrived from Zacatecas, who founded a convent in Monterey. Then Father Andrés
- ↑ The document of incorporation, or carta de fundacion, preserved in the municipal archives of Monterey, bears date, 'en el valle de Estremadura Ojos de Santa Lucía, Jurisdiccion del Nuevo Reyno de Leon,' September 20, 1596, signed by Diego de Montemayor. The first municipal officers were Alonso de Berreda and Pedro Iñigo, alcaldes ordinaries; Juan Perez de los Rios, Diego Diaz de Verlanga, and Diego Maldonado, regidores; Diego de Montemayor, procurador general; the regidor Verlanga acting at the same time as notary of the cabildo. Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3da ép., i. 225; Gonzalez, Col. N. Leon, 8-11. The following authorities erroneously place the founding of Monterey in the year 1599. Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 231; Villa Señor, Theatre, ii. 295; Mayer, Mex. Aztec, i. 175; Dicc. Univ., ix. 884. The article on 'Nuevo Leon' in the latter work is replete with errors in facts and dates. Mota Padilla gives the year 1602, and Arlegui 1603.
