Came Men on Horses: The Conquistador Expeditions of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and Don Juan de Oñate

13. Contract with Destiny

157 13 Contract with Destiny The governor took the royal cedula in his hands, kissed it, placed it on his head, and rendered obedience with the respect due to an order from his king and natural lord. antonio negrette1 In 1595, Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar had everything he had ever wanted in life—almost. He was very wealthy; he had a palatial home near Zacatecas, a solid military reputation as an Indian fighter, a proud Basque heritage, and a sound social and political position in Mexico stemming from the families of both his father and his mother as well as that of his wife. Also, it was very important to him that he had a young son who would carry the Oñate name into the future. What he did not yet have was the very special, exalted stature that came with being a renowned Spanish conquistador. With his fiftieth birthday approaching, Don Juan knew his days of Indian fighting were behind him. With each passing year he would become less and less saddle-hardened, and soon time would have passed him by. When his wife, the beautiful Doña Isabel de Tolosa, died, his life had become empty. His Basque blood and heritage called upon him even 158 C o n t r a C t w i t h D e s t i n y more than before to make a truly grand achievement in life. He had long been aware of the cedula King Philip II had issued in 1583 calling for the conquest of New Mexico,and he also knew about the failures to do so that had taken place since then. It would be a crowning achievement to succeed where others—Coronado, Francisco Sánchez Chamuscado, Agustín Rodríguez,Hernán Gallegos,Antonio de Espejo—had not.Now,with his wife gone,it had become possible for him to accept a challenge that would take him far from hearth and home for months, perhaps years. It has been suggested that Don Juan may have first become interested in leading an expedition to New Mexico as early as 1592.2 The date of Doña Isabel’s death and the circumstances thereof are not known. We know only that in 1595, Viceroy Luis de Velasco wrote to his successor, the Count of Monterrey, explaining why he had chosen Oñate to lead an expedition to New Mexico: “Since Don Juan de Oñate had become a widower and was free to negotiate in regard to this project, I chose him.”3 Thus, when the opportunity to lead a new colonizing entrada into Nueva Mexico arose and with it the potential reward of becoming the adelantado of a new Spanish province, Don Juan leaped at the opportunity . Added to this was the prospect of making a grand discovery equal to that of Cortés. The Spanish spirit in the sixteenth century boasted a tradition and a penchant for soldiering and adventure. Spaniards commonly sought their fortunes from the back of a horse.As soldier-explorers,they plunged brashly into the distant and perilous corners of the New World to extend Spain’s empire. Historian David J. Weber has explained that even wealthy Spaniards in the sixteenth century were strangely willing to forgo the comforts and security of home and family and ride off to conquer distant lands: “These military chieftains [the conquistadors] risked their own capital, knowing that success would bring titles of nobility, land, broad governmental powers over the conquered domain, and the right to part of the spoils of war. Under this arrangement, the rewards for the adelantado could be considerable.”4 Don Juan de Oñate was born in the central Mexico mining town of Zacatecas, northwest of Mexico City, around 1552. He was the second - or third-oldest son of Cristóbal de Oñate and his wife, the former Catalina de Salazar. It appears that he may have been one of twin sons among five boys and two girls. His twin was Don Alonso, who eventually became procurator general of the mines of New Spain.The other siblings 159 C o n t r a C t w i t h D e s t i n y were Fernando, the eldest son; Luis, the youngest; and the girls, Ana and María, in between.5 Both his father, Cristóbal, and his uncle, Juan...