Documents of the Coronado Expedition, 1539–1542: "They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty, nor Did They Wish to Be His Subjects"

Document 33: Cristóbal de Escobar’s Proof of Service, 1543

554 introduction A third-generation hidalgo, 19-year-old cristóbal de escobar took a spanish servant with him in 1540 on the expedition to tierra nueva. 1 in keeping with his hidalgo status, he was better accoutered than the average member of the expedition, possessing a chain mail vest and an unspecified type of european head armor, in addition to native arms and armor. 2 As a horseman in vázquez de coronado’s personal guard, escobar had two or three horses. 3 the typical horseman on the expedition had only one. 4 Befitting his at least moderate rank, he was given command of small units of men on several occasions during the expedition . 5 His social and economic status is also apparent in the fact that he, like melchior pérez, took a number of livestock with him on the expedition at his own cost. 6 During the expedition to tierra nueva escobar was among the advance guard when it reached cíbola in July 1540, participated in the search for Hernando de Alarcón’s ships with melchior Díaz later that year, and was responsible for “a system and method for building a bridge across a very large river, by which the river was crossed.” He also is reported to have carried relief supplies to the advance guard from san Gerónimo de los corazones. 7 Later he testified as a de oficio witness regarding the expedition’s treatment of indigenous peoples. 8 only a little over a year after the disintegrating expedition returned to the ciudad de méxico, escobar petitioned the king for perquisites commonly awarded to an hidalgo, such as himself, who had served his sovereign at great expense and had been wounded in the process. 9 that request was recorded in the document transcribed and translated here, AGi, méxico, 204, n. 14. in the petition, escobar’s expressed desire is only for the right to display a coat of arms. 10 much of the examination of witnesses, however, concerns escobar’s unremunerated expenses as a result of the expedition, suggesting that his appeal was implicitly for financial recompense. escobar’s claims before the king and the consejo de indias are supported by the testimony of seven de parte witnesses, all but one of whom are fellow former expeditionaries . they all agree that their companion in arms is “suffering deprivation and hardship” and has been “in hardship and privation [ever] since he returned from the war.” 11 His life-long acquaintance Hernando Gutiérrez states that escobar “is worthy of whatever grants His majesty may make him.” 12 Both financial recompense and a heraldic emblem were forthcoming, though it took several years for approval of the coat of arms. A royal cédula of July 20, 1551, granted escobar the right to display a coat of arms described as follows: una torre de plata en campo colorado, y por orla ocho estrellas de oro en campo azul; por timb(l)re un yelmo cerrado, por devisa un brazo armado con una espada desnuda en las manos, con sus trascoles y dependencias Document 33 Cristóbal de Escobar’s Proof of Service, 1543 AGi, méxico, 204, n.14 Cristóbal de Escobar’s Proof of Service, 1543 555 a follages de azul y oro [a silver tower on a field of red; as a border, eight stars on a field of blue; as an insignia at the top, a closed helmet; as device (crest), an armored arm with an unsheathed sword in hand; with its mantling and foliage of blue and gold]. 13 in the same year escobar received his coat of arms, he was also made, by means of a personal grant from the king, corregidor of a native community called either xicotepeque or xilotepeque. 14 But he evidently had begun receiving appointments to royal offices as early as 1544. for instance, he served as justicia mayor of Guachinango and pagautla. 15 By 1561 Antonio de turcios could call escobar one of the principal vecinos of the ciudad de méxico. nevertheless, he continued to be pressed for money and was granted a supplemental salary of 200 pesos because his corregimiento paid so little. 16 After 1561 escobar drops from sight in the surviving documentary record. the text of the former expeditionary’s 1551 petition for a coat of arms survives as one of the copies escobar requested immediately following the taking of supporting testimony. missing from the record is any...