EXTENDED DETAILS OF LINEAGE: MONTERROSO / MONTEROSATO
Last update: 04~25~09
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Code: S= Son. F = Father. G=Grandparent. "Great-" is denoted by addition of number. G1=Great-grandparent
== The leaves (| | | |) in green denote Julio's direct line.
| | | | | Please refer to EXTENDED DETAILS OF LINEAGE: DE BLOIS for additional information.
| | | | | Please refer to Bloodline of the Grail (Messianic Descent in Britain and Europe - 1st to 7th century) for beginning of this chart.
== Monterroso, Lugo, Galicia (SPAIN):
Its origins in Spain appear to be attached to the descendants of a
grandson of King Fruela I, Count Rodrigo Romaes (son of Don Ramón De
Monterroso, Count of Monterroso), who lived in the ninth century. García Froyla,
Lord of Lugo, was the second son of Count Pedro Fernández de Traba and Doña
Urraca Froyla, Countess of Arlanga and Traba. He was involved in the conquest
of Lugo, being granted possessions there for his valiance. His family was
prominent in the city thereafter. His son, Juan Froyla de Lugo Coronado
has descendants traced into the tenth generation.
== Probably before the time of Trajan, the Romans founded in the Asturias,
in the neighborhood of the ancient Lancia, a military colony to which they
gave the name of Legio Septima Gemina. From Legio (acc. legionem) was
formed, in accordance with the nature of the Romance-Castilian language, the name
León, and the identity of this name with that of the king of beasts (león,
from leo, acc. leonem) perhaps explains how, by what in German is called a
Volksetimologie, the lion came to be considered the heraldic cognizance
of the city and province of this name, and even of the whole Spanish
people.
Very soon the original military colony admitted civilian colonists, as
theancient epitaphs prove. Within a few years after its foundation the
Legatus Augustalis who governed the Asturias was residing in this settlement.
Christianity must have been introduced very early, for it had its
bishops at least as early as the third century, and the names of Basilides and
Decentius are known before the time of the Germanic invasions. These
invaders do not seem to have established themselves in Leon - a
stronghold of the imperial power - until Euric (466-84), or at least Leovigild
(572-86), drove out the imperial garrison. In the Roman persecutions
Leon had numerous martyrs, among whom were Sts. Facundus, Primitivus the
husband and wife Marcellus and Nonia, with their sons Claudius, Victoricus, and
Lupercus, Vincent, and Ramiris. The name of St. Facundus took, in the
ancient dialect. the form Sa-hagún, which survives as a geographical
name. A monastery was built in the fourth century, on the spot where Cladius
and his brothers suffered martyrdom.
| Gen01-G-Clodion (Clodius V) of Tournai "The Long Hair," Salian Chief &
Neptunis D'Arcadie, Lord of West Franks (of Messianic Descent)
married yr? to Queen Basina I (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | Gen02-G-Meroveus, King of the Franks, Founder of the Merovingian
Dynasty d. 456) married yr? to Queen Merira / Meira (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | Gen03-G-King Childeric of Franks (b.0436 Vexin, FRA-d.0481)
married yr? to Queen Basina of Thuringia II, (b.abt.0438 Thuringia, ER-d.yr?)
| | | | Gen04-G-King Clovis I of Franks (b.0467 Rheims, Marne,
Loire-Atlantique, RA-27 Nov 511 Paris, Seine, FRA) arried 492 to Clotilde of Burgundy (d. 550)
| | | | | Gen05-Princess Clotilda of Franks, Queen of The Visigoths (b.abt.0507
Rheims, Marne, Loire-Atlantique, FRA-d.abt 531) married abt.0526 to Almaric II, King of The Visigoths (b.abt.0505
SPA-d.0531)
| | | | | | Gen06-Leovigild, King of The Visigoths (b.abt.0527 SPA-d.0586 SPA)
married yr? to Theodosia Cartagena (b.abt.0531 SPA-d.yr?)
| | | | | Gen06-G-Athanagild
| | | | | | | Gen07-Recared I of Spain (b.abt.0560-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | Gen07-G-Saint Hermenigilde II "The Holy," King of The Visigoths
(b.abt.0563 SPA-d.13 Apr 586 in killed at Servilla ) married yr? to Ingonde Ingundis (b.abt.0563 SPA-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | Gen08-G-Athanagild of The Visigoths (b.abt.0581 FRA-d.yr?)
married Julia Flavia of Constantinople (b.0581 GREECE-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | Gen09-G-Ardabasto King of The Visigoths (b.abt.0599 GREECE-d.Dec.
0652) married yr? to Recisbirga
| | | | | | | | | | Gen10-Egica (b.abt.0660)
| | | | | | | | | | | Gen10-G-Ervigi Ervik of Spain, King of The Visigoths (b.abt.0623 FRA-d.15 Nov 687 )
married yr? to Liubigotona of The Visigoths (b.abt.0625 FRA)
| | | | | | | | | | | Gen11-Cixillo
| | | | | | | | | | | Gen11-G-Pedro, Duke of Cantabria, Visigoth (b.abt.0692-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Hermesinda (b.abt.0690 Cantabria, SPA)
| | | | | | | | | | | | Gen12-King Fruela De Cantabria I (b.abt.0710 Cantabria, SPA-d.yr?)
== León fell into the power of the Mussulman invaders, but they did not
long retain it; it was reconquered by Alfonso I, the Catholic. Destroyed a
second time by the Mussulmans in the time of Abderahman II (846), it was again
rebuilt by Ordoño I (850-866), who erected there a royal residence
which Ordoño II afterwards transformed into a cathedral. Among the bishops of
Leon at this period figure Siuntila, Frunimius, Maurus, and Vincent, and the
great St. Froilan (900-05), who was followed by Cixila and Frunimius II.
| | | | | | | | | | | | Gen12-G-King Alfonso De Cantabria I of Asturias "The Catholic" (b.yr?-d.0757)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Sisalda (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | married again yr? to Hermensende (b.0711-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen13-S-Mauregato De León (b.yr?-d.yr?)
:: THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM OF ASTURIAS & GALICIA AD 718 - 910
Founded in the northwestern mountains of Spain, shortly after the
Omayyid Islamic invasion.
== Asturias: ästooryäs, autonomous region (1990 pop. 1,128,372) and former
kingdom, NW Spain, S of the Bay of Biscay and E of Galicia, and
coextensive with Oviedo prov. It was established as an autonomous region in 1981 by
the statute of autonomy. Drained by numerous swift rivers, it is crossed by
the well-forested Cantabrian Mts. High rainfall and cool temperatures have
favored a large dairy industry. Along the coast, apple orchards are the
source of a world-famous cider, and corn is a major crop. Gijón is the
chief port, and fishing is a major occupation. Most of the population,
however, is engaged in coal and iron mining and steel manufacturing. The name
Asturias is derived from an Iberian people that lived there before the Roman
conquest (2d cent. B.C.). When the Moors overran the peninsula, Christian nobles
fled into the Asturian mountains. They created the first Christian kingdom
of Spain (see Pelayo, the Visigoth King) and defended themselves at the battle of Covadonga.
From Asturias came the Christian reconquest of Spain, as the successors of
King Alfonso I extended their control over Asturias, Galicia, León, and
parts of Castile, Navarre, and Vizcaya. Astorga was one of the chief cities of
the Asturian kingdom in the 9th cent. In the 10th cent. the capital was
moved from Oviedo to León, and the kingdom of Asturias became the kingdom of
Asturias and León, which three centuries later was united with the
kingdom of Castile. In 1388, John I of León and Castile made his son prince of
the Asturias-the title borne from that time on by the heir to the throne.
The Asturians are noted for their stubborn courage and independence-traits
shown in the warfare against Napoleon, in various uprisings against the
Spanish government, in the civil war of 1936-39, and in the general strike of
1962.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen13-G-H-King Fruela (Frueloi) De León I of Asturias and León (b.abt.0732-5-d.0768)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Munia Friolaz de Cantabria (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen14-King Alfonso De Asturias II (b.abt.0780-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen14-Rodrigo (Frolaz) De Asturias I (b.abt.0784-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen14-Gonsalo De Asturias (b.abt.0786-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen14-King Bermudo I De Asturias (b.abt.0782-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen15-King Ramiro (Ordoño) De Asturias I y Galicia (b.abt.0850-d.yr?)
== Note: The surname Monterroso was interchangeable in spelling with Monterosato.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen14-G-Count Don Ramón (Romao) De Monterroso y Leon (b.abt.0778-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen15-Juana Romaes De León (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Mendo De Trastamare (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen16-Frolas Mendez De Trastamare (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Grixevera De Asturias (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen17-Count Bermudo Fruelas De Trastamare (b.abt.0940-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | married 0967 to (cousin) Aldonza Rodriguez De Monterroso (b.abt.0944-d.yr?) see below for issue
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen15-G-Count Rodrigo (Romaes) De Monterroso y Leon y Castile (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Emilia Lastname? (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen16-G-Aldonza Rodriguez De Monterosato y Leon (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | married 0956-7 to (cousin) Count Bermudo Fruelas De Trastamare (inherited by marriage the title) (b.abt.0940-d.yr?)
THE HOUSE OF TRABA
The house of Traba cannot be described as typical,
for it rose rapidly to a position of pre-eminence in Galicia.
Yet in many of its features it is not unrepresentative.
Furthermore, its close connections with the church of Santiago de Compostela give
it a special interest for us.
== His descendants were later to claim that he was a grandson of count
Menendo González (d. 1008), regent during the minority of Alfonso V and himself a
great-nephew of Rosendo of Celanova. The claim can be neither substantiated nor
disproved, but the balance of such evidence as we possess is against it. It
was probably the fruit of twelfth-century anxiety to provide the family with
a distinguished ancestry. The truth may be that Froila's forebears
had been among count Menendo's clients. By the 1060s Froila Bermúdez
was a man of some consequence. His deputy (vicarius) could sit alongside count
Rodrigo Ovéquiz to hear a lawsuit, and Froila himself may be found presiding
ver a lawsuit in which one of the parties was the monastic community of Jubia.
The monastery of San Martín de Jubia was the religious house with which he had
the closest links, and his own lands lay close to it, in the extreme north-west
of Galicia. To the monks he was 'our patron' (dominus noster);
he made them a lavish benefaction in 1086; and when he died in 1091 he was buried
there after a splendid funeral attended by two bishops.
But he was a man who looked beyond the confines of the foggy coasts from which he came.
His charter for Jubia in 1086 reveals that he had fought against the 'heathen men
in the land of the Saracens', and its dating-clause observes that king Alfonso VI
was 'ruling in the city of Toledo' -- a small but significant indication of awareness
of the outside world and of pride in the king's most famous conquest.
Froila may have been loyal to his king, but there is no sign that he rose to any
height in his service. He subscribed no surviving royal charter, he never held
office as a count. It was to be otherwise with his children.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen17-Froila Bermúdez (Fruelo) de Trastamare y Monterosato (b.abt.0968-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | married yr? to Sancha Rodriguez (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen18-Visclavara (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen18-Munia (b.yr?-d.aft.1145)
== A descendant of count Osorio Gutiérrez.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen18-Ermesenda (b.yr?-d.abt.1084)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. yr? to Cresconio Núñez (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen18-Rodrigo (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen18-Suero (b.yr?-d.yr?)
== Pedro was spirited, warlike ... a man of great power, yet withal a man who feared God and hated iniquity.
He was well-travelled within Spain. He had spent some time in captivity in Aragon.
There is evidence of his taste for Moorish cooking.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen18-Pedro Froilaz De Traba (b.yr?-d.1128), Count de Trastamare; Lord of Ferreira; Count of Traba; Count of Galicia
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. 1088 Doña Urraca (b.yr?-d.yr?), Countess of Arlanga and Traba (f.count Froila Arias)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. again 1113 to Firstname? de Urdel, Mayor (b.yr?-d.yr?)
== The Traba brothers were very rich.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Bermudo Pérez De Traba (b.yr?-d.1161)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. 1122 Urraca Henriques (b.abt.1096-d.yr?) (f.Henry and Teresa of Portugal)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen20-Teresa Burmudez De Trastamare (b.yr?-d.yr?)
== Like his father Pedro before him, Fernando was a man who travelled to foreign parts: twice he made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Fernando Pérez De Traba, Sire de Trastamare; Count of Galicia (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | w. Teresa of Portugal (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen20-Daughter (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. Sancha Gonsalez De Lara (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen20-Gonsalo Fernandez De Trastamare, Sire de Trastamare (b.yr?-d.aft.1154)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. yr? to Elvira Rodriguez Alvarez (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen21-Gonsalez De Trastamare, Sire de Trastamare (b.yr?-d.aft.1164)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. yr? to Maria Fernandez De Saavedra (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Rodrigo De Traba (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Velasco De Traba (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Toda Pérez De Traba (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. yr? to Gutierre Bermúdez (b.yr?-d.1130), Count
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Estephania Perez De Traba (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Eva De Traba (aft.1113 yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. yr? to Gracia Ordonez, Count de Najera y Granon (b.yr?-d.May 30, 1108)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Froila (Fruelo) Perez De Traba (de Trava "Pierre" Froïlaz) (b.1060-d.1126), Comte de Monterroso, de Trastamare & de Traba
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | m. yr? to Briolania (Briolanja) de Trastamare (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen19-Garcia Froyla De Traba (b.yr?-d.yr?), Lord of Lugo
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gen20-Juan Froyla de Lugo Coronado (b.yr?-d.yr?)
== By 1210, the De Monterroso line had married into Portugese royalty.
To wit: Alfonso IV "The Brave" King of Portugal (1291);
Pedro I "The Cruel," King of Castile & Leon (1334);
Isabella Perez De Castile (1355) who marries Edmund Plantagenet, 1st Duke Of York.
In addition, the royal De Monterroso family expanded from Spain and
journied to The Americas and Puerto Rico. (see below)
***?Gen24-Maria Gomez De TRASTAMARE Marriage 1 Pedro Ruiz De LA BUREBA
Gen25-Pedro Ruiz De LA BUREBA , Sire De Mansilla Marriage 1 Urraca
Gen26-Urraca Perez De LA BUREBA Marriage 1 Diego Lopez De ZUNIGA , Sire De Zuniga
Gen27-Lope Ortiz De ZUNIGA , Sire De ZunigaDeath: 1239 Marriage 1 Teresa De AZAGRA
Gen28-Fortun Ortiz De ZUNIGA , Sire De ZunigaDeath: 1270Marriage 1 Teresa De RADA
Gen29-Maria De ZUNIGAMarriage 1 Pedro Ruiz De HENESTROSA , Sire De Henestrosa
Gen30- Gonsalo Perez De HENESTROSA ,Sire De HenestrosaDeath: ABT. 1300Marriage 1 Teresa De CEBALLOS
== Edward Plantagenet, prince of Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, son of Edward III,
was born in 1330; and accompanying his father to France in 1346, took a
leading part in gaining the victory of Crecy. During his stay in France he
performed many other acts of heroism, till at length, in 1356, he won the great
battle of Poitiers, when he took King John and his son prisoners, and
distinguished himself as much by his courtesy to his captives as he had in the field
by his unrivalled valour. In 1361 he married Joan, called the Fair Maid of
Kent, daughter of the Earl of Kent, and widow, first, of Sir Thomas
Holland, and then of the Earl of Salisbury, and was soon after created by his
father Prince of Aquitaine. Bordeaux then became the seat of his government.
In 1367 he went to the assistance of Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile, who
had been dethroned by his brother, Henry of Trastamare. The latter was
defeated, and Pedro re-established, but only for a short time. Prince Edward was
soon after involved in disputes with his subjects, which occasioned the
renewal of war between Francs and England. He died in 1376, aged 45.
Gen31-Fernan Gonsalez De HENESTROSAMarriage 1 Maria Arias De ASTURIAS
Gen32-Maria De HENESTROSAMarriage 1 John Garciez De PADILLA , Lord Of
Villagera
Gen33-Maria Juana PADILLA , Queen Of Castile b: ABT. 1334 in Sevilla,
SpainDeath: JUL 1361
Married: 1353 in Burgos, Burgos, Spain
Marriage 1 Peter Alfonszes Of CASTILE , King Of Castile-Leon b: 30 AUG
1334
in Burgos, Burgos, Spain
Gen34- Constance PEREZ , Princess Of Leon b: 1351 in Castile,
SpainDeath:
JAN 1393/94Married: JUN 1371
Marriage 1 John Of Gaunt PLANTAGENET , Prince Of England b: MAR 1339/40
in
Abbaye De St Bav, Gand, Flanders, Belgium
Gen35-Phillipa PLANTAGENET (Persephone's great-great-grandmother)
Gen35-Catherine PLANTAGENET
Gen34-Isabella PEREZ , Princess Of Castile b: 1355 in Morales,
Tordesillas,
SpainDeath: 23 DEC 1392
Married: AFT. 1 JAN 1371/72 in Hereford Castle, Herefordshire, England
Marriage 1 Edmund Of Langley PLANTAGENET , Prince Of England b: 6 JUN
1341
in Kings Langley, Herefordshire, England
Gen35-Richard PLANTAGENET , Earl Of Cambridge b: ABT. SEP 1376
Gen35- Edward PLANTAGENET , Duke Of York, Prince b: 1373
Gen35-Constance PLANTAGENET , Princess Of England b: ABT. 1374
== A branch of this family, descendants of Pedro Fernández de Lugo y
Monterroso, was established in Andalucía in the forepart of the
fifteenth century, from there spreading throughout Seville, Cádiz, and after
several generations, into the Canary Islands, where a great posterity has
resulted. Francisco Bahamón de Lugo, a native of Tenerife, Canary Islands, son of
Francisco de Lugo and Leonor de Lugo, arrived in Puerto Rico in 1564 as
governor of that island.
== The surname Monterosa, Monteroso, or Monterroso, has also been traced
to the village of Ocaña in the province of Toledo, Spain in the 1500s. The
beginning of that lineage at the present time is known to be Francisco
de Monterroso, native of Ocaña, who married Josefa Matienzo y Peralta, a
native of Madrid. Their family has been traced for several generations. In
1640 there was a Damián Monterroso y Velázquez, born in Madrid, who
petitioned the court at Toledo for the office of "oficial" with that tribunal.
Source: Gazetteer, Family Sketches & Vital Records Index for
Spain, Latin America and The Hispanic U.S.
Gen0?-Francisco De Monterroso (b.yr? Ocaña, Toledo, SPA-d.yr?)
married yr? to Josefa Matienzo y Peralta (b.yr? Madrid, SPA-d.yr?)
Gen0?-Damián Monterroso y Velázquez (b.1640 Madrid, SPA-d.yr?)
== The line below originates from the ancient Spanish Royalty above; brought to Mexico and
Central America two brothers, Alonso De Monterroso and
Blas. Blas was a Conqusitador with Cortes who stayed in Mexico.
Alonso went farther south or to the Canary Island / Puerto Rico area. His
ancestors eventually went on to live in (what is known today as)
Guatemala.
| Gen00-G-
| Gen01-G-Eliseo Monterroso (b.yr? Mata-Quescuintla, GUA-d.yr?)
| | married yr? to Socorro Lanuza (b.1900-02-d.yr?)
| | Gen02-F-Benjamin Santos "Ben" Monterroso (b.Nov. 01, 1938 Guatemala, GUA)
| | | married yr? to Guadalupe "Lupe" Canté (b.Dec. 12, 1940 Sanarate El Progresso, GUA)
| | | Gen03-Edgar Benjamin Monterroso (b.Feb. 28, 1966 Guatemala, GUA)
| | | | married Apr. 01, 2001 USA to Norma Lastname? (b.May 11, yr? MEX)
| | | | Gen04-Arely Guadalupe Monterroso (b.Dec. 01, 2006 Los Angeles Co., CA)
| | | Gen03-S-Julio Celso Monterroso (b.Apr. 08, 1974 Guatemala, GUA) (see below for issue)
: : MATERNAL
ESTRADA
| Gen01-G1-Eulogio Estrada (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | married Jul. 01, 1894 Nuestra Senora De Candelaria, Ciudad De Guatemala, GUA to Gregoria Gramajo (b.yr?-d.yr?)
| | Gen02-G-Andres Avelino Estrada (b.yr? Mata-Quescuintla, GUA-d.yr?)
| | | married yr? to Marcela Canté (b.yr? GUA-d.yr?)
| | | Gen03-Eulifo Estrada (b.yr? GUA-d.yr?)
| | | Gen03-M-Guadalupe "Lupe" Canté (b.Dec. 12, 1940 Sanarate El Progresso, GUA)
| | | | married yr? to Benjamin Santos "Ben" Monterroso (b.Nov. 01, 1938 Guatemala, GUA)
| | | | Gen04-S-Julio Celso Monterroso (b.Apr. 08, 1974 Guatemala, GUA)
| | | | | married April 19, 2009 Montclair, San Bernardino Co., CA to Persephone Marie Powell (b.Aug. 09, 1974 Granada Hills, Los Angeles Co., CA)
| | | | | Gen05-Andres Edgar Celso MonterrosoOct. 14, 2005 Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino Co., CA)
:: FAMOUS COUSIN Juan Ponce de León, Explorer.
Born at San Servas in the province of Campos, 1460; d. in Cuba, 1521.
He was descended from an ancient and noble family; the surname of León was
acquired through the marriage of one of the Ponces to Doña Aldonza de León, a
daughter of Alfonso IX.
As a lad Ponce de León served as page to Pedro
Nuñuz
de Guzmán, later the tutor of the brother of Charles V, the Infante Don
Fernando. In 1493, Ponce sailed to Hispaniola (San Domingo) with
Columbus on
his second voyage, an expedition which included many aristocratic young
men,
and adventurous noblemen who had been left without occupation after the
fall
of Granada.
When Nicolás Ovando came to Hispaniola in 1502 as governor,
he
found the natives in a state of revolt, and in the war which followed
Ponce
rendered such valuable services that he was appointed Ovando's
lieutenant
with headquarters in a town in the eastern part of the island. While
here,
he heard from the Indians that there was much wealth in the
neighbouring
Island of Buriquien (Porto Rico), and he asked and obtained permission
to
visit it in 1508, where he discovered many rich treasures; for his work
in
this expedition he was appointed Adelantado or Governor of Boriquien.
Having
reduced the natives, he was soon afterward removed from office, but not
until he had amassed a considerable fortune. At this time stories of
Eastern
Asia were prevalent which told of a famous spring the waters of which
had
the marvellous virtue of restoring to youth and vigour those who drank
them.
Probably the Spaniards heard from the Indians tales that reminded them
of
this Fons Juventutis, and they got the idea that this fountain was
situated
on an island called Bimini which lay to the north of Hispaniola.
Ponce obtained from Charles V, 23 February, 1512, a patent authorizing
him
to discover and people the Island of Bimini, giving him jurisdiction
over
the island for life, and bestowing upon him the title of Adelantado.
On
3
March, 1513, Ponce set out from San German (Porto Rico) with three
ships,
fitted out at his own expense. Setting his course in a northwesterly
direction, eleven days later he reached Guanahani, where Columbus first
saw
land. Continuing his way, on Easter Sunday (Pascua de Flores), 27
March, he
came within sight of the coast which he named Florida in honour of the
day
and on account of the luxuriant vegetation. On 2 April he landed at a
spot a
little to the north of the present site of St. Augustine and formally
took
possession in the name of the Crown. He now turned back, following the
coast
to its southern extremity and up the west coast to latitude 27°30', and
then
returned to Porto Rico.
During this trip he had several encounters with
the
natives, who showed great courage and determination in their attacks,
which
probably accounts for the fact that Ponce did not attempt to found a
settlement or penetrate into the interior in search of the treasure
which
was believed to be hidden there. Although his first voyage had been
without
result as far as the acquisition of gold and slaves, and the discovery
of
the "fountain of youth" were concerned, Ponce determined to secure
possession of his new discovery. Through his friend, Pedro Nuñez de
Guzmán,
he secured a second grant dated 27 September, 1514, which gave him
power to
settle the Island of Bimini and the Island of Florida, for such he
thought
Florida to be.
In 1521 he set out with two ships and landing upon the
Florida coast, just where, it is not known, he was furiously attacked
by the
natives while he was building houses for his settlers. Finally driven
to
re-embark, he set sail for Cuba, where he died of the wound which he
had
received.
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