Luis de Carabajal Governor of Nuevo de León

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information: ⁴⁹⁸
Luis de Carvajal sailed for New Spain sometime around 1567. He brought along a cargo of wine to sell in Veracruz. Within a year he was named to the post of alcalde ordinario for Tampico. By 1569, he owned an estancia in the northern provice of Pánuco while retaining a residence in México City. In 1578, Carvajal journed back to Spain with hopes of gaining a grant from the King, Felipe Secundo, to conqueror and administer territory in the farthest most frontier of New Spain. This area became Nuevo de León, and Luis de Carvajal became its Governor.

Luis de Carvajal, Governor of Nuevo León was associate with New México's ancestor, Juan Victoria de Carvajal, and very likely was Luis was Juan Victoria de Carvajal's first cousin. In records of the Inquisition, Luis refers to Juan's father, Juan de Carvajal, as his paternal uncle.

Many conversos (New Christians, referring to people with Jewish ancestry whose ancestors converted to Christianity rather than being expelled from Spain) left Spain and Portugal for New Spain not only for material gain, but New Spain was a potential haven for crypto-Jews to practice their faith. In New Spain, the Office of the Inquisition not very concerned with conversos backsliding into their old beliefs as they were with "breaches of Catholic orthodoxy, such as witchcraft, bigamy, blasphemy, and the solicitation of women by priests." There are two notable periods in New Spain when the Inquisition turned their attention on Conversos. The first of these periods lasted from 1589-1601.

The nephew of Governor Luis de Carvajal, also named Luis de Carvajal, began to encourage his fellow conversos to embrace their old religion. This prompted the Office of the Inquisition to begin a campaign against conversos. The Carvajal family suffered the most, with many members of the family losing their estates and status. Luis, the younger Carvajal, was burned at the stake along with a few other conversos.

This first incidence of persecution of conversos was the same time as the colonization attempt of Castaño de Sosa and the successful colonization of New México by Oñate. The timing of events can lead one to speculate that the Castaño de Soso's illegal (he did not have a grant or permission to travel into New México) expedition for settlement further north beyond the frontier of New Spain was initiated by Governor Carvajal. Add to this the fact that Castaño de Sosa had ancestors who were conversos, and was a close associate of Governor Carvajal.

~To the End of the Earth, pp. 72-96

• Web Reference: Wikipedia's information onLuis Carvajal.

Luis married Guiomar de Rivera in Sevilla, Andalucia, España.⁴⁹⁸ (Guiomar de Rivera was born in Sevilla, Andalucia, España.)