(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS) Testimony from a conquistadors heir ov

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(MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.) Testimony from a conquistador's heir over the will of a founder of Puebla City. Document Signed by Martín de Nava Guevara and others. 3 pages, 12 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches, on one folding sheet; stitch holes, minor wear and a bit of worming. Puebla, 20 May 1592

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Melchor de Covarrubias was a founder and prominent citizen of Puebla, having arrived there shortly after the Conquest in 1530. A very successful merchant, militiaman, and later philanthropist, he was a patron of the Jesuits and left much of his wealth to them so that they could build a college, the Colegio del Espíritu Santo, in 1790. It still stands today as a university, the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. This document contains the testimony of several witnesses regarding a codicil of Covarrubias' last will and testament. The most notable witness was Martín de Nava Guevara, the son of a conquistador, Bartolomé Hernández de Nava, who inherited his father's encomienda (rights to indigenous communal labor). Here he attested that he had not only seen and signed the codicil, but also that he viewed the corpse of the late Covarrubias and thus confirmed that he was dead; his signature appears here. Another witness who testified with him, Juan de Heredia, was possibly a descendant of the conquistador and encomendero Rodrigo de Heredia.