Preceded by Luis de Rosas Succeeded by Francisco Gomes | Name Juan de Died Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico | |
Profession Soldier and Governor of New Mexico | ||
Juan Flores de Sierra y Valdés was a Spanish soldier who served as Governor of New Mexico in 1641, replaced at his death by Francisco Gomes.
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Biography
Juan Flores de Sierra joined the Spanish Army in his youth, later on becoming General of the Army.
He was appointed Acting Governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1641, for Viceroy Diego López Pacheco in Mexico City. After arriving in Santa Fe, Valdes investigated the administration of the previous city governor, Luis de Rosas, as well as the veracity of the charges that the Franciscans had issued against him (they had several confrontations with De Rosas). The investigation was made under the orders of Viceroy. Valdez acted as "Residence's Judge" to De Rosas. After the investigation, Valdes imprisoned De Rosas, whose administration he considered harmful to the population.
Initially, Valdez wanted to keep some of Luis de Rosas's companions on the Board of Santa Fe, but he changed his mind when he learned that many of the companions of De Rosas in his Board were mestizos. He would admit only people of pure Spanish ancestry in his government, so he replaced them by encomenderos. This new group was close to the Franciscans and incorporated into the town council, a very important institution in the Spanish America because it represented the population of the governed territory. It sent the population's pleas to the governor and the petitions of the inhabitants to Viceroy and to King of Spain. Occasionally, if the Viceroy thought the governor had disobeyed governmental orders, the town council could replace the governor. Moreover, it could temporarily govern a territory when a governor died without a lieutenant governor to replace him.
The fatigue caused by the long journey (he had traveled over 1,500 kilometers from Mexico City to Santa Fe) made Valdes seriously ill. He appointed Sergeant Francisco Gomes lieutenant governor in order to continue the investigation of Luis de Rosas. Valdés died in autumn 1641 as the shortest-serving governor of New Mexico (from spring 1641 to autumn 1641).
Personal life
Juan Flores de Sierra had at least one son: Juan Flores de Sierra y Valdes II, who became Melchor's lieutenant in the Californian town of San Diego.