Fernando de O fíate, 1612 
447 
great service that would result from it to his Majesty. And this witness 
knows that the said Don Juan acted in this according to his obligations, 
and that this brought' about the said conquest; for this witness saw, while 
the viceroy, Count of Monterey, was governing in New Spain, that he 
sent Don Lope de Ulloa and Juan de Frias de Salazar to make an inquiry 
and inspection as to whether the said Don Juan was carrying out the 
articles and taking the necessary measures in the matter of the said con¬ 
quest. The said Don Juan prosecuted it in such a manner that what he 
conquered is to-day under the dominion of his Majesty. This he affirmed. 
To the fifth question he answered that he knows and it is true that the 
said Don Fernando de Oñate, the younger, is married and veiled, 87 
according to the orders of Holy Mother Church, with Doña Magdalena de 
Mendoza, his cousin, legitimate daughter of Vicente de Zaldivar and 
Doña Magdalena de Mendoza, and that the said marriage was contracted 
by dispensation of His Holiness, and, although this witness did not see 
them married, since the said marriage occurred outside of this city, yet, 
because it took place between persons of such high rank and so well known 
in this kingdom and that of Galicia, this witness knows of it. He also 
knows that the said Vicente Zaldivar and his wife are of such rank as the 
question says, for because he was such the said Vicente de Zaldivar was 
lieutenant-captain-general of the said New Galicia in the time of the vice¬ 
roy Don Martin Enriquez, 88 and of the Marquis of Salinas, 89 and also in 
this New Spain [he filled the office] of said lieutenant. This witness 
knows that the said Don Fernando de Oñate is of the same quality—this 
by derivation and descent from his said parents and grandparents and by 
his own character. This witness knows and has seen that he is a gentle¬ 
man of high standing, and moral and discreet in his habits. ... In his 
person any of the favors which should have been given to the said Don 
Fernando de Oñate, his father, in virtue of the merits and services which 
he presented in the said evidence, may be confirmed. For all of this the 
said Don Fernando de Oñate, the younger, is worthy that the favors which 
he is applying for, especially that of knighthood in the military orders, 
shall be granted him. This he affirms and knows nothing to the contrary. 
In the City [of Mexico], on the fifth day of the month of March, 1612, 
the señor licentiate Diego Núñez Morquecho, oidor of this royal Audien¬ 
cia, in the matter of the said evidence, officially caused to appear before 
him Baltasar Rodríguez de los Ríos, resident of this city, from whom 
the oath was received, etc., and, being questioned according to the pur¬ 
port of the said interrogatory, he made the following statement: 
To the first question he answered that he knows his Majesty’s fiscal of 
this royal Audiencia, and Don Fernando de Oñate, the younger, and his 
parents, Don Fernando de Oñate and Doña Leonor de Ribadeneyra, his 
wife. He knows Cristóbal de Oñate and Doña Catalina de Salazar, par¬ 
ents of the said Don Fernando the elder; he also knows Hernando de 
Ribadeneyra and Doña Magdalena de Mérida, his wife, maternal grand¬ 
parents of the said Don Fernando. He has knowledge of the purpose for 
which this evidence has been ordered to be taken, and as to the general 
