Tejano History
Posada, Alonso De
Tejanos |
POSADA, ALONSO DE (?–?). Nothing is known of the life of Alonso de Posada before his arrival in New Mexico in 1651. In 1659 he helped found missions at El Paso del Norte (now Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua). Afterwards in Mexico City he became a chapter member (definidor) of the Franciscan province of the Holy Evangel and procurador general of the Franciscans in New Spain. In 1678 Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa Briceño y Berdugo, former governor of New Mexico, who had been in trouble with the Spanish Inquisition, offered his services to Louis XIV of France to lead a French invasion of the provinces of Quivira and Teguayo. King Carlos II of Spain, hearing of the offer, became concerned and sought information in the Memorial that Alonso de Benavides had written in 1630 upon retiring as custodian of the New Mexico missions. If, as Benavides indicates, New Mexico and Quivira could be reached through a port on Espíritu Santo Bay-probably Matagorda Bay, but at that time believed to lie at the mouth of the Mississippi River-then Peñalosa might indeed lead a French invasion by that route. The geography involved being a complete mystery, the king, on December 10, 1678, ordered the viceroy, Payo Enríquez Afán de Rivera, to report. Afán, however, retired without carrying out the order. On August 2, 1685, the king ordered the new viceroy, Conde de Paredes, to make the report that his predecessor had failed to make on the geography of the territory. Paredes passed the assignment of the report on to Father Posada, who had written a report opposing the abandonment of the El Paso missions earlier in 1685.
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Full article on the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas Online
Courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.
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