Diego Colón
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Diego Colón Moniz, 1st Duke of Veragua, 1st Marquis of Jamaica and 2nd Admiral of the Indies (also, in Portuguese: Diogo Colombo) (1479/1480, Porto Santo, Portugal or 1474, Lisbon, Portugal – February 23/February 26, 1526, Puebla de Montalbán, Spain) was the 4th Viceroy of the Indies. He was the firstborn son of Christopher Columbus and wife Filipa Moniz. He had a younger half-brother, Fernando, by Columbus's mistress Beatriz Enriquez de Arana.
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[edit] Life
Diego was made a page at the Spanish court in 1492, the year his father embarked on his first voyage.
He spent most of his adult life trying to regain the titles and privileges that his father was granted for his explorations and then stripped of in 1500. He was greatly aided in this goal by his marriage to María de Toledo y Rojas, niece of the 2nd Duke of Alba, who was King Ferdinand's cousin.
In 1509, he was named Governor of the Indies, the post his father had held. He established his home (El Alcázar de Colón), which still stands, in Santo Domingo in what is now the Dominican Republic. He continued to fight encroachments on his power and for the remainder of his father's privileges and titles. He was made Viceroy of the Indies in May 1511, remaining in charge until 1518. He also made trips to Spain in 1515 and 1523 to plead his case, without success. After his death, a compromise was reached in 1536 in which his son Luis Colón de Toledo was named Admiral of the Indies and renounced all other rights for a perpetual annuity of 10,000 ducats, the island of Jamaica as a fief, an estate of 25 square leagues on the Isthmus of Panama, then called Veragua, and the titles of 2nd Duke of Veragua, 2nd Marquess of Jamaica, and 1st Duke of La Vega.
After his death, the rents, offices and titles in the New World went into dispute by his descendants.
[edit] Marriage and children
He married María de Toledo y Rojas (c. 1490 – May 11, 1549), who secured the transportation and burial of her father–in–law, Christopher Columbus, in Santo Domingo. She was the daughter of Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, 1st Lord of Villoria, son of García Álvarez de Toledo, 1st Duke of Alba, and his first wife María de Rojas, and had:[1]
- María Colón de Toledo (c. 1510 –), married to Sancho Folch de Cardona, 1st Marquess of Guadalest
- Luis Colón de Toledo, 2nd Duke of Veragua
- Cristóbal Colón de Toledo (c. 1510 – 1571), married firstly to María Leonor Lerma de Zuazo, without issue, married secondly to Ana de Pravia, and had issue, and married thirdly to María Magadalena de Guzmán y Anaya, and had issue:
- Diego Colón de Toledo, 4th Admiral of the Indies
- Francisca Colón de Toledo y Pravia (c. 1550 – April, 1616), married to Diego de Ortegón (Valladolid, Medina del Campo, c. 1550 –), and had issue, who later inherited the rents, office and titles and at some point married within the other branch below. Their issue includes Admiral Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal, the current Duke; his sister, historian Anunciada Colón de Carvajal; and twice actress Pilar López de Ayala
- María Colón de Toledo y Guzmán (c. 1550 –), married to Luis de Avila, and had:
- Cristóbal de Avila y Colón (1579 –), unmarried and without issue
- Juana Colón de Toledo, married to her cousin Luis de La Cueva y Toledo, without issue
- Isabel Colón de Toledo (c. 1515 –), married as his second wife to Dom Jorge Alberto de Portugal y Melo, 1st Count of Gelves (1470 –), widow without issue of Dona Guiomar de Ataíde, son of Dom Álvaro de Bragança, Lord of Tentúgal, Póvoa, Buarcos and Cadaval and Chancellor-Major of the Realm of Portugal, and wife Dona Filipa de Melo, and had issue, who inherited the rents, office and titles, later lost, and at some point married within the other branch above.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ' |
Governor of the Indies 1509-1511 |
Succeeded by ' |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by Christopher Colombus |
Admiral of the Indies 1509-1526 |
Succeeded by Luis Colón de Toledo |
| Spanish nobility | ||
| New title | Duke of Veragua 1509-1526 |
Succeeded by Luis Colón de Toledo |
| Marquis of Jamaica 1509-1526 |
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