PROHIBICIÓN DE CASARSE EN AMÉRICA LOS ALTOS FUNCIONARIOS REALES Y SUS FAMILIAS

Abstract

This article analyzes the case of the alleged marriage of the daughter of the judge of Lima Dr. Diego Núñez de Avendaño with the treasurer Miguel Ruiz de Bustillo, a marriage that was prohibited by Spanish law, since judges and other high officials, as well as their close relatives were not allowed to marry in America, to avoid conflict of interest.

First of all, we quote some royal decrees related to the prohibition. In addition, we summarize other documents about the bride and groom. Immediately, we summarize the extensive investigation carried out on the supposed marriage by the visitor of the Real Audiencia de Lima, archbishop of Mexico, through six questions formulated to a series of witnesses, a document dated in Lima in 1598.

Next, we quote the pertinent part of the will of the oidor Diego Núñez de Avendaño, granted in 1606, as well as a document in which Miguel Alonso Ruiz de Bustillo y Avendaño, the couple’s son, declares his affiliation. Finally, we write the ancestry and descent of the Avendaño and Ruiz de Bustillo families.