Hernando de Lerma
Don Hernando de Lerma ( born November 1, 1541 Lerma, south of Burgos, Spain, † after 1584 ) was a lawyer, politician, conquistador and founder of the provincial capital of Salta in northwestern Argentina. His picture in the story remains contradictory due to the source location.
On November 13, 1577, he was named Philip II, King of Spain, Governor of the Gobernación del Tucumán in northwestern Argentina today. His inauguration was delayed by two years because he did not have the necessary financial resources to equip himself and his companion for the journey to his office in Santiago del Estero. This he only reached on 16 June 1580 after he had sought in Potosí (Bolivia ) at the royal administration to a loan for his journey.
In Santiago del Estero arrived, he was immediately his predecessor, Gonzalo de Abreu, arrested and thrown into prison on charges of illegal enrichment in office and torture. Abreu died in 1581 from the effects of torture.
Hernando de Lerma also came into conflict with the envoys of the bishop, dean Francisco de Salcedo, the friendly although he received in his house, but involved the same in a dispute over the legality of their title Deán or Licenciado. The dispute developed into hostility, in the Lerma had the upper hand. Francisco de Salcedo took ill in a monastery in Esteco back, but was tracked down and arrested by Lerma.
Lerma was the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, commissioned to found a town north of Santiago del Estero, in order to secure lines of communication in the Gobernación del Tucumán. With 70 Spaniards from Santiago del Estero and accompanied by pacified Indians, he set out on 3 April 1582 and decided the city was founded in Valle de Salta. On the one hand, for strategic reasons, because he suspected there to be able to control the hostile Indian peoples Calchaquíes and Humahuaca better, on the other hand, because the situation between the newly founded port cities in Santiago de Chile, Callao in Peru and Buenos Aires seemed to him suitable.
Salta was founded on April 16, 1582 in an open field near the Río Arenales as Ciudad de Lerma en el valle de Salta. Lerma distributed during the founding act of the construction sites for the Cabildo, the Cathedral and the first citizen of the city. Lerma himself returned to Santiago del Estero, where he met with increasing resistance.
On November 6, 1583 higher authority, the Real Audiencia de Charcas, Francisco Arévalo Briceño sent to Santiago del Estero to investigate the increasingly frequent complaints against the official leadership Lerma. In the course of the investigation Lerma in 1584 arrested and charged in Chuquisaca. However Lerma appealed to the Council of the Indies, the Supreme Court, and was returned to Madrid, where he remained in prison and died without a final judgment would have been like in his cause.
For the historian Paul Goussac " Lerma term is nothing but a series of criminal attacks " was. And the saltenische historian Armando Lerma Bazan describes as " as vicious as a disease ."
In assessing Lerma but should be taken into account that the majority of historical evidence comes to his person by representatives of the Catholic Church, the main opponents of Lerma during his tenure. Lerma fought the power of the Church and these had to be taken in him a serious, university- educated opponents, a rarity at the time of the first Spanish conquerors. There are suspicions that he was a Marrano - a converted Jew, who still secretly clung to his faith - who tried in his political position to protect his coreligionists on American soil. As a lawyer, he was also able to effectively defend themselves against accusations of the Church to defend.