He led a movement along with some encomenderos to prevent the abolition of
encomiendas that was mandated by the
New Laws of 1542 (they were rumored to be about to come into effect soon)
[11] ands well as greater autonomy for the New Spain. From the encomenderos' point of view, they were the heirs of the conquerors who had given the Crown the rich and vast territory and so they sought to retain what they considered their just rewards for service with their encomienda grants. The Crown was increasingly opposed to the development of a noble group that challenged its power and perquisites, and the New Laws that limited the inheritance of encomiendas was a mechanism to phase out the sources of wealth and power for the conqueror group.
In New Spain, on the death of the Viceroy Don
Luís de Velasco in 1564, Don Martín was named Captain General by the Mexico City Council, with hints of independence for the viceroyalty. In 1565, two sons of an important conqueror seemed to go beyond merely advocating protection of the conqueror group's interests and offered to raise rebellion and crown Don Martín king of New Spain. According to contemporary observer Juan Suárez de Peralta (a relative of Hernán Cortés's late first wife, Catalina Suárez), Don Martín was not all in with the conspirators but did not discourage them.
[12] Don Martín's vacillation caused the plot to be first postponed and then abandoned. On 16 July 1566, the plotters were betrayed and the leaders arrested, including Don Martín, his brothers, and the rich and influential Alonso de Ávila, nephew of the conquistador of the same name. The two main conspirators were sentenced to death and beheaded.
[9]
In Don Martín's trial, he was accused of treason and inciting rebellion against the king. According to the trial questionnaires, of which 388 leaves are found in the Harkness Collection of the Library of Congress (and published in transcription and English translation),
[13] he was accused of seeking to overturn the audencia (high court) and its judges be assassinated, and he would become king of New Spain. The questionnaires for the trial were drawn up in September 1566 and another in November. There were powerful witnesses testifying to his participation in the plot, including the brother and son of Luis de Velasco. Testifying for the defense were the Provincial for the Augustinian Order and two Provincials of the Franciscan Order, but there wa a range of supporters, including two musicians, a surgeon, a lawyer, a silversmith, the son and wife of an apothecary, and a free black woman named Margarida Pérez.
[14]
The monarch sent a judge, Alonso de Muñoz, and to deal with the perceived threat to the colony. Muñoz "unleashed a reign of terror. Hundreds of Spanish settlers were arrested and tortured and scores beheaded."
[15] Muñoz was recalled to Spain and thrown into prison.
[16] on arrival of the new viceroy, Don
Gastón de Peralta, on 15 November 1567. The Cortés brothers were spared death. The failed encomenderos' conspiracy and aftermath was the end of effective power of the group.
Don Martín, who had been spared beheading, was given leave in April 1567 to travel to Spain to plead their case before the King, with whom he had been friends since before his ascendance to the throne. Before he left New Spain, he had been required to swear allegiance to the crown and to present himself in Spain to the king within 50 days of his arrival.
[17] Don Martín was under house arrest briefly, but promising not to return to New Spain, he was released and resumed his profligate life in Madrid, funded by his vast wealth.
[15]
He had briefly lost the entailed Estate until 1574.
[18]
He died in
Madrid, Spain, 13 August 1589, the 68th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan. His successors to the title never resided in Mexico but lived in Spain and later Italy.
[19]