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Francisco: Silver, Debt and Power

11:36 · seven chapters · expanded music-and-text edition

From Tenerife’s irrigated valleys to the silver country of northern New Spain, Francisco Báez de Benavides built a life around mines, family and public office. Maps, historical illustrations and surviving record descriptions follow the sales, debts, confrontations and legal complaints that put his power on the record.

Historical sources

Archivo Histórico de Monterrey: catalog of court and civil records

Record descriptions cover the 1619 sale, 1630 armed-priest case, 1646 appointment, 1647 silverworks complaint and 1666 Ayala will.

Catalog descriptions consulted; the original case manuscripts were not inspected.

Source reference

Israel Cavazos Garza: La jurisdicción de Monterrey en la época virreinal

Humanitas 37-IV (2010), pp. 80–81: mining settlements, the 1616 mineral discovery and district geography.

Source reference

David T. Raphael: The Trials of Francisco Báez de Benavides

The Conquistadores and Crypto-Jews of Monterrey (2001), chapter 12: the debt, firearm allegation and conflicting testimony.

Consulted through indexed text; quoted accounts remain attributed.

Source reference

La Orotava: the working valley

Water, mills, agriculture and the valley’s changing export economy.

Source reference

Puerto de la Cruz: the port below the valley

The trading settlement historically called Puerto de La Orotava and the church/plaza planning in 1603.

Source reference

Additional place context: Nancy Selene Leyva Gutiérrez (2022), pp. 37–38, on regional church authority; Lucas Martínez Sánchez, Revista Coahuilense de Historia 123, printed p. 84 n. 40, on the dean’s estate at La Magdalena in the Salinas district.

Visuals and footage

Period maps and historical illustrations supply dated context. The typed case and will cards are modern catalog readings, not manuscript facsimiles. Crops, camera movement, captions and color handling were added for this film.

Prospecting and working mineral veins, De re metallica

Georgius Agricola; scan: National Library of Poland / Polona · 1556

Public domain

Image or footage source

Stamp mills and ore preparation, De re metallica

Georgius Agricola; scan: National Library of Poland / Polona · 1556

Public domain

Image or footage source

Water wheel and mining machinery, De re metallica

Georgius Agricola; scan: National Library of Poland / Polona · 1556

Public domain

Image or footage source

Separating gold and silver with nitric acid, De re metallica, p.360

Georgius Agricola; scan: Science History Institute · 1561 edition

Public domain; Public Domain Mark 1.0

Image or footage source

Bloomery and metalworking, De re metallica Book IX

Georgius Agricola · 1556

Public domain per Commons (PD-US); historic woodcut

Image or footage source

Acanthite specimen from Mexico, Romero collection

Jeff Scovil photo; supplied by Rob Lavinsky / iRocks.com · Modern photograph, before March 2010; specimen collected circa1890

CC BY-SA 3.0

Image or footage source

Matchlock Petronel, French, The Metropolitan Museum of Art32.75.111

French maker unknown; photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · circa1570–1580

Public domain / Met Open Access

Image or footage source

Forma y levantado de la ciudad de Mexico anno1628

Juan Gómez de Trasmonte; Bibliothèque nationale de France · 1628

Public domain; PD France / US expired

Image or footage source

Silver eight-real cob coin of Philip IV, Mexico City mint

Mexico City mint; photo/composite: Centpacrr, The Cooper Collections · 1621–1665, undated coin; photograph2013

CC BY-SA 3.0

Image or footage source

Mesa del Mar waves 2

· 23 April 2023

CC BY-SA 4.0 — Mike Peel

Image or footage source

View from Martianez, Port Orotava, Tenerife

· 1819

Public domain historical artwork; Yale Center for British Art

Image or footage source

Realejo de arriba, Tenerife

· 1821

Public domain historical artwork; Yale Center for British Art

Image or footage source

Insulae Canariae Alias Fortunatae dictae

· Map dated 1667; included in Van der Hagen atlas circa 1690

Public domain / PD-Art; KB National Library of the Netherlands

Image or footage source

Nova Hispania et Nova Galicia

· Map first published 1635; Van der Hagen atlas copy circa 1690

Public domain / PD-Art; KB National Library of the Netherlands

Image or footage source

Carta de las provincias de Tejas, Nuevo Santander, Nuevo Reino de León y Nueva Estremadura

· Eighteenth century; precise date uncertain

CC BY 4.0 — Archivo General Militar de Madrid / Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa

Image or footage source

Tenerife and the northern frontier of New Spain

· Modern locator created 2026

Natural Earth public domain; GeoNames CC BY 4.0; original map composition

Image or footage source

Tenerife in the Canary Islands

· Modern locator created 2026

Natural Earth public domain; GeoNames CC BY 4.0; original map composition

Image or footage source

Monterrey and the Salinas region

· Modern locator created2026

Natural Earth public domain; GeoNames CC BY4.0; original map composition

Image or footage source

Modern terrain maps

Original film maps use relief from Mapzen Terrain Tiles (including INEGI and USGS data), rivers from Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap contributors, and town positions from GeoNames. Modern reference geography is kept separate from the dates of historical events.

Natural Earth: public domain. GeoNames: CC BY 4.0. OpenStreetMap contributors: ODbL. The maps show reference towns and terrain rather than a proved personal route or an exact estate footprint.

Music