Juan Zumel (possibly Valladolid, c. 1473 – Burgos, 16 April 1534) was a Castilian magistrate of the 16th century who held political offices in the city of Burgos, as alcalde mayor (chief magistrate) and chief notary, and in Valladolid, as a councilman and protector of the . He married Catalina de Estrada, joined the confraternity of Santiago, and was chosen as guardian of Juliana Angela de Velasco y Aragón, daughter of the Constable of Castile Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Mendoza.
He is known for his active participation in the , in which he voiced his opposition to the granting of offices to foreigners by the new monarch, Charles I. During the Revolt of the Comuneros, in 1520 and 1521, he secured Burgos's submission to royal authority, pacified Valencia, and went to Toledo as an investigating judge to sentence the rebels of that city, who had just surrendered in October–November 1521. This conduct earned him numerous royal favors, though it also brought reprisals from the comuneros.
After these events, he was appointed guardian of Atanasio de Ayala, son of the rebel . In the last years of his life he also carried out several commissions for the Constable of Castile, with whom he had a lasting friendship. He died in Burgos on 16 April 1534, and in his will asked to be buried in Valladolid.
Life and offices
Early years Although no parish records survive that establish a definite date, Juan Zumel was likely born, according to historian , around the year 1473, although it is unclear whether in Burgos – as is generally believed – or in Valladolid, where, in addition to earning his doctorate at the University of Valladolid, he married Catalina de Estrada and served as a councilman and great protector of the Hospital de Esgueva. There, too, he held nearly all of his property: three houses on the "Hacera" street – brought by his wife – and another main house adjoining these, located at the "entrance to the Plazuela Vieja," which he bought after his marriage. In Burgos, by contrast, he left at his death nothing more than ninety books.
Among his marital assets, Zumel brought into the marriage an estate that yielded fifty-six fanegas of grain, half wheat and half barley, in Barcones (Province of Soria), while Catalina brought houses and estates in (Province of Guadalajara). Both properties lay within the lordship of María de Tovar, wife of the man who later became Constable of Castile, Íñigo Fernández de Velasco, with whom the couple maintained a close relationship. Thus, when the Velascos inherited the duchy of Frías and moved to Burgos, Zumel accompanied them, and Velasco himself even proposed him for the .
There is conflicting information as to whether the marriage produced children. In a letter addressed to the Junta of Valladolid during the Revolt of the Comuneros, at the beginning of February 1521, Zumel asks that "leave be granted to Doña Catalina, his lady, and to a son of his," but his will makes no mention of any direct descendant.
Confrere of Santiago and guardian of Juliana Ángela de Velasco As a member of a distinguished family, Zumel was able to join the Confraternity of the Knights of San Pedro and Santiago de la Fuente, established to bring together the knights and nobles of Burgos. During the second decade of the 16th century he also took charge, together with Juan de Velasco and Martín Ochoa de Saviola, of the guardianship of Juliana Ángela de Velasco y Aragón, whose father Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Mendoza had left her a majorat on condition that she marry a descendant of her great-grandfather Juan de Velasco.
Juan Zumel traveled with Ochoa de Saviola to the town of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, in the , and there, on 16 June 1516, he and Ochoa de Saviola executed a deed whereby Juan Téllez Girón, , and his son Pedro Girón y Velasco, sold to Juliana the aforementioned town of San Vicente, with all seigneurial rights and full judicial authority, for the sum of 21,250,000 maravedís, for which she pledged the possession of the town and fortress of Briones. It was Zumel who, after the customary formalities, handed the staff of justice to the new seigneurial alcalde, Pero Gil.
Alcalde mayor of Burgos Following the resignation of Juan Osorio, on 13 June 1515 Zumel was appointed by the crown, for life, alcalde mayor of Burgos, on account of his "sufficiency," "ability," and certain services rendered to the Crown.
Dispute with the abbess of Las Huelgas
From the beginning of the 16th century, the city of Burgos had sought to prevent the abbess of Las Huelgas from exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Royal Monastery and . In 1516, already serving as alcalde mayor, Juan Zumel went there with a notary and several armed men, but he met with the opposition of the monastery's bailiff, who shut the gates against him. The following day he issued writs of imprisonment against the alcalde of the precinct and the residents who had assisted him, after which he arrested several of them and summoned the rest by public proclamation.
In response, the abbess of Las Huelgas turned to the Chancellería of Valladolid to defend her rights and, at the same time, ordered her attorney to obtain a favorable ruling from the regent Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros. After consulting the case with the president and judges of the tribunal, on 2 December 1516 Zumel was ordered to release the prisoners under penalty of 50,000 maravedís, and the council of Burgos was instructed not to alter anything regarding the matter until the lawsuit was resolved.
Zumel, however, did not relent, and instead sent the alcalde of the precinct a crier accompanied by armed men to summon certain residents, while the city's attorney filed a lawsuit against the monastery's representative.
On the abbess's behalf, the attorney Juan de Calderón protested before the regent and asked him to enforce the earlier order, so that Zumel would appear before the Chancellery and be sentenced according to the stated penalties. Although the council of Burgos rose to its own defense, the tribunal of Valladolid told Cisneros it was necessary to send another letter to the city. He did so on 28 March 1517, doubling the previous fine to 100,000 maravedís. This new warning, however, had little effect, since the abbess and the commander of the Hospital had to lodge another complaint against alcalde Zumel:
Chief notary of the council and criminal court of Burgos On 23 September 1516 Juan Zumel requested to exchange his office of alcalde mayor for that of chief notary of the council and criminal court. Three months later, on 20 December of that year, the monarch Charles I approved his appointment – later confirmed on 16 April 1517 – since the holder of the office, Gonzalo Pérez de Cartagena, had tendered his resignation and sent his original title to the Court so that it could be annulled and destroyed.
As chief notary, Zumel collaborated with Diego Osorio and the representatives of León and Valladolid in drafting the letter that Burgos and these two cities sent to Charles I, urging him to come to Castile as soon as possible. On 17 February 1517, moreover, the council of Burgos ordered him to take possession of the , which lay unguarded. Zumel went there, gathered information on how its had abandoned it, drew up an inventory of the weapons, equipment, and movable goods found there, and finally handed it over to Pedro de Porres, from whom he received an oath of feudal homage.
Cortes of 1518
Initial protests and royal pressure
In 1518 Zumel was appointed by the council of Burgos to attend the Cortes of Valladolid, together with councilman Diego de Soria. His conduct there is well documented by historians: on 2 February, before the first session began, he protested on behalf of the others against the appointment of two foreigners to the most important offices of the – that of Jean Sauvage as president, alongside bishop , and that of a certain Maestrejos as assistant – requesting that his complaint be recorded by secretary Bartolomé Ruiz de Castañeda.
Hispanist historian Joseph Pérez agrees with Manuel Giménez Fernández in downplaying the significance of the Burgos procurator's conduct, describing it as a simple verbal protest by someone who, having long belonged to the Constable's circle, sought to express the sentiments of part of the Castilian nobility, uneasy at the position held by the Flemish in the new administration and disappointed at being kept away from the centers of power.
Chronicler Prudencio de Sandoval, for his part, left an account of the royal pressure applied to both Burgos procurators as a result of their stance. According to him, Charles ordered them to appear at the chancellor's palace for a meeting with him, bishop Mota, and the jurist García de Padilla. Out of fear and caution, the procurators from Valladolid and Seville decided to accompany them. Once there, according to the chronicler, the camarilla reportedly reproached Zumel harshly for his conduct in "stirring up sentiment":
Zumel reported what had happened to his colleagues and personally presented a petition to Le Sauvage asking the monarch to confirm the articles agreed upon in the previous Cortes. They then met with Mota and García de Padilla, who in turn met with William de Croÿ, lord of Chièvres and royal counselor, to decide what to do. After keeping them waiting for some time, they replied that they would bring the petition to the king's attention, while also remarking negatively on the boldness of "petitioning the king before knowing what His Highness would wish to command." Zumel is said to have replied that his intention was to warn Charles of the kingdom's needs so as to avoid any disturbance or defiance of his authority.
Le Sauvage then sent secretary Villegas to summon Doctor Zumel. Fearing the worst, the procurators of Córdoba and Granada stationed themselves by the door of the president of the Cortes's chamber and waited for Zumel to come out safe and sound.
Vote on the subsidy and royal favors to Zumel On 5 February Charles confirmed the words of the speech read by Mota, and Juan Zumel rose to thank him for coming to Castile and to reiterate the requests made earlier. The procurators and the monarch then took their oaths.
On 9 February bishop Mota delivered a new speech – the royal proposition – in which he justified requesting a large from the kingdom. Zumel, on behalf of all the procurators, asked for time to deliberate. He gave the same answer the following day when Mota indicated his wish that the subsidy be larger than previous ones, owing to the monarch's pressing needs. It was finally voted formally on 14 February, on the terms set by Charles: two hundred million maravedís payable over three years.
Since Zumel ultimately accepted the subsidy requested by the king, historian has argued that the Court was able to soften his initial resistance through the grant, on 15 March 1518, of 200 gold ducats, that is, 75,000 maravedís:
Domingo Hergueta y Martín criticized Danvila harshly for these claims. For the Navarrese historian, the grant in no way conditioned Zumel's conduct, because it was, in fact, entirely customary for monarchs to grant favors to procurators, especially in the Cortes in which they were sworn in as such. He further cited another grant, dated one day after the first, authorizing Zumel to resign his office of chief notary of Burgos whenever, however, and to whomever he wished. He included the royal justification, which, in his view, proved that the favors granted to Zumel during these Cortes resulted from custom and not from corruption:
Other relevant business in Burgos