Laureano de Torres y Ayala

Laureano de Torres y Ayala
30º Governor of La Florida
In office
21 Sep 1693 – 1699
Preceded by Diego de Quiroga y Losada
Succeeded by José de Zúñiga y la Cerda
42º Governor of Cuba
In office
18 January 1707/1708 – 18 February 1711
Preceded by Pedro Álvarez de Villarín
Succeeded by Vicente de Raja
Personal details
Born 1645 [1]
Seville, Spain
Died 1722 (aged 77)
Havana, Cuba[1]
Spouse(s) Catalina Gertrudis Bayona y Chacón
Profession soldier and governor
Religion Christianity

Laureano de Torres y Ayala (1645–1722), Marquis of Casa Torres and Knight of Santiago, was a Spanish soldier and Royal governor of La Florida (1693–1699) and of Cuba (1707–1711 and 1713–1716). During his administration in Florida, he completed the construction of Castillo de San Marcos.

Biography

Laureano José de Torres Ayala a Duadros Castellanos was born in Seville, Spain, in 1645,[1] but he grew up in Madrid, Spain, where his parents settled when he was still a small child. Ayala came from a noble family,[2] being the son of Tomás de Torres y Ayala and Elvira de Quadros Castellanos.[1] His father was a judge in Seville in 1649 and mayor, governor and Captain General of Mérida and La Grita (in Venezuela). He had three brothers: Pedro Ignacio, Cristóbal and Diego Torres Ayala y Quadros. In his youth he joined the Spanish army.[2]

On June 1693, he participated in a Spanish expedition in Florida, which passed by Okaloosa County[3] and the Chipola at the Natural Bridge Spring. So, he was (one of) the first European(s) to have crossed West Florida overland. On the 21st of September, 1693, Torres y Ayala was appointed Governor of Spanish Florida, replacing Diego de Quiroga y Losada.[4]

Like the previous governors, Torres y Ayala worked in the construction of the Castillo de San Marcos, which it was completed in 1695.[5] However, the San Carlos de los Chacatos mission was attacked by Alibamu Amerindian warriors in 1696.[6] In addition, in 1698, was founded the first European settlement (Presidio Santa Maria de Galve) and the first fort (Fort San Carlos de Austria) at the site of Pensacola.[7] He held the post of governor of Florida until 1699, when he returned to Spain, being replaced by José de Zúñiga y la Cerda.[4]

Spanish plan for Fort San Carlos de Austria, the first fort at the site of Pensacola, Florida, founded 1698.

Between 1704 and 1707 Ayala participated in the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe. [8]

On January 18, 1708, Ayala was appointed Governor General of Cuba,[2] mainly working at Fort Havana. In Cuba, Ayala principally concerned for its economic problems. A Spanish officer and landowner, Orri, had thought of the possibility of a local project to sell snuff tobacco for the government of Cuba. This would eliminate the tax evasion problems. Ayala, who was facing with the local 'snuff speculators' - those who sold it to Spain and other parts of America bypassing customs duties –, thought that the idea was very beneficial to Spain, so he gave to plan his full support. The business was successful through the tobacco monopoly, so which he was appointed Marquis de Casa-Torre, notwithstanding their grave disputes with Lieutenant - auditor Jose Fernandez de Córdoba. [9]

However, he could only maintain his governor position until February 18, 1711,[2] when the auditor Pablo Cavera[9] imprisoned him in the Cuban fortress of El Morro and sent to King Philip V an indictment of corruption against the governor after investigating its administration.[2][9] Two years later, Ayala was acquitted and on February 14, 1713, he was reinstated as Governor of Cuba. His second period of rule was to be of relative peace: he founded several charities, like La Casa de la Beneficiencia, and a home for beggars.[9] On June 9, 1714, he ordered the construction of a hospital for lepers in Havana; after collecting several large donations, he begun construction of the Hospital de San Lazaro and its temple in a plot located near Havana city. In addition, he founded the city of Santiago del Bejucal. The snuff industry came into swing, and the tobacco plant began to be widely cultivated in the Vuelta Abajo district. [2]

Ayala died in 1722 in Havana, Cuba.[1]

Personal life

Laureano de Torres y Ayala married the Cuban Catalina Gertrudis Bayona y Chacón on August 5, 1687 in Havana.[10] He had three children: Tomasa María, Laureano Antonio José, and Sor Manuela de San Laureano.[2]

Ayala appears in the 2013 Ubisoft action-adventure video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag as the main antagonist and a leading member of the Templar Order, Laureano de Torres. Unfamiliar with the Templar–Assassin conflict, the game's protagonist, privateer Edward Kenway, killed an Assassin turncoat named Duncan Walpole and subsequently impersonated him and continued his trip to Havana to bring a strange artifact to Torres. Eventually, the latter found out about the identity fraud avant-la-lettre and imprisoned Edward. Torres's plan was to find the Observatory in Jamaica, which required the blood of a specific Sage to get in. This would enable the Templars to track people throughout the world – a means of terminating the Assassin Order. He is ultimately killed by Edward Kenway.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Laureano de TORRES AYALA Y QUADROS, I marqués de Casa Torres.. Written by Darrin Lythgoe 2001-2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Newspaper De Cuba Genealogy Club of Miami. Del Pasado – Por el Conde San Juan de Jaruco. El Hospital de San Lázaro de La Habana, March 23, 1947.
  3. ↑ Florida Counties. Tallahassee: State of Florida, Dept. of Agriculture, N. Mayo, commissioner. 1944.
  4. 1 2 Cahoon, Ben. U.S. States F-K.
  5. ↑ United States. National Park Service. Division of Publications (1993). Castillo de San Marcos: a guide to the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Florida. U.S. Dept. of the Interior. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-912627-59-5.
  6. ↑ Posted by Dale Cox."Jackson County, Florida Historic Sites and Research:San Carlos de Chacatos". Explore Southern History. Retrieved 2010-04-22..
  7. ↑ "Fort Barrancas" (History), National Park Service, 2006, nps.gov webpage: NPSft.
  8. ↑ The Spanish at Florida Caverns State Park. A Legacy of Soldiers and Priests. Posted by Dale Cox.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Fletcher Johnson, Willis (1920). The History of Cuba (Complete).
  10. ↑ De Cádenas y Vicent, Vicente (1994). "Caballeros de la orden de santiago. siglo XVIII.". Hidalguia, Madrid. Retrieved May 2010. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
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