Biography
Despite Don Pedro de Rojas y Luna's notorious achievements as an efficient colonial administrator in Spanish South America, relatively little is known about the central figure in this manuscript before his arrival to Buenos Aires. Considered a highly qualified individual for the demanding post of "oidor", Rojas already had ample experience as an administrator in the kingdom of Naples. In "Historia de la Conquista del Paraguay, Rio de la Plata y Tucuman," the historian Pedro Lozano highlight Rojas' inclusion as one of the original members of the Buenos Aires Audiencia (established in 1663). As oidor of the Audiencia, Don Pedro de Rojas y Luna was commissioned by the Crown to investigate the 1659 uprising of the indigenous people of Arecaya. In compliance with a royal decree dated August 25, 1662, Rojas was to prosecute and imprison Governor Alonso Sarmiento de Sotomayor y Figueroa, accused of excessive violence in his repression of the revolt. Rojas was succesful in this endeavor, as Sarmiento spent two years in jail before being pardoned for his actions. The 1665 manuscript in question was prepared during Rojas y Luna's stay in Paraguay, although its relation to Sarmiento's actions are not at all clear since the dispute between Bishop Cardenas and the Jesuits took place in 1644, nearly twenty years before. Don Pedro Rojas y Luna died in the port city of Buenos Aires in 1667, two years after the completion of the manuscript.
From the guide to the Documents concerning the Investigation Dispute between Bishop Bernardino de Cardenas and the Jesuits of Paraguay, 1664-1665, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)
