Talamantes, Melchor de (1765–1809)
Talamantes, Melchor de (1765–1809)
Melchor de Talamantes (b. 10 January 1765; d. 3 May 1809), Mercedarian friar, precursor of Mexican independence. Born in Lima, Talamantes earned his doctorate in theology at the University of San Marcos. In 1807, Viceroy José de Iturrigaray (1742–1815) charged him with establishing the boundaries of Texas. He gained prestige and influence with important people in the capital. In 1808 he supported the proposal of the ayuntamiento (city council) to establish a junta of authorities and submitted a plan to form a national congress. He was imprisoned during the 1808 coup; among his papers was found a plan for independence. He died in San Juan de Ulúa, while on his way to Spain, the victim of yellow fever.
See alsoIturrigaray, José de; Mexico: The Colonial Period; Mexico, Wars and Revolutions: Coup d'État of 1808.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Melchor De Talamantes, Biografía y escritos póstumos (1909).
José María Miquel I Vergés, Diccionario de insurgentes (1969), p. 560; Diccionario Porrúa de historia, geografía y biografía de México, vol. 3 (1986), p. 2822.
Additional Bibliography
Hamnett, Brian R. "Process and Pattern: A Re-Examination of the Ibero-American Independence Movements, 1808–1826." Journal of Latin American Studies 29:2 (May 1997): 87-120.
Virginia Guedea