Strategies for Success: A Notary and His Social Network in Colonial Lima, 1569–1619

My aim with this paper is to reconstruct the social network created by a notary called Cristóbal de Aguilar y Mendieta, in Colonial Lima. Aguilar y Mendieta came to Peru searching for new opportunities which he could not find in Spain. From Madrid he established himself in Lima as a notary and quickly climbed to the highest levels of the profession as Escribano de Provincia and Escribano Real. His notarial books show impressively his social stature in the guild of Lima’s notaries. He was widely respected by his peers and trusted by important members of Lima’s elite with their legal papers and transactions. His office grew so much that he employed several notaries who were working for him in different capacities. Besides giving public faith to transactions, he also was in charge of judicial responsibilities in the Lima’s provincial court. Aguilar y Mendieta was also very involved in the social life of Lima founding a Confraternity and serving there as a treasurer for many years. His son, Cristóbal de Aguilar y Mendieta, the Younger, was also a notary and climbed to hold one of the most desirable positions for notaries in Lima: the notary of the town council of Lima.