Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela
Spanish noble
Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela (14 November 1528 in Andújar, Spain – 24 November 1599 in Valdivia, Chile), was a Spanish aristocrat, soldier, and merchant in the Americas. He was killed by Mapuche Indians during the Destruction of the Seven Cities.
Valenzuela was born into an upper-class family, and he was a descendant of King Ferdinand II of León. At a young age in 1539, Valenzuela boarded a ship from Spain to Santo Domingo to go see his father who had already traveled to the Americas. He later moved south to Lima in Peru, where he became a wealthy merchant by importing wine and olive oil. He then moved further south to Chile, where he served as a soldier under General Pedro de Valdivia. He fought many battles against the Mapuches during the Arauco War. During this conflict, Valenzuela often brought ships full of supplies to Chile to support the Spanish war effort. Valenzuela would marry Beatriz de Vaca, a Spanish woman from Ponferrada who had recently arrived in Chile.
Valenzuela would be elected as the Corregidor (Mayor) of Valdivia, a strategically important city in Colonial Chile.
“Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela” enters the record as spanish noble. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Francisco, Pérez and Valenzuela can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Francisco, Pérez and Valenzuela provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5480153. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1528, 1599 and 1539.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela primary sources, Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela archive and Francisco research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.