Biography
Pedro Benedit Horruytiner was born in Zaragoza, Spain[1] in 1613. He was the son of Gilberto Benedit Horruytiner and Inés Catalán, and the brother of Micaela Benedit Horruytiner Aragón. He was a nephew of the former governor of Florida, Luis Benedit Horruitiner.[2] Pedro Horruytiner joined the Spanish Army as a youth on December 10, 1635. and gained the ranks of sergeant major ("sargento mayor") and lieutenant colonel, which he held when he was appointed interim governor of Florida. Horruytiner moved to Saint Augustine the capital of Spanish Florida, on 11 April 1646.[1]
Pedro Benedit Horruytiner was appointed acting co-governor of Florida on 11 April 1646.[3] On September 5, 1647, Horruytiner and Francisco Menendez Marquez issued an ultimatum to the Chisca Indians, who had attacked the Christianized Timucuan settlements,[4] forcing them to choose within two months between their annihilation in Florida, or settlement in the towns of the Christian Timucua. Consequently, the Chisca chieftains agreed to settle their people in the Timucua mission settlements.
In January of the same year, Horruytiner ordered Ensign Pedro de Florencia to search for the Indians who had been living in the missions of San Francisco de Potano and Santa Fé de Teleco, fearing those places would be permanently depopulated. Although the expedition seems to have achieved its goal as the Spanish attempted to repopulate these settlements, their demographic decline continued.[5][6]
Horruytiner's term as interim governor of Florida ended on 8 January 1648; he was reappointed as governor on 19 October 1651. He retired on 18 June 1654, and was replaced by Diego de Rebolledo.[3] Horruytiner died at the age of 71 on November 20, 1684, still in the service of the Spanish Crown.[1]
