Diego de Rebolledo

Rebolledo showed a marked lack of respect for the status of the Timucua chiefs as hereditary leaders and administrative intermediaries, an attitude that provoked a Timucuan uprising against Spanish rule.

The fiscal, i.e., the royal attorney-general, of the Consejo de Indias (Council of the Indies) ruled in favor of Prado in 1656, finding that Rebolledo engaged in illegal activities to enrich himself during his administration, and exploited the Indians as well as the Spanish soldiers stationed in Florida.

A royal inquiry noted in 1660 that Rebolledo had refused to offer a visiting chieftain the customary reception, and neglected to follow custom and invite him to dinner at the governor's.

[9][6][8] St. Augustine suffered a food shortage in 1656; consequently, Rebolledo ordered that each of the Timucua and Apalachee tribesmen, including their principal men, carry 75 pounds of maize to the city.

[6][10][8] The Indian chiefs complained to the Franciscans of this treatment by the governor, and protested having to share their people's food supplies, which were already precarious since their lands had poor soil, and of the requirement to carry the grain over the long distance between their territory and St.

"[13] In 1657, Governor Rebolledo ordered the removal of Indians from the remote towns of Ybica and Oconi to repopulate Mission Nombre de Dios, located at the spot where Pedro Menéndez landed when he founded St. Augustine.

[3] Rebolledo wanted St. Augustine to become an Episcopal see, or at least an apostolic vicariate, so that the sacrament of confirmation (without which many people in Florida had died) might be conferred on Catholics in the province.

In 1655, the King of Spain and the Council of the Indies (Consejo de Indias) asked the Archbishop of Santo Domingo, the Bishop of Cuba, and the governor of Havana, among others, their opinion on the matter.