Lope Ruiz de Esparza

Don Lope Ruiz de Esparza (c. 1569 – 14 August 1651) was a Basque nobleman, patriarch and early settler of Aguascalientes.

After arriving in Mexico, Lope made his way to Aguascalientes, where about a year later, he is believed to have married (Ana) Francisca de Gabai Navarro y Moctezuma.

The elder Lope litigated his nobility in Pamplona stating his lordship over the palaces of Esparza and Zariquiegui, having won the lawsuit by judgment dated 23 November 1535.

In the report, it was noted that the younger Lope was age twenty-six in 1595, was of average height, fair skin, with red beard and hair; his eyes were slightly sunken; and over the right brow he had a scar that ran almost to the cape of the brow and another larger scar that started at the inside of the cape of the right ear and ran to the middle of the neck; and was robust of limbs.

[8] Don Lope and his descendants would go on to make up some of the oldest and most prominent families of the Highlands of Jalisco and Aguascalientes within the ancient Kingdom of Nueva Galicia.