Brent Alexander Cruz speaks about how he broke the genealogical brick wall of Capitan Francisco Montes Vigil extending his ancestry to great historical figures such as William I, King of England, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as "El Cid", Charlemagne and many other notables of history. The book has genealogy charts with extensive sources and a bibliography of where he did his research.
Using "Asturias Illustra" and other ancient Spanish lineage books, Cruz traces the ancestry of Francisco Montes Vigil, natural son of Juan Montes Vigil of Mexico City and an Indian woman. Francisco Montes Vigil and wife Maria Jimenez de Anciso and their elder five children participated in the 1695 Reconquest of New Mexico, settling initially in Santa Fe and later in Santa Cruz. Cruz's text consists of an overview of his research, 77 ancestor charts that span from 1625 to 410, a history of the Vigil family after 1695, and a bibliography. Additional charts detail Francisco Montes Vigil's descent from King Afonso I of Portugal; William the Conqueror; Duncan I, King of Scotland; Hugh Capet, King of France; Henry "The Fowler," King of Germany; Berengarius II, King of Italy; "El Cid"; Pedro, Duke of Cantabria; and Charlemagne.
The House of Vigil [biˈxil] is a noble family that first began in the Kingdom of Asturias around the 5th to 8th century. The family originated from the Asturian countryside as watchmen, gradually rising in prominence until they were one of the first families to achieve titles of nobility. Wikipedia
Juan Montes Vigil was a native of Vega de Poxa, in the region of Asturias in northern Spain. In 1611, he traveled to Mexico City and married Catalina de Herrera Cantillana. They had a son, also named Juan Montes Vigil, who later settled in Zacatecas, Mexico. He, in turn, fathered a son named Francisco Montes Vigil.
In 1695, Francisco traveled north into what is now New Mexico as a settler, along with his wife, María Jiménez de Anciso, and their five children. Francisco and María established the Vigil family of New Mexico, said Jose Antonio Esquibel.
That Vigil connection "ties the New World to the Old World," Henrietta Christmas (NMGS) said. Thousands of people in New Mexico are in that line of descent, and the Vigil surname is the first ancestor of Hispanics in the United States to be approved by The Order of the Crown of Charlemagne, a lineage society whose mission, in part, is to "collect and preserve documents, manuscripts, relics, records and traditions relating to Emperor Charlemagne and his successors." - Las Cruces Sun News
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