José del Corral Calvo de la Banda (20 February 1625 – 5 March 1686) was a jurist educated at the Colegio Real y Mayor de San Martín in Lima and at the University of Salamanca,G. Lohmann Villena, Los ministros de la Audiencia de Lima en el reinado de los Borbones (1700- 1821). Esquema de un estudio sobre un núcleo dirigente, Sevilla, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1974, págs. 164- 165 where he obtained a doctoral degree and taught law. Throughout his career he served as fiscal and oidor in the Royal Audiences of Charcas and Lima, positions he held until his death in poverty despite his long service in the imperial judicial administration.J. T. Medina, Diccionario biográfico colonial de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Imprenta Elzeviriana, 1906, pág. 215
Biography He was the son of Captain Alonso Pérez del Corral and Bernardina Calvo de Escobar y de la Banda. In 1643 he entered the Colegio de San Martín in Lima and later became a collegian at the Colegio de San Felipe in the same city. He subsequently moved to the University of Salamanca, where he taught Instituta and Código and obtained his doctoral degree. He traveled to Spain in 1653, and his presence in Madrid is documented in 1655.L. A. Eguiguren, Diccionario histórico, cronológico de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Marcos y sus colegios. Crónica é investigación, t. II, Lima, Imprenta Torres Aguirre, 1949, pág. 178
He was appointed oidor of the Royal Audiencia of Santa Fe by consultation of 3 August 1654; however, shortly thereafter he was designated fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of Charcas by consultation of 16 October 1654 and royal title of 14 March 1655. He later rose to the position of oidor of the same audiencia by consultation of 2 March and title of 18 June 1657.E. Schäfer, El Consejo Real y Supremo de las Indias, t. II, Sevilla, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1947, págs. 485, 491, 502, 508 y 510
On 9 April 1658 he obtained a license to travel to his post. In 1672 he was accused of having married in violation of royal prohibitions. On 1 June 1676 he was appointed fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of Lima, and on May 20, 1679 he was promoted to oidor of the same tribunal. He died while holding this office in such poverty that alms had to be collected to pay for his funeral.M. de Mendiburu, Diccionario histórico-biográfico del Perú, t. IV, Lima, Imprenta Enrique Palacios, 1932 (2.ª ed. con adiciones por Evaristo San Cristóval), pág. 224
Family He first married Beatriz de Sotomayor y Haro on 25 June 1659 at the Sagrario of Lima. She was the daughter of Pedro de Sotomayor y Haro, knight of the Order of Santiago, and Luisa de Córdoba y Figueroa.G. Lohmann Villena, Los americanos en las órdenes nobiliarias (1529-1900), t. I, Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, 1947, pág. 145 Beatriz’s sister, Luisa de Sotomayor, married Alonso de Zárate y Verdugo, alcalde del crimen of the Audiencia of Lima. They had one daughter called Francisca.
After the death of his first wife, Corral married Francisca Antonia de la Torre y Zegarra in November 1664 in Sorata, Larecaja. She was a native of Arequipa and the daughter of General Juan de la Torre y Cárdenas, corregidor of Larecaja, and Leonor Zegarra y Valverde. Through her father, she was a descendant of Juan de la Torre, the founder of Arequipa. They had the following children: José Francisco, Juan, Vicente, Rosa, Francisco, María Teresa, Bernardo, Bernarda and Pedro. His youngest son, Pedro Calvo del Corral, married Josefa de Antequera y Henríquez Cellorigo, with whom he had issue, including Juan de Dios Calvo de la Banda y Antequera.
After his death in 1686, his wife, Francisca Antonia de la Torre, was left an impoverished widow with nine children. The Crown therefore granted her an encomienda for two lives and a stipend of 6,000 pesos for her support. This concession was made in recognition of her noble lineage, as she belonged to the “first nobility of Arequipa” and was a descendant of Juan de la Torre.
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