Abstract
Outlines the controversy created among historians, writers and critics caused by the historic and literary treatment of a peculiar character: William Lamport, who arrived in New Spain in 1640, and was arrested in 1642, charged with apostasy and heresy, and was sentenced to death at the stake by the Inquisition; although some authors consider him a forefather of the Mexican Independence. In 1872, Vicente Riva Palacio published the Memorias de un impostor. D. Guillén de Lampart, rey de México (Memories of an Impostor, D. Guillén de Lampart, King of Mexico), that started the mythical legend of this Irishman, together with the presence of a statue of Lamport in “El Ángel” (The Angel), a sculptural ensemble honoring the Heroes of the Mexican Independence. In 1999, the italian professor Fabio Troncarelli updates the topic by publishing La spada e la croce. Guillen Lombardo e l’Inquisizione in Messico (The Sword and the Cross, Guillen Lombardo and the Inquisition in Mexico); and the appearance of a book by Gerard Ronan in 2004: ‘The Irish Zorro’. The Extraordinary Adventures of William Lamport (1615-1659).
