Padre Miguel

Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811) is widely considered one of Mexico’s foremost national heroes and a crucial figure in the nation’s struggle for independence. Born to a family in hacienda administration, Hidalgo received an excellent education in his youth and was then ordained into the priesthood. A noted multilinguist, his skills in various languages allowed not only fluid communication with various groups of people but also the consumption of advanced philosophical literature from the European Enlightenment movement; both would prove key in his career as a priest and revolutionary. With passions inflamed by his reading, Hidalgo scorned the traditional regulations of the priesthood and despised the inegalitarian social order of Spanish-held Mexico. These proclivities drew the ire of the local authorities but strengthened his reputation among the common people, who admired his commitment to equality regardless of racial or social background. Hidalgo’s influence grew to the point where prospective revolutionaries sought to recruit him and leverage his clout to gain popular support. Eventually, they did. In 1810, Hidalgo incited an insurrection among the locals in Dolores with a fiery speech that called on the populace to defend themselves and the Catholic faith against abuses from the Spanish government. Disgruntled mobs flocked to join him, swelling his ranks, which were numerous but nearly devoid of proper military training. Lack of discipline was a general problem; Hidalgo was an excellent orator and motivator, but not a skilled disciplinarian – his second-in-command Ignacio Allende was far more competent in this regard. Hidalgo and Allende’s force began ousting the Spanish royalist occupants of several towns on the route to Mexico City. Despite a string of successes, Hidalgo enigmatically refused to attack Mexico City, eschewing his momentum and affording the royalists precious time to react. Shortly thereafter, his disorganized army was crushed and he and Allende were executed – but the spirit of independence that his uprising had stoked would not be quelled so easily, and a decade later Mexico would emerge as an independent nation. In Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Miguel Hidalgo inspired Padre Miguel’s enlightened yet fiery personality, more revolutionary than politician. As a man familiar with both the bureaucracy and the common people, he knows how to leverage the diverse strengths of the Mexican people – whether towards early aggression or patient consolidation and shrewd advances from a strong position.

From the game's History encyclopedia, AoE3: DE 100.19.18309.