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Viceroyalty
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A viceroyalty is a relatively autonomous territorial division of a kingdom, that is, a monarchical State governed by a Viceroy. These entities were governed by a viceroy, who, by appointment of the King, was assigned the duty of administering and governing a country or province, which was generally located apart from the central territory of the kingdom.
Spanish Empire
The viceroyalty was a local and administrative institution of the Spanish Empire created at the end of the 15th century for the government of its possessions.[1] The viceroy or visorrey was the administrative figure during the Spanish Empire responsible for administering and governing, on behalf of the Spanish Monarchy, a country or a province. The title of viceroy is found in the 14th century in a document in Latin by Peter the Ceremonious (1381).[2] In the mid-16th century, the word virrey was introduced in the Crown of Aragon, derived from the word "visrei", already used at least in the 15th century,[3] and from Catalan it would pass into Castilian as "visorey".[3] In the documents of the Crown of Aragon of the 15th century (1428), written in Latin, the term "vice rex" was used to refer to the Viceroy of Sicily.[4][5]
The administration of the immense territories that resulted from the discovery of America and the subsequent conquests led to the consideration of systems of government already in use in Europe, but which in America would have the variants of territorial extent and distance from the metropolitan State. The situation described required a provincial government capable of attending to routine internal affairs and that, at the same time, was dependent on the King and loyal to his Crown.
The administration of the vast territories of the Spanish Empire was carried out by viceroys, who became governors of an area that was not considered a colony but a province of the empire, with the same rights as any other province in peninsular Spain.[6] The figure had special importance in the Spanish Monarchy from the time of the Catholic Monarchs and their grandson Charles V, owing to the enormous accumulation of territories which, because of their extent and the impossibility of rapid communications, could not be managed in a centralized manner. After the War of the Communities it became clear that the vital center of the Monarchy was going to be Castile, something confirmed by the definitive establishment of the Court in Madrid by Philip II, with the exception of the brief period in which the Court moved to Valladolid during the reign of Philip III. In each kingdom the figure of the Viceroy was instituted, along with a series of reforms aimed at imposing royal power over the nobility and the clergy. The importance of this form of government led historiography to call the historical period in which it was in force "the Viceroyalty".
Viceroyalties of the Hispanic Monarchy in Europe
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Viceroyalty of Galicia | 1486-1679+? |
| Viceroyalty of Aragon | 1517-1707 |
| Viceroyalty of Catalonia | 1520-1716 |
| Viceroyalty of Valencia | 1520-1707[7] |
| Viceroyalty of Majorca | 1520-1716 |
| Viceroyalty of Navarre | 1512-1841 |
| Viceroyalty of Portugal | 1580-1640 |
| Viceroyalty of Sicily | 1415-1713 |
| Viceroyalty of Sardinia | 1417-1720 |
| Viceroyalty of Naples | 1504-1707 |
Viceroyalties of the Hispanic Monarchy in America
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Viceroyalty of New Spain
Viceroyalty of New Granada
Viceroyalty of Peru
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
The title of viceroy for the lands to be discovered on the other side of the Atlantic was granted for the first time to Christopher Columbus (Columbian Viceroyalty), although he gave greater importance to the title of «Admiral of the Ocean Sea». In 1511, in accordance with the provisions of the Capitulations of Santa Fe, Diego Columbus was appointed Viceroy, and he did give importance to that title. The office of Viceroy begins to appear as a non-hereditary office in 1535 with the creation of the «Viceroyalty of New Spain», its first viceroy being Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, and in 1542 with the creation of the «Viceroyalty of Peru», its first viceroy being Blasco Núñez de Vela.
There was an evolution in the Spanish Crown regarding the quality of the person who was to hold that office. For the Habsburgs, viceroys had to be persons of the nobility (generally military men); by contrast, for the Bourbons, viceroys were preferably of the middle class (generally career officials who were lawyers).
The Viceroy, as personal representative of the King of Spain, was received in America with full solemnity, had a personal guard, and was received under a canopy (palio), which was a privilege of the King and of the Blessed Sacrament.
Owing to the great extent of its possessions in America, the Spanish Crown created the following viceroyalties (virreynatos in the old spelling) as the principal regional authorities:
| Name | Period | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Viceroyalty of the Indies | 1492-1535 | See Capitulations of Santa Fe. |
| Viceroyalty of New Spain | 1535-1821 | At first it extended from Alaska to Costa Rica and the Philippines. See Viceroys of New Spain. |
| Viceroyalty of Peru | 1542-1824 | At first it covered a large part of South America (not counting the Dominions of Portugal or Venezuela). See Viceroys of Peru. |
| Viceroyalty of New Granada | 1717-1819 | See Viceroys of New Granada |
| Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata | 1776-1810 | At first it included the Malvinas Islands and Fernando Poo and Annobón. See Viceroys of the Río de la Plata |
Portuguese Empire
Within the Portuguese Empire, the term "Viceroyalty" was also used occasionally to designate the colonial State of Brazil, while its governors held the title of "Viceroy".
See also
References
- ↑ Definición de virreinato
- ↑ Antonio Rubió y Lluch (1947). Diplomatario de Oriente catalán (1401-09) : colección de documentos para la historia de la expedición catalana a Oriente y los ducados de Atenas y Neopatria (in español). Institut d'Estudis Catalans. pp. 522–. GGKEY:GTBN2GHED23. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Juan Corominas (1976). Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana. 4,R-Z, p.1112 (in español). Ed. Gredos. ISBN 978-84-249-1324-3. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
- ↑ P. Filippo Rotolo; P. Filippo Rotolo OFM Conv. (2006). Il Beato Matteo d'Agrigento e la provincia francescana di sicilia nella prima metà del secolo XV (in italiano). Officina di Studi Medievali. pp. 260–. ISBN 978-88-88615-58-5. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
- ↑ Joseph Shatzmiller (1994). Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society: Joseph Shatzmiller. University of California Press. pp. 156–. ISBN 978-0-520-08059-1. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
- ↑ Madariaga, Salvador de (1986). El auge y el ocaso del imperio español en América (in español) (Tercera ed.). Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. ISBN 9788423949434.
- ↑ BAS, Manuel and BAS, Nicolás, Derecho Foral Valenciano: El virreinato del Conde de Altamira Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine (PDF)
