Antonio Caballero y Góngora
Antonio Caballero y Góngora (born May 24, 1723 in Priego de Córdoba , Spain ; † March 24, 1796 in Córdoba , Spain) was a Spanish priest and colonial administrator who served as Archbishop of Bogotá and Viceroy of New Granada.
Life
Origin, education, career in Europe
Caballero came from a family of the Andalusian land nobility. He studied theology in Granada from 1738 , later he moved to the Colegio Imperial of Santa Catalina. In 1750 he was ordained a priest by the Roman Catholic Church.
He wrote a biography of the poet José Antonio Porcel . In 1753 he was appointed canon in Córdoba and stayed there until 1775. He became known both for the eloquence of his sermons and for the rigor with which he exercised church censorship.
As a bishop in America
In 1775 he was appointed bishop of Chiapas , but at the same time the bishopric of Mérida (Mexico) became vacant, and Caballero preferred this diocese. In 1776 he was ordained bishop of Mérida in Havana . The church organization and especially the education system (which was largely in church hands) suffered at this time from the expulsion of the Jesuit order from the Spanish colonies.
A year later, in 1777, Caballero was appointed Archbishop of Santa Fé de Bogotá. In March 1779 he arrived in Bogotá. He reorganized the tithing and reorganized the archdiocese by establishing new bishops in Mérida (Venezuela) and Cuenca (Ecuador) . The approach to appoint a bishop in Antioquia as well failed, as did his attempt to gain sovereignty over the diocese of Panama .
In 1780 an uprising of the locals broke out in large parts of the Viceroyalty, on the one hand as a result of similar uprisings - like that of Tupac Amaru II in Peru - elsewhere, on the other hand triggered by the high tax burden and oppressive colonial administration. The rebels forced the royal tax collector Gutiérrez de Piñeres from Bogotá to flee, while Viceroy Manuel Antonio Flores was on the coast in Cartagena (Colombia) to protect the colony from an impending attack by the British.
In this situation, representatives of the Real Audiencia of Santa Fé de Bogotá negotiated a peace agreement with the rebels under Archbishop Caballero in the town of Zipaquirá . They revoked their tax concessions as soon as they got back to Bogotá. In the meantime the Spaniards were again in command of the military position, the uprising was put down and the leaders killed.
Tenure as viceroy
In November 1781 Viceroy Flores resigned in Cartagena and handed over his office to Juan de Torrezar Díaz y Pimienta . After a festive reception attended by Archbishop Caballero, Torrezar suddenly fell seriously ill and died four days after his arrival in Bogotá. He had also appointed the archbishop to succeed him in the office of viceroy in the event of his death.
Since his office would not leave him enough freedom for his duties as bishop, he appointed José Manuel de Carrión y Marfil in 1783 as auxiliary bishop in Bogotá.
Caballero passed the king's pardon on to the insurgents. In return, he turned to Madrid, on the one hand to reverse the tax increases and on the other hand to prevent the administrative reforms that the institutions of Intendencias provided as sub-units of the viceroyalty. He succeeded in the latter: New Granada remained the only viceroyalty without Intendencia .
During his tenure, New Granada, like other parts of South America, experienced an economic boom. Art and science also flourished; José Mutis undertook his last major expedition in 1783. At the same time, the colony suffered from a chickenpox epidemic. Also in 1783 the Spanish court confirmed the viceroy, who no longer ruled on an interim basis, but with the legitimation of the king.
In 1784 there were renewed uprisings, although Caballero had sent monks of the Franciscan order to the crisis regions right at the beginning of his term of office to preach peace and law-abiding there.
Return to Europe
In 1787 Caballero asked for his replacement. In 1788 the king granted his request and released him from his worldly duties. In 1788 he was called as Bishop of Córdoba (Spain) and left South America in April 1789. During his time in Córdoba he founded the local art academy and donated his extensive art collection to the city. He died in 1796.
Web links
- Biography (spanish)
- Short biography (Spanish)
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Juan de Torrezar |
Viceroy of New Granada 1782–1789 |
Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Caballero y Góngora, Antonio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spanish priest and colonial administrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 24, 1723 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Priego de Cordoba , Spain |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 24, 1796 |
| Place of death | Cordoba , Spain |