Antonio de Acuña Cabrera

Antonio de Acuña Cabrera y Bayona (* around 1597 in Spain , † December 29, 1662 in Lima , Viceroyalty of Peru ) was a Spanish officer and governor of Chile from 1650 to 1656 .

Life

Origin and career

He was born to Antonio de Cabrera y Acuña and his wife Águeda de Bayona into a noble Spanish family. He embarked on a military career and served the Spanish in Piedmont and Lombardy . The connection with the later viceroy of Peru , García Sarmiento de Sotomayor , Conde Salvatierra , who appointed him as Maestre de Campo of the fortress of Callao , dates from this time . Acuña also received support from the family: his uncle, Hernando Ruiz de Contreras, was an official at the court of King Philip IV and seems to have helped him with his career: According to the historian Diego Barros Arana, he enjoyed “prestige that was less by his own merits than by the influence of some relatives he had at court. ”In Peru he married Juana de Salazar.

Term of office as Governor of Chile

In Peru, the viceroy appointed him on March 9, 1650 to succeed the late Martín de Mujica y Buitrón . In a royal deed of May 18, 1652, Philip IV confirmed the appointment for eight years. Immediately after the appointment, Acuña went to Chile with a Spanish infantry company, where he arrived in Concepción on May 4, 1650 . He was solemnly received by the city council (Spanish: Cabildo ). His first official act was to provide the troops with provisions and equipment. Like his predecessors, Acuña saw it as a goal to victoriously end the war with the insurgent Mapuche . For this purpose, he called a peace conference (Spanish: Parlamento ) with the Indians, which began in January 1651. The Indians agreed to keep peace and to allow the Spanish missionary work. But the peace was short-lived: the Mapuche resumed fighting in March and sank a ship that had been on its way to Valdivia .

Defeat in the war against the Indians

The Jesuits recommended moderation in retaliation in order to avoid a general Indian revolt. But his wife's family pushed for an expansion of the war, as they made good money from selling the Indian prisoners of war into slavery. In 1654 an expedition on the Río Bueno was defeated by the Indians. A campaign that followed met with a general uprising of the locals that broke out on February 14, 1655 in the area between the Río Bío Bío near Osorno and the Río Maule . As a result, the Spaniards had to retreat to Concepción and temporarily give up a number of fortresses and around forty settlements in the hinterland.

Riots in Concepción

Many European settlers fled to Concepción from the Indians. There the governor was blamed for the defeat, who, influenced by the self-interests of his brothers-in-law, Juan and José Salazar, drove the army into a hopeless war. On February 20, there were riots, the city council and many people demonstrated under the cry: “Long live the King! Death to the bad governor! ”Acuña had to hide in the basement and left his place through a secret side exit to hide in a nearby Jesuit convent.

Removal from Concepción and reinstatement in office

The dignitaries ( vecinos ) of Concepción then met in the town hall and discussed who should run the colony. Clergymen had calmed the angry people in the streets and prevented revolutionary excesses. The choice fell on Francisco de la Fuente y Villalobos , a veteran military man who, despite his advanced age and poor health, reluctantly accepted the task. First he informed the Real Audiencia of Chile in Santiago of the events; then he turned to the Indian War.

The news of the dismissal of a governor appointed by the king was unheard of in Chile at that time. It caused more unrest in the city council and the Audiencia than the Indian revolt and the destruction of the settlements in the south. Although they shared the Cabildo de Concepción's assessment of the governor's responsibility and incompetence, they did not want to go so far as to revoke an appeal by the king. The Concepción riot was condemned and Acuña was confirmed in office.

When this news reached Concepción, public opinion and anger against Acuña had subsided. In addition, his successor Fuentes was not very successful with his line of negotiations with the Indians and had also made very controversial personnel decisions in the army. So he returned to office with satisfaction and handed over command of the troops to the Maestre de Campo , Fernández de Rebolledo, who was able to push back the Indians with reinforced troops. Acuña was preparing to go to Santiago.

Removal as governor

In mid-April, news of the uprising in Chile reached the viceroy in Lima . He immediately ordered the governor and his family to go to Lima and handed over government power to the Audiencia. At the end of May, the orders arrived in Valparaíso , along with ammunition and troops, which were supposed to help consolidate the power of the crown in Chile. The governor, however, ignored the order; he took the view that only an order from the king himself could relieve him of his authority. This caused considerable unrest, new uprisings loomed, and the Santiago city council and clergy struggled to maintain public order. This situation lasted until September 1655, when Acuña gave up his resistance and went to Concepción to travel from there to Lima. In Lima, however, the viceroy named Pedro Porter Casanate as governor of Chile on an interim basis.

Trial of Acuña in Lima

Acuña had to answer before the Real Audiencia of Lima . The controversial successor Fuente Villalobos was also called to court, but died a few days before the trial. Four other revolutionaries who were involved in the deposition of Acuñas were sentenced to four years in prison, but were then pardoned. The viceroy decreed that further trials against the rebels of Concepción were to be refrained from. Public opinion was clearly against Acuña, but his behavior was difficult to pin down legally. He was primarily to blame for the inability and naivety with which he had followed the advice of his brothers-in-law. The trial of Acuña and his family dragged on until September 1658, when the case was submitted to the Council of India for final decision. The influence of the families eventually managed to prevent conviction.

But Acuña died a few years later in Lima.

literature

• José Toribio Medina : Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile . Imprenta Elziviriana, Santiago (Chile) 1906, p. 11–12 (Spanish, memoriachilena.cl [PDF; accessed June 15, 2010]).
• Diego Barros Arana : Historia General de Chile . tape 4 . Editorial Universitaria, Santiago de Chile 2001, p. 336-360 (Spanish, memoriachilena.cl [accessed July 10, 2010] First edition: 1886).

Web links

• Biography at Icarito (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Barros Arana, p. 336: “ Acuña… gozaba an el Perú de cierto prestigio, más que por sus propios [sic!] Méritos, por la influencia de algunos parientes que tenía en la Corte. »
2. ^ Barros Arana, p. 342 and Icarito
3. ↑ Barros Arana, p. 352, « El sábado 20 de febrero, el Cabildo y el pueblo de Concepción acudián en tumultuoso tropel a la casa en que tenía su residencia el Gobernador, llevando casi todos las espadas desnudas, y lanzando y los gritos alarms amenazadores de: ¡viva el Rey !, ¡muera el mal Gobernador! »
4. ↑ Barros Arana, p. 355, “ En Santiago como en Concepción, se cería que el mal gobierno de don Antonio de Acuña y la arrogante codicia de sus cuñados, habían producido la deplorable catástrofe que tenía al reino al borde de su ruina. »