Baltasar de la Cueva Enríquez

Baltasar de la Cueva

Baltasar de la Cueva Enríquez Arias de Saavedra Pardo, Tavera y Ulloa (in different spelling also: Baltazar or Henríquez ), conde de Castellar y de Villa Alonso , marqués de Malagón , (* 1626 in Madrid , Spain ; † April 3, 1686 ibid) was a colonial administrator who served as the 20th viceroy of Peru .

Origin and youth

Baltasar de la Cueva came from a family of the Spanish nobility. His father Francisco de la Cueva , the 7th Duke of Alburquerque, was Viceroy of Sicily from 1627 to 1632 . His older brother Francisco Fernández de la Cueva , who inherited the title of Duke, officiated as Viceroy of New Spain in Mexico .

Baltasar studied law at the University of Salamanca until 1647 . After that he first acted as rector of the university and from 1650 as dean.

In 1654 he was appointed as Oidor to the court registry of Granada and in 1659 to the Fiscal des Consejo de ordénes . He was inducted into the Order of Santiago and took over the offices of Marshal of Castile and Mayor of Toro .

Baltasar de la Cueva was also active in the diplomatic service as ambassador of the Spanish court in Germany.

Through his marriage to Teresa María Arias de Saavedra, he acquired the title of count and margrave.

Term of office as Viceroy of Peru

In 1673 he was appointed Viceroy of Peru. He reached Lima in August 1674 and took over from the Dean of the Audiencia , Álvaro de Ibarra .

His term of office is marked by a strict austerity course, which he ordered the colony. He reduced public holidays, set up an annual budget for the first time and demanded that all spending decisions could only be made with his signature.

At the same time, the silver mines in Potosí introduced a new process that halved the yield. During Cueva's tenure, a significantly higher contribution from Peru was able to flow into the notoriously clammy Spanish treasury.

In 1675 rumors came to Lima that the English had settled in Patagonia . Cueva sent an expedition to investigate this.

In June 1678, Lima suffered a severe earthquake that destroyed numerous houses and left many residents homeless.

At the same time a dispute escalated between the viceroy and some merchants in Callao , who, with the approval of the administration, carried on a brisk trade in cargo ships from Mexico . In the process, (highly sought-after) goods from the Far East also came into circulation. This trade was forbidden, however, and the Viceroy took action against it with his own rigor.

The merchants lodged a complaint directly with the king, who promptly reacted with unexpected vehemence: he unceremoniously dismissed Cueva (without even hearing him on the matter) and ordered the Archbishop of Lima to succeed him. He took office on July 7, 1678.

Return to Europe

Cueva returned to Europe and was appointed to the Council of India , of which he was a member until his death in 1686.

literature

• Manuel de Mendiburu (1805-1885): Diccionario histórico-biográfico del Perú . tape 2 . Imprenta de J. Francisco Solis, Lima 1876, p. 473-491 ( Cervantes Virtual [accessed April 14, 2014]).

Web links

• Short biography (Spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Álvaro de Ibarra	Viceroy of Peru 1674–1678	Melchor Liñán y Cisneros