Diego Ladron de Guevara

Diego Ladrón de Guevara, Bishop of Quito and Viceroy of Peru

Diego Ladrón de Guevara (* 1641 in Cifuentes , Guadalajara Province , Spain ; † September 9, 1718 in Mexico City ) was a Spanish bishop who served as Viceroy of Peru from 1710 to 1716 .

Life

Diego Ladrón came from a noble family from Spain. He studied theology at the University of Alcalá and law at the University of Sigüenza . After receiving his ordination, he first worked in Sigüenza and Málaga .

In 1689 he was called to be Bishop of Panama and traveled to the New World. In 1695 he took over the office of chairman of the Real Audiencia of Panama and the governor of the region. In 1698 he was appointed bishop of Huamanga and took over this office in July 1700. He campaigned for the newly founded University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga , as its first rector he was named.

In 1705 he was called Bishop of Quito and took over this office at the end of October 1706.

When the Viceroy of Peru Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau died in office in 1710 , Ladrón was the successor designated by the Spanish king. So he traveled to Lima and took over the office of viceroy at the end of August 1710 from the President of the Audiencia, Miguel Núñez de Sanabria .

The greatest challenge of his tenure was the empty state coffers. He found only 1,200 pesos, which was not enough to finance the colonial administration. He intensified the output of the silver mines of Potosí and other places and thus achieved a significant increase in government revenues. He also banned the distilling of sugar cane schnapps in 1714, in particular to limit the negative consequences of alcohol consumption among the indigenous population.

The peace of Utrecht in 1712 put an end to the piracy of English privateers. British ships resumed trade with the Spanish colonies and offered their goods in Portobelo, among other places . Nevertheless, coastal piracy remained a major security issue for the Spaniards in South America.

Ladrón continued to work on the reconstruction of the Lima Cathedral and other structures that had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1687.

His extensive measures to promote revenue aroused suspicion and resentment at the Spanish court. In 1716 Ladrón was removed from office on charges of infidelity. The President of the Real Audiencia of Lima , Mateo de la Mata Ponce de León took over the official business on an interim basis. Ladrón waited in Lima for the end of his official revision ( Juicio de residencia ), which acquitted him of most of the allegations made against him. In March 1718 traveled to Mexico, where he died in September of the same year.

literature

• Manuel de Mendiburu (1805-1885): Diccionario histórico-biográfico del Perú . tape 4 . Imprenta J. Francisco Solis, Lima 1880, p. 364-373 ( Cervantes Virtual [accessed March 4, 2015]).

Web links

• Short biography (Spanish)
• Biography Biografias at MCN (spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Miguel Núñez de Sanabria	Viceroy of Peru 1710	Mateo de la Mata Ponce de León