Luis Enríquez de Guzmán

Luis Enríquez Guzmán, Count of Alba de List

Luis Enríquez de Guzmán , also: Henríquez , conde de Alba de list , (* around 1600 in Spain , † after 1661 in Spain) was a Spanish officer and colonial administrator who served as Viceroy of New Spain and Viceroy of Peru . He was the first Spanish grandee in Peru.

Life

Origin and career in Europe

Enríquez Guzmán was the ninth Count of Alba. He came from a family from the Spanish nobility, from a line of the House of Aragón . Guzmán was chamberlain to the Spanish king and was inducted into the Order of Calatrava . In Spain he was the administrator and head of the executive ( alcalde or alguacil mayor ) of the cities of Zamora and Sacas.

Tenure as Viceroy of New Spain

King Philip IV appointed him Viceroy of New Spain in 1648. He sailed for Mexico and reached Mexico City , where he took office in July 1650.

What was remarkable about his tenure was a comprehensive reform of the tax administration. Guzmán deprived the colonial officials on site of the right to collect taxes and duties on their own responsibility, but entrusted two tribunals with the task of monitoring tax revenue. Promptly, the income increased considerably, and significantly more money flowed from New Spain to Europe, where the Spanish court had to contend with considerable financial worries.

The escalating dispute between the Bishop of Puebla (and interim predecessor in the office of the Viceroy), Juan de Palafox y Mendoza and the Jesuits , which ended in Palafox's recall and transfer to Europe , also fell during Guzmán's tenure . It was also at this time that the Tarahumara Indians rose in the Chihuahua area . Guzmán had the revolt put down with military force and the insurgents hanged.

In the Yucatán , the indigenous peoples tried to drive the Spaniards out by hiding their seeds and refusing to grow grain.

Term of office as Viceroy of Peru

In 1653 Guzmán was appointed viceroy of Peru. The sea route between Central and South America had become unsafe in those years because of the war between the Spaniards and England by English privateers. Therefore, the viceroy was only able to reach Peru in 1655. He took office in Lima in February 1655 and served until the end of 1661.

Several natural disasters occurred during Guzmán's tenure: on November 13, 1655, a severe earthquake destroyed large parts of Lima. On March 15, 1657, another earthquake struck Chile , which was part of the viceroyalty. The eruption of the Pichincha volcano on October 12, 1660 also claimed many victims. During Guzmán's tenure, the Naval Academy and the Holy Spirit Hospital in Lima were founded in Peru.

Due to the coin shortage that prevailed in Peru during his time, Guzmán had the Lima Mint reopened, which had been closed for almost a hundred years. From December 1658 coins were pressed there - without royal permission - which are still very rare among collectors as Estrellas de Lima (Stars of Lima).

After handing over the office of viceroy to his successor, he returned to Europe. His first-born son Manuel inherited the title of count; he worked as a diplomat in the Spanish service and played a major role in the peace treaty with France of 1659 and the marriage of French King Louis XIV to the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa. His other sons Juan and Enrique held high officer posts in the Spanish Navy.

literature

• Manuel de Mendiburu (1805-1885): Diccionario histórico-biográfico del Perú . tape 4 . Imprenta de J. Francisco Solis, Lima 1880, p. 234-251 ( Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes [accessed October 14, 2013]).

Web links

Commons : Luis Enríquez de Guzmán  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography (Spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Marcos de Torres y Rueda	Viceroy of New Spain 1650–1653	Francisco Fernández de la Cueva
García Sarmiento de Sotomayor	Viceroy of Peru 1655–1661	Diego Benavides de la Cueva