Diego de Escobar y Osorio (died February 22, 1649) was Governor of Paraguay from February 2, 1647 – February 22, 1649.

Biography

Diego de Escobar y Osorio was born in the

Captaincy General of Chile The Captaincy General of Chile (''Capitanía General de Chile'' ) or Governorate of Chile (known colloquially and unofficially as the Kingdom of Chile), was a territory of the Spanish Empire from 1541 to 1817 that was, for most of its existenc ...

, part of the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from ...

. He attained the rank of

Maestre de Campo ''Maestre de campo'' was a rank created in 1534 by the Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Carlos V, inferior in rank only to the ''captain general, capitán general'' and acted as a chief of staff. He was chosen by the monarch in the Council o ...

, and became an ''

oidor An ''oidor'' () was a judge of the Royal ''Audiencias'' and ''Chancillerías'', originally courts of Kingdom of Castile, which became the highest organs of justice within the Spanish Empire. The term comes from the verb ''oír'', "to hear," referr ...

'' (judge) of the

Real Audiencia of Charcas The Real Audiencia of Charcas ( es, Audiencia y Cancillería Real de La Plata de los Charcas) was a Spanish '' audiencia'' with its seat in what is today Bolivia. It was established in 1559 in Ciudad de la Plata de Nuevo Toledo (later Charcas, tod ...

. He was named Governor of Paraguay in 1644; however, he did not arrive in the province to begin his governorship until February 1647. On his journey there, he met in

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní language, Guaraní: Taragüí, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the Provinces of Argentina, province of Corrientes Province, Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from ...

Bernardino de Cárdenas Bernardino de Cárdenas y Ponce, O.F.M., (1579?–1668) was a friar of the Franciscan order and Bishop of Asunción and later Santa Cruz de la Sierra. He served as Governor of Paraguay from March 4, 1649 – October 1, 1649. He ordered t ...

, the deposed Bishop of Asunción. Cárdenas had been involved in an acrimonious dispute with the Governor of Paraguay being replaced,

Gregorio de Hinestrosa Gregorio de Hinestrosa ( fl. 1610–1647) was Governor of Paraguay from June 27, 1641 – February 2, 1647. Biography Gregorio de Hinestrosa was born in the Governorate of Chile, part of the Spanish Empire's Viceroyalty of Peru. His fam ...

. Cárdenas pleaded his case to Osorio and gained his temporary support; the two entered

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

together to a warm welcome from the citizenry, and Osorio replaced Hinestrosa. Despite Osorio's support of Cárdenas's return, he stayed neutral in the continuing dispute between Cárdenas's faction and Hinestrosa's faction. Notably, the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

order supported Cárdenas, while the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s had supported Hinestrosa. According to historian Adalberto López, Osorio "proved to be an exceptionally intelligent and able administrator" and he "managed to keep himself neutral and to prevent violent threats from becoming violent acts." However, his reign was short; Osorio died only 2 years into his term. Using the Royal Decree of 1537, the Paraguayans elected Bishop Cárdenas as the replacement governor to succeed Osorio, setting up a clash of Paraguay against the Jesuit missions and the rest of the Spanish Empire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Escobar Y Osorio, Diego De Governors of Paraguay Spanish soldiers 17th-century Chilean people Year of birth unknown 1649 deaths