Fernando de Alencastre Noroña y Silva, 1st Duke of Linares,
GE (April 15, 1662 in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
– June 3, 1717 in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
) was a Spanish nobleman and military officer. He also served as
Viceroy of New Spain
The following is a list of Viceroys of New Spain.
In addition to viceroys, the following lists the highest Spanish governors of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, before the appointment of the first viceroy or when the office of viceroy was vacant. M ...
(colonial México), from January 15, 1711 to August 15, 1716.
Early career
Alencastre Noroña y Silva was a descendant of Fernando de Noroña, Duke of Linares, and thus from a distinguished Spanish family with origins in the
Portuguese nobility
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
. In addition to the two titles he inherited, he was knight commander of the Order of Santiago, lord of the bedchamber of the king, and lieutenant general in the army. He was also knight commander of the royal arms in the Kingdom of Naples, honorary viceroy of Sardinia, and vicar general of La Toscana.
Alencastre was an early donor to the
Jesuit missions in Baja California, providing 5,000 reales as seed money in 1697.
Viceroy of New Spain
In 1711 Fernando de Alencastre became the
colonial viceroy and
captain general
Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title.
History
The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Command ...
of the
Viceroyalty of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
, and president of the
Audiencia Real
A ''Real Audiencia'' (), or simply an ''Audiencia'' ( ca, Reial Audiència, Audiència Reial, or Audiència), was an appellate court in Spain and its empire. The name of the institution literally translates as Royal Audience. The additional des ...
.
On August 16, 1711 there was a strong earthquake that damaged many buildings and resulted in significant loss of life. The earthquake was said to last half an hour. The viceroy is said to have paid from his own funds to help the poor and to restore some of the buildings.
In 1713, Mexico City experienced a snowfall unlike any earlier recorded. The harvest failed, and a severe famine resulted. The streets were filled with people begging for bread. Perhaps as a result of the famine, a severe plague broke out, continuing into the following year. Many sick people were abandoned on the streets. Many people died and were buried in common graves. Both the viceroy and the archbishop of Mexico,
José Lanziego, reportedly paid from their own funds to help the poor during these catastrophes.
![FernandodeAlencastre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/FernandodeAlencastre.jpg)
Alencastre ordered the construction of four well-armed, light warships at
Coatzacoalcos
Coatzacoalcos () is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, mostly on the western side of the Coatzacoalcos River estuary, on the Bay of Campeche, on the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. The city serves as the munic ...
to reinforce the Armada de Barlovento (coast guard). He bought 600 new muskets in Cantabria for the militia, and sent money for the repair of fortifications at Cumaná.
Spanish shipping trade
Around 1711 Alencastre authored a proposal to the
Council of the Indies
The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...
(''Consejo de Indias'') in Spain to legitimize private trade between the Viceroyalty of New Spain and 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 ...
between their
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
ports. Spain had supplied Peru by bringing goods by government fleet to the Atlantic port of
Portobelo in
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
, from whence they were carted to
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
overland. There was no direct trade allowed between the Spanish colonies.
However, the Spanish government fleet did not arrive for eleven years between 1696 and 1707, nor between 1708 and 1711. The problem was caused the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
, making it difficult for the Spanish fleet to cross the Atlantic. In their place, the French were sailing from Saint Malo in France, around South America's
Cape Horn
Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...
, to the seaport of
Callao
Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...
in Peru. At Callao, the French sold European merchandise for Peruvian silver, and then sailed to Asia trading the silver for Asian products (spices and especially textiles), and then returning to Callao to sell the Asian goods for silver and/or cacao, and then returning to France.
Viceroy Alencastre suggested that Spain permit private Spanish merchant ships to sail between the Pacific ports of Acapulco and Callao. In Acapulco, they could pick up Asian goods shipped on the Spanish government's
Manila galleon
fil, Galyon ng Maynila
, english_name = Manila Galleon
, duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years)
, venue = Between Manila and Acapulco
, location = New Spain (Spanish Empire) ...
s, and they could also purchase European goods shipped on the Spanish government's Atlantic fleet to Veracruz and brought across Mexico. Alencastre pointed out that banning Spanish merchants in the Americas from trading between Acapulco (New Spain) and Callao (Peru) was simply making French merchants wealthy.
The Council of the Indies rejected the idea, hinting that Viceroy Alencastre himself might be profiting from Pacific trade:
::::::"''without the toleration of the Viceroys, governors, and ministers of those Kingdoms
ew Spain and Peru the perpetrators of fraud could not continue business with their goods with the freedom and openness with which they have done so in recent years.''"
Foreign affairs
Spanish involvement in the
transatlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
, which involved transporting enslaved Africans to New Spain, had been authorized by the
Spanish Crown
, coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg
, coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain
, image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg
, incumbent = Felipe VI
, incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
since 1501. As part of the terms of the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...
, the Spanish Crown granted the ''
Asiento de Negros
The () was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide African slaves to colonies in the Spanish Americas. The Spanish Empire rarely engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade directly from Afri ...
'', a monopoly contract granting the recipient the right to sell African slaves in Spanish America, to the
South Sea Company
The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...
for 30 years. This contract had the unintended effect of allowing British merchants to trade large quantities of unauthorized goods and merchandise directly with the Spanish colonies as well. The longstanding British settlement at
Laguna de Términos
Laguna de Términos is the largest tidal lagoon by volume located entirely on the Gulf of Mexico, as well as one of the most biodiverse. Exchanging water with several rivers and lagoons, the Laguna is part of the most important hydrographic riv ...
was another issue, which continued to illegally harvest tropical woods, especially
logwood tree
''Haematoxylum campechianum'' (blackwood, bloodwood tree, bluewood, campeachy tree, campeachy wood, campeche logwood, campeche wood, Jamaica wood, logwood or logwood tree) is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is na ...
s, which were then exported to Europe.
Internal affairs and new settlements
The pueblo of
San Felipe de Linares was founded by Sebastián Villegas Cumplido in September 1711, and named in honor of the Viceroy. It is located in present-day state of
Nuevo León
Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...
.
The viceroy authorized expeditions in 1716 and in 1718, to reoccupy the
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a lega ...
territory after its abandonment in 1690, and establish missions and a settlement there. The pueblo of
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
was founded in 1718. He also authorized establishing
missions in Nuevo Mexico, present day
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
. The indigenous and sophisticated
Pueblo peoples
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zun ...
continued in revolt against the occupation of their homeland, taken by the Spanish in 1598 as the
Province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
In 1711 Father
Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino ( it, Eusebio Francesco Chini, es, Eusebio Francisco Kino; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer born i ...
, renowned explorer and missionary in
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
,
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
and
Alta California
Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...
, died in Magdelena, Sonora.
Alencastre constructed the aqueduct of Arcos de Belén to Salto de Agua in Mexico City. He continued and expanded La , a special tribunal dedicated to fighting robbery in the cities and on the highways. He prohibited the manufacture of the alcoholic beverage
aguardiente
(Spanish), or (Portuguese) ( eu, pattar; ca, aiguardent; gl, augardente), is a generic term for alcoholic beverages that contain between 29% and 60% alcohol by volume (ABV). It originates in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) and in I ...
from sugar cane, and made attempts to suppress immorality among the
regular clergy
Regular clergy, or just regulars, are clerics in the Catholic Church who follow a rule () of life, and are therefore also members of religious institutes. Secular clergy are clerics who are not bound by a rule of life.
Terminology and history
The ...
.
The Crown fixed the annual contribution of New Spain to the mother country at one million pesos. To raise this money required some ingenuity on the part of the viceroy.
On October 28, 1715 an insurrection broke out among the garrison at
San Juan de Ulúa
San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva's ...
, near
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
. For two years the soldiers had received only partial pay. The rebels were tried, convicted, and pardoned. Afterwards they continued to press their grievances.
Alencastre founded the first public library and the first natural history museum in New Spain. King
Philip V of Spain
Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...
directed that the museum send to Spain samples of rocks, plants, fruits, animals and other things found in Mexico but unknown in Spain. The viceroy complied, copiously.
Retirement and death
In 1716 he turned over the office to his successor,
Baltasar de Zúñiga, 1st Duke of Arión
Baltasar de Zúñiga y Guzmán, 1st Duke of Arión, 2nd Marquess of Valero (1658 in Spain – December 26, 1727 in Madrid) was Spanish viceroy of New Spain from August 16, 1716, to October 14, 1722, and later president of the Council of the In ...
. He left for Zúñiga a written ''Instrucción'', in which he detailed the sad social and economic conditions of the colony.
He died the following year in Mexico City, and was interred in the church of the
Discalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...
. He left many charitable donations in his will, including an addition 5,000 for the Jesuit missions of Baja California.
[Alegre, 1960, v. 4:252-53.]
References
* "Alencastre Noroña y Silva, Fernando de," ''Enciclopedia de México'', v. 1. Mexico City, 1988.
* García Puron, Manuel, ''México y sus gobernantes'', v. 1. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
* Orozco L., Fernando, ''Fechas Históricas de México''. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1988, .
* Orozco Linares, Fernando, ''Gobernantes de México''. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, .
* Alegre, Francisco Javier. Historia de la Provincia de la Compan~ía de Jesus de Nueva Espan~a. Nueva edición por Ernest J. Burrus y Felix Zubillaga. Roma: Insitutum Historicum S.J.
766
__NOTOC__
Year 766 ( DCCLXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 766 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...
1960.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alencastre Norona Y Silva, Fernando De
Viceroys of New Spain
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1640s births
1717 deaths
18th-century Mexican people
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1710s in Mexico
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