Antonio Olaguer Feliú y Heredia López y Domec (1742–1813) was a Spanish soldier and politician who spent most of his career in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Biography

Born in Villafranca del Bierzo, León, Olaguer Feliú was sent to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

as a military specialist during the governorship of

Pedro de Cevallos Pedro Antonio de Cevallos Cortés y Calderón, also spelled Ceballos (29 June 1715 – 26 December 1778), was a Spanish military Governor of Buenos Aires between 1757 and 1766, and the first Viceroy of the Río de la Plata in 1776. Biography ...

. He took part in the siege of Colonia del Sacramento in 1777. He was named military inspector in 1783. He served as

Governor of Montevideo The office of Governor of Montevideo was created shortly after the Treaty of Madrid in 1750 by Ferdinand VI of Spain, with the objective of establishing more effective control of the ''Banda Oriental'' (left bank) area of the Río de la Plata, pr ...

between August 2, 1790, and February 11, 1797, and in 1792 was promoted to

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

. Then don Antonio Olaguer Feliú was named Viceroy of the Río de la Plata, a position he occupied between May 2, 1797, and May 14, 1799. During his mandate, he had to contend with the presence of British and Portuguese forces in the Río de la Plata region, as well as nascent revolutionary sentiment inspired by the recent

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. He opened the port of Buenos Aires to foreign traffic in a bid to stimulate the commercial activities of the Viceroyalty, which had begun to suffer from the growing tensions between the European powers. Coat of Arms of Antonio Olaguer Feliu as Secretary of War

Coat of Arms of Antonio Olaguer Feliu as Secretary of War

On his return to Spain, he was named Secretary of War by Charles IV. He died 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 ...

in 1813. He was married to

Ana de Azcuénaga de Olaguer Feliú Ana de Azcuénaga de Olaguer Feliú (1770–1845), was Vicereine of Río de la Plata in 1797–1799 by marriage to viceroy Antonio Olaguer Feliú. She became the first in that position ever to have been born in Argentina rather than a Spanish woma ...

Coat of arms

The

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

was

party per pale In heraldry, the field (background) of a shield can be divided into more than one area, or subdivision, of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name (e.g. a shield divided in the shape of a ...

. The first party was quartered. In the first and fourth quarters, there was a mount in natural colors on an argent field. In the second and third quarters, there were an argent oval

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

surrounded by eight argent stars on a

gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

field. In the second party, there were five argent

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s triple towered in saltire on a gules field. External ornaments: the shield had six flags and two

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

s characteristic of Field Marshals and other ornaments ( guns,

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...

, sword,

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, etc.) of the profession of arms. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

had a helmet with seven bars and surmounted by a Field Marshal coronet.Alvarez Massini & Sanson 1977, pp. 185–186.

Notes

References

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External links

* 1742 births 1813 deaths People from El Bierzo Spanish people of Catalan descent Viceroys of the Río de la Plata Governors of Montevideo Spanish colonial governors and administrators Spanish generals Field marshals Defence ministers of Spain {{Uruguay-hist-stub