José de Carvajal y Lancáster (1698 – 8 April 1754) was a Spanish statesman who served as the

first secretary of state First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used in Commonwealth realms to describe a minister of the reigning sovereign or viceroy. The term ...

from 1746 to 1754.

Biography

He was son of the Duke of Liñares and his mother was descendant of

infante Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...

Jorge de Lancastre, a natural son of King

John II of Portugal John II (; ; 3 May 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince (), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for reestablishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigo ...

. After graduating at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

, he was appointed ''oidor'' (judge) of the ''Chancillería'' of

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

and later councillor of the Council of the Indies.

Prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

José del Campillo elected him as his personal secretary. In 1746, he was appointed president of the Junta of Commerce and Money, and promoted the establishment of chartered corporations for the improvement of regional trade and manufacture. The new king Ferdinand VI appointed him First Secretary of State that same year, and carried out a neutrality policy. In 1750, he signed the agreement between Spain and Portugal that finished the disputes over the borders of

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

and

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;

Colonia del Sacramento Colonia del Sacramento (; ) is a city in southwestern Uruguay, by the Río de la Plata, facing Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and the capital of the Colonia Department. As of the 2023 census, it has a populatio ...

returned to Spain in exchange of some

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an territories. He reformed the

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and in 1752 founded definitively the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

.Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Bibliography

*Molina, Juan: ''José de Carvajal: un ministro para el reformismo borbónico'', Cáceres: Institución Cultural El Brocense, 1999 *Delgado, José Miguel: ''El proyecto político de Carvajal: pensamiento y reforma en tiempos de Fernando VI'', Madrid: CSIC, 2001

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carvajal, Jose 1698 births 1754 deaths People from Cáceres, Spain Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain University of Salamanca alumni Prime ministers of Spain