Francis of Toledo
Francisco Álvarez de Toledo (Oropesa, July 10, 1515 - Escalona, April 21, 1582) also known as El Solón Viceroyalty, was an aristocrat and Military of the Crown of Castile, who was the fifth Viceroy of Peru. He held that position from November 30, 1569, to May 1, 1581, a total of eleven years and five months. Although for most historians he was the most important of the viceroys of Peru and has been praised as the "supreme organizer" of the immense viceroyalty, for giving it an adequate legal structure, consolidating important Indian institutions, around which the administration of the country for two hundred years, for others he was the great tyrant of the indigenous people for having exploited them in an exaggerated way, by conserving the mining mita of the Inca Empire, but distorting its original meaning, and for having ordered the execution of the last Inca of Vilcabamba, Túpac Amaru I.
Biography
Birth and early years
Francisco de Toledo was born on July 10, 1515 in the Castle of Oropesa belonging to the noble Álvarez de Toledo family. He was the fourth and last son of the 2nd Count of Oropesa, Francisco Álvarez de Toledo y Pacheco, and of María de Figueroa y Toledo — the eldest daughter of Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, 2nd Count of Feria, and his second wife, María Álvarez de Toledo, daughter of the I Dukes of Alba de Tormes. His birth occurred at the time his mother died, which influenced his serious and taciturn demeanor. His aunts María and Isabel took care of his upbringing.
When he was eight years old, he moved to the court of King Carlos I of Spain to serve as a page to Queen Isabella of Portugal. He learned Latin, history, rhetoric, and theology, as well as swordsmanship, music, dance, and court manners.
At the service of Emperor Charles V
Francisco de Toledo was fifteen years old when in 1530 King Carlos I accepted him into his home. He accompanied the emperor until his last days in the most varied circumstances of both peace and war. This personal contact with the monarch, from whom he adopted political prudence, "Machiavellianism" and the tendency to seek counterweights among his collaborators, would serve as a useful experience for his later government work.
In 1535, when he was twenty years old, he was invested with the habit of a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a religious-military order, and in 1551 he was given the charge of Acebuchar in this corporation.
The first military action in which he took part was the expedition to Tunis in 1535, a great triumph for the imperial troops over the Ottoman Turks from whom they seized said place in North Africa. Following the emperor on his tour of Europe, the young Álvarez de Toledo passed through Rome, where Carlos I defied the King of France Francisco I, which triggered another war with that country (the third of the emperor's reign), between the years 1536 -1538. After the signing of peace, Álvarez de Toledo returned to Spain and later went to Ghent, in Flanders. He immediately participated in the expedition to Algiers, an important Turkish place in North Africa, a campaign that ended in failure due to bad weather (1541).
In the following years he continued to serve the imperial arms, although he also participated in the diets, meetings and councils. It was a very turbulent time, because, in addition to the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks, there was the advance of Protestantism in Germany, a region under imperial orbit. During all this time, Álvarez de Toledo was close to Emperor Carlos V.
He found out about the negotiations between Spain and England to start a new war against France.
He dealt with Latin American affairs, taking an interest in the legal status that the Indians should have. He was in Valladolid when Fray Bartolomé de las Casas presented to a meeting of theologians the text of the Brief account of the destruction of the Indies and learned about the drafting of the New Laws of the Indies What a stir they caused in Peru.
He left Barcelona in 1543 with the emperor, heading for Italy and Germany, during the fourth war against France. He participated in the battles of Gelderland and Düren.
In 1556 the abdication of Carlos I took place and his consequent trip to Spain, and on November 12, on the way to the Yuste monastery, he entered the Castle of Oropesa, located in Jarandilla de la Vera, where he was hosted by its owner, the III Count of Oropesa, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Figueroa, who was Francisco's brother and who also received the old ex-monarch. The stay lasted until February 3, 1557, when the works of Yuste, the last residence of Carlos I, were completed. Both served him until his death in 1558.
The following years were dedicated by Álvarez de Toledo to activities related to the Order of Alcántara. Between 1558 and 1565 he stayed in Rome, where he participated in the discussions and the definition of the Statutes of the Order, as attorney general.
Appointment as Viceroy of Peru
He was a mayordomo in the house of King Felipe II, son and successor of Carlos I, and attended the provincial council of Toledo in 1565 as a royal delegate. He had the decisive support granted by Cardinal Diego de Espinosa, president of the Royal Council of Castilla, during the deliberations of the Magna Board of 1568. Among the results of the meeting, where important agreements were reached on the administrative organization of the Indies, the appointment of Álvarez de Toledo as viceroy, governor and captain general of the Viceroyalty of Peru, on November 30, 1568.
At the end of December 1568 he left Madrid and after visiting his relatives he arrived in Seville on February 23 of the following year; He embarked in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on March 19, in the army led by General Diego Flores de Valdés. He arrived together with his secretary Eusebio de Arrieta, who served as secretary of the holy office in Lima, the same Arrieta family established in Lima and Tarma.
Death
Already old and sick, Francisco Álvarez de Toledo retired to live out his last days in the town of Escalona, dying on April 22, 1582.
Testament
Francisco Álvarez de Toledo, in his will, made numerous provisions that took care of the Indians and that continued their works after his death. In Clause V, the former viceroy established:
And so, I command that another five hundred Masses be said... in Spain... for the conversion of the natural Indians of this Kingdom...
And in Clause XXIV it provided:
And I command that 500 ducats of alms be given to the hospital of Potosi of the natural Indians and another 300 to the hospital of the naturals of the city of Cusco and another 500 ducats to the hospital of the naturals of this City of Kings, it is for my testamentaries to send the said hospitals more in service of Our Lord and benefit of the poor.
His Remains
Oropesa, the birthplace of Francisco Álvarez de Toledo and where his mortal remains rest, owes him the construction of the San Bernardo Convent and the Jesuit College, which date from 1590. In 1605, his remains were transferred to the already finished Church of San Bernardo –planned by the architect Francisco de Mora, a disciple of Juan de Herrera, in a classicist baroque style– and deposited at the foot of the main altar. However, they currently reside in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, in a corner without any mention. In fact, the Church has decanonized the Church of San Bernardo.
Ephemeris
In 2014, and in order to commemorate the V Centenary of the birth of Francisco Álvarez de Toledo and praise his figure and his works, the Oropesa y Corchuela City Council, in the province of Toledo, called a contest of ideas for the realization of a sculpture that will be located outdoors, designed in real size with a height of 2 meters, without weight limitations, and will be built in resistant bronze, which supports deterioration, standing on a granite base. The winning sculpture was "Camorza" by Óscar César Alvariño Belinchón (from Manzanares el Real).
As part of this anniversary, the national deputy of Spain, Rocío López, from the Culture Commission, proposed to remember Francisco Álvarez de Toledo through the issuance of a postage stamp or postage stamp from Spain in which a portrait of the character on the map of Peru. The issuance became effective on October 23, 2015 through the offset printing procedure on gummed paper, with a stamp size of 40.9 by 28.8 mm.
Arrival in Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru was then immense: it extended over a large part of the territory of South America, from Panama to the extreme south of the current continental territory of Argentina, including the Audiencias of Panama, Bogotá, Quito, Lima, Chile and Ponds. Venezuela and Brazil were excluded.
Francisco Álvarez de Toledo arrived in the New World and disembarked in Cartagena de Indias on May 8, 1569.
His solid and physically imposing figure must have impressed everyone he met, not only because of his asceticism and the rigor of his physical presence, but also because of his manners and way of speaking, loaded with seriousness and strength. About to turn 54, in the adulthood of his life, Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo had firm convictions, with his own personal values, morally impeccable conduct, exaggerated sobriety, reformist sentiment, great leadership, unlimited audacity, perfectionism at all costs and of a haughty disposition. He was not married and that allowed him to pour all his energies into the service of God, the king and Spain.
His effectiveness in command was immediately demonstrated: as soon as he disembarked in Cartagena, he established customs duties, built a hospital, armed the plaza and expelled some French settled there. Three weeks later he arrived at Nombre de Dios, in Panama, continuing his organizing work: he installed a hospital for sick sailors, changed the location of the city and the port, which he moved to a place called Porto Bello, sent to the Iberian Peninsula the Spaniards married and locked up the soldiers and sailors in an attitude of rebellion. He moved by land to Panama City, ordered the construction of roads and highways, resolved conflicts of interest, established the right of almojarifazgo, gathered the Indians into new reductions, and persecuted the runaway blacks who devastated the region.
From Panama, he announced his arrival and sent an embassy to Lima, the viceregal capital, explaining the meaning of his governorship mission. He sailed to Manta (coast of present-day Ecuador) and continuing by land he reached Piura at the beginning of September 1569. On October 15 he was solemnly received in Trujillo; On November 26, he arrived at the Barrionuevo farm, near Lima, where he received the greetings of Governor Lope García de Castro, the Royal Audience, notable neighbors and religious prelates; and finally on November 30 he entered Lima, passing under the triumphal arches that had been erected in his honor. The Archbishop of Lima Jerónimo de Loayza received him in the Cathedral.
First steps
Thus possessed by the viceregal government, Álvarez de Toledo remained in Lima for a year, in order to overcome the critical situation he found, characterized by confrontation with the Audiencia, widespread abuses, non-compliance with the rules, lack of respect for authority, the non-application of laws, the misery and dispersion of the indigenous people, the abandonment of the mines and the rebellions of Spaniards, Creoles and Indians.
During this time, he knew how to surround himself with the best connoisseurs of the situation and with their support he immediately began a formidable work as a legislator and reformer, for which he earned the title of "Solón del Perú", which awarded by the distinguished Lima jurist Antonio de León Pinelo. His work transformed the viceroyalty, ensured the sovereignty of the Castilian crown, and deepened the Inca past.
During those first months of government, he took the following measures:
- He appointed runners in the most important cities.
- He created the post of protomedicate responsible for the supervision of the exercise of medicine.
- He restored the service of weapons.
- He reordered the law books and the activity of real officials by reviewing their salary system.
- He reorganized the Royal Treasury.
- He demanded from the priests and prelates strict compliance with the rules emanated from the Council of Trent.
- He created the so-called "ring objects" or auxiliary.
- It installed the Court of Inquisition.
His correspondence with the king, throughout these months, demonstrated the scope and breadth of the work undertaken in these fields.
He had an immense task ahead of him, dedicated to civil administration. In the first place, to solve the problem of the Indians, he was obliged to gather them in towns or reductions, but at the same time he had to recompose the chaotic situation of the repartimientos and rearrange the operation of the encomiendas, perverted with the passage of time. There were many vacancies for parcels and his assignment caused protests and clashes with those who claimed alleged favoritism and discrimination. It was an endless task, which he occupied throughout all the years in office.
The General Visit to Peru (1570-1575)
Following the king's recommendations, Álvarez de Toledo proposed to carry out the visit of the territories under his charge, something that had never occurred due to the length of the Viceroyalty of Peru and that would undoubtedly be a very overwhelming task.
Fulfilling his duties, he left the city of Lima on October 22, 1570, accompanied by his secretary Álvaro Ruiz de Navamuel and the wisest and most knowledgeable men in the field, among whom were the cosmographer and historian Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and the naturalist Tomás Vásquez. Later they would be joined by Juan Polo de Ondegardo, the distinguished Juan de Matienzo and the religious chronicler José de Acosta.
In the five years that this inspection visit lasted, Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo made an extraordinary journey of about 8,000 km, which was divided into two stages: in the first, the itinerary was as follows: Lima - Huarochirí - Jauja – Huamanga and Cuzco. He stayed in Cuzco for two years and then continued his visit in a second stage, heading to the Province of Charcas, the itinerary followed being the following: Checacupe-Chucuito-Juli-La Paz-Potosí-La Plata. After an unfortunate expedition against the Chiriguanos of the southeast of Charcas, he returned to Lima, via Arequipa and the sea.
The long visit had incidents. After entering the sierra through Huarochirí, on November 20, 1570, he arrived at Jauja, where he established new reductions or Indian towns. There he was astonished to find there a mountain of judicial files, because the locals were given to endless lawsuits. Practical as was his custom and to prove the uselessness of such papers he threw them all into the bonfire. Next, he built churches and resolved injustices, while ordering to recover the traditions and customs of the ancient Incas.
On December 15, he entered Huamanga, now Ayacucho, taking care of some works. He focused his attention on the already famous Huancavelica mercury mines where he sent an inspector. He also ordered the construction of a new town, Villa Rica de Oropesa, present-day Huancavelica, and the regrouping of the Indian towns.
He arrived in Cuzco in mid-February 1571 to stay in the old Inca capital until October 5, 1572, a long stay full of events and fruitful administrative activity. Impressed by the grandeur of its buildings and its large population, he tried to recover the institutions and laws of the Inca, recognizing their undeniable value and trying to adapt them to the government of the Indians. He expanded and improved the reductions, whose lands he handed over as property, projected the construction of churches, schools and hospitals and approved the institution of Indian councils, which allowed his self-government. He was also concerned about the situation of the encomenderos, collectors of the tributes of the Indians assigned to them, which forced their care and catechism, as well as building schools and hospitals and even paying for their services if needed.
In this way, the viceroyalty was endowed with a stable legal framework, which would remain unchanged for more than two hundred years. From Cuzco, Álvarez de Toledo governed, administered, and transformed the difficult reality that he had encountered everywhere, with admirable tenacity and patience. It was for this reason, the Viceroy with the greatest performance in the history of Peru.
However, a highly controversial decision by his government was the submission of the fourth and last Inca of Vilcabamba. As a consequence of the rupture by the Incas of the Treaty of Acobamba, Álvarez de Toledo sent an army to Vilcabamba, under the command of Martín Hurtado de Arbieto, who managed to defeat and capture the Inca Túpac Amaru I, brother and successor of Titu Cusi Yupanqui. In a public act that wanted to set an example, the last Inca was executed in September 1572 in the Plaza Mayor of Cuzco.
This fact, as well as other decisions made by Álvarez de Toledo, fueled the growth of strong animosity against him on the part of some officials, priests and encomenderos, dissatisfied and complaining about the viceroy's provisions.
Visit to the Imperial Villa of Potosí (1572)
After two years of staying in Cuzco, he went to the territory of the Province of Charcas, where he stayed for another two years. On the way he met Lope García de Castro, the previous governor who was returning after inspecting the Audiencia de Charcas.
After arriving in La Paz, Álvarez de Toledo hurried to the Villa Imperial de Potosí, home to one of the most notable silver mines in the world.
From the work Historia de la Villa Imperial de Potosí by the chronicler Bartolomé Arzans, it is known that on August 29, 1572, the Potosí council had made provisions for the reception of Viceroy Toledo, who entered on November 23, 1572, cheering and applauding his coming with 15 days of very expensive.
From Potosí he promulgated a series of decrees related to mining production and the work of the Indians, recovering the ancient mita of the Incas as a production system. After spending six months in said town, he went to La Plata, seat of the Audiencia. He had time to write to King Felipe II in defense of his management and tried to refute the arguments of his enemies.
Toledo began his government in 1569 carrying out a visit to the viceroyalty, obtaining information on the demography of the territory and the Inca administrative organization. According to Luis Capoche, & # 34;... he found in the earth a great decrease in the power of silver that he had had, because the rich metals of this hill had run out... & # 34;.
The general situation of Potosí in the time of Francisco Álvarez de Toledo was prosperous. He arrived at the Imperial Villa on November 23, 1572, conducting a profound reorganization based on viceregal interests and consolidated its economy with the introduction of the amalgamation technique, which until then had been stagnant. He is considered the organizer of the Villa Imperial de Potosí since he established the bases of what would be the productive circuit of silver: the production or extraction of silver from Cerro Rico, the processing of silver through the amalgamation system in the mills and the transformation of silver in the Royal Mint of Potosí.
The population had grown considerably, and only when Viceroy Toledo arrived did the urban organization begin, at the initiative and work of this illustrious ruler.
He was responsible for the urbanization of the city of Potosí, since he made the traditional checkerboard pattern on it that was mandated by the ordinances of Kings Carlos V and Felipe II, for Mediterranean cities. He widened the streets and squares, located in the main square in the center, and began the construction of new public buildings that surrounded it, such as the Casa de Moneda, Cajas Reales, Iglesia Mayor and, apparently, also the Cabildo. Finally, the Imperial Villa was better distributed when the Spanish and indigenous population divided, separated by the Ribera, which with the construction of mills and lagoons, began the systematic industrialization of Potosí.
The mine owners, called the "Ordinances of the Mita," which established the forced conscription of the indigenous element in the work of the mines. The first repartimiento was made on April 1, 1573, with 3,733 Indians. The Mita system, as is well known, had disastrous consequences for the indigenous population, who had to endure the most inhumane treatment that can be conceived, despite having extensive legislation in their favor.
Their next objective was the subjugation of the Chiriguano Indians, who were on the warpath and kept up the alarm throughout the region located southeast of Charcas, where Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded years ago. Álvarez de Toledo first sent an inspection and reconnaissance mission to the territory of the Chiriguanos, and then he himself set out with an expedition of 400 Spaniards and a regular number of Indian auxiliaries (mostly Jaujinos). It was the end of May 1574. There was a confrontation with the Chiriguanos who adopted the "scorched earth" tactic, that is, they gradually withdrew, destroying everything in their path. The shortage of provisions began to wreak havoc among the Spaniards, to which were added diseases due to the unsanitary conditions of the territory. The Viceroy himself fell ill with fever, which forced him to retire, arriving in Chuquisaca with the remains of his battered expedition. The company was a total failure, since the objective of dominating the Chiriguanos was not fulfilled.
After a short stay in La Paz, Álvarez de Toledo began his return to Lima, passing through Arequipa, which he called "noble and loyal", and where he continued his tireless work as legislator, with the purpose of correcting the abuses he kept finding. He then went down to the coast and from Quilca he sailed to Callao. On November 20, 1575, he arrived in the capital after five years of absence and having satisfactorily completed the general visit.
Foundation of the Mint
It is evident that one year after authorizing the founding of a Mint in the viceroyalty, on October 1, 1566, Lic. Lope García de Castro informed H.M., the start and layout of the House de Moneda, exhorting him to send technicians who know how to make money and send a couple of trustworthy officials. The following year, it was stated that even if two mints are made: one in the city of Los Reyes and the other in La Plata, there are no officials who know how to do it, urging it to be sent for this purpose.
Based on this information, we have the data that already in 1567, there were suggestions or intentions to build a Mint in the city of La Plata, because it was in the vicinity of the existing silver mines in Potosí, a place of extraction and production of ore.
When Don Francisco de Toledo took office on November 26, 1569, he had to face many problems, he complained that "from ten leagues from the City of Kings here, not only is there no minted currency, but not even one real I have not seen or that there has been ”. Even before the government of Toledo, Lic. García de Castro and royal officials reported the problem of monetary circulation in the viceroyalty by letter on January 15, 1565, namely:
In this land there is a small silver that calls the current the qual walks by fifthr and a lot of della falisan the yndios baking it with copper and lead with false color that they usually give it for that those who contract with rresçiben much lost so in the pesso as in the little balor it has and if there were coins all this silver would be consumed in better and melted for your fifth.
In a "Letter to His Majesty of the Viceroy D. Francisco de Toledo, on business and matters related to finance" issued from Cuzco on March 1, 1572, it reflects several points or chapters referring to the administration and government of the viceroyalty and of the state in which the royal treasury was and the increase in it, in addition to referring to the need to make the use of current silver disappear so that it can take effect, after consulting with the respective authorities and experts in the matter. He recommended the need to move the Mint to the city of La Plata, which was close to the silver mines where it could mint more quantity and that "it would cost less in the value of the coin, minting it in the place where the silver is."
Apparently said resolution was left without effect, when referring later in the same letter that the Mint be installed in Villa de Potosí and not in the city of La Plata, justifying that the production costs would also be less avoiding the bustle or transportation of silver to another place from the production center or from the rich hill:
The uilla of potosi understood the determination that awoe to found this house of coin in the city of silver out to the cause pretending for their letters and rerelations that has made me to melt in the said villa and not in the city for this they claim their rrazones in particular that it would cost less in the laur of the coin opening in the place where the silver is not in another place
In a provision years later, he reiterates and confirms that the Potosí mint was founded by his order, who argues as follows: Royal Provision of June 26, 1574
To you, the royal officials of the royal deeds of your magd who reside in the Imperial Villa of Potosí, know that Jhoan de Yturrieta is a member of the mint that by my command is founded in the dha Villa, he has been told me by saying that because the dha house is new and because the neighbors and residents of it and dealers and merchants do not understand the Venice of the dha coin they have not entered nor do they enter to work[...]
Last years of his government
In the following five years he remained in Lima, although without neglecting the government of the great viceroyalty. His health was then broken by gout and gallstones.
In those years, he carried out numerous public works, water pipes, construction of dikes and bridges over the Rímac River, hospitals and schools in the area of Lima and its surroundings, as well as the reconversion of the University of San Marcos and the demarcation of powers with the Audiencia and with the Inquisition. In 1579, the surprise incursion of the English corsair Francis Drake took place, forcing him to take defensive measures throughout the territory of the Viceroyalty.
End of his rule
His continuous confrontations with ecclesiastical and civil officials and his poor state of health forced him to request his dismissal several times, which was continually rejected, until, in view of the repeated complaints that reached the court, Felipe II decided to relieve him of the position of Viceroy, electing Martín Enríquez de Almansa as his replacement, by decree of May 26, 1580.
Álvarez de Toledo remained in office until the arrival of the new viceroy, but he did not wait for him to enter Lima, and on May 1, 1581 he left Callao for Spain, via Panama. His embarrassment was due to the discomfort that the possibility of a residence trial would generate in him before the arrival of the new viceroy, taking as a pretext the urgency of reaching the fleet that was waiting in Nombre de Dios and that was to take him to Spain along with the silver. destined for the royal coffers. Three days later, the new viceroy disembarked in the port, annoyed by what he considered rudeness by Álvarez de Toledo.
After a five-month journey, Álvarez de Toledo arrived in Lisbon, where the court was then based. It is famous that when he appeared before King Felipe II, he did not give him all the recognition he expected, partly because he reproached him for ordering the death of the rebel Inca from Vilcabamba, Túpac Amaru I, and the persecution of his family. It is said that the king's words of reproach were verbatim:
Go to your house, that I sent you to Peru not to kill kings but to serve them.
This version does not seem credible since Túpac Amaru I had begun to exercise effective and not only nominal power and even after his death, which occurred in 1572, King Felipe II left Álvarez de Toledo as viceroy of Peru for nine More years. The truth is that in the document by which he was replaced, the king mentioned how well Álvarez de Toledo had served during the twelve years that he held office.
Works and measures of his government
Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo undertook a vast task of organization and, based on a severe and permanent exercise of authority, managed to give an adequate legal structure to the Viceroyalty of Peru. His work meant the consolidation of important institutions, around which the administration of the country would revolve during all the successive viceroys that continued during the dynasty of the House of Habsburg and until the reforms of the century XVIII undertaken by the new Bourbon dynasty. Álvarez de Toledo assured, in short, the subjection of Peru to the Hispanic Monarchy or universal monarchy of King Felipe II.
The general visit he made to Peru between 1570-1575 allowed Álvarez de Toledo to learn about the reality of the country. Where he could not go he sent visitors who took note of the situation and sent him his reports. Based on all this, he reviewed the previous ordinances, supplemented them and gave new ones.
Ordinances of Peru
In the year 1573, Viceroy Toledo promulgated the "Ordinances of Peru for a good government". This normative set had a transcendental importance in the history of viceregal Peru. All this legal construction was based on the fact that the viceroy was the center of the administration of the Indian viceroyalty, who was the holder of absolute power and acted as the only representative of the king of Spain.
These ordinances, also known as "Ordenanzas de Toledo", which were drafted by the jurists Juan de Matienzo and Juan Polo de Ondegardo, regulated all aspects of viceregal life: life in the cities, town councils, taxes, administration of justice, agricultural work, mining, commerce, defense.
Álvarez de Toledo had as antecedents in his drafting, both the ordinances he had issued for the Viceroyalty of Mexico, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, in 1537, as well as the previous ones for the Viceroyalty of Peru itself, by the Viceroy Pedro de la Gasca, in 1550.
Such was the importance of the Ordinances of Peru that Álvarez de Toledo passed down to posterity with the adjective Solón Viceroyalty or Solón del Perú.
These provisions carefully articulated the civic, labour, public and even aspects of the private life of the native population, in order to coordinate their development with the state formula introduced by the Spanish crown. It is very worth noting that with the purpose that this normative system would not deviate from traditional customs, Toledo took care to collect from the mouth of the elders who survived the pre-Hispanic period reports about the governing regime prevailing under the rule of the Incas, news that in turn were systematized in the form of a story by the chronicler Sarmiento de Gamboa.
These ordinances were of great importance in the legality of the Peruvian viceroyalty and were applied for more than 200 years, until 1786, when they were replaced by others.
The problem of the perpetuity of parcels
Álvarez de Toledo also sent sixty visitors throughout the country, a task that was undertaken by people with extensive knowledge and experience.
He correctly approached the problem of the perpetuity of the parcels. The discussion was whether or not the parcels should be given to the conquistadors and their descendants in perpetuity, a topic that was touched on in the Junta Magna of 1568 held in Spain, a meeting where they discussed the best way to administer the American viceroyalties and where Álvarez de Toledo was appointed viceroy of Peru. Álvarez de Toledo advised the king, inspired by the resolutions of the count of Nieva, his predecessor in the Viceroyalty, to cede only some parcels in perpetuity, the rest should return to the crown after the encomendero's death or they would be given for one or two generations. further. Despite the insistence of the encomenderos, the Crown was always reluctant to grant parcels in perpetuity, fearing that the encomendero would obtain local power that would threaten the metropolis, as had happened years before. The issue of the parcels would never be resolved; in 1592, Felipe II would suspend all controversy on the matter. A closely related problem was whether the lands should be distributed among the Indians, which was flatly rejected in said meeting. Already in Peru, Álvarez de Toledo verified the magnitude of the land problem: when the Spaniards divided up the best farmland, they left the least productive ones to the Indians or forced them to emigrate. All of this, added to the fact that the mita and personal service subtracted many hands from agriculture, as well as the obligation to pay tribute, subjected a large part of the indigenous population to a situation of extreme poverty.
The reductions of Indians
Viceroy Toledo dealt with the demographic ordering of Peru. His policy was based on the concentration of the indigenous population in strategic places in the territory, thus combining the mercantilist needs in vogue.
Through this successful planning of population demography, he forced the Indians to live in reductions, that is, in aboriginal towns with their own main square, church, town hall, and plots of land. Until then, the indigenous population lived dispersed throughout the territory and this measure facilitated the work of the priests and the authorities in general but conspired with a social organization that suited the needs of the new viceroyalty and public policies.
The reductions had already been recommended by the Royal Audience of Lima in October 1549 and ordered by royal decree of March 21, 1551. The previous governor Lope García de Castro had already reduced 563 old towns to only 40.
Álvarez de Toledo undertook this task with greater determination and created the "Republic of Indians", reductions of urban centers of more or less 400 families of natives, with their own institutions that had the support of the curacas and that were specially designed to satisfy the indigenous idiosyncrasy, which, although harmonized with the rest of the Indian institutions, presented particular characteristics according to pre-Hispanic uses, customs, needs and political, social and economic styles. Thus the "República de indios" lived with the system implemented for the "Republic of Spaniards".
However, in some cases, when the Indians were concentrated in towns and the lands were divided around new boundaries, the traditional system of ecological zone control was profoundly altered. Many previously cultivated lands were abandoned by the Indians and seized by the Spanish.
In a letter to the monarch Felipe II, the viceroy wrote
The greatest force for their security here is that there are many peoples, because the houses and roots that the inhabitants have in these places, make them want peace and quiet... These naturals cannot be governed without the caciques being the instruments of execution, as well as in the temporal as in the spiritual, nor is there anything that can more with them for good and evil... It is necessary for these caciques to be good, so that with their example he may sin good, for he can more a despicious word to leave his idols and other iniquities, than a hundred sermons of religious.
Mita regulation
It regulated the mita, an old system of compulsory shift work that the Incas implemented for the construction of public works and that the Spanish reintroduced, transforming its original meaning. Under the Incas, the mitayo or indigenous worker received maintenance from the State and compensation in goods; On the other hand, the Spaniards set a derisory salary for each mitayo, adding this heavy workload to the tribute that the Indian had to pay to the encomendero. In accordance with the provisions of the ordinances, the indigenous peoples had to provide a number of workers for the construction of bridges, roads, and administrative and religious buildings; for the maintenance of tambos or inns; and for industries such as mineral extraction, cloth factories (obrajes) and ranches. The most hated by the Indians were the mining mita and the obrajera.
Indigenous tax regulations
He regulated the collection of the indigenous tribute, demanding that payment be made in currency, despite which the Indians continued to pay in kind. Individuals from 18 to 50 years of age were obliged to pay it, but both extremes were arbitrarily expanded by the encomenderos, corregidores and caciques who were responsible for collecting it, in order to thus maintain the income yield.
Mining Boom
There was a mining boom, both because of the labor that the mita provided to the mines, and because of the inclusion of the amalgamation technique in the refining of silver that allowed for a considerable increase in production volumes. He incorporated the quicksilver mines of Huancavelica to the Crown, due to the fundamental nature of this metal in the amalgamation. It is the so-called tight by which the state leased such mines to the miners.
The greatest success it achieved was the resurgence of the Cerro de Potosí, which was exploited using the traditional Inca system, and in a decade, it quintupled the production of silver ore from two hundred thousand pesos per year to more than one million pesos.
Urban works
In the legislation that Álvarez de Toledo issued in the "Ordinances" for the good government, the cities were a subject of special attention by the viceroy. In this sense, he carried out important urban improvement works in several places, benefiting the cities with the construction or restoration of their council houses, hospitals, churches and prisons, as well as being concerned about the provision of water, both in Cuzco, as in Lima; In the latter, the work that the Viceroy Count of Nieva had already begun culminated with the arrival of water at the fountain in the Plaza Mayor, which was quite an event.
Compilations of the history of the Incas
He directed the collection of information on the Tahuantinsuyo, which Juan Polo de Ondegardo and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa were in charge of, with the purpose of discussing the legitimacy of the Inca lordship. His intention was to demonstrate that the government of the Incas had been a tyranny imposed on the rest of the peoples and that therefore the Spanish conquest was justified. Polo de Ondegardo wrote a Relation of the lineage of the Incas and how they extended their conquests, and Sarmiento de Gamboa wrote a Historia Índica. They started the tradition of the so-called Toledo chroniclers. The same viceroy questioned the curacas, quipucamayocs and Inca nobles on his trips and as a result of this he wrote a "Report" for the king. He also commissioned some canvases and tapestries to be made where the most important events in the history of the Incas, their idols, the layout of their temples and other interesting data were fixed, a job that was entrusted to the most expert Indian artisans. These cloths, as well as the Viceroy's “Report” and the second part of Sarmiento's Historia Índica –referring to the history of the Incas– were sent to the king in 1572, with Don Gerónimo carrying the order. from Pacheco.
All these reports, stories, documents and illustrations have been of great value for the study of the Inca.
Regulation of coca cultivation and trade
The consumption of coca leaves by the Indians had reached such an extreme that herds of llamas were seen carrying baskets of coca. The Church condemned its use because it related it to ancient idolatrous practices. But the Spaniards noticed that the Indians were more productive at work after the act of “chacchar” (chewing) the coca leaves and therefore allowed their use. Álvarez de Toledo thought he could reconcile the opposing points of view by regulating its cultivation and trade.
Installation of the Court of the Inquisition
The Court of the Inquisition of Lima was installed, created by royal decree of Felipe II in 1569. It was a provincial branch of the Council of the Supreme and General Spanish Inquisition. On the recommendation of Álvarez de Toledo, Dr. Andrés de Bustamante and Licenciado Serván de Cerezuela were appointed as the first inquisitors of Lima. The first died on the journey, near Panama. With the sole presence of Cerezuela, on January 29, 1570, the Court of the Inquisition was established in Lima, through a solemn act, held in the Cathedral, with the assistance of the main civil and ecclesiastical authorities. The court was in charge of monitoring and punishing serious offenses against the faith and the commandments, including monitoring the prohibition of reading and disseminating the books included in the Church's Index. For this, he had a system of bailiffs and informants. The Indians were out of their jurisdiction. The first auto-da-fe took place on November 15, 1573, when Mateo Salado, a French Lutheran accused of blasphemy and heresy, was burned. A second auto-da-fe was carried out on April 13, 1578, and the Dominican friar Francisco de la Cruz was executed, who apparently led a conspiracy of religious opponents of the government.
Installation of the Tribunal of the Holy Crusade
The Court of the Holy Crusade was established in 1574, created to protect the publication of the Bull of the Crusade and the collection of alms provided for in it; either to wage war against the infidels of Africa, or as penance or charity for hospitals or other pious works. In exchange for these, the faithful were exempted from abstinence or fasting imposed by the Church.
Execution of the Inca Túpac Amaru I
On August 24, 1556, the former provisional governor of Peru and president of the Royal Audience of Lima, Lope García de Castro, had signed the Treaty of Acobamba with the third Inca of Vilcabamba, Titu Cusi Yupanqui, which agreed to the peace between the crown of Castile and the kingdom of Vilcabamba. King Philip II approved the agreement on January 2, 1569.
But the sudden death of the Inca Titu Cusi in 1570, probably due to pneumonia, was fatal for the Augustinian missionaries who settled in Vilcabamba after the treaty and who, in their eagerness to help the Inca heal him, gave him concoctions that the Vilcabambinos thought was poison. The Incas blamed the missionary Diego Ortiz, who was tortured and executed. The same fate suffered the Spaniards and mestizos who were in Vilcabamba. Hostilities between the Spanish and the Incas began again.
The elite searched for a successor and it was thus that his half-brother Túpac Amaru took up the scepter and donned the mascapaycha at the beginning of 1571.
The Spanish, unaware of the death of the previous Inca, had routinely sent two ambassadors to continue ongoing negotiations. The last of them was the conquistador Atilano de Anaya who, after crossing the Chuquichaca bridge, was captured and executed along with his escort by the Inca general Curi Paucar. The crime was reported by the priest of Amaibamba to the viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo who, on April 14, 1572, declared war on the Inca of Vilcabamba, basing his actions on the rupture of the peace agreement and on the fact that the Inca had not respected "the inviolable law of all the nations of the world: respect to the ambassadors".
Determined to put an end to this source of latent hostility, he secretly organized an army that left Cuzco under the command of the captains Martín Hurtado de Arbieto and Juan Álvarez Maldonado, which was joined by the tribe of the Cañaris, enemies of the Incas.. After a hard fight with the Inca forces, the Spanish occupied Vilcabamba, being Captain Martín García de Loyola who had the honor of capturing Túpac Amaru, when he fled with his women and children. The young Inca was taken to Cuzco and a trial was initiated by order of Álvarez de Toledo. He was accused of rejecting offers of peace, killing the Spanish sent to negotiate, and being a rebel and traitor, as well as preparing a general insurrection. He was sentenced to death, which led to numerous requests for clemency, both from notable Indians and Spaniards, civil and religious, to which the viceroy did not want to attend.
The sentence was carried out in the Plaza Mayor of Cuzco, before a crowd that mourned the death of the Inca, on September 22 or 23, 1572.
On September 24, 1572, the Spanish viceroy wrote to King Philip
what your magician commands about the Inga, has been done
The Inca's head was placed on a pillory, but when people began to worship him and believe that the Inca's head did not deteriorate, the viceroy ordered it removed.
Not content with all this, the viceroy persecuted the members of the Cuzco imperial family to avoid any hint of Inca claims. Thus he ordered the exile of its members, which included the son of Túpac Amaru, who was only three years old, and sent them to Mexico, Chile and Panama, although he later allowed them to return to Peru.
The rebellious Incas then spread the myth of the viceroy as a bloodthirsty, cruel and hateful viceregal ruler, in contrast to the youth, innocence and timidity of the last descendant of the Inca kings. The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, years later, was in charge of amplifying and disseminating this image. In reality, Álvarez de Toledo believed he was fulfilling his duty as ruler and that is why he acted without pangs of conscience.
Expedition to Chile
In response to the request of the inhabitants of Chile who faced the hostility of the Araucanian Indians, an army of 250 soldiers was sent to that region under the command of General Rodrigo de Quiroga, already experienced in these fights. He set out from Callao in April 1572, but failed to achieve any decisive victory over the Indians. Quiroga was later named Governor of Chile, a position he held until his death in 1580.
Failed expedition against the Chiriguanos
From La Plata, in the province of Charcas, Álvarez de Toledo personally launched a campaign to put an end to the rebellion of the Chiriguano Indians, who kept the southeastern region in distress, neighboring the recently founded Santa Cruz de la Mountain range. The expedition did not obtain the success that had been expected, and Álvarez de Toledo himself fell seriously ill, having to retreat (1574).
Suppression of outbreaks of insurrection
- The Aguado brothers, who rebelled against the incorporation of the flogging mines into the Crown, were adjusted.
- For his restless spirit, a neighbor of La Paz named Gonzalo Gironda, who broke the siego of several Andean cities and evaded the prison more than once.
- The disputes within the colonizing zone of Santa Cruz de la Sierra were applauded, according to order of Toledo, with the strangulation of the leader Diego de Mendoza.
- They also called for pendences in jungle provinces subordinated to the jurisdiction of Quito.
The University of San Marcos: Royal and Pontifical
The University of the City of Kings or Lima had been founded by royal decree of King Carlos I, in 1551 and established in 1553 in the cloisters of the convent of Santo Domingo under the direction of the Dominicans, the first religious order to arrive to Peru. The first years of his life were precarious and dark, among other reasons due to the shortage of students and the lack of income.
From its creation until 1571 the rector was the prior of the Dominican order. But during this time, professors from other religious orders, clergymen, and laymen were added who had points of view different from those of the Dominicans.
Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo carried out the first university reform on June 1, 1571, secularizing the university by electing a lay rector, the jurist Dr. Pedro Fernández de Valenzuela.
At the same time the Dominicans obtained from Pope Pius V the brief Exponi Nobis, issued on July 25, 1571, by which the university was also a Pontifical University. In other words, while the University of the City of Kings was a Royal University, it was directed by the Dominican friars, but when it became a Royal and Pontifical University, it became secular and was fully subject to the authority of the monarch..
Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo installed his classrooms in an appropriate location, first on a large piece of land located next to the Church of San Marcelo, in 1574, and placed the university –by lottery– under the patronage of the evangelist San Marcos, on November 20, 1574, since then being called the Royal and Pontifical University of San Marcos.
Later, he moved it to a large house located in front of the Plaza de la Inquisición, occupied until then by the Recollection of San Juan de la Penitencia for mestizo daughters of the conquistadors, in 1576. He immediately endowed it with thirteen thousand pesos of income annual, significant economic resources for the salaries of the seventeen instituted chairs, on April 25, 1577, and, finally, promulgated the Constitutions in accordance with which that study center would be governed, on April 22, 1581.
Foundation of the Colegio Mayor de San Felipe y San Marcos
Complementing his educational work, Álvarez de Toledo ordered the founding of the Colegio Real y Mayor de San Felipe y San Marcos, as an annex to the University and under the direction of the university rector, in 1575. Its purpose would be to provide facilities to the poor students and provide those who come from the provinces with a comfortable and safe shelter, freeing them from boarding houses or boarding houses. It was not until 1592 that Viceroy García Hurtado de Mendoza completed the construction of the building.
He also tried to spread the letters among the natives, devising the erection of schools for the children of caciques in Lima and Cuzco, apart from which he stressed the need to teach all children to read and pray in the doctrines. In this task the collaboration of the Jesuits was fundamental.
Controversy with the Jesuits
He had a controversy with the Society of Jesus, to whom he wanted to entrust some chairs of the University, on the condition that they closed their own classrooms. The Jesuits refused because this meant limiting their main task, that is, giving a solid formation to the youth, and Álvarez de Toledo, in response, closed the Colegio Máximo de San Pablo in Lima. The background of this dispute was the desire of the Viceroy to favor the emergence of the University in the face of an alternative focus of notable intellectual quality. The king did not approve such a procedure and by royal decree of February 28, 1580 ordered the reopening of the College, which would only crystallize in the government of the next viceroy, Martín Enríquez de Almansa.
Printing, the Quechua language and publications on Indian catechism
During the viceroyalty of Álvarez de Toledo, the first printing press was installed in Peru.
The viceroy, as a faithful representative of the Spanish renaissance, knew how to combine his obligations towards his country, his king and his God.
Since he was a deeply believing man who was strongly influenced by his Catholic faith, he saw to it that this religion was effectively transmitted to the Indians. He considered it essential for the catechism of the natives to use the Quechua language that the Inca had imposed on the Indian populations, a request that was approved by the king who also authorized his request for the printing of the catechism in the Inca language. Only in 1583, two years after the end of his mandate, did the Third Council of Limense order the edition of the "Catechism of Christian Doctrine, in Quechua and Aymara".
He also created the chair of Quechua at the University of San Marcos, which had the corresponding royal authorization. He also required university students to study for a certain time in the aforementioned chair so that they had knowledge of that general language to obtain bachelor's and graduate degrees.
Foundation of populations
Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo carried out his idea of populating the vast Viceroyalty of Peru based on a clear objective, which was to ensure that the provinces were connected and annexed in such a way that they would be protected from uprisings, with the conviction that a province was in a position to go to help or help the other, and vice versa.
Fulfilling this ideology of the state, the viceroy also dedicated himself to founding numerous towns and cities such as:
- - La Villa de San Francisco de la Victoria de Vilcabamba, carried out by Martín Hurtado de Arbieto, on October 4, 1571, in tribute to the prison of the last inca of Vilcabamba.
- - La Villa Real de Oropesa, current Cochabamba, in the central area of present Bolivia, on 15 August 1571 by Captain Gerónimo de Osorio, according to orders of Álvarez de Toledo, in order to create an agricultural production center to provide food to the mining cities of the region, mainly the city of Potosí.
- - La Villa Deleitosa de Oropesa, about 20 km southeast of Cuzco, today in the district of Oropesa, province of Quispicanchi.
- - La Villa Rica de OropesaToday Huancavelica, in the center of Peru, on August 4, 1572, in view of the mining wealth of the area, as it was necessary a village to house the entrepreneurs and mine workers.
- - The city of Córdoba de La Nueva AndalucíaToday Cordoba, in the center of the current Argentina, founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera on July 6, 1573.
- - La Villa de San Bernardo de la Frontera de TarixaToday Tarija, currently belonging to the south of Bolivia, founded on July 4, 1574 by Captain Luis de Fuentes and Vargas in a valley discovered by explorers, on the banks of the river baptized as Río Nuevo Guadalquivir, as this formerly kept many similarities to the Guadalquivir River of Andalusia, Spain.
- - The city of Balance, in the current territory of Argentina, founded by Hernando de Lerma, on 16 April 1582.
On the other hand, it did not encourage the realization of new entries because they already had experience of the harmful effects caused by the settlement of unprepared settlers in lands with scarce resources, where they did nothing but promote uprisings and abuse the Indians.
South Sea Navy
Between 1577 and 1579 the coasts of the Viceroyalty of Peru were unexpectedly raided by the English corsair Francis Drake.
After touring the Brazilian and Patagonian coasts, Drake entered the Strait of Magellan towards the Pacific Ocean; devastated the coast of Chile and appeared unexpectedly in Callao on July 13, 1579. But believing the forces of the Viceroy were very large, he did not disembark and limited himself to cutting the moorings of the ships that were anchored in the port and looting a ship loaded with merchandise coming from Panama. Then he continued his journey towards California and returned to England via Oceania and the Cape of Good Hope, being the second to circumnavigate the world, after the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan and Elcano. Queen Elizabeth I of England granted him the title of sir aboard her ship, the Golden Hind .
Before these acts of privateering, Viceroy Álvarez de Toledo provided for the fortification of the coast and the increase in warships. He created the Navy of the South Sea with the purpose of granting the naval protection of the Potosí silver. He patrolled the entire Pacific coast, from Tierra del Fuego to Central America. It consisted of two galleons and four smaller vessels and was based in the port of El Callao.
Also, to prevent new enemy incursions, in October 1579 Álvarez de Toledo sent an expedition to the Strait of Magellan under the command of Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, the first to cross the strait from west to east.
| Predecessor: Lope García de Castro President of the Royal Audience of Lima and Acting Governor of Peru |  5.o Virrey of Peru 1569 - 1581 | Successor: Martin Enríquez de Almansa |
Written work
- Toledo, Francisco de: Information from Francisco de Toledo, Virrey del Perú.
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