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Economic Aspects of the Viceregal Entrance in Mexico City
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
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On November 4, 1640, a ship two months out of Cádiz entered the harbor of Veracruz and dropped anchor opposite the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa. On board was the new Viceroy of the Kingdom of New Spain, the Duque de Escalona, Diego López Pacheco. The viceroy’s arrival in Veracruz was but the first act in the elaborate drama of colonial government. Escalona and his party tarried in the port, passing the time inspecting the king’s troops and fortifications while they recuperated from the crossing and prepared for the journey to Mexico City. Accompanied by a mounted escort, gentlemen from the towns and cities of New Spain, a retinue of priests, servants and relatives, a herd of sheep, cattle, and other livestock, and by a baggage train carrying the stores of food and wines he brought with him from Spain, the viceroy would climb from sea level to the central meseta of New Spain, an ascent of nearly 8000 feet. The trip to Mexico City was a time for introductions, feasts, toasts, and pageants; but, it was also a time for politics, as the local notables, merchants, and government officials who accompanied the viceroy’s party vied for a favorable processional position and attempted to arrange a place at court for themselves, their relatives, and clients. Each village or town through which the viceroy passed would welcome him according to local custom and means. In larger towns like Puebla, this meant sumptuous entertainment, a procession to the cathedral followed by a reception and banquet. The viceroy could expect a more humble, but no less colorful reception when he passed through one of the dozens of smaller Indian communities along the route.
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References
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3 See, for example, Archivo Histórico del Ayuntamiento Antiguo (hereafter AHA), vol. 645A, September 19, 1603. Funds to pay for these affairs, like those for the grand entry into the capital, most often came from the municipal treasury. At times, the city found it necessary to secure funding from other sources. In 1623, for example, the Cabildo borrowed 4,000 pesos from the sisa del vino (the public works account) to pay for the triumphal arch, costumes, artillery salutes, and a mount for the incoming Marquis of Cerralba. AHA, vol. 365A, September 23, 1623.
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18 Complaints registered by the residents of Jalapa, Tlaxcala, and Cholula are recorded in AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 28, f. 203–267, and, in a series of documents compiled in 1787 in AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 28, 42–107.
19 Ibid., f. 234–37 and 247–48.
20 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 219, f. 84, Cédula, Madrid, 30 December 1686.
21 Actas del Cabildo de la Ciudad de México (México: Aguilar e Hijos, 1889–1911), Libro 17, 52–4. Hereafter referred to as Actas.
22 Ibid., p. 54.
23 For descriptions of expenditures in 1603, see Acias, Libro 15, 191–2, 196, 210, 213, 221, and 249. Similar descriptions for 1623 can be found in AHA, vol. 364A; expenditures for 1640 are recorded in Actas, Libro, 32, 82.
24 Alemán, Mateo, “Sucesos de D. Frai García Guerra, Arzobispo de Méjico” (México, 1613).Google Scholar Reprinted in Bushee, Alice H., ed., Revue hispanique 25 (New York, 1911), p. 34.Google Scholar
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28 AHA, vol., 364A, f. 441. October 15, 1624.
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31 Here, Lissa refers to the archbisop’s immediate predecessor, Bernardo de Gálvez, who had died in 1786, after less than a year in office, and, not incidentally, after a round of celebrations notorious for their extravagance. See AHA, “Diversiones públicas,” vol. 855, exp. 21, f. 1–9; AHA, vol. 4300, “Cuentas de gastos de entradas de virreyes,” exp. 6, f. 1–6, and AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 29–36.
32 Ibid.
33 Recopilación de leyes de los Reynos de las Indias (Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica, 1973), vol. 2, Libro III, título III, ley xix, 63–64. Marginal notes in the 1681 edition of the Recopilación and documents in AGN, CV, vols. 282 and 283 indicate that the 1573 limits on expenditures were reissued in 1614, 1619, 1620, 1625, 1638, 1639, 1653, 1663, 1680, 1728, 1785, 1789, 1801, and 1813.
34 Actas, Libro 67, 111.
35 AHH, vol. 250, exp. 28, f. 171–267.
36 Curcio-Nagy, , “Saints, Sovereignty, and Spectacle,” p. 71.Google Scholar
37 AGN, CV, vol. 282, f. 202136203, Sobre la formación de un reglamento…, March 7, 1789.
38 On arrival in Veracruz in August, 1789, the Conde de Revillagigedo informed the audiencia of his intent to obey the cédulas forbidding the second entrada and those limiting the number of government-funded receptions to be held in his honor. He promised too, to avoid incurring heavy expenses during his journey from Veracruz to the capital.
39 Brading, D.A., Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1971), pp. 192, 205.Google Scholar AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, fs. 7–16; exp. 3, fs. 7–16, “Cuenta de los gastos causados en el reivimiento del Exmo. Señor Virrey Don Mátias de Gálvez en el pueblo de San Cristóval, Real Sala del Comercio,” México, July 9 1783.
40 Ibid., f 11.
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42 Ibid., f. 31.
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44 Figures for the city’s total expenditure was drawn from AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 1, fs. 1–3., “Extracto de los gastos causados en los recivimientos de los Exmos Señores Virreyes Marquís de Croix, Don Antonio María Bucareli, Don. Martín de Mayorga, Don Matias de Gálvez, y Conde de Gálvez formado por la Noblísima Ciudad, Año de 1789, México, February 1, 1786.
45 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 6, f.s.n. Mexico City, April 7, 1812.
46 AGN, Archivo Histórico de Hacienda (henceforth AHH), vol. 250, exp. 12, f. 22. Testimonio … de los gastos erogados con mótivo de la corrida de toros que se havia dispuesto en celebración del parto de la Serenísima Princesa de asturias y propriedad del virreynato del Exmo. Señor Don Matias de Gálvez, México, September 24, 1786. Also see AHH, vol. 855, exp. 21, f. 4.
47 AHH, vol. 250, exp. 12, f. 15.
48 AGN, CIV vol. 283, exp. 8, f. 1–65. Also see, AHA, “Diversiones públicas,” Toros, vol. 855, exp. 21, f. 3.
49 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 28, f. 5–9. Revillagigedo to El Señor Regente y Real Audiencia de México, Vera Cruz, August 9, 1789.
50 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 7.
51 Ibid., f. 8.
52 Ibid., f. 9, 29–30.
53 Ibid., f. 30, 31.
54 Ibid., f. 40.
55 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 17–18. “Cuenta de los gastos causados en el recivimiento del Exmo. Señor Don Matias de Gálvez en el pueblo de San Cristóval, México, July 9, 1783.”
56 Ibid., f. 33.
57 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 5–9
58 Ibid., f. 9.
59 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 8, f. 63.
60 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 5–9; exp. 8, f. 22–37.
61 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 18. Mexico City, n.d. The Lista de tribunales y sujetos que se han convivado en los recivimientos de los Excelentsimos Señores Virreyes reads: El Excelentísimo Arzobizpo, La Real Audiencia, y Real Sala del Crímen, Los Señores Fiscales, Señor Asesor General, Los dos Secretarios del Superior Govierno, Los Sres. del Real Tribunal de Cuentas con los honararios, La Real Caxa, Señor Director de Tríbuto, Real Aduana, y los quatro Sres. Ynquisidores, Señor Supertendiente de la Real Casa de Moneda, Los Sres. Directores de la Dirreción del Tabaco, Los Tres Sres. del Real Tribunal de Minería, El Señor Secretario del Virreynato, El Cabildo Eclesiástico, El Señor Rectór de la Universidad, Los tres Señores Curas de Catedral, La Novilísima Ciudad, El Señor Secretario del Arzobispo, Señores Ex-Priores y Ex-Consules con toda la Matrícula, Cabildo Eclesiástico de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, y también todos los Títulos y otras Personas Militares y particulares de distinción y Plaza Mayor.
62 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 25–26. Cuenta de los gastados causados en el recivimiento del Excelemtísimo Señor Virrey Don Mátias de Gálvez en el Pueblo de San Cristóval, México, July 9,1783.
63 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 10–11.
64 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 4, fs. 29–36, “Cuenta de lo gastado en el recivimiento del Excelentsimo Señor Conde de Gálvez en el pueblo de San Cristóval,” México, July 4, 1785.
65 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 2, fs. 1–6, “Cuenta de lo gastado en el recivimiento del Excelentísimo Señor Virrey Don Martín de Mayorga en la Villa, México, August 22, 1779.
66 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 14, 34; vol. 283, exp. 5. f. 8. Thomas Gage described the parade of Mexico City’s high–born in 1626; “The gallants of this city shew themselves daily, some on horseback, and most in coaches … about two-thousand coaches, full of gallants and ladies and citizens, to see and to be seen, to court and to be courted, the gentlemen have their train of blackamoor slaves, some a dozen, some half a dozen, waiting on them in brave and gallant liveries, heavy with gold and silver lace, with silk stockings on their black legs, and roses on their feet, and swords by their side. But the train of the Viceroy, who often goeth to this place, is wonderful stately, which some say is as great as the train of his master the King of Spain.” See Thomas Gage in Spanish America (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1969), p. 65.
67 See paintings referenced in note 17.
68 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 4, f. 32.
69 AGN, CV, vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 6. Cuenta por menor de los gastos erogados por mano de Don Joseph Guzmán que hizo el Real Tribunal del Consulado en la Villa de Guadalupe a el Excelentísimo Señor Virrey Conde de Revillagigedo, México, November 13, 1789.
70 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 2, f. 3, exp. 3, f. 1–2, 8–9, exp. 4, f. 1; vol. 283, exp. 5. f. 7; AHH, vol. 250, exp. 12, f. 3.
71 AGN, CV, 282, exp. 3, f. 15. Cuenta de lo gastado en el recivimiento del Excelentísimo Señor Virrey Don Martín de Mayorga en la Villa de Guadalupe, México, August 22, 1779.
72 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 8–9. “Cuenta de los gastos causados en el recivimiento del Excelentísimo Señor Virrey Don Matias de Gálvez en el pueblo de San Cristóval,” México, July 9, 1783.
73 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 2, f. 5, “Cuenta de lo gastado en el recivimiento del Excelentísimo Señor Don Martín de Mayorga en la Villa de Guadalupe, México, August 22, 1779.
74 Ibid., exp. 3, f. 9.
75 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 1–16. “Cuenta de los gastos causados en el recivimiento del Excelentísimo Señor Virrey Don Matias de Gálvez en el pueblo de San Cristóval,” México, July 9, 1883.
76 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3, f. 34. “Cuenta de lo gastado en el recivimiento del Excelentísimo Señor Virrey, Conde de Gálvez en el Pueblo de San Cristóval, México, July 4, 1785.
77 Ibid., f. 35.
78 For examples, see AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 2, f. 14–15; exp. 3, f. 35; vol. 283, exp. 5, f. 6; AHH, vol. 250, exp. 12, f. 3; and, AHA, vol. 4300, exp. 6, f. 3.
79 AGN, CV, vol. 282, exp. 3. f. 10.
80 AHA, vol. 4300, exp. 6, f. 5.
81 AHH, vol. 250, exp. 12, f. 2. “Testimonio del Expediente en que constan aprobar las cuentas dadas por el Regidor Don Antonio Rodríguez de Velasco de los gastos erogados con mótivo de la corrida de toros que se havía dispuesto en celébridad del parto de la Serenísima Señora Princesa de Asturias y propriedad del virreynato del Excelentísimo Señor Don Matias de Gálvez, México, February 6, 1787.
82 Also receiving beef were the provincial Cavalry Regiment, the Regimiento de Lovera, the Hospital de San Hipólito, and a number of the torreros, musicians, and porters who took part in the bullfights. AHA, vol. 4300, exp. 29, f.s.n.