Absolutism versus Corporatism in New Spain: The Administration of the Marquis of Gelves, 1621–1624

Abstract

on 15 January 1624, a riot that overturned the Viceregal Government took place in Mexico City. The day began with the news that the Archbishop had excommunicated the Viceroy of New Spain and placed the capital under interdict; it ended with the viceregal palace sacked and burned. The Viceroy, remaining at his post until the last moment, barely escaped with his life. He put on the cape and hat of a servant, removed his glasses, and, as dusk fell, joined the crowd that sought to kill him as it shouted: 'Long live the King! Death to bad government.' By the time he had reached the street and worked his way across the plaza to sanctuary in the monastery of San Francisco, partisans of the Audiencia and of the Archbishop had already gathered up all of his confidential papers; ordinary looters snatched everything else of value. The Audiencia now was in charge of the government; the Archbishop whom the Viceroy had tried to exile, would return triumphantly later the same night.1 Naturally, the popular removal of the Viceroy from office has arrested the attention of historians. They have charted the sequence of events leading to the upheaval of 15 January and interpreted it as a corn riot; a manipulation of the lower orders by the religious establishment; and as a personality and jurisdictional conflict between Viceroy and Archbishop.2 These treatments are mainly concerned with the final days and are interested in the 'cause' of the riots. J.I. Israel has corrected such short-sighted 1 Relation de lo que a pasado despues que el marques de Gelves entro en el gobierno de la Na Espana, 22 enero 1624, [Seville,] A[rchivo] G[eneral de] I[ndias,] Patronato 221, r 13, no. 24; Ron de los subcesos de Mex*0 desde que partio para Espana el arcovispo y enbajadores de la audiencia y ciudad . . . agi Patronato 221, r 14; Vicente Riva Palacio, Mexico a trav'es de los sighs (5 vols., Mexico, n.d.), II. 574. 2 The most detailed treatment is N.J. Stowe, 'The Tumult of 1624: Turmoil at Mexico City', Ph.D., Southern California, 1970. Also see Chester L. Guthrie, 'Riots in Seventeenth Century Mexico: A Study of Social and Economic Conditions', in Greater America: Essays in Honor of Herbert Eugene Bolton (Berkeley, 1945), pp. 243-58; Rosa Feijoo, 'El tumulto de 1624', Historia Mexicana, xiv (1964), 42-70; Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Mexico (6 vols., San Francisco, 1883), m, 33-79; and Riva Palacio, Mexico, n. 563-76.