Interpreting Corruption: the Marquis of Villarrocha, Captain General of Panama (1698-1717)

Abstract

Studies on the history of corruption in the Hispanic monarchy have usually been based on judicial documentation and other documents generated by the so-called mechanisms of control - visits, residence judgments and investigations - that were created to verify the government agents’ action. This article demonstrates that the documentation emanating from these instruments of control is fundamental, but insufficient for research into a theme that is usually marked by complexity. The case of José Antonio Rocha Carranza, Marquis of Villarrocha, serves as a reference. After achieving the position of Captain General of Panama and President of the Audiencia at the end of the seventeenth century, Villarocha was accused of corruption three times by the Council of the Indies, convicted in the first instance in all three cases, but finally acquitted of all charges. Faced with the task of interpreting the case in terms of the factional and power struggles between Villarrocha and the oidores or members of the Cabildo who denounced him, the indispensable cross-referencing of documentary sources -in particular with a source from outside of the judicial processes- reveals that corruption presided over Villarocha’s government action during the three periods in which he occupied the above-mentioned position. Likewise, we lay out the methodological problems that tend to arise in investigations related to the aforementioned documentary sources.