The power disputes in a kingdom that was interested in preserving: Governor Alonso de Ribera, viceroy Luis de Velasco and the local elites in Chile (1598-1605)

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the confrontations of power between governor Alonso de Ribera, the viceroy of Peru Luis de Velasco y Castilla and the local elites of the governorship of Chile related to the war in the transitional period between the reigns of Felipe II to Felipe III. It’s important to focus on the political war phenomena from a local perspective in dialogue with the central powers that were redefining the objectives to preserve dynastic domains. 1598 marks a milestone in the history of Chile due to the death of the then governor and his host, which at the same time provoked a general crisis in several of the cities of the governorship. In that context, Ribera was appointed governor, because as an experienced soldier of the Royal Thirds he was the ideal man to put an end to the war. However, in 1605 he was displaced from his post by order of the king, due to the complaints and intrigues of various local factions linked to the interests of the viceroy of Peru. In those years, the bases of political management were still being defined. Their construction was not linear or vertical, but rather conflictive and complex, especially because of the confrontation between the same local elements who claimed their own “remedie” and proposals to govern and manage war. Therefore, when focusing on the agents (viceroy, governor, elites), together with a critical reading of a vast documentation (letters, memorials, relationships, instructions, chapter records, among others), it’s possible to understand how the the dynamics of power worked in a kingdom that the king sought to preserve and defend within the Catholic monarchy. Eventhough historians have often pointed out that these dominions were considered worthless, peripheral, poor and unattractive by contemporaries, the existing documents nuances that opinion and even denies it.