The Vicereine Governor

Abstract

Romero documents the singular interim government of Doña Ana de Borja, Countess of Lemos, who assumed the government of the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1668. During the absence of her husband, the Viceroy Count of Lemos, who traveled to Puno to personally quell the rebellion of the Salcedo brothers in Laycacota, the Vicereine governed with energy and sagacity from Lima. The article describes her noble lineage, her lavish arrival to the capital, and her executive management; e.g. she organized the defense and dispatch of relief to Portobelo against the threat of pirates, an action for which she received the gratitude of King Charles II. Details about her family life, the birth of her children in Peru, and her return to Spain after the Viceroy's death are also mentioned.