Croix, Marqués de (1699–1786)

Marqués de Croix (b. 1699; d. 1786), viceroy of New Spain (1766–1771). Born in Lille, France, Carlos Francisco de Croix rose to the rank of general within the Spanish army. He was serving as captain-general of Galicia when he was designated viceroy of New Spain in 1766. His term overlapped the Visita of José de Gálvez (1765–1771), who had been sent by Charles III to inspect and reform the colony. Croix presided over the efficient expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. He supported Gálvez's suppression of the resulting riots in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí the following year. A staunch regalist in ecclesiastical matters, the viceroy successfully defied the Mexican Inquisition when he was summoned before it. Croix undertook the colonization of Alta California in 1769 to defend the northern boundary of the empire. By the end of his term, four settlements had been founded. Croix urged the creation of the Interior Provinces jurisdiction in the north, which was accomplished five years after his departure. He sought improvement of the militias being formed in Mexico and encouraged the addition of regular Spanish army units to bolster the defense of the colony. He departed Mexico in 1771 to become captain-general of Valencia, where he died.

See alsoNew Spain, Viceroyalty of .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Luis Navarro García, "El virrey Marqués de Croix," in Los virreyes de Nueva España en el reinado de Carlos III, edited by José Antonio Calderón Quijano, vol. 1 (1967), pp. 161-381.

                                   John E. Kicza