Croix, Teodoro de (1730–1791)

Teodoro de Croix (b. 30 June 1730; d. 8 April 1791), viceroy of Peru (1784–1790). Born in Lille, Flanders, into a military family, Croix went to America with his uncle, Carlos Francisco, who served as viceroy of New Spain (1765–1771) and, following his recall to Spain, as captain-general of Valencia. Not surprisingly, this powerful patronage brought Teodoro rapid promotion in the Mexican military hierarchy. He succeeded Jáuregui as viceroy of Lima as Peru began its slow economic and political recovery from the Túpac Amaru I rebellion, the administrative confusion associated with the visita general (general inspection), and the indebtedness of the exchequer in the early 1780s.

Although overanxious to protect the dignity of his office against the authority of the first generation of intendants (installed in 1784), Croix succeeded in overseeing a period of stable government and economic and fiscal growth. He succeeded in 1787 in persuading the crown to restore the superintendency of exchequer affairs to the viceroy, thereby undermining a key feature of the intendant system.

See alsoNew Spain, Viceroyalty of .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lillian Estelle Fisher, "Teodoro de Croix," in Hispanic American Historical Review, 9 (1929): 488-504.

Rubén Vargas Ugarte, Historia del Perú: Virreinato (Siglo XVIII) 1700–1790 (1956), esp. pp. 435-467.

John R. Fisher, Government and Society in Colonial Peru (1970), esp. pp. 54-70.

Additional Bibliography

Jansen, André. Charles et Théodore de Croix: Deux gardes wallons vice-roise de l'Amérique espagnole au XVIIIe siécle. Gembloux: J. Duculot, 1977.

                                                 John R. Fisher