Viceroy

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Viceroy (disambiguation).

A viceroy is a royal official who governs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and French roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative adjective is viceregal. A vicereine is a woman in a viceregal position (rare, as it usually includes military high command), or a Viceroy's wife.

The etymological allusion to the royal style makes it be perceived as higher than governor-general, even when in some cases it is a synonym for that administrative rank, and not necessarily above several 'provincial' (lieutenant-)governors.

In some cases, the title (and the office, unless the title is not permanently attached to the job) is reserved for members of the ruling dynasty. It was not uncommon for potentials heirs to the throne to obtain such a post (or an equivalent one, without the viceregal style) as a test - and learning stage, not unlike the even loftier 'associations to the throne', such as the Roman consortium imperii- or the Caesars in Emperor Diocletian's original Tetrarchy.

1 Under the monarchs of Spain
2 British Empire and Commonwealth
3 Other colonial viceroyalties
4 Other Domestic Viceroys, including personal unions
5 Exotic counterparts
- 5.1 China
- 5.2 See also
6 Informal use
7 Sources and references

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Under the monarchs of Spain

The absolutist Kings of Spain employed numerous Viceroys to rule over various parts of their vast empire "where the sun never set", both European and overseas.

In Europe, until the 18th century the Spanish crown appointed Viceroys of Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Portugal (1580–1640)

Meanwhile in the New World, there were colonial viceroys to govern New Spain and to govern South American territories known as Viceroyalties (Spanish term: virreinato). Until 1717, there were only two Spanish viceroyalties, the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Viceroyalty of Peru, with its capital in Lima, ruled over all of Spain's territory in South America, while the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with its capital in Mexico City, ruled over Spain's territory in Mexico, Central and North America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. (Venezuela, in South America, was at times attached to the Viceroyalty of New Spain.)

Due to the growing size of Spain's American colonies, new viceroyalties were created for New Granada in 1717 (capital, Bogotá) and the Río de la Plata in 1776 (capital, Buenos Aires). The viceroyalties of Spanish America were subdivided into smaller units, Audiencias and Captaincies General, which in many cases became the bases for the independent countries of modern Spanish America.

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British Empire and Commonwealth

From 1858 to 1947 (the height of the Raj, after the crown took over the role of the British East India Company), the British colonial Governor-General of India was also known, though not officially, as the Viceroy of India, and indeed only the last was a member of the royal family.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was also sometimes referred to as a British Viceroy.

The title itself and the adjective "vice-regal", are used (poetically, but technically generally incorrect) in some Commonwealth realms to refer to the function of the governor-general (and in Canada, provincial lieutenant-governors, and in Australia, state governors) as representatives of the Crown.

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Other colonial viceroyalties

New France, in present Canada, after a single Governor (24 July 1534 – 15 Jan 1541 Jacques Cartier) had Lieutenants-general and Viceroys 15 January 1541 – September 1543 Jean François de la Rocquet, sieur de Robervalle (b. c.1500 – d. 1560), after September 1543 – 3 January 1578 Abandonment again 3 January 1578 – February 1606 Troilus de Mesguoez, marquis de la Roche-Mesgouez (d. 1606) (viceroy and from 12 January 1598, lieutenant-general), February 1606 – 1614 Jean de Biencourt, sieur de Poutrincourt, baron de St. Just (b. 1557–d. 1615); next a series of Viceroys (resident in France) 8 October 1611 – 1672, later Governors and Governors-general

in Italian Viceré: since on 9 May 1936 the Italian King assumed the title of Emperor of Ethiopia (in a sense as successor to the militarily removed autochthonous, Coptic Negus Negorum), his highest colonial representatives in the 'federation' of Italian east Africa (six provinces, each under a governor; together Ethiopia, Eritrea and part of Somalia) are no longer styled High Commissioner but Viceroy and Governor-general, until on 27 November 1941 the Italian administrators surrender to the Allies
in Portuguese Vice-Rei:
- Portuguese India, with its seat in Goa, started (1505 – 1509) under Viceroy Francisco de Almeida (b. 1450 – d. 1510), then had mostly governors(-general) or governing commissions, but some viceroys (1524 Vasco da Gama, conde de Vidigueira (b. 1460 – d. 1524), 1538 – 1540 Garcia de Noronha, a series of vicerois 1550 – 1773 and after two governors–general again 1578 – 1768 (but interrupted by some Governors and commissions) and after more Governors again 1807–1835
- in Brazil 13 July 1714 – 16 December 1815; from that date, the giant colony was the seat of the Portuguese royal Bragança dynasty in exile, until on 7 September 1822 the royal Regent declared the independence of the now separated Kingdom of Brazil, proclaiming himself on 12 October 1822 Emperor of Brazil (13 May 1825 recognized by Portugal). Allegedly there were once two viceroyalties in Brazil, including Grão Para

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Other Domestic Viceroys, including personal unions

Corsica had one, 1406 – c.1420: Vincentello d'Istria, Count and Viceroy (nominally for Aragon)
Napoleon I Bonaparte created his adoptive stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroi d'Italie in his kingdom of Italy (in personal union with is French Empire), and the same Prince later Prince of Venice, i.e. Heir apparent to that royal crown, while excluded from the French imperial throne which was reserved for his son by the empress, a born Habsburg archduchess)
Viceroy of Norway, for the King of Denmark, an example where the title is reserved for Princes of the Blood
List of Spanish Viceroys of Naples
under the Romanov Emperors of Russia:
- Poland, while in personal union under the Emperors of Russia as Kings (styled Tsar; 20 June 1815 – 5 November 1916), had only one Viceroy, 9 December 1815 – 1 December 1830: Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov (b. 1779 – d. 1831)
- Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaidjan & Georga; first under Governors in Tiblisi 1802 – 1844) had Viceroys of Transcaucasia:
  - 1845 – 1853 Mikhail Semyonovich Prince Vorontsov (b. 1782 – d. 1856)
  - 1853 – 1854 Nikolay Andreyevich Read (acting) (b. 1792 – d. 1855)
  - 1854 – 1856 Nikolay Nikolayevich Muravyev (b. 1794 – d. 1866)
  - 1856 – 1862 Prince Aleksandr Ivanovich Baryatinsky (b. 1814 – d. 1879)
  - 1862 – 1881 Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich Romanov (b. 1832 – d. 1909); next a series of Chief Heads of the Civil Administration of the Caucasus, including several imperial princes, 1882 – 1905, then again Viceroys:
  - 1905 – 1915 Count Illaryon Ivanovich, Vorontsov-Dashkov (b. 1837 – d. 1916)
  - 1915 – February 1917 Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich Romanov (b. 1837 – d. 1929)

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Exotic counterparts

As many princely and administrative titles, viceroy is often used, generally unofficiously, to render somewhat equivalent titles and offices in non-western cultures.

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China

In imperial China, viceroy was the English translation of the title "general supervisor-protector" (督護 or 總督), otherwise translated as the Governor General, who were heading large administrative divisions, directly under the imperial court. These divisions are usually two or three provinces. The regions included Zhili, Huguang, Liangjiang, Liangguang, Shangan, Minzhe, Yungui, and Sichuan. Li Hongzhang was viceroy of Huguang from 1867 to 1870, and Yuan Shikai was once Viceroy of Chihli.

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Informal use

US Ambassador Paul Bremer, the American civilian in-charge of the Iraqi reconstruction prior to return of soverignty has, on occasion, been referred to in the media as the "American Viceroy" to Iraq. The use of the term in this context is often pejorative and linked to [Iraq War] criticism. He could never truly be considered a Viceroy because the American constitution (in an original republic's tradition) forbids bestowing titles of nobility upon American citizens.

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