V centennial of the council of the indies (1524-2024): navigating through a sea of papers

THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INDIES: WHO IS WHO?

The Council of the Indies was composed of a variable number of officials throughout its history. The president was appointed directly by the king and held the highest authority. The advisors could be togados (judges), experts in law, or cloak and dagger, members of the privileged classes and recognised prestige. All of them were highly experienced in administration and their mission was to advise the king on military, economic, judicial, administrative and governmental matters.

Another important office was that of public prosecutor, which usually fell to the youngest member of the Council and was responsible for ensuring compliance with the Laws of the Indies, the rights of the Crown and the search for precedents for the resolution of lawsuits.

Over time, other offices were created according to the new needs: rapporteurs to summarise all the applications and files, the cosmographer-chronicler to research and write a history of the Indies; accountants and treasurers for economic matters, scribes, porters and chaplains, to name but a few.

GOVERNING AND MANAGING FROM A DISTANCE: THE DAY-TO-DAY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INDIES

The Ordinances of the Council of the Indies (1542) set out how the Council was to schedule its working day. Initially, the officers had to meet for at least three hours in the morning, but in 1571 they began to meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the afternoons as well.

If the matter required it, they met even on public holidays; the president, informed by the scribe of the chamber, had to convene the Council at his home.

At the working sessions, the secretary or chamber scribe would open and read the correspondence, and so that they would not take too long to read, the officials would make a brief summary of the matter in question.

The president was in charge of distributing the work among the advisors, who were assigned a weekly timetable. The Council of the Indies began its sessions first with questions of government and then with those of justice.

The life of the advisors of the Council of the Indies transcended their working day, so during the great festivities, an assigned official rented balconies in the buildings of the square to attend the festivities, distributed as follows: the first floor was for the advisors, the second for the secretaries and the third for the other officials.

The General Archive of the Indies holds the documents of the institutions created by the Spanish Government, which, from mainland Spain, governed and administered the overseas territories.

Among these institutions, the Council of the Indies (1524-2024) stands out. This exhibition commemorates the 500 years of the formation of the Council of the Indies, the highest institution of the Spanish government in America and the Philippines, from its creation under the polysynodial system of the Habsburgs until its definitive demise in 1834 and the plurality of powers that were granted to it during its existence.

THE GOVERNANCE OF THE HISPANIC MONARCHY IN THE OLD REGIME (16th, 17th and 18th CENTURIES).

During the Old Regime, sovereignty resided exclusively in the king, and a system based on Councils was developed to assume the government of the entire Hispanic Monarchy. The Councils were collective bodies that dealt with matters entrusted to them by the king and on which they gave their opinion. The king always made the final decision, although he usually agreed with the opinion of his advisors.

Councils first appeared during the Middle Ages, when the Royal Council of Castile (1385), the Royal Council of Aragon (1494) and the Royal Council of Navarre (1330) were created. Over time, the number of matters to be dealt with by these bodies grew and, in the 16th century, from these three initial councils, new councils were created to focus on specific matters or specific territories. In the 17th century it had up to fifteen boards.

One of these was the Council of the Indies, officially created in 1524.

THE BIRTH OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INDIES: LEARNING TO WALK (16TH CENTURY).

To govern the new overseas territories, the kings chose people he trusted: Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, bishop of Córdoba at the time; Gaspar de Gricio, secretary and notary to the Catholic Monarchs; and Lope de Conchillos, also a royal secretary.

In 1511, a Board of the Indies was created within the Council of Castile, made up of some of its advisors, but the increasing number and complexity of matters arriving from the Americas completely overwhelmed it. The need to manage these matters motivated the constitution of an independent body that would assume the totality of American affairs: that is, government, finance and justice.

The Council of the Indies was established in 1524, and in August of that year its first president, García de Loaysa y Mendoza, bishop of Osma and confessor to Charles V (1500-1558), was appointed, and the first advisors were appointed to the Council of the Indies, the secretarial officers were appointed and it was given its own jurisdiction. However, the first ordinances of the Council of the Indies date from 1541. It is a short text, of only 40 chapters, which stands out for the importance given to the treatment of the Indians, assuming from the outset to ensure their good treatment as one of its main functions.

GOVERNING ROOM

The governing room of the Council of the Indies had a wide range of functions: it dealt with all the correspondence sent to it by viceroys, audiences, governors and private individuals. The Council of the Indies instituted and determined the jurisdiction of the audiences, appointed high officials and took on military affairs, until 1600, when a War Council was created within the Council itself.

The Council of the Indies was responsible, by virtue of the Royal Patronage, for the creation and organisation of religious dioceses, the collection of tithes, the creation of colleges and universities, the presentation of ecclesiastical hierarchies and, of course, the evangelisation of the Indians.

The Council also intervened in cultural and scientific life by exercising censorship over the printing or licensing of certain works to America. It promoted questions of natural science, geography, mathematics and history and had specific officials for this purpose.

ACCOUNTING

At first, the management of overseas voyages was handled by the General Accountant’s Office of the Council of Castile, although it soon became necessary to set up a Tax Office of the Indies.

For the preparation of the Tax Office of the Indies, the offices of treasurer, accountant, tax collector and overseer in charge of Indian affairs were created in 1501, and in 1503, the House of Trade, an instrument for accounting and control of trade and navigation, was created.

After the creation of the Council of the Indies, it became the highest governing body, in charge of several functions, such as the review of the accounts of the House of Trade, and the review of the accounts sent by the royal officials from the royal coffers and treasuries (fiscal districts in America and the Philippines), extraordinary expenses, etc.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INDIES FROM THE 17TH CENTURY TO ITS DEFINITIVE CLOSURE IN 1834.

The Council of the Indies would continue with the same functions as those stipulated in the 1571 Ordinances of the Council of the Indies, with the sole exception of the appearance of the War Councils (special meetings) and the Chamber of the Indies (following the model of Castile, for appointments, pardons and grants).

It did not undergo major changes until the reign of Charles II (1661-1700), when modifications began in order to reduce expenses and the number of officers. A decree of 1691 fixed its staff at 1 president, 8 advisor-judges, 2 privileged class advisors, 2 secretaries and 1 public prosecutor.

With the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty (1700), the Secretariat of State and Office of the Indies was created, and greater specialisation began to be demanded of civil servants.

The Council of the Indies was abolished and restored several times until its definitive demise by Royal Decree on 24 March 1834.

JUSTICE ROOM

Another of the functions of the Council of the Indies was to administer justice, acting as the Supreme Court. For this purpose, the Council met in the so-called courtroom, which was composed of the president, the judges and the public prosecutor, and which on various occasions could be supplemented by a junior officer.

The Council of the Indies heard rulings handed down by other bodies such as the Courts of justice in American territory or the Consulates.

The Council of the Indies was also responsible for controlling the management of public offices, through visits to officials, organisations and territories or through the residence of royal officials after they had left office. Residence trials could lead to disqualification or loss of office and were recurrent due to the remoteness of the territory and the possible lack of control. The Council of the Indies was in charge of assigning inspectors and judges, and the resulting sentences could be appealed to the Council of the Indies.

THE GENERAL ARCHIVE OF THE INDIES

As a result of its activities, the Council of the Indies generated a large volume of documents, which have survived to the present day. The documentation, once scattered around the peninsula, is currently kept in the General Archive of the Indies.

King Charles III (1716-1788) ordered the creation of the General Archive of the Indies for two essential reasons: firstly, the need to write the History of the Indies and secondly, the collapse of documentation suffered by the archive of the Crown of Castile (General Archive of Simancas).

The Malaga-born José de Gálvez (1720-1787), Secretary of the Indies, and the Valencian Juan Bautista Muñoz (1787-1799), Cosmographer and Chronicler of the Indies, were two key figures in the origin and foundation of this institution, which was created with the intention of bringing together all the documents of the administration and government of America and the Philippines, and therefore of all the institutions created for this purpose, including the Council of the Indies.