The "Chanciller y Registrador Perpetuo de las Audiencias de Indias": Ownership and Exercise (17th-18th Centuries)

Abstract

The present study aims to learn about the origin and evolution of the title of Chanciller y Registrador Perpetuo de las Audiencias de Indias, a position created in 1642, at the request of Gaspar de Guzmán, count-duke of Olivares, and by division of the until then only title as Gran Chanciller y Registrador de las Indias, that he had enjoyed since 1623. Since then, the titles were divided into two, one for use and exercise in the Peninsula, in the Council of the Indies, and the other for the different Audiences and Chancelleries established in the Indies. The first continued to be exercised by Gaspar de Guzmán and was linked to the county of Olivares until its extinction in 1873. The second, much less known, was linked to the marquisate of Mairena, title created in 1642 for his illegitimate son, Enrique Felípez de Guzmán and his descendants. It is on this title that we are going to focus in order to know the different holders who held it, as well as its effective exercise in the Indies, through lieutenants, until its definitive incorporation to the Crown at the end of the 18^th century.