The Viceroy's Entry and the Exercise of Power in Seventeenth-Century Lima

As the alter ego of the king, the viceroy in colonial Spanish America was the highest official of the empire. The association of the king and his alter ego in the public imagination was achieved through the celebration of splendid public ceremonies such as the Viceroy’s entry. The magnificence of the viceregal entry was important for the legitimation of the new viceroy’s power, so during the ceremony he was surrounded by symbols easily associated to the powers and majesty of the king. Although historiography on viceregal entries in the American continent has stressed the uniformity of these rituals in colonial territories, this paper points out important differences between the ceremonies celebrated in Lima and Mexico City during the seventeenth century. These differences led to a more ambiguous interpretation of the viceroy’s image in Peru than in New Spain, as well as to a development of different political cultures