Powers of attorney and instructions to court representatives of the city of Buenos Aires (1605-1635)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the instruments that initially gave shape to the process of political representation in a city of the Viceroyalty of Peru: the powers of attorney and instructions that the Buenos Aires town hall extended to its procurators and courtly business agents between 1580 and 1635. These were fundamental elements of long-distance communication, which enabled and partially configured an instance of representation with the purpose of manifesting and defending the interests of the corporation before the Crown and the Council of the Indies. These instruments functioned as a necessary condition for face-to-face interaction between the city and the high Indian administration of the monarchy, although the complexity and uncertainty of courtly negotiations gave rise to an unpredictable relationship between the capitularmandates, the efforts of the agents and its normative outcome.