Diego Benavides and de la Cueva , Count of Santisteban and XVIII Viceroy of Peru. He was born around 1605 and was the son of Don Francisco Benavides y de la Cueva, 7th Count of Santisteban, and Doña Brianda de Bazán. He inherited the captaincy general of the border of Jaén. At a very tender age (1612) he enters the service of the royal family as a page. He studied at the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé, in Salamanca, where he showed a marked lyrical inclination, especially for Latin poetry, in whose knowledge he became an expert. Later, as a soldier, he is assigned to the defense of Milan. He achieves his promotion to the rank of captain of the Tercios of Savoy and is awarded the title of Marquis of Solera (1637), which he held together with the oldest county of Santisteban del Puerto, originating in the fifteenth century. He commanded the forces of the Extremadura sector in the war with Portugal , in 1643, but without the laurels surrounding his forehead; and his timid behavior in this campaign earned him the nickname "count of Mariesteban". He was a member of the Council of War, he was commander of Montreal in the order of Santiago, governor of Galicia, viceroy of Navarra, took part as plenipotentiary (1658) in the so-called Peace of the Pyrenees , which put an end to the war between France and Spain, also agreeing the marriage of Louis XIV and the infanta María Teresa. he was appointed viceroy of Peru and president of the audience of Lima by dispatches signed on August 5, 1659 .
Trip to Peru
He made the trip overseas in the company of his third wife, Doña Ana de Silva y Manrique, and two of his children. He left the port of Cádiz in the early 1660s, stopping at the ports of Cartagena, Portobelo, Panama and Paita. He takes official possession of his government on July 30, 1661 and although his management can be described as equitable, rumors spread insistently about the influence that his consort exercised over him:in the anonymous ones that disaffected his authority fabricated, excessive interference of the viceroy in the management of government affairs, and they even allowed themselves to affirm that the positions of corregidores were provided in accordance with her recommendations, rumors that bribery mediated the appointments. He possessed, instead, the merit of industry. According to the testimonies of his contemporaries, even seriously suffering from gout, he had himself led by two servants in a sedan chair to his office, so as not to neglect the matters entrusted to his administration.
he ordered the construction of the hospital of San Bartolomé , dedicated to the assistance of elderly and handicapped blacks. In order to improve the condition of the Indians in the mills, he issued a series of ordinances, including the one that prohibited anyone under twelve years of age from working in these textile manufacturing workshops. He attended the inquisitorial auto de fe of January 1664 and favored the construction of the first theater in Lima -destroyed later by a fire-, a fact that obviously corresponds to his poetic hobbies.
Uprisings during his period
In addition, in this period the Buenos Aires audience was erected and a mestizo uprising in the province of Chuquiabo was put down. But the most significant event was the explosion of the disturbances in the Laicacota mining settlement, near Lake Titicaca, which belonged to the brothers Gaspar and José de Salcedo; These magnates of Sevillian origin could not contain the mutinous ferment among the Indians who worked in the silver deposits, and in June 1665 a fierce attack against Basque businessmen broke out (enemies of the Salcedos) and forces of the local governor. From here it went to a state of rebellion, in which death was pronounced "to the King and the Pope".
Death of Viceroy Diego Benavides and de la Cueva
Finding things in such a state the death of the count of Santisteban occurred, in Lima, on March 16, 1666 . His funeral took place in the church of the convent of Santo Domingo, and his body was buried at the foot of the altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi. From his penchant for letters, a compilation volume of his Latin poetry has remained, under the title Horae successivae sive elucubrationes (1660). The marriage bonds of this noble character were the following three:in 1629 with Doña Antonia Dávila y Corella, Marquesa de las Navas; in 1649 with Doña Juana Ruiz de Corella, sister of the former; and in 1655 with Doña Ana de Silva y Manrique, who survived him.