Ibérica Ascendance to the Eagle Throne

This book explores Carlos de Sigüenza’s curious investiture of the viceroy with royal immortality and two bodies in Teatro de virtudes (1680). It provides evidence of inclusion in the Mexica dynasty as its restorative successor aspired to bridge the ethnic divide between Spanish and indigenous populations and enhance peaceful coexistence. In November 1680, an arch designed by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and constructed in the Plaza of Santo Domingo in Mexico City audaciously displayed a central panel depicting the incoming viceroy, Tomás de la Cerda, enthroned on a Mexican eagleand surrounded by ancient Mexica emperors. Sigüenza’s mirror for princes, Teatro de virtudes, curiously and cleverly endows the viceroy with two bodies, one natural and the other immortal and collective. This book explores the centrality of this royal paradigm in understanding Sigüenza’s innovative vision of viceregal governance as a socially unifying force.