José de Armendáriz, 1st Marquis of Castelfuerte

Don José de Armendáriz Marqués de Castelfuerte Caballero del Toisón de Oro Caballero de Santiago
28th Viceroy of Peru
In office May 14, 1724 – February 4, 1736
Monarch	Philip V
Preceded by	Diego Morcillo
Succeeded by	José Antonio de Mendoza
Personal details
Born	Ribaforada, Navarre, Spain
Died	c. 1740 Madrid, Spain

José de Armendáriz y Perurena, 1st Marquis of Castelfuerte (sometimes marqués de Castel-Fuerte) (b. Ribaforada, Navarre; d. 1740, probably in Madrid) was a Spanish soldier and colonial administrator. From May 14, 1724 to February 4, 1736 he was viceroy of Peru.

He entered the military and fought in the War of the Spanish Succession, on the side of Philip V of Spain. He saw action in the campaigns in Naples, Sardinia, Rosellón and Catalonia, and in the siege of Gibraltar. Philip granted him the title of marquess of Castelfuerte on June 5, 1711. He was governor of Tarragona and captain general of Guipúzcoa. He was appointed a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1737 on his return to Spain, and was also awarded the Order of Santiago.^[1]

In 1723 Philip named him viceroy of Peru, a position which he took up in May of the following year. His term in office was distinguished by a campaign against fraud and corruption in the government, and reform of the royal treasury and tax collection. He took steps to strengthen the mita, the forced labor of Indigenous in the silver mines, and thus to stimulate the production of the metal. He sent to jail the Count of San Juan de Lurigancho, director of the mint, as well as the assayer, for producing false coins. In order to fight smuggling (especially of silver), he reorganized the navy and fortified the coasts.

He reestablished the system whereby Inca nobles who could prove their ancestry were recognized as hijosdalgos of Castile. This led to a frenzy on the part of the Indigenous nobility to legitimate their status.

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