ABSTRACT
Following a well-established tradition, when the count of Paredes arrived in Mexico City in 1680 as New Spain’s new viceroy, he was welcomed by two triumphal arches, one erected by the municipal council and the other by the cathedral chapter. The cathedral arch had been designed by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and depicted scenes from the life of the Roman god Neptune, whom Sor Juana had chosen as the incarnation of a good ruler. As part of the welcoming rituals, a few days before his solemn entry into Mexico City, the viceroy had had the opportunity to receive the representatives of the most important institutions of colonial and imperial rule. These corporate bodies were the Real Audiencia (high court), the Cabildo Secular (municipal council), the Cabildo Eclesiástico (cathedral chapter), and the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición (the Holy Office of the Inquisition). These were the most important institutions of colonial and imperial rule, and they dominated the political and religious life of seventeenth-century Mexico City.
