Luis Jerónimo of Uztáriz and ónimoofUztáHemiaga (1670–1724), Knight of Santiago, was a Spanish politician and economist who focused on reinventing the economic landscape of the Spanish nation after the extravagance of the Austrian Dynasty had exhausted the wealth of the country and left Spain in penury. He is best known for his book called Theory and Practice of Commerce and Maritime Affairs, which was first published in Spain - 1724, and has been translated into 3 different languages of French, Italian and English.
Early life
Luis Jerónimo of Uztáriz and Hemiaga was born in 1670 in the town of Santesteban of Leon, in the Northern community of Navarre. He was the second child of a marriage that had seven offspring from the marriage of Juan of Uztáriz (He owned the solar houses of Uztáriz and Aurtiz and Mayor of his town in 1679) and María of Hermiaga. According to Basque's law of inheritance, which influenced the drafting of the Navarrese Fueros and the customs of the kingdom of Navarre, accords the whole inheritance of the family to the eldest child, regardless of the sex. This prompted Jerónimo to move out to Madrid, at the age of 15, where he lived with relatives, being the second son with no rights to inheritance. This was the beginning of his successful military career.
Personal life
In 1696, he married Maria of Azuara and Sesseguen in Brussels, a noble Flemish descendant of a family of soldiers serving in Spain from a century ago. They had two children, Marquis of Uztáriz Casimiro de Uztáriz y Azuara (He also like his father, was Knight and Commander of the Military Order of Santiago and Secretary of the Royal Councils of State and War) and Luis Jerónimo de Uztáriz y Azuara.
Life in the Army and Public Administration
In 1688, he was a soldier in the Spanish Army of Flanders and fought for about 10 years in the Augsburg League War. During these years, he ascended to the rank of field master. He participated in 8 campaigns, including the Siege of Namur and the Battle of Landen (1693), in which Uztáriz was taken prisoner. In 1697 he went briefly to Spain after the end of the war, before returning to The Flemish Region of Belgium (or Flanders).
Between 1698 and 1704 he was secretary of Isidoro de la Cueva y Benavides, the Marquess of Bedmar, governor and commander of the Spanish army in Flanders. He outlived the outbreak of the War of Spanish Successions. In 1704 the Marquis was appointed Viceroy of Sicily and Jerónimo followed him, where he served as Secretary of State and War. During his stay in Sicily, he was made a Knight of Santiago. Under the command of the Marquis de Bedmar, he showed not only great administrative but political skills, where he served as Senior Officer of the Royal Secretariat and Secretary in the Council of the Indies.
In 1707, he finally returned to Spain, where he began a career in state administration. He was successively appointed Minister of War, Secretary of the Council of Commerce and Finance and the Secretary of the Board of Trade and the Mint. In 1725 he carried out the reorganization of the Board of Commerce and was appointed secretary by vote.
When the Board of Commerce was founded with that of Currency, he was elected Minister of the ministry. He had a great influence on the economic policy of Felipe V.
Later life
Jerónimo died on January 31, 1732, in Madrid and was buried in the Church of Santa Maria de la Almudena.
Work
His interest in economic problems was first demonstrated in a concrete form when he wrote an approbation of a book entitled, The Commerce of Holland, translated into Spanish in 1717, in which he gave an account of the economic decrees formulated by Louis XIV with the advice of his minister, Colbert. He advocated the application of these decrees, called Colbertism, in Spain as a standard to imitate France and The Netherlands.