CONTRA LOS “CUADRILLEROS DE LA INICUA LIBERTAD”. LA FUNCIÓN RETÓRICA DE LOS “DESÓRDENES SOLDADESCOS” EN LOS DISCURSOS DE DENUNCIA DE LA REAL AUDIENCIA (SANTIAGO DE CHILE, SIGLO XVII)^*

This essay analyzes the representations of soldierly violence in Santiago de Chile in the complaint discourses directed to the king by the local government institutions (Real Audiencia and Cabildo) and private neighbors during the 17th century. It argues that the depiction of such violence is part of a rhetorical device of persuasion addressed to the monarch, aiming to extend the jurisdictional power of the Real Audiencia against the prerogatives that the military jurisdiction grants to the Governor of Chile as Captain General of the Ejército Real de la Frontera. In the first place, an analysis of the legal provisions from the Crown allows us to interpret its ambivalent attitude, which combines the maintenance of the military jurisdiction with a closer control of the soldiers. Secondly, confrontation analysis of the Audiencia Real with the Gobernación and the testimony of several neighbors allows us to understand the role of the Audiencia as the defender of the elite of Santiago and vice versa. Finally, it is argued that the literary topic of the soldierly violence is part of a process of discursive negotiation of power framed in a double passage: from a “conquista” society to a colonial administration in Santiago; and from a “hueste indiana” to a permanent army on the Chilean border.