Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes y Pérez Sorriba, 1st Count of Campomanes (1 July 1723 – 3 February 1802), was a Spanish statesman, economist, and writer who was Minister of the Treasury in 1760. He was an adherent of the position that the state held supremacy over the Catholic Church in Spain, often called Erastianism or Caesaropapism. Campomanes was part of the government of Charles III. A staunch anti-Jesuit, one of the biggest foes of the Society of Jesus, Campomanes was the main driving force behind their expulsion from the Spanish Empire.
There is little information concerning his biography. Even though one branch of his family were hidalgos, they were not wealthy. On the death of his father, his mother entrusted his upbringing to an uncle connected to the Collegiate church of Santillana del Mar. There Campomanes demonstrated his precocious intelligence in study of the classical languages. At age 10 he translated portions of Ovid. He went on to study law at the University of Oviedo, concluding those studies in Seville, then moving to Madrid to open a law office.
An avid learner, he was especially interested in history, economics, philology, and studied ancient and modern languages, including Arabic.
This lawyer of "obscure origin" was to the attention of the crown with his 1747 publication on the history of the Knights Templar, which gained recognition by the Royal Academy of History and influenced the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. In 1750, he wrote under the pseudonym Rodrigo Perianes Campo an important text on the political economy of Spain.
Among his principal works are two admirable essays, Discurso sobre el fomento de la industria popular (Essay on the promotion of popular industry), 1774, which had a print run of 30,000 and circulated widely among elites in Spain, followed by Discurso sobre la educación popular de los artesanos y su fomento (Essay on the popular education of craftsmen and the promotion thereof), 1775, in which he argued for the revival of crafts in Spain as a source of economic wealth. In another publication, Tratado de la regalía de amortización (Treatise on the royal prerogative of amortization), he traced the history of monarchical limits on the Church's acquisition of real property. By the seventeenth century, Spain's economy was stagnant and the Church wealthy, such that during the Bourbon Reforms, limits on the Church's holding of property were seen as a way to make the economy more dynamic.
His works on ways to revive the Spanish economy were highly influential. He examined the origin of the decay of arts and manufactures in Spain during the last century and pointed out the steps necessary for improving or re-establishing the old manufactures. His detailed work contains a collection of royal ordinances and edicts regarding the encouragement of arts and manufactures, and the introduction of foreign raw materials. He examined the role of artisan guilds, and denounced their privileges and stifling of entry of new artisans to guilds. He approved of attracting foreign artisans to Spain, and also suggested women should work. He stated bluntly, "the most secure barometer by which one ought to measure the progress or decadence of the State" was the industrial progress.
The genus Campomanesia, of the botanical family Myrtaceae is named for the Count.
In 1784, he was elected a member to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. From 1788 to 1793 he was president of the Council of Castile; but on the accession of Charles IV he was removed from office, and retired from public life.
Count Campomanes died on 3 February 1802.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Campomanes, Pedro Rodriguez". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
1747 - Dissertaciones históricas del orden, y Cavallería de los templarios, o resumen historial de sus principios, fundación, instituto, progressos, y extinción en el Concilio de Viena. Y un apéndice, o suplemento, en que se pone la regla de esta orden, y diferentes Privilegios de ella, con muchas Dissertaciones, y Notas, tocantes no solo à esta Orden, sino à las de S. Juan, Teutonicos, Santiago, Calatrava, Alcantara, Avis, Montesa, Christo, Monfrac, y otras Iglesias, y Monasterios de España, con varios Cathalogos de Maestres. Madrid: Oficina de Antonio Pérez de Soto;
1750 - Bosquejo de política económica española, delineado sobre el estado presente de sus intereses, manuscript signed with the pseudonym of Rodrigo Perianes Campo and published by Jorge Cejudo in 1984.
1756 - Antigüedad Marítima de la República de Cartago, con el Periplo de su General Hannon, translated from the Greek and illustrated by D. Pedro Rodríguez Campománes, Abogado de los Consejos, Asesor General de los Correos y Postas de España etc.. Madrid: Imprenta de Antonio Pérez de Soto.
1757 - Memorial del Principado de Asturias, sobre los agravios de las operaciones hechas por los Comisionados para regular la quota correspondiente á la Única Contribución.
1761 - Itinerario de las Carreras de Posta dentro y fuera del Reyno, que contiene también las Leyes y Privilegios con que se gobiernan en España las Postas, desde su establecimiento. Y una noticia de las especies corrientes de Moneda extrangera, reducidas á la de España, con los precios á que se pagan las Postas en los varios Países. Madrid: Imprenta de Antonio Perez de Soto.
1762 - Noticia geográfica del Reyno y caminos de Portugal Madrid: Joaquín Ibarra.
1763 - Resumen del expediente de la policía relativa a los Gitanos, para ocuparles en los exercicios de la vida civil del resto de la nación.