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'Captain General' (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.

Contents

Army

Navy

Administrative positions

In the Spanish Empire

In the Portuguese Empire

In fiction

References

See also

Army

The rank, formerly relatively common within various European forces, usually ranking above a Lieutenant General, at the current level of a full General. Nowadays its usage in Britain has largely died out, although it still applies to certain ceremonial positions, such as the Captain General of the Royal Marines, almost exclusively held by members of the Royal Family.
The rank of Captain General was first created when the term "general" was added to certain leading officers on the battlefields of Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to denote the most senior soldier of a certain rank in any given formation. The first such general rank was that of Sergeant-Major General (since shortened to Major General), followed by Lieutenant General and Captain General. An even higher rank, Colonel General also existed but has been abolished in most armies. (Arguably, it survives in the ceremonial rank of Colonel-in-Chief.)
The rank of Captain is located between Lieutenant and Major. As such, it follows that the rank of Captain General was considered senior to Lieutenant General - the word "captain" was simply dropped over time, as with (Sergeant-) Major General, hence the apparent disparity between the structure of the general ranks and field grade ranks.
In the modern British Army, and the armies of various Commonwealth nations, the term 'Captain General' is used exclusively when describing the ceremonial head of the artillery corps. As such, HM The Queen is the Captain General of the Honourable Artillery Company, Royal Artillery, Royal Canadian Artillery, Royal Australian Artillery and Royal New Zealand Artillery.
In Spain, the title Captain General (''capitán general'') is the highest military rank, corresponding to Field Marshal in other armies. It is traditionally reserved for the king (or, Francisco Franco, during the latter's dictatorship.)

Navy

A much older usage of the term Captain General arose in the Spanish Navy of the 16th century. A Capitán-General (General Captain) was appointed by the king as the leader of a fleet (although the term 'squadron' is more appropriate, as most galleon fleets rarely consisted of more than a dozen vessels, not counting escorted merchantmen). The fleet second-in-command was the 'almirante' (admiral), an officer appointed by the capitan-general and responsible for the seaworthiness of the squadron.^[1]
A Captain General can also be:

★ Commander of all military forces in a Vice-Regal Domain

★ The next grade of general above brigadier general or colonel commandant

★ The next grade of general above major general

★ The next grade of general below full general

★ The equivalent to a General of the Army (this is the current situation in Spain with the rank of ''Capitán general'')
Currently in the United Kingdom the ceremonial head of the Royal Marines is the Captain-General, currently HRH Prince Philip.

Administrative positions

The term "captain general" can also be used to translate Spanish ''capitán general'' or Portuguese ''capitão-mor'', administrative titles used in the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire, especially in the Americas. Each was in charge of a captaincy.

In the Spanish Empire

''Capitán General'' was a title given to the Spanish military governor of a province of the Spanish Empire. Later ''Capitán General'' became the highest military rank in the Spanish Army, traditionally reserved for the king. Francisco Franco of Spain and Augusto Pinochet of Chile held the rank during their dictatorships. The Bolivian president also becomes automatically the rank of "Captain General of the Bolivian armed forces"(five star General) after designation.

In the Portuguese Empire

''Capitão-mor'' (plural ''capitães-mores''), sometimes also ''capitão-donatário'', was the hereditary title and office given by the Portuguese Crown to noblemen granted the rule of captaincies in the territories of the Portuguese Empire, most importantly in Terra de Vera Cruz (modern Brazil). They held absolute powers in their lands, subject only to the Crown, and were given the task of settling and colonizing their respective domains.
In Brazil, most of these settlements failed, and their nominal dominions were actually haphazardly settled by colonists and Jesuit Reductions, and ultimately the land was incorporated first into the only succeeding Capitanias, São Vicente and Pernambuco, which then became the Viceroyalty of Brazil and the Viceroyalty of Grão-Pará. The absolute power of the Capitães-Mor was continued, in Brazil, by the tradition of Coronelism that endures to this day in the northeast of that nation.

In fiction

In J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' Boromir is considered to be a captain general of Gondor.
In the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, "Captain-General" is the highest rank of the Ever Victorious Army of Seanchan, excepting only the rank of Marshal-General, which may be temporarily assigned to a Captain-General given the command of a war. In addition, Captain-General is also the title of both the leader of the Queen's Guard of Andor and the head of the Green Ajah of the Aes Sedai.
In the ''BattleTech'' universe, Captain-General is the title of the military and political leader of the Free Worlds League. Since the 25th century, Captain-Generals have been members of the Marik family.

References

1. "Spanish Galleon: 1530 - 1690" by Angus Konstam, copyright 2004 Osprey Publishing, Ltd.

See also

★ General, a description of the various general officer ranks, including the full general which is the successor to captain general.

★ List of senior officers of the British Army

★ Queen Elizabeth II's honorary military positions