Just adding a couple of more things to this in summary:
Author, Stuart Stirling, opened with the following quote:
The legacy of their cruelty would transcend the centuries, inspired in part by the writings of the Dominican Bartolome de las Casas, whose condemnation of the treatment of the natives of the New World would later be revived by Protestant pamphleteers in elaborating the Leyenda negra, black legend, of Spain’s conquest. “There are many who were never witness to our deeds, who are now our chroniclers,’ the Conquistador Mansio Serra de Leguizmon complained in his old age. ‘each one recording his impressions, often in prejudice of the actions of those who had taken part in the Conquest…and when they are read by those who were the discoverers and conquistadors of these realms, of whom they write, it is at times impossible to believe that they are the same accounts and of the same personages they portend to portray.’
Of the Inca Empire he offers:
The Inca empire of Tahuantinsuyo, containing some 7 million people, comprising the Andean regions of the present day republics of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and southern Columbia, had been established by military conquest in less than a hundred years. It was a society ruled by an hereditary nobility of the Quechue tribe, known as the Inca, which by their prowess had dominated the central Andean cordillera, instilling in their conquered tribes a cult of sun worship, from whom they claimed the derived their divine origin.
…recorded of their rulers:
The Inca of the eleven ayllu [clans of the dead emperors] never laboured for any one, for they were served by the Indians of all Peru…and they were lords who commanded all others…for none of their caste and tribe, poor or rich, nor any other who was a descendant of the Incas of the eleven ayllu were servitors in any manner, for they were served in all the four provinces of this realm…their sole office being to assist in the court of the Inca [emperor] where he resided, to eat and walk and to accompany him, and to discharge his commissions in war and peace, and to inspect the lands as a great lord with their many servants…
Of the epicenter of Tiahuanacu, the Spaniards interviewed at that time:
“recorded the existence in their legends of white-bearded gods, known to them as Viracocha, and because of which they had first believed the conquistadors to have themselves been gods.”
Pedro de Cieza de Leon recalled:
“that when he had visited the ruins at Tiahuanacu he asked the Indians there whether the lake city had been built during the time of the Incas, ‘but that they had laughed at him, saying they had been told by their forbears it had been constructed overnight from one day to the other, and that they had seen bearded white men on one of the islands of Titicaca. The Spanish missionaries were to capitalize on the legend by equating Viracocha, also known as Thunupa, with a bearded Andean Christ, and even St Thomas, the apostle of India: an iconography still evident in the colonial mestizo church carvings and paintings of the Cuzco and Titicaca region. The myth of the white man was also evident in the northern Andean region of Chachapoyas, whose tribesmen various chroniclers recorded were as white as any Spaniard, and which may possibly prove a far earlier connection between Andean America and the Caucasian world.”
In a section titled ‘The Killing of The Great Turkey Cock’ with a discussion of Inca Atahualpha and the war between his half brother Emperor Hascar along with the first sightings of the white ones (Spaniards), the author notes:
“The arrival of the white-skinned, bearded strangers had been heralded by various portents the shaman of the imperil court had interpreted as announcing the fall of Tahuantinsuyo: an eagle had been seen being attacked by condors above the main square of Cuzco; comets were sighted across the Andes; and a blood-red circle had been witnessed enveloping the moon…”
The discussion evolves as to the possibilities of why the Spaniards were allowed to settle in the first place on the coast and then move inward. The author states that:
“Atahualpha’s reaction towards the Spaniards, other than curiosity, was more probably based on his desire to avoid their alliance with the armies of his brother, by then in retreat, and may well have been the reason he sent them guilds to lead them to the township of Cajamarca, where he could see them for himself, and where he had halted his triumphal progress to Cuzco. His scouts and messengers, moreover, would have informed him of every detail of the Spaniards and of their movements: from their constant inquiries and search for gold, to the mortality of their horses and number of camp woman and porters who accompanied them, among them the Isthmain and Negro slaves, their foreheads branded with the letter R, for rey, king, the mark of their bondage to the Spanish emperor. He would also have been informed of their rape of some 500 mamacuna virgins of the sun temple, who the Spaniards had rounded up in the main square of the township of Cajas, north of Cajamerca.”
As for Pizarro, he had a contingent, the author states, of 168 volunteers, with a priest (Dominican Vicente de Valverde appointed by the Crown) that made their eight week journey up into the Andeas passes to Cajamarca to the confrontation “
that would decide the future course of Andean American history…”
Through the initial meeting with Atahualpa in this above region, Pizarro and his men had his encounter with Atahualpa and dictated his rank through an interpreter to Atahualpa. In the end though, after some demonstrations by Atahualpa, he was captured and this, as the author explains would;
“virtually paralyse his {Atahualpa} empire, denigrating him in the eyes of his subjects to the level of his brother the Emperor Huacar, whose public humiliation and torture was witnessed at Cuzco.…”
This capture of Atahualpa also served Pizarro in that promises were made in exchange for tributes of silver, whereby Atahualpa had said, “that he would summon ten thousand Indians and that they would fill a chamber with silver
*, and that all this would give him if he freed him.” He held him for five months to secure the survival of himself and men while 100,000 warriors lay in the distance, never attacking as;
“Their reluctance to attack the Spaniards was due solely to their desire to prevent Atahualpa being killed, and because of which they were to comply with his orders for gathering of the tribute.”
Remember, Pizarro and his contingent only comprised of 168 men, and who were said to have “urinated in their armor” when first encountering Atahualpa and some of his warriors.
*Authors note: Silver – the Spanish word
plata, silver, also meant treasure or money, as it still does to this day in certain Andean regions.
After these five months, Almagro (originally with Pizarro) who had marched for twelve weeks, entered the valley of the region on Cajamarca (date April 14th, 1533). With all the tributes in hand, Pizarro refused to share these equally with Almargo – hostilities, as can be envisioned, erupted between them – ultimately resulting in both the deaths of Pizarro and Almargo and a squabble for the title of ‘first conquerors’ of the lands. Of Mansio, he would go back and forth between groups and face immanent death amass wealth in the process.
Of the tributes:
“Deposited in its square, the thousands of gold and silver artifacts were taken to a chamber, of some 22 ft in length and 17 ft in width, which would eventually be filled with gold to a height of 8 ft, and filled twice over in its entirety with silver.”
Stirling continues:
Some four weeks after Alagro’s reinforcements had reached Cajamarca, Pizarro ordered the smelting of what had been accumulated of the tribute, in nine separate forges. For seven days and nights 11 tons of gold and silver artifacts were fed into the furnaces, yielding some 13,420 lbs of 22,5 carat gold in ingots and 26,000 lbs in silver…[followed by a returning caravan from Cuzco} bringing some of the 700 sheets of gold which had been stripped from the Temple of Coricancha.”
The author states that a month later that Hernando Pizarro departed for the Isthmus, “taking with him the Crown’s share of the Inca’s tribute –
the Royal Fifth – of some 100,000 pesos of gold and various artifacts, among them a life size gold statue of a boy…The distribution of the tribute treasure would take a whole month to complete. A document, signed by Pizarror, recorded that the full amount of the treasure smelted at Camjamarca amounted to 1,326,539 pesos of gold and 51,610 marks of silver. Neither of these figures would include the gold and silver artifacts and jewels that the Spaniards took as personal booty, nor Atahualpa’s gold throne litter which Pizarro appropriated for himself.”
All this is only a part of it all. Much more was dived up among themselves and other regions later that were stripped or mined as they were encountered.
The author makes mention that most of the booty divided up was gambled away in their encampments and in “reckless” spending i.e. “a jug of wine cost 60 pesos of gold…
a glove of garlic: ½ pesos…{in gold presumably}”
Eight months later Atahualpa (July 26th, 1533), manacled in chains, was brought out of the prison into the towns square and tied to a stake – “urged to accept baptism” - he did not respond. The priest, misinterpreting Atahualpa cries, baptized him anyway – meaning not to be burnt alive.
The author states that the “events at Cajamarca were recorded by eight Conquistadors. They were men neither schooled as historians nor possessed of any literary pretensions, but who were among the few volunteers able to read and write.”
People like Pedro Pizarro (who was at Cajamarca when Atahualpa was captured), left for Spain (with his spoils) and came back. His manuscript was not discovered in the library until 1934 (Royal Palace in Madrid).
This has been just a scratch of what this book contains; from the personages themselves, different regions, countries and the cities and towns that were visited. The lineages of both the Spaniards and Inca are well brought together as was, as discussed earlier, the chroniclers – who, when, what was said. Of the lineages, many offspring of the Inca families (such as the emperors lines) were taken over by people like Leguizamon, to either help shield them or to create new family lines of offspring, who generically, since many left for Spain, also make up part of the fabric of Spain etc. today. The account also discusses the diseases brought over, such as smallpox and the great spreading of syphilis and other diseases.
The start of this post sees the quote from de Leguizamon's address to King Philip II (Sept 18, 1589) in short form, here is the expanded version for better reading with the last many pages excluded due to subjects nature:
“…I, the Captain Mansio Serra de Leguizamon, resident of this great city of Cuzco, capital of these kingdoms of Peru, and the first who entered it in the time of the conquest: being as I am, infirm and bedridden yet of sound mind, judgment and memory, and fearful of death as is natural, and which comes when one least expects it, authorize and let it be known that I make this my last will and testament of my own free volition, listing its legacies and codicils in the following order:
Firstly, for the peace of my soul and before beginning my testament I declare that for many years now I have desired to address the Catholic Majesty of Don Felipe, our lord, knowing how Catholic and Most Christian he is, and zealous for the service of God, Our Lord, seeing that I took part in the name of the Crown in the discovery, conquest and settlement of these kingdoms when we deprived those who were the lords Incas, who had ruled them as their own. And it should be known to His Most Catholic Majesty that we found these realms in such order that there was not a thief, nor a vicious man, nor an adulteress, nor were there fallen woman admitted among them, nor were they an immoral people, being content and honest in their labour. And that their lands, forests, mines, pastures, dwellings and all kinds of produce were regulated and distributed among them in such a manner that each person possessed his own property without any other seizing or occupying it. And that nor were law suits known in respect of such things, and that neither their wars, of which there were many, interfered with the commerce and agriculture of their people. All things, from the greatest to the smallest, had their place in order. And that the Incas were feared, obeyed and respected by their subjects as being very capable and skilled in their rule, as we were to dispossess them of their authority in order to subjugate them in service of God, Our Lord, and take from them their lands and place them under the protection of Your Crown, it was necessary to derive them entirely of any command over their goods and land which we seized by force of arms. And as God, Our Lord, had permitted this, it was possible to subjugate this kingdom of so great a multitude of people and riches, even though we Spaniards were so few in number, and to make their lords our servants and subjects, as is known.
I wish Your Catholic Majesty to understand the motive that moves me to make this statement is the peace of my conscience and because of the guilt I share. For we have destroyed by our evil behavior such a government as was enjoyed by these natives. They were so free from the committal of crimes and exorbitance, both men and women, that the Indian who possessed one hundred thousand pesos worth of gold or silver in his house left it open by merely placing a small stick across the door, as a sign he was out. And according to their custom no one could enter nor take anything that was there. And when they saw we put locks and keys on our doors they imagined it was from fear of them that they might kill us, but not because they believed anyone would steal the property of another. So that when the discovered we had thieves among us, and men who sought to force their wives and daughters to commit sin with them, they despised us. But now they have come to such a pass in offense of God, owing to the bad example we have set them in all things, that these natives from from doing no evil have changed into people who now do no good, or very little; something which must touch Your Majesty’s conscience as it does mine, as one of the first conquistadors and discoverers, and something that requires to be remedied. For now those who were once obeyed as kings and lords of these realms, as Incas with power and riches, have fallen to such poverty and necessity that they are the poorest of this kingdom and forced to perform the lowest and most menial of tasks, as porters of our goods and servants of our houses and sweepers of our streets. And in accordance with the Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo’s order, exempting them from such service if they acquired a trade, some of them are now shoe makers and work in similar such lowly occupations. And because many such tings are permitted it is necessary for Your Majesty to be made aware of this for the sake of his conscience, and of the conscience of those who are guilty of such offenses, I inform Your Majesty that there is no more I can do to alleviate these injustices other than by my words, in which I beg God to pardon me, for I am moved to say this, seeing that I am the last to die of the conquistadors and discoverers, as is well known, and that there is no one left but myself, in this kingdom or out of it. And now I have unburdened my Conscience of this, I declare and order my will and testament in the following order:
{last section of the letter is on…bequeathing, orders, giving masses, burial, debts, comments about doctors, lawyers (who he owes or is owed money to), cattle, pesos, gold, silver, family (pleading for his legitimate children), lands and estates, objects etc….}
