The
following translation is by Tom Holloway, History, Cornell University, from the
version published in A. Arellano Moreno (org.), Documentos para la Historia
economic de Venezuela, (Caracas: Univ. Central, 1961).
Letter
from Lope de Aguirre, rebel, to King Philip of Spain, 1561
To King
Philip, the Spaniard, son of Charles the Invincible:
From Lope
de Aguirre, your lesser vassal, old Christian, of middling parents but
fortunately of noble blood, native of the Basque country of the kingdom of
Spain, citizen of the town of Onate.
In my
youth I crossed the sea to the land of Peru to gain fame, lance in hand, and to
fulfill the obligation of all good men.In 24 years I have done you great
service in Peru, in conquests of the Indians, in founding towns, and especially
in battles and encounters fought in your name, always to the best of my power and
ability, without requesting of your officials pay nor assistance, as can be
seen in your royal records.
I firmly
believe, most excellent King and lord, that to me and my companions you have
been nothing but cruel and ungrateful.I also believe that those who write to
you from this land deceive you, because of the great distance.
I demand
of you, King, that you do justice and right by the good vassals you have in
this land, even though I and my companions (whose names I will give later),
unable to suffer further the cruelties of your judges, viceroy, and governors,
have resolved to obey you no longer. Denaturalizing ourselves from our land,
Spain, we make the most cruel war against you that our power can sustain and
endure.Believe, King and lord, we have done this because we can no longer
tolerate the great oppression and unjust punishments of your ministers who, to
make places for their sons and dependents have usurped and robbed our fame,
life, and honor.It is a pity, King, the bad treatment you have given us.
I am lame
in the right leg from the arquebus wounds I received in the battle of
Chuquinga, fighting with marshall Alonzo de Alvarado, answering your call
against Francisco Hernandez Giron, rebel from your service as I and my
companions are presently and will be until death, because we in this land now
know how cruel you are, how you break your faith and your word, and thus we in
this land give your promises less credence than to the books of Martin Luther.
Your
viceroy the marquis of Canete hanged Martin de Robles, a man distinguished in
your service; and the brave Tomas Vasquez, conquistador of Peru; and the ill
fated Alonso Dias, who worked more in the discoveries of this kingdom than the
scouts of Moses in the desert; and Piedrahita, a good captain who fought many
battles in your service.In Pucara they gave you victory, and if they had not,
Francisco Hernandez would now be the king of Peru.Don't give much credence to
the claims your judges make of services performed, because it is a great myth,
unless they call having spent 800,000 pesos of your royal treasury for their
vices and evil deeds, a service.Punish them as evildoers, as such they
certainly are.
Look
here, King of Spain!Do not be cruel and ungrateful to your vassals, because
while your father and you stayed in Spain without the slightest bother, your
vassals, at the price of their blood and fortune, have given you all the
kingdoms and holding you have in these parts. Beware, King and lord, that you
cannot take, under the title of legitimate king, any benefit from this land
where you risked nothing, without first giving due gratification to those who
have labored and sweated in it.
I am
certain there are few kings in hell because there are few kings, but if there
were many none would go to heaven.Even in hell you would be worse than Lucifer,
because you all thirst after human blood.But I don't marvel nor make much of
you.For certain, I and my 200 arquebus-bearing maranones, conquistadores and
noble, swear solemnly to God that we will not leave a minister of yours alive,
because I already know how far your clemency reaches.Today we consider
ourselves the luckiest men alive, because we are in these parts of the Indies,
with faith in God's commandments full and uncorrupted as Christians,
maintaining all that is preached by the holy mother church of Rome, and we
intend, though sinners in life, to achieve martyrdom through God's
commandments.
Upon
leaving the Amazon river, called the Maranon, on an island inhabited by
Christians called Margarita, I saw some reports from Spain regarding the great
schism of Lutherans there, which caused us to be frightened and surprised.In
our company there was a German named Monteverde, and I ordered him cut to
pieces.Destiny rewards the prudent. Believe this, excellent Prince:Wherever we
are we ensure that all live perfectly in the Christian faith.
The
dissolution of the priests is so great in these parts that I think it would be
well that they feel your wrath and punishment, because there is now none among
them who sees himself as less than governor.Look here, King, do not believe
what they might tell you, because the tears that they shed before your royal
person is so that they can come here to command.If you want to know the life
they lead here, it is to deal in merchandise, seek and acquire temporal goods,
and sell the Sacraments of the Church for a price.They are enemies of the poor,
uncharitable, ambitious, gluttonous, and arrogant, so that even the lowest of
the priests tries to command and govern all these lands.Correct this, King and
lord, because from these things and bad examples faith is not impressed upon
the natives.Furthermore, if this dissolution of the priests is not stopped,
there will be no shortage of scandal.
If I and
my companions, by the correct position we have taken, are determined to die,
for this and for other things that have happened, singular King, you are to
blame, for not duly considering the labor of your vassals and for not thinking
of what you owe them.If you do not look out for your vassals, and your judges
do not take care of this, you certainly will fail in government.Certainly there
is no need to present witnesses, but simply to point out that each of your
judges has 4,000 pesos of salary, 8,000 pesos in expenses, and after three
years in office each has 60,000 pesos saved, along with properties and
possessions!Despite all this we would be willing to serve them as we do, except
that for our sins they want us to drop to our knees wherever we are and worship
them like Nebuchadnezzar.This is insufferable.Just because I am an unfortunate
man made lame in your service (and my companions long and weary in the same) I
should not fail to advise you never to trust your conscience to these learned
persons.It is in your royal interest to watch out for them, as they spend all
their time planning the marriages of their children, and care for nothing
else.The common refrain among them is:"To the left and to the right, I
possess all in my sight."
The
friars do not want to bury poor Indians, and they are lodged in the best
estates in Peru.The life they lead is bitter and burdensome, as each one has as
a penance a dozen young women in his kitchen, and as many boys engaged in
fishing, hunting partridges, and bringing fruit!They get a share of
everything.In Christian faith I swear, King and lord, that if you do not remedy
the evils of this land, divine punishment will come upon you.I tell you this to
let you know the truth, even though I and mine neither expect nor want mercy
from you.
Oh, how
sad that a great Caesar and Emperor, your father, should conquer with the power
of Spain the great Germany, and should spend so much money from these Indies
discovered by us, and that you should not concern yourself with our old age and
weariness enough to provide for our daily bread.
You know
that we know in these parts, excellent King and lord, that you conquered
Germany with arms, and Germany has conquered Spain with vices.We over here are
happier with just corn and water, to be removed from such a bad irony,Let those
who suffer such an irony keep their reward.Let wars spread where they may, and
where men take them.Never, no matter what adversity might come upon us, will we
cease to be subject to the teachings of the Holy Mother Church of Rome.
We cannot
believe, excellent King and lord, that you would be so cruel to such good
vassals as you have in these parts.Your judges must be acting this way without
your consent.I say this, excellent King, because two leagues from the city of
Kings [Lima], there was discovered near the sea a lake where there were some
fish God permitted to exist there.Your evil judges and officials, to profit
from the fish for their pleasures and vices, leased them in your name, giving
us to understand, as though we were fools, that this was done by your will.If
this is so, master, let us catch some of the fish, because we worked to
discover it, and because the King of Castile has no need for the 400 pesos they
leased it for. Illustrious King, we do not ask for grants in Cordoba or
Valladolid, nor in any part of Spain, which is your patrimony.Deign to feed the
weary and poor with the fruits and proceeds from this land.Remember, King and
lord, that God is the same for all, and the same justice, reward, heaven, and
hell.
In the
year 1559 the marquis of Canete entrusted the expedition of the river of the
Amazons to Pedro de Ursua, Navarrese, or rather, a Frenchman.He delayed the
building of the boats until the year 1560 in the province of the Motilones, in
Peru.The Indians are called Motilones because they wear their head shaved.These
boats were made in the wet country, and upon launching most of them came to
pieces.We made rafts, left the horses and supplies, and took off down the river
at great risk to our persons.We then encountered the most powerful rivers of
Peru, and it seemed to us to be a fresh water sea.We traveled 300 leagues from
the point of launching.
This bad
governor was so perverse and vicious and miserable that we could not tolerate
it, and it was impossible to put up with his evil ways. Since I have a stake in
the matter, excellent King and lord, I will say only that we killed him;
certainly a very serious thing.We then raised a young gentleman of Seville
named Don Fernando de Guzman to be our king, and we made an oath to him as
such, as your royal person will see from the signatures of all those who were
in this, who remain in the island of Margarita, in these Indies.They appointed
me their field commander, and because I did not consent to their insults and
evil deeds they tried to kill me, and I killed the new king, the captain of his
guard, the lieutenant-general, his majordomo, his chaplain, a woman in league
against me, a knight of Rhodes, an admiral, two ensigns, and six other of his
allies.It wasmy intention to carry this war through and die in it, for the
cruelties your ministers practice on us, and I again appointed captains and a
sergeant major.They tried to kill me, and I hung them all.
We went
along our route down the Maranon river while all these killings and bad events
were taking place.It took us ten and a half months to reach the mouth of the
river, where it enters the sea.We traveled a good hundred days, and traveled
1,500 leagues.It is a large and fearsome river, with 80 leagues of fresh water
at the mouth.It is very deep, and for 800 leagues along its banks it is
deserted, with no towns, as your majesty will see from the true report we have
made.Along the route we took there are more than 6,000 islands.God only knows
how we escaped from such a fearsome lake!I advise you, King and lord, not to
attempt nor allow a fleet to be sent to this ill-fated river, because in
Christian faith I swear, King and lord, that if a hundred thousand men come
none will escape, because the stories are false and in this river there is
nothing but despair, especially for those newly arrive from Spain.
The
captains and officers with me at present, and who promise to die in this demand
like pitiful men are:Juan Jeronimo de Espinola Ginoves, admiral; Juan Gomez,
Cristobal Garcia, captain of infantry, both Andaluz; mounted captain Diego
Tirado, Andaluz, from whom your judges, King and lord, with great injury, took
Indians he had earned with his lance; captain of my guard Roberto de Sosaya and
his ensign Nuflo Hernandez, Valencian; Juan Lopez de Ayala, from Cuenca, our
paymaster; general ensign Blas Gutierrez, conquistador for 27 years; Juan
Ponce, ensign, native of Seville; Custodio Hernandez, ensign, Portuguese; Diego
de Torres, ensign, Navarre; sergeant Pedro Gutierrez Viso and Diego de
Figueroa; Cristobal de Rivas, conquistador, Pedro de Rojas, Andaluz; Juan de
Saucedo, mounted ensign; Bartolome Sanchez Paniagua, our lawyer; Diego Sanchez
Bilbao, supply; Garcia Navarro, inspector general, and many other hidalgos of
this league.We pray to God our Lord that your fortune ever be increased against
the Turk and the Frenchman, and all others who wish to make war on you in those
parts.In these, God grant that we might obtain with our arms the reward by
right due us, but which you have denied.
Son of
your loyal Basque vassals, and I, rebel until death against you for your
ingratitude.
Lope de
Aguirre, the Wanderer
