[XXI‑27] Corn sold at the exorbitant price of four tostones a fanega, and bands of men and women went about the country seeking work sufficient to enable them to obtain food. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 641, 645.
[XXI‑28] Private residences, and churches, and convents, were greatly damaged; many Indians were buried under the ruins of their houses, and the inhabitants were compelled to live in temporary shelters or in the open air, while constant prayers were offered to appease the divine wrath. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 647; Juarros, Guat., i. 88; ii. 353.
[XXI‑29] Minutes of Cabildo, Jan. 29, 1580, quoted by Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 559-60.
[XXI‑30] At this time Francisco del Valle Marroquin was acting as procurator at court for the city of Guatemala. In a letter dated Feb. 20, 1564, he informed the cabildo that the transfer of the audiencia had already been determined upon, and about a month later wrote that in consequence of the dissatisfaction with which the procurator from Peru had left the court, the council deemed it a favorable opportunity to transfer the audiencia. Marroquin, Cartas, cited in Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 164-6. In 1563 the audiencia of Quito was established. Décadas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., viii. 35. The foregoing facts would appear to imply that the transfer of the audiencia had some connection with political changes in Peru. Whatever were the motives of the crown for this measure, they were too urgent to be effected by the powerful influence brought to bear against this change, which is indicated by the letters of Marroquin.
[XXI‑31] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646, gives May 17, 1564, as the date of the first decree, and Juarros, Guat., ii. 49, Sept. 17, 1563. The dates here adopted are those given in Panamá, Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 531-2.
[XXI‑32] Marroquin, Carta, Feb. 20, loc. cit., and Panamá, Reales Cédulas, loc. cit.
[XXI‑33] Cabildo, Cartas, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 37-40; Panamá, Cédulas Reales. loc. cit.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 646-7. Juarros, Guat., i. 259-60, says Oidor Loaisa conveyed the seal.
[XXI‑34] Cabildo, Carta, March 12, 1570, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 43-4, mentions the audiencia as already in Santiago. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 657-8 bis, says that Gonzalez was appointed June 28, 1568, but that he found decrees of September 27, 1567, and March 3, 1568, addressed to the audiencia of Guatemala. According to this same author the audiencia arrived on the 5th of January 1570. Juarros, Guat., i. 260; ii. 50, gives June 28, 1568, and Jan. 25, 1569, as the dates of the decrees ordering the removal of the audiencia, and in the dates of the appointment of Gonzalez and the arrival of the audiencia at Santiago follows Remesal.
[XXI‑35] Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 169. See also Juarros, Guat., ii. 50; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 658 bis. The oidores composing the audiencia were the licentiates, Jufre de Loaisa, Valdés de Carcamo, and Cristóbal Asqueta. See last two authorities cited.
[XXI‑36] Carta, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 44-5. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 659, says that he was honorably acquitted and returned to Spain, in which he is followed by Juarros, Guat., i. 260. Escamilla, Not. Cur., MS., says Brizeño went to Santa Fe de Bogotá as president of that audiencia.