I beseech all learned and benevolent men to look upon my work with justice, for they know that the malice and murmuring of the ignorant and stupid are such that they never fail to find fault. Thus it is that many, fearing the rabid envy of these scorpions, consider it better to be called cowards than to allow their works to see the light.
But I will not desist from my intention, valuing more the favour of the few and learned, than caring for the evil which the many foolish readers may bring upon me.
I also wrote this work that those, who learn from it the great services which many noble knights and youths have done for the royal crown of Spain, may be led to emulate their examples; and, at the same time, by noting how others committed treasons, robberies, and other evil deeds, and suffered famous punishments for them, that they may profit by these examples, and loyally serve their natural king and lord.
For the reasons which I have now set forth, I undertook the present work, for the better understanding of which I have divided it into four parts, in the following manner.
The first part treats of the division of the provinces of Peru, as well towards the sea as inland, with the longitudes and latitudes. It contains a description of all these provinces, an account of the new cities founded by the Spaniards, with the names of the founders, and the time when they were founded; an account of the ancient rites and customs of the native Indians, and other strange things very different from those of our country, which are worthy of note.[120]
In the second part, I shall treat of the government of the Yucas Yupanquis, who were the ancient kings of Peru, and of their great deeds and policy, how many of them there were, and their names. I shall describe the superb and magnificent temples which they built, the roads of wonderful size which they made, and other great things that were found in this kingdom. I shall also give an account in this book of what the Indians say concerning the deluge, and how the Yncas magnify the grandeur of their origin.
In the third part I shall relate the discovery and conquest of this great kingdom of Peru, and the constancy of the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro; the hardships suffered by the Christians when thirteen of them with the same Marquis (God permitting) discovered the country; how the said Don Francisco Pizarro was nominated governor by his Majesty, and entered Peru; and how, with one hundred and sixty Spaniards, he captured Atahualpa. In this third part I shall also treat of the arrival of the Adelantado Don Pedro de Alvarado, and of the agreement made between him and the governor Don Francisco Pizarro. I shall, in like manner, give an account of the notable things which happened in various parts of this kingdom, of the rebellion of the Indians, and of the causes which led to it; of the cruel and perfidious war that the same Indians waged against the Spaniards who were in the great city of Cuzco, and of the death of some Spanish and Indian captains. This third part will end with the return of the Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro from Chile, and his entry into the city of Cuzco by force of arms, the captain Hernando Pizarro, Knight of the order of Santiago, being there as chief justice.
The fourth part is more important than the three which precede it. It will be divided into five books, and will be entitled “The Civil Wars of Peru:” in which will be related stranger things than ever passed before in any other part of the world, among so small a number of people of the same nation.
The first book of these civil wars treats of the war of Las Salinas, and gives an account of the imprisonment of the captain Don Hernando Pizarro by the Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro; it relates how the city of Cuzco was made to receive Almagro as governor, and the causes of the war between the governors Pizarro and Almagro. It describes the treaties and interviews between them until the dispute was placed in the hands of an umpire, the oaths they each took, and the commissions and letters they each had received from his Majesty; the sentence that was given, the return of the Adelantado to Cuzco, and how, with great fury and enmity, he fought the battle of Las Salinas, which is half a league from Cuzco. It relates also the march of the captain Lorenzo de Aldana to the provinces of Quito and Popayan, and the discoveries of the captains Gonzalo Pizarro, Pedro de Candia, Alonzo de Alvarado, and others. I conclude with the return of Hernando Pizarro to Spain.
The second book is called “The War of Chupas.” It will treat of several discoveries and conquests; of the conspiracy of the men of Chile in the City of the Kings to kill the Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro, and of his death. It will then relate how Don Diego de Almagro, son of the Adelantado, was received as governor by the greater part of the kingdom; how the captain Alonzo de Alvarado, who was captain and chief justice of his Majesty for the Marquis Pizarro in Chachapoyas, rose against him, and how Pero Alvarez, Holguin, Gomez de Tordoya, and others, did the same in Cuzco; how the licentiate Christoval Vaca de Castro arrived from Spain as governor, and how there was discord among the men of Chile. I shall relate how, after some of the captains had killed each other, the cruel battle of Chupas was fought near Guamanga, and how the governor Vaca de Castro went to Cuzco and cut off the head of the youth Don Diego. This will conclude the second book.