The War of Chupas

by Pedro de Cieza de León

[140] Assassins of the Marquis.

[141] Also Pedro de San Millán and Francisco Coronado.

[142] Cieza de León had already told us that the elder Almagro was strangled in his prison. But his body was publicly beheaded.

[143] Not so old, if he was born at Panamá. That city was only founded in 1520, and Almagro came there some years later. He was not more than nineteen.

[144] The story of Diego de Almagro is very interesting, and exceedingly pathetic. It is interesting because this lad was the first mestizo or half caste distinguished for ability, nobility of conduct, and bearing. There have been many since.

Young Diego was born at Panamá. He was the son of an Indian servant girl who went by the name of Ana Martínez. Panamá was founded late in 1519. The elder Almagro did not settle there until after Espinosa's expedition, two or three years later than the founding of the city. Being the lad's father, his birth probably took place in 1522 or 1523.

The lad is said to have been well "endoctrinated," so he no doubt learnt to read and write, and to repeat the usual invocations and prayers of the period. When Martín de Alcántara came to Panamá on his way to join his half brother Francisco Pizarro in Peru, he met the young lad Diego, and very kindly took charge of him, to join his father. This was in 1535 when the lad was twelve or thirteen. At Lima Alcántara took young Diego to his house and treated him as one of his own children, until a way of sending him to his father (then engaged on his Chilean expedition) could be found. At last a servant named Juan de Herrada was engaged, who had come to Peru with Pedro de Alvarado. He also took the royal patent appointing the Adelantado Almagro to be Governor of a province to the south, to be called New Toledo. Pizarro's province, to be called New Castille, was the northern half of the Inca Empire, and the boundary was to be fixed by an arbitrator appointed by the King. Almagro did not wait for an arbitrator, but immediately marched north to settle the boundary himself, declaring Cuzco, and even Lima, to belong to him. This was the beginning of civil dissension in the Realm.

Young Diego must have had a very good time, with all the marching and adventure and none of the responsibility. Doted upon by his father, liked and made much of by the Adelantado's old captains, some of them men of good family and position, he acquired habits of breeding and self-respect. When his father was on the coast, young Diego was proposed as a hostage by the Judge-Arbitrator Bobadilla. Again when Almagro released Hernando Pizarro, his son was sent with the escort to the Governor's camp and received presents. These are the first occasions when he appears in history.

Diego was too young to take part in the battle of Las Salinas, and he does not appear to have been with his father. But he was at Cuzco, and Hernando Pizarro decided that he should be sent to his brother the Governor and Marquis Don Francisco Pizarro. He went with Alonso de Alvarado, Gómez de Alvarado, and his father's servant Juan de Herrada. They found Francisco Pizarro at Jauja. In interviews with the Marquis the lad entreated him not to put his father to death, and Pizarro assured him that he had no such intention. Young Diego was treated with hospitality, and even distinction, and when he went to Lima with Juan de Herrada, the Marquis sent orders that the lad was to be lodged in his own house, and treated as his son. Then the news came of the execution of the Adelantado Almagro. The son was persuaded by Juan de Herrada that it was done by order of the Marquis, which was quite untrue. The next news was that the royal patent authorized the Adelantado to nominate a successor to the government of New Toledo; and that he had named his son in his will. Herrada, who was the lad's evil genius, filled his mind with ideas of vengeance and ambition. When Pizarro returned to Lima he found young Almagro full of these ideas, and constantly intriguing with Herrada and others. He could no longer have the boy as an inmate of his house.

Herrada had acquired complete influence over young Diego's mind. This man had come to Peru with Pedro de Alvarado; and transferred his services to the elder Almagro, to attend on his son. He was a man of great energy, quick decision, and some power in acquiring influence over others. But here his good qualities ended. He had little ability, no judgment, and no mercy. His one virtue was devotion to Almagro and his son, but he only knew how to show it by an act of brutal vengeance.