The Story of Majorca and Minorca

by Sir Clements R. Markham

On October 15 the fleet entered the port of Pollenza. The rescuers were received with great joy at Alcudia, where the Viceroy proclaimed a general pardon to those who laid down their arms and returned to obedience. Many came in, surrendering under the terms of the proclamation; but others held out. At Palma there was great confusion, the Bishop, Dr. Pont, working incessantly to induce the people to submit.

At Pollenza the insurgents made a desperate resistance and there was great slaughter, no quarter being given. Very few escaped to the mountains. On November 5 the Viceroy, with all the chief officers and three thousand soldiers, left Alcudia and advanced to Puebla, where they only found two labourers and a priest. Other towns were found without inhabitants. At Inca the people came out with their priests to meet the Viceroy, singing a Te Deum. On March 1, 1523, the Viceroy invested Palma with his army. Priamo de Villalonga had held out in the castle of the Templars, then called the Royal Castle, for many months. He was now relieved, and this disastrous insurrection approached its end.

The last act of this melancholy drama was performed and described by young Don Alonzo Enriquez de Guzman in his very entertaining autobiography. He was ordered by the Viceroy of Valencia to take command of five hundred men, and to sail from Murviedro, to reinforce the army that was employed in re-establishing order in Majorca. But the five hundred men refused to embark until they had received their arrears of pay. After a great deal of trouble he at length persuaded them to go on board, and they sailed to join the army in Majorca in nine small vessels. Arriving off Palma at nightfall, Don Alonzo, a young man in his twenty-third year, but with an amount of self-assurance beyond his age, announced the arrival of a very important reinforcement. The report was spread that his force consisted of five thousand men. Captain Crispin, the leader of the rebels, came out of the town with a guard of fifty men and sought speech with Don Alonzo. He besought the young commander to mediate between him and the Viceroy and induce him to consent to a deputation being sent to the Emperor. He proposed that, while the deputies were going and coming, Don Alonzo should remain in the city with thirty men, Crispin promising to deliver the place to whomsoever the King should command.

Don Alonzo, with the approval of the Viceroy, agreed to this and entered the city, the Viceroy’s army being encamped outside. After a month the deputies returned, reporting that the Emperor had listened to them every day for two hours during eight days, and that they were very well satisfied. Nine days afterwards an order came to Don Alonzo from the Emperor, and another from the Viceroy, which were delivered to him through the closed gates. The Emperor instructed him to obey the Viceroy. The order of the Viceroy was that he should seize the person of Crispin and those of the thirteen members of his Council, and open the gates at four o’clock that afternoon, being March 7, 1522. If the people would not let him do so, he was to come out himself.

The orders came to Don Alonzo at ten in the forenoon. He at once proceeded to the Plaza de Cort, where he found Crispin with his guards and five of his councillors. He told them that he had received orders to deliver up the city to Don Miguel de Urrea, the Viceroy, and expressed a hope that they would keep faith and give evidence to the Emperor that they were honest men. Crispin replied that he would be the first to obey the orders of his Majesty. The rest all said the same.

Don Alonzo then went to dinner in the Almudaina, and each man departed to his own house. After dinner he called an assembly, ordering no one to bring his arms. Then, with many kind words, he put Crispin and all his councillors in irons. This manœuvre having been safely accomplished, he formed processions, with all the women and children barefooted on one side and all the men barefooted on the other, and made them go to the gates and open them, with loud cries for mercy. The Viceroy and Don Juan de Velasco entered at the head of their troops, Don Alonzo meeting them with the keys of the city, and saying: ‘The gates are now open, and the desires of the people are turned to serve the King and your Lordship. They seek for pardon.’

The Viceroy did not answer. He entered the city and executed what he called justice. Crispin was cut into four quarters, as were all his thirteen councillors. The number of persons who were hanged and quartered was 420.

Such is the account of the surrender of Palma given by an eyewitness and actor in the sanguinary drama.[22] One side seems to have been every bit as bloodthirsty as the other. Time alone could heal the wounds. Don Alonzo was sent to Iviça with his five hundred men, where he did good service against Barbarossa and his pirates.

From the first rising to the restoration of order, the troubles had lasted for more than two years.

Don Miguel de Gurrea or Urrea, the Viceroy, who had shown so much prudence at the commencement when he was powerless, and so much courage as soon as he had troops at his disposal, sent the keys of the kingdom to the Emperor. Keys finely worked in gold were sent in their place, which the descendants of Gurrea preserve to this day. Alcudia received the title of ‘the most faithful city.’