Hernando Pizarro wrote a letter to the royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, which goes over the same ground as the narratives of Xeres and Astete, but is of course much briefer. It is peculiarly valuable as containing the observations of the man of highest rank in the expedition who was able to write.[1495] The letter is dated November, 1533, and was written on his way to Spain with the treasure. Oviedo gives it in his Historic General,[1496] and it is printed by Quintana in his Vidas de Españoles celebres.[1497] It was translated into English by Clements R. Markham, C. B., and printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1872 in the volume of Reports on the Discovery of Peru.
Pedro Sancho, the notary, wrote a note of the distribution of the ransom of Atahualpa, with a list of the conquerors and the amount each received. It is contained in the inedited work of Francisco Lopez de Caravantes, and was reprinted by Quintana in his Vidas de Españoles celebres. An English translation by Clements R. Markham, C. B., was printed for the Hakluyt Society in 1872, in the volume already cited. See also Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 414, for an Italian version, in which form it was used by Robertson and Prescott.[1498]
Vicente de Valverde, the Dominican friar who accompanied Pizarro in the conquest of Peru and took part in the imprisonment and murder of Atahualpa, was made bishop of Cusco in 1536. On his way to Spain, in 1541, he landed on the island of Puna, in the Bay of Guayaquil, was seized by the natives, and put to death with his brother-in-law and twenty-six other Spaniards. He wrote a detailed Carta-relacion on the affairs of Peru, which is still inedited. He also addressed letters to the emperor Charles V., which contain original information of great value. A copy of one, dated Cusco, April 2, 1539, was among Sir Thomas Phillipps’s collection of manuscripts. It is frequently quoted by Helps.
Pedro Pizarro, a cousin of the conqueror, went out as his page in 1530, when only fifteen. He was an eye-witness of all the events of the Conquest, and of the subsequent civil wars, having retired to Arequipa after the assassination of his patron. Here he probably wrote his Relaciones del Descubrimiento y Conquista de los Reynos del Peru, finished in 1571. It is a plain, unadorned statement of facts, but of the highest value as an authority. It remained in manuscript for centuries, but was at length printed in the Coleccion de documentos inéditos para la historia de Espana, v. 201-388.[1499]
The death-struggle between the Pizarros and the old marshal Almagro is fully told in the above general histories; but light is also thrown upon the story from other directions. Among the manuscripts in the National Library at Madrid[1500] there is an autobiography by a young scapegrace of noble birth named Alonzo Enriquez de Guzman, comprising a period from 1518 to 1543, from his nineteenth to his forty-fourth year. The early part reminds one of the adventures of Gil Blas; but in 1534 he went to Peru, and was a principal actor in the events which took place between the departure of Almagro for Chili in 1535 and his execution in 1538. Don Alonzo seems to have quarrelled with Hernando Pizarro during the siege of Cusco, and warmly espoused the cause of Almagro, who made him one of his executors. The latter portion of the autobiography, including a long letter to the emperor on the conduct of Hernando Pizarro, is very interesting, while the frankness of Don Alonzo’s confessions as regards his own motives is most entertaining. The Life and Acts of Don Alonzo Enriquez de Guzman was translated and edited by Clements R. Markham, C. B., and printed by the Hakluyt Society in 1862. It had up to this time escaped notice.
The last years of the marquis Pizarro were occupied in laying out and building the capital of Peru, and we are indebted to the researches of the learned Peruvian, Don Manuel Gonzalez de la Rosa, for having discovered the most detailed account of the founding and early history of Lima among the manuscripts in the Biblioteca Colombina at Seville. The Historia de la Fundacion de Lima was written by the Jesuit Bernabé Cobo between 1610 and 1629, and was first printed under the superintendence of Dr. De la Rosa in the Revista Peruana.[1501]
The story of the murder of Pizarro is told in the general histories, and there are some additional particulars in Montesinos. A very laudatory life of the marquis, which, however, contains the results of original research, is contained in the Varones Ilustres del Nuevo Mundo, by Fernando Pizarro y Orellana (Madrid, 1639). This work also contains Lives of Pizarro’s brothers and of Almagro.[1502]
But by far the best life of Pizarro, both as regards literary merit and conscientious research, is contained in the Vidas de Españoles Celebres by Don Manuel Josef Quintana.[1503] Quintana also gives the texts of the original agreement (1526) between Pizarro, Almagro, and Luque, and of the capitulation (July 26, 1529, at Toledo) between Queen Juana and Pizarro. These documents are also given by Prescott in the Appendix to the second volume of his Conquest of Peru.[1504]
After the assassination of Pizarro, the licentiate Vaca de Castro, having defeated the younger Almagro, succeeded as governor of Peru, and the history of his rule is told in his own letters. The first is to the emperor, reporting his arrival at Santo Domingo, and is very brief. The second, also to the emperor, is from Quito, and announces the assassination of Pizarro and the rebellion of Almagro the lad. The third is addressed to the emperor from Cusco, after the battle of Chupas, and is a straightforward statement of his proceedings. The fourth is a long letter from Cusco to his wife on private affairs. There is also a long letter on the revolt of young Almagro and the battle of Chupas from the municipality of Cusco to the emperor. These letters are included in the great official volume of Cartas de Indias published at Madrid in 1877, pp. 463-521. The Vida y elojio del licenciado Vaca de Castro, Gobernador del Peru, was written by Antonio de Herrera, the chronicler of the Indies.[1505]
A good historian accompanied the ill-fated viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela to Lima. Augustin de Zarate was comptroller of accounts for Castile, and was sent out with the first viceroy to examine into the financial affairs of Peru. He collected notes and materials during his residence at Lima, and began the compilation of a history from the discovery by Pizarro to the departure of Gasca, when he returned to Spain. He had access to the best official sources of information, and his work is not without value; but he was strongly prejudiced, and his style is tedious and inelegant. He assigns as the reason for not having begun his narrative in Peru, that Carbajal had threatened any one who should attempt to record his exploits. In the earlier portions he relied on the testimony of the actors still living; but for the later part he was himself a spectator and actor. He had not intended to publish it in his lifetime; but the commendation of the emperor, to whom it was shown, induced him to depart from his purpose. The original manuscript of Zarate is or was preserved at Simancas; and Muñoz has disclosed how the printed volume differs considerably from it, in suppressing things too frankly stated, and in taking on a literary flavor not in the draft. Muñoz supposed that Florian d’Ocampo performed this critical office in passing the book through the press.[1506] His Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquista de la Provincia del Peru was printed at Antwerp in 1555,[1507] and a folio edition appeared at Seville in 1577;[1508] but the best edition of Zarate is in the Barcia Collection, vol. iii. It was included in 1853 in the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. xxvi.[1509]