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Letter
from Lope de Aguirre,
to King Philip of Spain, 1561
To King Philip, the
Spaniard, son of Charles the Invincible:
From Lope de Aguirre,
your lesser vassal, old Christian, of middling parents
but fortunately of noble blood, native of the Basque
country of the kingdom of Spain, citizen of the town of
Onate.
In my youth I crossed the sea to the land
of Peru to gain fame, lance in hand, and to fulfil the
obligation of all good men. In 24 years I have done you
great service in Peru, in conquests of the Indians, in
founding towns, and especially in battles and encounters
fought in your name, always to the best of my power and
ability, without requesting of your officials pay nor
assistance, as can be seen in your royal records.
I firmly believe, most excellent King and
lord, that to me and my companions you have been nothing
but cruel and ungrateful. I also believe that those who
write to you from this land deceive you, because of the
great distance.
I demand of you, King, that you do
justice and right by the good vassals you have in this
land, even though I and my companions (whose names I will
give later), unable to suffer further the cruelties of
your judges, viceroy, and governors, have resolved to
obey you no longer. Denaturalising ourselves from our
land, Spain, we make the most cruel war against you that
our power can sustain and endure. Believe, King and lord,
we have done this because we can no longer tolerate the
great oppression and unjust punishments of your ministers
who, to make places for their sons and dependants have
usurped and robbed our fame, life, and honour. It is a
pity, King, the bad treatment you have given us. I am
lame in the right leg from the arquebus wounds I received
in the battle of Chuquinga, fighting with Marshall Alonzo
de Alvarado, answering your call against Francisco
Hernandez Giron, rebel from your service as I and my
companions are presently and will be until death, because
we in this land now know how cruel you are, how you break
your faith and your word, and thus we in this land give
your promises less credence than to the books of Martin
Luther.
Your viceroy the Marquis of Cu±ete
hanged Martin de Robles, a man distinguished in your
service; and the brave Tomas Vasquez, conquistador of
Peru; and the ill fated Alonso Dias, who worked more in
the discoveries of this kingdom than the scouts of Moses
in the desert; and Piedrahita, a good captain who fought
many battles in your service. In Pucara they gave you
victory, and if they had not, Francisco Hernandez would
now be the king of Peru. Don't give much credence to the
claims your judges make of services performed, because it
is a great myth, unless they call having spent 800,000
pesos of your royal treasury for their vices and evil
deeds, a service. Punish them as evildoers, as such they
certainly are.
Look here, King of Spain! Do not be cruel
and ungrateful to your vassals, because while your father
and you stayed in Spain without the slightest bother,
your vassals, at the price of their blood and fortune,
have given you all the kingdoms and holding you have in
these parts. Beware, King and lord, that you cannot take,
under the title of legitimate king, any benefit from this
land where you risked nothing, without first giving due
gratification to those who have laboured and sweated in
it.
I am certain there are few kings in hell
because there are few kings, but if there were many none
would go to heaven. Even in hell you would be worse than
Lucifer, because you all thirst after human blood. But I
don't marvel nor make much of you. For certain, I and my
200 arquebus-bearing mara±ones, conquistadors and noble,
swear solemnly to God that we will not leave a minister
of yours alive, because I already know how far your
clemency reaches. Today we consider ourselves the
luckiest men alive, because we are in these parts of the
Indies, with faith in God's commandments full and
uncorrupted as Christians, maintaining all that is
preached by the holy mother church of Rome, and we
intend, though sinners in life, to achieve martyrdom
through God's commandments.
Upon leaving the Amazon river, called the
Mara±≤n, on an island inhabited by Christians called
Margarita, I saw some reports from Spain regarding the
great schism of Lutherans there, which caused us to be
frightened and surprised. In our company there was a
German named Monteverde, and I ordered him cut to pieces.
Destiny rewards the prudent. Believe this, excellent
Prince: Wherever we are we ensure that all live perfectly
in the Christian faith.
The dissolution of the priests is so
great in these parts that I think it would be well that
they feel your wrath and punishment, because there is now
none among them who sees himself as less than governor.
Look here, King, do not believe what they might tell you,
because the tears that they shed before your royal person
is so that they can come here to command. If you want to
know the life they lead here, it is to deal in
merchandise, seek and acquire temporal goods, and sell
the Sacraments of the Church for a price. They are
enemies of the poor, uncharitable, ambitious, gluttonous,
and arrogant, so that even the lowest of the priests
tries to command and govern all these lands. Correct
this, King and lord, because from these things and bad
examples faith is not impressed upon the natives.
Furthermore, if this dissolution of the priests is not
stopped, there will be no shortage of scandal.
If I and my companions, by the correct
position we have taken, are determined to die, for this
and for other things that have happened, singular King,
you are to blame, for not duly considering the labour of
your vassals and for not thinking of what you owe them.
If you do not look out for your vassals, and your judges
do not take care of this, you certainly will fail in
government. Certainly there is no need to present
witnesses, but simply to point out that each of your
judges has 4,000 pesos of salary, 8,000 pesos in
expenses, and after three years in office each has 60,000
pesos saved, along with properties and possessions!
Despite all this we would be willing to serve them as we
do, except that for our sins they want us to drop to our
knees wherever we are and worship them like
Nebuchadnezzar. This is insufferable. Just because I am
an unfortunate man made lame in your service (and my
companions long and weary in the same) I should not fail
to advise you never to trust your conscience to these
learned persons. It is in your royal interest to watch
out for them, as they spend all their time planning the
marriages of their children, and care for nothing else.
The common refrain among them is: "To the left and
to the right, I possess all in my sight."
The friars do not want to bury poor
Indians, and they are lodged in the best estates in Peru.
The life they lead is bitter and burdensome, as each one
has as a penance a dozen young women in his kitchen, and
as many boys engaged in fishing, hunting partridges, and
bringing fruit! They get a share of everything. In
Christian faith I swear, King and lord, that if you do
not remedy the evils of this land, divine punishment will
come upon you. I tell you this to let you know the truth,
even though I and mine neither expect nor want mercy from
you.
Oh, how sad that a great Caesar and
Emperor, your father, should conquer with the power of
Spain the great Germany, and should spend so much money
from these Indies discovered by us, and that you should
not concern yourself with our old age and weariness
enough to provide for our daily bread.
You know that we know in these parts,
excellent King and lord, that you conquered Germany with
arms, and Germany has conquered Spain with vices. We over
here are happier with just corn and water, to be removed
from such a bad irony, Let those who suffer such an irony
keep their reward. Let wars spread where they may, and
where men take them. Never, no matter what adversity
might come upon us, will we cease to be subject to the
teachings of the Holy Mother Church of Rome.
We cannot believe, excellent King and
lord, that you would be so cruel to such good vassals as
you have in these parts. Your judges must be acting this
way without your consent. I say this, excellent King,
because two leagues from the city of Kings [Lima], there
was discovered near the sea a lake where there were some
fish God permitted to exist there. Your evil judges and
officials, to profit from the fish for their pleasures
and vices, leased them in your name, giving us to
understand, as though we were fools, that this was done
by your will. If this is so, master, let us catch some of
the fish, because we worked to discover it, and because
the King of Castile has no need for the 400 pesos they
leased it for. Illustrious King, we do not ask for grants
in Cordoba or Valladolid, nor in any part of Spain, which
is your patrimony. Deign to feed the weary and poor with
the fruits and proceeds from this land. Remember, King
and lord, that God is the same for all, and the same
justice, reward, heaven, and hell.
In the year 1559 the Marquis of Cu±ete
entrusted the expedition of the river of the Amazons to
Pedro de Urs·a, Navarrese, or rather, a Frenchman. He
delayed the building of the boats until the year 1560 in
the province of the Motilones, in Peru. The Indians are
called Motilones because they wear their head shaved.
These boats were made in the wet country, and upon
launching most of them came to pieces. We made rafts,
left the horses and supplies, and took off down the river
at great risk to our persons. We then encountered the
most powerful rivers of Peru, and it seemed to us to be a
fresh water sea. We travelled 300 leagues from the point
of launching.
This bad governor was so perverse and
vicious and miserable that we could not tolerate it, and
it was impossible to put up with his evil ways. Since I
have a stake in the matter, excellent King and lord, I
will say only that we killed him; certainly a very
serious thing. We then raised a young gentleman of
Seville named Don Fernando de Guzmßn to be our king, and
we made an oath to him as such, as your royal person will
see from the signatures of all those who were in this,
who remain in the island of Margarita, in these Indies.
They appointed me their field commander, and because I
did not consent to their insults and evil deeds they
tried to kill me, and I killed the new king, the captain
of his guard, the lieutenant-general, his majordomo, his
chaplain, a woman in league against me, a knight of
Rhodes, an admiral, two ensigns, and six other of his
allies. It was my intention to carry this war through and
die in it, for the cruelties your ministers practice on
us, and I again appointed captains and a sergeant major.
They tried to kill me, and I hung them all.
We went along our route down the
Mara±≤n river while all these killings and bad events
were taking place. It took us ten and a half months to
reach the mouth of the river, where it enters the sea. We
travelled a good hundred days, and travelled 1,500
leagues. It is a large and fearsome river, with 80
leagues of fresh water at the mouth. It is very deep, and
for 800 leagues along its banks it is deserted, with no
towns, as your majesty will see from the true report we
have made. Along the route we took there are more than
6,000 islands. God only knows how we escaped from such a
fearsome lake! I advise you, King and lord, not to
attempt nor allow a fleet to be sent to this ill-fated
river, because in Christian faith I swear, King and lord,
that if a hundred thousand men come none will escape,
because the stories are false and in this river there is
nothing but despair, especially for those newly arrive
from Spain.
The captains and officers with me at
present, and who promise to die in this demand like
pitiful men are: Juan Jeronimo de Espinola Ginoves,
admiral; Juan Gomez, Cristobal Garcia, captain of
infantry, both Andaluz; mounted captain Diego Tirado,
Andaluz, from whom your judges, King and lord, with great
injury, took Indians he had earned with his lance;
captain of my guard Roberto de Sosaya and his ensign
Nuflo Hernandez, Valencian; Juan Lopez de Ayala, from
Cuenca, our paymaster; general ensign Blas Gutierrez,
conquistador for 27 years; Juan Ponce, ensign, native of
Seville; Custodio Hernandez, ensign, Portuguese; Diego de
Torres, ensign, Navarre; sergeant Pedro Gutierrez Viso
and Diego de Figueroa; Cristobal de Rivas, conquistador,
Pedro de Rojas, Andaluz; Juan de Saucedo, mounted ensign;
Bartolome Sanchez Paniagua, our lawyer; Diego Sanchez
Bilbao, supply; Garcia Navarro, inspector general, and
many other hidalgos of this league. We pray to God our
Lord that your fortune ever be increased against the Turk
and the Frenchman, and all others who wish to make war on
you in those parts. In these, God grant that we might
obtain with our arms the reward by right due us, but
which you have denied.
Son of your loyal Basque vassals, and I,
rebel until death against you for your ingratitude.
Lope de Aguirre, the
Wanderer
 
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