Pizarro

by Stuart Stirling

  Almagro, however, was reluctant to place his entire confidence in the Indians in a matter of such importance as the safety of his entire army, and he ordered some Spaniards to accompany the Indians so as to confirm their reports on the road and water springs. He ordered four horsemen to report to him on what they saw on each day’s march …6

  The news of Almagro’s successful crossing of the Atacama desert – a distance of over 200 miles – with some five hundred men and what remained of his Indian auxiliaries, and their arrival at Arequipa, had been relayed to the Inca emperor at Ollantaytambo. On reaching the township of Urcos, 25 miles south-east of Cuzco, Almagro sent a messenger to Hernando Pizarro informing him of his intention to take possession of the city as part of his governorship of New Toledo, the patents of which he had only received during his expedition to Chile. He also despatched two of his captains, Pedro de Oñate and Juan Gómez de Malaver, to the valley of the Yucay in an attempt to negotiate a peace settlement with the emperor.

  Manco by then was a forlorn figure, accompanied by the Villaoma, his women and an escort of several thousand warriors. Almagro, who had always maintained a good relationship with him, was well aware that his depleted army posed little threat to his own forces, or even now to Cuzco. Nevertheless, he realised the political advantage of securing his alliance in what was once more emerging as an inevitable confrontation with Pizarro and his brothers. He further instructed his two captains to gather as much evidence as they could from Manco concerning his maltreatment at the hands of the Pizarros, which he would later relay to the Crown. One account records Manco’s parting words to Almagro’s captains:

  ‘Ask my father Almagro if it is true what he says and that you are not lying, that I will be allowed to leave in peace and enter the city together, he with his men, and I with mine; and that he will leave me to kill all those Christians who have harmed me: then shall I know whether what he says is the truth.’ And while we were still with him an Indian brought from Cuzco a letter Hernando Pizarro had sent him, which he showed us, telling him that he should not go in peace with Almagro because he was planning to burn him alive and make his brother Paullu, whom he had brought with him from his discovery of Chile, emperor; he then told us that the letter had been read to him by a Christian who was his captive.7

  Manco nevertheless refused Almagro’s offer of a treaty. The sight of the Chilean expeditionary army encamped at Urcos had finally brought to an end any hope he may have held of defeating the Spaniards, even though the conquistadores had suffered the loss of over seven hundred men throughout their various settlements. For a further two years Manco’s depleted squadrons would continue to wage their struggle till they were finally defeated by superior arms and cavalry. With his escort of warriors and a few Spanish and Indian prisoners – among them Paullu’s mother – he retreated from the Yucay to face his exile in the mountain fastness of the forests of Vilcabamba.8

  There, he built a fortified township, which would be known as the ‘Lost City of the Incas’, and whose ruins possibly lie buried at Espíritu Pampa, not far from the great mountain temple of Machu Picchu, which itself would remain unknown to the world until its chance discovery by the young American archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911. Astonishingly, no single Spanish chronicler or contemporary Inca witness made any reference to the existence of this temple city, nor was its identification made any easier by the fact that the city’s original name remains unknown. It was given the name Machu Picchu, meaning old mountain, by Bingham’s companions.

  In all probability Machu Picchu was built a hundred years before the Conquest, in the reign of the Emperor Huayna Cápac’s father Pachacuti, and remained in the possession of his panaca after his death.9 Contemporary colonial records show that the land in the vicinity of the city was known to the conquistadores, as an encomienda here was granted by Pizarro to his brother Hernando. A later encomienda award made by Pizarro to Paullu Inca records a village in the vicinity also confusingly called ‘Vilcabamba’, which had previously belonged to Mansio Serra de Leguizamón.10

  It seems improbable that Manco, who during Cuzco’s occupation by Atahualpa’s generals had hidden in the region, could have been unaware of Machu Picchu’s existence. Nor does it seem credible that so sacred a temple site would have remained unknown to his sons and successors. It is more than likely that it was still being used as a temple and place of worship in the early years of the Conquest, and that its treasure was secretly removed either by the Incas themselves or by any one of the conquistadores who held encomiendas in the region; their Indians would have undoubtedly informed them of its existence, in order to win favour. Certainly, Hernando Pizarro, the principal encomendero of the province, would have had no qualms about looting the city and then taking the secret to his grave, thus evading the Crown’s tax on treasures.11

  In the bitter cold of the Andean winter Almagro’s troops entered Cuzco under cover of darkness. The Friar Valverde set down in some detail the events of that night:

  At midnight when Almagro’s soldiers raised the alarm – pretending that the bridges of the city were being destroyed, and ignoring the treaties they had agreed upon – with all speed they made their entry into the city through each of its four bridges and into its main square, shouting ‘Almagro! Almagro! Death to the traitors!’ And from there they took possession of the streets and Orgóñez, the Adelantado’s commander, with a great number of his soldiers broke into the palace [Casana] of the Governor Don Francisco Pizarro to the cries of ‘Almagro! Almagro!’ Hernando Pizarro was taken by surprise and still in his bed, confident that the agreements he had reached with Almagro would be honoured; and rising and arming himself quickly, together with his brother Gonzalo, who armed himself with a lance, and who with some others also slept in the palace – some 100 men – were left with only 15 men in their defence. Gonzalo positioned himself at one of the chamber’s doors and Hernando at another, where they could try to defend themselves; conscious of the clamour being made by Almagro’s men in their sacking of the surrounding buildings. In each of the dwellings of the encomenderos Orgóñez and his men looted. And however much they attacked the doors that were being guarded by Hernando and Gonzalo, they could make no progress, even though it was their wish to kill both of them and so end the conflict, but so ardent was the fighting of the two that none could break through. And Orgóñez was forced to send a message to Almagro who was in the main square, informing him that there was no other means to evict the two men other than by setting fire to the palace. And this Almagro agreed, even though the building was already on fire by the time the messenger delivered his reply.

  As the fire had taken hold, Hernando could clearly be seen throwing furnishings from the chamber, for it was his custom to always be at the fore of any fighting; most of the city had been captured and its encomenderos disarmed, those who remained had sheltered in the patio of the palace, and so large was it that it resembled a church, having been built by the Incas. Along one of its walls were two arches without doors, and it was there the two brothers defended themselves, and where its timbers began to fall on top of them … and seeing that nothing could be gained amid the dense smoke and heat they came out into the patio where they were set upon and disarmed shortly before the entire roof caved in.12

  On the morning after his entry into Cuzco and in the company of his Isthmian mestizo son Diego and his principal captains Almagro proclaimed himself governor of New Toledo, the southern territories of the Inca empire.

  Fearful for their lives, the city’s garrison had all surrendered to his troops. The few men who had refused were put in irons, their Indian women left to the mercy of his soldiers, who had little to show for their arduous march other than their hatred for the Pizarros. Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro, together with several of their supporters, were at first imprisoned in the house of Diego Núñez de Mercado, and then in what had been the Temple of Coricancha.

  The imperial city was by then a charred ruin, as the Friar Valverde recalled: �
�most is tumbled down and burned … and few stones of its fortress standing. It is a wonder when one finds any house in the environs with more than walls.’13 The retribution of Almagro’s soldiers was relentless as was their search for the hidden caches of gold and silver of their prisoners, and the rape of their women. Valverde also records that Hernando was very badly treated and constantly kept in heavy chains, and that Almagro refused to visit him in the small circular turret in which he was eventually incarcerated. There, confined in one of the corners of his brother’s palace of Casana, and overlooking the main square, his massive, forlorn and virtually naked figure could be seen by one and all.14

  Within days of his seizure of the city Almagro ordered his men to resume their march to confront the approaching army of Alonso de Alvarado, which Pizarro had sent from Lima to relieve Manco’s siege, ignorant of the return of Almagro or of the fate of his two brothers. As Alvarado rested his troops by a river at Abancay, north of the city, Almagro’s horsemen attacked them. Led by Almagro’s commander Rodrigo de Orgóñez, a cobbler’s son and a veteran of the Spanish Imperial army that had sacked Rome, Almagro’s forces routed Alvarado’s contingent of 500 men. The humiliation Alvarado and his men were forced to endure on their march to Cuzco, chained in columns, and many of them barefoot, was a sight that instilled even greater alarm in the imprisoned supporters of the Pizarros. Most by now believed they would be killed or spend the rest of their days rotting away in the fortress of Sacsahuaman, the site of their former victory. For almost twelve months they remained prisoners, though a few, among them Alvarado and Gonzalo Pizarro, eventually made their escape after bribing their guards.

  The repercussions of Almagro’s secession were felt throughout the settlements of Peru. Each side gathered its fair share of partisans to present their cause before the Council of the Indies in Spain, where Almagro, because of his son’s prospective marriage to the daughter of one of its members, which had cost him 100,000 gold pesos, wielded a powerful influence. Many of Pizarro’s enemies and detractors, including those from far afield such as the chronicler Fernández de Oviedo, governor of the citadel of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola, were only too willing to subscribe to Almagro’s cause. The dispute inevitably prompted the Crown to send to Peru various officials with powers to mediate between the two former partners. One such official was the Provincial of the Order La Merced in the Indies, the Friar Francisco de Bobadilla.

  The news of the Inca emperor’s ill-treatment at the hands of Pizarro’s brothers, and which had been the primary cause of his rebellion, had by then also filtered back to the Spanish court in the various reports sent to it by the elderly Bishop Berlanga of Tierra Firme. It was one of numerous charges being made before the Crown, in which the Pizarros were presented as virtually a law unto themselves, enriching their purses at the expense of the Royal Treasury. It was a view also previously aired at Toledo by Hernando de Soto on his return to Spain.

  For almost a year the two opposing camps of the colony remained at arm’s-length, at times threatening war, at others exchanging emissaries who did little to bring about any agreement. One of the principal contentions was the treatment of Hernando Pizarro, whom Almagro took with him in chains when-ever he left Cuzco, and which was a constant reminder to Pizarro of the limits of his authority. Nor was Pizarro unaware that Almagro had taken the initiative in his dealings with the Inca lords of Cuzco by crowning Paullu their emperor, and awarding him for his loyalty his palace of Colcampata on the northern approach to the city.

  It was, however, shortly after Almagro had founded a new settlement on the coast at Chincha, south of Lima, that the two elderly slavers met for the last time, at the small village of Mala. The chronicler Pedro de Cieza de León based his account on the testimony of Francisco de Godoy, who was present at the meeting. He writes that Almagro, going ahead on horseback, dismounted and took off his plumed hat to embrace Pizarro, who responded curtly by touching his helmet in acknowledgement. ‘By what reason and authority,’ asked Pizarro, ‘have you taken possession of Cuzco, which I won after so much hardship? And what gave you the right to take my Indian woman and my yanaconas? And not content with that, to imprison my brothers?’15

  Almagro’s reply was terse. He told Pizarro that Cuzco was not just a shrub to be found in Trujillo earth that was his to give away if he so decided, and that the truth of its capture was far different, and that its lordship depended solely on the wishes of the Crown. But his words had no impact on Pizarro, who was only too aware that his brother Gonzalo was hidden nearby across the hill with 700 armed men awaiting his signal. But it was an order he never gave. Not even when one of Almagro’s lieutenants suddenly approached them, holding the reins of Almagro’s horse, by then aware of the ambush. Hurriedly, Almagro mounted and without once looking back, galloped at great speed away from the village. They would never see one another again.

  Whether it was Pizarro’s sense of honour that prevented him breaking his truce, or whether their escape was due to the foresight of Almagro’s lieutenant will never be known.

  The negotiations between them lasted several months and led to the freeing of Hernando Pizarro – an act opposed by all of Almagro’s captains, and especially by Orgóñez, who demanded his execution, warning his master of the consequences of allowing him to return to Lima. It was a situation rendered even more volatile when the news reached Cuzco of the Friar Bobadilla’s intervention on the side of Pizarro, referring Almagro’s claim to the Council of the Indies. By then war was inevitable.

  At dawn on 26 April 1538, within sight of Cuzco’s walls at a plain called Salinas, the two armies faced each other from opposite banks of a river. Almagro’s troops, numbering 500 men, half of whom were horsemen, were commanded by Orgóñez and supported by 10,000 warriors led by the Inca Prince Paullu. Hernando Pizarro, in full armour and draped in an orange-coloured velvet cape, his helmet adorned with a white plume, commanded Pizarro’s army of 700 men, and advanced his infantry across the river, his standard emblazoned with the Pizarro arms – two bears either side of a willow tree. Almagro’s huge banner, bearing his arms of a black Imperial Habsburg eagle within an ermine white border, fluttered beside him on the hillock, from where ill health forced him to observe the battle. Orgóñez’s pikemen made their advance, supported by two columns of cavalry which were ordered to begin the attack, at full gallop, their lances breaking with the force of their impact, and desperate and bloody hand-to-hand fighting ensued.

  Then Orgóñez cried in a loud voice: ‘By the Holy Book, follow me who will. I ride to my death!’ On seeing that Orgóñez was exposing his flank, Hernando Pizarro and Alonso de Alvarado charged the enemy with such force that they threw more than fifty to the ground. And when Orgóñez rode up they wounded him with an harquebus shot in the forehead which passed through his vizor. But though wounded he killed two men with his lance and dealt one of Hernando Pizarro’s servants a sword thrust in the mouth …

  Finally the marqués’s men forced Don Diego’s to turn away. And when Don Diego saw his men running away, he shouted ‘By Our Lord, I thought we had come to fight!’ And when two horsemen had forced Orgóñez to surrender, another horseman whom he had wounded, cut off his head; and others who surrendered were killed, which Hernando Pizarro and his captains were unable to prevent. Alonso de Alvarado’s men, ashamed of their defeat at Abancay, were also only too willing to take their revenge in any manner they could. They were so savage in their slaughter that when one of them was carrying the Captain Ruy Díaz tied to the cruppers of his horse, another of Alvarado’s men rode up and killed him with his lance.

  And when Almagro’s Indians saw that the battle was decided they deserted him, and went to strip the dead Spaniards. They stripped some who were still alive also, but too badly wounded to defend themselves … all the dead were left naked.16

  One hundred and fifty Spaniards lay dead. Almagro witnessed the slaughter of his wounded men at the hands of his own Indian auxiliaries. He stayed there for only a w
hile before mounting his mule and making his escape to Cuzco. In the ruins of the fortress of Sacsahuaman, where he had kept his prisoners, Almagro was captured and taken manacled to the Temple of Coricancha, and placed in the same cell Hernando Pizarro had once occupied.

  The Jesuit chronicler Blas Valera recorded that half a century later an elderly conquistadore who had fought at Salinas witnessed the ghosts of the men who had fallen in the battle:

  There is on the battlefield a church dedicated to St Lazurus, where the bodies of those who died there were buried. A noble and pious Spaniard, who had been one of the conquistadores, often went there to pray for the souls of the dead. It happened that while praying one day he heard groans and weeping in the church, and one of his friends who had fought and died in the battle appeared to him … and at his suggestion the mestizos, the sons of those Spaniards by Indian women, moved their fathers’ bones to the city of Cuzco … and many Masses were said … and the apparitions then ceased.17

  For three months Diego de Almagro would remain a prisoner. Sickly and broken in spirit he presented a pitiful sight, pleading his age and his past service to the Crown. His entreaties, however, failed to move Hernando Pizarro, who would neither forgive nor forget his own imprisonment and past humiliation, and who ordered his execution.

  On 8 July 1538 the great square of the city was lined by a squadron of harquebusiers as a priest and the executioner headed the small column of men making their way from the Temple of Coricancha, behind them Almagro’s garrotted corpse was carried to a podium. To the sound of a drum his head was struck off and fixed to the end of a lance, his one eye open, then his bearded and blood-smeared features were paraded before the silent throng of Spaniards and Indians. Wrapped in a shroud, his headless and naked corpse was taken by his African slave to be buried in the city’s monastery of La Merced.