Rivers of Gold
Page 83
44. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 108–10.
45. AGI, Contratación, 4675, lib. 1, cit. Manuel Giménez Fernández, “Hernán Cortés y su revolución comunera en la Nueva España,” AEA, 5, 1948.
46. Marcel Bataillon, Erasmo y España, Mexico 1998, 56.
47. Álvar Gómez de Castro, De las hazañas de Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, Madrid 1984.
48. Gil [3:37], 1, 251.
49. CDIU, 5, 197–200, 5, 191ff.
50. Chacón y Calvo [22:6], 467.
51. Navarrete [4:38], 1, 516.
52. Gil [3:37], 1, 255.
53. Navarrete [4:38], 1, 514: “universal patriarca de toda ella.”
54. Rumeu [2:2], 411.
55. Navarre, in Spain, retained its Cortes, its other institutions and customs, and even its coinage. But it was to become part of Castile. In June 1512, Pope Julius, now Fernando’s ally, had finally triumphed in Italy, securing the withdrawal of all French troops and the loss of all French possessions there.
56. Otte [15:83], 123.
57. Otte [15:83], 123 and fn 601.
58. Garcés had been a conquistador but had apparently killed his wife, a cacica of La Vega in La Española, on suspicion of adultery, after which he wandered in the hills for four years before being received and pardoned by the Dominicans.
59. Giménez Fernández [2:39], 2, 681. See also AGI, Justicia, 47, no. 3.
Chapter 23
1. AGI, Justicia, leg. 49, Residencia taken of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. For this chapter see also Chacón y Calvo (ed.) [22:6], Cedulario cubano 1493–1512.
2. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 486.
3. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 339.
4. CDI, 39, 11–12. He had killed a certain Juan de Velázquez in Jerez.
5. Martyr [6:34]. Others probably included Sancho Camacho and his brother.
6. CDI, 11, 414. See Juan Beltrán, “Bojeo de Cuba por Sebastián de Ocampo” in Revista Bimestre Cubana, 3, 19, May–June 1924.
7. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 510.
8. See Santiago Otero Enríquez, Noticias genealógicas de la familia Velázquez Gaztelu, Madrid 1916.
9. For the life of this conquistador, see Balbino Velasco Bayón, Historia de Cuéllar, 4th ed., Segovia 1996, 326ff.
10. Most of these are being revived thanks to the efforts of a clever mayor.
11. Gonzalo de la Torre de Trassierra, Cuéllar, Madrid 1896, 2, 213; Levi Marrero, Cuba: Economía y Sociedad, Barcelona 1972, 1, 117, says he was in Italy with the Gran Capitán: the dates do not fit the suggestion.
12. AGI, Indif. Gen., leg. 419, lib. 5, 94v, qu. Arranz [12:17], 306–7.
13. I. A. Wright [11:38], 24, 45: See also Marrero [23:11], 1, 163.
14. Others with Diego Velázquez included Cristóbal de Cuéllar, who had been contador in La Española and had once been with the Infante Juan; Antonio Gutiérrez de Santa Clara, as fundidor, one of an emigrant family of conversos; Andrés de Duero, who is said to have been with the Gran Capitán in Naples; and others such as Diego and Pedro de Ordaz, who had already been in the Caribbean for several years, together with several members of the Velázquez family, such as Baltasar Bermúdez, Bernardino Velázquez, Francisco de Verdugo, another Diego Velázquez, a nephew of the “Governor,” and Pedro Velázquez de León, who would play a part in the conquest of Mexico. For a partial list of vecinos of Cuba in 1510–16, see Marrero [23:11], 1, 138. Another who went with Velázquez was Juan Garrido, who had fought in Puerto Rico. See AGI, Mexico, 204, no. 3.
15. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 524.
16. It is worthwhile recalling the comments of Irene Wright, who spent so many years seeking material in the Archive of the Indies on the early history of Cuba, that “the descriptions of Las Casas do not differ from documents which I have seen … except when one comes to figures” [11:38], 15–16.
17. Oviedo [2:43], 2, 113; Las Casas [2:50], 2, 524. There is no memory of Narváez in Navalmanzano.
18. Wright [11:38], 28.
19. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 536–37.
20. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 539.
21. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 95.
22. Las Casas [2:50], 2, 542. Again, Las Casas is curiously silent about the identities.
23. See Marrero [23:11], 110–15.
24. Wright [11:38], 40.
25. CDI, 32, 369, of March 20, 1512.
26. See Muñoz Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, f. 90, 120r, 119v, 120r.
27. CDIU, 1, 32.
28. CDIU, 6, 4ff.
29. Velázquez himself received good allocations; and so did allies of his such as Manuel de Rojas, Juan Escribano, and his brother Juan de Soria, at Bayamo; Juan de Alia at Havana; Juan Rodríguez de Córdoba at Sancti-Spiritus; and Alonso Rodríguez at Guaniguanico. Wright [11:38], 49.
30. The artist’s mother, Jerónima, was a Velázquez; her father was Juan Velázquez, that is with a Christian name often found, like Diego, among the Velázquez de Cuéllars. Several Velázquezes left Cuéllar for Seville in search of fame and fortune in the sixteenth century, and it would not be altogether surprising to discover that one of the Governor’s brothers—Anton, Ruy, or Gutierre—had a son, Juan, the painter’s grandfather—though, since the painter was particularly concerned with his ancestry (as the inquiry carried out in respect of him in the 1650s made evident), it must be improbable.
31. See list in CDI, 11, 412–29.
32. There were Fray Gutierre de Ampudia, Fray Bernando de Santo Domingo, Fray Pedro de San Martín, and Fray Diego de Albeca (Las Casas [2:50], 3, 99–103).
33. CDI, 11, 428. The report was mentioned without comment by Carl Sauer in his The Early Spanish Main [8:5]. See also Marrero [23:11], 1, 107.
Chapter 24
1. CDI, 39, 238–63. Note: Henceforward I refer to Núñez de Balboa as “Balboa” for ease of understanding. He added that they had more gold than health (“más oro que salud”) and also that “nos ha faltado más la comida que el oro.” And there were these “rios de oro mui ricos.” Angel de Altolaguirre, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Madrid 1914, 13–25.
2. “se resolvió de elegir algún procurador …”: Martyr [6:34], 131.
3. CDI, 39, 241.
4. “para conquistar mucha parte del mundo.”
5. Martyr [6:34], 137: “sus caras atestiguan lo malo que es el aire de Darien, pues están amarillos como los que tienen ictericia, e hinchados, si bien ellos lo atribuyen a la necesidad que han pasado.”
6. Martyr [6:34], 150: “Cavan tambien de la tierra unas raices que nacen naturalmente y los indigenas las llaman batatas; cuando yo las vi, las juzgué nabos de Lombardia o gruesas criadillas de tierra. De cualquier modo que se aderecen asadas o cocidas no hay pasteles ni ningun otro manjar de mas suavidadad y dulzura. La piel es algo mas fuerte que en las patatas y los nabos y tienen color de tierra, pero la carne es muy blanca.…”
7. Oviedo [1:2], 3, 206.
8. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 15: “la fama de que se pescaba el oro en tierra firme con redes … para ir a pescarlo casi toda Castilla se movió.”
9. Martyr [6:34], 1, 314.
10. “así por mar como por tierra, a la Tierra firme, que se solía llamar e ahora la mandamos llamar Castilla aurífera.”
11. Instructions, in CDI, 39, 280, and in Navarette [4:38], 205–41; see also Álvarez Rubiano, Pedrarias Dávila, Madrid 1914, 49, and Carmen Mena García, Pedrarias Dávila, Seville 1992, 211.
12. Martyr [6:34], 138.
13. CDI, 39, 123.
14. Martyr [6:34], 1, 282.
15. Martyr [6:34], 1, 284–85.
16. See Elsa Mercado Sousa, El hombre y la tierra en Panamá (siglo XVI) según las primeras fuentes, Madrid 1959.
17. Martyr [6:34], 166; Oviedo [2:43], 3, 210ff; Las Casas [2:50], 594.
18. Martyr [6:34], 167.
19. Martyr [6:34], 1, 288. See Morales Padrón [6:33], 342.
20. Martyr [6:34], 1, 292.
21. Martyr [6:34], 1, 307.
22. See Samuel Lothrop, in Wauchope, ed. [13:62], 253–56.
23. Carmen Mena García, Sevilla y las flotas de Indias, Seville 1998, 259.
24. Ibid., 67; see also Ladero Quesada [16:42], 62.
25. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 14, “de mucha edad porque pasaba de sesenta años.”
26. “la santa conquista de Granada e Africa … en la toma de Oran donde os señalistes muy honoradamente … en la toma de Bugía …”
27. Oficio 15, escribanía Bernal González Vallesillo, f. 151, last tercio del legajo, Jan. 13, 1514 (APS, 1, 1017). This indicates the collaboration between Gaspar Centurión and Juan de Córdoba; see also Oficio 15, lib. único, escribanía Bernal González Vallesillo, f., first tercio del legajo, Jan. 30, 1514 (APS, I, 1026). This shows that Pedrarias received 10,599 ms. from Augustín and Bernardo Grimaldi.
28. AGI, Panama, leg. 233, Sept. 1513, qu. Mena [24:23], 82: “como si de subditos españoles se tratase.”
29. APS, 9, 118, Sevilla, Jan. 30, 1514, qu. Mena [24:23], 82fn, 34.
30. APS, 9, 107, Sevilla, also qu. Mena [24:23], 83.
31. Mena [24:23], 83.
32. “todos escogidos entre hidalgos y personas distinguidas.”
33. “la más lucida gente de España que ha salido.” Pascal de Andagoya, Relación de documentos, ed. Adrián Blázquez, Crónica de Américas, Madrid, 1986, 83.
34. See Mena [24:23], 73ff. for a discussion.
35. According to Mena, there were 278 seamen, and she gives a roll call of 226 of them—saying that among them there were 107 men from Andalusia, 28 from the Basque country, 8 foreigners, 18 from Galicia, 7 from Asturias, 12 from Castilla la Vieja (Mena [24:23], Sevilla, 133).
36. Andagoya [24:33], 10.
37. “tiene alguna experienca de las cosas de Tierra Firme y también para cosas de armada.”
38. Other captains were Luis Carrillo, Gonzalo Fernández de Lago, Contreras, Francisco Vázquez Coronado (not the discoverer of Colorado), and Diego de Bustamante y Atienza. Among future conquistadors of New Spain were Francisco de Montejo, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Juan Pinzón, Ortiz de Zúñiga, Martín Vázquez, Antonio de Villarroel, Alonso García Brabo, the replanner of the city of Mexico, Pedro de Aragón, probably Juan de Arcos, Vasco de Porcallo, Angel de Villafaña, and his father, Juan de Villafaña. Hidalgos were Sancho Gómez de Córdoba, courtiers Francisco de Soto and Diego de Lodueña of Madrid; royal guards, such as Pedro de Vergara and Francisco de Lugones; servants of Queen Juana, such as Cristóbal Romero, Juan Ruiz de Cabrera, or children of servants of the King, such as Juan de la Parra, son of a secretary of the King of the same name, Juan de Beyzama, Pedro de Gómez, Salvador Girón, and Miguel Juan de Rivas, and Gaspar de Espinosa, all of whom had been personally recommended to Pedrarias by the King himself. See Mena [24:23], 778.
39. For Oviedo, see the introduction to the Historia by Pérez de Tudela, “Vida y escritos de Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo,” Madrid, BAE, 175, and also his prologue to Batallas y Quincuagenas, Real Academia de la Historia, 1983. See also María Dolores Pérez Baltasar, “Fernández de Oviedo, Hito innovador en la historiografía,” in Congreso [5:27], 4, 309ff.
40. In the Muñoz Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, there figure the names of others: Toribio Contado, García Rivero, Miguel or Martín Fernández, Juan de León, Diego Osorio, Gonzalo Alonso, Juan Ruiz de Guevara, Antonio de Aranda, Juan de la Puente, Pedro de Rozas, the bachiller Villadiego, and Juan de Buendía.
41. Mena [24:23], 46.
42. “sayo de seda e muchos de brocado”: the expression of Judge Zuazo in a letter to Chièvres.
43. CDI, 39, 280–316, “muy malos vicios y malas costumbres.”
44. Valladolid, June 18, 1513, in AGI, Panama, 233, lib. 1, qu. Mena [24:23], 42.
45. Deive [6:36], 105.
46. “es uno de los más grandes que hoy hay en el mundo.”
47. The other pilots were Pedro de Ledesma, Andrés de San Martín, Antonio Mariano (an especially recommended Italian), and Andrés García Niño. Ledesma had been on the third and fourth voyages of Columbus. In the last of these, he had sided with the rebels against the Admiral and his brothers, and he had been wounded by Bartolomeo Colón. Then he had been to the coast of Central America with Yáñez Pinzón and Díaz de Solís in 1508.
48. Mena [24:23], 79.
49. “que no consintáis que ninguno pueda abogar asi como clerigo o como lego.”
50. Mena [24:23], Seville, 333.
51. Mena [24:23], 334.
52. Martyr [6:34], 140.
Chapter 25
1. AGI, Panama, leg. 233, lib. 1, 49–50, qu. Cadenas [22:2], 147–49.
2. “un honbre y una mujer de quien nosostros y vosotros y todos los honbres nosotros vinieren.”
3. “entraré poderosamente contra vosotros y vos haré guerra por todas las partes y maneras que pudiera y vos subjetaré al yugo y obedencia de la iglesia y sus altezas y tomaré vuestras personas de vuestras mugeres e hijos y los haré esclavos y como tales los venderé y dispondré dellos como su Alteza mandare y vos tomaré vuestros bienes y vos haré todos los males e daños que pudiere como a vassallos que no obedecen ni quieren recibir a su señor.…”
4. Oviedo [2:43], 3, 230.
5. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 31: “y cosa es de reír o de llorar.”
6. Oviedo [2:43], 230: “Más parésceme que se reía muchas vesces …”
7. Instructions of Fray Juan de Quevedo (1515) to maestrescuela Toribio Cintado, in Altolaguirre [24:1], 104.
8. “mansos como ovejas.”
9. “Señor, Pedrarias ha llegado a esta hora al puerto que viene por gobernador de esta tierra.”
10. Martyr [6:34], 209.
11. Mena [24:11], 50–53. The exact nature of Pedrarias’s infirmity is impossible to ascertain. Balboa’s letter to the King of Oct. 16, 1515, summarizes these events. It is in Navarrete [4:38], 2, 225ff.
12. Martyr [6:34], 261.
13. Andagoya [24:33], 85–86.
14. AGI, Patronato, leg. 26, r. 5, Jan. 18, 1516, qu. Pedro Álvarez Rubiano, Pedrarias Dávila, Madrid 1944, 439–45. The appendices to this old book contain invaluable unpublished documents.
15. Martyr [6:34], 1, 403.
16. Mena [24:11], 59.
17. Martyr [6:34], 351.
18. Martyr [6:34], 405.
19. “estaban como ovejas se han tornado leones bravos.”
20. “es hombre muy acelerado en demasia.”
21. The pearl, which was painted by Titian, was stolen by José Bonaparte.
22. Martyr [6:34], 1, 404.
23. Cit. Mena [24:11], 98.
24. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 182: “ya yo le he dicho que será bien que echemos aquel hombre de allí.”
25. Las Casas [2:50], 3, 85.
26. Las Casas [2:50], 84–86.
27. Espinosa, Diego Márquez, Alonso de la Puente, Pizarro, Juan de Castañeda, and Pascal de Andagoya, for example. Cit. Mena [24:23], 135.
28. Martyr [1:2], 3, 176, 203.
Chapter 26
1. Pulgar [1:24], 124: “de la fortaleza de Madrigalejo se habían fecho mayores crimenes e robos, mandola derribar.”
2. Lorenzo Vivaldi and Flerigo Centurione, Vincencio Spinola and Pietro Nigrone, Giuliano Calvo and Benedetto Castiglione, as well as Giovanni Matosta de Moneglia and Pietro Giovanni Salvago, and the brothers Jacopo and Gerónimo Grimaldi.
3. Giménez Fernández [2:39], 1, 117, and Headley [17:24], 44.
4. The investors in an expedition of 1514 included judges Villalobos (in whose house in Santo Domingo the thing was planned) and Ortiz Matienzo, the contador real Gil González Dávila, and Pedro de Ledesma, the secretary of the Audiencia, while Rodrigo de Alburquerque was responsible for the last reparto of territory, and the contador Juan García Caballero invested later. These were all officials. Merchants who were investors in 1514 included Juan Fernández de Varas and Diego Caballero (“El Mozo”).
5. Prices were certainly unsteady in Castile in the early sixteenth century. Taking 1521–30 as a basis, Earl Hamilton [3:8], 189, thought that
prices stood at 68.5 maravedís in 1501, rose to 110.6 in 1506 and were down to 72.8 per fanega in 1512, rising to 80.73 in 1516. The big rises did not occur till after 1545.
6. For speculation, see Fernández Álvarez [17:19], 67 fn 5.
7. For commentary, see Haring [9:39], 35.
8. The will was signed in the presence of the Aragonese protonotary Velázquez Climent. A protonotary was a member of the Vatican’s College of Notaries. Again, see Fernández Álvarez [17:19], 69.
9. Martyr called the house “desguarnecida e indecorosa.”
10. Fernández Álvarez [3:51], 48–49.
11. Harvey [1:1], 139, 150.
12. Giménez Fernández [2:39], 1, 72.
13. Sancho Cota, Memorias, ed. Hayward Keniston, London 1964, 77. See also Keniston’s Francisco de los Cobos, Pittsburgh, PA, 1959, 32.
14. Alonso de Santa Cruz, Crónica de los Reyes Católicos [5:7], 215, says that, on hearing of the birth of Charles in 1500, Queen Isabel said to Fernando: “Tened por cierto, señor, que éste ha de ser nuestro heredero, y que la suerte ha caydo al reino, como en santo Matías para el apostolado.”
15. An exception was Charles de Valera, son of Diego de Valera the historian.
16. Huizinga [4:34], 75.
17. The news of Pavia in 1525 reached Charles in Madrid, where he had just written an autobiographical note: he wished “lesser quelque bonne memorye de moy …” for “jusques icy n’ay fait chose qui rendonde a l’honneur de ma personne.…” For Burgundy and its impact, see Bertrand Schnerb, L’État Bourguignon, 1363–1477, Paris 1999, and his delightful Splendeurs de la cour de Bourgogne, Paris 1995.