An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru
Page 15
In order to certify the foregoing, I have signed it with my name. Completed on the sixth day of the month of February of the year 1570. The following witnesses were present during its drafting: the reverend fray Don Marcos García and fray Diego Ortiz, as well as Don Pablo Huallpa Yupanqui and Don Martín Cusi Guaman and Don Gaspar Sulca Yanaq.
I, Martín de Pando, notary in the service of the very illustrious governor, the licentiate Don Castro, certify the truth of the above declaration and the fact that the said Inca Don Diego de Castro has given this power of attorney to the said licentiate Don Castro, formerly governor of these kingdoms. In order to certify this, I place the signature in his name Don Diego de Castro below, as it appears the original below.
Don Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui.
Witnessed by fray Marcos García.
Witnessed by fray Diego Ortiz.
As certification of the truth I place here my seal.
Martín de Pando, commissioned notary.
Notes
1. By traditional chronologies of modern Inca historiography, Huayna Capac was the eleventh ruler of the Inca Empire and lived from 1493–1526 (?); see Introduction.
2. Manco Inca Yupanqui (1516–1544), one of Huayna Capac’s sons, ruled from 1533 to his death.
3. On Titu Cusi’s assertion of primogeniture, see the Introduction.
4. Ruler of Tahuantinsuyu from 1471–1493.
5. Most historians today agree that Huayna Capac’s intended heir was Ninan Coyoche, who died shortly before Huayna Capac died. Urteaga says that Huascar was Huayna Capac’s preferred second choice (see Urteaga, Relación de la Conquista del Perú, 5–6, n. 2).
6. One Spanish league is about 3.4 miles or 5.5 km.
7. At the time when the Spaniards arrived in Peru, Cuzco was governed by Quisquis, one of Atahuallpa’s generals, who ruled the town in Atahuallpa’s name and persecuted the members of Huascar’s family. When Atahuallpa was imprisoned by the Spaniards at Cajamarca, Quisquis left Cuzco for the part of the empire known as Chinchaysuyu and Cuzco was governed by Huascar’s remaining brothers until the Spanish arrival in the city. Pizarro had first crowned Topa Huallpa, another one of Huayna Capac’s sons. Only when Topa Huallpa died did the Spaniards crown Manco Inca (see Introduction; also Urteaga, Relación de la Conquista del Perú, 8, n. 4).
8. The word “bastard” appears to refer to an Andean logic of legitimacy here. This claim is controversial (see Introduction).
9. Manuscript (ff 133): Teqse Viraochan; Academia Mayor de la lengua Quechua, Diccionario Quechua-Español-Quechua (Qosqo: Municipalidad de Qosqo, 1995) (henceforth Academia Mayor), 620: Teqsi Wiraqocha. Martín de Pando’s Viracocha[n] in the manuscript corresponds with the orthography of fray Domingo de Santo Tomás’s 1560 bilingual (Quechua/Spanish) dictionary (henceforth ST) (369). Teqse is not in ST. Pierre Duviols argues that the idea of Viracocha as a “creator god” is a European imposition, the result of missionaries’ attempt to give a “Christian mask” to indigenous deities (“Los nombres quechua de Viracocha, supuesto ‘Dios Creador’ de los evangelizadores,” Allpanchis: revista del Instituto de Pastoral Andina 10 (1977): 53); he translates the concept of Tecsi Viracocha as “father of the people, master who knew and knows how to order the world” (“Los nombres,” 60).
10. Ladrón’s translation for Spanish trueno is qhaqy (Laura Ladrón de Guevara de Cuadros, Diccionario Quechua: Ingles, quechua, español: Español, quechua, ingles: Quechua, ingles, español [Lima: Editorial Brasa, 1998] [henceforth Ladrón], 281). Martín de Pando’s orthography—yllapas in the manuscript—corresponds here with ST: “yllapa . . . trueno” (301) but not with the grammatical rules for plural formation explained in Domingo de Santo Tomás’s Gramática.
11. Chicha is not originally a Quechua word but was imported by the Spaniards from the Caribbean and is, possibly for this reason, not listed by ST. See the Introduction.
12. As several commentators have pointed out (Urteaga, Relación de la Conquista del Perú, 9, n. 6), the chronology of events related by Titu Cusi here is not entirely reliable, as it seems to confound the first meeting between Atahuallpa and a small Spanish envoy at the baths of Cajamarca with the second one between Atahuallpa, Pizarro, and Vicente de Valverde in the main square on the following day (see also Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 32–35).
13. As discussed in the Introduction, the claim that the mothers of Titu Cusi’s warring uncles were “commoners” (meaning that they had no claim to be descendants of Manco Capac by their paternal line) follows a traditional Andean logic of succession but is factually controversial.
14. Manuscript (ff 134): tomës and llamas; singular forms: tumi and llama (Academia Mayor. 631, 262). Pando’s orthography corresponds here with the singular form as rendered in ST—tome, “knife” (365) and llama (306), although not with the Quechua plural form, as explained in Gramática.
15. On the principle of “reciprocity” in Inca culture, see Constance Classen, Inca Cosmology and the Human Body (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993), 1–2, 59–60.
16. The manuscript reads here lazos and tumës, rather than tomës as before.
17. Usnu in Academia Mayor (695); not in ST.
18. Hemming estimates the amount of Andean casualties at Cajamarca to be roughly 1,500 (Conquest of the Incas, 30).
19. This exchange may be part of a version particular to this narrative or the oral tradition kept by Manco Inca’s family and followers. No other surviving records evidence the Spaniards’ awareness of Manco Inca at this stage.
20. çapay ynga in manuscript (ff 140); not in ST but sapay in Academia Mayor (545).
21. Manuscript: bienen por el viento (ff 141).
22. As Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala reports in his Nueva corónica y buen gobierno (codex péruvien illustré) (Paris: Institut d’ethnologie, 1936) (ff 303) lying was considered to be one of the cardinal sins in Inca codes of conduct, punishable with twenty lashes. As the reader will note, there is an emphasis throughout Titu Cusi’s narrative on Spanish lies, especially with regard to the Spaniards’ claim of being sons of Viracocha.
23. I have not been able to establish the identities of the two Spaniards mentioned here.
24. According to modern estimates, the treasure paid for Atahuallpa’s ransom weighed 11 tons in gold and 26,000 pounds in silver (see Mark Burkholder and Lyman Johnson, Colonial Latin America [New York: Oxford University Press, 1994], 46).
25. This took place in 1533. This town is today known as Huánuco Viejo.
26. Manuscript (ff 138): macho capitu. Macho in Quechua means “old” or “great.” Capitu seems to be derived from the Spanish capitán (captain). ST (313): macho; Academia Mayor (285): machu.
27. Most likely the reference here is to Spanish reals. John Hemming estimated that the ransom would have been worth roughly $13 million on the bullion market in 1970.
28. Manuscript (ff 139): Apoës; singular: ST (235): Appó; Ladrón (628): Apu.
29. Manuscript (ff 139): hu Capay.
30. This was on 26 July 1533.
31. I have found no corroborating evidence that Manco Inca played a role in the burning of Challcochima or even that his meeting between him and Pizarro ever took place. Hemming writes that Challcochima was burnt twice by the Spaniards—once for torture to extort gold (Conquest of the Incas, 70) and the second time to execute him for allegedly having plotted an uprising. This was on 13 November 1533 (109).
32. The person accompanying Manco Inca on this expedition was actually Hernando de Soto (Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 126). De Soto would later be appointed governor of La Florida and die there during his exploration into North America; see Romero, “Biografía de Tito Cusi Yupanqui,” 25, n. 30; also Luiselli, “Introducción,” 45, n. 17.
33. Manuscript (ff 144): Viracochas and Tecsi Viracochan.
34. Manuscript (ff 145): sapai ynga.
35. A taino (Caribbean) word incorporated into American Spanish. It is a type of indigenous house, sometimes made of str
aw.
36. ST (266): coya . . . reyna, o emperatriz, muger de emperador o de rey. Academia Mayor (475): qoya. As pointed out in the Introduction, a woman’s status of a coya rested not on that of her being a “wife” but rather on her claim to be a descendant of Manco Capac by her paternal line.
37. Manuscript (ff 145): supay; ST (99): cúpay . . . demonio, bueno, o malo; Academia Mayor (587): supay. As pointed out in the Introduction, cultural glosses of this kind must probably be attributed to Marcos García. In pre-Christian Andean culture, this word meant something closer to “mountain spirit.” For a discussion of this concept, see Duviols, “Camaquen, Upani”; also ibid., “La destrucción.” On the changes in Andean religious concepts resulting from European conquest and colonialism, see also Demarest, Viracocha; Adelaar, “A grammatical category”; Dedenbach-Salazar, “La terminología”; and ibid., “. . . luego.”
38. Manuscript (ff 146): Viracochas; singular: ST (369): Viracocha; Academia Mayor (620): Wiraqocha.
39. Manuscript (ff 146): Teqse Viracochan que quiere dezir dios; see note 9.
40. For a good account of the background and history of the Pizarro brothers, see Varón Gabai, Francisco Pizarro and His Brothers; also Lockhart, Men of Cajamarca.
41. Urteaga (46) and Carillo (56) each transcribes here “confusion”; Millones, “confrission” (14); Regalado de Hurtado, “confussion” (29); and Luiselli, “contrición” (62). My own reading of the manuscript here (ff 192) corresponds with that of Regalado de Hurtado.
42. Vila Oma is not a personal name but a title for the highest priest, an office usually reserved for a brother, cousin, or uncle of the Inca.
43. Urteaga and Carillo each transcribe here “conquestardose,” (47, 57, respectively); Millones, “conquestandosse” (14); Regalado de Hurtado, “conquistandosse” (29); and Luiselli, “contestándose” (63). My reading of the manuscript (ff 195) corresponds with that of Millones.
44. ST (238): Atun . . . cosa grande; Academia Mayor (147): hatun.
45. As pointed out in the Introduction, the suffix -cona (or -kuna) indicates the plural in Quechua, but the text is not consistent here (compare note 28, apoes, and note 72, yanaconas).
46. As Julien (Reading Inca History, 305, n. 13) points out, this woman may have been Francisca Ynguill, who later became the wife of Juan Pizarro; see also Introduction.
47. As pointed out in the Introduction, coya is not parallel to the European concept of “queen.” Most likely, this gloss must again be attributed to Marcos García.
48. Lienhard notes here that this was probably the festival called warakuq or warachikuq (“to put on a loincloth or trousers for the covering of genitalia”). On this occasion, the orejones had their ears pierced so that the earplugs, the status symbol of the orejones, would be mounted (Lienhard, Die Erschütterung der Welt: Ein Inka-Kónig berichted über den Kampf gegen die Spanier [Augsburg, Germany: Bechtermünz Verlag, 1995], 167).
49. Urteaga (57), Carillo (69), Millones (18), and Regalado de Hurtado (37) all transcribe here mas de mil, but Luiselli (72) transcribes más de diez mil. My reading of the manuscript agrees with that of the majority (see ff 162)
50. Not in ST or Academia Mayor. Most likely warakuq; a participant in the initiation rite of the wara, a type of garment worn around the loin (see Lienhard, Erschütterung, 172).
51. Luiselli’s transcription (73) adds here se iban a lavar los pies (“went to wash their feet”). Again, I have not found this to correspond to the manuscript (see ff 162), nor does it appear in any of the previous transcriptions; see Urteaga (57), Carillo (69), Millones (18), and Regalado de Hurtado (37).
52. Not in ST or Academia Mayor. Most likely yauri, “needle” or “scepter” (see Lienhard, Erschütterung, 173).
53. I have not found any sources that shed light on the question of whether this dispatch that was sent por la posta was an oral message, in quipu, or already in writing.
54. This was 3 May 1536.
55. “[A]lçandoles la perneta” or “alzar la pierna” (“to lift a leg”), a gesture of mockery or jest, especially in a crude, provocative, or threatening way.
56. See the Introduction on some of the cultural and ideological ambiguities involving authorship in this text. While Titu Cusi was formally a convert to Christianity, it is somewhat implausible that he would praise what must doubtlessly be the Christian God in this context for intervening in the battle.
57. As Urteaga (Relación de la Conquista del Perú 70, n. 54) points out, the miraculous appearance of Santiago on a white horse, rushing to the aid of the Spaniards in battle, is commonplace in many Spanish chronicles of the conquest; and, as Luiselli (82, n. 39) points out, it is possible that we are here (and in other instances) dealing with an addition made by the Augustinian fray Marcos García. However, Guaman Poma de Ayala repeats it more than forty years later in his Nueva corónica y buen gobierno (see Introduction).
58. Although kissing the hands of a monarch was Spanish royal protocol, it may also have been practiced by the Inca. Miguel de Estete, for example, describes that when Challcochima greeted his lord Atahuallpa in Spanish captivity, he “went up to him with great reverence, weeping, and kissed him on the face, hands, and feet, and the other chiefs who had come with him did the same” (quoted in Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, 69).
59. By Anti, Titu Cusi meant the Inca province of the Antisuyu, not necessarily the Andes mountains.
60. The Spanish word used here in the manuscript is documento (“document”) rather than the usual parlamento (“speech”); as Luiselli (87) has pointed out (among others), this choice of word highlights the official character of this chapter’s content and documento must therefore be understood in the sense of instrucción.
61. Sacred objects and places, such as certain springs, boulders, hillsides, or mountains. Manuscript (ff 175): guacas; singular: ST (279) Guaca; Academia Mayor (706): waka.
62. Manuscript (ff 175): villcas; singular: ST (369): Villca; Academia Mayor (745): willka.
63. Not in ST. Lienhard glosses here uywa, “pet” (Erschütterung 172).
64. The Incas mummified the bodies of their dead rulers.
65. Actually Rodrigo Orgóñez, who would later side with Almagro against the Pizarros and who was finally assassinated by the Pizarros after Almagro’s defeat.
66. This was in July 1537. See Introduction.
67. Pedro de Oñate, who aligned himself with Almagro against the Pizarros. He had previously met Manco Inca at Vilcabamba during an embassy on which he was sent by Almagro and was received hospitably by Manco Inca and seems to have been overall on friendly terms with him (see Hemming. Conquest of the Incas, 233).
68. Rabanto: probably Levantu or Llavantu, the ancient capital of the Chachapoya Indians. It exists today as a district called Levanto in the province of Chachapoyas in northern Peru. It is a great distance from Vitcos, and the journey would have involved crossing rugged terrain.
69. Manco Inca had apparently here already picked up Spanish fighting techniques, including the use of horses and lances.
70. The Guanca people had risen up several times against the Incas in pre-Hispanic times. When the Spaniards arrived in Peru, they readily allied themselves with them against the Inca armies commanded by Atahuallpa’s generals.
71. In the vicinity of Huancayo.
72. Manuscript (180); not in ST; singular: Academia Mayor (759): yana. As noted in the Introduction, this form seems to hybridize Quechua with Castilian plural forms: yana-cona [or -kuna] -s.
73. Located in the province of Tayacaja, Huancavelica.
74. Normally the Incas incorporated such local deities into their pantheon. The characterization of its worship by the Guanca as idolatry may reflect a Christian influence.
75. Located at the Apurímac River.
76. Orgóñez.
77. This brother is otherwise known as Paullu.
78. These had been captured by the Spaniards in separate battles not recounted here.
79. The na
mes of only five of those seven are known: Diego Méndez, Gómez Pérez, Cornejo, Monroy, and Francisco Barba (see Urteaga, Relación de la Conquista del Perú, 92, n. 80). It is no accident that Titu Cusi omits to mention the “crimes” for which these Spaniards were on the run. They had been involved in the murder of Francisco Pizarro, Manco Inca’s old enemy. Although historians have often wondered about the “inexplicable trust” that Manco Inca placed in these men (Luiselli, “Introducción,” 101), it is likely that their murder of Pizarro helped them to ingratiate themselves with Manco Inca.
80. Herrón: A kind of horseshoes, which must have been imported to Peru from Europe.
81. This was in 1544.
82. As noted in the Introduction, most modern historians agree that Manco Inca left the throne to Saire Topa, also a minor. However, some uncles ruled on his behalf until Saire Topa surrendered to the Spaniards in 1557 and went to Lima and ultimately to Cuzco. In 1560 Titu Cusi officially succeeded as ruler of the neo-Inca state at Vilcabamba.