The Last Conquistador

by Stuart Stirling

  Sixteen days after the killing of the Inca the combined contingents of conquistadors began their march south towards the imperial city of Cuzco. The horsemen and foot soldiers were joined by several thousand warriors and women, who acted as their porters.1 In the cortège of litters that followed the Indian columns was the young Inca Prince Túpac Huallpa who had sworn fealty to Pizarro, accompanied by his sister-wife Azarpay and Atahualpa’s warrior chief Chalcuchima, in chains and guarded by twenty foot soldiers. The vanguard of cavalry and their bannerman, holding aloft the Royal Standard, emblazoned with the scarlet and gold arms of Castile and León, were commanded by Almagro and Hernando de Soto: the plumed morrión helmeted horsemen, in full armour and riding in battle formation, their lances sloped across their shoulders. Marching behind them were the infantry led by Pizarro and the Friar Valverde, the wooden cross he had brought with him from the Isthmus strapped to a mule.* A small company of arquebusiers followed them, led by the Greek Candía and his Indian handlers, pulling the two small cannon. At some distance a reserve squadron of horsemen commanded by the treasurer Riquelme escorted the baggage train laden with the crown and the men’s share of the Cajamarca treasure. The columns of conquistadors and their Indian auxiliaries slowly advanced towards the southern cordillera, its snow-clad peaks almost hidden by mist and cloud, their ranks by now depleted of the men Benalcázar had escorted to the settlement at San Miguel de Piura, and those Pizarro had given permission to return to Spain. For almost two months they followed the stone roads and trails through which their Indians scouts led them, dwarfed by the vast cordillera of the Andes, until they eventually entered the valley and township of Jauja, lying on the banks of the Mantaro River. Lucas Martínez Vegazo in his evidence to Mansio Serra de Leguizamón’s probanza recalled: ‘. . . in the same valley of Jauja Mayta Yupanqui, Atahualpa’s warrior chief, in command of a great multitude of warriors, attacked us Spaniards and we fought the Indians until we broke and dispersed their squadrons, pursuing them and killing them for some twelve leagues, and among the Spaniards was Mansio Serra, who greatly served Your Majesty, and this I know, for it is what I saw’.2 The warriors had been massed on the far bank of the township’s bridges which they had burned, and Almagro’s cavalry, fording the river, had charged them several times before dispersing them. It was the first engagement the Spaniards had faced against Atahualpa’s army, the success of which had depended on their cavalry and the Indian auxiliaries that had followed them.

  The Apurímac River, engraving by Champin, from François Castelnau, Expedition dans les Parties Centrales de l’Amerique de Sud, 3rd Part, 1852. (National Arts Library, V&A Museum)

  For two weeks they remained encamped in the township awaiting the arrival of Riquelme’s baggage train, and where Pizarro founded the first Spanish municipality of the conquered territory. Within days of Riquelme’s arrival the Inca Túpac Huallpa died. Conscious of the effect his death might have on the auxiliaries he had brought with him, who regarded him as their emperor, Pizarro ordered the men to break camp. ‘In the advance to Cuzco,’ recorded Mansio, ‘the captain Hernando de Soto went ahead with seventy hand-picked soldiers, I among them, for much of the land was still at war,* and we reached the province of Vilcastambo, against whose Indians we fought . . . and I took prisoner many of their scouts after a great deal of fighting and risk’.3 The trumpeter Pedro de Alconchel stated that Soto had taken Mansio with him for ‘being young and diligent’,4 and the horseman Luis Sánchez that they went in pursuit of the warriors ‘until the crest of Vilcaconga, fording and swimming across a river with much difficulty, for the natives had burned its bridges, and it was winter and the rivers were in flood’.5 It would take Soto’s exhausted squadron several days to reach the Apurímac, the great river canyon of the Andes, and then to climb its great mountain ridge of Vilcaconga, some 12,000 ft in height. Mansio recalled that on reaching the crest of the mountain, some 28 miles from Cuzco, they were attacked by the chief Quisquis’ warriors:

  Hernando de Soto. (Herrera: BL, 783. g. 1–4)

  . . . and did battle with them, and which was with great difficulty; and in the battle many of our men were killed and wounded, as were many horses, and those that remained were wounded. And that among all the men the captain had taken with him I alone was chosen to return along the route we had taken to show the governors where to ford the river and bring them to where we were. And in great danger I returned through the lines of the Indians who surrounded us, and I was able to inform Don Diego de Almagro of what had taken place, and to show him and those who were with him the way to where the captain was besieged, and urge them there at all speed. And having informed Don Diego and those who were with him, within hours they relieved captain Soto and his men after marching a full day, and at great risk because of the multitude of Indians. On the orders of Don Diego I remained by the river in guard of it, and so as to show the governor Don Francisco Pizarro and the rear guard where to ford, and the route to take; and this I showed him, and with all speed we marched to relieve Don Diego and His Majesty’s servitors, and where I helped bury our dead and cure our wounded of the royal encampment, and also bury the horses so the Indians would not discover our losses.6

  In his memoir, written forty years later, Diego de Trujillo recorded:

  . . . that night we were in great peril, for it was snowing and many of the wounded were suffering from the cold and we were surrounded and could see fires lit on all sides . . . and at midnight from the direction of Limatambo we heard Alconchel’s trumpet call which gave us much courage and inspired us to continue fighting the Indians, who had also heard his trumpet sound, and realizing that our men were coming to our aid they extinguished the fires and moved towards Cuzco . . . and it was so dark that one could not even see the glint of a coin, nothing but their sound . . .7

  ‘After the killing of five Spaniards,’ Lucas Martínez Vegazo stated, ‘and with less than a shot left of our crossbows, and being positioned high up the crest and encircled by the natives, the rescue arrived in the middle of the night, in groups of ten and of twenty . . .’.8 ‘. . . if that same night,’ observed Pedro de Alconchel, ‘the Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro and this witness and other horsemen had not come to their aid, some thirty men, more or less, not one of them would have escaped’.9

  The relief of Vilcaconga and Alconchel’s solitary clarion call announcing to the beleaguered conquistadors the arrival of Almagro’s column was recalled for posterity by the historian William Prescott in his History of the Conquest of Peru, and was the single most important battle fought since their departure from Cajamarca. Five of their best horsemen had been killed and numerous men wounded. Soto’s decision to ride forward without waiting for Almagro at Vilcas was seen by Pizarro as an act of insubordination, which could well have led to the massacre of the entire contingent of men. On reaching Vilcaconga, Pizarro ordered the men to re-group in the neighbouring village of Jaquijahuana, where they were joined by the Inca Manco, a sixteen-year-old half-brother of the Emperor Huáscar. ‘I saw him meet us between Jaquijahuana and the mountain of Vilcaconga,’ recalled Mansio, ‘and greet the Marqués* Pizarro and all those who were with him in the conquest of this land, and to whom he swore fealty, and from that time he was acknowledged [by Pizarro] as lord of this realm . . .’.10 Juan de Pancorbo recorded:

  . . . he gave the Marqués an account of the treachery of Chalcuchima, Atahualpa’s chief, who we had brought with us as our prisoner, and of the instructions he had given against us to messengers he had sent to Quisquis, another of Atahualpa’s chiefs, who was in command of Cuzco and of its outlying regions; for he [Manco Inca] had brought with him these messengers who he had had captured on the road and who he handed over to the Marqués. And this witness heard them tell how they had been sent by Chalcuchima to inform Quisquis that we were mortal and had difficulty climbing the mountain passes, and that we gave our lances to our yanacona who came behind us, and that our horses tired easily, and how they could be attacked in such passes . . .
information they had placed in their coloured string cords [quipu] . . . and the Marqués, seeing it was so, said to Chalcuchima: ‘Dog, is this what you have kept from me? How could you deceive me?’ And he began to deny this and Manco Inca said to him: ‘Here are the three messengers and their quipu, how can you deny this?’ The messengers were questioned and said that it was the truth and Chalcuchima who was being carried in a litter fell from it, and it seemed to this witness that it was as if he were dead, and that same day the Marqués ordered he be burnt in the square of Jaquijahuana, and this witness saw him being burnt and shout aloud, and the little I could understand of what he said, it appeared to me he was invoking Pachacámac and Huanacauri, his principal huacas, and calling for Quisquis to avenge his death . . .11

  The brutal killing of Atahualpa’s warrior chief in front of the entire company of men by Pizarro was a warning to his Indian auxiliaries that he would not tolerate their betrayal. It would also make the young Inca prince, who had survived Quisquis’ retribution against the imperial panacas, only too conscious of his own precarious role accorded him by Pizarro as his puppet ruler. Within the hour of their advance on Cuzco the conquistadors were to see the massed squadrons of Quisquis’ warriors, who had positioned themselves in front of the approach to the city. Though Mansio and his witnesses varied in their estimates of their numbers, from 100,000 to 50,000, their gross exaggeration was possibly more out of ignorance, having never before seen such multitudes, which probably numbered about 10,000 men. ‘The governors began their advance on the city,’ stated Juan Pantiel de Salinas, ‘. . . half a league away Quisquis with a great number of men, which as far as I could tell were some eighty thousand in number, came out in its defence, and with whom we fought all day until almost nightfall when they retreated, leaving many Spaniards and horses wounded . . .’.12 Mansio recorded that after their battle ‘. . . some two hundred Incas came to offer their allegiance to Don Francisco Pizarro . . .’.13 The following morning in battle order the conquistadors entered the city. ‘. . . in all, we were no more than one hundred and twenty,’ Bernabé Picón recalled.14

  On the morning Pizarro recorded in a letter to the cabildo of Panama as Saturday 15 November 1533,15 Hernando de Soto’s vanguard of horsemen descended over the brow of the Carmenca and galloped two abreast into the city’s narrow cobbled streets that led to its great square of Aucaypata, and in Mansio’s words ‘took possession of its strongholds’.16 The city was virtually deserted and most of its palaces and public buildings had been set on fire by Quisquis’ retreating army. Amid the smoke of its smouldering buildings and watched by its few frightened inhabitants, Soto’s bearded and weary horsemen, among them Mansio, positioned themselves at either end of the square, their lances raised in salute. And to their cries of Santiago y Castilla! echoing across the vast quadrangle Pizarro led his infantry in battle order. An emotionless man, none of the chroniclers describe him as having shown any expression of particular joy at his victory, nor of having marched his small army across the cordillera of the Andes and captured one of the greatest cities of the Americas: a feat that would prove him to have been one of the most remarkable military leaders and exponents of what has come to be termed guerrilla warfare.

  Within hours the order was given for the sacking of the city.17 Its palaces and temple of Coricancha, already partly denuded by the pillaging of Quisquis’ warriors and by what had already been taken for Atahualpa’s tribute, were stripped of their remaining treasure. For days on end, in an orgy of vandalism and destruction, with their swords, poniards and lances, the conquistadors hacked and stripped every artefact they could find from the walls and alcoves of its buildings, sheets of gold and silver, emeralds and pearls, carvings and sculptures. Overnight the city was transformed into a garrison of marauding soldiers, their armour and helmets adorned with the jewels they freely looted, intoxicated by the euphoria of their victory and by the Indian chicha they drank, which only added to the ferocity of their behaviour and rape of the city’s women, old and young alike: a brutality only alluded to by the chroniclers.

  Francisco Pizarro, engraving. (Hulton Getty Picture Collection)

  In an age that had witnessed the looting of Rome by the army of their Emperor, and which within ten years would see the pillage of the medieval cathedrals and monasteries of a Catholic England, the sacking of Cuzco needs to be seen in the context of the time, and the brutality that ensued as equal to any in contemporary Europe. Both Spaniard and Inca had traditionally rewarded their soldiers and warriors with the booty of battle: gold, silver, women and male slaves. The fall of Cuzco could be no exception. The chronicler Cieza de León wrote that Quisquis, who had taken with him most of the city’s mamacuna as concubines for his warriors, had also looted a great quantity of treasure. For Pizarro and Almagro, as at Cajamarca, the treasure would be the means of repaying the loans made them by a number of the conquistadors who had supplied them with ships and arms, as in the case of Hernando de Soto, and also their investors in Panama, merchants and Crown officials. It was to be several months before Pizarro would allow the official distribution of the booty, melted into ingots and said to have been half the amount in gold and four times in silver of the Cajamarca tribute, and which possibly represented almost three-quarters of the entire artistic heritage of Inca civilization. As Mansio recalled in his will, his share amounted to 8,000 pesos of gold and also included the Punchao, the gold Inca image of the sun: ‘ . . . which was of gold and which the Incas kept in the house of the sun [Coricancha], which is now the convent of Santo Domingo, where they practised their idolatries, and which I believe was worth some two thousand pesos of gold . . .’. It is more than probable that the gold image he referred to, if not only because of the relatively low value he placed on it, was a smaller sun disc of the temple’s sanctuary which he may have either looted for himself or been awarded by Pizarro, and which he lost in a night of gambling: an act of such wanton abandon it would be commemorated in the Indies for years to come. Among the later chroniclers who recorded the event was the Indian Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti who drew an image in his manuscript of the inner sanctuary of the temple, which he inscribed in the margin with the words: ‘Of this sheet of gold, it is said it was gambled and lost by a Spaniard in Cuzco, or so it is related by those of that place . . .’.18 Well could the young hidalgo some forty years later somewhat arrogantly remind his sovereign King Philip II of the wealth of the Indies, of which the Spanish Crown had been the principal beneficiary:

  From these realms has been taken such an infinity of gold and silver and pearls and riches to the realms of Spain, and which are daily sent to Your Majesty and his kingdom; all of which has been made possible by the conquest, discovery and pacification of these realms by the Marqués Don Francisco Pizarro and those who accompanied him, and the greatest service ever recorded in either ancient or modern history any vassals have rendered their monarch; all at their own cost and endeavour and without any expenditure of the Majesty of the King Don Carlos, our emperor and lord, as is well known, and for which the crowns of Castile and León have been so greatly endowed . . .19

  Punchao, engraving. (Private Collection)

  Other than the principal Punchao of the temple, the Spaniards failed to find the Inca war huaca, a square stone of great size encased in gold and jewels, and the Muru Urco, a giant gold chain in the shape of a snake with the head of an anaconda, which the Emperor Huayna Cápac had commissioned to mark the birth of his son Huáscar. The chain had been used during the religious festivals at Cuzco and had stretched the entire length of the city’s square. For years to come Peru’s colonists would attempt to discover its supposed location in the waters of the lake at Urcos, south-east of Cuzco. And like the great treasures from the Inca Temple of Copacabana, at Lake Titicaca, not a trace has ever been found of the undoubted booty taken by Quisquis’ warriors. Only after the distribution of the city’s treasure did Pizarro, on 23 March 1534, found Cuzco as a municipality in words that convey the psychology of men who, rega
rdless of their ignorance and blatant immorality, saw themselves as the evangelical heirs of the reconquest of Muslim Spain:

  I, Francisco Pizarro, knight of the Order of Santiago, servant and vassal of His Majesty the Emperor King Don Carlos, our lord and gentleman of Spain, adelantado in his name, captain-general and governor of these kingdoms of New Castile, wishing to follow the custom of our ancestors and the order they possessed, and of those who His Majesty commanded for such great service of God, Our Lord, to augment our Holy Catholic Faith and the good conversion of the natives we have defeated in these remote lands, separated from the knowledge of the Holy Faith, and whom by its word were deemed servitors and brothers of ours and descendants of our first father, I wish to continue the settlement of these kingdoms which I have already commenced, in the name of Their Majesties. And wishing to thus continue by founding in this great city, the headship of all the land and sovereignty of the people who there live, and where I am, and at present reside, a town settlement of Spaniards, of those who accompanied me in the conquest of all these lands and of this city, having risked great hardship to their persons and lives and loss of estate in the name of Your Majesty; and thus convene to the service of God, Our Lord, and distribute among them the lands they have won in compensation and satisfaction of their endeavours . . .20

  Detail of the door and wall of Mansio Serra de Leguizamón’s mansion, Cuzco. (Nicholas du Chastel)

  Mansio’s mansion, Cuzco. (Nicholas du Chastel)

  Shortly after his proclamation Pizarro appointed eighty-eight encomenderos to his municipality. ‘In recognition of the service I rendered Your Majesty,’ Mansio recorded in his probanza, ‘and the great expenditure I had incurred, I was among those when the land was divided to be awarded two distributions as a person of merit and for my service, and for which I was given seals.’21 Mansio’s statement adds credence to the fact that he was possibly one of the wealthiest of Almagro’s volunteers, resources he could have either acquired in the years of his service in Veragua as a slaver, or from the gift of his rich relatives at court. ‘I saw that the Marqués was always conscious of those who served him well in the war,’ recalled Pedro de Alconchel, ‘and because he was also so greatly fond of Mansio Serra for being so diligent and deserving he made him an encomendero of Cuzco and gave him a distribution of Indians.’22 Mansio’s award far exceeded that of any other conquistador of his age and relatively junior military rank, other than Pizarro’s youngest brother Gonzalo, and was possibly a reward for the courage he had displayed at Vilcaconga. The repartamientos, distributions, of encomiendas were in effect primarily allocations of Indians from various subject tribes encamped in the Cuzco region as mitimae, tributary labourers, of the Inca lords. As Pedro Pizarro recorded it was Pizarro’s intention to award a cacique to each of his encomenderos.23 The tribal lands of the caciques would also form part of their encomiendas at a later time when the conquistadors had been able to inspect them for themselves, and to subdue any resistance to their authority with the aid of their caciques who formed part of their personal retinue. Mansio was awarded Indians of the lands of Catanga and Callanga in the Yucay valley, and of Alca in the Cuntisuyo, numbering in all several thousand Quéchua, Aymara and Manarí tribesmen and their caciques.24 He was also given by Pizarro a section of the Yacha Huasi, the former Inca house of learning, the adjoining area of which was called Amaru Cata, the slope of the serpent. Here he would build his mansion which would be known as the Casa de Sierpes, the House of the Serpents, and whose carved images of snakes can be seen to this day on its Inca stonework.