CHAPTER XVII
GARCILASSO INCA DE LA VEGA
The Spanish conquerors were captivated by the charms of Inca princesses and their attendants at Cuzco. Three daughters of Huayna Ccapac had Spanish husbands. Beatriz Ñusta married Mancio Serra de Leguisamo, one of the conquerors, to whom much interest attaches owing to his remarkable will. Another, Beatriz Ñusta, was the wife of Martin de Mustincia, and secondly of Diego Hernandez. Inez Ñusta had two children by Francisco Pizarro. A niece of Huayna Ccapac, named Francisca Nusta, married Juan de Collantes, and was ancestress of Bishop Piedrahita the historian. Angelina, daughter of Atahualpa, married Juan de Betanzos, the author and Quichua scholar.
Hualpa Tupac Yupanqui, the next brother of the Inca Huayna Ccapac, had a son of the same names, and a daughter named Isabel Yupanqui Ñusta, the wife of the Spanish knight, Garcilasso de la Vega, and mother of the famous Inca historian. Paullu Tupac Yupanqui, the brother of the Inca Manco, had thrown in his lot with the Spaniards, was baptised with the name of Cristoval in 1543, and received a grant of the Colcampata palace, overlooking Cuzco. He married Catalina Mama Usica, his cousin, and had two sons, Carlos and Felipe. Prince Paullu died in May 1549.
Garcilasso de la Vega, third son of Don Alonzo de Hinestrosa de Vargas and of Doña Blanca Sotomayor Suarez de Figueroa, was born at Badajos, and was a knight of very noble lineage. His great pride was in his descent from that famous warrior, Garci Perez de Vargas, who fought by the side of St. Ferdinand at the taking of Seville in 1348. Another ancestor was Garcilasso, who received the name of de la Vega in memory of a famous duel fought with a gigantic Moor in the Vega of Granada.
Garcilasso de la Vega,
They the youth thenceforward call,
For his duel in the Vega
Of Granada chanced to fall.
Another ancestor was Diego de Mendoza, who saved the life of King Juan I at the battle of Aljubarrota. The Duke of Feria was the head of his mother's family, and he was also related to the Mendozas, Dukes of Infantado.
Born in 1506, young Garcilasso de la Vega was well practised in the use of arms when, in 1531, at the age of twenty-five, he set out for the New World as a captain of infantry with Alonzo de Alvarado, who was returning to resume his government of Guatemala. On hearing of the riches of Peru, Alvarado sailed with a large fleet from Nicaragua, and landed in the bay of Carangues in May 1534. Garcilasso de la Vega was with him, and shared all the terrible hardships and sufferings of the subsequent march to Riobamba. After the convention with Almagro, and the dispersal of Alvarado's forces, Garcilasso was sent to complete the conquest of the country round Buenaventura. He and his small band of followers forced their way through dense forests, enduring almost incredible hardships. He next went to Lima, and marched thence for the relief of Cuzco, which was surrounded by a native army under the Inca Manco. He returned to Lima after the siege, and was an officer under another Alvarado, when he was sent by Pizarro to dislodge Almagro from Cuzco. Defeated in the battle of Abancay, Garcilasso suffered a long imprisonment until the final overthrow of Almagro in April 1538. Afterwards he accompanied Gonzalo Pizarro in his conquest of Charcas, and received a grant of land near Cochabamba. He then became a citizen of Cuzco, and married the Princess Isabel Yupanqui Ñusta, formerly called Chimpa Ocllo. A contemporary portrait depicts a delicate-looking girl with large, gentle eyes and slightly aquiline nose, long black tresses hanging over her shoulders, and a richly ornamented woollen mantle secured in front by a large golden pin. Their house was at the north-west angle of the Cusi-pata, or that part of the great square which was on the west side of the Huatanay torrent. It was next door to the house of the Princess Beatriz, married to Mancio Serra de Leguisamo. From that time, though he was often away for long periods during the civil wars, the events of the life of the elder Garcilasso were closely entwined with those of his young son, the Inca.
The son of the knight Garcilasso de la Vega by the Inca princess was born in their house at Cuzco[1] on the 12th of April 1539. His earliest recollection was of the beautiful view from the balcony. He looked down into the catu or market, and on his right was the convent of La Merced, where the Almagros and Gonzalo Pizarro were buried. The house had a long balcony over the entrance, where the principal lords of the city assembled to witness the bull fights and cane tournaments, which took place in the square. There was a view of the splendid snowy peak of Vilcañota, 'like a pyramid, and so lofty that, though twenty-five leagues away,[2] and though other mountains intervene, it could be seen from the balcony. It does not appear as a mass of rock, but as a peak of pure and perpetual snow without ever melting. Its name means a sacred and wonderful thing.'[3]
The young Inca's grown-up male relations at Cuzco were his father's brother, Juan Vargas,[4] his father's cousin, Garcia Sanchez de Figueroa, and the brother of his mother, Hualpa Tupac Yupanqui, besides Prince Paullu and the husbands of his cousins the princesses, Mancio Serra de Leguisamo, Juan de Betanzos and Diego Hernandez. There were children of these and other native women, called mestizos, or half-castes, with whom the young Inca Garcilasso associated, and who were his friends and schoolfellows. A year before the boy's birth his father was away fighting on the side of Vaca de Castro at the battle of Chupas, where he was severely wounded. His absences were so long and frequent, that he had a friend named Diego de Alcobasa to live in the house and look after his interests. The young Inca called him his 'Ayo,' or tutor, and the two young Alcobasas were brought up almost as brothers. Young Garcilasso's godfather was Diego de Silva, a citizen and alcalde.
The education question was a very difficult one for the young mestizos during all the turmoil of civil wars, with the long paternal absences. At first they got a priest named Pedro Sanchez, and when he deserted them they were taught and disciplined by a worthy canon of the cathedral named Juan de Cuellar, a native of Medina del Campo. He read Latin with them for two years amidst the clash of arms, amidst rumours of wars and actual fighting, having undertaken the task out of kindness, and at the request of the boys themselves. The school numbered eighteen:
| 1. | Garcilasso Inca de la Vega | 10. | Juan Arias Maldonado | ||
| 2. | Carlos Inca | 11. | Gaspar Centeno | ||
| 3. | Felipe Inca | 12. | Pedro Altamirano | ||
| 4. | Francisco Pizarro | 13. | Francisco Altamirano | ||
| 14. | A son of Garcia Sanchez | ||||
| 5. | Juan Serra de Leguisamo | de Figueroa | |||
| 6. | Diego de Alcobasa | 15. | A son of Pedro de Candia | ||
| 7. | Francisco de Alcobasa | 16. |  |
||
| 8. | Juan de Cillorico | 17. |  |
Sons of Pedro del Barco | |
| 9. | Bartolomé Monedero | 18. |  |
||
They were all eager to learn, Felipe Inca being the most clever. But the good canon was pleased with them all, seeing how much aptitude they displayed for grammar and the sciences. He used to say, 'O sons! what a pity it is that a dozen of you should not be in the university of Salamanca.'
Out of school hours they amused themselves in the best way they could. Atahualpa was naturally hated by the Incas of Cuzco, and to insult his memory the boys used to make the night hideous by using his name to imitate the crowing of a cock. The Inca describes the music as
2 crochets, 1 minim, 1 semibreve, 4 notes all on one key.
They treated his generals who had four syllables in their names in the same way—Chalcuchima, Rumi-ñaui, and Quilliscancha. They often went up to the fortress to explore the Inca ruins, which within ten years had all been taken away to build houses in the city. They ventured into the subterranean passages, and passed much time in tobogganing down the grooves in the Rodadero rock. They also had more sensible amusements, and went out hawking with the small falcons of the country, at Quepaypa. This is the fatal spot where the Incas surrendered and made submission to the generals of Atahualpa. The greatest excitement was when new animals and new fruits arrived from Spain for the first time. The first bullocks in the plough, the property of Juan Rodriguez de Villalobos, appeared near Cuzco in 1550. The young Inca went off to see them, with a great crowd, when he ought to have been at school. The land ploughed was just above the convent of St. Francis, and the names of the bullocks were Chaparro, Naranjo, and Castillo. It was a marvellous sight for the boy, but he had to pay for acting truant. His father flogged him, and the schoolmaster gave him another flogging because his father had not given him enough. The next wonder was a donkey which his father had bought at Guamanga to breed mules from his mares.
Horses were very precious and very dear. But this did not restrain the young mestizos from riding races down the streets of Cuzco. Antonio de Altamirano, father of the Altamirano boys, was very rich. He had received one half of the palace of Huayna Ccapac, and found hidden there an immense haul of gold and silver cups and vases. He could afford to keep several horses, and his sons could mount their schoolfellows. One day they were riding a race, and a very pretty girl watched them from a window. Pedro Altamirano kept looking back at her, until at last he fell off. But the horse stopped for him to mount again. Their father was the first person in Cuzco who owned cows. Unfortunately both the Altamirano boys died young, 'to the great grief of the whole city, by reason of the promise they gave of ability and virtue.'
Wonders continued to present themselves to the astonished eyes of young Garcilasso. A knight named Bartolomé de Terraças was the first to send grapes to Cuzco. The bunches were sent to the elder Garcilasso to distribute among the citizens. His son had to take the dishes to each house, attended by two young Indian pages, and of course he did not fail to enjoy a good share himself by the way. He was not so fortunate with the asparagus. The Treasurer Garcia de Melo could only send three stalks to his father, who cooked them at the brasero in his own room, sent his son for salt and pepper, and gave a tiny bit to each of his guests. But young Garcilasso got none, although he had brought the trimmings.
The young Inca's mother and her family were well acquainted with the virtues of many herbs and roots. There was one very formidable white root, which was pounded, put in water, and given to young Garcilasso to drink when he had a stomach-ache. It was a drastic remedy. First it made him feel sick, and in half an hour he was so giddy that he could not stand. Then he felt as if ants were crawling over his body and down his veins. He next felt as if he was going to die. When the medicine had finished working he was left quite well, with a tremendous appetite. He himself effected a signal cure on a boy named Martin, son of Pedro Fernandez the loyal, who was suffering from a sore and inflamed eye. Garcilasso took a plant called matecllu, which is found in streams, a foot long with one round leaf at the end. He mashed it, and applied it as a poultice to his friend, who was cured after two applications. Afterwards he saw Martin in Spain in 1611, when he was head groom to the Duke of Feria, and he said that he saw better in that eye than in the other.
As Garcilasso grew up he exchanged his boyish games and excursions for the more serious cane tournaments, requiring much practice. He played in the tournaments on the feast of Santiago five times, also at the baptism of Inca Sayri Tupac, when he rode a young horse which had not completed its third year.
The youth Garcilasso was a born topographer, with a remarkable memory. Forty years after he left Cuzco he described the city, with the exact positions of the houses of sixty-six Spanish citizens. Little had been altered in his youth. He remembered three of the great covered halls attached to the palaces of the Incas, 200 paces long by 50, one in the Amaru-cancha or palace of Huayna Ccapac, now the church of the Jesuits, another in the Cassana or palace of Pachacuti, capable of holding 4000 people, and another on the Colcampata. The great hall of the palace of Uira-cocha, on the east side of the great square, was in process of being converted into the cathedral.
The first great trouble remembered by the young Inca was when Gonzalo Pizarro rose against the Viceroy Blasco Nuñez de Vela and the new laws. The Cuzco citizens were forced to join if they did not escape. The elder Garcilasso de la Vega, Pedro del Barco, Antonio Altamirano, and Hernando Bachicao fled to Lima. The three last, two of them fathers of the young Inca's schoolfellows, were hanged by Pizarro's cruel old lieutenant Carbajal. Garcilasso was concealed for weeks in the convent of San Francisco at Lima, but at last Gonzalo Pizarro pardoned him. He was kept as a sort of prisoner, and obliged to accompany the rebels. Meanwhile the house at Cuzco was attacked by the Pizarro faction, and besieged. The garrison consisted of the young Inca with his mother and sister, the Alcobasas, and two faithful maids. They were nearly starved, and when the besiegers got in, the house was pillaged. At last Diego Centeno arrived with the Inca's uncle, Juan Vargas, and the family was relieved. They had been living on alms.
Centeno advanced to Lake Titicaca, where the battle of Huarina was fought on October 25, 1547. Gonzalo Pizarro was victorious, and marched triumphantly to Cuzco. Centeno fled, and Juan Vargas was killed, to the great grief of his brother and nephew. Garcilasso de la Vega was forced to accompany the rebels, and was an unwilling spectator of the battle of Huarina, where his brother lost his life on the loyal side. He had to lend his favourite horse 'Salinillas' to Gonzalo Pizarro, and to go with him in his triumphant march northwards.
On the approach of the rebels, the little Inca went out of Cuzco to meet his father, as far as Quispicancha, over ten miles. He went partly on foot and partly on the backs of two Indian servants. The meeting must have been a very joyful one, for the family had suffered much during the father's absence. They gave the little boy a horse for the return journey. Gonzalo Pizarro entered Cuzco triumphantly, with such bells as there were ringing joyful peals. There was an interval of nearly five months and a half between his victory at Huarina and his defeat and death at Sacsahuana. Young Garcilasso says that the great rebel treated him as if he had been his own son. The Inca was much in Gonzalo's house, and, though barely nine years old, he dined twice at the Procurator's table in company with his cousin and schoolfellow Francisco Pizarro, the son of the Marquis. Gonzalo Pizarro amused himself by making the two boys have running and jumping matches, until a rivalry was created between the young competitors.
Then came the rout of Sacsahuana on April 8, 1548, when the elder Garcilasso took the opportunity of galloping over to the royalist side on his favourite horse 'Salinillas,' which had been returned to him by Gonzalo. The interment of the headless body of Gonzalo Pizarro in the church of La Merced quickly followed. Then there were some years of peace, and young Garcilasso eagerly gathered knowledge as his age increased. He listened, with the deepest interest, when his mother's relations came to their house and conversed on the majesty and grandeur of the Incas, their government and laws. Soon he began to ask questions, and was told of the mythical origin of his ancestors, of the settling of the city, and the deeds of Manco Ccapac. On other occasions he listened to the conversations of the Spanish conquerors, when they fought their battles over again with his father. He also had opportunities of examining the quipus of his father's vassals when they came to pay their tribute at Christmas or St. John's. Comparing the tribute with the knots, he soon came to understand their system of accounts by quipus.
Another civil war was impending. The President of the Audiencia, Pedro de la Gasca, so undeservedly praised by Prescott, had left the country seething with discontent, and in a most unsettled state. At last the storm burst at Cuzco, the malcontents having secretly planned a rising under the leadership of Francisco Hernandez Giron. Young Garcilasso had lost his mother a few years before, and his father had married a Spanish lady.
On November 13, 1553, there was a marriage at Cuzco of Don Alonso de Loaysa, nephew of the Archbishop of Lima, with a young lady named Maria de Castilla, and a grand wedding supper was given in the evening. The ladies supped separately in an inner room. Young Garcilasso came rather late, to return with his father and step-mother. The Corregidor was presiding, and the lad was just sitting down at his invitation, when the street door was thrown violently open, and Giron stalked in with his drawn sword, followed by two men armed with partisans. The company started to their feet, two were killed and then the lights were put out. The Corregidor ran into the room of the ladies, who were not molested, but he was taken prisoner. The Garcilassos, father and son, with some others, found a passage which led into the back-yard. They all climbed up on to the roof of the house next door, which belonged to Juan de Figueroa. Thence they got into a back street. Young Garcilasso was sent forward as a scout until they reached the house of his father's brother-in-law, Antonio de Quiñones. They had married sisters. It took a little time for young Garcilasso to get horses ready, but before midnight his father and Quiñones had galloped out of Cuzco, on their way to Lima. The young Inca was left in charge of his step-mother. The Giron rebellion lasted for a year, ending with the battle of Pucara on October 24, 1554.
The elder Garcilasso became Corregidor of Cuzco in 1555, and his son began to be very useful to him. The father's estates were at Tapacri, near Cochabamba, at Cotonera, Huamanpalpa, and the coca plantation of Abisca. The son visited these properties, and also acted as his father's secretary during his term of office. Both were very busy collecting subscriptions for the erection of a hospital for Indians, of which the elder Garcilasso laid the first stone. The good knight showed great kindness to the young sons of Pedro del Barco, who were left fatherless and destitute.
The Viceroy, Don Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cañete, arrived at Lima in July 1555. He was very anxious that the young Inca Sayri Tupac should consent to come out of Vilcapampa, and live with the Spaniards. He wrote to the Corregidor of Cuzco and to the Princess Beatriz, wife of Leguisamo, asking them to make the necessary arrangements. It was a difficult matter, requiring skilful diplomacy, for the Inca's tutors were fearful of treachery. Juan Betanzos was sent, but was not allowed to enter the Inca's territory. Only the princess's son, Juan Serra de Leguisamo, was permitted to reach the presence of the Inca with the Viceroy's rich presents. After much deliberation Sayri Tupac consented to go to Lima, carried in a litter. He was very cordially received by the Viceroy and Archbishop, and granted a pension and an estate in the valley of Vilcamayu. Sayri Tupac then began the journey to Cuzco. At Guamanga he was presented, by a knight named Miguel Astete, with the llautu, or fringe of sovereignty, which had been taken from Atahualpa.
Sayri Tupac lived in the house of his aunt, the Princess Beatriz, while he was at Cuzco, and all those of the blood-royal went there to kiss his hand. Among others, the young Inca Garcilasso waited upon his cousin, and they drank chicha together out of silver cups. The Inca Sayri Tupac was married to Cusi Huarcay, a granddaughter of the ill-fated Inca Huascar. They were both baptised at Cuzco, and then proceeded to the abode assigned to them near Yucay. Sayri Tupac died in 1560. His daughter, Clara Beatriz, married Don Martin Garcia Loyola, a nephew of St. Ignatius. Their daughter Lorenza was created Marquesa de Oropesa in her own right, with remainder to the descendants of her great-uncle, Tupac Amaru. She married Juan Henriquez de Borja, a grandson of the Duke of Gandia.
The last year of the abode of the young Inca Garcilasso in the home of his childhood was a very melancholy one. His father was suffering from a long and painful illness. He died in 1559, and his son, now in his twentieth year, was left alone in the world. It was settled that he should realise what worldly possessions he could get together, and seek his fortune in the mother country. When he went to take leave of the Corregidor, Polo de Ondegardo, that body-snatching official showed him the mummies of three Incas and two Ccoyas, which he had found after a prolonged search. He called them Uira-cocha, Tupac Yupanqui, Huayna Ccapac, Mama Runtu and Mama Ocllo. The Incas were in their ceremonial dresses, and wore the llautu.
On January 23, 1560, the Inca Garcilasso left Cuzco never to return. There are a few glimpses of the young exile during his journey. His first halt was at Marca Huasi, nine leagues from Cuzco, an estate owned by Pedro Lopez de Caçalla, secretary to La Gasca. The manager took him over the vineyards, but did not offer him any grapes, for which he was longing. The excuse was that they were grown to make wine, to compete for a prize. Garcilasso next turns up in the valley of Huarcu, or Cañete, on the coast, where he hears of the wonderful harvests of wheat. On the voyage he was becalmed for three days off Cape Pasaos, in 0⋅20° S. He mentions being at Panama and Carthagena, and in 1562 he was at Madrid, where he saw Hernando Pizarro and Las Casas. The good Bishop gave the young mestizo his hand to kiss, but when he found that the youth was from Peru, and not from Mexico, he had little to say to him.
Garcilasso de la Vega does not appear to have been welcomed with any very great amount of cordiality by his grand relations in Spain. How he must have regretted his happy boyhood at Cuzco, and the loss of all his friends! At first he got some letters from his cousin Figueroa, and his Inca uncle, Hualpa Tupac Yupanqui.
The young Inca made an application for the restitution of the patrimony of his mother, and for a recognition of his father's faithful services. It was referred to the Council of the Indies, and the members were convinced by his proofs until an ill-natured lawyer named Lope Garcia de Castro intervened. He was afterwards Governor of Peru from 1564 to 1569. He asked the Inca what favour he could expect when his father was at the battle of Huarina helping Gonzalo Pizarro. Garcilasso replied that it was false. Castro then said that three historians had affirmed it, and who was he to deny what they said? So his petition was rejected. His best friend at this sad time, and for long afterwards, was Don Alonzo Fernandez de Cordova, Lord of the House of Aguilar, and Marquis of Priego, a Figueroa cousin of Garcilasso on his grandmother's side.
The Inca obtained a captaincy in the army of Philip II, and served in the campaign against the Moriscos under Don Juan of Austria. He soon afterwards left a military life, poor and in debt, and devoted himself to literary pursuits. His first production was a translation from the Italian of the 'Dialogues of Love' by a Jew named Abarbanel, who wrote under the nom de plume of El Leon Ebreo. The Inca's translation was published in 1590. The dedication to the King contains a full account of Garcilasso's Inca lineage.
His next work was a narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto in Florida, which he completed in 1591. He is said to have got his information chiefly from the accounts of an old soldier who served with de Soto. It was first published at Lisbon in 1605, and reprinted several times. The best edition is that of 1722.
Don Pascual de Gayangos gave me a curious manuscript written by the Inca, which appears to have been intended for a dedicatory epistle to be placed at the beginning of the Inca's work on Florida. It is addressed to the head of the Vargas family, and consists of a full genealogical account of the house of Vargas, followed by an abstract of the contents of the work on Florida, and an explanation of the system adopted by the author in its division into six books. In the genealogical part there are several interesting digressions, both personal and historical.
We gather from this document that his uncle, Don Alonzo de Vargas, a military officer of long and varied service, being childless, adopted the Inca as his heir.
For many years before his death Garcilasso had lived in a hired house in the city of Cordova—'mi pobre casa de alquiler.' He was never married. As years rolled on he began to think more of the land of his birth, and, as we can gather from the above document, he had resolved to write the story of his native land in 1596, the date of the document.[5]
In that or the next year a Jesuit residing at Cordova, named Maldonado de Saavedra, a native of Seville, gave the Inca the history of Peru by Blas Valera, a manuscript written in most elegant Latin. The Inca says that only one half was rescued from pillage during the sack of Cadiz by the English. But the priests were allowed to take their papers with them, and Dr. Gonzalez de la Rosa thinks that Garcilasso received the history intact. He speaks with great respect of the knowledge and learning of Blas Valera, quoting twenty-one passages from his work, most of them long and important. For a narrative of the events of each Inca's reign, Garcilasso wrote to his old schoolfellows asking them to help him by sending him accounts of conquests of the Incas in the countries of their mothers, for each province has its quipus and recorded annals and traditions. He adds that they sent them to him, and that he thus got the records of the deeds of the Incas. His great friend Diego de Alcobasa had become a priest, and he sent a valuable account of the ruins of Tiahuanacu. But Garcilasso mentions no others by name. The cruel edict of Toledo had banished and scattered his mestizo schoolfellows. It is difficult to avoid a suspicion that the narratives of historical events are based on the history of Blas Valera and unacknowledged, and not on communications from his schoolfellows. Garcilasso further says that his plan is to relate what he heard in his childhood from his mother and her relations respecting the origin of the Incas.
His work is divided into two parts, the first containing a history of the Incas and their civilisation, and the second being a record of the Spanish conquest and subsequent civil wars. The title is, 'The Royal Commentaries of Peru.' The first part received the approval and licence of the Inquisition in 1604, and was published at Lisbon in 1609, dedicated to the Duchess of Braganza. The second part appeared at Cordova in 1617, after the author's death, 'by the widow of Andres Barrera and at her cost.'
The work is, in fact, a commentary to a large extent. For events, and accounts of religious rites and customs, he quotes largely from other authors, sometimes adding criticisms of their statements. The authors he quotes are: Blas Valera, twenty-one times; Cieza de Leon, thirty times; Acosta, twenty-seven times; Gomara, eleven times; Zarate, nine times; Fernandez twice; and his friends Alcobasa and Figueroa seven times. His own personal reminiscences are by far the most interesting passages, and they are scattered about everywhere throughout both parts.
The 'Royal Commentaries' were, until quite recently, the most valued authority for Peruvian civilisation and the history of the Incas. The position of the writer as an Inca on the mother's side, the fulness of detail both as regards the history and the manners, customs, and religion of the people, and the peculiar charm of his style fully account for the position his work held for so long. Prescott quotes Garcilasso twice as often as any other authority. But the Inca was writing forty years after he had left the country. Sarmiento now, to a great extent, supersedes his history. Molina, Morua, Blas Valera, Salcamayhua, and other writers whose works have recently come to light, are more reliable as regards the religion and manners and customs of the people, because they wrote on the spot and with fuller knowledge. Dr. Gonzalez de la Rosa has shown reason for questioning Garcilasso's integrity as regards the use of the manuscript of Blas Valera. Yet, in spite of all this, the Inca will continue to be an important authority, while the charm of his personal reminiscences must ever have a fascination for his readers from which no criticism can detract.
The Inca must have led a somewhat lonely bachelor's life at Cordova, yet it can scarcely have been an unhappy one, when his occupation filled him constantly with happy remembrances of his boyhood. He had the pleasure of welcoming at least one of his schoolfellows. This was Juan Arias Maldonado, son of Maldonado the rich. He had been robbed of his estates and driven out of the country by the cruel tyrant Toledo. He had obtained leave to return to Peru for three years, to recover some of his property. Before sailing he came to the Inca at Cordova with his wife. They were in great poverty, and the Inca gave them all the white clothing he possessed, and much cloth and taffeta. They reached the bay of Payta, where Juan Arias died of joy at once more seeing his native land.
In 1603 the Inca was deeply interested in the efforts of his mother's family to obtain some small modicum of justice. Melchior Carlos Inca, the son of his unfortunate old schoolfellow Carlos Inca, accompanied by Don Alonso de Mesa, son of one of the best of the conquerors, had come to Spain to petition for his rights. The few surviving Incas wrote to empower Garcilasso, Alonso de Mesa, and Melchior to act for them in striving to obtain immunity for them from many vexatious and ruinous imposts. They also sent proofs of their descent painted on a yard and a half of white silk of China, with the Incas in their ancient dresses. The covering letter was dated April 16, 1603, and signed by four Incas, each one representing an ayllu. There were then 567[6] agnates of the royal family. In 1604 Melchior Carlos Inca received a grant of 7500 ducats a year in perpetuity from the Lima treasury, and was invested with the order of Santiago. He was not allowed to return to Peru, and he died at Alcala de Henares in 1610. His only son died in the same year, and thus the main line of Prince Paullu became extinct.[7] Nothing could be effected for the Inca petitioners. Most of them, with many of their mestizo relations, perished in misery and exile.
Garcilasso Inca de la Vega was a devoted son of the Church. In his last years he was much occupied in the preparation of a side-chapel in the cathedral of Cordova for his interment. It was to be dedicated to the souls in purgatory. From his will[8] we gather that his house was fairly well furnished, that he had a gold jewel inlaid with a diamond, and a grandfather's clock. His plate for table and sideboard was sufficient for his rank, and his accoutrements during the Morisco war were hanging on his walls: a cutlass, a battle-axe, an engraved helmet, a halberd, and spurs. A cage with five canary birds hung by the old man's chair. There were two bookcases and a stand for papers. On September 18, 1612, he had bought the chapel in the cathedral from the Bishop, and he left a number of other legal documents, including the will of his uncle and guardian, Alonzo de Vargas, dated 1570. The Inca was well supplied with linen sheets and pillow-cases for his beds, as well as mattresses and counterpanes.
The old Inca's household consisted of Diego de Vargas, whom he had brought up, Beatriz de Vega, a captive slave named Marina de Cordova, Maria de Prados, an orphan child brought up by him, and a lad named Francisco. By his will he emancipated Marina, and left them all small pensions, their beds and chests, and all the wheat, bacon, and wine in the house, to be divided equally.
Masses were to be said daily in his mortuary chapel, a lamp was to be kept burning in it, and there was to be a salary for the sacristan. Funds were provided of which the Dean and Chapter were appointed trustees.
The Inca Garcilasso de la Vega died in his house in the parish of Santa Maria in Cordova on April 22, 1616, just ten days after his seventy-seventh birthday. He was buried in the chapel he had purchased and restored, in the cathedral of Cordova. Visitors are fascinated by the wonderful beauty of the interior, with its forests of pillars, with its memories of the Beni Umeyyah, and the exquisite Mihrab of Hakem II. Perhaps a few may find time to give a thought to the good old Inca. His chapel is on the north side, the third from the east. His arms are over the iron grating and gate. On the dexter side are Vargas quartering Figueroa, Saavedra, and Mendoza, and impaling the arms granted to the Incas. These are azure two serpents supporting a rainbow from their mouths, from which hangs the llautu, in chief a sun and moon. The stone covering the tomb is in the centre of the little chapel. The epitaph painted on boards is on each side of the altar. On the gospel side:
'The Inca Garcilasso de la Vega, a distinguished man worthy of perpetual memory, illustrious in blood, well versed in letters, valiant in arms. Son of Garcilasso de la Vega of the ducal houses of Feria and Infantado, and of Elizabeth Palla, sister of Huaina Ccapac, last Emperor of Peru. He edited La Florida, translated Leon Ebreo, composed the Royal Commentaries.'
On the epistle side:
'He lived very religiously in Cordova, died, and was buried in this chapel. He closed up his estate in a chain for the good of souls in purgatory, being perpetual trustees the Dean and Chapter of this holy church. He died on the 22nd of April, 1616.''Pray to God for his soul.'
A lamp hangs from the roof, and is always kept burning, night and day, in accordance with the clause in the Inca's will.
- ↑ The previous owner of the house was Francisco de Oñate, who was killed at the battle of Chupas, April 26, 1538, fighting for Almagro the lad.
- ↑ Nearer fifteen.
- ↑ Vilca means sacred, but unuta is water. It was the sacred source of the Vilcamayu.
- ↑ The Spaniards in those days were very uncertain about surnames. One brother would take his father's, another his mother's, and a third his grandmother's. Vargas was the father's, Figueroa the mother's, Garcilasso de la Vega a maternal ancestor's name.
- ↑ 'I shall enter upon it more fully in the proper descent and history of those Kings Incas, if God gives me strength, and if evil fortune does not pursue me—but it always seems to thwart me in what I most desire.'
- ↑ The 5 should certainly be 2, but 267 would include descendants of all Orejones, not only Inca agnates. There were 83 Incas who were witnesses for Sarmiento's history, and 118 of Toledo's witnesses, not all Incas, making 200. This allows for 67 not called upon.
- ↑ Dr. Justo Sahuaraura, Archdeacon of Cuzco, claimed that Melchior Carlos Inca had a brother named Bartolomé Quispe Atauchi, from whom he was descended in the male line down to Luis Ramos Titu Atauchi, a lawyer at Cuzco, who died childless, Maria, the sister of Luis Ramos, is said to have married Nicolas Sahuaraura, who was the father of Dr. Justo Sahuaraura. Dr. Justo was in the battle of Ayacucho as a young man, and afterwards took orders. He died in 1853. I knew his nieces.
- ↑ First discovered by Dr. Gonzalez de la Rosa, who obtained a copy from the 'Archivo' de Protocolos at Cordova in 1908.