A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Capillana
CAPILLANA, (a Peruvian Princess), died about the Middle of the sixteenth Century.
Having become a widow very young, she retired from court to a house she had in the country. Scarcely was she established there, when Pizarro appeared upon the coast. Having sent his people to reconnoitre the country, they penetrated to the palace of Capillana, who gave them all the succours they wanted; and expressed a desire to see their general. Pizarro came, and an attachment soon took place between them. He knew all the advantages of such a conquest; and profiting of his ascendancy on the heart of Capillana, persuaded her to embrace the Christian faith; but the young princess was not easily convinced, and he left off the attempt; yet afterwards applying herself to study the Spanish language, she became a convert. On the death of Pizarro, she retired again to her retreat, and sought consolation in the knowledge she had acquired. In the library of the Dominicans of Puna, a manuscript of her composition is preserved, in which is painted, by her hand, ancient Peruvian monuments—each accompanied with a short historical explanation in the Castilian language. There is also a representation of many of their plants, with curious dissertations on their merit and properties.