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I
BooK
V.
Royal
Commentarier.
Barco
his Companion with many other Gentlemen of the Families of
Alv arado,
and
chavu,
and othe; perfons of Qgality engaged
i~
the Conquefi of thofe King–
doms
w
h0
were all, or the
mofr
of thetn , Natives of
Eftremadura
;
and for
that ;eafon many Souldiers born in that Province, following their Countrey-men
of note were employed in chat Enterprize
~
wherefore, in honour thereunto, we
ought
~ot
to cover the names of fuch Sons in obfcurity, who have fignalized them–
felves to the World by fuch Fieroick Altions.
Gonfalo Piptrro
was of the name
of the
Piy-arro'
s,
which is a Family of ancient bloud? illuffrious and well known
over all
Stain~
Don
H ernando Cortes,
who was Marqms
Del
Valle,
was by the Mo–
ther-fide of
1:hat
Family, called
Donna Catalina
Pifarro;
fo
that this Lineage is
worthy of honour, being entitled to the Conqueft of two Empires.
Befides the Antiquity of this
F~mily,
Gonf f lo
Pifa1~0
and.his Brothers were the
Sons of
Gonf_alo
Pif arro,
a Captam of the Guards m the Kmgdom of
Navarre
;
which is an Office of great
reputatio~
in that
~ountrey,
for that all the
~ouldiers
thereof are to be Gentlemen of ancient Families, or fuch as have obtained this
Honour by fome great and heroick Aetion: the which Office
is
of
fo
great
efl:eem· that, co my knowledge , a Grandee of
Spain
,
called
Don Alonfo
Fernande~
de
Cordoua,
and
FigHerM,
Marquis
De
Pr~ego
2
Chiefof the Hou_fe of
Aguilar.,
avai–
led-himfelf much on the Honour of pemg Captam of _HorJe
in
the Kingdom
of
NkV~
-wlllch
Office he continued untill the day of his death, and was much
honoured by all the Souldiers of thofe pares.
Gonfalo
Pifarro
was a very comely perfon in the !hape of his Body, of a pleafing
countenance, of a confirmed health, and one who could endure aU hardiliips, as
harll been proved by this -Hifl:ory : He was · an excellent Horfeman in both
Saddles, either riding !hort, or"' ith long Stirrups; he was an excellent Markel=
man either with Gun
or Crofs-bow : with a black-lead Pencil he could draw
any
~bing
in the 'Nall
which.hedefired; and was the mofi: dexterous with his
Lance of
a~y
man that eve« paffed into the ne\.V.. World, of which many famous
men of thofe times give tefl:imony. He was a great lover of good Horfes, and
kept many of them in
his
-Stables. At the beginning of the Conqueft he had cwo
of a Chefi-nut colour, one of which he called the Clown , becaufe he was not
well !haped, but very good for fervice, the ocher he called
Zaynillo.
Some Gentle–
men of that time being in converfation together, one of them who had been a
Companion with
Gonfalo
Pipirro
gave this Charatl:er of him, which I heard from
his
own mouth. Wilen
Gonfalo Pifarro,
faid he, was mounted on his
Z aynillo,
he
no-more valued a Squadron
Of
Jndians,
than
if
they had been
afwarm
oLFlies
.t
he was of a noble nature, clear and fincere, without malice, fraud
Gt
defigns: he was
a
man of truth, confident of his friend and of thofe whom he thought co be
fo
which proved his ruine: Aod becaufe he was a man without cheats or fraud,
h~
was judged by W ricers to be weak in his underfianding: but they doe him wrong
for certainly he was of a
cl~~
bead , and naturally inclined to venue and honour'
he was of an affable difpofition, and generally beloved both by friends and ene:
mies ; and, in !bore, was endued with all the noble Qgalicies, which become a
g}:eat Perfon. As
to
riches gained by his own indufl:ry; we may properly
fay
dmc
he·was Mafi:er of all the wealth of
Peru,
which he poifef!ed and governed
for a long time, and with
fo
much juftice and equity, that the Prefident did him
the right to praife and commend his Government, as we have before declared
He conferred upon others great and large proportions of Land, and
jurifdictio~
.
over
Indian~,
that ma_ny of them amounted .unto ten, ochers to twe.nty and thirty
thouCand pieces of Eight ofyearly revenue: he was a very good Chnfl:ian and zea–
lou~y dev~ted
to our Lady
~he
Virgin
M ary,
Mother of God, as the Prefidenc gave
te(hmony m the Letter which he wrote. He never denyed any thing which was
. asked for the fake of our Lady, though of never
fo
great an importance
:
which
being known to
Franclfco
de
Carvajal
and his Officers; when they had a mind
tQ
put any man to death, they would never fuffer his Perition to come to the ears
of
Pip:irro,
lell: they fhould
as~
a thing
in
the name of our Lady, for whofe fake
l1e was refolved
to
deny nothing.
He
was much beloved for his moral Venues
and
military
Exploits : And though
it
was convenient for the Service of his Ma..
1efi:y to take away his life, yet generally his death was lamented for the many Ex–
f~llencies
with which he .was endued;
fo
that I never heard any that fpake ill of
mm , but all well and with great refpett, as became a Superiour. And whereas
Palcntino
faith, that
many
gave their opinion, and did earnefily infifi , that
he
Qq qq q
ould