The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0074/00740.txt

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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter V: Part II}
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$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Subject{pizarro
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book IV: Civil Wars Of The Conquerors
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter V: Part II

     The conspirators, having accomplished their bloody deed, rushed into
the street, and, brandishing their dripping weapons, shouted out, "The
tyrant is dead!  The laws are restored!  Long live our master the emperor,
and his governor, Almagro!" The men of Chili, roused by the cheering cry,
now flocked in from every side to join the banner of Rada, who soon found
himself at the head of nearly three hundred followers, all armed and
prepared to support his authority.  A guard was placed over the houses of
the principal partisans of the late governor, and their persons were taken
into custody.  Pizarro's house, and that of his secretary Picado, were
delivered up to pillage, and a large booty in gold and silver was found in
the former.  Picado himself took refuge in the dwelling of Riquelme, the
treasurer; but his hiding-place was detected, - betrayed, according to
some accounts, by the looks, though not the words, of the treasurer
himself, - and he was dragged forth and committed to a secure prison. ^17
The whole city was thrown into consternation, as armed bodies hurried to
and fro on their several errands, and all who were not in the faction of
Almagro trembled lest they should be involved in the proscription of their
enemies.  So great was the disorder, that the Brothers of Mercy, turning
out in a body, paraded the streets in solemn procession, with the host
elevated in the air, in hopes by the presence of the sacred symbol to calm
the passions of the multitude.

[Footnote 17: "No se olvidaron de buscar a Antonio Picado, i iendo en casa
del Tesorero Alonso Riquelme, el mismo iba diciendo: No se adonde esta el
Senor Picado, i con los ojos le mostraba, i le hallaron debaxo de la
cama." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 6, lib. 10, cap. 7.

     We find Riquelme's name, soon after this, enrolled among the municipality
of Lima, showing that he found it convenient to give in his temporary
adhesion, at least, to Almagro.  Carta de la Justicia y Regimiento de la
Ciudad de los Reyes, Ms.]

     But no other violence was offered by Rada and his followers than to
apprehend a few suspected persons, and to seize upon horses and arms
wherever they were to be found.  The municipality was then summoned to
recognize the authority of Almagro; the refractory were ejected without
ceremony from their offices, and others of the Chili faction were
substituted.  The claims of the new aspirant were fully recognized; and
young Almagro, parading the streets on horseback, and escorted by a
well-armed body of cavaliers, was proclaimed by sound of trumpet governor
and captain-general of Peru.

     Meanwhile, the mangled bodies of Pizarro and his faithful adherents
were left weltering in their blood.  Some were for dragging forth the
governor's corpse to the market-place, and fixing his head upon a gibbet.
But Almagro was secretly prevailed on to grant the entreaties of Pizarro's
friends, and allow his interment.  This was stealthily and hastily
performed, in the fear of momentary interruption.  A faithful attendant
and his wife, with a few black domestics, wrapped the body in a cotton
cloth and removed it to the cathedral.  A grave was hastily dug in an
obscure corner, the services were hurried through, and, in secrecy, and in
darkness dispelled only by the feeble glimmering of a few tapers furnished
by these humble menials, the remains of Pizarro, rolled in their bloody
shroud, were consigned to their kindred dust.  Such was the miserable end
of the Conqueror of Peru, - of the man who but a few hours before had
lorded it over the land with as absolute a sway as was possessed by its
hereditary Incas.  Cut off in the broad light of day, in the heart of his
own capital, in the very midst of those who had been his companions in
arms and shared with him his triumphs and his spoils, he perished like a
wretched outcast.  "There was none even," in the expressive language of
the chronicler "to say, God forgive him!" ^18

[Footnote 18: "Murio pidiendo confesion, i haciendo la Cruz, sin que nadie
lijese, Dios te perdone." Gomara, Hist de las Ind., cap. 144.

     Ms. de Caravantes. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 8. - Carta
del Maestro, Martin de Arauco, Ms. - Carta de Fray Vicente Valverde, desde
Tumbez, Ms.]

     A few years later, when tranquillity was restored to the country,
Pizarro's remains were placed in a sumptuous coffin and deposited under a
monument in a conspicuous part of the cathedral.  And in 1607, when time
had thrown its friendly mantle over the past, and the memory of his errors
and his crimes was merged in the consideration of the great services he
had rendered to the Crown by the extension of her colonial empire, his
bones were removed to the new cathedral, and allowed to repose side by
side with those of Mendoza, the wise and good viceroy of Peru. ^19

[Footnote 19: "Sus huesos encerrados en una caxa guarnecida de terciopelo
morado con passamanos de oro que yo he visto." Ms. de Caravantes.]

     Pizarro was, probably, not far from sixty-five years of age at the
time of his death; though this, it must be added, is but loose conjecture,
since there exists no authentic record of the date of his birth. ^20 He was
never married; but by an Indian princess of the Inca blood, daughter of
Atahuallpa and granddaughter of the great Huayna Capac, he had two
children, a son and a daughter.  Both survived him; but the son did not
live to manhood.  Their mother, after Pizarro's death, wedded a Spanish
cavalier, named Ampuero, and removed with him to Spain.  Her daughter
Francisca accompanied her, and was there subsequently married to her uncle
Hernando Pizarro, then a prisoner in the Mota del Medina.  Neither the
title nor estates of the Marquess Francisco descended to his illegitimate
offspring.  But in the third generation, in the reign of Philip the
Fourth, the title was revived in favor of Don Juan Hernando Pizarro, who,
out of gratitude for the services of his ancestor, was created Marquess of
the Conquest, Marques de la Conquista, with a liberal pension from
government.  His descendants, bearing the same title of nobility, are
still to be found, it is said, at Truxillo, in the ancient province of
Estremadura, the original birthplace of the Pizarros. ^21

[Footnote 20: Ante, Book 2, chap. 2, note 1.]

[Footnote 21: Ms. de Caravantes. - Quintana, Espanoles Celebres, tom. II.,
p. 417.

     See also the Discurso, Legal y Politico, annexed by Pizarro y
Orellana to his bulky tome, in which that cavalier urges the claims of
Pizarro.  It is in the nature of a memorial to Philip IV in behalf of
Pizarro's descendants, in which the writer, after setting forth the
manifold services of the Conqueror, shows how little his posterity had
profited by the magnificent grants conferred on him by the Crown.  The
argument of the Royal Counsellor was not without its effect.]

     Pizarro's person has been already described.  He was tall in stature,
well-proportioned, and with a countenance not unpleasing.  Bred in camps,
with nothing of the polish of a court, he had a soldier-like bearing, and
the air of one accustomed to command.  But though not polished, there was
no embarrassment or rusticity in his address, which, where it served his
purpose, could be plausible and even insinuating.  The proof of it is the
favorable impression made by him, on presenting himself, after his second
expedition - stranger as he was to all its forms and usages - at the
punctilious court of Castile.

     Unlike many of his countrymen, he had no passion for ostentatious
dress, which he regarded as an incumbrance.  The costume which he most
affected on