An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru (19 page)

At the time when this back and forth between Cuzco and my land was going on, a certain doctor by the name of Cuenca, His Majesty's auditor [oidor], was the royally appointed judge [corregidor] of Cuzco. One day a group of Indians, who had been assigned to Nuño de Mendoza and who lived on the banks
of a river called Acobamba, ran away because of the abuses to which the Spanish overseer had subjected them. They crossed the border into my land in order to pay tribute to me as their master. When the doctor Cuenca heard of this, he thought that I had forcefully abducted the Indians and wrote me a very rude letter in which he demanded that I return the Indians to their master or else he would wage a war on me more savage than any that had ever been seen. When I saw this letter, I was very upset and responded that I was innocent of the things of which I was accused but that I was always ready for war any time they might come, if that's what they wanted. In my anger, I prepared my people for this possibility and ordered that scouts be positioned all over the place, so that those who wished me evil would not be able to approach unnoticed. The said doctor Cuenca never responded to me in this matter, so I went to the road that he would have to take in order to find out whether he was intent on going through with the campaign he had announced. I brought more than five hundred Indians from various places back from this expedition and returned calmly home. Having arrived there, I received a letter from the said doctor Cuenca. It had been written in Lima but I don't know how it reached me. In it, he offered his services and asked me to let bygones be bygones.

Thereafter, the treasurer García de Melo appeared once again with a dispatch from Your Excellency.
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He counseled me to go ahead with what I had already proposed to him, which was to marry my son Don Felipe Quispe Titu with his cousin Doña Beatriz. Thus, we came to an agreement on how to make peace, and later he and I sealed it in Acobamba with Your Majesty's mandate.
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As witnesses of this event, we brought His Majestry's appointees Diego Rodríguez as judge [corregidor] and Martín de Pando as secretary. As Your Excellency is in possession of an extensive account of this and can present it to His Majesty, I will not mention here any details about the manner in which this agreement and treaty came about or about anything else.

After all, Your Excellency is Yourself the author of this arrangement—beginning with the meeting at Chuquichaca and the arrival of Hernando Matienzo up to my conversion and baptism. But I wanted to make sure that His Majesty will learn from me personally that Your Excellency has been the principal cause of this.

When Your Excellency sent me Diego Rodríguez in order to serve as the corregidor in my land, I accepted him, as you know, because he had been sent by Your Excellency and because I realized that this was necessary in order to accomplish peace. After all, I had committed myself to this peace with the king, our lord, and his vassals. I have kept the peace in every respect. First, I have received the auditor [oidor] and licentiate Matienzo at the Chuquichaca bridge and gave him information about certain things that were happening in my country; second, I permitted priests to come into my country so that they could instruct me and my people in things relating to God, as for example in the case of the padre Vera,
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who had been sent by Your Excellency. He baptized my son Don Felipe Quispe Titu and stayed in my land for almost a year and a half before leaving it upon the arrival of the Augustinian monks, who came to baptize me.

He can also give testimony with regard to this peace and confirm everything relating to the renunciation that I made to Your Excellency in the name of His Majesty about all of my kingdoms and possessions, not more or less than my father used to own. So much was concluded by the treasurer Melo in Acobamba but all of which I omit here since Your Excellency is a witness and main actor in these affairs. Moreover, this is the manner in which I have hitherto kept—and am still keeping—the Christian faith. As Your Excellency has asked me in so many letters to become a Christian because it would be beneficial for maintaining the peace, I attempted to get information from Diego Rodríguez and Martín de Pando about who among the monks in Cuzco was the most outstanding personality and which religion
enjoyed the widest approbation and power. They explained to me that the mightiest, most respected, and most flourishing religion was that of the Lord St. Augustine and his prior. In other words, the prior of the monks of this particular order residing in Cuzco had the most outstanding personality among all the monks of Cuzco. As I heard and understood this to be so, I became more attached to this order and religion than to any other and decided to write a number of letters to this prior asking him to come personally in order to baptize me, for I preferred him to any other for my baptism, given that he was such an outstanding personality. He, being a very honorable monk, did me the favor of coming into my country in order to baptize me. He also brought another monk, as well as Gonzalo Pérez de Vivero and Tilano de Anaya.
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They arrived in the town of Rayangalla on 12 August 1568. I came there from Vilcabamba in order to be baptized, for I assumed that this was the reason why they had come. The said prior, fray Juan de Vivero,
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his companion, and the others remained in that town of Rayangalla for fourteen days in order to instruct me in the matters of faith. Thereafter, on the day of the glorious doctor St. Augustine, the said prior baptized me. Gonzalo Pérez de Vivero was my godfather and Doña Angelina Sisa Ocllo my godmother. After the baptism, the said prior remained there for eight more days in order to strengthen my knowledge in all the things relating to our Holy Catholic faith and to teach me about its things and mysteries. After all of this had been done, the said prior departed with Gonzalo Pérez de Vivero and left me in the care of one of his companions by the name of fray Marcos García, who was supposed to give me further guidance on the things that the prior had taught me and to preach and teach the word of God also to my people.
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Before they left, however, I explained to my Indians the reasons why I had let myself be baptized and why I had called these people into my country, as well as the benefits that people derived from baptism and why the said padre had remained in our land. They all responded
that they were glad that I had been baptized and that the padre would remain in our land, saying that they would soon follow to do the same, since that was the reason for which the padre was in our land.

Two months after the prior had departed, the said padre in Rayangalla had begun to teach the faith and had already baptized a few infants with the permission of their parents. Then he decided to visit the land beyond the mountain passages of Huamanga with Martín de Pando. He remained there for a period of four months, performing the same services and putting up crosses and churches. He passed through eight towns, building churches in three of them and erecting crosses in the rest. All together, he baptized ninety infants. After he had finished with that and had left boys there who were to teach the Word, he returned to the said town of Rayangalla, where he remained alone for seven months in order to baptize and instruct the Indians. In the month of September,
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he was joined by another padre. They both lived in that part of the country until I had them come to Vilcabamba, which is where we currently are. Here they haven't baptized anyone yet, for the people here are still too inexperienced in the things that they have to learn about God's law and commandments. I will see to it that they will learn those things in due time. I have tried to convey to Your Excellency in the manner mentioned above—that is, summarily and without further details—the course and manner of my father's life, as well as the outcome of my negotiations up to the present point in time, so that Your Excellency can convey everything to His Majesty. Your Excellency can let me know if there is a need for more detail here or there about things as they have happened and are happening now, and your wish will be my command. In the meantime, I trust that this will suffice, although more things could certainly be noted and said according to our ways of expression, especially with regard to our origins and beginnings, about our dress, and the manner of our people. However, in order to avoid
prolixity, I will omit these things here, for they add nothing to the subject matter with which we are concerned here. This leaves me with only one more request, after Your Excellency has already favored me in so many things: that you may explain everything that is written here to His Majesty truthfully and enthusiastically. Hereby, you would do me a great favor, for I hope that His Majesty will, as my master, always favor me. With this I end, for I think that I have gone on enough.

The foregoing account was based on the testimony given by the illustrious Don Titu Cusi Yupanqui, son of Manco Inca, formerly the legitimate ruler of these kingdoms of Peru. It was redacted
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and arranged by the reverend padre fray Marcos García, monk and priest of the Order of St. Augustine, who was stationed in this province of Vilcabamba with the assignment to minister to the souls that live there for the honor and glory of the Almighty—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three entities in one single, true God—and of the glorious Queen of Angels, the Mother of God, Holy Mary, our mistress, now and forever. Amen.

I, Martín de Pando, notary in the service of the illustrious licentiate Don Lope García de Castro, formerly governor of these kingdoms, confirm that all of the foregoing account was dictated and arranged by the said padre upon the insistence of the said Don Diego de Castro. I wrote it down with my own hand, exactly as the padre dictated it to me. The reverend fray Diego Ortiz, priest of the said order who lived together with the author of this account, as well as three captains of the said Don Diego de Castro, namely Suya Yupanqui, Rimache Yupanqui, and Sullca Varac, were eyewitnesses to the transcription and dictation
of the account. I notarize the foregoing with my signature. Finished in San Salvador de Vilcabamba, this sixth day of the month of February, in the year 1570. Further notarization is given by the signatures of the said padre, fray Marcos García and fray Diego Ortiz, as well as myself, said Martín de Pando. I, fray Marcos García, confirm having been present during the dictation, as witnessed by fray Diego Ortiz and verified by Martín de Pando, notary.

I, Don Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui, son of Manco Inca Yupanqui, formerly legitimate ruler of this kingdom of Peru, affirm that I—because it was necessary for me to give an account to our lord, King Don Philip, about the things that concern me and my descendants but since I am unfamiliar with the phrases and modes of expression used by the Spaniards in such writings—have asked the reverend fray Don Marcos García and the secretary Martín de Pando to arrange and compose the said account in their customary ways of expression so that it be sent to the illustrious licentiate Don Lope García de Castro in the kingdoms of Spain and with my explicit authorization be presented and related to His Majesty, our lord and king Don Philip. May His Majesty honor me, my sons, and descendants with royal favors commensurate with my rights to compensation. I composed this note for the purpose of verifying the foregoing words and signed it with my name. Finished on the above-mentioned day, month, and year. Don Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui.