An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru (20 page)

Power of Attorney for the Governor, licentiate Don Lope García de Castro

Whoever may see this authorization may be informed that I, Sapai Inca Don Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui, legitimate
son and heir and grandson of Manco Inca Yupanqui and Huayna Capac, formerly the legitimate rulers of these kingdoms and provinces of Peru, declare the following. As I necessarily have many dealings in the kingdoms of Spain with our lord, King Don Philip, with other authorities of various rank and nature, both secular and ecclesiastic, as well as with certain other persons who have removed from these kingdoms to those of Spain and have perhaps even settled there; and as it would be impossible to find anyone who would attend to my affairs with greater diligence and sympathy than the lord governor, the
licenciado
Castro, who is in the process of departing for the kingdom of Spain, or anyone who would take them more to his heart than he has always done and is still doing; and as I therefore trust him entirely, I hereby give him sufficient, absolute, and appropriately legitimate power of attorney as I myself possess and as it is required by law in such cases. I empower him to appear on my behalf and in my name before His Majesty and to present to His Majesty any petition or any petitions and to testify and bear witness on anything he may be asked about relating to my affairs; to appear before any judge, court [
audiencias
], mayor, and office and before any of His Majesty's authorities, ecclesiastical and secular; to petition for every- and anything that in his judgment may or should be due to me; to demand and claim; to protect and defend; to possess, manage, and dispose of these things, as I would possess, manage, and dispose of them personally; and to send everything that is to be had in this manner in the way of gold or silver pesos, goods, interest, herds, or other things to me in this kingdom at my expense. I further empower him to acquire in my name and on my behalf, and with an unspecified amount of my gold pesos, things, estates, or goods that, in his best judgment, seem appropriate for me, whether it be moveable or fixed assets. He also has the power to file any petitions or requests; to take oaths of libel or procedure; to say the truth; to take counteraction to the actions of an opposing
party; to make comparisons; to present and withdraw witnesses, scriptural evidence, diplomas, permissions, royal edicts and any other sort of evidence; to contradict an opposing party; to declare any rejection, suspicion, and objection; to swear upon it and to renounce it; to claim and secure in my name any possessions on any of the estates or properties belonging to me and to act on my behalf in confiscations in the appropriate manner; to consider favorable sentences and to make agreements with the opposing party; to make appeals and suits, wherever it is possible by law; to see the trial through its conclusion; to charge and to recognize legal fees; in effect, to do everything that I could otherwise do, even if it is not explicitly listed or addressed and even though it concerns things of importance that would seem to require my presence. Insofar as my power must be given and transferred without limitation and legally, I give and transfer it to him with all of its consequences, attachments, and implications and with free and general administration. I further empower him to transfer the said power of attorney to other person or persons according to his best judgment and to revoke this transferal. I free him and them from all responsibility and liquidate as a guarantee all goods, tributes, interests, and estates that are appropriate for that purpose, in the present or the future, and mobile or fixed.

In order to certify the foregoing, I have signed it with my name. Completed on the sixth day of the month of February of the year 1570. The following witnesses were present during its drafting: the reverend fray Don Marcos García and fray Diego Ortiz, as well as Don Pablo Huallpa Yupanqui and Don Martín Cusi Guaman and Don Gaspar Sulca Yanaq.

I, Martín de Pando, notary in the service of the very illustrious governor, the licentiate Don Castro, certify the truth of the above declaration and the fact that the said Inca Don Diego de Castro has given this power of attorney to the said licentiate Don Castro, formerly governor of these kingdoms. In order to
certify this, I place the signature in his name Don Diego de Castro below, as it appears the original below.

Don Diego de Castro Titu Cusi Yupanqui.

Witnessed by fray Marcos García.

Witnessed by fray Diego Ortiz.

As certification of the truth I place here my seal.

Martín de Pando, commissioned notary.

1
. By traditional chronologies of modern Inca historiography, Huayna Capac was the eleventh ruler of the Inca Empire and lived from 1493–1526 (?); see Introduction.

2
. Manco Inca Yupanqui (1516–1544), one of Huayna Capac's sons, ruled from 1533 to his death.

3
. On Titu Cusi's assertion of primogeniture, see the Introduction.

4
. Ruler of Tahuantinsuyu from 1471–1493.

5
. Most historians today agree that Huayna Capac's intended heir was Ninan Coyoche, who died shortly before Huayna Capac died. Urteaga says that Huascar was Huayna Capac's preferred second choice (see Urteaga,
Relación de la Conquista del Perú,
5–6, n. 2).

6
. One Spanish league is about 3.4 miles or 5.5 km.

7
. At the time when the Spaniards arrived in Peru, Cuzco was governed by Quisquis, one of Atahuallpa's generals, who ruled the town in Atahuallpa's name and persecuted the members of Huascar's family. When Atahuallpa was imprisoned by the Spaniards at Cajamarca, Quisquis left Cuzco for the part of the empire known as Chinchaysuyu and Cuzco was governed by Huascar's remaining brothers until the Spanish arrival in the city. Pizarro had first crowned Topa Huallpa, another one of Huayna Capac's sons. Only when Topa Huallpa died did the Spaniards crown Manco Inca (see Introduction; also Urteaga,
Relación de la Conquista del Perú,
8, n. 4).

8
. The word “bastard” appears to refer to an Andean logic of legitimacy here. This claim is controversial (see Introduction).

9
. Manuscript (ff 133):
Teqse Viraochan;
Academia Mayor de la lengua Quechua,
Diccionario Quechua-Español-Quechua
(Qosqo: Municipalidad
de Qosqo, 1995) (henceforth Academia Mayor), 620:
Teqsi Wiraqocha
. Martín de Pando's
Viracocha
[n] in the manuscript corresponds with the orthography of fray Domingo de Santo Tomás's 1560 bilingual (Quechua/Spanish) dictionary (henceforth ST) (369).
Teqse
is not in ST. Pierre Duviols argues that the idea of Viracocha as a “creator god” is a European imposition, the result of missionaries' attempt to give a “Christian mask” to indigenous deities (“Los nombres quechua de Viracocha, supuesto ‘Dios Creador' de los evangelizadores,”
Allpanchis: revista del Instituto de Pastoral Andina
10 (1977): 53); he translates the concept of
Tecsi Viracocha
as “father of the people, master who knew and knows how to order the world” (“Los nombres,” 60).

10
. Ladrón's translation for Spanish
trueno
is
qhaqy
(Laura Ladrón de Guevara de Cuadros,
Diccionario Quechua: Ingles, quechua, español: Español, quechua, ingles: Quechua, ingles, español
[Lima: Editorial Brasa, 1998] [henceforth Ladrón], 281)
.
Martín de Pando's orthography—
yllapas
in the manuscript—corresponds here with ST: “
yllapa
. . .
trueno
” (301) but not with the grammatical rules for plural formation explained in Domingo de Santo Tomás's
Gramática
.

11
.
Chicha
is not originally a Quechua word but was imported by the Spaniards from the Caribbean and is, possibly for this reason, not listed by ST. See the Introduction.

12
. As several commentators have pointed out (Urteaga,
Relación de la Conquista del Perú,
9, n. 6), the chronology of events related by Titu Cusi here is not entirely reliable, as it seems to confound the first meeting between Atahuallpa and a small Spanish envoy at the baths of Cajamarca with the second one between Atahuallpa, Pizarro, and Vicente de Valverde in the main square on the following day (see also Hemming,
Conquest of the Incas,
32–35).

13
. As discussed in the Introduction, the claim that the mothers of Titu Cusi's warring uncles were “commoners” (meaning that they had no claim to be descendants of Manco Capac by their paternal line) follows a traditional Andean logic of succession but is factually controversial.

14
. Manuscript (ff 134):
tomës
and
llamas;
singular forms:
tumi
and
llama
(Academia Mayor. 631, 262). Pando's orthography corresponds here with the singular form as rendered in ST—
tome,
“knife” (365) and
llama
(306), although not with the Quechua plural form, as explained in
Gramática
.

15
. On the principle of “reciprocity” in Inca culture, see Constance Classen,
Inca Cosmology and the Human Body
(Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993), 1–2, 59–60.

16
. The manuscript reads here
lazos
and
tumës,
rather than
tomës
as before.

17
.
Usnu
in Academia Mayor (695); not in ST.

18
. Hemming estimates the amount of Andean casualties at Cajamarca to be roughly 1,500 (
Conquest of the Incas,
30).

19
. This exchange may be part of a version particular to this narrative or the oral tradition kept by Manco Inca's family and followers. No other surviving records evidence the Spaniards' awareness of Manco Inca at this stage.

20
.
çapay ynga
in manuscript (ff 140); not in ST but
sapay
in Academia Mayor (545).

21
. Manuscript:
bienen por el viento
(ff 141).

22
. As Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala reports in his
Nueva corónica y buen gobierno
(codex péruvien illustré) (Paris: Institut d'ethnologie, 1936) (ff 303) lying was considered to be one of the cardinal sins in Inca codes of conduct, punishable with twenty lashes. As the reader will note, there is an emphasis throughout Titu Cusi's narrative on Spanish lies, especially with regard to the Spaniards' claim of being sons of Viracocha.

23
. I have not been able to establish the identities of the two Spaniards mentioned here.

24
. According to modern estimates, the treasure paid for Atahuallpa's ransom weighed 11 tons in gold and 26,000 pounds in silver (see Mark Burkholder and Lyman Johnson,
Colonial Latin America
[New York: Oxford University Press, 1994], 46).

25
. This took place in 1533. This town is today known as Huánuco Viejo.

26
. Manuscript (ff 138):
macho capitu.
Macho
in Quechua means “old” or “great.”
Capitu
seems to be derived from the Spanish
capitán
(captain). ST (313):
macho;
Academia Mayor (285):
machu.

27
. Most likely the reference here is to Spanish reals. John Hemming estimated that the ransom would have been worth roughly $13 million on the bullion market in 1970.

28
. Manuscript (ff 139):
Apoës;
singular: ST (235):
Appó;
Ladrón (628):
Apu
.

29
. Manuscript (ff 139):
hu Capay.

30
. This was on 26 July 1533.

31
. I have found no corroborating evidence that Manco Inca played a role in the burning of Challcochima or even that his meeting between him and Pizarro ever took place. Hemming writes that Challcochima was burnt twice by the Spaniards—once for torture to extort gold (
Conquest of the Incas,
70) and the second time to execute him for allegedly having plotted an uprising. This was on 13 November 1533 (109).

32
. The person accompanying Manco Inca on this expedition was actually Hernando de Soto (Hemming,
Conquest of the Incas,
126). De Soto would later be appointed governor of La Florida and die there during his exploration into North America; see Romero, “Biografía de Tito Cusi Yupanqui,” 25, n. 30; also Luiselli, “Introducción,” 45, n. 17.

33
. Manuscript (ff 144):
Viracochas
and
Tecsi Viracochan.

34
. Manuscript (ff 145):
sapai ynga.

35
. A
taino
(Caribbean) word incorporated into American Spanish. It is a type of indigenous house, sometimes made of straw.

36
. ST (266):
coya . . . reyna, o emperatriz, muger de emperador o de rey.
Academia Mayor (475):
qoya.
As pointed out in the Introduction, a woman's status of a
coya
rested not on that of her being a “wife” but rather on her claim to be a descendant of Manco Capac by her paternal line.

37
. Manuscript (ff 145):
supay;
ST (99):
cúpay . . . demonio, bueno, o malo;
Academia Mayor (587):
supay.
As pointed out in the Introduction, cultural glosses of this kind must probably be attributed to Marcos García. In pre-Christian Andean culture, this word meant something closer to “mountain spirit.” For a discussion of this concept, see Duviols, “Camaquen, Upani”; also ibid., “La destrucción.” On the changes in Andean religious concepts resulting from European conquest and colonialism, see also Demarest,
Viracocha;
Adelaar, “A grammatical category”; Dedenbach-Salazar, “La terminología”; and ibid., “. . . luego.”

38
. Manuscript (ff 146):
Viracochas;
singular: ST (369):
Viracocha;
Academia Mayor (620):
Wiraqocha
.