Lope de Aguirre
'Lope de Aguirre' (c.
1510 –
27 October 1561) was a
Spanish Basque ''
conquistador'' in
South America. Nicknamed ''El Loco'', 'the Madman', Aguirre was renowned for his treacherous and brutal exploits, before being executed for his rebellion against and defiance of the Spanish monarchy.
In Spain
Aguirre was born circa 1510 in
Araotz Valley, in the
Basque province of
Guipúzcoa, part of the kingdom of
Castile. (Today, Araotz belongs to the near municipality of
Oñati, in northern
Spain.) He was the son of a nobleman, with some culture, possibly from a family of court clerks. Aguirre was in his twenties and living in
Seville when
Hernándo Pizarro returned from
Peru and brought back the treasures of the
Incas, inspiring Aguirre to follow in his footsteps.
In the New World
Aguirre probably enlisted himself in an expedition of 250 men chosen under
Rodrigo Buran. He arrived in
Peru in 1536 or
1537. In
Cuzco, among other activities, Aguirre was responsible for the training of stallions. As a conquistador, however, he soon became infamous for his violence, cruelty and sedition.
In
1544, Aguirre was at the side of Peru's first
viceroy,
Blasco Núñez Vela, who had arrived from Spain with orders to implement the
New Laws, suppress the
Encomiendas, and liberate the natives. Many of the conquistadors refused to implement these laws, which prohibited them from exploiting the Indians. Lope de Aguirre, however, took part in the plot with
Melchor Verdugo to free the viceroy, and thus turned against
Gonzalo Pizarro. After the failed attempt, they escaped from
Lima to
Cajamarca, and started to gather men to help the viceroy. In the meantime, the viceroy had escaped, thanks to ''oidor'' Alvarez, by sea to
Tumbes and had formed a little army thinking that all the country was going to awake under the royal flag. The viceroy's resistance to Gonzalo Pizarro and his deputy
Francisco de Carvajal, the infamous "demon of the Andes," would last for two years until he was defeated in
Añaquito on
January 18 1546.
Melchor Verdugo and Lope de Aguirre had gone to
Nicaragua sailing to
Trujillo with thirty-three men. Melchor Verdugo had conferred captain's rank on
Rodrigo de Esquivel and
Nuño de Guzmán, sergeant major rank on Aguirre and ''contador'' status to
P. Henao. Henao would later participate in the expedition of
Pedro de Ursúa to
Omagua and
El Dorado. However, in 1551, Lope de Aguirre returned to
Potosí (then still part of Peru and now part of Bolivia). The judge
Francisco de Esquivel arrested him and charged him with infraction of the laws for the protection of the Indians. The judge discounted Aguirre's reasons and his claims of
gentry and sentenced him to a public flogging. His pride wounded, Aguirre waited until the end of the judge's mandate. Fearing Aguirre's vengeance, the judge fled, changing his residence constantly.
Aguirre pursued Esquivel by foot to
Lima,
Quito and then on to
Cuzco. In three years he ran 6,000 km by foot, unshod, on the trail of Esquivel. The soldiers followed this obstinate pursuit with interest. Finally, Aguirre found him in Cuzco, in the mansion of the magistrate; while Esquivel was taking a nap in the library, wearing a coat of mail he always wore on for fear of Aguirre. Aguirre cut his temples. (Supposedly Aguirre later returned to search for a sombrero he had left behind.) Protected by friends who had hidden him, he fled from Cuzco, taking refuge with a relative in
Guamanga.
In
1554, needing to put down the rebellion of
Hernández Girón,
Alonzo de Alvarado secured a pardon for everyone who enlisted in his army and had been affiliated with Lope de Aguirre. Aguirre fought and was wounded at the
battle of Chuquinga against Girón, resulting in an incurable limp that would ostracise him from his peers.
Search for El Dorado
He joined the 1560 expedition of
Pedro de Ursúa down the
Marañón and
Amazon Rivers with 300 men and hundreds of natives. A year later, he participated in the overthrow and killing of Ursúa and his successor, Fernando de Guzmán, whom he ultimately succeeded. He and his men reached the Atlantic (probably by the
Orinoco River), destroying native villages on the way. In
March 23,
1561, Aguirre urged 186 captains and soldiers to sign an act which would proclaim him as prince of Peru,
Tierra Firma and
Chile.
He is reputed to have said in 1561:
:''I am the Wrath of God,''
:''the Prince of Freedom,''
:''Lord of Tierra Firme and the Provinces of Chile''
In 1561, he seized
Isla Margarita and brutally suppressed any opposition to his reign. When he crossed to the mainland in an attempt to take
Panama, his open rebellion against the
Spanish crown came to an end. He was surrounded at
Barquisimeto, Venezuela, where he murdered his own daughter Elvira "because someone that I loved so much should not come to be bedded by uncouth people". He also killed several followers who intended to capture him. He was eventually captured and shot. Aguirre's body was cut into quarters and sent to various cities across Venezuela.
Popular culture
Aguirre has twice been represented in the movies: first by
Klaus Kinski in ''
Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' in
1973 (It should be noted that this film is an allegorical work, and does not accurately depict the events of the historical Aguirre's life), and secondly by
Omero Antonutti in ''
El Dorado''.
References
External links
★
Letter from Lope de Aguirre to King Philip of Spain, 1561
★
Bubers Basque Biography On Lope de Aguirre
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