Trujillo: the birthplace of the conquistador bastard
[tab:The trip]
«En una hornacina de uno de los palacios de Trujillo, off the main square built in the mid seventeenth century, is carved the face of Francisco Pizarro, with a sparse beard factions ". So begins an interesting biography Stuart Stirling wrote about the man who may have starred in what may be the greatest epic in history. The city is a museum that extends from the central square and narrow streets that grows leading to the castle and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Opposite this are known as the House of Pizarro, now a museum. Right, taking the road of the Martyrs will reach the castle. No matter where you look at this town in Extremadura, history is always in pure, as if one were to travel a while stopped many years ago. Trujillo is the birthplace of the great Spanish conquistador and other illustrious, Francisco de Orellana, which together with Gonzalo Pizarro (Herman Francisco) eventually discovering that "small" flow, lungs of the planet, called Amazon. Today we will explain the traveler in the life of the man whose tomb is in the Cathedral of Lima, in a niche, since apenas glory (in another article we will discuss this fascinating city).
The son of a pig
There are many unknowns about the foundation that puts Pizarro to convince the Spanish crown to cover an expedition to the New World. Historians do not agree on whether the Extremadura got a personal interview with the Emperor Carlos V and if your, seems, Hernan Cortes distant relative had something to do with the other in the Royal House. On his relationship with Cortes does not seem to, at least, end up being fluent. He was the secretary of the conqueror of Mexico that would discredit him years later saying that "it was a foundling who was raised by a pig". This facet of the life of Pizarro we stop at this time, in his life before leaving for the Isthmus of Panama, fighting for his past does not close all doors.
Doubts about the birthplace of Pizarro begin on your date of birth. Some writings point to 16 March 1476, while others say it was in 1472 or 1478. Endorsed by all the historians who had a poor childhood, not learned to read or write and was dedicated to raising pigs. Is an exercise to imagine when one crosses the Santiago Gate, with its beautiful stone arch, what was then a neighborhood devoid of dominion and palaces that there would be installed in subsequent years.
Soon, in 1492, coinciding with the departure of Columbus's ships, moved to Seville. But there is a first important fact in the biography of Pizarro, the figure of his father. He was the son of Gonzalo Hidalgo, a senior captain of infantry who lost his life in Pamplona. "Man who left more bastard children than could be counted", explain Stirling. He would not forget that lineage. After the march to Seville, Francis enlisted in the Spanish troops under the command and control of the Great Captain, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, in Naples. But it is in 1502 when the first Extremadura travels to America. Not go into the long journey that Pizarro lived in America, that led him to be mayor and make Panama first two voyages of conquest Viru (Peru), the rich and legendary land that lay south. And 1529, the ambitious conqueror returned to Spain in order to persuade Charles V to finance a real expedition to those latitudes. Back then stumble Pizarro with his dark past of her hometown.
recruit a contingent of troops that it is safer to travel to a meeting with death
Pizarro, after offering the crown of wealth and new possessions, returns from his hometown Toledo, Trujillo, to recruit a contingent of troops that it is safer to travel to a meeting with death. The villagers, Stirling described in detail in his biography, leave their homes to listen to a near white-bearded old man who speaks of gold and silver across the world. It faces what was the modest stone house (house museum today) where he spent his childhood and now lives his half-brother, Hernando, only legitimate son of his father. Then, Pizarro has already achieved one of its primary purposes, a knighthood of the Order of Santiago, shield that looked proudly on his shoulder. "Only a few elders of the city remember him as the son of the washerwoman".
But Pizarro know that your business depends on getting a group of crazy to join a more than risky conquest. There, with two Indians who had brought from America to serve as interpreters after him, a young relative named Pedro Pizarro, Alonso de Mesa and Greek Gandia, a giant whose knowledge of gunpowder had secured the appointment of captain of artillery, begins a speech full of symbolism. In front of the Knight of the Order now Spain's most important are his brother Hernando and his brothers John and Gonzalo. Francis had ever seen and you run into a family "as superb as poor", as recorded Fernandez de Oviedo, Hernando who described as "tall man, thick; tongue and fat lips and the tip of the nose with excessive meat and split ". Today there is a funerary sculpture in the cemetery of Trujillo that provided the only real portrait of him is preserved.
Pizarro did not forget, while talking to his family home, the door of that room is now open for him because he has returned there with an imperial mandate and a dream of fortune. A few weeks ago, "Not one of his relatives had been willing to testify on his behalf in the investigation into his lineage by the friar Pedro Alonso, formality that the officers of the Order of Santiago demanded for the new knights. Only a few inhabitants of the city had offered to speak on their behalf ". Documented the Stirling we have written in that important position for Francis, the only ones who took the floor to talk about their origins and note that the son of a nobleman were "Inés Alonso, the old prostitute of the city, confirmed that he had been present for the birth of Pizarro in the neighborhood located under the castle walls of the city ". Together with Ines, another resident explained that he had seen a boy in his grandfather's house, the father of the captain and others stressed that the son of Francisca Gonzalez, servant of the convent of La Coria. That routine, almost bureaucratic, Francisco put on the ropes, but ultimately left its proven courage and words of some neighbors got to be granted a past worthy of the Order.
Inés Alonso, the old prostitute of the city, confirmed that he had been present for the birth of Pizarro in the neighborhood located under the castle walls of the city
But, the Extremadura know you need to recruit people for their long journey and allows his upstart brother Hernando and appears to present his side. When Francis took the floor with his style makes it tough, starkly honest and tells some of the chapters which he played live on the other side of the Atlantic. The men heard the story with a mixture of excitement and fear. Some know that those who left and lost in many cases only the life and example of those who accompanied Cortes in his conquest of Mexico, emerged from the neighboring Merida and managed to return home with wealth, makes them dream of a world of opulence. After Pizarro free speech, 17 men of his people decide to step forward and offered to accompany Francisco. No one knew then or know it at the rest of his days, but at that moment began perhaps the greatest epic man who has made.
[tab:Tips]
The trip
For the A-5 (Extremadura motorway), detour at kilometer 256.
A table set
Typically, eat at one of the restaurants in the Plaza Mayor, but we recommend, but stuck to the Pousada dos Shores Inn restaurant is a high quality food and a beautiful outdoor patio ('m not remember the name, but the indication can not miss).
A nap
The Posada of Orillas is an excellent choice. Accommodation in the historical, nice rooms and a patio where breakfast take good.
Highly Recommended
Read the book by Stuart Stirling on Francisco Pizarro
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