SERVICIOS DE LA INTRANET

On arriving to Lima in 1542, Gonzalo Pizarro found Juan de Barbarân as "tutor y curador de las personas y bienes" of his nephews. Barbarân was one of the first conquerors — he was present when the Inca was captured— and it looks as if he had been one of Pizarro's criados. When his master was murdered he was brave enough to bury him and look after his children. His closeness to some of the Almagristas obviously made things easier, but his behaviour was nonetheless

33. AGI, Justicia 467, ff. 28v-29v; Justicia 1054, n. 3,

1

.

34. AGI, Justicia 1054, n. 3, r. 1, 2a pza., ff. [207v-8]. 35. AGI, Justicia 467, f. 13v.

36. Ibid., ff. 13V-14V.

37. Ibid., f. 30v.

38. AGI, Justicia 1054, n. 3, r. 1. 39. Ibid.

praiseworthy.^ Gonzalo formally took over the guardianship on 27 November 1542, before the accountant Juan de Caceres, then the city's mayor; his guarantors were the veedor Garcia de Salcedo — again!— and the conqueror Martin Pizarro. Shortly afterwards, on 2 January 1543, Gonzalo placed his nephews under the care of his mayordomo Alonso de Villacorta.*

On 17 May 1543, Juan de Barbarân rendered an account of the time he had been responsible for Pizarro's children, and that part of his estate which was in Lima. He thus officially handed over everything included in the inventory, from houses and estancias to papers, slaves and cattle. That same day Villacorta accepted the account rendered. Most of the expenses — all of which obviously could not have been incurred in providing for the children— were payments made to notaries, outstanding debts, and some clothes for the children. Two items stand out. The first one concerns some expenses incurred for Pizarro's burial, including wax and clothes for pages and criados, all of which leads us to the conclusion that mourning was not as secret as it might have been. The other one was a shipment of clothes for sale which must have arrived after Pizarro died. There were at least 100 boxes of them; Barbarân had them taken to a shop and sold.^

Villacorta handed Francisco de Ampuero "ciertas escrituras de conocimiento y obligaciones" included in the inventory, two days after accounts had been rendered; they probably were transactions made whilst he represented the

40. Lockhart, Men of Cajamarca,289-91; Busto, Diccionario de los conquistadores, 1:203-6.

41. Gonzalo's guardianship and his replacement by Alonso de Villacorta are in AGI, Escribania 496-A, ff. 1227-35v. For specific documentation on Gonzalo's interest in the administration of his nephews's estate, see e.g. Gonzalo's letter to his mayordomo instructing him to inspect don Francisco's — his nephew— properties in Cuzco, (GP a Alonso de Villacorta, Quito, 14 de julio de 1545, in Pérez de Tudela, Documentos de Gasca y Gonzalo Pizarro, 2:192-93).

42. Cuentas de Barbarân a Villacorta, AGI, Escribania 496- A, ff. 1250-84V. As for Pizarro's funeral, Ampuero also made some expenditures rendered separately (ibid., ff. 1179ff).

children, and Gonzalo accepted them as tutor.^ With Gonzalo's written authorization in hand, Ampuero prepared to leave Lima and take possession of the children's Indians, collect tributes, and supply their mines in Huaylas.* Months later he was still managing money belonging to the children, and Pedro Navarro, the mayor, was commanding him to pay the notary's fees.^ Even more, Ampuero also represented the children when their father's body was identified and removed from his burial place in the old cathedral to the new one.* Two years later Gonzalo declared he was "contento y satisfecho" with what he had received from Ampuero, leaving everything to Father Diego Martin, his "mayordomo mayor,** unfortunately once more without giving greater details.^ As Peru's ruler, Gonzalo must have really been pleased with the accounts rendered by Ampuero.

43. Lima, 19 de mayo de 1543, ibid., ff. 1250-84V. This delivery, plus the granting of a subsequent power of attorney, makes me believe Ampuero had already taken charge of part of his nephews' affairs on Gonzalo's command. The traslado del poder from Gonzalo to Ampuero to defend, collect debts and tributes, take possession of their Indians, and supply their mines in the province of Huaylas in virtue of the guardianship, took place in Lima, on 7 July 1543, before Juan Franco, public notary. This, and other documents pertaining to Gonzalo's guardianship are in AGI, Justicia

396, n. 3, r. 1, ff. 23-47.

44. Ibid. Due to the nearness of his departure, Ampuero waived his guardianship of the children of Sebastian de Torres on 17 July 1543. On 31 he repeated his request before the alcalde Juan de Barbarân, who then transferred the guardianship, as can be seen in the notarial records of Juan Franco, H C , 1:164-65.

45. Lima, 14 de noviembre de 1543, AGI, Escribania 496-A, f. 1179.

46. Lima, 21 de enero de 1544. The certificate of exhumation in Bertram T. Lee, "Dos documentos ineditos peruanos," Revista Historica 11 (1937): 325-28. A detailed study of the circumstances in which Pizarro died, according to different sources, in Hugo Ludena, "Versiones tempranas sobre la muerte de don Francisco Pizarro," Boletln de Lima 37

(Jan. 1985): 5-32.

47. Cuentas de Barbarân a Villacorta, AGI, Escribania 496-

A, ff. 1250-84V. Reference to "Diego Martin, clerigo, que tuvo a cargo la tutela de la dicha dona Francisca por Gonzalo Pizarro..." is also made in the questionnaire presented by Antonio de Ribera in the suit over dona Francisca's accounts

Gonzalo's return to Lima in 1542 did not challenge Vaca's interests because after the Governor rejected him, Gonzalo chose to avoid a confrontation and retired instead to his repartimientos in Charcas, staying aloof from all political events. However, things changed in 1544 with the arrival of Viceroy Blasco Nunez Vela, who proved unable both to enforce the New Laws and maintain Peru's fragile internal peace. The encomenderos' agreement on resisting the royal envoy, and Vaca's predatory stance against his estate and that of his relatives', led Gonzalo down a road heading straight towards rebellion.

On 11 October 1544 Vaca de Castro signed an ^'obligacion^^ for 12,000 gold pesos, "por razon de todo aquello que de las haciendas de los dichos menores [don Gonzalo y dona Francisca Pizarro] yo he habido y cobrado, u otro por mi mandado."'** This document's validity was questioned during the lawsuit brought in Spain against Vaca by the heirs of Marquis Pizarro: whilst the latter swore the obligacion had been freely given, the first disowned it swearing he had been forced to sign. In any case two points are worth noting: on the one hand there were the lawful expectations of the Pizarros, who surely thought their financial losses would be redressed thanks to this d o c u m e n t , w h i l e on the other Vaca's uneasiness at being displaced in the political and financial spheres by Viceroy Nunez Vela, plus the added risk of a juicio de residencia

48. AGI, Justicia 1054, n. 3, r. 1, 2a pza., f. [30v]. 49. Prince Philip ordered that shipments of gold and silver for Vaca should be retained in Seville, because he had misappropriated funds from the Royal Treasury and the Indian tributes left vacant by the deaths of Francisco Pizarro and others. Samano, the royal secretary, Alonso de Yllescas, Marshal Diego Caballero, and Francisco de los Cobos were amongst the creditors whose money Vaca was bringing from Peru and was sequestered at Seville as it arrived "unregistered"

(AGI, Justicia 1175, n. 7).

50. The incomplete proceedings of the lawsuit presented by Pizarro's heirs is in AGI, Justicia 1054, n. 3, r. 1. Vaca was declared innocent a long time afterwards, no doubt thanks to his connections. His biography is in Mendiburu, Diccionario historico-biografico, vol. 11.

Gonzalo managed his nephews' estate as if it were his own, particularly once he was Governor, because the needs of his rebellion made it impossible to distinguish the funds not belonging to him.^ Just as in previous years the country's resources had given rise to the Pizarros' estate, so now the produce of the encomiendas, lands, and mines belonging to the children and Gonzalo himself were assigned to governmental expenditures. Management of all properties, which at first retained certain administrative independence, was now gradually weakened until they could not be distinguished from all of the estate Gonzalo managed. The properties of the children provided a great deal of the resources essential for the rebel government's survival.