Enríquez de Guzmán, Alonso (c. 1501–c. 1549)
Enríquez de Guzmán, Alonso (c. 1501–c. 1549)
Alonso Enríquez de Guzmán (b. ca. 1501; d. ca. 1549), author of a picaresque account of Peru's conquest and civil wars. Born in Seville, he was a courtier in the service of the emperor.
Guzmán sailed towards the Indies and in 1534 to South America's western coast in search of gold. He was in Lima in August 1535 and continued to Cuzco, eventually fighting during the great native uprising of Manco Inca.
When the Chilean expedition returned, Guzmán helped the Almagrists retake Cuzco from the Pizzarists; however, he was captured in 1539 by Pizzaro and sent to jail in Spain. Offered a military command by the duke of Alba, he fought in Germany against the Lutherans in the Battle of Mühlberg.
Guzmán left two important manuscripts: an autobiography, Libro de la vida y costumbres de don Alonso Enriques, caballero, and a poem on the death of Diego de Almagro. Originally believed to be more fictional than true, the work reveals upon careful reading that the Peruvian sections at least are largely accurate.
See alsoAlmagro, Diego de; Spanish Empire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lockhart, James. Spanish Peru, 1532–1560: A Colonial Society. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968.
Porras Barrenechea, Raul. Los cronistas del Perú (1528–1650). Lima: Banco de Crédito del Peru, 1986.
Stewart, Paul. "The Battle of Las Salinas, Peru, and Its Historians." Sixteenth Century Journal (Autumn, 1988): 407-434.
Noble David Cook