Blas Valera - Family

Family

Father

1. Luis Valera was a Spanish conquistador born of Bartolome Garcia Roman and Catalina Hernandez in the small town of Aracena in western Andalucia.
2. He left for the new world on April 28, 1534, leaving his wife Catalina Rodriguez de Aldana, a noblewoman, in Spain. He would later ask her to rjoin him in the new world 25 years later, and she did so in 1559.
3. It is likely that he was a trusted companion of Francisco Pizarro during the conquest, and was loyal to him during the fight with Diego de Almagro.
4. He later served as a captain of crossbowmen under one of Pizarro's lieutenants, Alonso de Alvarado in 1538.
5. After his service, Alvarado granted Valera the encomiendas of Chibalta and Tiapullu, where he mainly raised livestock for sale in Santiago.
6. He was regional leader and served on the cabildo, or city council of the region

Mother

1. A native Peruvian who was most likely of Inca ancestry who is known by the Christian name Francisca Perez.
2. She may have been an Inca princess in the court of the late Inca emperor Atahualpa, or possibly related to the former governor of Chachapoyas region named Cayo Tupac Rimachi.. Details of her are still relatively unknown, but she either died or left Luis when her son Blas was 15.

Brother

1. Jeronimo Valera was born eleven years after his brother Blas Valera in the Nieva region of Chachapoyas in the late 1550s. He traveled to Spain as a young child but returned in September 1559.
2. He was raised by Catalina Rodriguez, the fist wife of Luis Valera.
3. He studied at the Jesuit College of San Martin in Lima, and became a Jesuit on February 25, 1580.
4. He made a transition to the Franciscan order on August 21, 1588 mainly due to his brother's problems with the Spanish Inquisition.
5. He later taught theology and became an inquisition judge