Lope de Aguirre - in The New World

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, Aguirre was responsible for the training of stallions, among other activities. 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. Aguirre, however, took part in the plot with Melchor Verdugo to free the viceroy (who had been imprisoned on the island of San Lorenzo), and thus turned against Gonzalo Pizarro (the leader of the anti-viceroy/New Laws faction). 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, to Tumbes and had formed a little army thinking that all the country was going to awaken under the royal flag. The viceroy's resistance to 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.

Aguirre and Melchor Verdugo had gone to Nicaragua sailing to Trujillo with 33 men. 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, 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. 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 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.