Alvarado, Pedro de

Origin

Born in Badajoz in a noble family of hereditary military. His father was Gómez de Alvarado y Mexía, married twice: first to Teres Suarez de Moscoso i Figueroa, then to Leonor de Contreras (daughter of Gonzalo Contreras de Carvajal and Isabel Gutieres de Trejo Ulloa). From the first marriage, Gomez had a daughter, Isabela, from the second - eight children:

• Pedro de Alvarado and Contreras.
• Gonzalo de Alvarado and Contreras - in 1510 he left for India with Uncle Diego.
• Jorge de Alvarado and Contreras - in 1510 he left for India with Uncle Diego. conqueror of Mexico and Guatemala, founder of cities. He died in 1553.
• Gomez de Alvarado and Contreras - in 1510 he left for India with Uncle Diego.
• Hernando de Alvarado and Contreras - in 1510 he left for India with Uncle Diego.
• Juan de Alvarado and Contreras - in 1510 he left for India with Uncle Diego.
• Sarah de Alvarado and Contreras are the twin sister of Pedro.
• Catalina de Alvarado and Contreras ^[1]

There is almost no information about the early years of life and the exact date of birth.

Relocation to America

In 1510, Alvarado went to Hispaniola with his uncle Diego de Alvarado and Mejía de Sandoval ( Spanish: Diego de Alvarado y Mexía de Sandoval ) and five younger brothers. He participated in the expedition of Juan de Grigalva to Yucatán , where he received an idea of ​​the wealth of Mexico.

With Cortes

In 1519 he joined the detachment of Hernan Cortes , commanding one of the 11 ships of the expedition. He was one of the 16 horse knights of the original detachment. Later he was a confidant of Cortes, in fact, his deputy. It was Alvarado who was left by the commandant of the captured Tenochtitlan when news of the landing of Narvaez appeared . For the first time he showed his cruelty, for no apparent reason having killed many noble Aztecs gathered for a religious ceremony. During the “ Night of Sorrow ” ( Spanish: La Noche Triste , July 1, 1520), he commanded the rear guard . Salto de Alvarado (“Leap of Alvarado”) entered the Conquista mythology - not wanting to fall into the hands of the rebel Indians, Lieutenant Alvarado used the spear as a pole for high jumps.

Conquest of Guatemala

In 1524, Alvarado, on behalf of Cortes, led the Spaniards to conquer the Guatemalan Highlands. The task was facilitated by the fact that this country was inhabited by hostile peoples of the Maya family - kakchikely and quiche . In relation to the Indians, he behaved extremely cruelly : villages were burned, and their inhabitants were thrown to the mercy of dogs. The rebellion of the Indians led by Atlacatl forced the Spaniards to retreat north, Alvarado himself was seriously wounded in the thigh.

In 1527-1531, Alvarado, having received the title of governor and adelantado from the king, settled in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros founded by him. From there, he sent troops to conquer Belize , Honduras and El Salvador . He was granted the cavalry of the Order of Santiago de Compostela.

Conquest of Ecuador and demise

In 1534, Alvarado secretly from the king went to conquer Ecuador , but there he met a detachment of people of Pizarro , led by Belalcasar . It almost came to a fight, but at the last moment Alvarado changed his mind and sold his ships and ammunition to Diego de Almagro for 100 thousand pesos of gold.

Alvarado died during the suppression of the Indian revolt: near Nochistlan in Zacatecas his own horse threw him off and he died a few days later. He was buried at first in Michoacán , and it was not until 1580 that his daughter moved the ashes to the cathedral of Santiago de los Caballeros . Now the cathedral is in ruins.

After the death of Alvarado, his wife continued to rule Guatemala for several months, but died from mudflow during the eruption of the volcano Agua .

Legal marriages

For the first time, Alvarado married in 1527 the count's niece, Albuquerque, Francisco de la Cueva, who died after crossing the Atlantic Ocean ^[1] . In 1537, the conquistador married her sister, Don Beatrice de la Cueva. Both official marriages of Alvarado were childless.

Mistresses and Descendants

The faithful companion of the life of the conquistador was the Indian concubine , the daughter of the Tlascalan leader - Shikotenkatl ( Xicoténcatl or Teculuace ), in holy baptism - the donja Luis de Tlaxcala ( Spanish Luisa de Tlaxcala ). Shikotenkatl in 1519 was presented by her father to Hernan Cortes as proof of fidelity to the Spaniards, Cortes gave it to Alvarado. Luis de Tlascala in Mexico was considered as the legal wife of Alvarado, had a high public status, and accompanied him on all campaigns. She died in 1535, and was buried in the cathedral of Guatemala. Alvarado had three children from his Indian concubine:

• Leonor de Alvarado - wife of Pedro de Portocarrera
• Pedro died at sea on his way to Spain
• Diego Metis died, presumably, in 1554 during the civil wars in Peru .

He also had a son and daughter from Spanish mistresses:

• Gomez - there is no reliable information about him.
• Ana de Alvarado (Anita), allegedly married the brother of her father’s second wife ^[1] . ( Bernal Diaz confused her with Leonor de Alvarado)

Alvarado, back in 1537, built in Guatemala, where he was governor, on the westernmost edge of the New World, in the harbor of Akahutla, a large fleet of 13 ships. The goal was: to find a way to China . Alvarado spent almost all his fortune on this enterprise, all those enormous wealth that he had taken from Peru . But the Viceroy , learning about this and foreseeing success, certainly wanted to participate in the matter. Alvarado agreed and in 1538 arrived in Mesico, in order to elect the expedition chief together with the Viceroy, since he himself could not leave Guatemala in view of the strong fermentation. This is where the uprising in Jalisco happened. Alvarado hastened to help quite on time, as a handful of Spaniards were close to exhaustion. The enemy recoiled, but continued to fight back in the mountains; Alvarado was advancing. And it so happened that on a mountain path the horse of one of the soldiers stumbled, then capsized and crushed Pedro de Alvarado so hard that he fell into unconsciousness. He was put on a stretcher, he came to himself several times, but soon died, because there was no real care and rest. So died one of our most prominent comrades, the true conquistador of the "first call." His large family wept bitterly, his wife, Doña Beatrice de la Cueva, was the most killed. All of us, his old comrades, tried to console her, but in vain. And so, in an incomprehensible way, it happened that she soon left this vale of sadness under completely unusual conditions. Namely: the volcano adjacent to the city of Santiago de Guatemala, which had been raging for three days, burped out such a stream of lava, stones and boiling water that centuries-old trees burst along the way and the thickest walls broke through. Everything was mixed up, no one knew what the neighbor was doing, the father did not dare to help his son. It was September 11, 1541 , on Sunday afternoon. Almost half of Santiago de Guatemala died, and the house where the widow of Alvarado lived was destroyed. She and her daughters and servants escaped in a strong chapel, but a hot shaft broke in and exterminated everyone, only their daughter and two maids were saved, they were pulled out from under the ruins with weak signs of life. This daughter remained the only offspring of Pedro de Alvarado, for the sons also died in their youth.

Bernal Diaz del Castillo . The true story of the conquest of New Spain. Per. D.N. Egorova

• 1917 silent film "The Woman that God Forgot "

• Night of sorrow
• Tekun Uman
• The conquest of mexico

• Bernal Diaz. The true story of the conquest of New Spain
• Gustavo González Villanueva, El testamento del Adelantado Don Pedro de Alvarado. El hombre y el mito , San José, CR: Promesa, 2007
• Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1632) Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. R. 266.
• Vázquez Chamorro, Germán (2003) La conquista de Tenochtitlan colección Crónicas de América, compilación de los cronistas J.Díaz, A.de Tapia, B.Vázquez, F. de Aguilar; Relación de méritos y servicios pp. 121-147. Dastil, SL ISBN 84-492-0367-8

• List of Spanish conquerors and chroniclers in the New World
• Letters of God