Since it had people of all types and estates, the Spanish Indies also had some high noblemen, bearing the title ‘don’ by birthright, related to counts and dukes, habitues of the Spanish royal court or the courtly circles of Seville. Not much in evidence in the conquest itself, the courtly nobles began to be attracted to the- Indies after the wealth of Peru and Mexico had made itself felt. Some set out alone, more went in the entourage of governors and viceroys of the central regions, until there came to be a good contingent of them in the great capitals, frequenting the viceregal courts. Having experienced the court of Spain and learned its manners, they were little impressed with what they saw in the Indies, and were not inclined to make adjustments. A large proportion of them returned to Castile, with or without the fortune they needed to mend their positions there.

Don Alonso Enriquez de Guzman was an early representative of this group (though’ his brother preceded him, as can be seen in Letter 31). When he arrived in Peru in 1535 both Governor Pizarro and the Spanish populace made much of him, and he might have had almost any position. But before long he was on the other side of the Pizarro-Almagro conflict, and by 1539 he was on his way back to Spain.

The present letter illustrates the extent to which the high nobles in America continued to act as though they were at court. The situation here is serious; Almagro has returned disappointed from Chile, seized Cuzco, and advanced far north towards Lima with an armed camp. Pizarro has come out from Lima to face him, and fIghting seems imminent. In the event, the decisive battle will not occur for four months yet. (See Letters 9 and 10.) Don Alonso, with the Almagrists, addresses himself to an influential ecclesiastic on the other side, fray Francisco de Bobadilla, head of the Mercedarian order in Tierra Firme and Peru. But what is don Alonso at?