¹ Corónica de la Religiosíssima Provincia de los Doze Apóstoles del Perú, by Fray Diego Córdoba Salinas, O.F.M. (Lima, 1651). In 1638 Father Córdoba had composed a “Relación de la fundación de la Santa Provincia de los Doce Apóstoles del Perú,” the original of which is preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional of Lima and a contemporary copy in the Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid. Córdoba incorporated later in his Corónica the facts contained in this “Relación.” See Canedo, Lino G., “Un cronista peruano del siglo XVII: Fray Diego de Córdoba Salinas,” Revista de Indias, X, (Madrid, 1950), 477–505.Google Scholar

² Córdoba complains of this lack of sources both in the “Satisfacción,” or prologue, of his “Relación” of 1638, as well as in the “Proemio,” or preface, to the Corónica. It is in the “Relación” that he alludes to the mysterious chronicler: “the most learned son that our America has enjoyed.” As this is written in 1638, it cannot be an allusion to Father Buenaventura de Córdoba Salinas, who still lived at that time.

³ Such is my impression after having studied several manuscripts of Tena. The theme requires, however, a more profound study. The bibliographical aspect of the work of this eighteenth-century chronicler, which appears somewhat involved, must be clarified, since it is not easy to find one’s way among the titles of the different manuscripts. I have noted the following: 1. Introducción al Aparato de la Crónica (4 vols., Madrid, Academia de la Historia); 2. Aparato de la Crónica (1 vol. in 3 books, Lima, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores); 3. Origen de la Santa Provincia de los Doce Apóstoles. Tomo primero (1 vol. in 2 books, Lima, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores); 4. Origen de la Santa Provincia de los Doce Apóstoles. Tomo segundo (Lima, Biblioteca Nacional); 5. Missiones de la Santa Provincia de los Doce Apóstoles (1 vol. in 5 books, Ocopa, Biblioteca del Convento de Ocopa); 6. Missiones Apostólicas de la Religión de mi Padre San Francisco de Asís en América (Lima, Convento de los Descalzos); 7. Missiones Apóstolicas de las Santas Provincias de la Orden de N. P. S. Francisco, que estubieron sujetas a la Comissaría General del Perú. Tomo segundo. Año de MDCCLXXX (1 vol. in 9 parts, Rome, General Archive of the Franciscan Order); 8. Missiones de la Santa Provincia de los Doce Apóstoles de Lima. Trátase de todas sus conquistas espirituales, y de algunas de las Santas Provincias de N. P. S. Francisco de Quito, San Antonio de los Charcas y Santísima Trinidad de Chile (1 vol. in 3 books of 326, 386, 260 pp. respectively, Quito, Biblioteca de Jijón y Caamaño; it is dated at Lima, October 23, 1760).

According to Rubén Vargas Ugarte, S.J. (Manuscritos peruanos de la Biblioteca Nacional de Lima [Lima, 1940], p. 112, nos. 896-897), the National Library of Lima possessed before the fire of 1943, a copy in three volumes of the Introducción al Aparato de la Crónica, copied by Don Luis Ulloa from the manuscript existing in the Academia de la Historia, Madrid, and also an Introducción a la Crónica Franciscana del Perú (960 pp. with text in two columns; an incomplete manuscript which has censuras by Fray Diego Lastras and Fray Antonio Ramos, dated in San Francisco de Lima on November 7, 1778). I have not succeeded in identifying this manuscript among those recovered by the Biblioteca after the fire.

⁴ A serious and critical study of the whole period is presented to us by Father Antonine Tibesar, O.F.M., in a doctoral dissertation which he has just offered to The Catholic University of America under the title: The Beginnings of Franciscan Endeavors in Colonial Peru (1532-1600). Father Tibesar has carried out patient investigations in many archives and libraries, including those of Peru, and knows practically all the bibliography relating to the subject.

⁵ Fray Juan de los Santos, of the Order of St. Francis, testifies in the judicial inquiry instituted in Pamana (July 15, 1527) with the object of bringing help to Pizarro. It was published by José Toribio Medina in vol. VI of the Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de Chile (Santiago de Chile, 1895). The testimony of the Franciscan is found on pp. 36-37.

⁶ Archive of the Convent of St. Isidore (Rome), Regestum Cismontanum, fol. 120v. It was known and used by Wadding, Annales Minorum, in 1532 (2nd ed., Rome, 1786, XVI, 310). On the basis of this text, one would have to conclude that the custody of Peru was not subject to that of the Santo Evangelio of Mexico. Perhaps the testimonies which vaguely affirm this relationship refer to its dependence on the commissary general “in the Indies,” who first resided in the Antilles and afterwards in New Spain. He had jurisdiction over all the Indies discovered up to that time. In this sense the Peruvian custody was dependent on Mexico.

⁷ AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,675, bk. 3, fol. 116. The two companions of Fray Francisco de Aragon were Fray Jerónimo de Pertussa and Fray Martin Rogens. See also José Torrubia, Chronica de la Seráphica Religión (Rome, 1756), part 9, bk. 1, ch. 46, pp. 210-211.

⁸ AGI, Audiencia of Santa Fé, leg. 233, at the beginning. It is an autograph letter. Although it passed unobserved by most people, it was already published by Atanasio López, O.F.M., in Archivo Ibero-Americano, XX (Madrid, 1923), 103-104.

⁹ Córdoba, op. cit., bk. I, ch. 3, p. 55.

¹⁰ In Cartas de Indias (Madrid, 1877), p. 714, a resumé of this letter is given, and in plate XIV the signature of Fray Francisco is reproduced.

¹¹ I am in agreement with Father Benjamin Gento Sanz, O.F.M., San Francisco de Lima (Lima, 1945), pp. 65-66, in which he says the title of “Doce Apóstoles” was given to the province of Peru in memory of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ; perhaps, however, Father Córdoba did not intend to proffer a different view, although his explanation may not be a happy one. The province could have dedicated itself to the Twelve Apostles in tribute to the “twelve” holy Franciscan apostles who were among the first to preach the Gospel in Peru.

¹² AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,675, fols. 79-80. de Aspurz, Father Lázaro O.F.M. Cap., in La Aportación extranjera a las misiones españolas del Patronato Regio (Madrid, 1946), pp. 99-100 Google Scholar, believes it probable that the names “Pedro Cocheo” and “Rocho” correspond respectively to Fray Pedro Gosseal and to Fray Jodoco Ricke. By a royal cedula dated in Medina del Campo on July 19, 1532, the officials of the Casa de Contratación, of Seville, were ordered to outfit for New Spain Fray Jodoco de Gante. Cf. Jijón y Caamaño, J., Sebastián de Benalcazar, “Documentos,” (Quito, 1936), I, 183.Google Scholar Reference to Father Granada is found in Wadding, Annales Minorum, in 1533 (2nd ed., Rome, 1786, XVI, 340). See Document I in the “Documents” section.

¹³ By a royal cedula of August 1, 1537, the queen orders the officials of the Casa de Contratación, of Seville, to provide passage and supplies to New Spain for Fray Juan de Granada and the four companions whom he desired to take with him. The queen says that Father Granada had been appointed commissary general and visitor “in the general chapter which it is now said has been held in this province of Andaluzía,” under the presidency of the minister general of the Order. AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,675, fol. 254.

¹⁴ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 4, fol. 303. Published by Lisson, Emilio, La Iglesia de España en el Perú (Seville, 1943–1947), fasc. 3, pp. 120, 122.Google Scholar

¹⁵ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 4, fols. 105v-106. In his petition Father Tastera said that in Peru they had “commenced…day by day to found some monasteries of his Order.” This may be merely a routine phraseology. It is repeated in 1544 when this alms was renewed for another period. (AGI, Indiferente, leg. 532, fol. 281). In the same place it is stated that, according to the Dominican provincial in 1540, there were in Peru only two Dominican monasteries.

¹⁶ AGI, Indiferente, leg. 1093, without pagination. See Document II in the “Documents” section.

¹⁷ Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 4, pp. 145-146.

¹⁸ Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 4, p. 147.

¹⁹ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,452, “Descargo” of the treasurer of Nombre de Dios, Juan Gómez de Anaya, cuaderno 6, fol. 2. Leg. 274 of the same collection of Contaduría, which contains accounts of receipts and payment of the treasurer of the Casa de Contratación, Francisco Tello, gives us the list of this group which apparently all arrived at Panama. They were: 1. Fray Buenaventura de Pedroche, 2. Fray Francisco de Béjar, 3. Fray Fernando de Valverde, 4. Fray José de Santa Maria, 5. Fray Francisco de Murcia, 6. Fray Diego López, 7. Fray Juan de Murcia, 8. Fray Juan de Lorca, 9. Fray Baltasar de San Miguel and 10. Fray Alonso de Alvalate. The first four were from the province of los Angeles, those listed under nos. 5 through 8, from Murcia, under no. 9, from Andalucia and the last from Castile. Since among the forty-eight friars granted to Fray Juan de la Cruz there was no friar from Castile, it is possible that Fray Alonso de Alvalete may have belonged to the group of twelve religious of the said province, whose voyage to Peru was being prepared in the beginning of 1544, as we shall see later on. The list given here and the one which we give in the following note are published by José Maria Vargas, O.P., La conquista espiritual del Imperio de los Incas (Quito, 1948), p. 175, note. Vargas accepts this list as definitive in regard to the number of Franciscans who went to Peru in those years. The lists of the treasurer in accordance with which the payments of equipment and passage were made are worthy of much credence, but they do not beget, it is clear, a mathematical certainty, because changes were often made at the last minute. When, for example, did Fray Jerónimo de Villacarrillo come?

²⁰ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,452 cuaderno 6, fol. 6. The list given by Vargas (op. cit.) taken from the accounts of the treasurer Tello includes only the nine following names: 1. Fray Rodrigo de los Angeles, 2. Fray Pedro de Rodenas, 3. Fray Francisco de Alcocer, 4. Fray Juan Hernández, 5, Fray Mateo de Jumilla, 6. Fray Pedro de Torres, 7. Fray Hernando de Zaragoza, 8. Fray Martín de San Pedro and 9. Fray Alonso de Castilla.

²¹ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 5, fol. 9. See note 19.

²² AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 109-110. “Descargo” of the treasurer Francisco Tello, 1547-1550.

²³ AGI, Contaduría leg. 275, fol. 114; leg. 1,452, cuaderno 8, fol. 15v, “Descargo” of the treasurer of Tierra Firme, Gómez de Anaya. In October, 1547, a mule was supplied to Fray Francisco de Fresneda (leg. 1,452, fol. 16) in order to go from Nombre de Dios to Panama. On December 20, 1548, the treasurer of Panama was repaid for the expenses of medicines incurred there by the Franciscans of the mission of Father Zayas.

By a royal cedula in Aranda de Duero on July 16, 1547, the Guardian of San Francisco of Seville was ordered to pay certain money to “Fray Pedro de Cayas of our Order, who on the instructions of His Majesty has arranged to gather certain religious so that they may proceed to the Indies” (AGI, Indiferente, leg. 424, registro 21, fols. 14v-15). Should this Father Zayas be identified with the religious of the same name who in February, 1583, was Guardian of San Francisco de Málaga? (See Angel, Ortega, O.F.M., “Las casas de estudio en la Provincia de Andalucía,” Archivo Ibero-Americano, V [1916], 340.)

²⁴ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,452, cuaderno 8, fol. 16v. A group of six had arrived at Nombre de Dios before February 18, 1547, in the ship Nuestra Señora de Begoña, mastered by Cristóbal de Angulo (ibid., fol. 15v).

²⁵ Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 4, pp. 147-148. I do not know when these three religious were provisioned and left. In leg. 1,680 of Contaduría (AGI), “Data” of the treasurer of Lima, Bernardino de San Pedro, there figures, on August 20, 1548, the payment of twenty pesos to the shipmaster Francisco Corzo, “for the passage of the two Franciscan religious that he brought from Tierra Firme.”

Fray Pedro de Penafiel must have been returning to his convent in Panama, of which he was superior for fourteen years, being much distinguished for his charity and the pacifying influence that he exercised over the inhabitants. He was a native of Penafiel and of noble origin; he died on the voyage to Nombre de Dios, going to await the religious who were coming from Spain. (See the documents concerning the convent of Panama in the Archive of St. Isidore in Rome, signatura 1/10.) The religious who were coming from Spain must have been those led by Father Francisco de Vitoria, who by royal cedula of June 7, 1550, had been instructed to leave eight religious in Panama in order to make a definitive foundation. In effect, Father Vitoria left Father Gaspar de Burguillos in charge of the foundation of Panama, and in a short time he succeeded in erecting a church and convent; until then the friars had lived in a poor hut (The documents mentioned above and also a Relación de Méritos ordered to be made in December, 1552, by Father Burguillos are preserved in AGI, Audiencia de Panama, leg. 69-3-30.) By royal cedula of Nov. 17, 1553, addressed to the Audiencia of Lima, the prince recommends Fray Gaspar de Burguillos, who is returning to Peru, from where he planned to lead a mission of twelve friars to Chile. If he succeeds in getting these friars in Peru, the Audiencia of Lima should pay for their trip to Chile (Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 5, p. 55).

²⁶ Esteban de Asensio, O.F.M., Historia memorial de la fundación de la Provincia de Santa Fé del Nuevo Reino de la Orden de…San Francisco en las Indias Occidentales, ed. by Atanasio López, O.F.M., in Archivo Ibero-Americano, VIII (1921); reprinted by Gregorio Arcila Robledo, O.F.M., in Provincia Franciscana de Colombia. Las cuatro fuentes de su historia (Bogota, 1950). The reference is found on p. 19 of the latter work.

José Torrubia (Chronica de la Seráphica Religión [Rome, 1756], part 9, bk. 1, ch. 43, p. 206) writes that Vitoria was a son of the Province of los Angeles; but it is strange, as Luis Arroyo, O.F.M., observes in his Comisarios Generales del Perú (Madrid, 1950), p. 27, that Vitoria is not claimed by Father Andrés de Guadalupe in his Historia of that province (Madrid, 1662).

²⁷ Arbol Chronológico de la Santa Provincia de Santiago, part 2, bk. 5, ch. 6, pp. 563-565. The chronicler quotes a Crànica del Perú, by Juan Bellero. The whole reference of Father Castro to Fray Francisco de Vitoria seems difficult to believe in the face of other certain information that we possess.

As I am informed from Santiago, Spain, by Father Manuel Castro, O.F.M., nothing is said either of Fray Francisco de Vitoria in a Crónica of the province of Santiago written in the seventeenth century by Father Gaspar Martínez and preserved in manuscript and inedited in the archives of that Franciscan province.

²⁸ Coronica de la religiosissima Provincia de los Doze Apostoles del Peru (Lima, 1651), lib. I, chap. 9, pp. 52-60, and chap. 16, p. 111; lib. III, chap. 19, p. 253; lib. VI, chap. 3, p. 556.

²⁹ AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,675, 2, fols. 144, 146.

³⁰ AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,676, fol. 271. In this expedition Fray Antonio de Castilblanco also figured; we will find him later in Peru.

³¹ It is published in Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonización de las posesiones españolas de América y Oceania (Madrid, 1864-1868), VIII, 526-532.

³² Archivo General de Simancas, Estado, Castilla, leg. 72, fol. 13. Utilized already by Ernesto Schaefer, El Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias (2 vols., Seville, 1935, 1947), II, 275. The letter adds no new data to the biography of Father Vitoria. That the latter was the companion of Father Soto is shown by a letter from the Commissary General, Fray Martin de Hojacastro, to the emperor (Mexico, June 1, 1544), which has been published by Joaquín García Icazbalceta Nueva Colección de documentos para la historia de Mexico (Mexico, 1941), I, 175.

³³ See notes 14 and 15. Later, mention will be made of the Commissary Fray Antonio de Castilblanco, whom we find in Lima in 1550 and who could have been “the commissary who had come from Mexico,” of whom various authors speak.

A proof that our Fray Francisco de Vitoria collaborated with Father Soto in matters affecting the Franciscans of New Spain in 1550 is found in the autographic marginal note which Vitoria placed on a letter from Soto to the Council of the Indies (May 15, 1550). With this letter Father Soto sent a message from Father Vitoria, asking for medicines for those friars who lived in great poverty as “Observants,” which they were. (AGI, Indiferente, leg. 1,093). In May, 1548, Fray Josepe de San Bartolomé made efforts in Spain to aid the Franciscans in Peru. The expenses of his trip to Peru, and those of the friars he took with him, were authorized to be paid on June 12, 1548 (AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 5, fols. 280v-281). It is hardly possible that he was one of the two Franciscan friars whose passage from Panama to Lima was paid at Lima August 20, 1548 (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1680, “Data” of the treasurer Bernaldino de San Pedro). See Documents III, IV and V in the “Documents” section.

³⁴ Published by Roberto Levillier, Organización de la Iglesia y Ordenes Religiosas en el Virreinato del Perú en el siglo XVI (Madrid, 1919), I, 28-29. The Franciscan minister general must have been in Portugal at this time, having returned from Spain where he had presided at the provincial chapter of the province of Santiago, held at Benavente July 17, at which the Province of San Miguel was erected. See the scholarly article by Fernando Felix Lopes, “Fr. André de Insua, General dos Observantes Franciscanos,” Archivo Ibero-Americano, 2a época, XII (1952), 22.

It is possible that the two friars who had reported to the prince about the state of affairs in Peru were Fray Hernando de Zaragoza and Fray Francisco de Béjar mentioned in a royal cedula of April 11, 1549. This cedula authorized their return trip to Peru and stated that “they came from the provinces of Peru to these realms on matters concerning their Order and now they desire to return” (AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fols. 106v-107v). Fray Hernando de Zaragoza was traveling in Spain in October, 1548, according to another document (ibid., bk. 5, fols. 320v).

³⁵ This had been done before May 15, 1549, as is shown by the letter of Fray Luis de Ecija to the Council of the Indies under this date. The commissary in Seville wrote to the Council “in order to make known that our Most Reverend Father, the Minister General, ordered and wished that, besides the religious that Fray Francisco de Vitoria, Commissary of Peru, has to get to take with him, there should go those from the seventy-two assembled the ones whom the guardian of this house of San Francisco of Seville deems fitting, and this having regard to the need that there is at the present time in Peru….” These seventy-two religious belonged to a group of seventy-four who had been granted to Father Soto for New Spain. The corresponding references can be seen in AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275.

³⁶ The royal cedulas to the officials of Tierra Firme and to those of the Contratación, of Seville, are to be found registered respectively, in fols. 119v-120 and 121-122 of the leg. 566, bk. 6, AGI, Audiencia de Lima. They were equipped on May 15, 1549 (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 222-223).

³⁷ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 222-223. On fols. 232v-233 it is specified that Fray Diego de Vera took with him fifty Doctrinas “of those that were made by Doctor Constantino,” the cost of which he was ordered to be paid by a royal cedula of July 9, 1549. The expenses of Fray Isidro de Valencia’s trip from Panama to Lima were paid by the Contador of Lima on January 10, 1550 (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1680, “Data” of Treasurer Bernaldino de San Pedro, 1549).

³⁸ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fols. 120-121. The number of friars must have been later increased to fifty, either by a new concession or by the addition of members left over from former expeditions. It is also possible that there is an error in the register of the royal cedula.

³⁹ These royal cedulas are to be found recorded in the already mentioned leg. 566, bk. 6, fol. 173, of Audiencia de Lima, AGI.

⁴⁰ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fols. 173, 174-175, 178.

⁴¹ This is affirmed in a royal cedula to the officials of the Contratación (Cigales, October 25, 1549); AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fols. 174v-175.

⁴² AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 266-267, “Descargo” of the treasurer Francisco Tello, 1547-1550.

⁴³ Ibid., fols. 271-272.

⁴⁴ See note 33.

⁴⁵ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,452, cuaderno 4, “Descargo” of the treasurer of Tierra Firme, Baltasar de Sotomayor, fols, lv-2; cuaderno 5, “Descargo” of the treasurer, Baltasar de Clavijo, fol. 6v. In the same volume, fols. 515-516, there are noted various amounts paid for medicines and assistance of the doctor to the friars brought by Fray Francisco de Vitoria. They speak of forty-seven friars. In January, 1551, there appears as guardian of Panama, Fray Gaspar de Burguillos.

⁴⁶ See note 25.

⁴⁷ On January 19 of the said year, the officials of Panama made payment for the equipment of six of these religious who had embarked in the ship of Juan Pimienta; on January 22 of the same year they paid for the equipment of three others who embarked in the ship of Alonso Beltrán. The equipment for six others was paid for on January 25, 1551 (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 118v-120).

⁴⁸ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 120v-121.

⁴⁹ On June 1, 1551, there was paid to Francisco Nunez, master of the ship San Alfonso, the passage for six Franciscans brought from Panama (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,680, “Descargo” of the treasurer of Lima, Alonso de Almaraz). On June 2, passage was paid for five others brought in the ship Santiago, mastered by Diego Hernández, and for four others who had come in the ship Ascension, mastered by Pedro de la Fuente; both payments were made against the certification of Father Francisco de Vitoria, “Commissary General of these provinces.” Finally on September 10, 1551, 210 pesos were paid to the master of the vessel San Juan, Antón de Rodas, for the passage of four Franciscan friars brought from Panama, “among whom came the Commissary Fray Francisco de Vitoria, and for a cabin of the said vessel for the said commissary to come in… and for the freight on thirteen cases of books and clothes of the said commissary which weighed one hundred and twenty arrobas.”

Several friars with the expedition of Father Vitoria remained sick in Panama. Still, on December 30, 1551, the royal officials of that city paid for the cost of eight jars of wine for the “friars of the Order of the Lord St. Francis of those that the Commissary Fray Francisco de Vitoria brought in his charge who remained ill here.” <AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 523v-524).

⁵⁰ Rubén Vargas Ugarte, S.J., Concilios Limenses (1551-1772) (Lima, 1951), I, 34, 92.

⁵¹ Huntington Library, San Marino, California. La Gasca Papers, I, fol. 363.

⁵² See Córdoba, op. cit., bk. I, ch. 9, p. 54.

⁵³ I suppose that Pablo Pastells, S.J., based on one of these testimonies his assertion that Father Vitoria went to Peru in 1547 or 1548 (Levillier, op. cit., I, 1).

⁵⁴ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,680, fol. 21, “Descargo” of the treasurer of Lima, Alonzo de Almaraz.

⁵⁵ AGI, Contratación, leg. 4,676, fol. 271.

⁵⁶ Coronica, lib. I, chap. 16, p. 111; lib. VI, chap. 3, p. 558. Mendiburu, Diccionario histórico-biográfico del Perú (Lima, 1935), IX, 304, puts the foundation in 1552, but it must be a mistake, because he bases his statement on the work of Córdoba, which gives the year as 1553.

⁵⁷ Compte, Francisco M. O.F.M., Defensa del P. Fray Jodoco Ricke, Fundador de los conventos de San Pablo de Quito y de San Bernardino de Popayán (Quito, 1882), p. 88 Google Scholar, quotes a royal decree of the Audiencia of Lima, of September 7, 1552, whereby the Franciscans of Peru were granted certain alms of olive oil, on the petition of “Fray Luis de Oña, provincial of the Order of St. Francis in our kingdoms of Peru.” In an account of the sixteenth century, it is said that Father Oña was provincial in 1551 (“Memorial Sobre el Convento de Guamanga.” Archive of St. Isidore (Rome), signatura 2/10).

⁵⁸ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 313; Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 5, pp. 5-7. See Document VII in the “Documents” section. Although it has been published by Lisson, the text is deficient and is, therefore, published here. See also da Civezza, Marcellino, Storia delle Missioni Francescane (Prato, 1891), vol. VII, 2, pp. 170–171.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ The letter begins with these words: “Because Your Highness will have received many letters before this one from this your chaplain, Fray Francisco Vitoria, who kiss your royal hands, in this I will do no more than pray.…” Such letters, which have not been found up to today, would doubtless throw much light on the activities of Father Vitoria in Peru, if some day we succeeded in discovering them.

⁶⁰ The principal source is the Corónica of Córdoba, who had before him accounts and documents which were sent him from Chile and are still preserved in the Archive of San Francisco de Lima, where I have consulted them. Found to be in agreement with Córdoba on this point are the studies of Father Bernardino Gutiérrez, who in 1886 undertook to write the history of the province of Chile, after he had made a careful investigation in the archives. Father Gutiérrez, who was one of the Chilean correspondants of Father M. Civezza, O.F.M., published several articles on Franciscan origins in Chile in the review La Voz de San Antonio (Santiago, Chile), and he left in manuscript a “chronological catalogue of the convents and hospices which this Province of Santísima Trinidad has had.…” This manuscript is preserved in the archive of the province in Santiago de Chile. We know that Father Robleda, commissary and superior of the founding group, was in Charcas for Lent in 1553 on his way to Chile (letter of the said friar dated in Concepción on February 10, 1554, of which a notarized copy exists in AGI, Indiferente, leg. 737. In 1553 Easter fell on April 2.

⁶¹ Córdoba, op. cit., mentions nothing whatever of Father Armellones. Torrubia, Chronica de la Seraphica Religion…. Novena Parte, bk. 1, ch. 43, in which the series of the commissaries general is continued from the earliest times up to the present, does not mention him either. Father Luis Arroyo, O.F.M., who used the archives of the Convent of San Francisco de Lima for his recent work, Los Comisarios Generales del Perú (Madrid, 1950), also has no knowledge of Father Armellones.

⁶² AGI, Indiferente, leg. 424, bk. 22, fol. 295v. See Document VI in the “Documents” section.

⁶³ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fols. 368-371. Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 5, pp. 1-3, publishes the royal cedula to the officials of Seville and a summary of the remaining ones. Father Armellones had stated that in Tierra Firme there was no Franciscan convent, and in consequence the officials of that province were ordered to extend hospitality to the religious in Nombre de Dios and Panama.

It is curious that while Father Armellones was preparing for the voyage the queen should on June 1, 1551, address a letter to the Commissary General of New Spain, begging that from among the religious of those parts, where they had made such progress, he choose “four of them who are persons of experience and authority and good life and example who would be suitable for establishing the method of instruction and conversion in those provinces of Peru that they have had in that country [Mexico], and for organizing and systematizing the affairs of your Order, and will send them to the said provinces so that they may join the religious who reside there and are occupied in the said matter.” The Viceroy of New Spain was also written to, the letter for the commissary being sent through him, with instructions to deal with the matter with the greatest dispatch (AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fol. 191).

⁶⁴ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 566, bk. 6, fols. 390-391. By one of the royal cedulas Hernando de Ochoa is ordered to pay to Fray Hernando de Armellones, “who goes as Commissary General of the Order of St. Francis of Peru,” thirty-eight ducats, “thirty ducats to pay for a horse on which he may go to enlist friars of his Order so that they may proceed to the said provinces of Peru, and eight for him to buy another animal for the companion that he may take with him.” Another royal cedula charges the officials of Seville to provide each religious with a habit, tunic and cloak and that from the sale of the animals which Armellones and his companion had to deliver in Seville, they should buy for the said religious some books and other necessary things.

⁶⁵ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 221v-222, “Data” of the treasurer Francisco Tello, 1550-1551.

⁶⁶ Ibid., fols. 222v-223.

⁶⁷ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,452, cuaderno 5, fol. 7, “Descargo” of the treasurer of Tierra Firme, Baltasar de Sotomayor. The payment for the passage of this group was made on February 6, 1552, but it is said that the Santa Maria de Begoña had arrived at Nombre de Dios on December 26, 1551.

On this ship there must have also embarked Fray Andrés de los Angeles, who was equipped on September 12, 1551. He was on the expedition of Father Armellones, although he does not figure in the previous list of the thirty-six (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fol. 266, “Data” of the treasurer Francisco Tello).

⁶⁸ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 234v-235, 243. As data of possible use for the chronology of these expeditions and the biography of its members, I will add that Fray Francisco de Alcalá and Fray Pedro de Madrid came from Alcalá de Henares and that Fray Juan de Bélmez, Fray Juan de las Cuevas, Fray Antonio Jurado and Fray Antonio de Cuéllar came to Seville from Fuenteovejuna. Fray Antonio de Cuéllar is a new name—unless it refers to Fray Antonio de Calleja—and also new is the name of Fray Pedro de Reina, who came from the convent of Ecija. The cost of transport of the books and clothes of the religious mentioned is noted in the account to the treasurer Tello on October 31, 1551 (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 275, fols. 236v-237).

⁶⁹ As to the expenses of the expedition of Father Armellones in Panama, see AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 526-527, 860. By a warrant of December 2, 1552, there was paid on January 30, 1553, to Juan Martínez de Vedia, representative of Antón de Rodas, the passage for four friars whom he had brought from Panama, plus the fee for “a cabin in which one of the said religious came who is called Fray Hernando de Armellones.” They carried eight arrobas of books (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,680, fol. 72, “Data” of the treasurer of Lima, Sancho de Ugarte).

⁷⁰ On August 11, 1552, the shipmaster Juan Vizcaino was paid for the passage of four Franciscans, who were on the mission led by Armellones and Nicuesa from Panama. On October 3 of the same year, the shipmaster Mateo Ramirez was paid for the passage of eight Franciscans, from Panama to Lima, who had with them five cases, which weighed thirty arrobas, and two cases of books and clothes. (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,680, “Data” of the treasurer of Lima, Sancho de Ugarte. The payment of October 3 is found in fol. 66; that of August 11, in a cuaderno.) In leg. 1,454 of the section mentioned of Contaduría, 135v, the payment is noted on June 29, 1554, for the equipment for Peru of Fray Juan de Ibarguren, another member of the mission of Father Armellones. In 1558 two other groups of the expedition of Armellones and Nicuesa passed through Panama, one of eight religious and the other of four, the latter conducted by Fray Diego de Tena. (Ibid., leg. 1,454, fols. 545, 548, 556v-557).

⁷¹ On Fray Juan de Bélmez, see Asensio, op. cit., pp. 27-29 of the edition of Arcila Robledo.

⁷² By a royal cedula dated in Valladolid March 9, 1554, Fray Francisco de Mena— appointed Commissary General of the Indies in the General Chapter of Salamanca in 1553—was authorized to send to Peru some of the 112 religious he had been granted for New Spain. Father Mena designated for this mission Fathers Juan de Aguilera, Baltasar de Navarrete and Francisco Olivares, who were equipped on July 12, 1555, proceeding to Tierra Firme on the ship San Pedro, mastered by Ruidíaz de Matamoros (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 4,678, fol. 285, accounts of the treasurer Tello). In crediting Tello on August 5, 1555, with the amount of 2,040 maravedis paid to the muleteer who had brought from Lorca the books and effects of Father Aguilera, it is said that the latter was going, by order of Father Mena, to the “New Kingdom of Granada and to Peru”; but later, when they make a notation in the account of the same treasurer for 18,642 maravedis for clothing and beds for the three religious of the expedition, it is said that they were going merely “to Peru.” (fols. 296-297 of leg. 4,678, already mentioned.) Hence, it had been decided that, of the 112 religious granted for New Spain, twenty-five should go to the New Kingdom of Granada (leg. 4,678, fol. 154). In these entries no allusion whatever is made to the commissaryship of Father Aguilera; the title of “commissary” is given to him in the accounts of Tierra Firme. He had arrived at Nombre de Dios with his companion, Fray Francisco de Olivares, before April 7, 1556 (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 531v-532, 830). This agrees with what is said by the Marques de Cañete; the commissaryship was given to Father Aguilera at a later date (Arroyo, op. cit., pp. 35-36).

⁷³ AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 567, fols. 303v-304. Gento, op. cit., pp. 96ff. seems to have been unaware of this royal cedula as well as the other of October 25, 1549, which may help in clarifying the circumstances under which the property of San Francisco was enlarged. This second royal cedula is found in leg. 566, bk. 6, fol. 173 of the section mentioned.

⁷⁴ Arroyo, op. cit., p. 36.

⁷⁵ Asensio, op. cit., p. 22.

⁷⁶ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 559, 899.

⁷⁷ The original is preserved in the General Archives of the Franciscan Order in Rome, vol. 1/39, fol. 17.

⁷⁸ AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 924, 928, 930v-931.

⁷⁹ That Father Juan del Campo figured in the expedition of Father Zapata is affirmed by Asensio, op. cit., p. 22.

⁸⁰ By royal cedula of February 19, 1561, the Audiencia of the New Kingdom of Granada was instructed to help Father Zapata, Commissary of the Provinces of Peru, who by command of the General of his Order, was going to visit the religious of the said New Kingdom; in the same way, they should give support to the person whom the said Father Zapata might delegate for the said visit (AGI, Audiencia de Santa Fé, leg. 533, bk. 2, fol. 114v). Father Zapata was in contact with the Franciscans of the New Kingdom at the time of his passage through Santa Marta and Cartagena in 1561 (AGI, Audiencia de Santa Fé, leg. 188, fols. 455-456).

⁸¹ Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 6, pp. 233-235. Zapata and San Miguel say they were writing to the general chapter, asking for the division and saying that it would be well if the Council of the Indies also wrote. Father Hernando de Barrionuevo was sent to the general chapter as custos of his province; he took as a companion Fray Juan de Vega. The chapter, held in Valladohd in 1565, agreed to the division asked.

⁸² The said Fray Hernando de Barrionuevo and Fray Juan de Vega took to Spain a report in which the legality of the way the friars administer the doctrinas is defended; it also requests that measures be taken to prevent the prelates from assigning secular priests in places where there are friars, but only in the unoccupied places, which are many (Lisson, op. cit., fasc. 9, pp. 550-552). Prince Philip had already, on December 17, 1551, ordered the Archbishop of Lima and the Bishops of Tierra Firme, Quito, Popayán and Cuzco to respect the privilege of the religious of St. Francis, St. Dominic and St. Augustine, entitling them to administer the Sacraments to the natives, which privilege they had by papal concession (AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 567, bk. 7, fol. 79). Father Zapata, however, arranged to give up control of some doctrinas, whose administration he considered dangerous to the religious spirit of the friars (Arroyo, op. cit., pp. 48ff).

⁸³ Fray Juan de la Vega had already returned in 1564 with a mission of thirty-one religious for Peru and Chile (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 1,454, fols. 572v-575, 966, 967, 968).

⁸⁴ This is affirmed by Barrionuevo in a letter of the Council of the Indies, Seville, January 19, 1568 (AGI, Indiferente, leg. 1,093, unpaginated).

⁸⁵ AGI, Audiencia de Charcas, leg. 142.

⁸⁶ AGI, Audiencia de Charcas, leg. 142.

⁸⁷ de Lejarza, Fidel O.F.M., “Notas para la historia misionera de la Provincia de la Concepción,” Archivo Ibero-Americano, VIII (Enero-Marzo, 1948), pp. 92-94.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ On his intervention in the reform of the Conventuals and Tertiaries of Extremadura, there are various documents in the Archive of Simancas, Patronato Real. See the Catálogo of this section, by Amalia Prieto (Valladolid, 1946-1949).

⁸⁹ Arroyo, op. cit., p. 52, gives the interpretation that the mission which, by com mission of Father Zapata, went with Viceroy Francisco de Toledo belongs to the time when Father Zapata was already appointed Archbishop of Bogota. It is impossible that such was the case, since the fleet in which the viceroy sailed arrived at Nombre de Dios on June 1, 1569, well before Zapata’s appointment as archbishop (Colección de documentos inéditos…de Ultramar, VIII [Madrid, 1867], p. 222).