Hernán Peraza

Hernán Peraza de Ayala, (Hernán Peraza the Younger) , Spanish Hernán Peraza (el joven) , also Fernán or Ferran , (* approx. 1450 in Seville (?); † November 20, 1488 on La Gomera ) was ruler of the to Castile belonging Canary Islands of La Gomera and El Hierro .

origin

Hernán Peraza was the second son of Inés Peraza de las Casas and Diego de García de Herrera y Ayala . His mother came from an upper class family in Seville . His maternal grandfather was Hernán Peraza (the elder) . His father's family belonged to the Castilian nobility. His paternal grandfather was Merino Mayor , administrator of the royal estates in Castile. His mother's family had been granted the right by the kings of Castile to conquer the Canary Islands and then rule them as rulers in the name of the Crown of Castile.

Dominion over the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands

The inclusion of the seven Canary Islands under the rule of the Crown of Castile was not really complete in the first half of the 15th century. While rule over the islands of Lanzarote , Fuerteventura and El Hierro was considered to be somewhat secure, rule over La Gomera was uncertain. The islands of Gran Canaria , La Palma and Tenerife had not yet been conquered for Castile.

From 1445 to 1447, Hernán Peraza (the elder), the grandfather of Hernán Peraza (the younger), occupied the island of La Gomera. He left there, as a starting point for the following actions, the Torre del Conde, a 15 meter high fortress tower built. The island's indigenous people were divided into four tribes with very different interests. While Hernán Peraza (the elder) was able to come to an agreement with the leader of a tribe, other tribes opposed the supremacy of Castile and at times allied themselves with representatives of the Portuguese Prince Henry .

Hernán Peraza (the younger) probably came to the Canary Islands in 1454 with his mother and two older siblings. His mother, Inés Peraza de las Casas, had inherited all rights to the conquest, rule and possession of all the Canary Islands after the death of her father, Hernán Peraza (the elder), in 1452. These rights and the obligation to actually conquer were to be enforced through Diego de Herrera, the father of Hernán Perazas. His various attempts at conquering the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife were unsuccessful.

In 1476, Hernán Peraza was sent to the island as a representative of his parents in order to confirm the claims of the Peraza family to rule La Gomera. The Catholic Monarchs approved in 1476 the division of the ruler's and ownership rights over the Canary Islands. As a result, Hernán Peraza became formally master of La Gomera in 1478. In May 1478 the Catholic Monarchs named Hernán Peraza in a letter as Lords of the island of La Gomera (Señor de la isla de La Gomera). On June 28, 1486 Inés de Peraza also formally transferred the rulership rights to her son and on February 15, 1488 also the property rights on the island of El Hierro.

The Crown of Castile had set a deadline for the conquest of the remaining three islands Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife when confirming the rights of conquest and rule. When this had expired without the Herrera-Peraza family reporting any success, the right was withdrawn on October 15, 1477. (For this loss of rights, which affected the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife, compensation was paid by the Castilian crown in 1483.) In the summer of 1478, Queen Isabella I sent troops under the leadership of Juan Rejón , Juan de Frías (the Bishop of the Canary Islands) and Juan Bermudez to Gran Canaria. A royal letter dated May 12, 1478 expressly instructed the captains of the conquest to avoid the islands that were under the rule of the Peraza family. Nevertheless, Juan Rejón came to the Bay of Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote to get supplies for his troops. When Rejón wanted to go ashore with about ten people, Hernán Peraza met him with about 30 people. As a result, Rejón withdrew and the ship left the waters of Lanzarote. After Rejon was no longer involved in directing the conquest of the island of Gran Canaria, Hernán Peraza brought food supplies to the island and participated with a number of his people in the fighting for Tirajana . Because of various uprisings on the island of La Gomera, Hernán Peraza went there from Gran Canaria.

Death of Juan Rejón and the consequences

In 1481 Juan Rejón was from Castile with four ships, three hundred foot soldiers and twenty horsemen on the way to the island of La Palma. On the way there he reached Las Palmas de Gran Canaria . On the advice of his brother-in-law Alonso Jáimez de Sotomayor, who was the royal standard-bearer there, he did not disembark in order not to get into any new trouble with the new governor, but instead sailed with his troops westwards. A storm hit him on the coast of La Gomera in May 1481. In the Hermigua Valley , about twelve kilometers north of San Sebastián de La Gomera , he went ashore with his wife, children and eight husbands. (Historians consider it astonishing that the woman and children did not stay with the woman's family in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.) After Hernán Peraza heard of the landing, he sent people to bring Juan Rejón to him should. He refused. In the resulting fight Juan Rejón was killed.

After hearing the lawsuit of Juan Rejón's widow, Elvira de Sotomayor, the court sent an examining magistrate to La Gomera. This had Hernán Peraza brought to the royal court on the mainland. There are no court records on the case that the Catholic Monarchs apparently decided themselves. Hernán Peraza was acquitted, with certain conditions, because the guilt did not appear obvious, since the widow of the man who had been killed had forgiven him and many important people (especially those of his relatives) stood up for him. Conditions for the acquittal were that Hernán Peraza returned to Gomera and should take part again with his own soldiers in the conquest of the island of Gran Canaria until complete submission. Another requirement was that he should Beatriz de Bobadilla , a maid of Queen Isabella I married. Under the auspices of the Queen, a marriage was arranged between Hernán Peraza and Beatriz de Bobadilla. Various historians believe that the Queen requested this wedding because she suspected the danger or even the real existence of an affair between Beatriz de Bobadilla and King Ferdinand. As usual in such cases, the parents or relatives of the bride and groom organized the wedding. However, as was customary when a person from her court married, the queen provided her with material support. In this case with 500,000 maravedí . In addition, the Queen gave the bride the Mairenilla estate on the high plateau of Seville . It is believed that these donations are also due to the influence of the Queen's adviser and friend, Beatriz de Bobadilla (La Marquesa) , a relative of Beatriz de Bobadilla (La Cazadora).

At the beginning of 1483 the newly married couple went to Lanzarote to introduce the bride to the groom's parents. From there, Hernán Peraza returned to Gomera to take part in the further conquest of the island with 80 people on Gran Canaria. Diego de Herrera, Hernán Peraza's father, also sent 150 men and 12 horses from Lanzarote to take part in the fighting under the command of his son. However, since the conquest of the island was already largely complete that year, the troops were hardly deployed, so that Hernán Peraza was able to return to La Gomera in 1483.

Death of Hernán Peraza

Torre del Conde in San Sebastian de La Gomera

In the letters exchanged between the royal court of Castile and Hernán Peraza, there are repeated references to rebellions by individual tribes on La Gomera. Hernán Peraza put down these riots and killed the leaders or captured them and their families and sold them as slaves.

In a letter dated October 18, 1477, the bishop Juan de Frías Hernán Peraza accused of having captured various inhabitants of the island and sold them to sailors from Palos and Moguer. Among the prisoners was the chief (in the original documents the term "Capitán" = "captain" is mostly used for the leaders of the tribes) from the Mulagua area (today Hermigua ).

In a royal decree of August 31, 1484, the inhabitants of La Gomera are asked to obey their lord Hernán Peraza. He is their rightful ruler, who had gained his power through a treaty that their ancestors had made. In November 1488 the chiefs decided to take another action against Hernán Peraza. An opportunity to take him prisoner or to kill him arose when he visited his lover Iballa. The relationship between Hernán Peraza and Iballa, a woman from a senior family of the indigenous people of Gomera, is said to have existed even before Hernán Peraza married Beatriz de Bobadilla. Hernán Peraza visited Iballa where she lived, a cave about ten kilometers west of San Sebastián. On these visits he was usually only accompanied by a servant and a page. On November 20, 1488 the opportunity arose again. Hernán Peraza and his two companions were killed by a relative of Iballa named Pedro Hautacuperche .

Beatriz de Bobadilla sent a request for help to Pedro de Vera , the governor of Gran Canaria, and holed up with her children in the Torre del Conde. The Gomeros besieged the tower and made various attacks, but they could be repulsed. Pedro Hautacuperche, who is said to have led the siege, is said to have died in one of these attacks.

The Catholic Monarchs ordered by letter of March 4, 1489 that Pedro de Vera, the governor of Gran Canaria, should seek the support of Inés de Peraza, the mother of the murdered man, in order to punish the rebellious citizens. On the other hand, he should protect Beatriz de Bobadilla in her rights, which she exercised on La Gomera and El Hierro as the guardian of her children.

The arrival of Pedro de Vera in San Sebastián de La Gomera marked the beginning of a reprisal. He came with six ships. A number that was disproportionate to the number of soldiers accompanying him. It must therefore be assumed that he intended to work with a larger number of people, i.e. H. Slaves to leave the island again. After a consultation with Beatriz de Bobadilla, a funeral service was scheduled for Hernán Peraza, which all residents of the island had to attend. There were many citizens who, trusting that they were innocent in the death of Hernán Peraza, wanted to show that not all Gomeros were at war. Everyone present was arrested and the male members of the Orone and Agana tribes were separated from the others. These were collectively sentenced to death for treason. Only people under the age of 15 were excluded, the rest were killed in a great slaughter. The women and children were loaded onto the ships as slaves. The slaves were divided. While a large part went to Pedro de Vera, Beatriz de Bobadilla was satisfied with a smaller part. Inés de Peraza also shared in the profit. The sale of the slaves was later the subject of an investigation by a royal court. The result of this investigation led to a large number of the slaves being released.

After the death of Hernán Peraza Inés de Peraza tried to reverse the transfer of rule over the islands of La Gomera and El Hierro to her son. But she was unsuccessful. The son of Hernán Peraza, Guillén Peraza de Ayala y Bobadilla, became the heir to the first Count of La Gomera and lord of El Hierro.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 61 (Spanish).
2. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 65 (Spanish).
3. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 67 (Spanish).
4. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 82 (Spanish).
5. ↑ António Rumeu de Armas: Los amoríos de Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla. (No longer available online.) Anuarios de Estudios Atlánticos ;, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; Retrieved August 28, 2014 (Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 68 (Spanish).
7. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 70 (Spanish).
8. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 74 (Spanish).
9. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 72 (Spanish).
10. ↑ António Rumeu de Armas: Los amoríos de Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla. (No longer available online.) Anuarios de Estudios Atlánticos ;, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; Retrieved August 28, 2014 (Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 76 (Spanish).
12. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 76 (Spanish).
13. ^ Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1959, p. 9 , accessed on October 2, 2014 (Spanish). 
14. ^ Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1959, p. 41 , accessed on October 2, 2014 (Spanish). 
15. ^ Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1959, p. 2 , accessed on October 2, 2014 (Spanish). 
16. ^ Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1959, p. 85 , accessed on October 2, 2014 (Spanish). 
17. ^ Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1959, p. 89 , accessed on October 2, 2014 (Spanish). 
18. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 94 (Spanish).
19. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 95 (Spanish).
20. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 97 (Spanish).
21. ↑ Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 177 ff . (Spanish).

literature

• Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 235 (Spanish).
• Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa . Idea, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2003, ISBN 84-96161-43-9 , p. 163 (Spanish, book edition of an article from 1959 in issue 5 of the magazine Anuario de estudios atlánticos.).

Web links

• António Rumeu de Armas: Los amoríos de doña Beatriz de Bobadilla. Anuarios de Estudios Atlánticos; accessed August 28, 2014 (Spanish). 
• Juan Álvarez Delgado: El episodio de Iballa. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1959, p. 125 , accessed on October 2, 2014 (Spanish).