Francisco López de Gómara

Monument of Francisco López de Gómara at the Palacio de la Diputación in Soria

Francisco López de Gómara (* about 1511 in Gómara , Soria , † about 1566 in Seville ?) Was the secretary and chaplain of Hernán Cortés . He is best known for his works, in which he describes the expeditions to the conquest of the New World carried out by Hernán Cortés in the 16th century .

Life

Few of the dates of Francisco López de Gómara's life are known: He studied at the University of Alcalá and was ordained a priest . After a trip to Rome , he entered the service of Hernán Cortés in Seville in 1540, whom he accompanied on the unsuccessful campaign to conquer Algiers in the autumn of the same year. After Corté's death (1547), he stayed in Valladolid in 1556 or 1557 ; later he probably returned to Seville, where he probably also died.

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Historia general de las Indias (1st and 2nd part)

In 1552 he published his work Hispania Victrix in Saragossa : Primera y segunda parte de la historia general de las Indias cõ todo el descubrimiento, y cosas notables que han acaescido dende que se ganaron hasta el año de 1551: con la conquista de Mexico, y de la nueua España . The first part, dedicated to Emperor Charles V , describes the conquest of the Antilles , Peru , Chile and Central America , the journey of Magellan and the discovery of the Moluccas , while the second part is dedicated to Martin Cortés , the son of Hernán Cortés , and the conquest of the Aztec Empire through Cortés and his followers.

The Italian translation by Augustin Gravalliz was published in Venice in 1560; Martin Fumée had his French translation followed in Paris in 1578 and Chimalpain Quanhalehuatzin created a translation in Nahuatl .

Since he did not take part in the campaigns of conquest himself, Gómara relied on the information handed down to him from Hernán Cortés and other people who returned from the New World; he specifically mentions Gonzalo de Tapia and Gonzalo de Umbria .

Probably by wanting to praise his employer, and although he could rely on first-hand information from the above, he fell into grave errors - perhaps maliciously or for other reasons - and in many cases sinned against historical truth. Probably for this reason, the later Philip II issued an order on November 17, 1553, according to which all copies of the work were to be confiscated and a reprint was punished with a fine of 200,000 maravedís . This decree was only repealed in 1727 at the endeavor of Andreas González Martial, who included the work in his collection of writings by the first historians of the New World (Colección de historiadores primitivos de las Indias Occidentales) .

Other works

• Anales de Carlos V.
• La conquista de México
• Crónica de los Corsarios Barbarroja

Aftermath

The fact that Gómara portrayed Corté's deeds in an extremely positive manner prompted Bernal Díaz del Castillo , a soldier who took part in the conquest of Mexico and neighboring areas, to write his own version, which, however, was only published in 1632 under the title Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España was published.

literature

• Camillus Crivelli:  Francisco Lopez de Gómara . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 6, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1909.
• Colliers Encyclopedia: with bibliography and index. Volume 6. Macmillan Educational Comp., New York.