I'm doing some research on a very specific reference in some old Spanish chroniclers of the Conquest of Peru. I'm looking for the source of a rumor about the translator Felipillo, who is said to have betrayed the Emperor Atahualpa by purposefully mistranslating the Spaniards because he was "in love with" one of Atahualpa's concubines, and therefore sabotaged Atahualpa's communications with the Spaniards and made the emperor seem aggressive, etc.
I am very familiar with this topic and I already know that most of this was made up, due to the exaggeration and not-so-accurate translation of several Spanish and English historians who were writing this all down after it happened (Zarate, Gomara, Garcilaso, Guaman Poma, Oviedo, Cieza de Leon, some of the Pizarro brothers, and Clements R Markham and William Prescott to name a few).
I'm not asking whether this rumor is true or not- what I'm most interested in is this supposed romance between Felipillo and one of the emperor's concubines- some sources say that her name was Cusirimay Ocllo (also spelled Cuxirimay) and others say her name was simply "Sancta". In some versions of this rumor, Felipillo was having an affair BEFORE they executed Atahualpa, in another he was caught having this affair WHILE Atahualpa was imprisoned (I think I read something about Atahualpa himself walking in on them??), and in yet another, Felipillo is said to have raped the concubine AFTER Atahualpa was executed.
Which specific chroniclers contributed to which versions? Who changed her name from Cusrimay to Sancta? Who were the people who were actually there, and who was translating/transcribing from who?
I have a source that says that the historian chroniclers Agustín de Zárate and the Francisco López de Gomara "developed a story that Felipillo was caught with one of the wives of Atahualpa." I know a lot of what Gomara wrote was basically fudged in order to make the Spaniards look less bad about executing the Emperor because he was a Spaniard sympathizer. For example, Gomara says that “Once the usurper Inca was executed, Felipillo claimed his share of the inheritance and slept with Atahualpa's wife, a sublime honor given his commoner and provincial status.” My question is, what texts was Gomara working with? I have a feeling he had access to someone who was actually there with Pizarro, such as Oviedo or another scribe that's on the tip of my tongue but can't remember the name of.
I have other sources like Guaman Poma and Garcilaso who are known to romanticise the Incas and are more eager to excuse Felipillo and tell the tale differently (like he didn't rape the concubine but he was in love with her, betraying Atahualpa was a crime of passion etc.) But what sources did THEY have? Who were they translating?
Sorry this is such a long-winded and complicated question, but I'm hoping there are some scholars who are familiar with Inca/Spanish/Peruvian history out there who could help me track these sources down!
TL;DR - I'm looking to trace the sources and subsequent alterations of a rumor among old Peruvian historians/chroniclers about the translator Felipillo, who is said to have been "in love with" one of Atahualpa's concubines, whose name was either Cusirimay Ocllo or Sancta, in hopes of finding the origins of the rumor.
Francisco López de Gómara did indeed use Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo as a source, and he did it all the time, but without necessarily citing him, which I will say is in very bad taste and it reeks of plagiarism. Oviedo, on the other hand, always cites his sources in the most precise manner he can, which is extremely helpful.
As for the case of the indian Felipillo, he is mentioned not only by Oviedo, Poma de Ayala, and Gómara, but also by Pedro Pizarro, who had been an active participant in the conquest of Perú alongside his cousin Francisco.
Besides Oviedo and Pedro Pizarro, Gómara could have had access to the knowledge of Pedro Cieza de León, probably the chronicler whose name you have at the tip of your tongue but fail to remember.
It's important to bear in mind that Francisco López de Gómara, unlike Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Pedro de Cieza de León, or Pedro Pizarro, never set foot in the Americas, so his chronicles lack certain elements present in Oviedo or Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who have more direct knowledge of the realities they are describing.
This all gets us to the point of how did that idea of Felipillo being in love with Atahualpa's sister come to be. It is something that we cannot know for sure, as the earliest published record is Francisco López de Gómara himself (1552), and later it appears in Agustín de Zárate (1555). The information had to have been circulating, as it appears in Pedro Cieza de León too, who had written his own chronicle independently and started publishing it when he got back to Spain in 1551, allowing us to rule out the idea that Cieza may have taken the episode from Gómara.
After revising, this is what I've gathered:
- Pedro Cieza de León (a primary source) wrote about a rumor of Felipillo sleeping with Atahualpa's wife that was circulating at the time in his firsthand account
- Agustin de Zarate and Francisco López de Gómara elaborated on the rumor, having very loosely interpreted firsthand accounts of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Fr. Vincente Valverde, and Pedro Pizarro (primary sources)
- Inca Garcilaso, Guaman Poma, Clements R Markham and William Prescott are all tertiary sources or even further removed from the firsthand accounts.
A few questions/puzzles that are still burning in my mind:
- Concerning the concubine/sister/princess herself, which name was documented first, Cusirimay or Sancta? I'm assuming the Quechua one, but I'm still not sure.
- Can anyone help me track down the source that mentioned Atahualpa walking in on Felipillo sleeping with his wife? This is not a direct quote, but it went something like "Atahualpa saw the interpreter sleeping with his wife, and flew into a rage saying 'You dog, it seems that I am prisoner, and if I was not, then I would have you executed for this!'" I am so frustrated that I can't seem to find it anymore.