“Some people, moved by malice and excessive envy, have accused Spain of having brought dominion over the whole of the New World at no greater outlay of fortune than the expenditure of stupid and persistent madmen.”- Garcilaso de la Vega......................This intended to be an ongoing and regularly updated place for short event reports, photos, news stories, rumors, interesting links, etc. for the sixteenth century Spanish colonial reenactor.
In time for the 450th anniversary of the De Soto expedition most of the known primary source material was translated into English and gathered together into the two volume work entitled The De Soto Chronicles. The National Park Service as an online PDF file available on line:
Which is a wonderful resource excepting that the PDF file consists of scanned pages and is not a readily searchable database. I have though found on-line OCR scans of the major accounts, which will allow one to to find "crossbow" or "axe' for example, easily in the narrative text.
Rodrigo Ranjel was Hernando de Soto's secretary and seems to have kept a diary, though towards the end of the four year long march entries become sparse.
The above three accounts are the primary accounts that have survived the centuries. Garcilaso's Florida of the Inca is technically considered a secondary work as Garcilaso was not a member of the expedition and his narrative is based largely on the memories of an aging conquistador he knew in Peru. It is by far the largest (Its Vol. II of the Chronicles - Vol I, is Biedma, Ranjel,Elvas, and other material) and most readable of the relations, however its the most embelished in terms of numbers and least reliable in dates and place names.
Another resource I should mention is the work of Buckingham Smith, a nineteenth century translator who includes in an appendix some of the testimonies (usually as part of a request for a royal pension) of some of the ordinary participants on the expedition. No one seems to have gathered together and published this kind of information as the Flint's have done with the Coronado expedition. Among these testimonies is the only mention of Ana Mendez an eleven year old servant girl who accompanied the expedition, Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida By Buckingham Smith
starting around page 289 on Google Books. Likewise you can also download a zip file of
where in one finds that Soto's tent began to mildew and rot out within a month of landing in Florida. but it doesn't contain the information in a raw translated form.
ANNOUNCING THE FORMATION OF FLORIDA LIVING HISTORY, INC!
TO PROVIDE AN ORGANIZATIONAL UNION FOR LIVING HISTORY GROUPS COMMITTED TO THE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE, RESEARCH-BASED INTERPRETATION OF FLORIDA’S HISTORY
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL – July 22, 2009 – Florida Living History, Inc. (FLH) is a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created to support living history activities, events, and portrayals related to the history of Florida.
The purpose of FLH is to:
foster an understanding of Florida’s history through programs, events, demonstrations, portrayals, media relations, and publications;
encourage the study of Florida’s colonial and territorial history from the time of Don Juan Ponce de León’s first landing in 1513 to the time of Florida’s statehood in 1845;
develop living history programs that interpret, portray, and demonstrate the Native American, European, Black, and military and civilian aspects of that history;
present such programs to students and members of the general public;
operate exclusively for educational and charitable purposes.
Formed in January 2009, FLH is dedicated to providing an organizational umbrella for living history groups committed to the historically accurate, research-based interpretation of Florida’s history. FLH will, as a non-profit, provide logistic, administrative, advisory, and insurance-related support for these groups, enabling them to function smoothly and enjoy success and security in their endeavors. FLH is comprised of member groups, such as the Company of Juan Ponce de León, Calderon’s Company, the St. Augustine Garrison, and the St. Augustine Textile Arts Guild, that embrace and support its aims. Its success will be ensured by the long-demonstrated commitment of such member groups to living history and its potential to provide educational enlightenment, entertainment, and an understanding of Florida’s past for the general public.
For more information on Florida Living History, Inc., please contact us at castillocannon@hotmail.com or phone us, toll-free, at 877-FLA-HIST (877-352-4478). You may also visit the Florida Living History, Inc. Web site at www.FloridaLivingHistory.org .
Thanks to Sheila for bringing this to my attention
This month's Archaeology magazine - - July/Aug 2009 - - includes the article "Spain's Appalachian Outpost" - 'Conquistadors in the Carolinas' by Marion P. Blackburn- - The Spanish story of the Native American town of Joara (the Berry site, NC)-- visited by De Soto, First and Second Pardo expeditions. There is an abstract of Spain's Appalachian Outpost online .
Hernando de Soto is generally credited with introducing pigs into North America. The descendants of these swine are considered a nuisance species throughout the Southeastern United States and regularly hunted.
“…and they took with them a large drove of pigs which had been brought over in the fleet to meet any emergency.”—Ranjel’s account
“The Governor had brought thirteen sows to Florida, which had increased to three hundred swine;”-- Elvas relation
“When they were returning they met with a sow which they had lost in going, and which had brought forth thirteen pigs, all differently marked in the ears. Hence, we may believe that the Indians had divided these animals among themselves, and that they are now reared in Florida.—Garcilaso de La Vega
At the 17th C. Searles event in St. Augustine members of the incredibly cool Bartholomew Bramble's Schoole of DefenceAKA Bramblers who had just completed aperiod boar hunt. Not only did they help feed the camp with fresh pork but they also greatly entertained all the soldiers, buccaneers and distaff with their tales of the hunt, ‘tripod’ pigs, and weapon wound analysis.
With the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s ‘discovery’ of Florida coming up its likely that we handful of conquistador living history types will find ourselves asked to recreate Ponce’s landing and taking possession of La Florida.The surviving account of the 1513 voyage is pretty brief and the taking of the land even more so.
From the Herrera account- April 2, 1513
“Thinking the land was an island they named it La Florida, because it had a very beautiful view of the many fresh woodlands and it was even and uniform.And because they discovered it in the time of Easter, the Feast of Flowers, Juan Ponce wished to conform in the name with these two reasons.He went ashore to obtain information and take possession.”[1]
Not much to go on there I’m afraid.Looking a couple of decades earlier for the first instance of claiming the land for Spain in the New World:
Letter of ColumbusSan Salvador - Friday, 12th of October 1492
“The Admiral took the royal standard, and the captains went with two banners of the green cross, which the Admiral took in all the ships as a sign with an F and a Y and a crown over each letter, one on one side of the cross and the other on the other. Having landed they saw trees very green, and much water, and fruits of diverse kinds. The Admiral called to the two captains, and to the others who leaped on shore, and to Rodrigo Escovedo, secretary of the whole fleet, and to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, and said that they should bear faithful testimony that he, in presence of all, had taken, as he now took, possession of the said island for the King and for the Queen his Lords, making the declarations that are required, as is now largely set forth in the testimonies which were then made in writing.”[2]
And in the Admiral of the OceanSeas own words:
First Voyage of Columbus- 1492
“And there I found very many islands filled with people innumerable, and of them all I have taken possession for there highnesses, by proclamation made and with the royal standard unfurled, and no opposition was offered to me.”[3]
In particular interest for PdL reenactment is Columbus’ second voyage which according to Las Casas , Ponce was a member of that expedition, although there isn’t any other evidence to that effect, he presumably would have seen how its done.
Second Voyage of Columbus -1493
“There the admiral, with royal standard in his hands, landed, and many men with him, and there took possession for there highnesses in form of law.”[4]
Looking to some later La Florida expeditions one can fill in a little more detail as to how take possession of a new land.
Panfilo de Narvaez - 1528
“The next day the Governor hoisted flags in behalf of Your Majesty and took possession of the country in Your Royal name, exhibited his credentials, and was acknowledged as Governor according to Your Majesty's commands. We likewise presented our titles to him, and he complied as they required.”[5]
Hernando de Soto -1539
“Tuesday, June 3, the Governor took possession of the country in the name of their Majesties, with all the formalities that are required, and dispatched one of the Indians to persuade and allure the neighbouring chiefs with peace.”[6]
And according to Garcilaso grapes were the motivating factor in claiming La Florida:
“The general received the fruit with pleasure, because they were like the grapes of Spain, and because they had not found any either in Mexico or in Peru, so that, judging from this, of the excellence of the soil of Florida, he commanded three hundred men to go and take possession of it in the name of the emperor.”[7]
Pedro Menendez - 1565
“On Saturday, the 8th, the general landed with many banners spread, to the sound of trumpets and salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn Te Deum laudamus. The general marched up to the cross, followed by all who accompanied him, and there they kneeled and embraced the cross. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all they saw done. The same day the general took formal possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and all the captains took the oath of allegiance to him, as their general and governor of the country. When this ceremony was ended, he offered to do everything in his power for them,..”[8]
[1]Juan Ponce de León, King Ferdinand and the Fountain of Youth. Devereux, Anthony Q. The reprint Company, Publishers, Spartanburg, South Carolina 1993. pp.114-115
Christopher Columbus 1451-1506 Bartolome de Las Casasc.1490-1558
Original Source: Christopher Columbus, "Journal of the First Voyage of Columbus," in Julius E. Olson and Edward Gaylord Bourne, eds., The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503, Original Narratives of Early American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906. P.50
[3]The Four Voyages of Columbus: A History in Eight Documents, Including Five by Christopher Columbus, in the Original Spanish, with English Translations
Jane, Cecil trans. & ed. Dover, Mineola, New York 1988 p.3
Original Source: Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, "History of the Conquest of Florida." In The History of Hernando de Soto and Florida; or, Record of the Events of fifty-six years, from 1512 to 1568. E. Barnard Shipp. Philadelphia: Robert M. Lindsay, 828 Walnut Street, 1881
