Alonso de Reinoso
Encyclopedia
Alonso de Reinoso (1518–1567) was a Spanish
Conquistador
in Honduras
, Mexico, Peru
and Chile
. He was born in Torrijos
Toledo
, Spain in 1518. He was married to Catalina Flores de Riofrío before he came to the Americas in 1535.
He first disembarked in Cartagena de Indias
in Colombia
but soon moved on and fought for twelve years in Honduras and the Yucatán
with Pedro de Alvarado
and Francisco de Montejo
and was one of the first Alcalde
s of the new city of Mérida
. Leaving Mérida he went to fight in Peru for two years until he met Francisco de Villagra
who was recruiting more men for Pedro de Valdivia
s campaign in Araucanía.
In 1551 he came to Chile with Francisco de Villagra. An experienced soldier he soon be became Corregidor
of the city of Angol
in 1554 after the death of Valdivia. Francisco de Villagra then appointed him as Maestro de Campo
for his army in 1554. After fighting in the Battle of Marihueñu
, he survived the defeat and evacuation of Concepcion
. Returning to Santiago
, he supported Villagra against the attempt of Francisco de Aguirre
to become governor of Chile.
Under the new governor García Hurtado de Mendoza Reinoso was made a Captain of Cavalry
and fought in the Battle of Lagunillas
and Battle of Millarapue
. Moving into the Tucapel
region he broke up an assembly of Mapuche in Cayucupil
with a night march and morning surprise attack. Soon afterward near the valley of Purén
, Reinoso rescued a column under Pedro de Avendaño
from a Mapuche ambush.
Mendoza appointed him as the Corregidor of his new town of Cañete de la Frontera when he bagan his expedition to the south. Attempting to throw off the Spanish occupation Caupolicán attacked the fort of Cañete expecting the gates to be opened by the treachery of a yanacona
within but he was betrayed instead. Reinoso took advantage of the opportunity to lure the toqui
Caupolican
into a trap in the city and destroyed his army.
Later Reinoso found an Indian who led his subordinate Pedro de Avendaño into the mountains during the night and on February 5, 1558, captured Caupolican. Returned to Cañete Reinoso saw to the Toqui's execution by impalement
. This measure did not stop the Mapuche revolt and they fortified Quiapo
. Mendoza returned and with Reinoso captured the fort and destroyed the army defending it in the Battle of Quiapo
. Afterward Reinoso carried out the punishment of the prisoners taken in the battle, seven hundred were hanged without mercy on the battlefield.
In the middle of January 1559, Alonso de Reinoso was elevated to the rank of Maestro de Campo by Mendoza who left him in charge of all the troops south of the Bio Bio River. From 1559 he lived in the city of Concepcion where he was named as its Cabildo
s Alcalde Ordinario and its Corregidor. He continued as the Maestro de Campo for Mendoza's successor the new governor Francisco de Villagra.
He died, drowned in a shipwreck
near the city of Concepcion in 1567, escorting the new oidores
of the new Real Audiencia of Chile
to the city.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Mexico, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. He was born in Torrijos
Torrijos, Spain
Torrijos is a Spanish municipality of Toledo province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Its population is 12,000 and its surface is 17 km², with a density of 682.76 people/km². Torrijos is the center of the "comarca" of the same name....
Toledo
Toledo (province)
Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....
, Spain in 1518. He was married to Catalina Flores de Riofrío before he came to the Americas in 1535.
He first disembarked in Cartagena de Indias
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
but soon moved on and fought for twelve years in Honduras and the Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
with Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the conquest of Mexico led by Hernan Cortes...
and Francisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo y Alvarez was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America.Francisco de Montejo was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1479 to Juan de Montejo and Catalina Alvarez de Tejeda. He left Spain in 1514, and arrived in Cuba in time to join Grijalva's expedition along the coast of...
and was one of the first Alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
s of the new city of Mérida
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
. Leaving Mérida he went to fight in Peru for two years until he met Francisco de Villagra
Francisco de Villagra
Francisco de Villagra Velázquez was a Spanish conquistador, and three times governor of Chile.-Early life:Born at [Santervás de Campos], he was the son of Alvaro de Sarría and Ana Velázquez de Villagra, who were not married. For this reason he took the name of his mother...
who was recruiting more men for Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command...
s campaign in Araucanía.
In 1551 he came to Chile with Francisco de Villagra. An experienced soldier he soon be became Corregidor
Corregidor
Corregidor Island, locally called Isla ng Corregidor, is a lofty island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in southwestern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Due to this location, Corregidor was fortified with several coastal artillery and ammunition magazines to defend the entrance of...
of the city of Angol
Angol
Angol is a commune and capital city of the Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region of southern Chile. It is located at the foot of the Nahuelbuta Range and next to the Vergara River, that permitted communications by small boats to the Bío-Bío River and Concepción. This strategic position explains...
in 1554 after the death of Valdivia. Francisco de Villagra then appointed him as Maestro de Campo
Maestro de Campo
Maestro de Campo was a rank created in 1534 by the Emperor Carlos V, inferior in rank only to the Capitán General and acted as a chief of staff. He was chosen by the monarch in the Council of State, and commanded a tercio. Their powers were similar to those of the old Marshals of the Kingdom of...
for his army in 1554. After fighting in the Battle of Marihueñu
Battle of Marihueñu
Battle of Marihueñu was one of the early decisive battles of the Arauco War between the Mapuche leader Lautaro and the Spanish general Francisco de Villagra on 23 February 1554.-History:...
, he survived the defeat and evacuation of Concepcion
Concepción, Chile
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
. Returning to Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, he supported Villagra against the attempt of Francisco de Aguirre
Francisco de Aguirre (conquistador)
Francisco de Aguirre was a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.-Early life:...
to become governor of Chile.
Under the new governor García Hurtado de Mendoza Reinoso was made a Captain of Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
and fought in the Battle of Lagunillas
Battle of Lagunillas
The Battle of Lagunillas was a battle in the Arauco War on November 8, 1557 between the army of García Hurtado de Mendoza and the Mapuche army near some shallow lakes a league south of the Bio-Bio River.-History:...
and Battle of Millarapue
Battle of Millarapue
The Battle of Millarapue that occurred November 30, 1557 was intended by the Toqui Caupolicán as a Mapuche ambush of the Spanish army of García Hurtado de Mendoza that resulted in a Spanish victory when the ambush failed.-History:...
. Moving into the Tucapel
Tucapel
Tucapel is a town and commune in the Arauco Province, Biobío Region, Chile. It was once a region of Araucanía named for the Tucapel River. The name of the region derived from the rehue and aillarehue of the Moluche people of the area between the Lebu and the Lleulleu Rivers, who were famed for...
region he broke up an assembly of Mapuche in Cayucupil
Cayucupil
Cayucupil is a riachuelo or small river in the vicinity of Cañete, Chile of the Arauco Province of the Bío-Bío Region that has its origin in the western foothills of the Nahuelbuta Mountains, to the east of that city...
with a night march and morning surprise attack. Soon afterward near the valley of Purén
Purén
Purén is a city and commune in Malleco Province of Araucanía Region, Chile. It is located in the west base of the Nahuelbuta mountain range . The economical activity of Purén is based in forest exploitation and agriculture...
, Reinoso rescued a column under Pedro de Avendaño
Pedro de Avendaño
Pedro de Avendaño a Spanish soldier that had arrived in Chile with the army of García Hurtado de Mendoza in 1557. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Millarapue. He later served in the garrison of Cañete under captain Alonso de Reinoso. Reinoso eventually found an Indian who betrayed the...
from a Mapuche ambush.
Mendoza appointed him as the Corregidor of his new town of Cañete de la Frontera when he bagan his expedition to the south. Attempting to throw off the Spanish occupation Caupolicán attacked the fort of Cañete expecting the gates to be opened by the treachery of a yanacona
Yanaconas
Yanacona or Yanakuna , is a word whose meaning in Spanish is servant. In the Inca Empire it was the name of the slaves of the Incas. They were to care for the herds of the nobles, do fishing, and were dedicated to other work, like the making of pottery, construction, and domestic service to the...
within but he was betrayed instead. Reinoso took advantage of the opportunity to lure the toqui
Toqui
Toqui is a title conferred by the Mapuche to those who are chosen as their leaders during times of war. The toqui is chosen in an assembly or parliament of the chieftains of the various clans or confederation of clans , allied during the war in question...
Caupolican
Caupolican
Caupolicán was a Toqui, the military leader of the Mapuche people of Chile, that commanded their army during the first Mapuche rising against the Spanish conquistadors from 1553 to 1558....
into a trap in the city and destroyed his army.
Later Reinoso found an Indian who led his subordinate Pedro de Avendaño into the mountains during the night and on February 5, 1558, captured Caupolican. Returned to Cañete Reinoso saw to the Toqui's execution by impalement
Impalement
Impalement is the traumatic penetration of an organism by an elongated foreign object such as a stake, pole, or spear, and this usually implies complete perforation of the central mass of the impaled body...
. This measure did not stop the Mapuche revolt and they fortified Quiapo
Quiapo, Chile
Quiapo is a place in Arauco Province of Chile that is 25 kilometers to the Southwest of Arauco and about 25 kilometers to the north and east of the port of Lebu to the east of the Bahia del Carnero and 6.4 kilometers west of the small town of Villa Alegre...
. Mendoza returned and with Reinoso captured the fort and destroyed the army defending it in the Battle of Quiapo
Battle of Quiapo
Battle of Quiapo in the Arauco War was the final battle in the campaign of García Hurtado de Mendoza against the Mapuche under the toqui known as Lemucaguin or Caupolicán the younger...
. Afterward Reinoso carried out the punishment of the prisoners taken in the battle, seven hundred were hanged without mercy on the battlefield.
In the middle of January 1559, Alonso de Reinoso was elevated to the rank of Maestro de Campo by Mendoza who left him in charge of all the troops south of the Bio Bio River. From 1559 he lived in the city of Concepcion where he was named as its Cabildo
Cabildo (council)
For a discussion of the contemporary Spanish and Latin American cabildo, see Ayuntamiento.A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a former Spanish, colonial administrative council that governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, but were considered to be representative of...
s Alcalde Ordinario and its Corregidor. He continued as the Maestro de Campo for Mendoza's successor the new governor Francisco de Villagra.
He died, drowned in a shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
near the city of Concepcion in 1567, escorting the new oidores
Oidor
Oidor is the Spanish name of the member judge of the Royal Audiencias and Chancillerías, originally courts of Kingdom of Castile, which became the highest organs of justice within the Spanish Empire...
of the new Real Audiencia of Chile
Real Audiencia of Chile
Royal Audience of Santiago :-Structure:Law XII of Title XV of Book II of the Recopilación de Leyes de las Indias of 1680—which reproduces Philip IV's decree of February 17, 1609—describes the limits and functions of the Audiencia.In the city of Santiago de Chile shall...
to the city.
Sources
- José Toribio Medina, Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de Chile desde el viaje de Magallanes hasta la batalla de Maipo, 1518-1818, Tomo VII, Imprenta Ercilla, Santiago, 1895
- http://books.google.com/books?id=KAKra6LwoBsC&pg=RA1-PA39&lpg=RA1-PA39&dq=Reinoso+%22Francisco+de+Montejo+%22&source=web&ots=cc1PC928qr&sig=qlEXLxtFwfWb7d-bHNKzOtP2PJM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PRA1-PA38,M1 6 de Octubre de 1542 XXI. — Información de los servicios que hizo en la conquista de Higueras y Honduras Alonso de Reinoso, en compañía del adelantado D. Francisco de Montejo y Pedro de Alvarado. (Archivo de Indias, Patronato, 1-2-3/23.)]
- Diego Barros AranaDiego Barros AranaDiego Jacinto Agustín Barros Arana was an educator, diplomat and Chilean historian. He is considered the most important Chilean historian of the 19th century and his most famous work is the General History of Chile...
, Historia jeneral de Chile, Tomo I, R. Jover, Santiago, 1884 Original from Oxford University, Digitized Nov 2, 2007