Three Accounts of Pedro de Valdivia's Death

Abstract

The manner of Pedro de Valdivia’s death has given rise to more controversy than any other single factof his life, as evidenced by the different accounts of that event provided by historical chronicles andcontemporary literary renditions. On the one hand, not only were all the Spaniards who witnessed theevent themselves killed in the fatal skirmish, but also the original oral Mapuche tradition has beenentirely lost and today it merely repeats the versions provided by the chronicles. On the other, themanner itself of Pedro de Valdivia’s death as described in the different accounts-cannibalism, beheading,lance-thrust, club-blow to the head, ax-blow to the head, forced ingestion of molten gold-goes hand inhand with ethnographic elements that are here analyzed. The relevant historical and literary texts arereviewed with a view to bringing light to this event which so deeply traumatized the Spanishconquistadors.