Event

Division of the ransom

In July 1533 the gold and silver at Cajamarca was melted, weighed and shared out; the Crown took its fifth.

5 links, 4 backed by primary records

In July 1533 the gold and silver at Cajamarca was melted, weighed and shared out; the Crown took its fifth.

Connections 5

Crown of Castile According to Francisco de Xerez Primary record 1 2
The first quote is Xerez's royal fifth. The second is Markham's footnote reporting a larger fifth from the later writer Garcilaso de la Vega; it is a later writer's claim, set beside the record of the melting.
Francisco Pizarro According to Francisco de Xerez Primary record 1
Cajamarca According to Francisco de Xerez Primary record 1

Xerez, True Report of the Conquest of Peru According to Francisco de Xerez Primary record 1
The total as printed in the 1872 English: 326,539 pesos. It has lost its first digit. Five times the printed royal fifth (262,259 pesos) is 1,311,295; Prescott gives 1,326,539.
Xerez, True Report of the Conquest of Peru Scholarship & press 3
Prescott (1847) gives the full total, and a silver figure equal to the 51,610 marks in Xerez.

Timeline 1 date

Proof 3 sources

Reports on the Discovery of Peru: I. Report of Francisco de Xeres, secretary to Francisco Pizarro (English translation by Clements R. Markham, Hakluyt Society, 1872), Hakluyt Society, London (scan on the Internet Archive), 1872. Primary record
the Royal fifth amounted to 262,259 pesos of pure gold. Of the silver there were 51,610 marcs, of which 10,121 marcs of silver formed the Royal fifth.
The horsemen each received 8,880 pesos of gold and 362 marcs of silver.
it was found to make a total of 326,539 pesos of good gold
Reports on the Discovery of Peru: Markham's footnotes and introduction (Hakluyt Society, 1872), Hakluyt Society, London (scan on the Internet Archive), 1872. Scholarship & press
Garcilasso gives the royal fifth at 546,250 pesos of gold and 105,750 pesos of silver.
William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Peru (1847; text via Project Gutenberg #1209), Project Gutenberg, 1847. Scholarship & press
The total amount of the gold was found to be one million, three hundred and twenty-six thousand, five hundred and thirty nine pesos de oro
The quantity of silver was estimated at fifty-one thousand six hundred and ten marks.

Page history 1 change