For the Spanish New World administrator of the 17th century, see Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar

Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar

Diego Fernández de Córdoba y López de las Roelas, Marquis of Guadalcázar and Count of Posadas , was Viceroy of Mexico from October 18, 1612 to March 14, 1621 and Viceroy of Peru from July 25, 1622 to January 14, 1629.-Early life:He was born in Seville.In 1598, aged 20, he was in Central Europe,...

.

Diego Fernández (c. 1520 - c. 1581) was a Spanish

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...

 adventurer and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 of the 16th century.

Born at Palencia

Palencia

Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon...

, he was educated for the church, but about 1545 he embarked for 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....

, where he served in the royal army under Alonzo de Alvarado. Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, marquess of Cañete

Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, 3rd Marquis of Cañete

Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza y Cabrera, 3rd Marquis of Cañete was a Spanish military officer and, from June 29, 1556 to his death on March 30, 1561, the fifth Viceroy of Peru.-Origins and military career:...

, who became viceroy of Peru in 1555, bestowed on Fernandez the office of chronicler of Peru; and in this capacity he wrote a narrative of the insurrection of Francisco Hernandez Giron

Francisco Hernández Girón

Francisco Hernández Girón, born in Cáceres, Extremadura, died in Lima on December 7, 1554, was a Spanish conquistador.Hernández Girón arrived in Peru in 1535 with, among others, the future governor Blasco Núñez Vela. In the ensuing struggle for power between the Pizarro brothers and the Almagristas...

, of the rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro

Gonzalo Pizarro

Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso was a Spanish conquistador and younger paternal half-brother of Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of the Inca Empire...

, and of the administration of Pedro de la Gasca

Pedro de la Gasca

Pedro de la Gasca was a Spanish bishop, diplomat and the second viceroy of Peru, from April 10, 1547 to January 27, 1550....

. The whole work, under the title Primera y segunda parte de la Historia del Piru, was published at Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

 in 1571 and was dedicated to King Philip II

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

. It is written in a clear and intelligible style, and with more art than is usual in the compositions of the time. It gives copious details, and, as he had access to the correspondence and official documents of the Spanish leaders, it is, although necessarily possessing bias, the fullest and most authentic record existing of the events it relates.

A notice of the work will be found in W. H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru (new ed., London, 1902).

See also

• Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
  Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
  Garcilaso de la Vega , born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, was a historian and writer from the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. The son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca noblewoman, he is recognized primarily for his contributions to Inca history, culture, and society...
  
  
• Fray Martín de Murúa
  Fray Martín de Murúa
  Fray Martín de Murúa, was a Basque Mercedarian friar and chronicler. He is best known for his work Historia general del Piru , which is considered the earliest illustrated history of Peru....