Coronado and La Grau Quivira, I537-I544
of his own brotherhood." 13 He was a native of the City of Nice, which at that time was a part of Savoy, and, according to his contemporaries, ·he was of French descent. In 1531, moved by religious zeal, he went to the Island of Santo Domingo with six other missionaries, from where they proceeded to Peru the following year. As a companion of Pizarro, he was present at the capture of Atahualpa and was a witness of the foul death of the Inca chief. After a few years spent in Peri'.1, where he wrote three works on the Indians of that country and Quito, he came to Mexico by way of Central America, perhaps with Pedro de Alvarado, walking all the way. At the time of the return of Cabeza de Vaca and his com- panions, he seems to have been already busy among the natives of Jalisco as a missionary. By 1538 he had attracted attention among the members of his Order. The following year he was made vice-commissary, a dis- tinction all the more evident, when it is remembered that he had as contemporaries such distinguished Franciscans as Motolinia, Sahagun, and Mendieta. Mendoza could not have selected a man better fitted by experience, knowledge, and tact than this zealous missionary, whose char- acter has been so unjustly blackened by unscrupulous contemporaries and heedless historians of our day. 14 With characteristic caution, the viceroy wanted to ascertain beyond a doubt the possibilities for success in undertaking a formal expedition of conquest into the unknown region of the north. He was unwilling and unable to spend large sums in reconnoitering. He naturally turned, there- fore, to the friars to accomplish this task. There were many advantages in adopting this policy. The missionaries traveled very economically, their judgment could not be biased by worldly interests, they were more likely to report nothing but the truth, and their meekness, love, and charity would attract the natives and win their friendship. "The choice of a leader [such as Fray Marcos] was beyond question an excellent 1 lBandelier, Contributio11s, 107. 14 The sketch above given is based on Bandelier, Contributions, 78-79, ·winship, op. cit., 3 54, Lowery, op. cit., 260. The sources used by these eminent authorities have been checked by the writer, but are· not cited because most of them are unavailable to the average reader. The chief contemporary detractors of Fray Marcos were Cortes, who was an interested party; Coronado, who had been disappointed in his unfounded expectations; and Castaneda, who wrote several years a f ter the event and without access to the sources. Later historians have lightly accused the good friar without investigating the truth. Bandelier was the first to make a scientific investigation to establish the facts in the case.
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