Conquistador

The envelope (141 x 73mm) is addressed to "Mr. T. Jenkin. 32, Strada Reale. Malta", contained within is a piece of brown cloth (46 x 21mm) with edges frayed, on the reverse of the envelope in a contemporary hand "A Piece of "Pizzaio's" "Shroud" taken from the Cathedral at "Lima" in 1870. Not by [Miracle?]. Pizzaro was the Conqueror of Peru about 1520." Gonzalo Pizarro (1513-1548) was a Spanish conquistador who was one of his brother Francisco's main lieutenants during the conquest of the Inca Empire. Gonzalo was cruel and ruthless, but undeniably a very effective soldier. After the conquest, he fought alongside his brothers and their supporters during the civil wars that broke out among the conquistadors. Later, he led the resistance in Peru to the "New Laws" of 1542, taking up arms against an official Spanish Viceroy: this earned him a royal execution in 1548. "Gonzalo's remains were not exposed to the indignities inflicted on Carbajal's, whose quarters were hung in chains on the four great roads leading to Cuzco. Centeno saved Pizarro's body from being stripped, by redeeming his costly raiment from the executioner, and in this sumptuous shroud it was laid in the chapel of the convent of Our Lady of Mercy in Cuzco." (Precott, The Conquest of Peru, p.497).