Falcón, Francisco

[Representación hecha por el licenciado Falcón al Concilio provincial sobre los daños y molestias que se hacen a los indias. Incipit:]El licenciado Francisco falcon, en nombre de los naturales deste Reyno del píru Porquien seme ha cometido y mandado ... Lima, Peru or Spain: late 16th century



Manuscript, folio (12 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; 318 x 216 mm), 36 pages, paper with the Pilgrim watermark and letters "AAG" beneath, not in Briquet but many similar ones from 16th-century Italy; first leaf detached but present though its conjugate blank lacking, light marginal soiling. Disbound, in a green half morocco drop box.

Published in Informaciones acerca de la religión y gobierno de los Incas (Lima, 1918); see G. Lohmann Villena, "El licenciado Francisco Falcón," in Anuario de estudio americanos 27 (1970), 131–194

contemporary copy of falcón's extraordinary defense and description of the incan empire

Francisco Falcón (1521–1587) was one of the principal private attorneys representing native interests in Peru in the period 1560 – 1575. From 1561 he was registered in Lima and took part in various disputes representing Andean caciques before the Audiencia of Lima. He was appointed to defend the former Inca government during the second Lima council of bishops in 1567. The present text is his lengthy report to that council, based on his now lost Apologia pro Indis.

In it, Falcón argues that Spain has no right to rule in Peru because it was conquered in an unjust war. While it would be impractical to return rule to the Inca imperial line, he feels that Spain should grant broader powers to local native leaders and return land, grazing and water rights to the Indians. He then argues that tribute demanded of native peoples is too high and should not exceed levels it reached during the Inca period.

The greater part of the treatise is a description of the structure and functions of the Inca state, one of our few sources from this early period. Of particular interest is a list of professions engaged in by the Incas.