Cura Ocllo (died 1539) was an Inca queen consort, or ''coya'', as the
wife and full sister of the Inca emperor
Manco Inca Yupanqui
Manco Inca Yupanqui (1544) was the founder and first Sapa Inca of the independent Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, Peru, Vilcabamba, although he was originally a Puppet government, puppet Inca Emperor installed by the Spaniards. He was also known ...
,
[Titu Cusi Yupanqui, 2005, An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru, Boulder: University Press of Colorado, ] whose reign over the
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
began in 1533. During the
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru, was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spaniards, ...
, she was abducted and raped by the Spanish soldier
Gonzalo Pizarro
Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso (; 1510 – 10 April 1548) was a Spanish conquistador. He was the younger paternal half brother of Francisco Pizarro, who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Pizarro was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro y ...
in an incident that greatly exacerbated tensions with Yupanqui, who, amidst the fall of the Inca Empire to the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
, decried the conduct of Spanish troops towards the Inca people. He subsequently founded the rebellious
Neo-Inca State
The Neo-Inca State, also known as the Neo-Inca state of Vilcabamba, was the Inca state established in 1537 at Vilcabamba, Peru, Vilcabamba by Manco Inca Yupanqui (the son of Inca emperor Huayna Capac). It is considered a rump state of the Inca ...
, which was also conquered by the Spanish by 1572.
Biography
Early life, marriage, and children
Her husband was named
Sapa Inca
The Sapa Inca (from ; ) was the monarch of the Inca Empire (''Tawantinsuyu'' "the region of the four rovinces), as well as ruler of the earlier Kingdom of Cusco and the later Neo-Inca State at Vilcabamba, Peru, Vilcabamba. While the origins ...
in October 1533 after the death of their common brother
Túpac Huallpa
Túpac Huallpa (alternatively ''Tupaq Wallpa'' or ''Huallpa Túpac)''; before July 1533 – October 1533), original name Awki Wallpa Túpaq, was the first vassal Sapa Inca installed by the Spanish conquistadors, during the Spanish conquest of ...
, who in his turn had succeeded
Atahualpa
Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa or Ataw Wallpa ( Quechua) ( 150226 July 1533), was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture and execution in July of the following year, as part of the Spanish conquest of the In ...
upon his execution by the Spaniards three months earlier. Manco initially worked as a puppet ruler from the
Cuzco
Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department.
The city was the capital of the Inca Empire unti ...
branch of the
Inca
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
royal family of
Huayna Capac
Huayna Capac (; Cuzco Quechua: ''Wayna Qhapaq'' ) (before 14931527) was the third Sapa Inca of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire. He was the son of and successor to Túpac Inca Yupanqui,Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro; 2015, originally published in Sp ...
, having challenged Atahualpa and the northern tribes from
Quito
Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...
in the
Inca Civil War
The Inca Civil War, also known as the Inca Dynastic War, the Inca War of Succession, or, sometimes, the War of the Two Brothers, was fought between half-brothers Huáscar and Atahualpa, sons of Huayna Capac, over succession to the throne of t ...
.
Cura Ocllo had a son,
Sayri Tupac, with Manco Inca in 1535, during Manco's time in captivity. During the time when Manco Inca was the puppet ruler of the Spaniards in Cuzco, Francisco Pizarro left for Lima, appointing
Juan Pizarro governor of Cuzco with a garrison of two hundred Spaniards, in his absence. Juan Pizarro had a bad relationship with Manco Inca, and the Spaniards under Juan and Gonzalo Pizarro subjected Manco Inca and his court to abuse in Francisco Pizarro's absence.
Abduction and rape by a Spanish soldier
The final event that caused Manco Inca to turn against the Spanish was the rape of his queen. At this point, the Spaniards and their native allies had abducted and raped many women in Cuzco, including princesses, noblewomen and priestesses, the
Aclla
Aclla ( Quechua: ''aklla''), also called Chosen Women, Virgins of the Sun, and Wives of the Inca, were sequestered women in the Inca Empire. They were virgins, chosen at about age 10. They performed several services. They were given in marriag ...
, some of which were later made wives of the Spaniards. According to
Fernandez de Oviedo,
Hernando Pizarro
Hernando Pizarro y de Vargas (; c. 1504 – c. 1578) was a Spanish conquistador and one of the Pizarro brothers who ruled over Peru. He was the only one of the Pizarro brothers who was not killed in Peru, and eventually returned to Spain.
Piza ...
,
Juan Pizarro and
Gonzalo Pizarro
Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso (; 1510 – 10 April 1548) was a Spanish conquistador. He was the younger paternal half brother of Francisco Pizarro, who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Pizarro was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro y ...
"left no one single women or sister of his
anco'sunviolated", and had taken the Inca princesses as concubines, Among the princesses taken as concubines was
Cuxirimay Ocllo
Cuxirimay Ocllo (Classical Quechua: ''Kuši Rimay Uqllu'') (born before 1532–d. after 1576), also known as Doña Angelina Yupanqui, was a princess and consort of the Inca Empire by marriage to her cousin, the Sapa Inca Atahualpa (r. 1532–1533) ...
, the widow of the former Inca. She was made the concubine of Francisco Pizarro.
According to
Titu Cusi
Titu Cusi ( Spanish: Diego de Castro Titu Kusi Yupanqui; ; Quechua: ''Titu Kusi Yupanki'' ) (15291571) was an Inca ruler of Vilcabamba and the penultimate leader of the Neo-Inca State. He was a son of Manco Inca Yupanqui. He was crowned in 156 ...
, a group of Spaniards under the leadership of
Gonzalo Pizarro
Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso (; 1510 – 10 April 1548) was a Spanish conquistador. He was the younger paternal half brother of Francisco Pizarro, who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Pizarro was the illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro y ...
demanded that Manco give them his queen.
Manco Inca dressed his most beautiful concubine as queen, and gave her to the Spaniards, who did not believe she was the queen, and therefore continued to demand to have the queen. After having dressed a number of other women as queens, including his sister Ynguil, whom Pizarro temporarily believed were the queen,
Manco Inca was finally forced, after several days stalling, to give up his actual sister wife queen Cura Ocllo, who was raped by Gonzalo Pizarro and kept by him at Pizarro's Palace in Casana.
The rape of the queen was a contributing factor in Manco Inca finally deciding to turn against the Spanish, upon the advice of his noblemen, whose wives and daughters had also in many cases been raped, and escape Spanish custody.
Inca rebellion against the Spanish conquest
Once free, Manco endeavoured to free his land from the Spaniards. Attempting to regain the Inca capital of Cuzco in a ten-month
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
in 1536, he failed, and despite a victory over conquistador
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...
's brother
Hernando at
Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo () is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Cusco region. D ...
in January 1537, he had to withdraw.
Execution by the Spanish army
Manco was eventually able to secure the release of Cura Ocllo from captivity. In April 1539, during the Spanish warfare against Manco Inca in Vilcabamba, the Mansio Serra de Leguizamon reported that his force had managed to capture "the Inca's woman
ura Oclloand his warrior chief, who was called Cusi Rimache".
When the army stopped on their way to Cuzco, some thirty miles from Vilcabamba, in the village of Pampaconas, Cura Ocllo's captors tried to rape her, and she defended herself from further rape by smearing herself in excrement.
Cura Ocllo was kept as a hostage by Pizarro in Ollantay in Yucay valley, after which Pizarro negotiated with peace with Manco Inca. When his messengers were killed, Pizarro had Cura Ocllo stripped, tied to a stake and executed by being shot with arrows by his Canari auxiliaries.
[Stuart Stirling, ]
Pizarro
'
Her remains were then put in a basket, per her request, and carried by river to her brother-husband, in the
Vilcabamba mountains.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocllo, Cura
Inca royal consorts
16th-century births
1539 deaths
Deaths by arrow wounds
Murdered royalty
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Indigenous people of the Andes