Alonso de Contreras

Last updated
Alonso de Contreras Derrotero Universal 1.jpg

Alonso de Contreras (Madrid, Spain, 6 January 1582 - 1641), was a Spanish sailor (captain of a frigate), soldier (captain of infantry and then of cavalry), privateer, adventurer and writer, best known as the author of his autobiography; one of the very few autobiographies of Spanish soldiers under the Spanish Habsburgs and possibly one of the finest, together with the True History of the Conquest of New Spain (Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España) by Bernal Diaz del Castillo.

Contents

Biography

Born to a very poor family he enrolled in the army at the young age of 15 (in his autobiography he says 14 but the date he gives, September 1597, corresponds with 15) using his mother's name, Contreras. J.B. Trend's account is that he ran away to enlist after stabbing a school-fellow in Madrid at the age of 13. He traveled to Flanders but soon deserted and traveled to Malta where, for the following six years, he would soldier in privateering ships under the banner of the Order of Malta. During this time he encountered countless risks, fights and adventures. He deserted several times, mainly due to fights in which he was involved. He also learned navigation by observing the pilots do their work and was soon given command of ships. He knew the eastern Mediterranean very well and used this knowledge to write a sailing directions of the entire Mediterranean. The original manuscript of this work is kept today, together with the original manuscript of his autobiography, at the Spanish National Library in Madrid (Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid).

After six years he returned to Castile where he applied for and got a commission as an ensign and he visited his mother. His orders were to recruit his soldiers, as was customary then, and, under the command of his captain, go to Extremadura. There is an obscure incident where, in the small Morisco town of Hornachos, he found a cache of arms in a house where one of his soldiers was quartered. He was told by the local authorities to say nothing but years later he was accused and tried for plotting a rebellion. He is not very clear on this incident and it could well be that there was more to it than he intimates.

A prostitute falls in love with him after she sees him involved in a fight and joins him and follows him with his army but his captain tries to rape her and Contreras takes revenge by almost killing him. Contreras then escapes to Madrid where he gives himself up and explains what happened. He is exonerated and given order to return but most of the soldiers had deserted.

After some time of soldiering he becomes a hermit on the slopes of the Moncayo in Aragon and lives that life until he is arrested and tried for the incident of the arms at Hornachos.

He continued to have an adventurous and active military career which took him to many parts in Europe, rising to the rank of infantry captain. He also became an accomplished sailor and sailed all over the Mediterranean where he encountered many adventures. He also sailed to the West Indies where he encountered and fought the ships of Sir Walter Raleigh. For a time he was the governor of a small city in Italy. In Italy he married a Castilian lady but, having become suspicious of her faithfulness he spies on her and laconically says "their fate was that I found them in bed together and they died". He was present at the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano of 1631 and helped save some lives. He was befriended by the poet Lope de Vega who, having heard his tales, was probably who prompted him to write his autobiography.

Bibliography

His autobiography has been published many times in Spanish and the sailing directions at least once. Information on the various Spanish editions and a link to the downloadable text can be found at Wikipedia's page in Spanish. An English translation was published in 1926 [1] and a more recent translation was published in 1989 by Paragon House, New York, titled The Adventures of Captain Alonso De Contreras: A 17th Century Journey.

In the Spanish archives of Simancas ( Archivo General de Simancas ) there are, archived, two of his memorials, a sort of "resume" listing their accomplishments which, at the time, soldiers would have to prepare every time they sought promotion. The second one is dated fifteen years after his autobiography and gives further insight into the story of his life.

Contreras compiled sailing charts about Mediterranean ports, capes and creeks, marking where all kinds of ships can be repaired and marking the depth of water. Either the original or a copy was later possessed by the Prince of Oneglia, the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily and is noted by J.B. Trend as being still preserved in the National Library at Madrid.

Related Research Articles

Occhiali

Occhiali was an Italian farmer, then Ottoman privateer and admiral, who later became beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers, and finally Grand Admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.

William Wright was an English privateer in French service and later buccaneer who raided Spanish towns in the late 17th century.

Hammamet, Tunisia Place in Nabeul Governorate, Tunisia

Hammamet is a town in Tunisia. Thanks to its beaches, it is a popular destination for swimming and water sports and is one of the primary tourist destinations in Tunisia. It is located in the south-eastern section of Cap Bon and is part of the Nabeul Governorate.

Pinzón brothers Spanish sailors, pirates, explorers and fishermen

The Pinzón brothers were Spanish sailors, pirates, explorers and fishermen, natives of Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain. Martín Alonso, Francisco Martín and Vicente Yáñez, participated in Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World and in other voyages of discovery and exploration in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Hayreddin Barbarossa Ottoman admiral

Hayreddin Barbarossa, also known as Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis , was an Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Barbarossa's naval victories secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean during the mid 16th century.

Henry Jennings was an 18th-century English privateer from the colony of Bermuda, who served primarily during the War of the Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven or "republic" of New Providence.

John Morris was an English buccaneer active in the Caribbean during the 1660s and early-1670s. His son, John Morris the Younger, held a command of his own ship during his father's later expeditions against Portobelo and Maracaibo. John Morris the Younger was one of the commanders killed in an explosion during a party on-board Henry Morgan's flagship in 1670.

Edward Davis or Davies was an English buccaneer active in the Caribbean during the 1680s and would lead successful raids against Leon and Panama in 1685, the latter considered one of the last major buccaneer raids against a Spanish stronghold. Much of his career was later recorded by writer William Dampier in A New Voyage Round the World (1697).

Salah Rais was an Ottoman privateer and admiral. He is alternatively referred to as Sala Reis, Salih Rais, Salek Rais and Cale Arraez in several European sources, particularly in Spain, France and Italy.

Hornachos Place in Extremadura, Spain

Hornachos is a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 3,840 inhabitants.

Claes Gerritszoon Compaen, also called Claas Compaan or Klaas Kompaan, was a 17th-century Dutch corsair and merchant. Dissatisfied as a privateer for the Dutch Republic, he turned to piracy and captured hundreds of ships operating in Europe, the Mediterranean and West Africa during the 1620s.

See also: 1706 in piracy, other events of 1707, 1708 in piracy and the list of 'years of Piracy'.


HMS <i>Bonne Citoyenne</i> (1796)

Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy launched in 1794, the name ship of a four-vessel class. She was part of the French fleet active in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796, commissioning her as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne.

Singeing the King of Spains Beard

Singeing the King of Spain's Beard is the derisive name given to a series of attacks by the English privateer Francis Drake against the Spanish in the summer of 1587, beginning in April with a raid on Cádiz. This was an attack on the Spanish naval forces assembling in the Bay of Cádiz in preparation for the planned expedition against England. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and substantial supplies were destroyed or captured. There followed a series of raiding parties against several forts along the Portuguese coast. A Spanish treasure ship, returning from the Indies, was also captured. The damage caused by the English delayed Spanish preparations for the Armada by more than a year.

HMS <i>Argo</i> (1781) British Roebuck-class ship

HMS Argo was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1781 from Howdon Dock. The French captured her in 1783, but 36 hours later the British recaptured her. She then distinguished herself in the French Revolutionary Wars by capturing several prizes, though she did not participate in any major actions. She also served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was sold in 1816.

Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1641) Military battle

The Battle of Cape St Vincent of 1641 took place on 4 November 1641 when a Spanish fleet commanded by Don Juan Alonso de Idiáquez y Robles intercepted a Dutch fleet led by Artus Gijsels during the Eighty Years' War. After a fierce battle two Dutch ships were lost but the Dutch claimed only a hundred of their men were killed; the Spanish fleet also lost two ships but over a thousand dead. The damaged Dutch fleet was forced to abandon its planned attack on the Spanish treasure fleet.

Battle of the Berlengas (1591)

The Battle of Berlengas Islands was a naval battle which took place off the Portuguese coast on 15 July 1591, during the war between Elizabeth I of England and Philip II of Spain. It was fought between an English privateer squadron under George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, who had set out his fortunes by large-scale privateering, and a squadron of 5 Spanish galleys commanded by Francisco Coloma tasked with patrolling the Portuguese coast against privateers. While anchored off the Berlengas, the English ships were surprised by the Spanish galleys, which succeeded in taking one English ship and rescuing two prizes.

Capture of the galleon <i>Lion Couronné</i>

The Capture of the galleon Lion Couronné was a naval engagement that took place off Formentera on 17 June 1651, during the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659). A squadron of eleven Spanish galleys under John of Austria the Younger captured the French galleon Lion Couronné after a fight.

Luis Fajardo (Spanish Navy officer) Spanish admiral

Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño, KOC, known simply as Luis Fajardo, was a Spanish admiral and nobleman who had an outstanding naval career in the Spanish Navy. He is considered one of the most reputable Spanish militaries of the last years of the reign of Philip II and the reign of Philip III. He held important positions in the navy and carried out several military operations in which he had to fight against English, Dutch, French and Barbary in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. It is known for the conquest of La Mamora in 1614.

References

  1. de Contreras, Alonso, The life of Captain Alonso de Contreras : Knight of the Military Order of St. John, native of Madrid, translated by Catherine Phillips, introduction by David Hannay. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1926.