Juan Ponce De Leon

Conditions and Terms of Use AUTHORITIES ON PONCE DE LEON Copyright © Heritage History 2009 There is no good Life of Juan Ponce de Leon extant, and Some rights reserved the writer has been compelled to pursue his subject through several works, historical in nature, dealing with the times in This text was produced and distributed by Heritage History, an organization which he lived, but affording scant material for a biography. dedicated to the preservation of classical juvenile history books, and to the Such authors as Herrera, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, Barcia, promotion of the works of traditional history authors. and Las Casas have yielded something, however, and the various The books which Heritage History republishes are in the public domain and fragments have been pieced together, recourse also being had to are no longer protected by the original copyright. They may therefore be reproduced other books on early Spanish discoveries. The author's within the United States without paying a royalty to the author. researches in the West Indies were not unfruitful, for he has visited both Santo Domingo and Porto Rico several times, as The text and pictures used to produce this version of the work, however, are the property of Heritage History and are licensed to individual users with some well as investigated in Guadeloupe and other islands of the restrictions. These restrictions are imposed for the purpose of protecting the integrity Lesser Antilles. of the work itself, for preventing plagiarism, and for helping to assure that Of all the Spanish writers, Barcia is the fullest in details compromised or incomplete versions of the work are not widely disseminated. respecting Ponce de Leon. His work is entitled Ensayo In order to preserve information regarding the origin of this text, a copyright Cronologico para la Historia General de la Florida. It was put by the author, and a Heritage History distribution date are included at the foot of forth as from the pen of "Don Gabriel de Cardenas," though every page of text. We request all electronic and printed versions of this text include really written by Don Andres Gonzales Barcia, and published in these markings and that users adhere to the following restrictions. Madrid, 1723. 1) This text may be reproduced for personal or educational purposes as long as Barcia based his narratives referring to De Leon upon the original copyright and Heritage History version number are faithfully material found in the History by Herrera, who, he says, had reproduced. access to the letters which Juan Ponce wrote to the Emperor 2) You may not alter this text or try to pass off all or any part of it as your own Charles V., Cardinal Adrian, and others. (Decade 3, Lib. I., Cap. work. 14): ". Antonio de Herrera comprueba esta Cronologia con las cartas de el mismo Juan Ponce, escritas at Emperador 3) You may not distribute copies of this text for commercial purposes unless Carlos V., at Cardinal Adriano, y otros." you have the prior written consent of Heritage History. All the sources on Ponce de Leon are mentioned in 4) This text is intended to be a faithful and complete copy of the original Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, and to them the reader document. However, typos, omissions, and other errors may have occurred during preparation, and Heritage History does not guarantee a perfectly is respectfully referred, with the caution, however, to be reliable reproduction. prepared for a long and perhaps wearisome search. Permission to use Heritage History documents or images for commercial purposes, or more information about our collection of traditional history resources can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected] Original Copyright 1908 by Frederick A. Ober 2 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS THE VALIANT EXEMPLAR ....................................................... 4 FIGHTING THE MOORS ............................................................ 8 PONCE DE LEON IN AMERICA ............................................... 13 A SOLDIER IN HISPANIOLA ................................................... 18 THE REBELLION IN HIGUEY .................................................. 22 CAPTURE OF COTUBANAMA ................................................. 25 JUAN PONCE, PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR ................................. 28 INVASION OF PORTO RICO .................................................... 31 SUBJUGATION OF BORIQUEN ................................................ 34 WAR WITH AGUEYBANA....................................................... 38 THE ISLAND'S ABORIGINES ................................................... 42 THE GOVERNOR BUILDS A CASTLE ...................................... 46 THE FOUNT OF PERENNIAL YOUTH ....................................... 51 FLORIDA AND BIMINI ............................................................ 56 BECERRICO THE BLOOD-HOUND .......................................... 60 ADELANTADO OF FLORIDA ................................................... 64 SEEKING THE MAN-EATERS.................................................. 68 ENCOUNTERS WITH CANNIBALS ........................................... 72 DEFEATED BY CARIBS .......................................................... 76 UAN ONCE S AST AMPAIGN J P ' L C ........................................... 80 JUAN PONCE DE LEON. Original Copyright 1908 by Frederick A. Ober 3 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 CHAPTER I engaged in deadly warfare, he had been, as it were, cradled beneath the canopies of tents, nurtured upon the traditions of his ancestors, and matured with Spain's seasoned veterans in the THE VALIANT EXEMPLAR field. Thus it came to pass that he was regarded by the king and the queen, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, as their 1443–1482 most doughty champion, defender of the faith, and implacable antagonist of the Mahometan Moors. That great deeds and a broad field of action are not For more than seven centuries the Moors from Africa had always commensurate is exemplified in the lives of the Ponces held possession of some portion of the Iberian peninsula; but at de Leon, Juan and Rodrigo, noteworthy names of a family famed the period in which Juan and Rodrigo Ponce de Leon appeared in the annals of America and Spain. Of the two, doubtless the upon the scene they were restricted to a mountainous region latter was the more distinguished in the land of his birth for bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea. A thousand years ago, bravery and military skill; but the former achieved a still wider indeed, the Mahometans had taken as their own the best part of celebrity by linking his name with the discovery of Florida and Spain; they had even crossed the French frontier and threatened the search for the fountain of youth. to invade all Europe. Turned about by the blows of Charles These two famous sons of Spain were not closely related, Martel, in that fierce battle of the year 732, the Saracens began although they bore the same patronymic, as Juan came from an their century-long retreat southward; but nearly five hundred ancient family of Aragon, and Rodrigo from an equally ancient, years elapsed before their power was shattered on the field of and in the fifteenth century more flourishing, house of Tolosa. After that the Spaniards gathered courage to attack the Andalusia, or the south of Spain. Both belonged to the hidalguia, Moors at every opportunity; still, it was not till the end of the or Spanish nobility; but the northern, or Aragon branch, was in fifteenth century that they were practically driven from Spain. decadence at the time Juan was born, in or about the year 1460, The refluent wave to Africa was a very long time in reaching its while the Andalusian was then rapidly approaching the zenith of shores. its glory. This, indeed, culminated with the career of Rodrigo It remained for Isabella and Ferdinand to reap the reward Ponce de Leon (born 1443, died 1492), who, while possessing of persistent effort by other sovereigns through the centuries vast territory in Spain, with scores of castles, towns, and preceding. They fell heirs to what had been accomplished, what villages, passed the greater part of his life in camp. had been garnered, what achieved by their predecessors, and by Soldiers were they both, trained almost from infancy in their union they welded together the chain of little kingdoms—of the profession of arms; but while Juan was still a page at the Spanish provinces—that stretched across the peninsula from the court of Pero Nunez de Guzman, Senor of Toral, Rodrigo could Mediterranean to Portugal's frontiers. Behind the retreating raise an army of his own retainers and vassals. For he was then Moors the Spaniards erected impregnable barriers: one year they the most illustrious of the Ponces, and, having in youth come took and refortified a city, another a province, a mountain range, into the ownership of title and estates, was well and widely a river and its banks; but whatever was taken they held. Broader known as the powerful Marquis of Cadiz. As his territory, at the and broader became the region that lay north of the Moors, from time this story opens, lay contiguous to the region then occupied which they were banished forever; narrower and narrower the by the Moors, with whom for centuries the Spaniards had been territory that lay between it and the Mediterranean, until, in the Original Copyright 1908 by Frederick A. Ober 4 Distributed by Heritage History 2009 last quarter of the fifteenth century, they held only the

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