Pedro Arias Davila
Pedro Arias Dávila or Pedro Arias de Ávila or by his pseudonym Pedrarias (Segovia, 1440- León Viejo, March 6, 1531) was a Castilian nobleman, politician and military man, noted for his participation in America, where he held the position of Governor and Captain General of Castilla de Oro from 1514 to 1526 and that of Governor of Nicaragua from 1528. to 1531.
He was nicknamed «el Galán» and «el Justador», because from his youth he excelled in handling the spear, standing out in all the jousts and tournaments he participated.
Biography
Family origin and early years
Pedro Arias Dávila was born in the year 1440 in the city of Segovia in Extremadura, which was part of the Crown of Castile. He belonged to one of the most influential Segovian aristocratic families: the Arias Dávila, of Jewish-convert origin, founded by his grandfather Diego Arias Dávila, Castilla's chief accountant.
His father was Pedro Arias Dávila the Brave, prominent in the reign of Enrique IV of Castile, whom he served from a young age with the job of maiden when he was still Prince of Asturias, and his mother was María Ortiz de Cota, also belonging to to a Jewish convert family from the city of Toledo.
Following the family tradition, he was raised in the Castilian court, first in that of King Enrique, and later in that of the Catholic Monarchs, by whom he was appointed contino in 1484. Over the years he became a military expert and one of the most famous colonels of the army of the Catholic Monarchs.
Military career in Europe
He distinguished himself in the War of Granada and in the wars of Portugal and France, and especially in those of Africa (1508-1511), participating in the capture of Oran (1509) directing the squadrons of Segovia and Toledo, and in the taking of Bugía (1510) as an infantry colonel at the head of fourteen soldiers, being the first to scale the walls of the square, after killing the Muslim lieutenant who guarded it. This heroic defense earned him the increase in arms of his family coat of arms by a royal provision of August 12, 1512.
Governor of Castilla de Oro
In 1513 he was appointed governor and captain general of Castilla de Oro, which comprised territories of the current countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and the northern part of Colombia. He took office in 1514, despite already being about 74 years old.
In 1519 he founded the city of Panama in its primitive seat (currently called Panama la Vieja). He was characterized by his ambitious temperament and the cruelty with which he treated both the indigenous people and the Spanish who were under his command, which earned him the nickname Furor Domini ("Wrath of God").
Among other actions, he ordered the beheading of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, fiancé of his daughter María de Peñalosa, and Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, founder of the cities of León, whose ruins were discovered in 1967, Granada, Nicaragua, and the town of from Brussels in the vicinity of the Gulf of Nicoya, in the territory of present-day Costa Rica.
Given the serious accusations made against him, he was separated from the governorship of Castilla de Oro.
Governor of Nicaragua and death
Later he was appointed governor of the province of Nicaragua, a position he held from 1528 until his death, which occurred in the old city of León on March 6, 1531, which would be abandoned in 1610 due to constant earthquakes and an eruption of the nearby Momotombo volcano.
Marriage and offspring
Governor Pedro Arias Dávila married the Segovian lady Isabel de Bobadilla y Peñalosa, daughter of Francisco de Bobadilla, maestresala of the Catholic Monarchs and Knight of the Order of Santiago, and of María de Peñalosa; and paternal niece of Beatriz de Bobadilla, Marquise de Moya, very close to Isabel la Católica, of whom it was said: "After the queen of Castile, la Bobadilla".
The result of this marriage was nine children:
- Diego Arias Dávila, married to Doña Mencía de Ayala;
- Francisco de Bobadilla, Dominican friar;
- Juan Arias;
- Arias Gonzalo de Ávila, Count of Puñonrostro, married to Ana Girón;
- María de Peñalosa, wife of Vasco Núñez de Balboa and in second nupcias of Rodrigo de Contreras, rector of Segovia;
- Isabel de Bobadilla, married to Hernando de Soto;
- Elvira Arias, married to Urban de Arellano, Lord of Clavijo and Miraflores;
- Beatriz de Bobadilla, nun of Santa María de las Dueñas de Sevilla;
- Catalina Arias, Abbey of the monastery of San Antonio the Real of Segovia.
Finds of their remains in the 20th century
The supposed remains of Pedrarias Dávila were discovered in 2000, together with those of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (the latter identifiable due to the absence of their head) in the presbytery of the church of La Merced in the aforementioned city of León, and both buried in the Founders Memorial, built that same year in a sector of its old main square. Paradoxically, the remains of Hernández de Córdoba were honored with 21 cannon shots from the Nicaraguan Army and buried in the place of honor of the Memorial, while those of Dávila were buried at the foot of the former.