Ulrich
Schmidl or Schmidel (1510
in Straubing - 1579 inRegensburg) was a German Landsknecht, conquistador,explorer, chronicler and councilman. Schmidl was, besideHans Staden, one of the few the
Landsknechts, who wrote his experiences down.
Biography
Schmidl was the
son of a wealthy merchant, and received a good education. He
entered military service and took part 1534 as a Landsknecht
underPedro de Mendoza in an expedition
to today's Argentina (Río de la Plata). He also
accompanied Juan de Ayolas on his first trip in
quest of provisions, and afterward went with Ayolas in his
expedition up Paraguay River, and was one of the
soldiers that were left withDomingo Irala in charge
of the vessels in the port of Candelaria[disambiguation
needed]. WhenCabeza de Vaca was deposed in April
1544, Schmidel sustained Irala, who was the new governor, and in
1546 accompanied him in his expedition to Peru as far as the foot of theAndes, where he was despatched
with Nuño de
Chaves to President La Gasca. He accompanied Irala on his
last unfortunate expedition of 1550.[1]
He became a
founder of Buenos Aires. His journey led him across
the Río Parana and Río Paraguay and into
today's Paraguay, where he helped to
found Asuncion. From there he undertook several
expeditions in the Gran Chaco, which led him into
southeast Bolivia.
Illustration from
Vera historia, 1599
In 1552, on
learning of the death of his elder brother to whose estate he was
to succeed, Schmidel obtained his discharge. In Seville, he presented to the council of the
Indies letters from Irala with the report of his discoveries, and
arrived toward the close of 1554 in Straubing, where he afterward resided. He had
kept a diary during his wanderings, and wrote a narrative of his
adventures under the title of Wahre Geschichte einer
merkwürdigen Reise, gemacht durch Ulrich Schmidel von Straubingen,
in America oder der Neuen Welt, von 1534 bis 1554, wo man findet
alle seine Leiden in 19 Jahren, und die Beschreibung der Länder und
merkwürdigen Völker die er gesehen, von ihm selbst
geschrieben (The true story of a noteworthy trip made by
Ulrich Schmidel von Straubingen in America or the New World from
1534 to 1554, where will be found all his troubles of 19 years and
the description of lands and noteworthy peoples he saw, described
by himself; Frankfort, 1557), of which a Latin version appeared in
Nuremberg in 1599 as Vera historia,
etc. Henri
Ternaux-Compans published a translation of the work in
his Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir à
l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique, recueil de documents sur
la Floride (20 vol., 1837–1841) and Andrés Gonzalez de
Barcia in his Historiadores primitivos de
Indias. Schmidel thus became the first historian of
Argentina.
Much of his
account in the German language overlaps with an
account written in Spanishby Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca,
who was adelantado of the Governorate of the Río
de la Plata between 1540 and 1545. Their accounts, one by
a German mercenary, another by a Spanish nobleman, offer stark
differences in point of view.[2]:35–40
His narrative
gives the names and tells of the habits and manner of living of
many Indian nations that were extinct a century later.[1] Perhaps
the most fascinating parts of his accounts are those that
attribute cannibalism not to the South American natives, but rather
to the desperate conquistadors who were unsuited for
survival in the rough climate, and would frequently consume one
another in an effort to escape starvation. A particularly notable
account states that Spaniards who were hung, and while
barely dead, were hacked up by their fellow countrymen, and
devoured.[2]:37
After his
return to Straubing with a few pieces of booty, he
inherited the fortune of his deceased brother, and became a
councilman. Because of religious strife he had to leave Straubing
and went in 1562 to Regensburg, where he died around 1579.
Notes
