Ulrich Schmidl
Encyclopedia
Straubing
Straubing is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held....
- 1579 in Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
) was a German Landsknecht
Landsknecht
Landsknechte were European, predominantly German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of Early modern Europe.-Etymology:The term is from German, Land "land, country" + Knecht...
, conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
, explorer, chronicler and councilman. Schmidl was, beside Hans Staden
Hans Staden
Hans Staden was a German soldier and mariner who voyaged to South America. On one voyage, he was captured by the Tupinambá people of Brazil whom he claimed practiced cannibalism...
, one of the few the Landsknechts, who wrote his experiences down.
Biography
Schmidl was the son of a wealthy merchantMerchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
, and received a good education. He entered military service and took part 1534 as a Landsknecht under Pedro de Mendoza
Pedro de Mendoza
Pedro de Mendoza y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, soldier and explorer, and the first adelantado of the Río de la Plata.- Setting sail :...
in an expedition to today's Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
(Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
). He also accompanied Juan de Ayolas
Juan de Ayolas
Juan de Ayolas was a conquistador who explored the watershed of the Rio de la Plata for the Spanish crown. He accompanied Pedro de Mendoza on his 1534 expedition to colonize the region between the Rio de la Plata and the Straits of Magellan and briefly succeeded him as the second governor of the...
on his first trip in quest of provisions, and afterward went with Ayolas in his expedition up Paraguay River
Paraguay River
The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina...
, and was one of the soldiers that were left with Domingo Irala
Domingo Martínez de Irala
Domingo Martínez de Irala was a Spanish Basque conquistador.He headed for the Americas in 1535 enrolled in the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza and participated in the founding of Buenos Aires...
in charge of the vessels in the port of Candelaria
Candelaria
-People:*John Candelaria , American baseball pitcher*Candelaria Pérez , sergeant in the Chilean Army, hero of the Battle of Yungay*Nash Candelaria , U.S...
. When Cabeza 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
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
as far as the foot of the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, where he was despatched with Nuño de Chaves to President La Gasca
Pedro de la Gasca
Pedro de la Gasca was a Spanish bishop, diplomat and the second viceroy of Peru, from April 10, 1547 to January 27, 1550....
. He accompanied Irala on his last unfortunate expedition of 1550.
He became a founder of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. His journey led him across the Río Paraná and Río Paraguay and into today's Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, where he helped to found Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
. From there he undertook several expeditions in the Gran Chaco
Gran Chaco
The Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region...
, which led him into southeast Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
In 1552, on learning of the death of his elder brother to whose estate he was to succeed, Schmidel obtained his discharge. In Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, 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
Henri Ternaux-Compans
Henri Ternaux-Compans was a French historian.-Biography:After finishing his studies in Paris, he entered the diplomatic service and was secretary of the embassies at Madrid and Lisbon, and chargé d'affaires in Brazil, but resigned, and devoted several years to travel through Spain and South...
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 González de Barcia
Andrés González de Barcia
-Works:He published General History of Florida , and First Historians of the West Indies, issued in sections, and published collectively after his death . He also edited works by Herrera, de la Vega, and Torquemada....
in his Historiadores primitivos de Indias. Schmidel thus became the first historian of Argentina.
His narrative gives the names and tells of the habits and manner of living of many Indian nations that were extinct a century later. Perhaps the most fascinating parts of his accounts are those that attribute cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
not to the South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n natives, but rather to the desperate conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
s 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.
After his return to Straubing
Straubing
Straubing is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held....
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
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, where he died in 1579.