Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá

[3] Villagrá joined Captain de Oñate's expedition to New Mexico in 1596 and was an eyewitness and participant in the pacification and colonization of the Pueblo Indians in the New Mexican territory.

After many hair raising and near-death adventures, the expedition was finally able to cross the turbulent and rapidly flowing waters of the Rio Grande River at what today is El Paso, Texas, in July 1598.

In an act of thanksgiving, Oñate ordered a Mass to be said, after which the men and women relaxed by watching a play written by one of the soldiers for the occasion; this was the first Western European drama performed in the United States.

[6] These secular dramas, such as Los Moros y Cristianos, were performed in part as a strategy to demonstrate the mighty power of the Spanish Empire to the astounded Indian masses who marvelled at the deafening sound of the firing cannons.

[3] It is rumored that Villagrá, of athletic build and hard spirits, was left alone with his dog and his horse after an eventful persecution, and went through the desert in search of Oñate.

Later he distinguished himself in making high population of Acoma, the stronghold of warlike Indians, and made a formidable leap across a deep abyss where his companions had put a log that served as a bridge.

[7] Oñate was also known for his brutality toward the Indians, and soon the Pueblo, who were subjugated, mistreated, their food stolen, and their lands taken away in the name of the king of Spain, began to rebel.

Soon thereafter, in 1599, the Acoma Massacre transpired, where hundreds of the Native American population were indiscriminately slain and driven from their homes, marking the defeat of the Pueblo and the triumph of the Spanish colonizers.

[1] In the aftermath of the expedition, Villagrá is believed to have served as a major from 1601-1603, in Guanacevi and Nuestra Señora de Alancón Nueva Vizcaya, before returning to Spain in 1605.

It was Pérez de Villagrá's intention that his epic poem constitute a plea to King Phillip III for a position in the New World.

[5] In 1933 a translated, English version was produced by Gilberto Espinosa; since then the reputation of the poem has shifted and more admiration is paid to Villagrá's efforts, style, and historical contents.

The first form criticizes Villagrá's attempt to assimilate history with poetic aestheticism since he is restricted as an artist by the historical contents of the poem.

Villagrá's limits himself in artistic form because he still must present the historical material chronologically and accurately; this format leaves little leeway for Gaspar to be creative.

"[5] Villagrá's attempts to associate the people of the Oñate expedition with classical characters of Greek and Roman mythology becomes absurd by the overabundance of connotations he develops between them.

Although Pérez de Villagrá was in Spain at the same time that Cervantes published Don Quixote, it is not known if the authors had knowledge of each other's works.

He is untrustworthy when it comes to historical and chronological events, his depiction of the aboriginal population has been criticized as paternalistic, and as a poet Pérez de Villagrá can be uninspiring and repetitive.