16th Century Warfare in the Philippines
by
Roel P. Cantada
Glossary
Bagani – Bagobo, Bilaan, and Mandaya word for warrior. Bayani in Bikol, Kapampangan, Iloko, Cebuano, Tagalog, and Waray. Baganihan in Hiligaynon. (Almario, 2001)
Barangay – a village in 16th century Philippine society ruled by datus.
Datu – the highest social class, and rulers of 16th century Philippine society.
Timawa – the social class of free men in the 16th century Philippine society.
Tagalog – People of southern Luzon around the Pasig River and Laguna Lake.
Visayan – People of the islands of Panay, Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Leyte and Samar.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture the students should be able to:
Evaluate the war capability of 16th century barangays as exemplified in the Battles of Mactan [1521] and Manila [1570].
Explain the significance of institutional warfare in the core achievement approach to determining the level of civilization of a non-urban civilization.
We are going to study in this lecture the war capability of 16th century barangays, their technology, tactics, leadership, and consequences. This topic is important not only for curiosity’s sake but because it helps demonstrate how we end up the way we are today especially in relation to our ancestor’s mentality and our contemporary popular mentality regarding history, i.e. their and our ability to learn from the past, from experience.
The people of the Philippine Islands appeared in world history relatively late compared to the founders of great civilizations like China. And when they fully [not just mentioned in passing] came out into that stage courtesy of the Spaniards it was in a bloody scene. In fact the pages of the history of the Filipinos are washed in blood. But we are not here to judge the morality of warfare, or to emphasize the blood and gore. What we are going to do is to look at warfare from what F. Landa Jocano, an eminent Filipino anthropologist, called the core achievements approach for distinguishing and judging civilized from noncivilized prehistoric societies (1998).
The core achievements approach lists ten criteria namely:
efficient technology
predictive sciences
writing
art and religion
foreign trade
big population
megalithic structures
government
laws
warfare
Of these ten, we have already discussed writing—baybayin. Jocano used this concept to address an issue that had been debated over since the time of Jose Rizal. That there is a belief “among many contemporary Filipinos, including some respected scholars ... that our ancestors were never civilized until the colonizers [Spaniards and Americans] came to do them the favor.” Jocano further said that “the term civilization has always been associated with urban phenomena”, and that this should not be the only type of civilization but there is also a non-urban type. And it is the latter that Jocano categorizes the ancient Filipino barangay. The urban and non-urban civilizations were distinguished in this way:
The urban civilization is associated with market economy and a merchandising middle class, with a greater class complexity than the non-urban civilization, with a landed aristocracy and militaristic leadership ... The non-urban civilization is linked to a redistributive economy in the hands of an aristocracy, to a social ranking system, to corporate or kin ownership of land, and to a theoretically oriented leadership. (Willey, R.G. as cited in Jocano)
I am not really going to examine Jocano work, nor am I going to tackle all of these criteria in detail but rather I will use it as a rough guideline for categorizing the historical development of Filipino culture, society, politics and economy. In most if not all of my lectures for this course I will cite Jocano as a starting point for discussion of the other criteria.
Now let us turn to warfare. “Feuding barangays often raided each other’s territory. The causes of war were many. The most common cause was to avenge the honor or the name of the kinsman who was killed or harmed by another man coming from a different barangay.” (Jocano) This would probably sound familiar with you if you’ve ever experienced gangs of youth from different barangays having a rumble because of territory. Or even more common is the pay-back rumble after being defeated in a barangay basketball competition.
Another reason for barangay feuds which led to warfare is when someone from another barangay runs away with someone else’s wife. Territorial trespass was another cause of warfare. Transgression of the barangay’s religious taboos caused many bloody and lengthened feuding and warfare. (Jocano)
Each barangay trained its own defenders—the bagani [or in Tagalog a bayani, a hero, a warrior]. These warriors were called at any time to respond to surprise attack or to anticipate raids. The warriors were led by the datu, or village chief. (Jocano) The bagani is not a separate class, but belongs to the timawa.
Peace is achieved when the other party pays a fine, ransom, or blood money. Another method is through the sandugo or blood compact. Sandugo literally means one (isa) blood (dugo). In this ceremonial contract of brotherhood, the datus of the barangays cuts shallow wounds on their forearms and drips their blood in a single bowl or glass of wine. Both datus will then drink the mixture of blood and wine and this will signify that they are now blood relatives.
Unfortunately, Jocano’s descriptions were not based on actual recorded battles between barangays. Natives of the Philippines did not write history until perhaps during the time of Jose Rizal in the late 1800’s. So this is merely based on the accounts of Spaniards and observation of cultural minorities, who has preserved the indigenous culture of prehispanic Philippines.
What we have in history are recorded [although one sided] battles with the Spaniards. We will now turn to our first event, that which introduced the people of the Philippines to the world—the Battle of Mactan. This battle occurred in April 27, 1521, Saturday morning. It was exclusively a land battle (gahat) fought with small arms in close combat (asdang). The terrain is the seashore near the houses of the barangay, and there are rocks that prevented the Spanish ships from coming near and using artillery. Below is a comparison of the warfare capabilities of the two combatants.
Table 1: Comparison of Visayan and Spanish War Capability
Visayans (Barangay led by Lapu-lapu) | Español | |
Leaders | Lapu-lapu | Fernando Magallanes |
Number of warriors | 1,500 | 49 |
Weapons | ||
Long Range | ||
projectile | bamboo javelins with fire hardened wooden points and sand at the other end for balance busog (bow) and pana (arrows) stones | ballesta (crossbow) |
gun | known in Visayan as luthang but they did not have any | arcabuz (arquebus) cañon (cannon) |
Close Combat | ||
spear | bankaw (spearhead could be 30 cm. long and as wide as a man’s palm) | lanza alabarda (spear with axe) |
sword | kalis (60-70 cm. double edged) kampilan (90 cm. single edged) baladaw (dagger- single edged) | espada |
Defensive | ||
body armor | barote (baluti in Tagalog) | peto (corselet) |
shield | kalasag (50-150 cm. long, corky wood) | escudo |
helmet | made of sharkskin | morrion |
Others | ||
strategy | 3 division frontal, and flanking assault traps - pit holes | 2 division firing positions terrorism – arson |
casualties | 15 dead | 8 Spaniards dead 4 natives killed by friendly fire |
Source of Visayan weapons: Scott (1991)
The Visayans poisoned all of their weapons with bulit, a snake venom. Pigafetta himself was a victim of a poison arrow as he attest “...I was all swollen up by a wound from a poisoned arrow which I had received in my face.”
Although suffering more dead than the Spaniards, the Visayans won the day. They killed Magallanes and forced the Spaniards to withdraw. Their triumph would delay Spanish occupation of the Philippines for 44 years. But the Visayans would be defeated by the Spaniards when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and his men arrive in Cebu on April 27, 1565.
The Visayans from Lapu-lapu’s barangay were brave men but they were also helped by the stupid arrogance of the Spaniards. The other Visayans from Cebu, and the barangay of Zula who were allies of the Spaniards did not engage in the battle because Magallanes wanted them to stay in their balangays and watch how he displays Spanish fighting skills. Or perhaps he was afraid that they will turn against them. There were 20 to 30 balangays of warriors with them. A balangay war boat or karakoa can carry 30 warriors and 100 rowers each. They would have had between 600 to 900 native allies or more, and that could have tipped the scale of the battle. This also tells us that when the people of the Philippines unite, or those who are to fight their brothers opted to abstain then it results in the triumph of the people of the Philippines. Unfortunately, as I’ve hinted above our ancestors did not write history, and as philosopher George Santayana said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (1905)”
Okay. Now I’d like to take a look at a battle that occured in 1570. This time between the Tagalogs of Manila and the Spaniards. The barangay of Manila saw the Spaniards in May 1570. The Spaniards came from Panay, and was led by Martin de Goite. He came with two ships and fifteen paraws of Visayan or Lipong as the Tagalogs call them. Now the Tagalogs had two warfare technologies that the Visayans did not have, kutas (fort) and the lantaka (cannon). The battle was fought around the 24th (my estimate) of May at 10:00 A.M. The people of Manila fired the first shot and it was a land and naval warfare. The terrain was in present day Intramuros, Manila. It was a delta of the Pasig River emptying out to the Manila Bay. Below is the comparison of warfare capability.
Table 2: Comparison of Tagalog and Spanish War Capability
Tagalogs (Barangay Maynila) | Español | |
Leaders | Soliman | Martin de Goite |
Number of warriors | 15,000 estimated from 500 paraws | 90 Spanish arquebusiers 20 Spanish sailors 450 Visayans |
Weapons | ||
Long Range | ||
projectile | bamboo javelins with fire hardened wooden points and sand at the other end for balance busog (bow) and pana (arrow) stones | ballesta (crossbow) |
gun | known in Tagalog as astinggal but they did not have any lantakas (Tagalogs could have owned more than 500 lantakas based on the weight of bronze confiscated by Spaniards later on throughout the barangays near Manila) | 90 arcabuz (arquebus) 3 large cañon (cannon) |
Close Combat | ||
spear | sibat | lanza alabarda (spear with axe) |
sword | kalis (60-70 cm. double edged) kampilan (90 cm. single edged) balaraw (dagger- single edged) katana (Japanese sword) | espada |
Defensive | ||
body armor | baluti kuta maya | peto (corselet) |
shield | kalasag (long) palisay (round) | escudo |
helmet | kupya or tangkulog (Chinese helmets) | morrion |
Others | ||
strategy | fort defense withdraw to upstream fort | siege naval assault allies as shock troops |
casualties | 100 dead 80 taken prisoner by Spaniards Manila was burned to the ground 13 lantakas lost to Spaniards | 1 Spaniard drowned before battle |
Source of Tagalog weapons: Scott (1991); Note that there are historians who claim that Manila was a Kapampangan stronghold, but the evidence is still sketchy.
Similarly with the Visayans, the Tagalogs also poisoned their weapons but it seems that the Spaniards are prepared for it this time. In an earlier encounter in the Pansipit River in Batangas it was reported that “...suddenly, and without them being able to see any one, many arrows came flying through the air, one of which wounded Captain Juan de Salcedo in the leg... The captain secured an antidotal herb for his wound...” (Relation of the Voyage of Luzon)
Okay. A sidelight on warfare psychology. When the Visayans fought they shouted a lot. We don’t really know what they were shouting but with the Tagalogs, Pedro de San Buenaventura said that when they attack their enemies they taunted “those who were about to be defeated” with victory chants called dayaw or tagumpay. (As cited in Scott) The Spaniards also have a war-cry which was called the “Santiago” after their patron saint, St. James. The ancient Greeks also had a war chant called the paean. So as we can see it has evolved into the cheer in sports competition.
It’s easy to see that the armaments of the people of Manila were far more impressive than those of Mactan. But at the end of the day they were severely defeated by the Spaniards. Martin de Goite’s men would return to Panay to report to Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. The people of Manila would return to Manila and rebuild their houses but a year after on May 1571, they would have to burn it again when the Spaniards returned. The Spaniards would claim Manila and the native population would be relocated to Bagumbayan (literally new town), present day Luneta. The Spaniards will stay for more than 300 years until 1898.
It may surprise us that there were less warriors in Mactan and less weapons but they won while in the Manila there were more warriors with better weapons but they lost. How come?
Open discussion
One point that may be discussed in relation to the discussion question is the fact that the development of warfare strategy among the Spaniards was greater than the native islanders within the 49 year interregnum. The firearm technology did not really change much for the Spaniards. The arquebus was still cumbersome to load and reload, and was just as inaccurate due to the smooth bore. It was also still useless in hand-to-hand combat since the bayonet has yet to be invented. So it was just used as a club in close combat. This weapon which the natives knew but did not respect won the day for the Spaniards in 1570 but lost the 1521 encounter with the Visayans. And yet the Visayans did not have lantakas while the Tagalogs did? Part of the answer is in the difference in the quality of the conquistadores who came to the Philippines. Magellan's party were armed map makers while Legaspi's were equipped conquerors. Another is that the Spaniards were the first people to perfect the technique of combining pike and arquebus to defeat an army with pike and cannon in Europe (Tercio in Wikipedia, 2010; Pike and shot in Wikipedia, 2010). They already proven its efficacy at the Battle of Cerignola in 1503 (In Wikipedia, 2010). In this battle the Spaniards formed 8,000 men with 1,000 arquebusiers, 20 cannons, and pikemen won against a French force of 32,00 men with heavy cavalry, pikemen and 40 cannons. This combined arms is what Magellan probably forgot when he refused to let Humabon's men join the fray in Mactan. Tough luck for the Filipinos in Manila whose main weapons were pike (sibat) and cannon (lantaka). The Spaniards were probably jumping for joy when they saw a familiar sight--fort, pike and cannon. The same weapons their enemies in Europe whom they've defeated used. The cumbersome arquebus was made deadly with alternating rows of disciplined arquebusiers. They did not fire at the same time, the first row fires, the second row gets ready, and the third loads. Thereby, they were able to fire continuously as a group and the pikemen do not have the time to get near because there will be no lull in the hail of bullets. The fixed cannon proved to be a sitting duck against mobile arquebusiers who would pick off cannoneers. Because of the weight of the cannons, the cannoneers could not run off with their weapons. The cannoneer is also a specialist who cannot be easily replaced in the battlefield. Snipers would just pick them off one by one and that would silence the lantakas. In Manila the Spaniards reported that they were able to capture the native lantakas and turned them against our ancestors. Even if the enemy pikemen can come near a arquebusier, all the arquebusier has to do is run behind his own pikemen for protection while loading. The Visayans pikemen in Manila must have proved to be the tipping point that favored the Spaniards. The lesson here is that the weakness of the technology was resolved by an improvement in organization and discipline, something our people are still struggling with up to this day.
Nevertheless, we should correct students' false impression that our ancestors lost because they were primitive, ignorant, and lacked weapons. Our ancestors were already equal to the Spaniards in technology in terms of its basic principles like use of gunpowder, steel, fortifications, and naval technology. It's slightly behind the Spaniards in terms of implementation e.g. the Spaniards had bigger guns and ships. But as was said this disadvantaged in technology could have been resolved by organization and discipline. We had the advantage of terrain and numbers, but that advantage was eroded by other barangays becoming pilots for the Spaniards and showing them around the islands, and fighting with the Spaniards against other Filipinos. Of course we cannot blaim the Visayans for becoming pikemen of the Spaniards in Manila against the Tagalogs. There was no concept of a Filipino nation then, and each barangay was loyal to their own barangay. The people of Luzon (probably Tagalogs) sold rice to the Spaniards when the Cebuanos were trying to starve them off their island. The counterfactual histories may be based in the following what ifs. What if the Visayans fought with the Tagalogs instead of with the Spaniards. (In fact the Spaniards will rely on the natives to maintain their hold on the Philippines throughout their history, and when that native loyalty is exhausted towards the end, Spanish power collapsed.) What if the Filipinos knew how to write history and learn from each barangays experience about the fighting techniques of their enemies? Would it have better prepared them against Legaspi after 49 years? Had our ancestors defeated the Spaniards what would we look like today?
References
Almario, V.S. (Ed.). (2001). UP diksiyonaryong Filipino. Pasig: ANVIL.
Battle of Cerignola. (2010, June 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:05, July 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Cerignola&oldid=367133302.
Jocano, F. L. (1998). Filipino prehistory, rediscovering precolonial heritage. Metro Manila: Punlad Research House.
Pigafetta, A. First Voyage Around the World. In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, XXXIII. Cleveland: Clark.
Pike and shot. (2010, June 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:03, July 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pike_and_shot&oldid=370885780.
Relation of the voyage to Luzon (1570, May 8). In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803;Volume III, 1569-1576. Cleveland: Clark.
Santayana, G. (1905). Reason in common sense. In The life of reason, Vol. 1. Charles Scribner's Sons.
Scott, W. H. (1991) Barangay, sixteenth century Philippine culture and society. Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University.
Tercio. (2010, June 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:03, July 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tercio&oldid=370333650.
Primary Source 1: Battle of Mactan, 1521
by Antonio Pigafetta
On Friday, April twenty-six, Zula, a chief of the island of Matan, sent one of his sons to present two goats to the captain-general [Magallanes], and to say that he would send him all that he had promised, but that he had not been able to send it to him because of the other chief Cilapulapu, who refused to obey the king of Spagnia. He requested the captain to send him only one boatload of men on the next night so that they might help him and fight against the other chief. The captain-general decided to go thither with three boatloads.
... At midnight, sixty men of ours set out armed with corselets and helmets, together with the Christian king [Raha Humabon], the prince [Raha Tupas according to Henry Scott], some of the chief men, and twenty or thirty balanguiais. We reached Matan three hours before dawn. The captain did not wish to fight then, but sent a message to the natives by the Moro to the effect that if they would obey the king of Spagnia, recognize the Christian king as their sovereign, and pay us our tribute, he would be their friend; but that if they wished otherwise, they should wait to see how our lances wounded. They replied that if we had lances they had lances of bamboo and stakes hardened with fire. [They asked us] not to proceed to attack them at once, but to wait until morning, so that they might have more men. They said that in order to induce us to go in search of them; for they had dug certain pit holes between the houses in order that we might fall into them.
When morning came forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water for more than two crossbow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached land, those men had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries, two divisions on our flanks and the other on our front.
When the captain saw that he formed us into two divisions, and thus did we begin to fight. The musketeers and crossbowmen shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly; for the shots only passed through the shields which were made of thin wood and the arms [of the bearers]. The captain cried to them, “Cease firing! Cease firing!” but his order was not at all heeded. When the natives saw that we were shooting our muskets to no purpose, crying out they determined to stand firm, but they redoubled their shouts.
When our muskets were discharged, the natives would never stand still, but leaped hither and thither, covering themselves with their shields. They shot so many arrows at us and hurled so many bamboo spears (some of them tipped with iron) at the captain-general, besides pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones, and mud, that we could scarcely defend ourselves.
Seeing that the captain-general sent some men to burn their houses in order to terrify them. When they saw their houses burning, they were roused to greater fury. Two of our men were killed near the houses, while we burned twenty or thirty houses. So many of them charged down upon us that they shot the captain through the right leg with a poisoned arrow. On that account, he ordered us to retire slowly, but the men took to flight, except six or eight of us who remained with the captain. the natives shot only at our legs, for the latter were bare; and so many were the spears and stones that they hurled at us, that we could offer no resistance. The mortars in the boats could not aid us as they were too far away. So we continued to retire for more than a good crossbow flight from the shore always fighting up to our knees in the water. The natives continued to pursue us, and picking up the same spear four or six times, buried it at us again and again.
Recognizing the captain, so many turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice, but he always stood firmly like a good knight, together with some others. Thus did we fight for more than one hour, refusing to retire further. An Indian [Visayan] hurled a bamboo spear into the captain’s face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the Indian’s body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass [kampilan], until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him he turned back many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the boats, which were already pulling off.
The Christian king would have aided us, but the captain charged him before we landed, not to leave his balanghai, but to stay to see how we fought. When the king learned that the captain was dead, he wept.
...That battle was fought on Saturday, April twenty-seven, 1521. ... Eight of our men were killed with him in that battle, and four Indians, who had become Christians and who had come afterward to aid us were killed by the mortars of the boats. Of the enemy, only fifteen were killed, while many of us were wounded.
Reference:
Pigafetta, A. First Voyage Around the World. In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, XXXIII. Cleveland: Clark.
Primary Source 2: Battle of Manila, 1570
On the eighth of May of this year, one thousand five hundred and seventy, the master-of-camp, Martin de Goite, left the river of Panay with ninety arquebusiers and twenty sailors on board the following vessels: the junk "San Miguel," of about fifty tons' burden with three large pieces of artillery; the frigate "La Tortuga;" and fifteen praus manned by natives of Çubu and of the island of Panay.
... having heard from a Moro captured in one of the tapaques that the town of Menilla was very near, all the vessels and praus set sail, taking the captured Moro as guide. In the afternoon they came in sight of a very large bay, which formed a wide gulf. It resembled a narrow sea with its entrance at that point; but the guides affirmed that the land was one, and so it proved to be when we entered the bay. We had taken with us from Panae a Moro, a native of the town of Menilla, who has had intercourse with Spaniards for many years and is well known among them; for, when the camp was in Zebu, he always came to sell them provisions. Before the master-of-camp started on this expedition from Panay, this Moro, and his wife and one son, had become Christians. He left his wife in Panay, and accompanied the master-of-camp as interpreter. He had taken with him his brother, who was likewise a native of Menilla. When we entered the bay, these men advised the master-of-camp not to cast anchor before the town of Menilla itself, for the coast was treacherous, and to enter the river it was necessary to wait for high tide. They advised him to anchor in a small sheltered port, two leagues from the port of Menilla; and thence to send word to Raxa Soliman, the greatest chief of all that country, with whom the terms of peace and friendship were to be made, and whose opinion was to be heeded.
...when we passed the bar of the river of Menila. The town was situated on the bank of the river, and seemed to be defended by a palisade all along its front. Within it were many warriors, and the shore outside was crowded with people. Pieces of artillery [lantaka] stood at the gates, guarded by bombardiers, linstock in hand. A culverin-shot from us, and close to the houses of the natives, were four Chinese ships.
... the master-of-camp immediately landed with the Spaniards, to meet him. Immediately an uncle of the ruler, who also bore the title of king, advanced with so large a following that he was thought to be Soliman himself. He embraced the master-of-camp, and appeared to be a man of good intentions. Soon after came the other ruler, his nephew Soliman, who was a younger man than he who first came. Soliman assumed an air of importance and haughtiness, and said that he was pleased to be the friend of the Spaniards, but the latter should understand that the Moros were not painted Indians [Visayans] . He said that they would not tolerate any abuse, as had the others; on the contrary they would repay with death the least thing that touched their honor. This speech having been made through the interpreter, the master-of-camp gratified the chief with kind words; then after they had embraced each other and made a friendly compact, the Moro entered his fort. The master-of-camp returned to his ship, leaving all the oared boats and most of his men on shore, less than thirty paces from the town; and gave general orders that no man should enter the town, until the Moros, who seemed quite irritated, had regained their calm.
... During the day the Moros came to look at the soldiers ashore with their arquebuses and lighted match-ropes. The Moros carried their weapons and showed a rather bold attitude. They even did things which the Spaniards not often tolerate; but in order to obey the orders of the master-of-camp, and not give the appearance of starting hostilities on our side, they overlooked all the unmeasured boldness displayed by the Moros. At nightfall the men ashore withdrew to the ships, where they slept. The next morning the Moro Mahomete returned with the same ambassador who had first come. The latter bore a message from Raxa Soliman, to the effect that he had been informed that a tribute was to be asked of him; and that, consequently, he would not allow the Spaniards to enter the river. The master-of-camp--as one desirous of peace, and in view of the orders of the governor to make peace with the said town of Menilla--in his answer, requested the messenger to tell his lord not to believe such reports, for hitherto he had not asked for any tribute from him. He added that they would see each other again, and make a friendly settlement, which would be to his taste. Thus he dismissed the messenger; and he himself, after a little thought, went ashore with only the Spanish and Moro interpreters, without notifying any one of what he was going to do. He entered the palisade, whose gates were guarded by many Moros, and was led by the Moros straightway to a small house, where he was bidden to await King Soliman. As soon as the latter heard that the master-of-camp was within the fort, he hastened to him; and both went to a house where they made a friendly compact, after the fashion of the land--namely, in this wise: the master-of-camp drew blood with the two chiefs, uncle and nephew--both called Rraxa, which in the Malay language signifies king. The Moros drank the blood of the master-of-camp mixed with wine, and the master-of-camp drank that of the Moros in a similar way. Thus the friendship was established, on the terms that the Moros of Menilla were to support the Spaniards who came to settle there; and, doing this, they should pay no other tribute. The master-of-camp asked them for a list of the neighboring towns on the bay; and they gave him the names of forty towns of those situated on the shore, besides those inland. After this friendly agreement had been made with the Moros, who promised to give some food for our men, the master-of-camp left the fort, much to our pleasure. The Moros, notwithstanding the great security given them by the master-of-camp, persisted in their hostile and warlike attitude; and, even on account of the peace made, would not lay aside their weapons--on the contrary, the number of armed men seemed to be increasing continually.
... The Moro Mahomete, who was present at this trading, and acted as go-between, told the chief notary to postpone the bargain until another day; and to return to the ship, and tell the master-of-camp that King Soliman said that, in order to celebrate the peace made that day, he was about to pass in review his people, both on sea and on land, and should fire all his artillery, at which no offense should be taken, for all was in celebration of the peace. The chief notary left the port with the message, and found the master-of-camp receiving information in the above-mentioned vessel of friendly Indian rowers; they were saying that, having relatives among the Moros, they had learned that the latter were planning to fall upon the Spaniards at the first rain, when it would be impossible for them to make use of the arquebuses. From this news, and from the preparations which the Moros were making on both sea and land for the great review they said they were about to give, we saw that they were anxious to start the affray. At this time the Moro Mahomete arrived with a message from Raxa Soliman, to the effect that King Soliman had learned that the lord of Candola, a town on the other side of the river, intended to fight the Spaniards on sea and had invited him to join in the attack; but that he, Soliman, had refused to do so. For this reason he would get in readiness, and, if the chief really came to offer battle, he would aid the Spaniards with his people, since the master-of-camp was his friend. This new message gave a full understanding of the deceitful plan of the Moros; notwithstanding all this, the master-of-camp sent his thanks to Soliman for the warning, saying that he would be pleased to fight any one who desired to fight with him. He added that if it were not so late he would immediately go to the town of Candola to fight with that chief. Having dismissed the envoy with this message the master-of-camp ordered all the men to be on the watch, and for all the crews of the praus to sleep on land.
That day the sunset was so blood-red that it presented a wonderful sight. The men said that the sun was blood-stained. All that night the men, both on land and sea, slept fully armed. The next morning two or three soldiers were going ashore in a little canoe, when, seven or eight paces from land, their small canoe suddenly filled with water and the men went to the bottom. One of the soldiers, Juan Nunez, a native of Talavera, was drowned. At ten o'clock of that same morning, some sails were seen at sea, and the master-of-camp, thinking them to be the ships of those who were coming to fight with the Spaniards, despatched a prau to reconnoiter them. As the prau came near them, these vessels were seen to be tapaques, and the master-of-camp, fearing that the prau might do them harm, called it back by firing a cannon seaward. The Moros, who were waiting an opportunity for treason--but had not manifested it because it had not rained as they had expected--therefore opened the war; and without any warning, fired three cannon-shots, one after another. One of them pierced the side of the ship, and struck the cast-room, scattering its ashes among the bystanders; the other two shots were high, passing over the ship half-way aft; and one would have killed many men had the aim been a vara* lower. The Moros had begun their treacherous work even before this; for they had seized some of the friendly Indians who had gone there to feast with their friends, had wounded the Indian slave of a soldier, beaten and frightened two or three others, and wounded another soldier with an arrow. When the effrontery of the Moros was seen, and that they could do us some injury with their artillery, it was decided to attack them. Therefore in the twinkling of an eye, the Spaniards attacked and took the palisade, hurling down the bombardiers with linstock in hand, giving them no chance to fulfil their duties. After this first artillery had fallen into their hands, they immediately took the town, and set fire to it, on account of its being large. The Moros abandoned the burning town, for they were unable to resist the attack of the arquebusiers, or rather the will of God, who had ordained it so--a self evident fact, since for every Spaniard there were a hundred Moros. The large ship was firing upon a Moro boat with long-bladed oars, which was far up the river. This vessel was said to have three or four hundred fighting men and rowers on board, with many culverins and large pieces of artillery. The cannonball struck the water, for the vessel was some distance away, surrounded by more than five hundred Moro praus and other large ships full of armed men, bowmen, and lancers. All these ships were scattered by the artillery of the large junk.
The town was rapidly burning. The master-of-camp hurriedly took the artillery from the Moros--thirteen pieces, small and large. He took care to protect the vessels of the Chinese, who had been greatly frightened. He ordered the return of the sails and helms which the Moros had taken away from them; and the Chinese, attaching the helms to
their ships as quickly as they could, proceeded to cast anchor near the junk, so that the firing should do them no harm. The master-of-camp, having captured the enemy's artillery, fired upon them with their own pieces, while they were fleeing, thus inflicting upon them severe losses, both on land and water. About one hundred dead were found on land, having been burned to death, or slain by arquebus bullets; more than eighty persons were taken captive; and many others were killed in the praus, as they fled up the river. The rain expected by the Moros came when the town was quite destroyed by fire. The loss in the town was considerable, for it was large, and carried on an extensive trade. In the town lived forty married Chinese and twenty Japanese. Of these some came to see the master-of-camp on board the ship, before the breaking out of hostilities, among whom was a Japanese with a Theatin cap, from which we thought him to be a Christian. When we asked him if he was one, he answered in the affirmative, saying that his name was Pablo [Paul]. He adored an image, and asked for some beads; but people say that he was among the Moro bombardiers.
Among the prisoners were the Chinese wives of some of the Chinese who had married and settled in the town; and although it would have been justifiable to make them slaves, because their husbands had fled with the Moros, the master-of-camp was unwilling to do so, but simply handed them over to the Chinese of the ships. One of the Chinese women wished to come with us, and we have found since that she was insane; now she is with the governor, who will send her back to her own country. Those who saw Soliman's house before it was burned, say that it was very large, and that it contained many valuable things, such as money, copper, iron, porcelain, blankets, wax, cotton, and wooden vats full of brandy; but everything was burned to the ground with the house. Afterward the iron and copper furnished gain to whomsoever wished to take it, for a great quantity of it which this house and others contained, was found on the ground after the fire. When the prisoners captured were asked why the Moros had broken the treaty of peace and friendship, they answered that the young Soliman was to blame, for he always opposed his uncle, the other chief; that he had a malicious disposition; and that it was he who gave the order to fire, and who even fired with his own hand the first shot, which struck the ship. Next to Soliman's house was another which was used as a store-room. It contained much iron and copper, as well as culverins and cannon which had melted. Some small and large cannon had just been begun. There were the clay and wax moulds, the largest of which was for a cannon seventeen feet long, resembling a culverin. The Indians said that the furniture alone lost in Soliman's house was worth more than five thousand ducats.
*Vara - a measure of length, equivalent to a little more or a little less (in different Spanish countries) than thirty-three English inches.
Reference:
Relation of the voyage to Luzon (1570, May 8). In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803;Volume III, 1569-1576. Cleveland: Clark.
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