Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui

Francisca Pizarro Huaylas Yupanqui was born in 1534 in Jauja, in what was then the Spanish Empire's Governorate of New Castile, present-day Peru.^[1][2][3][4] Her father was the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, and her mother was the Inca princess Quispe Sisa.^[1][5] On her mother's side, she was the granddaughter of the Inca Emperor Huayna Capac and of the Huaylas [es] kuraka Contarhuacho [es], niece of the emperors Huáscar, Atahualpa, and Manco Inca Yupanqui.^[2][5] She has since been remembered as Peru's "first mestiza," although that designation is unverifiable.^[3] She and her brother Gonzalo, who died in childhood, were recognized as the legitimate heirs of both Pizarro and the Inca royal family by Emperor Charles V in the real cédula in the mid-1530s.^[6][7][8]

The majority of Francisca's immediate family died during the Conquest of Peru, and she was given little opportunity to learn about her Inca heritage.^[1] She was primarily raised by her uncle and aunt, Francisco Martín de Alcántara and Inés Muñoz, and she was taught to read and write, dance, and play the clavichord.^[3] After the death of her father in 1541, Francisca, who was only 7 years old, was courted by the major Spanish nobles of Peru, including her 30-year-old uncle Gonzalo Pizarro.^[3][6] It was believed they would make a powerful couple with the ability to crown themselves king and queen of Peru, as the Royal Council of the Indies feared.^[6] However, as part of the Spanish Crown's strategy to pacify Peru, the Pizarros were deported to Europe, including Francisca; Gonzalo lost favor and was subsequently defeated and beheaded at the Battle of Jaquijahuana.^[6][8]

Francisca was brought to Spain in 1551, accompanied by her stepfather Francisco de Ampuero, the mayor of Lima and her mother's second husband.^[7] There, she was married in her late teens to her uncle Hernando Pizarro, who was some 30 years her senior.^[3][7] The couple lived at La Mota Castle in northwestern Spain, where Hernando was imprisoned, and had five children, Francisco, Juan, Gonzalo, Isabel, and Inés, almost all of whom died at a young age.^[3][7][8] After Hernando's death around 1580, Francisca married the much younger aristocrat Pedro Arias Portocarrero, the son of the count of Puñonrostro [es], and moved to the court of Madrid.^[1][3][8]

In Spain, she became known as Francisquita and immersed herself in courtly life.^[9] She promoted the construction of the Palacio de la Conquista in Trujillo, Spain, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima, and the Convento de la Merced de Trujillo, among other works.^[10][11][12] She died in Trujillo in 1598.^[5][8]

• Various books have been written about Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui, including the 2023 work of historic fiction Francisca, Princesa del Perú by Alonso Cueto.^[4]
• Renata Flores wrote and performed a song called "Francisca Pizarro" on her album Isqun.^[13]