Fray Pedro Simón, whose oil portrait made in 1927 by the Colombian painter Francisco A. Cano, is in the Colombian Academy of History in Bogotá, was born in San Lorenzo de la Parrilla, Cuenca, Spain, on August 12, 1581 and died in Ubaté, Cundinamarca, Colombia, on May 7, 1628, at the age of 47.
At the age of twenty-three he was recruited by Fray Luis de Mejorada in the convent of San Clemente, to be part of a group of religious destined for the New Kingdom of Granada, who set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on April 30, 1604 and arrived in Cartagena. of the Indies on June 29 of the same year. At the beginning of 1605, Fray Luis de Mejorada was elected provincial and immediately established a Franciscan Study of Arts and Theology in Santa Fe de Bogotá, naming that same year Fray Pedro Simón as professor of the new house of studies in the subjects of Arts. or Philosophy and Theology, working until 1612, in Bogotá and Tunja; with the only interruption of having accompanied the President of the Royal Court, Don Juan de Borja, as chaplain for three months in 1608, on an expedition to the territory of the Pijaos Indians. Between 1612 and 1613, by order of his superiors, he visited the Franciscan convents of Venezuela, in Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo. In 1617 he was elected guardian of the Convent of Santa Fe de Bogotá; On June 3, 1623, he was elevated to the position of Provincial Minister and remained there until 1626, when he was appointed guardian of the Abaté convent, where he died on May 7, 1628.
Fray Pedro Simón, met Juan de Castellanos (1522-1607), a beneficiary of the Church of Tunja, who died in 1607, at the age of 85, when Fray Simón was 26 years old and was working in the New Kingdom as a professor of the Franciscan Institute. He did not know Fray Pedro Aguado (1538-1589), because when he died in Colombia, Fray Simón was barely 8 years old and was in his hometown in Spain. He wrote all of his work in Bogotá between 1617 and 1626, under the title: “Historical News of the Conquest of Tierra Firme”, which consists of three parts, each divided into seven historical news and these into chapters.
The first part was published in Cuenca, Spain, Imprenta de Domingo de la Iglesia, in the year 1627. The second and third parts, together with the reissue of the first, were edited by Medardo Rivas in Bogotá between 1882 and 1892. Later the The entire work was published in nine volumes by the Library of Colombian Authors, Bogotá 1953. The Historical News of Venezuela was published in 1963 by the Library of the National Academy of History in two volumes, whose prologue was written by the Spanish-based historian in Venezuela, Demetrio Ramos Pérez (1918-1999). In 1992, the Ayacucho Library again published the Historical News of Venezuela, in two volumes, with a prologue by the Venezuelan historian Guillermo Morón.
Fray Pedro Simón, in addition to his direct testimony, used sources that he had at his disposal and cited in his work; among them: to the Jesuit priest José Acosta “Natural and Moral History of the Indies”; Juan de Torquemada “Indian Monarchy”; Juan de Castellanos “Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies”; Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas “General History of the Events of the Castilians in the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea” known as “Decades”; Antonio Medrano and Pedro de Aguado “The Discovery, Pacification and Population of the Provinces of Santa Marta and New Kingdom of Granada, of our Indies of the Ocean Sea”; Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada “Historical Compendium of the Conquests of the New Kingdom”, also called “Ratos de Suesca”. He also used other sources such as memories, relationships and documents.
Demetrio Ramos Pérez, in his excellent and abundant prologue to the 1963 edition, placed the Franciscan chronicler, Fray Pedro Simón, in the historiographical environment of the early 17th century and gave an account of the itinerary of his trip to Venezuela between 1612 and 1613: In August 1612, he left Pamplona until he reached La Grita, stopped in Bailadores, continued towards Mérida, arrived at the city of Trujillo, where he stopped to visit the doctrines in the company of the friars of the Franciscan Convent. According to the historian Mario Briceño Perozo, the nine and a half doctrines of Trujillo had been organized in 1608 by the Franciscan Bishop of the Province of Venezuela based in Coro Fray Antonio de Alzega, which constituted the population shift of Trujillo; Bishop Alzega served from 1605 to 1610.
Fray Pedro Simón from Trujillo, went to Tocuyo, Quíbor, Barquisimeto, Valencia, Caracas, already at the end of 1612. He continued his journey to Cumaná, Araya fortress, Margarita Island, Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, from where he returned to Borburata, He went to Coro, Carora, Trujillo, Boconó, Llanos de Barinas, Mérida, arriving in La Grita in September 1613 and at the end of that year he arrived at his convent of Santa Fe de Bogotá.
In Volume II: Fifth News History of the Conquests of Tierra Firme, in chapters XXIII, XXIV and XXV, the historical events of Trujillo are contained, narrated by Fray Pedro Simón in his work:
Chapter XXIII: I. The council of the city of Tocuyo appoints Captain Diego García de Paredes to populate a city in the Cuicas, and sets out to do so.-II. Populate the city of Trujillo in the Escuque valley and, due to inconveniences that occurred, depopulate it again.- III. Properties and religions of these Indians.- IV. Layout of this land of the Cuicas and the way and weapons with which they fight.
Chapter XXIV: I. Gutierre de la Peña comes to Tocuyo with the government and appoints Captain Francisco Ruiz, who later went to rebuild Trujillo, to rebuild Trujillo. II. He and Captain Juan Maldonado, who came down from the provinces of Mérida, were seen in the Boconó valley. III. The city of Trujillo was rebuilt again with the name of Mirabel, and Captain Maldonado named the city of Mérida.
Chapter XXV: I. Governor Gutierre de la Peña gives a new commission to populate the Nirua mines again, and send people to the provinces of Caracas.- II. Mr. Pablo Collado comes as governor of Venezuela.- III. García de Paredes leaves with new powers from Governor Pablo Collado, and to rebuild the city of Trujillo.- IV. The town of Trujillo moves to the Boconó valley.
* Chronicler of Tucutucu
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