Francisco Hernández Girón had arrived in Peru…

Francisco Hernández Girón had arrived in Peru in 1535 with, among others, the future governor Blasco Núñez Vela.

In the ensuing struggle for power between the Pizarro brothers and the Almagristas in 1537, he had supported neither.

Almagro had been executed in 1538 and Francisco Pizarro, governor of Peru, had been assassinated by Almagro’s son in 1541.

After Pizarro’s replacement, Cristóbal Vaca de Castro, had defeated the Almagristas at Chupas and subsequently been imprisoned by Blasco Núñez Vela, appointed royal viceroy, Hernández Girón had become a supporter of the latter, Fighting at the battles of Añaquito , he had managed to escape death in an emerging defeat.

At Jaquijahuana, he had again taken the royalist side under Pedro de la Gasca, with great success.

On November 13, 1553, however, Hernández Girón leads a rebellion against the new regime, caused by what he perceives as unfair charges proclaimed by Melchor Bravo de Saravia, who, as president of the Audiencia in Lima, has occupied the position of interim Viceroy of Peru from July 1552.