Alonso de Ercilla

Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (Madrid, 1533-Madrid, 1594) was a Spanish soldier and poet best known as the author of La Araucana, an epic poem about the war in Chile against the Mapuche. He lived during the Spanish Renaissance, and his work, written in Spanish, is one of the first epics to take a American conquest as its subject, seen from within.

Born into a family of Basque origin, he grew up at the court of Charles V, where his mother served the empress. He became a page to Prince Philip, travelled with him through Italy, Germany and the Low Countries, and received a broad education in Latin, French, Italian and German. In 1555 he sailed for America with Jerónimo de Alderete, and the following year joined the expedition of García Hurtado de Mendoza, the new governor of Chile. He fought in several battles and witnessed the death of Caupolicán, one of the poem's central figures. According to tradition, he began writing during the campaign, under such makeshift conditions that he is said to have used hides and scraps of paper.

After a violent incident at Osorno in 1558, he was imprisoned and then exiled to Peru. He returned to Spain in 1562, was made a knight of the Order of Santiago, and took part in diplomatic missions. In 1570 he married María de Bazán and settled in Madrid, where he finished the second and third parts of the poem. His style blends chronicle with episodes of a marvellous character, and he portrays the Mapuche with respect and courage, not merely as enemies.

Cervantes praised it as one of the finest verse epics in Castilian and saved it from the fire during the examination of Don Quixote's library. Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo regarded it as the starting point of Chilean literature. He died in Madrid, and his remains rest in Ocaña, in the convent of San José.