Pedro de la Cadena
Pedro de la Cadena was a Spanish colonial official and writer active in the Viceroyalty of Peru. He is also known for his epic poem Los actos y hazañas valerosas del capitán Diego Hernández de Serpa, considered the first poetic work on Venezuelan themes.
Biography
Pedro de la Cadena was born in 1542 in Piedrahita de Ávila, Spain. In 1556, he moved with his parents to the Viceroyalty of Peru, and two years later settled in the city of Cuenca, in present-day Ecuador.In 1563, de la Cadena was appointed treasurer of the Royal Treasury in Nueva Zamora de los Alcaides, southern Ecuador. Three years later, he served as a witness in the merit and service report of the conquistador Diego Hernández de Serpa. From 1567, he participated in expeditions against rebellious indigenous groups in Valladolid, later receiving an encomienda as a reward. In 1583, he was appointed captain general of the city of Loja, and in 1584 he became lieutenant of the corregidor and alcalde mayor of the same city. He also served as an alférez in defending the coasts against attacks by the English fleet under Commodore Thomas Cavendish. In 1592, he fought in suppressing the alcabalas revolt in Quito, and in 1599 he commanded an expedition defending the port of Callao. He was confirmed as lieutenant of the corregidor of Loja and Zamora in 1603, listed as treasurer of Loja in 1606, and as alcalde mayor of Loja in 1607. He also wrote an unpublished treatise on colonial administration, submitted to the Council of the Indies.
Works
Los actos y hazañas valerosas del capitán Diego Hernández de Serpa is an epic poem written in 1564, celebrating the deeds of Diego Hernández de Serpa, hero of the conquest of Nueva Andalucía, present-day Venezuela. The poem follows the tradition of the "new Hispanic epic," using copla de arte mayor instead of the medieval cuaderna vía, and narrates recent events rather than distant historical ones. The poem contains 1,051 unrhymed hendecasyllabic verses, divided into seventeen acts. Each act opens with a brief introductory stanza and ends with one or more closing lines. The work is preceded by a 94-verse dedicatory epistle to the Count of Miranda, Diego de Zúñiga y de Avellaneda, combining epistolary and encomiastic forms. The text is largely based on Serpa's own merit and service reports to the Crown, transformed into a heroic narrative and a poetic memorial for encomiastic purposes. The manuscript, composed of 25 sheets, is preserved at the Biblioteca de El Escorial. Its first printed edition appeared in 1973 in El primer poema de tema venezolano, edited by Pablo Ojer and Efraín Subero.the poem is considered the first epic text dedicated to Venezuelan territory, predating Juan de Castellanos’ Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias. Modern scholars regard it as a significant document of Spanish colonial literature, illustrating the intertwining of chronicle, legal discourse, and encomiastic poetry in legitimizing colonial conquest.