Resumen: La Vida de Santa Rosa (Madrid 1711) is a long epic poem that alternates the hagiographic journey of the protagonist with the vicissitudes of the city of Lima from its foundation until the corsair attack of Spilbergen in 1615. Consequently, the historical facts go back to the conquest of Peru and the foundation of the city by Francisco Pizarro. Although the poem does not have a primarily warlike character, since its direct intention is to exalt the figure of a holy woman, the battles that are told there are at the service of the imperial vision of the American world. In a triumphalist way, the combats are described from an absolutely glorifying glance of the Spanish side, while the successive adversaries (Incas and European corsairs) hardly have options to show their value or to do even some damage to the invincible weapons of the conquerors. Most of the combats become, in short, a succession of carnage. In the episode of Cajamarca, for example, which historically concluded with the capture of Atahualpa, there are hardly any individual references to the Inca warriors. When Pizarro¿s men on horseback attack, they cause immediate panic among the emperor¿s swollen ranks. The horses open a ¿breach/ through which the cowardly and the brave fled¿ (Oviedo 1711, VIII, 98 1 ). They all escape. One stanza after another, the main captains dent protections, break heads and hack off limbs without stopping. ...
