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Imagine the following scene if you will, filmed in broad panorama at considerable distance from the main event. Two men, the Inca chief Atahualpa, and Dominican Fray Vicente Valverde, meet and appear to converse. The priest is holding a cross in one hand and a book in the other. Suddenly the book is out of the friar's hand and on the ground. While this event is taking place (or shortly thereafter), a battle breaks out, the Inca chief is captured, and many of his followers are killed.66
On November 16, 1532, a small band of Spaniards met the Inca of the empire of Tiwantinsuyu in the city of Cajamarca The Inca Atahualpa resided in this city, surrounded by thousands of soldiers and his imperial officials . The Spaniards were led by Francisco Pizarro, who carried with him the authorization of the Spanish monarch to conquer Tiwantinsuyu The Dominican priest Vicente de Valverde stood by his side, carrying with him a cross and a book, both symbols of the Spanish god The story of what happened next has been recounted many times . The rendition of William H Prescott follows, the most widely read version in English of the encounter at Cajamarca,
At this moment Fray Vicente de Valverde . . . came forward with his breviary, or, as other accounts say, a Bible, in one hand, and a crucifix in the other, and, approaching the Inca, told him, that he came by order of his commander to expound to him the doctrines of the true faith The friar then explained the . . . mysterious doctrine of the Trinity, and [of the] redemption of Jesus Christ . . . This power had been transmitted to the successors of the apostle . . . who, under the tide of the Popes, held authority over all powers and potentates on earth The friar concluded with beseeching the Peruvian monarch to receive him kindly; to abjure the errors of his own faith, and embrace that of the Christians . . . and . . . acknowledge himself as a ttibutary of the Emperor Charles V . . .
[Atahualpa] replied, - "I will be no man's tributary I am greater than any prince upon earth, Your...