The Incas: The Royal Commentaries of the Inca

De La Vega was born in Peru in 1539, the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador. He was a convert to Catholocism, leaving his native Peru for good at the age of twenty-one. Before leaving he took copious notes, listening to all the members of his mother's family, visiting the Indian villages, investigating the minutest aspects of the decaying Empire. In Spain he took part in the wars against the Italians and Moors, and later in life he reitred to a religious vocation in Cordoba. At the age of 69 he had published the first part of the Royal Commentaries, recalling the land of his birth and the glory of Peru.