In _La Araucana_ by Ercilla the theme is no longer the ancient Peruvian state, described by Cieza de León, Garcilaso de la Vega, and Sarmiento, with its autocratic rulers and submissive subjects, but the plains and forests of Chile and the Spaniards in conflict with a people who boasted they had never had a king and had never been subdued, a people sustained by primitive agriculture and proud of their rigid individualism. The time represented by the poem is the period following the death of Valdivia, who had taken possession of that region after the fruitless expedition of Almagro. Provision had been made that in case of Valdivia’s sudden death his authority should pass to Jerónimo de Alderete, but if Alderete had already died, Francisco de Aguirre and Francisco de Villagra in this order might claim the succession. At the time of Valdivia’s death Alderete was in Europe, Aguirre in Tucumán, where he had been the governor of the province for a year and a half, and Villagra was in Chile. In the absence of Alderete both Aguirre and Villagra were urged by their respective friends to assume the duties of the vacant office. The death of Alderete at Panama left Aguirre as the legitimate claimant, but Villagra’s presence in Chile gave him a practical advantage in the contest. This dispute and a natural desire to promote the interests of his family induced Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, the viceroy of Peru, to set aside the pretensions of both Aguirre and Villagra, and to appoint his son, García Hurtado de Mendoza, to be the governor of Chile. [Illustration: Title Page of the First Edition of “La Araucana”] [Sidenote: Ercilla’s family] Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga was a member of the expedition sent by the viceroy to establish García de Mendoza in his office, and to carry on the war against the Araucanian Indians. He was born in Madrid on August 7, 1533. He was the youngest of the children of Dr. Fortún García de Ercilla and his wife Leonor de Zúñiga. His father was a famous jurisconsult, whose writings were read and commented upon in all the schools of Europe.[56] [Sidenote: Ercilla’s journeys]