Diego García de Paredes

Diego García de Paredes (1468–1533) was a Spanish soldier, mercenary and duelist. He played a distinguished role in the Spanish armies during the Italian Wars, the Mediterranean conflicts against the Ottoman Empire, and the early wars of Emperor Charles V. Known as the "Extremaduran Samson" and the "Spanish Hercules", he was celebrated by his great strength, battle feats and long history of duels, eventually becoming a figure of legend in the Spanish and Italian armies.

Early life He was born in Trujillo, Extremadura, which lies between Badajoz and Madrid. It produced many of the most noted conquistadores of America, including the Pizarro family. Information is scarce about his upbringing, but it is known he learned to read and write and was trained in military arts by his father, in which he proved so strong and talented that he routinely defeated all of his training partners. He especially admired Julius Caesar, whose Commentaries on the Gallic War later inspired him to write his own memoiers, which he dedicated to his second son.

He might have served as a teenager in the Granada War, but either way, the conquest of the last Muslim stronghold and the end of hostilities in Spain drove him and his half-brother Álvaro to start a career abroad as mercenaries. Before leaving, Diego had a street brawl over a horse with his relative, Ruy Sánchez de Vargas, who ambushed him with three horsemen. Despite being alone, he killed them all. although this is unproven. Paredes would also partake in some skirmishes against the Ottomans on the Danube as well, and might or might not also have been present in the 1529 Siege of Vienna.

Upon Charles' return to Italy, García suffered an attempt of his life by an entire company of enemies while guarding the rear of the imperial entourage. Receiving four musquet wounds, the Spaniard was forced to barricade himself with his young son Sancho and their servants in a guest house, where he killed ten attackers trying to break in before the imperial guard rescued them. He remained in the service of Charles V during the War of the League of Cognac.

Death García died in Bologna during the peacetime of 1534, by a fall while engaged in a game with some younger officers in which they had to kick a stick placed on a high wall. He wrote the Brief Summary of his life and deeds on his deathbed, noting in it the irony of his unheroic death, but exhorting his son Sancho to cultivate martial virtue in his example. His body was carried to his native town Trujillo, and buried in the church of Santa María la Mayor in 1545.

After Paredes' death, Sancho erected a chapel in his honor in the Church of Santa María la Mayor in Trujillo, while Diego later arranged for flags won by Paredes in his exploits to be placed in the chapel.

In literature In Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, García is mentioned multiple times. In one of them, the curate holds Diego up as an example of a real hero about whom one should read rather than about the lies in the tales of chivalry (Part I Chapter XXXII).

Lope de Vega wrote a play about him, La contienda de García de Paredes y el capitán Juan de Urbina, where Paredes and a fellow war hero, Juan de Urbina, have an encounter.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo also mentions and praises him in Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España.