Juan Rodríguez Freyle

Juan Rodríguez Freyle (also written as Juan Rodríguez Freile), (Bogotá, New Kingdom of Granada, 25 April 1566 - Bogotá, 1642) was an early writer in the New Kingdom of Granada, the Spanish colonial territory of what today is Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. The son of a soldier in the army of Pedro de Ursúa, Rodríguez Freyle knew the cacique of Guatavita and the founder of Bogotá: Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. His major work El Carnero is a collection of stories, anecdotes and rumours about the early days of the New Kingdom of Granada and the demise of the Muisca Confederation. It is one of the most important sources for the sixteenth century Spanish period of present-day Colombia.

Juan Rodríguez Freyle was married to Francisca Rodríguez and died in Bogotá in 1642.

Biography Juan Rodríguez Freyle was born in Bogotá, the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada, as son of Juan Freyle and Catalina Rodríguez. The Freyles were originally from Alcalá de Henares, Spain and of good standing. Little is known about his life, but he didn't have a full education and sources state he learned how to read from Gonzalo García Zorro, seven times mayor of Bogotá between 1544 and 1564.

Rodríguez Freyle studied at the San Luis seminary for two years, where he was expelled for including the nickname for the archbishop Zapata as Sabata. Freyle enrolled in expeditions to submit the indigenous groups Timaná (Huila) and Pijao, the latter under command of president Juan de Borja. He got to know conquistador, founder and first mayor of Bogotá Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada who died in 1579, and the cacique of Guatavita. Upon the death of Pérez Salazar, Rodríguez Freyle found himself in economical problems and in a country far away from his birth nation. The work is one of the most extensive sources about the Spanish conquest of the Muisca. Rodríguez Freyle wrote this book based on his friendship with the cacique of Guatavita, one of the major rulers of the Muisca Confederation. Juan Rodríguez Freyle lived in Guasca, Cundinamarca, close to sacred Lake Guatavita. El Carnero was mentioned in the historical literature for the first time in 1785 and not fully published until 1859. Rodríguez Freyle filled the gaps between two other early Spanish chroniclers: Pedro Simón and Juan de Castellanos. Other critical reviews of the book mention the viewpoint of the writer; child of an encomendero and conquistador.

"Modern scholarship has shown that such a confluence of what we now term history and fiction was common during this period. Historical writers frequently relied upon recourses from literary models to invest their accounts with a more expressive language. There was often no clear distinction between the two forms of writing with regard to truth or reliability; it was not uncommon for historians like Rodríguez Freyle or Pedro Simón to create portraitures and characterizations with little or no textual evidence. Historians were free to speculate about people and occurrences; their narratives thus reflect frequent turns toward an imaginative, inventive depiction of the American scene."