Pelicar, also written Pellicar or Belicar was a

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language Guanche is an extinct language that was spoken by the Guanches of the Canary Islands until the 16th or 17th century. It died out after the conquest ...

mencey The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only native ...

king of Menceyato of Icode in times of the conquest of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

in the fifteenth century. Pelicar joined the king of

Menceyato de Taoro Taoro was one of nine Guanche menceyatos (native kingdoms) in which the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) was divided at the time of the arrival of the conquering Spaniards. Taoro was considered the most powerful aboriginal kingdom on the islan ...

Bencomo Bencomo (; 1438 – 1495) was the penultimate ''mencey'' or king of Taoro, a Guanche ''menceyato'' on the island of Tenerife. He fought in the First Battle of Acentejo, a victory for the Guanches against the invading Castilians, after having refu ...

, to repel the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

invasion in 1494, including its menceyato in war camps. However, some historians as

Viera y Clavijo Viera may refer to: Places *Viera, Florida, a community in the United States *Viera, Piedmont, a subdivision in the municipality of Coggiola, province of Biella, Italy *The Dolmen de Viera or Dolmen de los Hermanos Viera, a type of single-cham ...

indicate that Pelicar not allied with Bencomo, as wary of the ambitions of this. Finally, after successive defeats and the loss of key Guanche kings (

Tinguaro Tinguaro (or Chimechia) (died December 1495) was a Guanche ''sigoñe'' (warrior) of Tenerife, also known as Achimenchia Tinguaro. He was in charge of the area known as Acentejo. Half-brother of the ''mencey'' (king) Bencomo, Tinguaro led the Guan ...

and

Bentor Bentor ( 1463 – February 1495), sometimes also called Ventor, Bentore, Benytomo, or Bentorey, was the last mencey or king of Taoro from November 1494 until his suicide in February 1495. A native Guanche prince in the Canary Islands during ...

), the mencey of Icode surrendered in 1496, subject to the conquerors in the act known as

Paz de Los Realejos Pas or PAZ may refer to: Places * Paz, Croatia, a village and castle ruin in Istria, Croatia * Pads, Iran or Faz, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran Organisations * Pavlovo Bus Factory or ''Pavlovsky Avtobusny Zavod'', a Russian bus co ...

.La Conquista de Tenerife (1494-1496)
/ref> Pelicar was taken to the court of the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

Alonso Fernández de Lugo Alonso Fernández de Lugo (; died 1525) was a Spanish military man, conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496) for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the C ...

along with six other menceyes to be presented to the monarchs. And in court, Pelicar was sold into slavery unfairly by the royal butler

Pedro Patiño Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meani ...

, who had been delivered to be his guardian, being released by royal command soon after. The ultimate fate of mencey except possibly ending his days in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

as a free man is not known.

References

External links

Los guanches
People from Tenerife 15th-century Berber people Military personnel killed in action Guanche Guanche people