The HORRIFYING War Hounds of the Conquistadors: How the Spanish used dogs to terrorize the New World

it's may 1494. columbus approaches jamaica what would become puerto bueno painted natives are gathered in the beaches carrying weapons to defend against invasion columbus is not looking to make peace he's looking to show strength and get revenge for the destruction of la navidad a spanish settlement destroyed by natives the previous year aggression might frighten the natives of jamaica enough that they would avoid future hostilities conquistadors take the shore firing crossbows and slashing with swords but the natives don't retreat then the spanish released the war house massive 200-pound mastiffs and lightning-fast greyhounds will rush the shore as the gnashing teeth tear into the flesh others fleeing terror the ones caught are ripped to pieces by the pursuing dogs the spanish admiral takes the now vacant but bloody beach and claims the land for spain columbus later reflects in his journal he writes that when fighting indians one dog is worth 10 soldiers welcome dates and dead guys our topic in this episode of the war hounds a secret weapon of the conquistadors and one that is often overlooked in the spanish conquest of central and south america if you were to rank the reasons for spanish success and conquest of the new world the top of the list would probably include things like disease guns steel and probably horses but in the shadows of the history the tracks the dogs show an ominous presence in the conflict cultures throughout world history have used dogs for the purposes of war and as early as 1260 a.d they were used in spain christopher columbus mostly nice guy i hear brought 20 dogs with him when he returned to the new world in 1493. most of the dogs used by the spanish were either mastiffs or greyhounds and the reasons are obvious mastiffs are massive and intimidating and greyhounds are fast as hell they are also lovable but good at ripping throats the invasion of jamaica referenced in the opening demonstrated to the conquistadors how useful these dogs could be as decades of conquest rolled on they would be used more and more and very famous conquistadors including ponce de leon hurting cortez hernando de soto and francisco pizarro will all use war hounds gonzalo pizarro the brother francisco used them too but unfortunately he eats most of them when his men ran out of food on a disastrous expedition in 1541. the dogs became so popular for the spanish that the english king henry viii actually gave 400 mastiffs to king charles v of spain as a gift each of the dogs given to charles the fifth had spiked collars and vulnerable areas of these dogs were often covered and spiked collars were pretty common armor sometimes but thick quilted layers were probably the most common thing used to protect them against arrows by the natives these dogs were very loyal to their owners but they were vicious in attack an excellent and serious example comes from a book with a silly title the paw prince of history written by stanley corrin he writes of the 1495 battle of vega real in haiti quote native forces numbering the thousands advanced upon the small band of spaniards columbus had given control of the dogs to alonzo diorita a small man who combined physical courage with a personality disposed toward violence and rash cruelty he gathered the dogs in the far right flank and waited until the battle had reached a high level of fury he then released all 20 mastiffs shouting tamalos meaning take them or sick them the angry dog swept down on the native fighters in a raging failings hurling themselves the indians naked bodies they grabbed their opponents by their bellies and throats as the stunned indians fell to the ground the dogs disemboweled them and ripped them to pieces spinning from one bloody victim to another the dogs tore through the native ranks one observer of the battle bartholomew de las casas reported that in less than one hour each dog had torn apart at least 100 indians recognizing that his readers might find this difficult to believe de las casas explained that the animals had originally been trained to hunt for wild game in comparison they found the skin of their naked human opponents was far easier to tear apart than the hides of deers or poor furthermore the dogs had now developed a taste for human flesh end quote it's a terrifying picture now los costa's account sounds exaggerated there were 20 dogs and he says they each killed 100 natives in an hour that means the dogs killed 2 000 people at a rate of one person every 36 seconds my dog gets tired after i throw him a frisbee like 12 times so this seems like a bit of a stretch i don't think anything near that rate is possible but las casas is probably the most famous of the spanish to speak out against cruelty to natives so i can see how describing the horror in this way matches his outlook but he is right about being easier to kill humans and other animals we are basically jelly donuts compared to a boar regardless these dogs were incredibly effective an account from 1553 says pizarro's dogs were quote so fierce that in two bites with their cruel teeth they laid open their victims to the entrails end quote a mayan priest that was imprisoned by the spanish said that he witnessed mastiffs destroying the faces of his people certain dogs were so effective that they became notorious to the native groups they encountered and some were even still known today amigo who was with cortez in the conquest of mexico bruto with desoto one dog mohammad was even so respected by his group that they portioned him out a piece of what they would steal from the natives dogs don't eat gold but they do look cool with it the most famous of the war hounds was burst cirillo but we're going to talk about him a little bit later in the video these dogs were terrifying to the native americans it being said that they were more likely to surrender the spanish if they had dogs with them even in cases when they had fewer men and to be fair the indians had never seen anything like a 200-pound mastiff and no one wants to wind up like ramsay from game of thrones that guy was a prick the effectiveness of these dogs led to increased sadism among the spanish they took up a practice called la monterria infernal or hellish hunting but it's also called dogging the spanish would capture the chiefs or the high-ranking officials of a native group and in front of the tribe set the dogs on them and they would tear them to shreds fear of being dogged led many natives to submit to the spanish without even a fight many of the conquistadors despite being devout catholics were not the best people many didn't see value in the life of natives and others literally found sport in killing them las casas again wrote that it was not unusual for one spaniard to say to another quote lend me a quarter of an indian to give my dog some meat until i kill one next end quote the thought was that giving them the meat of the natives would make them more vicious when used in battle there's another example of a portuguese man not a spaniard but still irrelevant who was seen hanging quarters of an indian up to later feed to his dogs violence with dogs would also sometimes be used for sport there were stories of conquistadors setting the dogs on innocent people and taking bets on where the dog would bite first or how the person would die throat blood loss body cavity ripped open but it didn't always go according to plan the most famous warhound of them all was purcerillo the name means little bull calf and he was a mastiff the handler of this dog was a spanish captain named diego de salazar he was not a nice person but he was excellent at handling this dog and bursarillo was famous for a reason one night near capara a spanish force is down for sleep when bursarillo starts barking sounding there's a sneak attack on the natives the spanish were able to rally in the battle with the help of armored guns and swords but when the bodies were examined after it was said that 33 had wounds from bercerillo with the dog potentially killing many of them but on another occasion bursarilla was far kinder than his spanish counterparts salazar once tried dogging an old indian woman for fun he sent her to head down a road with a note for the governor but before she was out of sight he yelled tamala meaning take her he then sent bercerillo down the road after her when she sees the giant mastiff coming she falls to her knees witnesses say she prayed i beg you my lord dog please do not hurt me bursarilla stopped in front of the woman no more snarling he waited for a minute and smelled her and the note in her hands then he wandered off leaving her unharmed he probably left her alone because she didn't behave like the other targets there was no running and fighting just a scared woman praying in the street he did apparently lift his leg to pee on her but no biting so mostly no harm after this happened pasta leon actually heard the story and helped reduce the practice of dogging he is alleged to have said quote i will not permit the compassion and forgiveness of a dog to outshine that of a true christian end quote bursarillo like many warhounds will eventually be killed in battle in 1514 he shot with arrows when attacking carib warriors he makes his way to the bank of the stream but he dies there the spanish actually hide the body because he was so feared that they wanted to use him after his death to control the natives he had a son though leoncello little lion and the dog lived up to his father's mostly murderous legacy the use of war hounds by the conquistadors will eventually fade out as the conquest of the americas was made more complete but for a time the spanish were able to create lethal weapons by harnessing the characteristics in dogs that we all love like courage intelligence and loyalty they were a tool used by horrible people for cruel purposes in the end it's tragic they were all good boys but used for evil [Music]

Channel: Dates and Dead Guys

Views: 173,909

Keywords: Conquistador, Greyhound, History, Mastiff, Spanish, War Dogs. Bercerillo

Id: 64LF0NgvajA

Length: 9min 27sec (567 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 18 2022