Letter from Diego Asensio de Vicuña to Antonio de Amilleta y Vidarte.
Diego Asensio de Vicuña informs Antonio de Amilleta y Vidarte about his trip and about his family.
On the 5th of August, 1678, Manuel de Gaviria, Diego de Vicuña, José de Veragua, Antonio de Amilleta y Vidarte and Don Diego Ignacio de Burgos went out in the streets of Vergara (Guipúzcoa) playing music, making a lot of noise and causing a scandal. They arrived at the spring of Iturriozaga, entered the house of Nicolás Antonio de Madariaga, Knight of Santiago, and stole some chickens. The owner denounced the theft and, as a revenge, they wrote and made public a defaming text. In addition to verbal insults, on the 7th of August they attacked Nicolás Antonio de Madariaga, who was hit by a stone on the head, a blow that left him badly wounded and eventually caused his death. The men involved in the events ran away.
The authorities investigated all these events through a thorough interrogation of the villagers, and tried to determine the authorship of the defaming text. For this purpose, various letters were seized from the house of Antonio de Amilleta y Vidarte, and they were used as calligraphic proofs to determine that the author was Diego Vicuña. Manuel de Gaviria and Diego de Vicuña, runaways, were condemned in absentia to be captured, taken to the public jail, exposed to the public scorn mounting mules in mourning, led to the gallows and killed by slitting their throat. In addition, they were condemned to pay 800 and 700 ducats, respectively, to the plaintiffs: Magdalena de Plazaola Peñarreta, wife of the victim, and María Francisca de Zavala, his sister, and 180.000 and 160.000 maravedís to the King. José de Veragua, who was also a runaway, was condemned to be taken to the gallows and hanged, and to pay 600 ducats to the plaintiffs and 140.000 maravedís to the King. Antonio de Amilleta y Vidarte was sentenced to hard labour in a prison in Africa for four years, and to four years of banishment from the town of Vergara. He had to pay 600 ducats to the plaintiffs and 120.000 maravedís to the King. Eventually, Diego Ignacio de Burgos was sentenced to six years of exile and forced to pay 300 ducats for the plaintiffs and 80.000 maravedís to the King.
