born in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, in 1500. That date is found in testimony
given by Cabeza de Vaca in Valladolid in September 1548, when he stated on
oath that he was about forty-eight years old. ² Other historians have put his
birth at around 1490. The eldest of four children, he lived with an uncle and
aunt after his parents died. While he was still young he entered into his first
career as a soldier. Gandía quoted testimony from legal records in the Ar-
chives of the Indies of Seville which gives brief reports about his military
duty in Italy. He was enlisted under Don Alonso de Caravajal as a page or
drummer and was in Italy by late 1511 or early 1512, participating in a
famous battle and siege at Bologna. In April 1512 he was seriously injured
at the battle of Ravenna, which the Spaniards lost. His last post was as a
lieutenant in the city of Gaeta, near Naples.

Bishop placed Cabeza de Vaca back in Seville by 1513, in the service of the
Duke of Medina Sidonia. In 1520 a civil war broke out in Castile, the revolt
of the comuneros, and the duke took the side of Charles I, the king of Spain
( 1516-56), who as Charles V was also Holy Roman emperor ( 1519-56).
Cabeza de Vaca helped the duke and served the king in battles from Seville
to Valladolid, Tordesillas, and Villalar. In addition to his valorous deeds in
opposing the comuneros, he fought against the French in Navarre. Nothing
is known of him between 1522 and 1527, just before he left for America. ³

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