page 118 note 1 The Spaniards concerned in Jamaica's defence were confusingly intermarried. Don Francisco de Proenza and Don Cristóbal Ysassi Arnaldo were related either by blood or marriage, or by both. Don Francisco's wife was Doña Ynez de Leiva y Espinoza. Don Francisco de Leiva was Leiva Ysassi and his wife was Doña Lorenza Ysassi, sister to Don Cristóbal. Don Francisco de Leiva's only son was Cristóbal de Leiva Ysassi and Don Cristóbal Ysassi's nephew as well as his second in command. Just as Don Francisco de Proenza was the most influential man in Jamaica at the time of the English seizure, so was Don Francisco de Leiva the richest. Among its members (including the Cartagena) this one family had become accustomed to divide what few offices and scanty honours the island afforded. Similarly, they now made the war against the English a family affair. It is interesting to observe that with the departure from them of the governor (an official named by the Duke de Veragua, and imposed from Spain) the defence of Jamaica early devolved upon its native sons.
The Ysassi were a distinguished family, with roots running back to the north coast of Spain. An ancestor of Don Cristóbal's had come to the island as warden of a fort on the north coast. This must have been at the time of Jamaica's earliest settlement since after that period not even the semblance of a fort existed upon that side of the island. Cf. Long, Edward, The History of Jamaica, British Museum, Add. MSS. 14405, p. 80Google Scholaret seq.
Ysassi's father was Captain don Cristóbal Sanchez Ysassi, and Don Bias Ysassi Arnaldo, governor's lieutenant at Santiago de Cuba, was but one of Don Cristóbal's numerous brothers. Another seems to have been Sebastian de Ysassi Proenza (A. de I., 54–3–29, his letter to Don Blas, from Havana, July 8, 1661). Still another brother was Don Francisco Arnaldo Ysassi, bishop of Porto Rico (Leguia to the bishop-elect, November 6, 1656, in A. de I., 54–3–29). Nevertheless, in studying his papers the editor has come to the conclusion that Don Cristóbal was not all white, although no conclusive proof could be cited on which to base assertion that he was in some degree of blood related to the negroes who fought under him, whose support he preferred, whose sympathy he held, upon whose valour he relied, whose desertion, only, convinced him of defeat.
His letters, preserved in the Archives of the Indies, show that Don Cristóbal was not an educated man. The involved style of his writing is complicated by the use of curious expressions and unusual words, which should interest a philologist. His spelling would doubtless be found to throw light upon the accent with which he spoke. Just as his literary shortcomings obtrude through his despatches, so also does Don Cristóbal's character—his pride, not devoid of vanity, his voluble patriotism and religious ardour, his inability to co-operate, his resilient courage. While he felt it necessary to explain when he killed his prisoners because he considered it unsafe to keep them, he did not apologise for his delight ina fine watch, a dainty pistol, a curious seal, a handsome sword, and good clothing, of which he relieved the dead. Some of these mementoes of his valour he kept and some he sent to his friends, and to the governors at Santiago and at Cartagena. He paid his men in loot and, as their leader, took the leader's share.
