Donation to the National Library of Spain

 

In December 2018, I made a donation of two monographs to the National Library of Spain.: 

1) El conquistador alemán Pedro Lísperguer Wittemberg: de cortesano de Carlos V y Felipe II a célebre precursor de Chile

2) Los Lísperguer Wittemberg; una familia alemana en el corazón de la cultura chilena: identidad y esplendor de la primera familia colonial de Chile

Both works underwent a selection process in which, out of hundreds of submissions, 383 were chosen. To explain this selection, I received a detailed legal procedure signed by the Director of the National Library of Spain, Ms. Ana Santos Aramburo. Accordingly, the Permanent Commission of the Royal Board of Trustees of the National Library of Spain, in a telematic meeting held on December 3, 2018, judged these cultural assets to be “of the highest esteem to be integrated into the State collections,” and proposed the acceptance of this donation.

Subsequently, the donation was officially accepted by Order of the Ministry of Culture and Sport dated December 18, 2018. This Ministerial Order was signed by the Minister of Culture and Sport, Mr. José Guirao Cabrera. Likewise, the Appraisal Committee of the Board of Qualification, Valuation, and Export in a meeting on December 18, 2018, evaluated the donated assets and guaranteed “the sufficiency of quality of the donated assets.” Finally, Ms. Lourdes San Juan Núñez, member of the Donation and Exchange Service of the National Library of Spain, expressed her gratitude in a letter dated March 28, 2019, thanking me for “the interest and generosity in contributing to the enrichment of the bibliographic and documentary heritage preserved by the N.L.S.”

The Royal Board of Trustees of the National Library of Spain is a complex body composed of many prominent figures, including Mr. Mario Vargas Llosa. Regarding the Permanent Commission of this Royal Board (which decided on the acceptance of the donated assets), it comprises the following members:

• Ms. Soledad Puértolas Villanueva, Academic of the Royal Spanish Academy, President of the Royal Board of Trustees of the National Library of Spain.

• Mr. Pedro López Jiménez, Advisor of Grupo ACS, Vice President of the Royal Board of Trustees of the National Library of Spain.

• Mr. Javier García Fernández, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Ex officio member of the Permanent Commission.

• Ms. Olvido García Valdez, General Director of Books and Promotion of Reading, Ex officio member of the Permanent Commission.

• Ms. Ana Santos Aramburo, General Director of the National Library of Spain, Ex officio member of the Permanent Commission.

• Ms. Aurora Egido Martínez, Academic and Secretary of the Royal Spanish Academy, appointed member.

• Ms. Inés Fernández-Ordóñez Hernández, Academic of the Royal Spanish Academy, appointed member.

• Ms. Carmen Riera i Guillera, Academic of the Royal Spanish Academy, appointed member.

Lastly, whether by donation or purchase by interested institutions (most often), these works have been integrated into the collections of the National Library of Chile, University of Chile, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Royal Chilean Academy of History, Chilean Institute of Genealogical Research, Library of the National Congress of Chile (in its Rare and Valuable Section), Emilio Held Archive, National Library of Spain, Royal Academy of History, Hispanic Library, National Library of Germany, Public Scientific Library of Mainz, Bavarian State Library, University of Texas Library, Ohio University Library, Stanford University Library, Harvard University Library, Yale University Library, British Library, Library of Congress, among other prestigious institutions.

Further recommended reading: 

THE LISPERGUER VOLUMES: LEGACY, REVIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES

The Hidden German Bloodline Behind Chile’s Most Infamous Woman: Untold Secrets of La Quintrala and the Lisperguer Dynasty

 

The Untold German Bloodline That Forged Chile’s Most Infamous Woman: La Quintrala and the Lisperguer Dynasty

For centuries, Chilean history has been haunted by a name whispered with both fear and fascination: La Quintrala. Behind this legendary figure lies the powerful Lisperguer-Wittemberg dynasty, a German family that crossed oceans under the protection of Emperor Charles V, reshaping the destiny of colonial Chile and Peru in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Now, after fifteen years of groundbreaking archival research in Spain, Germany, and South America, historian Daniel Piedrabuena unveils the hidden European roots of the Lisperguer family, unraveling myths that have persisted for nearly five centuries.

From Worms to Brussels, Seville to London, follow the incredible journey of Pedro Lisperguer, a young German noble favored by the Emperor himself (“Notwithstanding that he is German, any law to the contrary shall not apply”), who sailed to the New World and founded one of the most influential colonial dynasties of South America.

This exclusive research explores:

• Newly discovered documents that rewrite the origin story of the Lisperguers.

• The imperial networks that paved their way to power in Chile and Peru.

• The rise of La Quintrala, a woman both feared and mythologized, often called the Chilean Don Quixote, whose legend has inspired novels, plays, films, and countless academic debates worldwide.

• The fusion of German nobility, Spanish conquest, mestizaje, and power struggles that shaped an unforgettable colonial legacy.

According to Chilean tradition, Pedro Lísperguer, forefather of La Quintrala and patriarch of the Lisperguer dynasty, was a descendant of the Duke of Saxony—an assertion that scientific research has neither confirmed nor completely disproven. Although the claim is fragile, what is verifiable is that he was the son of Peter Lisperg, a prominent figure in Worms, Stadtmeister of the city, and one of the most notable signatories of the Peace of Augsburg. The German courtier shared a total of six months with Emperor Charles V, both in Worms and during his travels through southern Germany and the Low Countries. He subsequently spent a decade in Spain under the protection of the powerful House of Feria, before departing for England to attend the wedding of Philip of Spain and Mary Tudor on 25 July 1554, held at Winchester Cathedral.

After spending seven months on the island, he returned to Spain and eventually sailed with Viceroy Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza to the New World. Once in Lima, he entered into the service of the viceroy. All of this helped forge his prestige and his legendary aura in a world where nobility meant everything—a brilliance of unparalleled intensity, born of an intrepid man who had spent years in close company with the most eminent figures of the Spanish Empire.

What is unusual—or at the very least rare in the 16th century—is how Pedro Lísperguer, allegedly descended from high nobility in Germany, after fighting with boldness in the Arauco Wars, eventually settled in Santiago, where he married Águeda Flores, the daughter of his compatriot Bartolomé Blumenthal and the Indigenous woman Elvira de Talagante. From this unlikely and symbolic union was born Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer, and from her descended the infamous La Quintrala, Pedro’s granddaughter—who would go on to inherit not only the family's imperial prestige and power, but also all the complexities and intricacies of being the daughter of a mestiza. From her European lineage, she inherited the social abilities of the noble class; from her mother, according to contemporary chroniclers, she possessed psychological—and at times esoteric—skills, qualities that allowed her to impose herself in both worlds—the aristocratic and the Indigenous—with a mastery that many contemporaries described as both fascinating and unsettling.

Packed with untold secrets, political intrigue, and human drama, this research transforms what we thought we knew about Chile’s colonial past and the family that became a social phenomenon, a myth, and an enduring obsession in Latin American history.

For further detail on the European origins of the Lisperguer family and their imperial connections, readers are encouraged to consult Daniel Piedrabuena’s Lisperguer volumes—the result of over fifteen years of rigorous archival research, primarily conducted in Spain, with valuable documentary contributions from Germany and Latin America, focusing on the overlooked continental trajectory of a dynasty that left a deep imprint on the Spanish Empire before crossing into the New World.

Author’s Note: This text is derived from ongoing research by the author, based on previously registered and published studies on the Lisperguer-Wittemberg lineage. Not intended for commercial use without permission.

Quotations and references are permitted with proper attribution.

© Daniel Piedrabuena Ruiz‑Tagle, 2025. All rights reserved.

Further recommended reading: 

THE LISPERGUER VOLUMES: LEGACY, REVIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES