Princess Erendira

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Princess Erendira of the Purepecha was the princess of the P'urhépecha or Tarascan people from about 1503-1519. She was 16-17 when the Spanish came to Mexico. The Purepecha Kingdom's leader, Tangaxuan II, had given up his kingdom and people to the Spanish after he saw the downfall of the Aztec Empire to the Spanish.

The story of princess Erendira's subsequent role as a heroine is based on tradition and may or may not reflect actual events. According to the tradition she led a war on the Spanish. Setting up base on a hill she attacked the arriving Spaniards. She is said to have killed a Spanish horseman and stolen his horse later training others to use horses. During one of the battles some Spanish warriors found and murdered Erendira's father in his sleep. Erendira got wind of this and went to see him. According to the tradition this was when P'urhépecha started losing the war. There are many theories of what happened to her. Some of which include her suicide by drowning, her leaving to train others for war and that she killed herself for falling in love with a Spanish monk. One legend even claims that she was kidnapped by her own people and put into a temple so that the Spaniards may not find and kill her.