The Cebu Massacre 1521 – The Rape and Jealousy Angle

The first question that comes to mind was: “Why did Humabon and the Cebuanos plotted against Magellan’s crew, their supposed ally? It was not even a week since Magellan fell at the hands of Mactan warriors under Lapulapu. Suddenly their foremost friends and somehow also benefactors, the Cebuanos, went against them.

It was actually Austrian writer and Magellan biographer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) who was one of the first to expound the angle of rape and abuse of Cebu women that trigger the anger of the Cebuanos that subsequently led to the massacre. Zweig named his primary source Martin of Genoa, a survivor of the expedition, who claimed: “Violation of women was the main trouble.”

Zweig then added up: “Despite his best endeavors, Magellan had been unable to prevent his men, sex-hungry after so long a voyage from raping the wives of their hosts; vainly did he try to put an end to these acts of violence and lubricity, punishing his own brother in law Duarte de Barbosa, for staying ashore three nights in succession. In this respect, matters seem to grow worse after the leader’s death."

Checking Antonio Pigafetta’s account one would notice that besides mentioning the sex practices of the Cebuanos there is this constant sensual description of the Italian chronicler about Cebu maidens. Here are some examples:

1.) "Having taken our leave of him, the prince took us with him to his house, where four young girls were playing [instruments] - one, on a drum-like ours, but resting on the ground; the second was striking two suspended gongs alternately with a stick wrapped somewhat thickly at the end with palm cloth; the third, one large gong in the same manner; and the last, two small gongs held in her hand, by striking one against the other, which gave forth a sweet sound. Those girls were very beautiful and almost as white as our girls and as large. They were naked except for tree cloth hanging from the waist and reaching to the knees. Some were quite naked and had large holes in their ears with a small round piece of wood in the hole, which keeps the hole round and large. They have long black hair, and wear a short cloth about the head, and are always barefoot. The prince had three quite naked girls dance for us.

2.) “These girls were naked except the waist to the knees, where they wore a wrap made of the palm tree cloth, which covered their middles, and some were quite naked.”

Finally this sweeping declaration of Pigafetta:

3.) "The women loved us very much more than their own men."

There was a considerable amount of contact between the women of Cebu and the crew of Magellan that certain abuse or even consensual sex happened. The reasons to which the men of Cebu would have felt threatened, insulted, and jealous. Even these sensual notions that Pigafetta mentioned in his journals were somehow implying that the women of Cebu were obvious preys to the feasting eyes and sexual perversions of the crew. -- Reason enough for tensions and jealousies to rise.

Perhaps the Battle of Mactan was a prelude or even the start of the massacre itself? Those things were already planned for the elimination of the crew because of the abuse. Humabon was a willing planner?

Time and again it has been constantly mentioned in History, these attitudes of conquering powers towards women as objects of sexual abuse and violence. Indeed, the cause of great troubles in the bloody cycle of conquering and revenge.