The Cebu Massacre 1521 – The Rape and Jealousy Angle

The first question that comes to mind is: Why did Humabon and the Cebuanos plot against Magellan’s crew—their supposed allies? It had not even been a week since Magellan fell at the hands of Mactan warriors under Lapulapu, yet suddenly, their foremost friends—and somehow also benefactors—the Cebuanos, turned against them.

It was actually the Austrian writer and Magellan biographer Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) who was among the first to explore the angle of rape and abuse of Cebuano women as a trigger for the Cebuanos’ anger, which subsequently led to the massacre. Zweig cited as his primary source Martin of Genoa, a survivor of the expedition, who claimed: “Violation of women was the main trouble.”

Zweig elaborated:

“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, even punishing his own brother-in-law, Duarte de Barbosa, for staying ashore three nights in succession. In this respect, matters seem to have worsened after the leader’s death.”

Examining Antonio Pigafetta’s account, one notices that beyond his descriptions of the sexual customs of the Cebuanos, there is also a constant sensual undertone in how the Italian chronicler depicts Cebuano 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, striking two suspended gongs alternately with a stick wrapped 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, 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 tall. They were naked except for tree-cloth hanging from the waist to the knees. Some were quite naked and had large holes in their ears with small wooden disks that kept the holes round and wide. They had long black hair and wore a short cloth on their heads, always barefoot. The prince had three quite naked girls dance for us.”

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

Then there is Pigafetta’s sweeping declaration:

3. “The women loved us very much more than their own men.”

Clearly, there was considerable interaction between the women of Cebu and Magellan’s crew, and it is highly probable that certain abuses—or at least instances of consensual sex—occurred. These encounters may have provoked feelings of threat, insult, and jealousy among the men of Cebu. Even the sensual tone of Pigafetta’s writing implies that Cebuano women were viewed as obvious prey to the feasting eyes and sexual appetites of the crew.

This alone might be reason enough for tensions and jealousies to rise.

Could the Battle of Mactan have been a prelude—or even the beginning—of a broader plan to eliminate the crew, precisely because of these transgressions? Was Humabon a willing conspirator from the start?

Time and again, history reminds us of the attitudes of conquering powers toward women—often as objects of sexual abuse and violence. Indeed, this has been the cause of great troubles and the bloody cycle of conquest and revenge.