Renaissance Memoirists

Francisco de Aguilar (1479–c.1560). A Spanish nobleman. Born as Alonso de Aguilar, he was one of Cortés's chief lieutenants in the conquest of Mexico. In 1529 he became a Dominican monk and took the name Francisco. When he was more than 80 he wrote a short account of the conquest in Spanish, which is more a general history than Aguilar's memoirs, even though he appears in it a handful of times as a protagonist.

Francisco Balbi de Correggio (1505–?). An Italian of unknown origins. He was a minor poet and writer, and also served in Habsburg armies as a common soldier. He wrote a history of the 1555 siege of Malta, in which he served as a harquebusier, which also covers both earlier and later events in the 1550s war against the Turks in the Mediterranean. He occasionally appears in this text as a protagonist. The text was written in Spanish, and two editions were printed, in 1567 and 1568.

Götz von Berlichingen (1481–1562). A German nobleman and professional soldier. He took part in a large number of military campaigns from the 1490s to 1544. On different occasions he served the Emperor, several German princes, and some independent robber-barons. He also fought a considerable number of private wars and feuds, and won infamy for being one of the leaders of the 1525 Peasants War. Though he often held independent command of small forces, he never rose beyond the middle ranks in larger armies.