El lugar de los incas en la «Epístola a don Diego de Portugal» (1617) de Diego Mexía de Fernangil

The following article proposes a review of the «Epístola a don Diego de Portugal» by the poet of the Antarctic Academy Diego Mexía de Fernangil with the aim of understanding the relevance of the Incas in the text. Although I approach the epistle from its own literary genre, I make a permanent crossroads with the chronicles of the Incas to detect common points and understand the validity of the history of Tahuantinsuyo in the viceroyalty present. The classical historical concepts that support the epistle and that point to the end of the cycle of the Castilian government in Peru are reviewed, so that I observe the argumentative dimension of the epistle and the possible solutions that the poet proposes to the moral and politics that crosses the viceroyalty. This article also analyzes the idea of the Spaniards as God’s people after the discovery of the Indies, a condition that could be lost due to the behavior of the Peruvians, issues that had already been raised by Las Casas and that will be taken up by Mexía. Finally, I focus on the concept of good government promoted by the poem, whose key is given by the exaltation of the Eucharist.