The vast dune fields and palm groves of Maspalomas, today a recreational enclave with pristine geology, hide scars that official history chose to ignore. A recent dive into the parish and notarial archives of the town of Agüimes has brought to light a violent and dramatic episode in the history of Gran Canaria: a forgotten battle against French invaders that took place on September 21, 1685, which Professor Juan Méndez Castro has published in an academic study entitled "The French in Maspalomas in 1685."
The trace of this event is not found in the great naval chronicles, nor in Antonio Rumeu de Armas's monumental work on piracy, but rather in the bureaucratic details and the accounting of death. The revelation comes from a guardianship process in 1688, where Don Francisco Romero, brother of the deceased Captain Don Diego Romero Cabeza de Vaca, declared that his relative "had died in battle with the French at Maspalomas."
The Agüimes parish archive confirmed the tragedy. On September 21, 1685, not only Captain Romero fell, but also Ensign Sebastián Bordón de Sotomayor and five other militiamen: Francisco de León, Francisco Artiles Melián, Juan Pérez Macías, Juan Rodríguez Peña, and Juan de Artiles. Seven Agüimes residents, most of them married with children, were cut short in a single day. The text of the death certificates is laconic and dramatic: they were buried "in the area of Maspalomas because they died fighting with the French and could not be brought to the parish." A silent testimony to the urgency and violence of the event.
The reverberation in the small town of Agüimes must have been seismic. However, the only surviving details are those relating to the inventories of the deceased's belongings ("in the war that took place in Maspalomas with the French") and, a year later, the lavish funeral rites of retribution.
On September 9, 1686, almost a year after the event, the bodies were exhumed in Maspalomas and honorably transferred to the parish church of Agüimes. The ceremony, laden with symbolism and religious pomp (with a cape, a high cross, a vigil, and prayers), served to provide a dignified burial for the militia heroes, who were laid to rest in a single "gracious" grave within the church. This ritual effort by the community, documented down to the last detail in the Collectors' Offices, underscores society's need to heal the wound and dignify the sacrifice in the face of such a sudden and violent event.
Historical Question: A Forgotten Skirmish?
The 1685 action, with seven documented military casualties in a single day, was not a mere incident, but a skirmish of notable magnitude for the local militia of the time. The most plausible hypothesis is that it was an attempted plunder or supply raid by a French pirate or privateer, a constant threat in 17th-century Atlantic waters. However, the absence of mention in high-level military or government records raises a fascinating question: Why did official Canarian history remain silent about this sacrifice? Was it a minor event considered by higher authorities, or has the crucial report been lost in the labyrinths of the archives?
The truth is that, thanks to the meticulous records of parish priests and scribes like Lucas Betancourt Cabrera, the sands of Maspalomas have revealed, more than three centuries later, the names and cause of death of seven defenders of Gran Canaria. The challenge for historians now is to find the report of the battle, which was undoubtedly sent to the higher authorities, and to give this "battle with the French" the place it deserves in the island's memory.
