Don Pedro de Aguilar

Don Pedro de Aguilar is an Andalusian soldier, captive, and poet whose appearance in Captain Viedma’s embedded account links the fall of a fort to a story of escape and family reunion. First known through the poems he composed in captivity, he is later identified by his brother as alive and prospering in their home village.

Identity and Capture

Don Pedro is described as a native of an unspecified place in Andalusia, a soldier of great reputation and unusual intelligence, and an ensign in the fort. When the fort was captured, he was among the Christians taken prisoner. His fate brought him to the same galley and bench as Captain Viedma, and both became slaves of the same master. This shared captivity gives Captain Viedma direct knowledge of Don Pedro, while the limits of that knowledge become important when he later recounts Don Pedro’s escape.

The Sonnets and Recognition

Before the captives left the port, Don Pedro composed two sonnets as epitaphs: one for the Goletta and one for the fort. The Goletta poem mourns the defenders who died there and presents the ruined site as a place marked by sorrowful memories. In Captain Viedma’s telling, the sonnets are not incidental accomplishments; they preserve the memory of the lost strongholds and the people who defended them.

When Captain Viedma mentions Don Pedro and his poems before listeners at the inn, several recognize the name. One listener reveals that Don Pedro is his brother and says that he knows the sonnets. His ability to recite one confirms the connection between the captive’s account and the family’s knowledge. The news delights Captain Viedma, who had been able to report the poems but not their author’s ultimate fate.

Escape and Return

Captain Viedma knows that, after two years in Constantinople, Don Pedro escaped in the disguise of an Arnaut, accompanied by a Greek spy. He cannot say whether the escape brought Don Pedro to freedom, and can only suppose that it did. His brother supplies the answer: Don Pedro is back in their village, in good health, wealthy, married, and the father of three children. The brief report resolves the uncertainty left by the captive’s recollection and turns a possible escape into a confirmed return.

Narrative Role

Don Pedro’s story is told indirectly, through the stages of captivity, remembered verse, and testimony from a relative. The sonnets first make him present through what he created; the brother’s recognition then restores a personal history beyond the prison and galley. His return offers a counterpoint to Captain Viedma’s continuing account of captivity: even when a fellow prisoner’s fate cannot initially be known, testimony can reconnect the separated worlds of captivity and home.