The New International Encyclopædia/Hutten, Philip von

HUTTEN, hụt'ten, Philip von (c.1515-46). A German adventurer, and relative of Ulrich von Hutten (q.v.). He was one of the 600 adventurers collected from all parts of Europe who went out under George Hohermuth (better known as George of Speyer) to conquer the Province of Venezuela, which had been granted by Emperor Charles V. to the great Augsburg family of Welser (q.v.). When Hohermuth died in 1540, Hutten became Captain-General, and the next year, in company with young Bartholomäus Welser, eldest son of the head of the family, left Coro with a well-equipped force to seek the mythical El Dorado (q.v.). After wandering about for five years, the remnant of the expedition returned to Venezuela to find a new Governor in power. Juan de Caravajal had been appointed by the Audiencia of Santo Domingo to preserve order in Venezuela, but as the years went by with no news of Hutten and his followers, he began to feel secure in his position. Consequently, the return of the adventurers was anything but welcome to him. When he saw how diminished they were in number he thought to force from them an acknowledgment of his authority. In this, however, he was unsuccessful, as he also was in an attempt to seize them. In fact, this last effort was well nigh disastrous to himself, for he was wounded by Welser, and forced to pledge the Germans safe passage to the coast. Relying upon Caravajal's word of honor, the adventurers took no precautions against attack, and were easily captured by the treacherous Spaniard, who, after keeping Hutten and Welser in chains for a time, had them beheaded. Hutten seems to have been a man of higher character than most of those with whom he was associated. He left a narrative of his adventures entitled Zeitung aus Indien (1785).