1725 Manila riot
|
He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. |
|
I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given. |
In 1725, a riot broke out in the city of Manila, Philippines after a monk used a Piece of Eden, the Crescent amulet, to influence the city's civilian populace to protest against the rule of the Governor-General of the Philippines. The riot mirrored the earlier revolt against Governor-General Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda in 1719, caused by a feud between him and the Archbishop of Manila, Francisco de la Cuesta.
Background
- "For some reason or another, the Governor-General had the Archbishop and his monks rounded up and thrown in prison. When the Archbishop's local followers caught wind of it, they raised all hell and stormed the Governor-General's mansion."
- ―John Young describing the riot against Governor Bustamante, 1725.[src]-[m]
In 1719, the Governor-General at the time, Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda, ordered the arrest of the Archbishop of Manila, Francisco de la Cuesta, after the latter refused to allow the Spanish authorities to take action against several individuals with pending charges who had taken church asylum.[1] In retalation for the Archbishop's imprisonment, many of his supporters stormed Bustamante's mansion and killed the Governor-General.[2]
Following Bustamante's assassination, tensions between the Spanish authorities in Manila and the Church were at an all-time high. Meanwhile, Spain began to suspect that the assassination had in fact been an elaborate plot by the Dutch East India Company, meant to keep Spain's influence in Southeast Asia in check.[2]
The riot
In 1725, the Spanish authorities arrested Jan van Aert, the Chief Navigator of the Dutch East India Company, due to his alleged role in orchestrating Bustamante's assassination.[3] The Assassin Edward Kenway and the members of his Zhang Wei Union, who were working with Jan to search for a Piece of Eden in the Philippines, were also arrested and were forced to remain aboard their ship, the Fenghuang, under the watch of several guards. However, the Union members managed to escape confinement and began planning their escape from Manila while Edward went to rescue Jan and his crew from Fort Santiago.[2]
At the same time as Edward's infiltration of the fort, the citizens of Manila began to protest against the Governor-General's rule. The protest soon turned into a violent riot, due to the influence of the Crescent amulet, a Piece of Eden capable of mind control, which was wielded by a monk that wished to overthrow the Governor-General. Shimazu Saito witnessed the monk using the amulet to control the masses and informed Edward after the latter had rescued Jan and his men. Leaving Jan's crew to return to their ship, Edward and Saito decided to face the monk and take the amulet from him.[2]
After the monk gathered all of his followers in front of the Manila Cathedral, they set up a bonfire while the monk preached to them, declaring that they would "cleanse" the land of all "non-believers", beginning with the Governor-General and all those who supported him. Spanish soldiers soon arrived to try and stop the riot, but the monk used the amulet to compel the crowd to attack them.[4]
As the soldiers found themselves overwhelmed by the rioters, the monk and several of his followers headed to an alley where they were confronted by Edward and Saito. Edward demanded that the monk hand over his amulet, claiming it was not meant for human hands, but the latter refused to give up a "sacred relic of God" and ordered his followers to kill Edward and Saito. The Assassin and samurai easily killed most of the monks, but their leader used the amulet's powers to resurrect them.[4]
Realizing that the resurrected acolytes were resistant to pain and that the only way to stop them was to dismember them, Edward and Saito proceeded to do so. However, the monk then used the amulet on Saito, causing her to experience visions of her deceased friends.[5]
At the same time as Edward and Saito's fight against the monk, the remaining Union members engaged in a shootout against the Spanish soldiers at the harbor, in order to retrieve their confiscated weapons and supplies. In the process, the Union's engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu discovered a warehouse filled with barrels of petroleum, which he required for the production of Greek fire, and ordered the Fenghuang's crew to load the barrels onto the ship.[5]
Gallery
-
The monk preaching to the rioters -
Spanish soldiers attempting to stop the riot -
Edward and Saito confronting the monk
Appearances
References
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||