This vihuelist is mentioned by Francesillo de Zúñiga in his Chronicle of the early life of Charles V, as one of a group of people in a besieged city required to bring provisions. (see Documents). The date of the chronicle thus indicates Caroncillo to have been active in the 1520s. The only other vihuelist mentioned in the chronicle is Luis de Guzmán, so it should be assumed that, despite his someewhat mythological name, he wasa real musician and not just a fictitious creation.
In Francessilo’s chronicle, the Duke of Nájera (Antonio Manrique de Lara y Castro, 1515-1535) requested his brother, don Luys Manríque, to send “Luys Caraço, secretario de Su Magestad, y al comendador de Piedrabuena, y a La Trullera y a Caronçillo, tañedor de vigüela” to bring much oil and honey and a purgative compound [jirapliega] and mallows as might be necessary for the sick, and that these gentlemen were chosen because they looked like bits of skinny dried beef, should serve as enemas to purge those who were sick, and that the said Don Luys Manrique should look and feel like a mohair balaclava or dead Moorish skin.
Caroncillo is possibly a nickname. It is probably a diminuitive, but of what? Pepe Rey relates that Carón is the name given to Caronte by Alfonso de Valdés (see: Alfonso de Valdés, Diálogo de Mercurio y Carón, ed. Joseph V. Ricapito. Clásicos Castalia 197. Madrid: Editorial Castalia, 1993). — [Personal correspondence 26 October 2009]. We have no further clues concerning his identity