CORTÉS AND HIS COMPANIONS.
BY JUSTIN WINSOR,
_The Editor._
GRIJALVA had returned in 1518 to Cuba from his Western
expedition,[1057] flushed with pride and expectant of reward. It was
his fate, however, to be pushed aside unceremoniously, while another
was sent to follow up his discoveries. Before Grijalva had returned,
the plan was formed; and Hernando Cortés distanced his competitors in
suing for the leadership of the new expedition. Cortés was at this time
the _alcalde_ of Santiago in Cuba, and about thirty-three years old,—a
man agile in mind, and of a frame well compacted for endurance; with a
temper to please, and also to be pleased, if you would but wait on his
wishes. He had some money, which Velasquez de Cuellar, the Governor,
needed; he knew how to decoy the intimates of the Governor, and bait
them with promises: and so the appointment of Cortés came, but not
altogether willingly, from Velasquez.
Cortés was born in Spain,[1058] of humble, respectable stock. Too
considerable animal spirits had made him an unprofitable student at
Salamanca, though he brought away a little Latin and a lean store of
other learning. A passion for the fairer sex and some military ardor,
dampened with scant income all the while, characterized the following
years; till finally, in 1504, he sailed on one of the fleets for the
New World. Here he soon showed his quality by participating in the
suppression of an Indian revolt. This got him a small official station,
and he varied the monotony of life with love intrigues and touches
of military bravado. In 1511, when Diego Columbus sent Velasquez on
an expedition to Cuba, Cortés joined it as the commander’s executive
officer. A certain adroitness turned a quarrel which he had with
Velasquez (out of which grew his marriage with a fair Catalina) to his
advantage with the Governor, who made him in the end the _alcalde_ of
Santiago,—a dignity which mining and stock-raising luckily enabled the
adventurer to support. He was in this condition when all schemes worked
happily, and Velasquez was induced to commission him commander-in-chief
of the new expedition.
[Illustration: VELASQUEZ.
Fac-simile of an engraving in Herrera, i. 298. It is lithographed in
Cabajal’s _México_, ii. 21.]
The Governor gave him instructions on the 23d of October, 1518.
Cortés understood, it turned out, that these were to be followed when
necessary and disregarded when desirable. There seemed, indeed, to
have been no purpose to confine the business of the expedition to
exploration, as the instructions set forth.[1059] Cortés put all his
substance into ships and outfits. He inveigled his friends into helping
him. Velasquez converted what Government resources he could to the
purpose of the expedition, while at the same time he seems to have
cunningly sold to Cortés his own merchandise at exorbitant prices.
Twenty thousand ducats apparently went into somebody’s pockets to get
the expedition well started.[1060] Three hundred men, including some
of position, joined him. The Governor’s jester, instigated, as is
supposed, by Velasquez’ relatives, threw out a hint that Cortés was
only preparing to proclaim his independence when he reached the new
domain. The thought worried the Governor, and seems in part to have
broken the spell of the admiration which he entertained for Cortés; yet
not so much so but he could turn a cold shoulder to Grijalva when he
arrived with his ships, as happened at this juncture.
Cortés could not afford to dally; and secret orders having been given
for all to be in readiness on the evening of the 17th of November,
on the next morning the fleet sailed.[1061] There were six vessels
composing it, and a seventh later joined them. At Trinidad (Cuba) his
force was largely augmented with recruits from Grijalva’s men. Here
messengers arrived from Velasquez, ordering the authorities to depose
Cortés and put another in command. Cortés had, however, too strongly
environed himself; and he simply took one of the messengers into his
service, and sent back the other with due protestations of respect.
Then he sailed to San Cristóbal (Havana), sending a force overland to
pick up horses. The flagship met a mishap on the way, but arrived at
last. Cortés landed and displayed his pomp. Letters from Velasquez
still followed him, but no one dared to arrest him. He again sailed.
His fleet had now increased to twelve vessels, the largest measuring
one hundred tons; his men were over six hundred, and among them only
thirteen bore firelocks; his artillery consisted of ten guns and four
falconets. Two hundred natives, men and women, were taken as slaves.
Sixteen horses were stowed away on or below deck.[1062] This was the
force that a few days later, at Guaguanico, Cortés passed in review,
while he regaled his men with a specious harangue, steeped in a
corsair’s piety. On the 18th of February they steered boldly away on
the mission which was to become famous.
Looking around upon his officers, Cortés could discover, later if not
then, that he had some stanch lieutenants. There was Pedro de Alvarado,
who had already shown his somewhat impetuous quality while serving
under Grijalva. There was Francisco de Montejo, a good administrator
as well as a brave soldier. Names not yet forgotten in the story of
the Conquest were those of Alonso de Avila, Cristóbal de Olid, and the
youngest of all, Gonzalo de Sandoval, who was inseparable from his
white stallion Motilla. Then there were Velasquez de Leon, Diego de
Ordaz, and others less known to fame.
The straggling vessels gathered again at Cozumel Island, near the point
of Yucatan. Cortés sent an expedition to discover and ransom some
Christians who were in the interior, as he heard. The mission failed;
but a single one of the wanderers, by some other course, found the
Spaniards, and was welcomed as an interpreter. This man reported that
he and another were the sole survivors of a ship’s company wrecked on
the coast eight years before.
[Illustration: CANNON OF CORTÉS’ TIME.
As represented in a cut by Israel van Mecken, which is here reduced
from a fac-simile in A. O. Essenwein’s _Kulturhistorischer Bilder
Atlas_, ii., _Mittelalter_ (Leipsic, 1883), pl. cxv. It will be
observed that the pieces have no trunnions, and are supported in a kind
of trough. They were breech-loaders by means of chambers, three of
which, with handles, are seen (in the cut) lying on the ground, and one
is in place, in the gun on the right. In the Naval Museum at Annapolis
there are guns captured in the Mexican war, that are supposed to be the
ones used by Cortés. A search of the records of the Ordnance Department
at Washington, instituted for me by Commodore Sicard, at the suggestion
of Prof. Charles E. Munroe of the Naval Academy, has not, however,
revealed any documentary evidence; but a paper in the _Army and Navy
Journal_, Nov. 22, 1884, p. 325, shows such guns to have been captured
by Lieutenant Wyse in the “Darien.” The guns at Annapolis are provided
with like chambers, as seen in photographs kindly sent to me. Similar
chambers are now, or were recently, used in firing salutes on the
Queen’s birthday in St. James’s Park. Cf. Stanley’s _De Gama’s Voyages_
(Hakluyt Society), p. 227.]
Early in March the fleet started to skirt the Yucatan shore, and
Cortés had his first fight with the natives at Tabasco,—a conflict
brought on for no reason but that the town would not supply provisions.
The stockade was forced, and the place formally occupied. A more signal
victory was required; and the Spaniards, getting on shore their horses
and artillery, encountered the savage hordes and dispersed them,—aided,
as the veracious story goes, by a spectral horseman who shone upon the
field. The native king only secured immunity from further assaults by
large presents. The Spaniards then re-embarked, and next cast anchor at
San Juan de Ulloa.
[Illustration: CORTÉS’ VOYAGE TO MEXICO.
This is a reproduction of the map in Arthur Helps’s _Spanish Conquest_,
ii. 236.]
Meanwhile the rumors of the descent of the Spaniards on the coast
had certainly hurried to Montezuma at his capital; and his people
doubtless rehearsed some of the many portents which are said to have
been regarded.[1063] We read also of new temples erected, and immense
sacrifices of war-captives made, to propitiate the deities and avert
the dangers which these portents and forebodings for years past had
indicated to the believing.
[Illustration: CORTÉS AND HIS ARMS.
Copied from a cut in Gabriel Lasso de la Vega’s _Cortés valeroso_,—a
poem published at Madrid in 1588. There is a copy in Harvard College
Library; cf. Carter-Brown, i. 377. The same cut is also used in the
edition published in 1594, then called _Mexicana_.]
The men of Grijalva had already some months earlier been taken to be
similar woful visitants, and one of Montezuma’s officers had visited
Grijalva’s vessel, and made report of the wonders to the Mexican
monarch. Studied offices of propitiation had been ordered, when word
came back that the ship of the bearded men had vanished.
[Illustration: GABRIEL LASSO DE LA VEGA.
Fac-simile of the portrait in _Cortés valeroso_.]
The coming of Cortés was but a dreaded return. While his ship lay at
Juan de Ulloa, two canoes came from the main, and their occupants
climbed to his deck. No one could understand them. The rescued Spaniard
who had been counted on as an interpreter was at a loss. At last a
female slave, Marina by name, taken at Tabasco, solved the difficulty.
She could understand this same Spaniard, and knew also Aztec.[1064]
Through this double interpretation Cortés now learned that the mission
of his visitors was one of welcome and inquiry. After the usual
interchange of gifts, Cortés sent word to the cacique that he would
soon confer with him. He then landed a force, established a camp,
and began to barter with the natives. To a chief, who soon arrived,
Cortés announced his intention to seek the presence of Montezuma and
to deliver the gifts and messages with which he was charged as the
ambassador of his sovereign. Accordingly, bearing such presents as
Cortés cared to send forward, native messengers were sent to Montezuma
to tell tales of the sights they had seen,—the prancing horses and the
belching cannon. The Mexican king sought to appease the eagerness of
the new-comers by returning large stores of fabrics and gold, wishing
them to be satisfied and to depart. The gold was not a happy gift to
produce such an end.
Meanwhile Cortés, by his craft, quieted a rising faction of the party
of Velasquez which demanded to be led back to Cuba. He did this by
seeming to acquiesce in the demand of his followers in laying the
foundations of a town and constituting its people a municipality
competent to choose a representative of the royal authority. This done,
Cortés resigned his commission from Velasquez, and was at once invested
with supreme power by the new municipality. The scheme which Velasquez
had suspected was thus brought to fruition. Whoever resisted the new
captain was conquered by force, persuasion, tact, or magnetism; and
Cortés became as popular as he was irresistible.
At this point messengers presented themselves from tribes not far
off who were unwilling subjects of the Aztec power. The presence of
possible allies was a propitious circumstance, and Cortés proceeded to
cultivate the friendship of these tribes. He moved his camp day by day
along the shore, inuring his men to marches, while the fleet sailed in
company. They reached a large city, and were regaled. Each chief told
of the tyranny of Montezuma, and the eyes of Cortés glistened. The
Spaniards went on to another town, slaves being provided to bear their
burdens. Here they found tax-gatherers of Montezuma collecting tribute.
Emboldened by Cortés’ glance, his hosts seized the Aztec emissaries and
delivered them to the Spaniards. Cortés now played a double game. He
propitiated the servants of Montezuma by secretly releasing them, and
added to his allies by enjoining every tribe he could reach to resist
the Aztec collectors of tribute.
The wandering municipality, as represented in this piratical army, at
last stopped at a harbor where a town (La Villa Rica de Vera Cruz)
sprang up, and became the base of future operations.[1065]
Montezuma and his advisers, angered by the reports of the revolt of
his subjects, had organized a force to proceed against them, when the
tax-gatherers whom Cortés had released arrived and told the story of
Cortés’ gentleness and sympathy. It was enough; the rebellion needed
no such active encounter. The troops were not sent, and messengers
were despatched to Cortés, assuring the Spanish leader that Montezuma
forbore to chastise the entertainers of the white strangers. Cortés
now produced other of the tax-gatherers whom he had been holding, and
they and the new embassy went back to Montezuma more impressed than
before; while the neighboring people wondered at the deference paid
by Montezuma’s lieutenants to the Spaniards. It was no small gain for
Cortés to have instigated the equal wonder of two mutually inimical
factions.
[Illustration: CORTÉS.
After a picture on panel in the Massachusetts Historical Society’s
gallery. It is described in the _Catalogue of the Cabinet_ of that
Society as “Restored by Henry Sargent about 1831, and again by George
Howorth about 1855.” Cf. _Proceedings_, i. 446, where it is said to
have been given by the family of the late Dr. Foster, of Brighton, who
received it by inheritance from a Huguenot family who brought it to New
England after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.]
The Spanish leader took occasion to increase his prestige by
despatching expeditions hither and thither. Then he learned of efforts
made by Velasquez to supplant him. To confirm his rule against the
Cuban Governor he needed the royal sanction; and the best way to get
that was to despatch a vessel with messages to the Emperor, and give
him earnest of what he might yet expect in piles of gold thrown at his
feet. So the flagship sailed for Spain; and in her in command and to
conduct his suit before the throne, Cortés sent faithful servitors,
such as had influence at court, to outwit the emissaries of Velasquez.
Sailing in July, touching at Cuba long enough to raise the anger of
Velasquez, but not long enough for him to catch them, these followers
of Cortés reached Spain in October, and found the agents of Velasquez
ready for them. Their vessel was seized, and the royal ear was held
by Bishop Fonseca and other friends of the Cuban Governor; yet not so
effectually but that the duplicate letters of Cortés’ messengers were
put into the Emperor’s hand, and the train of natives paraded before
him.
[Illustration: THE MARCH OF CORTÉS ON MEXICO.
A reproduction of the map in Ruge’s _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_, p.
363. Similar maps are given by Prescott, Helps, and Bancroft. Cabajal
(_México_, ii. 200) gives a map of the route followed from the Gulf,
with a profile of the country traversed. Bancroft (_Mexico_, vol. ii.)
gives a map of New Spain as known to the Conquerors. Early maps of Nova
Hispania, or New Spain, are not infrequent. Cf. Blaeu’s _Atlas_, De
Bry, several issued by Vander Aa, of Amsterdam, the Brussels edition
(1704) of Solis, Lorenzana’s _Cortés_ (1770), and various others.]
Now came the famous resolve of Cortés. He would band his heterogeneous
folk together—adherents of Cortés and of Velasquez—in one common cause
and danger. So he adroitly led them to be partners in the deed which he
stealthily planned.[1066] Hulk after hulk of the apparently worm-eaten
vessels of the fleet sank in the harbor, until there was no flotilla
left upon which any could desert him. The march to Mexico was now
assured. The force with which to accomplish this consisted of about
four hundred and fifty Spaniards, six or seven light guns, fifteen
horses, and a swarm of Indian slaves and attendants. A body of the
Totonacs accompanied them.[1067] Two or three days brought them into
the higher plain and its enlivening vegetation. When they reached the
dependencies of Montezuma, they found orders had been given to extend
to them every courtesy. They soon reached the Anahuac plateau, which
reminded them not a little of Spain itself. They passed from cacique to
cacique, some of whom groaned under the yoke of the Aztec; but not one
dared do more than orders from Montezuma dictated. Then the invaders
approached the territory of an independent people, those of Tlascala,
who had walled their country against neighboring enemies. A fight took
place at the frontiers, in which the Spaniards lost two horses. They
forced passes against great odds, but again lost a horse or two,—which
was a perceptible diminution of their power to terrify. The accounts
speak of immense hordes of the Tlascalans, which historians now take
with allowances, great or small. Cortés spread what alarm he could
by burning villages and capturing the country people. His greatest
obstacle soon appeared in the compacted army of Tlascalans arrayed in
his front. The conflict which ensued was for a while doubtful. Every
horse was hurt, and sixty Spaniards were wounded; but the result was
the retreat of the Tlascalans. Divining that the Spanish power was
derived from the sun, the enemy planned a night attack; but Cortés
suspected it, and assaulted them in their own ambush.
Cortés now had an opportunity to display his double-facedness and his
wiles. He received embassies both from Montezuma and from the senate of
the Tlascalans. He cajoled each, and played off his friendship for the
one in cementing an alliance with the other. But to Tlascala and Mexico
he would go, so he told them.
[Illustration: CORTÉS.[1068]]
The Tlascalans were not averse, for they thought it boded no good to
the Aztecs if he could be bound to themselves. Montezuma dreaded the
contact, and tried to intimidate the strangers by tales of the horrible
difficulties of the journey.
[Illustration: MONTEZUMA.
This cut of the “Rex ultimus Mexicanorum” is a fac-simile from Montanus
and Ogilby, p. 253. The source of the likeness is not apparent, and
the picture seems questionable. Prescott, in his second volume, gives
a likeness, which belonged to the descendants of the Aztec king, the
Counts of Miravalle. It is claimed to have been painted by an artist,
Maldonado, who accompanied Cortés; but, on the other hand, some have
represented it as an ideal portrait painted after the Conquest.
Prescott (vol. ii. p. 72) makes up his description of Montezuma
from various early authorities,—Diaz, Zuazo (MS.), Ixtlilxochitl,
Gomara, Oviedo, Acosta, Sahagun, Toribio, etc., particularizing the
references. H. H. Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 285) also depicts him from
the early sources. He is made of an age from forty to fifty-four
by different writers; but the younger period is thought by most to
be nearest. Bancroft refers to the prints in Th. Armin’s _Das alte
Mexico_ (Leipsic, 1865) as representing a coarse Aztec warrior,
and the native picture in Carbajal Espinosa’s _Historia de México_
(Mexico, 1862) as purely conventional. The same writer thinks the
colored portrait, “peint par ordre de Cortes,” in Linati’s _Costûmes
et mœurs de Mexique_ (Brussels) conforms to the descriptions; while
that in Clavigero’s _Storia antica del Messico_ (1780) is too small
to be satisfactory. The line of Montezuma’s descendants is traced in
Prescott, _Mexico_, ii. 339, iii. 446, and in Bancroft, _Mexico_, i.
459. Cf. also the portrait of Montezuma, “d’après Sandoval,” given in
Charton’s _Voyageurs_, iii. 393, and that in Cumplido’s Mexican edition
of Prescott’s _Mexico_ vol. iii.]
Presently the army took up its march for Tlascala, where they were
royally received, and wives in abundance were bestowed upon the
leaders. Next they passed to Cholula, which was subject to the Aztecs;
and here the Spaniards were received with as much welcome as could be
expected to be bestowed on strangers with the hostile Tlascalans in
their train. The scant welcome covered treachery, and Cortés met it
boldly. Murder and plunder impressed the Cholulans with his power, and
gave some sweet revenge to his allies. Through the wiles of Cortés a
seeming reconciliation at last was effected between these neighboring
enemies. But the massacre of Cholula was not a pastime, the treachery
of Montezuma not forgotten; and the march was again resumed, about six
thousand native allies of one tribe and another following the army. The
passage of a defile brought the broad Valley of Mexico into view; and
Montezuma, awed by the coming host, sent a courtier to personate him
and to prevail upon Cortés to avoid the city. The trick and the plea
were futile. On to one of the aquatic cities of the Mexican lakes the
Spaniards went, and were received in great state by a vassal lord of
Montezuma, who now invited the Spanish leader to the Aztec city. On
they went. Town after town received them; and finally, just without his
city, Montezuma, in all his finery and pomp, met the Spanish visitors,
bade them welcome, and committed them to an escort which he had
provided. It was the 8th of November, 1519. Later in his own palace,
in the quarters which had been assigned to Cortés, and on several
occasions, the two indulged in reciprocal courtesies and watched each
other. Cortés was not without fear, and his allies warned him of Aztec
treachery. His way to check foul designs was the bold one of seizing
Montezuma and holding him as a hostage; and he did so under pretence
of honoring him. A chieftain who had attacked a party of the Spaniards
by orders of Montezuma some time before, was executed in front of
the palace. Montezuma himself was subjected for a while to chains.
Expeditions were sent out with impunity to search for gold mines;
others explored the coast for harbors. A new governor was sent back
to Villa Rica, and he sent up shipwrights; so it was not long before
Cortés commanded a flotilla on the city lakes, and the captive king was
regaled with aquatic sports.
[Illustration: MONTEZUMA.[1069]]
[Illustration: MEXICO BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
This is reduced from the cut in Henry Stevens’s _American
Bibliographer_, p. 86, which in turn is reproduced from the edition
of Cortés’ letters published at Nuremberg in 1524. Bancroft in his
_Mexico_ (vol. i. p. 280) gives a greatly reduced sketch of the same
plan, and adds to it a description and references to the various
sources of our information regarding the Aztec town; and this may
be compared with the same author’s _Native Races_, ii. 560. Helps
describes the city in his _Spanish Conquest_ (New York ed., ii. 277,
423), where he thinks that the early chroniclers failed to make clear
the full number of the causeways connecting the town with the main,
and traversing the lake. Prescott describes it in his _Mexico_ (Kirk’s
ed., ii. 101), and discredits the plan given in Bullock’s _Mexico_ as
one prepared by Montezuma for Cortés. This last plan is also given
in Carbajal’s _Historia de México_ (1862), ii. 221. The nearly equal
distance on all sides at which the shores of the lake stand from the
town is characteristic of this earliest of the plans (1524); and in
this particular it is followed in various plans and bird’s-eye views
of the town of the sixteenth century, and in some of a later date.
The Aztec town had been founded in 1325, and had been more commonly
called Tenochtitlan, which the Spaniards turned into Temixtitan and
Tenustitan, the term Mexico being properly applied to one of the
principal wards of the city. The two names were first sometimes joined,
as Temixtitlan-Mexico (1555); but in the end the more pronounceable
part survived, and the rest was lost. Cf. Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 12-14,
with references. The correspondence of sites in the present city
as compared with those of the Aztec time and of the conquerors, is
examined in Alaman’s _Discertaciones sobre la historia de la república
Méjicana_ (Mexico, 1844-1849), ii. 202, 246; Carbajal Espinosa’s
_Historia de México_, ii. 226, and by Ramirez in the Mexican edition
of Prescott. Cf. Ant. du Pinet’s _Descriptions de plusieurs villes et
forteresses_, Lyon, 1564.]
Then came symptoms of conspiracy among the native nobles, with the
object of overthrowing the insolent strangers; and Cacama, a nephew
of Montezuma and a chief among them, indulged the hope of seizing the
throne itself. Montezuma protested to his people that his durance
was directed by the gods, and counselled caution. When this did not
suffice, he gave orders, at the instigation of Cortés, to seize Cacama,
who was brought to Mexico and placed in irons. The will of Cortés
effected other displacements of the rural chiefs; and the allegiance of
Montezuma to the Spanish sovereign became very soon as sure and abject
as forms could make it.
Tribute was ordered, and trains bore into the city wealth from all the
provinces,—to be the cause of heart-burnings and quarrels in the hour
of distribution. The Aztec king and the priests were compelled to order
the removal of idols from their temples, and to see the cross and altar
erected in their places.
Meanwhile the difficulties of Cortés were increasing. The desecration
of the idols had strengthened the party of revolt, and Montezuma was
powerless to quiet them. He warned the Spaniards of their danger.
Cortés, to dispel apprehension, sent men to the coast with the
ostensible purpose of building ships for departure. It was but a trick,
however, to gain time; for he was now expecting a response to his
letters sent to Spain, and he hoped for supplies and a royal commission
which might enable him to draw reinforcements from Cuba.
The renegade leader, however, had little knowledge of what was planning
at this very moment in that island. Velasquez de Cuellar, acting
under a sufficient commission, had organized an expedition to pursue
Cortés, and had given the command of it to Panfilo de Narvaez. The
friends of Cortés and those who dreaded a fratricidal war joined in
representations to the _audiencia_, which sent Lucas Vasquez de Aillon
to prevent an outbreak. The fleet under Narvaez left Cuba, Aillon on
board, with instructions to reach a peaceable agreement with Cortés;
but this failing, they were to seek other regions. In April, 1520,
after some mishaps, the fleet, which had been the largest ever seen in
those waters, anchored at San Juan de Ulloa, where they got stories of
the great success of Cortés from some deserters of one of his exploring
parties. On the other hand, these same deserters, learning from Narvaez
the strength and purpose of the new-comers,—for the restraint of Aillon
proved ineffectual,—communicated with the neighboring caciques; and
the news was not slow in travelling to Montezuma, who heard it not
long after the mock submission of Cortés and the despatching of the
ship-builders to the coast.
[Illustration.
Fac-simile of an engraving in Herrera, ii. 274. For appearance and
other portraits, see Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 75. One of a sinister
aspect often engraved, but which Ramirez distrusts, is given in
Cabajal’s _México_, ii. 341; in the _Proceso de residencia contra Pedro
de Alvarado_ (Mexico, 1847); and in Cumplido’s Mexican edition of
Prescott’s _Mexico_, vol. iii.]
Narvaez next tried, in vain, to swerve Velasquez de Leon from his
fidelity to Cortés,—for this officer was exploring with a party in the
neighborhood of the coast. Sandoval, in command at Villa Rica, learned
Narvaez’ purposes from spies; and when messengers came to demand the
surrender of the town, an altercation ensued, and the chief messengers
were seized and sent to Cortés. The Conqueror received them kindly,
and, overcoming their aversion, he sent them back to Narvaez with
letters and gifts calculated to conciliate. While many under Narvaez
were affected, the new leader remained stubborn, seized Aillon, who was
endeavoring to mediate, and sent him on shipboard with orders to sail
for Cuba. Thus the arrogance of Narvaez was greatly helping Cortés in
his not very welcome environment.
Cortés now boldly divided his force; and leaving Alvarado behind with
perhaps one hundred and forty men,—for the accounts differ,[1070]—and
taking half that number with him, beside native guides and carriers,
marched to confront Narvaez. Velasquez de Leon with his force
joined him on the way, and a little later Sandoval brought further
reinforcements; so that Cortés had now a detachment of nearly three
hundred men. Cortés had prudently furnished them long native lances,
with which to meet Narvaez’ cavalry, for his own horsemen were very
few. Adroitness on the part of Cortés and a show of gold had their
effect upon messengers who, with one demand and another, were sent
to him by Narvaez. Velasquez was sent by Cortés to the enemy’s camp;
but the chief gain to Cortés from this manœuvre was a more intimate
knowledge of the army and purpose of Narvaez. He then resolved to
attack the intruder,—who, however, became aware of the intention of
Cortés, but, under the stress of a storm, unaccountably relaxed his
precautions. Cortés took advantage of this carelessness; and attacking
boldly by night, carried everything before him, and captured the rival
leader. The loss was but small to either side. The followers of the
invader now became adherents of Cortés, and were a powerful aid in his
future movements.[1071] The same good fortune had given him possession
of the invader’s fleet.
[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF PEDRO DE ALVARADO.
Copied from a fac-simile in Cabajal’s _México_, ii. 686.]
Meanwhile there were stirring times with Alvarado in Mexico. The Aztecs
prepared to celebrate a high religious festival. Alvarado learned, or
pretended to learn, that the disaffected native chiefs were planning to
rise upon the Spaniards at its close. So he anticipated their scheme by
attacking them while at their worship and unarmed. Six hundred or more
of the leading men were thus slain. The multitude without the temple
were infuriated, and the Spaniards regained their quarters, not without
difficulty, Alvarado himself being wounded. Behind their defences they
managed to resist attack till succor came.
Cortés, who had learned of the events, was advancing, attaching to
himself the peoples who were inimical to the Aztecs; but as he got
within the Aztec influence he found more sullenness than favor. When he
entered Mexico he was not resisted. The city seemed almost abandoned as
his force made their way to the Spanish fort and entered its gates.
As a means of getting supplies, Cortés ordered the release of a brother
of Montezuma, who at once used his liberty to plan an insurrection. An
attack on the Spanish quarters followed, which Cortés sought to repel
by sorties; but they gained little. The siege was so roughly pressed
that Cortés urged Montezuma to present himself on the parapet and check
the fierceness of the assault. The captive put on his robes of state
and addressed the multitude; but he only became the target of their
missiles, and was struck down by a stone.[1072] The condition of the
Spaniards soon became perilous in the extreme. A parley with the chief
of the Aztecs was of no avail; and Cortés resolved to cut his way along
the shortest causeway from the city, to the mainland bordering the
lake. In this he failed. Meanwhile a part of his force were endeavoring
to secure the summit of a neighboring pyramid, from which the Mexicans
had annoyed the garrison of the fort. Cortés joined in this attack, and
it was successful. The defenders of the temples on its summit were all
killed or hurled from the height, and Cortés was master of the spot.
Events followed quickly in this June of 1520. There was evidently a
strong will in command of the Mexicans. The brother of Montezuma was
a doughtier foe than the King had been. The temporary success on the
pyramid had not diminished the anxiety of Cortés. Montezuma was now
dying on his hands. The King had not recovered from the injuries which
his own people had inflicted, and sinking spirits completed the work
of the mob. On the 30th of June he died, at the age of forty-one,
having been on the throne since 1503.[1073] Cortés had hoped for some
turn of fortune from this event; but none came. He was more than ever
convinced of the necessity of evacuating the city. Another sortie had
failed as before; and the passage of the causeway was again planned
for the evening of that day.[1074] The order of march, as arranged,
included the whole Spanish force and about six thousand allies.
Pontoons of a rough description were contrived for bridging the chasms
in the causeway. As many jewels and gold as would not encumber them
were taken, together with such prisoners of distinction as remained to
them, besides the sick and wounded.
[Illustration: HELPS’S MAP.
This is the map given by Helps in his _Spanish Conquest_. One of the
differences in the variety of maps which have been offered of the
Valley of Mexico, to illustrate the conquest by Cortés, consists in the
number and direction of the causeways. The description and the remains
of the structures themselves have not sufficed to make investigators
of one mind respecting them. Prescott (Kirk’s ed., vol. ii.) does not
represent so many causeways as Helps does. The map in Bancroft (vol. i.
p. 583) is still different in this respect. There is also a plan of the
city and surrounding country in Cabajal’s _México_ (vol. ii. p. 538);
and two others have been elsewhere given in the present volume (pp.
364, 379).]
A drizzling rain favored their retreat; but the Mexicans were finally
aroused, and attacked their rear. A hundred or more Spaniards were
cut off, and retreated to the fort, where they surrendered a few
days later, and were sacrificed. The rest, after losses and much
tribulation, reached the mainland. Nothing but the failure of the
Mexicans to pursue the Spaniards, weakened as they were, saved Cortés
from annihilation. The Aztecs were too busy with their successes; for
forty Spaniards, not to speak of numerous allies, had been taken, and
were to be immolated; and rites were to be performed over their own
dead.
Cortés the next morning was marshalling the sorry crowd which was left
of his army, when a new attack was threatened. His twelve hundred and
fifty Spaniards and six thousand allies had been reduced respectively
to five hundred and two thousand;[1075] and he was glad to make a
temple, which was hard by, a place of refuge and defence. Here he had
an opportunity to count his losses. His cannon and prisoners were
all gone. Some of his bravest officers did not respond to his call.
He could count but twenty-four of his three or four score of horses.
After dark he resumed his march. His pursuers still worried him, and
hunger weakened his men. He lost several horses at one point, and
was himself badly wounded. Reaching a plain on the 7th of July, the
Spaniards confronted a large force drawn up against them. Cortés had
but seven muskets left, and no powder; so he trusted to pike and sabre.
With these he rushed upon them; but the swarm of the enemy was too
great. At last, however, making a dash with some horsemen at the native
commander, who was recognized by his state and banner, the Mexican was
hurled prostrate and killed, and the trophy captured. The spell was
broken, and the little band of Spaniards and their allies hounded the
craven enemy in every direction. This victory at Otumba (Otompan) was
complete and astounding.
[Illustration: TREE OF TRISTE NOCHE.
This cut is borrowed from _Harper’s Magazine_, January, 1874, p. 172,
and represents the remains of the tree under which Cortés and his
followers gathered after that eventful night. There is another view of
this tree in _Tour du monde_, 1862, p. 277.]
The march was resumed; and not till within the Tlascalan borders
was there any respite and rest. In the capital of his allies Cortés
breathed freer. He learned, however, of misfortunes to detached parties
of Spaniards which had been sent out from Villa Rica. He soon got some
small supplies of ammunition and men from that seaport. Amid all this,
Cortés himself succumbed to a fever from his wounds, and barely escaped
death.
Meantime Cuitlahuatzin, the successful brother of Montezuma, had
been crowned in Mexico, where a military rule (improved by what the
Spaniards had taught them) was established. The new monarch sent
ambassadors to try to win the Tlascalans from their fidelity to Cortés;
but the scheme failed, and Cortés got renewed strength in the fast
purpose of his allies. His prompt and defiant ambition again overcame
the discontents among his own men, and induced him to take the field
once more against the Tepeacans, enemies of the Tlascalans, who lived
near by. It took about a month to subdue the whole province. Other
strongholds of Aztec influence fell one by one. The prestige of the
Spanish arms was rapidly re-established, and the Aztec forces went
down before them here and there in detachments. New arrivals on the
coast pronounced for Cortés, and two hundred men and twenty horses soon
joined his army. The small-pox, which the Spaniards had introduced,
speedily worked more disaster than the Spaniards, as it spread through
the country; and among the victims of it was the new monarch of the
Aztecs, leaving the throne open to the succession of Quauhtemotzin, a
nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma.
[Illustration: CHARLES V.
Fac-simile of a woodcut of Charles V. in _Pauli Jovii elogia virorum
bellica virtute illustrium_, Basle, 1575, p. 365, and 1596, p. 240.]
On the 30th of October, 1520, Cortés addressed his second letter to the
Emperor Charles V. He and his adherents craved confirmation for his
acts, and reinforcements. Other letters were despatched to Hispaniola
and Jamaica for recruits and supplies. Some misfortunes prevented the
prompt sailing of the vessel for Spain, and Cortés was enabled to join
a supplemental letter to the Emperor. The vessels also carried away
some of the disaffected, whom Cortés was not sorry to lose, now that
others had joined him.
[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF CHARLES V.]
Meanwhile Cortés had established among the Tepeacans a post of
observation named Segura; and from this centre Sandoval made a
successful incursion among the Aztec dependencies. Cortés himself was
again at Tlascala, settling the succession of its government; for
the small-pox had carried off Maxixcatzin, the firm friend of the
Spaniards. Here Cortés set carpenters to work constructing brigantines,
which he intended to carry to Tezcuco, on the Lake of Mexico, where it
was now his purpose to establish the base of future operations against
the Aztec capital. The opportune arrival of a ship at Villa Rica with
supplies and materials of war was very helpful to him.
Cortés first animated all by a review of his forces, and then went
forward with the advance toward Tezcuco. He encountered little
opposition, and entered the town to find the inhabitants divided in
their fears and sympathies. Many had fled toward Mexico, including the
ruler who had supplanted the one given them by Cortés and Montezuma.
Under the instigation of Cortés a new one was chosen whom he could
trust.
[Illustration: CHARLES V.
Fac-simile of an engraving in Herrera, iii. 84. Cf. the full-length
likeness given in Cumplido’s Mexican edition of Prescott’s _Mexico_,
vol. iii., and various other portraits of the Emperor.]
Cortés began his approach to Mexico by attacking and capturing, with
great loss to the inhabitants, one of the lake towns; but the enemy,
cutting a dike and flooding the place, forced the retirement of the
invaders, who fell back to Tezcuco. Enough had been accomplished
to cause many of the districts dependent on the Aztecs to send in
embassies of submission; and Cortés found that he was daily gaining
ground. Sandoval was sent back to Tlascala to convoy the now completed
brigantines, which were borne in pieces on the shoulders of eight
thousand carriers. Pending the launching of the fleet, Cortés conducted
a reconnoissance round the north end of the lakes to the scene of his
sorrowful night evacuation, hoping for an interview with an Aztec chief.
[Illustration: TOPOGRAPHY OF THE MEXICAN VALLEY.
This is the map given in Wilson’s _New Conquest of Mexico_, p. 390, in
which he makes the present topography represent that of Cortés’ time,
in opposition to the usual view that at the period of the Conquest the
waters of the lake covered the parts here represented as marsh. The
waters of Tezcuco are at present seven or eight feet (Prescott says
four feet) below the level of the city, and Wilson contends that they
did not in Cortés’ time much exceed in extent their present limits;
and it is one of his arguments against Cortés’ representations of deep
water about the causeways that such a level of the lake would have put
the town of Tezcuco six or seven feet under water. Wilson gives his
views on this point at length in his _New Conquest_, pp. 452-460. The
map will be seen also to show the line of General Scott’s approach
to the city in 1847. (Cf. Prof. Henry Coppée on the “Coincidences of
the Conquests of Mexico, 1520-1847,” in the _Journal of the Military
Service Institution_, March, 1884.) The modern city of Mexico lies
remote by several miles from the banks of the lake which represents
to-day the water commonly held to have surrounded the town in the
days of the Conquest. The question of the shrinking of the lagunes is
examined in Orozco y Berra’s _Mémoire pour la carte hydrographique
de la Vallée de Mexico_, and by Jourdanet in his _Influence de la
pression de l’air sur la vie de l’homme_, p. 486. A colored map
prepared for this latter book was also introduced by Jourdanet in his
edition of _Sahagun_ (1880), where (p. xxviii) he again examines the
question. From that map the one here presented was taken, and the marsh
surrounding “Lac de Texcoco” marks the supposed limits of the lake in
Montezuma’s time. Jourdanet’s map is called, “Carte hydrographique de
la Vallée de Mexico d’après les travaux de la Commission de la Vallée
en 1862, avec addition des anciennes limites du Lac de Texcoco.”
Humboldt in his _Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne_, while
studying this problem of the original bounds of the water, gives a
map defining them as traced in 1804-1807; and this is reproduced in
John Black’s translation of Humboldt’s _Personal Essay on the Kingdom
of New Spain_, third edition, London, 1822. Humboldt gives accounts
of earlier attempts to map the valley with something like accuracy,
as was the case with the Lopez map of 1785. Siguenza’s map of the
sixteenth century, though false, has successively supplied, through the
publication of it which Alzate made in 1786, the geographical data of
many more modern maps. Cf. the map in Cumplido’s edition of Prescott’s
_Mexico_ (1846), vol. iii., and the enumeration of maps of the valley
given in Orozco y Berra’s _Cartografia Mexicana_, pp. 315-316.
A map of Mexico and the lake also appeared in _Le petit atlas maritime_
(Paris, 1764); and this is given in fac-simile in the _Proceedings of
the American Philosophical Society_, xxi. 616, in connection with a
translation of the _Codex Ramirez_ by Henry Phillips, Jr.
There is reason to believe that the decrease in the waters had begun to
be perceptible in the time of Cortés; and Humboldt traces the present
subsidence to the destruction of neighboring forests. Bernal Diaz makes
record of the changes observable within his recollection, and he wrote
his account fifty years after the Conquest.
The geographers of the eighteenth century often made the waters of the
valley flow into the Pacific. The map in the 1704 edition of Solis
shows this; so do the maps of Bower and other English cartographers, as
well as the map from Herrera on a later page (p. 392).
The inundations to which the city has been subjected (the most serious
of which was in 1629), and the works planned for its protection
from such devastations are the subject of a rare book by Cepeda and
Carillo, _Relacion universal del sitio en que esta fundada la ciudad de
México_ (Mexico, 1637). Copies are found complete and incomplete. Cf.
Carter-Brown, ii. 441; Leclerc, no. 1,095, complete, 400 francs, and
no. 1,096, incomplete, 200 francs; Quaritch, incomplete, £10.]
In this, however, he failed, and returned to Tezcuco. Then followed
some successful fighting on the line of communication with the coast,
which enabled Cortés to bring up safely some important munitions,
besides two hundred soldiers, who had lately reached Villa Rica from
the islands whither he had sent for help the previous autumn.
[Illustration]
The Spanish leader now conducted another reconnoissance into the
southern borders of the Mexican Valley,—a movement which overcame much
opposition,—and selected Coyohuacan as a base of operations on that
side against the Aztec city. After this he returned to Tezcuco, and was
put to the necessity of quelling an insurrection, in which his own
death had been planned.
At last the brigantines were launched. At the command of Cortés the
allies mustered. On the 28th of April, 1521, the Spanish general
counted his own countrymen, and found he had over nine hundred in all,
including eighty-seven horsemen. He had three heavy guns, and fifteen
smaller ones, which were mostly in the fleet. Cortés kept immediate
charge of the brigantines, and allotted the main divisions of the army
to Alvarado, Olid, and Sandoval. The land forces proceeded to occupy
the approaches which the reconnoissances had indicated,—Alvarado at
Tlacopan, Olid at Coyohuacan, on the westerly shores of the lake, and,
later, Sandoval at Iztapalapan, on the eastern side. Each of these
places commanded the entrance to causeways leading to the city. The
land forces were no sooner in position than Cortés appeared with his
fleet. The Aztecs attacked the brigantines with several hundred canoes;
but Cortés easily overcame all, and established his naval supremacy.
He then turned to assist Olid and Alvarado, who were advancing along
their respective causeways; and the stronghold, Xoloc, at the junction
of the causeway, was easily carried. Here the besiegers maintained
themselves with an occasional fight, while Sandoval was sent to occupy
Tepeyacac, which commanded the outer end of the northern causeway.
This completed the investment. A simultaneous attack was now made from
the three camps. The force from Xoloc alone succeeded in entering the
city; but the advantage gained was lost, and Cortés, who was with this
column, drew his forces back to camp. His success, however, was enough
to impress the surrounding people, who were watching the signs; and
various messengers came and offered the submission of their people
to the Spaniards. The attacks were renewed on subsequent days; and
little by little the torch was applied, and the habitable part of the
town grew less and less. The lake towns as they submitted furnished
flotillas, which aided the brigantines much in their incursions into
the canals of the town. For a while the Mexicans maintained night
communication across the lake for supplies; but the brigantines at last
stopped this precarious traffic.
Alvarado on his side had made little progress; but the market of
Tlatelulco was nearer him, and that was a point within the city which
it was desirable to reach and fortify. Sandoval was joined to Alvarado,
who increased the vigor of his assault, while Cortés again attacked
on the other side. The movement failed, and the Mexicans were greatly
encouraged. The Spaniards, from their camps, saw by the blaze of the
illuminations on the temple tops the sacrifice of their companions
who had been captured in the fight. The bonds that kept the native
allies in subjection were becoming, under these reverses, more sensibly
loosened day by day, and Cortés spared several detachments from his
weakened force to raid in various directions to preserve the prestige
of the Spanish power.
The attack was now resumed on a different plan. The fighting-men led
the way and kept the Mexicans at bay; while the native auxiliaries
razed every building as they went, leaving no cover for the Aztec
marauders. The demolition extended gradually to the line of Alvarado’s
approach, and communication was opened with him. This leader was now
approaching the great market-place, Tlatelulco. By renewed efforts he
gained it, only to lose it; but the next day he succeeded better, and
formed a junction with Cortés. Not more than an eighth part of the city
was now in the hands of its inhabitants; and here pestilence and famine
were the Spaniards’ prompt allies.
[Illustration: MEXICO UNDER THE CONQUERORS.
This is the engraving given in the _Nieuwe Weereld_ (1670) of Montanus,
which was repeated in Ogilby’s _America_, and is familiar from
reproductions elsewhere. It may be traced back as a sketch to the much
less elaborate one given by Bordone in his _Libro_ of 1528, later
called his _Isolario_, which was accompanied by one of the earliest
descriptions by a writer not a conqueror. Bancroft (_Mexico_, ii. 14)
gives a small outline engraving of a similar picture, and recapitulates
the authorities on the rebuilding of the city by Cortés. The Cathedral,
however, was not begun till 1573, and was over sixty years in building
(Ibid., iii. 173).
One of the most interesting of the early accounts, accompanied as it
was with a plan of the town and lake, made part of the narrative of the
“Anonymous Conqueror.” This picture has been reproduced by Icazbalceta
in his _Coleccion_ (i. 390) from the engraving in Ramusio, whence we
derive our only knowledge of this anonymous writer. The Ramusio plan is
also given on the next page.
The plate used in the 1572 edition of Porcacchi (p. 105) served for
many successive editions. Another plan of the same year showing an
oval lake surrounding the town, is found in Braun and Hogenberg’s
_Civitates orbis terrarum_ (Cologne, 1572), and of later dates, and the
French edition, _Théâtre des cités du monde_ (Brussels, 1574), i. 59. A
similar outline characterizes the small woodcut (6×6 inches) which is
found in Münster’s _Cosmographia_ (1598), p. dccccxiiii.
Later views and plans appeared in Gottfriedt’s _Newe Welt_ (1655); in
Solis’s _Conquista_ (1704), p. 261, reproduced in the English edition
of 1724; in La Croix’ _Algemeene Weereld Beschryving_ (1705); in
Herrera (edition of 1728), p. 399; in Clavigero (1780), giving the
lake and the town (copied in Verne’s _De’couverte de la Terre_, p.
248), and also a map of Anahuac, both reproduced in the London (1787)
and Philadelphia (1817) editions, as well as in the Spanish edition
published at Mexico in 1844; in Solis, edition of 1783 (Madrid), where
the lake is given an indefinite extension; in Keating’s edition of
Bernal Diaz, besides engraved plates by the Dutch publisher Vander Aa.
The account of Mexico in 1554 written by Francisco Cervantes Salazar,
and republished with annotations by Icazbalceta in 1875 (Carter-Brown,
i. 595) is helpful in this study of the ancient town. Cf. “Mexico et
ses environs en 1554,” by L. Massbieau, in the _Revue de géographie_,
October, 1878.
A descriptive book, _Sitio, naturaleza y propriedades de la ciudad de
México_, by Dr. Diego Cisneros, published at Mexico in 1618, is become
very rare. Rich in 1832 priced a copy at _£_6 6_s_.,—a great sum for
those days (Sabin, vol. iv. no. 13,146; Carter-Brown, ii. 199).]
Still the Aztec King, Quauhtemotzin, scorned to yield; and the
slaughter went on from day to day, till finally, on the 13th of August,
1521, the end came. The royal Aztec was captured, trying to escape in a
boat; and there was no one left to fight. Of the thousand Spaniards who
had done the work about a tenth had succumbed; and probably something
like the same proportion among the many thousand allies. The Mexican
loss must have been far greater, perhaps several times greater.[1076]
The Spaniards were no sooner in possession than quarrels began over the
booty. Far less was found than was hoped for, and torture was applied,
with no success, to discover the hiding-places. The captive prince was
not spared this indignity. Cortés was accused of appropriating an undue
share of what was found, and hot feelings for a while prevailed.
The conquest now had to be maintained by the occupation of the country;
and the question was debated whether to build the new capital on the
ruins of Mexico, or to establish it at Tezcuco or Coyohuacan. Cortés
preferred the prestige of the traditional site, and so the new Spanish
town rose on the ruins of the Aztec capital; the Spanish quarter
being formed about the square of Tenochtitlan (known in the early
books usually as Temixtitan), which was separated by a wide canal
from the Indian settlement clustered about Tlatelulco. Two additional
causeways were constructed, and the Aztec aqueduct was restored.
Inducements were offered to neighboring tribes to settle in the city,
and districts were assigned to them. Thus were hewers of wood and
drawers of water abundantly secured. But Mexico never regained with the
natives the dominance which the Aztecs had given it. Its population was
smaller, and a similar decadence marked the fate of the other chief
towns; Spanish rule and disease checked their growth. Even Tezcuco
and Tlascala soon learned what it was to be the dependents of the
conquerors.
[Illustration]
Cortés speedily decided upon further conquests. The Aztec tribute-rolls
told him of the comparative wealth of the provinces, and the turbulent
spirits among his men were best controlled in campaigns. He needed
powder, so he sent some bold men to the crater of Popocatepetl to get
sulphur. They secured it, but did not repeat the experiment. Cortés
also needed cannon. The Aztecs had no iron, but sufficient copper;
and finding a tin mine, his craftsmen made a gun-metal, which soon
increased his artillery to a hundred pieces.
Expeditions were now despatched hither and thither, and province after
province succumbed. Other regions sent in their princes and chief men
with gifts and words of submission. The reports which came back of the
great southern sea opened new visions; and Cortés sent expeditions to
find ports and build vessels; and thus Zacalula grew up. Revolts here
and there followed the Spanish occupancy, but they were all promptly
suppressed.
While all this was going on, Cortés had to face a new enemy. Fonseca,
as patron of Velasquez, had taken occasion in the absence of the
Emperor, attending to the affairs of his German domain, to order
Cristóbal de Tapia from Hispaniola to take command in New Spain and to
investigate the doings of Cortés. He arrived in December, 1521, with a
single vessel at Villa Rica, and was guardedly received by Gonzalo de
Alvarado, there in command. Tapia now despatched a messenger to Cortés,
who replied with many blandishments, and sent Sandoval and others as a
council to confer with Tapia, taking care to have among its members a
majority of his most loyal adherents.
They met Dec. 12, 1521, and the conference lasted till Jan. 6, 1522.
It resulted in a determination to hold the orders borne by Tapia in
abeyance till the Emperor himself could be heard. Tapia protested in
vain, and was quickly hustled out of the country. He was not long
gone when new orders for him arrived,—this time under the sign-manual
of the Emperor himself. This increased the perplexity; but Cortés
won the messenger in his golden fashion. Shortly afterwards the same
messenger set off for Spain, carrying back the letters with him. These
occurrences did not escape notice throughout the country, and Cortés
was put to the necessity of extreme measures to restore his prestige;
while in his letter to the Emperor he threw the responsibility of his
action upon the council, who felt it necessary, he alleged, to take the
course they did to make good the gains which had already been effected
for the Emperor. In a spirit of conciliation, however, Cortés released
Narvaez, who had been confined at Villa Rica; and so in due time
another enemy found his way to Spain, and joined the cabal against the
Conqueror of Mexico.
[Illustration: CORTÉS.
Fac-simile of a woodcut in _Pauli Jovii elogia virorum bellica virtute
illustrium_ (Basle, 1575), p. 348, and 1596, p. 229, called a portrait
of Cortés.
The autograph follows one given by Prescott, revised ed., vol. iii.
Autographs of his proper name, and of his title, Marques del Valle,
are given in Cumplido’s edition of Prescott, vol. iii. An original
autograph was noted for sale in Stevens (_Bibliotheca geographica_, no.
760), which is given in fac-simile in some of the illustrated copies of
that catalogue. Prescott (vol. i. p. 447) mentions a banner, preserved
in Mexico, though in rags, which Cortés is said to have borne in the
Conquest. But compare Wilson’s _New Conquest_, p. 369.]
In the spring (1522) Cortés was cheered by a report from the
_Audiencia_ of Santo Domingo, confirming his acts and promising
intercession with the Emperor. To support this intercession, Cortés
despatched to Spain some friends with his third letter, dated at
Coyohuacan May 15, 1522. These agents carried also a large store of
propitiatory treasure. Two of the vessels, which held most of it, were
captured by French corsairs,[1077] and the Spanish gains enriched the
coffers of Francis I. rather than those of Charles V. The despatches
of Cortés, however, reached their destination, though Fonseca and the
friends of Velasquez had conspired to prevent their delivery, and
had even appropriated some part of the treasure which a third vessel
had securely landed. Thus there were charges and countercharges, and
Charles summoned a council to investigate. Cortés won. Velasquez,
Fonseca, and Narvaez were all humiliated in seeing their great rival
made, by royal command, governor and captain-general of New Spain.
Meanwhile Cortés, hearing of a proposed expedition under Garay to
take possession of the region north of Villa Rica, conducted a force
himself to seize, in advance, that province known as Pánuco, and to
subjugate the Huastecs who dwelt there. This was done. The plunder
proved small; but this disappointment was forgotten in the news which
now, for the first time, reached Cortés of his late success in Spain.
The whole country was jubilant over the recognition of his merit; and
opportunely came embassies from Guatemala bringing costlier tributes
than the Spaniards had ever seen before. This turned their attention to
the south. There was apprehension that the Spaniards who were already
at Panamá might sooner reach these rich regions, and might earlier find
the looked-for passage from the Gulf to the south sea. To anticipate
them, no time could be lost. So Alvarado, Olid, and Sandoval were
given commands to push explorations and conquests southward and on
either shore. Before the expeditions started, news came that Garay,
arriving from Jamaica, had landed with a force at Pánuco to seize that
region in the interests of the Velasquez faction. The mustered forces
were at once combined under Cortés’ own lead, and marched against
Garay,—Alvarado in advance. Before Cortés was ready to start, he
was relieved from the necessity of going in person by the receipt of
a royal order from Spain confirming him in the possession of Pánuco
and forbidding Garay to occupy any of Cortés’ possessions. This order
was hurriedly despatched to Alvarado; but it did not reach him till
he had made some captives of the intruders. Garay readily assented to
lead his forces farther north if restitution should be made to him
of the captives and munitions which Alvarado had taken. This was not
so easily done, for plunder in hand was doubly rich, and Garay’s own
men preferred to enlist with Cortés. To compose matters Garay went
to Mexico, where Cortés received him with ostentatious kindness, and
promised him assistance in his northern conquests. In the midst of
Cortés’ hospitality his guest sickened and died, and was buried with
pomp.
While Garay was in Mexico, his men at Pánuco, resenting the control
of Garay’s son, who had been left in charge of them, committed such
ravages on the country that the natives rose on them, and were so
rapidly annihilating them that Alvarado, who had left, was sent back
to check the outbreak. He encountered much opposition; but conquered
as usual, and punished afterward the chief ringleaders with abundant
cruelty. Such of Garay’s men as would, joined the forces of Cortés,
while the rest were sent back to Jamaica.
The thoughts of Cortés were now turned to his plan of southern
exploration, and early in December Alvarado was on his way to
Guatemala.[1078] Desperate fighting and the old success attended
Cortés’ lieutenant, and the Quiché army displayed their valor in
vain in battle after battle. It was the old story of cavalry and
arquebusiers. As Alvarado approached Utatlan, the Quiché capital, he
learned of a plot to entrap him in the city, which was to be burned
about his ears. By a counterplot he seized the Quiché nobles, and
burned them and their city. By the aid of the Cakchiquels he devastated
the surrounding country. Into the territory of this friendly people he
next marched, and was received royally by King Sinacam in his city of
Patinamit (Guatemala), and was soon engaged with him in an attack on
his neighbors, the Zutugils, who had lately abetted an insurrection
among Sinacam’s vassals. Alvarado beat them, of course, and established
a fortified post among them after they had submitted, as gracefully as
they could. With Quichés and Cakchiquels now in his train, Alvarado
still went on, burned towns and routed the country’s defenders, till,
the rainy season coming on, he withdrew his crusaders and took up his
quarters once more at Patinamit, late in July, 1524. From this place
he sent despatches to Cortés, who forwarded two hundred more Spanish
soldiers for further campaigns.
The Spanish extortions produced the usual results. The Cakchiquels
turned under the abuse, deserted their city, and prepared for a
campaign. The Spaniards found them abler foes than any yet encountered.
The Cakchiquels devastated the country on which Alvarado depended for
supplies, and the Spaniards found themselves reduced to great straits.
It was only after receiving reinforcements sent by Cortés that Alvarado
was enabled to push his conquests farther, and possess himself of the
redoubtable fortress of Mixco and successfully invade the Valley of
Zacatepec.
* * * * *
The expedition to Honduras was intrusted to Cristóbal de Olid, and
started about a month after Alvarado’s to Guatemala. Olid was given a
fleet; and a part of his instructions was to search for a passage to
the great south sea. He sailed from the port now known as Vera Cruz
on the 11th of January, 1524, and directed his course for Havana,
where he was to find munitions and horses, for the purchase of which
agents had already been sent thither by Cortés. While in Cuba the
blandishments of Velasquez had worked upon Olid’s vanity, and when he
sailed for Honduras he was harboring thoughts of defection. Not long
after he landed he openly announced them, and gained the adherence
of most of his men. Cortés, who had been warned from Cuba of Olid’s
purpose, sent some vessels after him, which were wrecked. Thus Casas,
their commander, and his men fell into Olid’s hands. After an interval,
an opportunity offering, the captive leader conspired to kill Olid.
He wounded and secured him, brought him to a form of trial, and cut
off his head. Leaving a lieutenant to conduct further progress, Casas
started to go to Mexico and make report to Cortés.
[Illustration: GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS.
Following the map given in Ruge’s, _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_, p.
391. Cf. map in Fanshawe’s _Yucatan_.]
Meanwhile, with a prescience of the mischief brewing, and impelled
by his restless nature, Cortés had determined to march overland to
Honduras; and in the latter part of October, 1524, he set out. He
started with great state; but the difficulties of the way made his
train a sorry sight as they struggled through morass after morass,
stopped by river after river, which they were under the necessity
of fording or bridging. All the while their provisions grew less
and less. To add to the difficulties, some Mexican chieftains, who
had been taken along as hostages for the security of Mexico, had
conspired to kill Cortés, and then to march with their followers back
to Mexico as deliverers. The plot was discovered, and the leaders
were executed.[1079] Some of the towns passed by the army had been
deserted by their inhabitants, without leaving any provisions behind.
Guides which they secured ran away. On they went, however, hardly in
a condition to confront Olid, should he appear, and they were now
approaching his province. At last some Spaniards were met, who told
them of Casas’ success; and the hopes of Cortés rose. He found the
settlers at Nito, who had been decimated by malaria, now engaged in
constructing a vessel in which to depart. His coming cheered them; and
a ship opportunely appearing in the harbor with provisions, Cortés
purchased her and her lading. He then took steps to move the settlement
to a more salubrious spot. Using the newly acquired vessel, he explored
the neighboring waters, hoping to find the passage to the south sea;
and making some land expeditions, he captured several pueblos, and
learned, from a native of the Pacific coast whom he fell in with, that
Alvarado was conducting his campaign not far away. Finally, he passed
on to Trujillo, where he found the colony of Olid’s former adherents,
and confirmed the dispositions which Casas had made, while he sent
vessels to Cuba and Jamaica for supplies.
At this juncture Cortés got bad news from Mexico. Cabal and anti-cabal
among those left in charge of the government were having their effect.
When a report reached them of the death of Cortés and the loss of
his army, it was the signal for the bad spirits to rise, seize the
government, and apportion the estates of the absentees. The most
steadfast friend of Cortés—Zuazo—was sent off to Cuba, whence he got
the news to Cortés by letter. After some hesitation and much saying
of Masses, Cortés appointed a governor for the Honduras colony; and
sending Sandoval with his forces overland, he embarked himself to go
by sea. Various mishaps caused his ship to put back several times.
Discouraged at last, and believing there was a divine purpose in
keeping him in Honduras for further conquest, he determined to remain
a while, and sent messengers instead to Mexico. Runners were also sent
after Sandoval to bring him back.
Cortés now turned his attention to the neighboring provinces; and
one after another he brought them into subjection, or gained their
respect by interfering to protect them from other parties of marauding
Spaniards. He had already planned conquests farther south, and Sandoval
had received orders to march, when a messenger from Mexico brought the
exhortations of his friends for his return to that city. Taking a small
force with him, including Sandoval, he embarked in April, 1526. After
being tempest-tossed and driven to Cuba, he landed late in May near
Vera Cruz, and proceeded in triumph to his capital.
Cortés’ messenger from Honduras had arrived in good time, and
had animated his steadfast adherents, who succeeded very soon in
overthrowing the usurper Salazar and restoring the Cortés government.
Then followed the request for Cortés’ return, and in due time his
arrival. The natives vied with each other in the consideration which
they showed to Malinche, as Cortés was universally called by them.
Safe in their good wishes, Cortés moved by easy stages toward Mexico.
Everybody was astir with shout and banner as he entered the city
itself. He devoted himself at once to re-establishing the government
and correcting abuses.
* * * * *
Meanwhile the enemies of Cortés at Madrid had so impressed the Emperor
that he ordered a judge, Luis Ponce de Leon, to proceed to Mexico and
investigate the charges against the Governor, and to hold power during
the suspension of Cortés’ commission. Cortés received him loyally, and
the transfer of authority was duly made,—Cortés still retaining the
position of captain-general. Before any charges against Cortés could
be heard, Ponce sickened and died, July 20, 1526; and his authority
descended to Marcos de Aguilar, whom he had named as successor. He
too died in a short time; and Cortés had to resist the appeals of
his friends, who wished him to reassume the governorship and quiet
the commotions which these sudden changes were producing. Meanwhile
the enemies of Cortés were actively intriguing in Spain, and Estrada
received a royal decree to assume alone the government, which with two
others he had been exercising since the death of Aguilar. The patience
of Cortés and his adherents was again put to a test when the new ruler
directed the exile of Cortés from the city. Estrada soon saw his
mistake, and made advances for a reconciliation, which Cortés accepted.
But new developments were taking place on the coast. The Emperor had
taken Pánuco out of Cortés’ jurisdiction by appointing Nuño de Guzman
to govern it, with orders to support Ponce if Cortés should resist that
royal agent. Guzman did not arrive on the coast till May 20, 1527,
when he soon, by his acts, indicated his adherence to the Velasquez
party, and a disposition to encroach upon the bounds of New Spain. He
was forced to deal with Cortés as captain-general; and letters far
from conciliatory in character passed from Guzman to the authorities
in Mexico. Estrada had found it necessary to ask Cortés to conduct a
campaign against his ambitious neighbor; but Cortés felt that he could
do more for himself and New Spain in the Old, and so prepared to leave
the country and escape from the urgency of those of his partisans who
were constantly trying to embroil him with Estrada. A letter from the
new President of the Council of the Indies urging his coming, helped
much to the determination. He collected what he could of treasure,
fabric, and implement to show the richness of the country. A great
variety of animals, representatives of the various subjugated peoples,
and a showy train of dependents, among them such conspicuous characters
as Sandoval and Tapia, with native princes and chieftains, accompanied
him on board the vessels.
* * * * *
[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF SANDOVAL.
After a fac-simile in Cabajal, _México_, ii. 686.]
Cortés, meanwhile, was ignorant of what further mischief his enemies
had done in Spain. The Emperor had appointed a commission (_audiencia_)
to examine the affairs of New Spain, and had placed Guzman at the
head. It had full power to assume the government and regulate the
administration. In December, 1528, and January, 1529, all the members
assembled at Mexico. The jealous and grasping quality of their rule
was soon apparent. The absence of Cortés in Spain threatened the
continuance of their power; for reports had reached Mexico of the
enthusiasm which attended his arrival in Spain. They accordingly
despatched messengers to the Spanish court renewing the charges against
Cortés, and setting forth the danger of his return to Mexico. Alvarado
and other friends of Cortés protested in vain, and had to look on and
see, under one pretext or another, all sorts of taxes and burdens laid
upon the estates of the absent hero. He was also indicted in legal form
for every vice and crime that any one might choose to charge him with;
and the indictments stood against him for many years.
Guzman was soon aware of the smouldering hatred which the rule of
himself and his associate had created; and he must have had suspicions
of the representations of his rapacity and cruelty which were reaching
Madrid from his opponents. To cover all iniquities with the splendor
of conquest, he gathered a formidable army and marched to invade the
province of Jalisco.
[Illustration: SANDOVAL.
Fac-simile of an engraving in Herrera, ii. 32. It is dressed up in
Cabajal’s _México_, ii. 254.]
Cortés, with his following, had landed at Palos late in 1528, and
was under the necessity, a few days later, of laying the body of
Sandoval—worn out with the Honduras campaign—in the vaults of La
Rabida. It was a sad duty for Cortés, burdened with the grief that
his young lieutenant could not share with him the honors now in store,
as he made his progress to Toledo, where the Court then was. He was
received with unaccustomed honor and royal condescensions,—only the
prelude to substantial grants of territory in New Spain, which he was
asked to particularize and describe. He was furthermore honored with
the station and title of Marqués del Valle de Oajaca. He was confirmed
as captain-general; but his reinstatement as governor was deferred till
the reports of the new commission in New Spain should be received.
He was, however, assured of liberty to make discoveries in the south
sea, and to act as governor of all islands and parts he might discover
westward.
[Illustration: CORTÉS.
Fac-simile of an engraving in Herrera, ii. 1. There is also a portrait
which hangs, or did hang, in the series of Viceroys in the Museo at
Mexico. This was engraved for Don Antonio Uguina, of Madrid; and
from his engraving the picture given second by Prescott is copied.
Engravings of a picture ascribed to Titian are given in Townsend’s
translation of Solis (London, 1724) and in the Madrid edition of Solis
(1783). Cf. H. H. Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 39, _note_. The Spanish
translation of Clavigero, published in Mexico in 1844, has a portrait;
and one “after Velasquez” is given in Laborde’s _Voyage pittoresque_,
vol. iv., and in Jules Verne’s _Découverte de la Terre_.
A small copperplate representing Cortés in armor, with an uplifted
finger and a full beard (accompanied by a brief sketch of his career)
is given in _Select Lives collected out of A. Thevet, Englished
by I. S._ (Cambridge, 1676), which is a section of a volume,
_Prosopographia_ (Cambridge, 1676), an English translation of Thevet’s
Collection of Lives. The copper may be the same used in the French
original.]
The wife of Cortés, whom he had left in Cuba, had joined him in Mexico
after the conquest, and had been received with becoming state. Her
early decease, after a loftier alliance would have become helpful to
his ambition, had naturally raised a suspicion among Cortés’ traducers
that her death had been prematurely hastened.
[Illustration: CORTÉS’ ARMOR.
Copied from an engraving (in Ruge’s _Das Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_,
p. 405) of the original in the Museum at Madrid. Wilson refers to
some plate armor in the Museum at Mexico, which he, of course, thinks
apocryphal (_New Conquest_, p. 444).]
He had now honors sufficient for any match among the rank of grandees;
and a few days after he was ennobled he was married, as had been
earlier planned, to the daughter of the late Conde de Aguilar and niece
of the Duque de Béjar,—both houses of royal extraction.
Cortés now prepared to return to Mexico with his new titles. He learned
that the Emperor had appointed a new _audiencia_ to proceed thither,
and it promised him better justice than he had got from the other. The
Emperor was not, however, satisfied as yet that the presence of Cortés
in Mexico was advisable at the present juncture, and he ordered him to
stay; but the decree was too late, and Cortés, with a great retinue,
had already departed. He landed at Vera Cruz, in advance of the new
judge, July 15, 1530.
His reception was as joyous as it had been four years before; and
though an order had reached him forbidding his approach within ten
leagues of Mexico till the new _audiencia_ should arrive, the support
of his retinue compelled him to proceed to Tezcuco, where he awaited
its coming, while he was put in the interim to not a little hazard and
inconvenience by the efforts of the Guzman government to deprive him of
sustenance and limit his intercourse with the natives.
Near the end of the year the new Government arrived,—or all but its
president, Fuenleal, for he was the Bishop of Santo Domingo, whom the
others had been ordered to take on board their vessel on the way; but
stress of weather had prevented their doing this. The Bishop did not
join them till September. In Mexico they took possession of Cortés’
house, which they had been instructed to appropriate at an appraisement.
[Illustration: AUTOGRAPH OF FUENLEAL (_Episcopus Sancti Dominici_).]
The former Government was at once put on trial, and judgment was in
most cases rendered against them, so that their property did not
suffice to meet the fines imposed. Cortés got a due share of what they
were made to disgorge, in restitution of his own losses through them.
Innumerable reforms were instituted, and the natives received greater
protection than ever before.
Guzman, meanwhile, was on his expedition toward the Pacific coast,
conducting his rapacious and brutal conquest of Nueva Galicia. He
refused to obey the call of the new _audiencia_, while he despatched
messengers to Mexico to protect, if possible, his interests. By them
also he forwarded his own statement of his case to the Emperor. Cortés,
vexed at Guzman’s anticipation of his own intended discoveries toward
the Pacific, sent a lieutenant to confront him; but Guzman was wily
enough to circumvent the lieutenant, seized him, and packed him off to
Mexico with scorn and assurance.
[Illustration: MEXICO AND ACAPULCO.
Fac-simile of a map in Herrera, i. 408.]
It was his last hour of triumph. His force soon dwindled; his adherents
deserted him; his misdeeds had left him no friends; and he at last
deserted the remnant of his army, and starting for Pánuco, turned aside
to Mexico on the way. He found in the city a new _régime_. Antonio
de Mendoza had been sent out as viceroy, and to succeed Fuenleal at
the same time as president of the _audiencia_. He had arrived at Vera
Cruz in October, 1535. His rule was temperate and cautious. Negroes,
who had been imported into the country in large numbers as slaves,
plotted an insurrection: but the Viceroy suppressed it; and if there
was native complicity in the attempt, it was not proved. The Viceroy
had received from his predecessors a source of trial and confusion
in the disputed relations which existed between the civil rulers and
the Captain-General. There were endless disputes with the second
_audiencia_, and disagreements continued to exist with the Viceroy,
about the respective limits of the powers of the two as derived from
the Emperor.
Cortés had been at great expense in endeavoring to prosecute discovery
in the Pacific, and he had the vexation of seeing his efforts
continually embarrassed by the new powers. Previous to his departure
for Spain he had despatched vessels from Tehuantepec to the Moluccas
to open traffic with the Asiatic Indies; but the first _audiencia_
had prevented the despatch of a succoring expedition which Cortés had
planned. On his return to New Spain the Captain-General had begun
the construction of new vessels both at Tehuantepec and at Acapulco;
but the second _audiencia_ interfered with his employment of Indians
to carry his material to the coast. He however contrived to despatch
two vessels up the coast under Hurtado de Mendoza, which left in
May, 1532. They had reached the coast to the north, where Guzman was
marauding, who was glad of the opportunity of thwarting the purpose
of his rival. He refused the vessels the refuge of a harbor, and they
were subsequently lost. Cortés now resolved to give his personal
attention to these sea explorations, and proceeding to Tehuantepec,
he superintended the construction of two vessels, which finally left
port Oct. 29, 1533. They discovered Lower California. Afterward one
of the vessels was separated from the other, and fell in distress
into the hands of Guzman while making a harbor on the coast. The other
ship reached Tehuantepec. Cortés appealed to the _audiencia_, who
meted equal justice in ordering Guzman to surrender the vessel, and in
commanding Cortés to desist from further exploration. An appeal to the
Emperor effected little, for it seems probable that the _audiencia_
knew what support it had at court. Cortés next resolved to act on his
own responsibility and take command in person of a third expedition.
[Illustration: ACAPULCO.[1080]]
So, in the winter of 1534-1535, he sent some vessels up the coast, and
led a land force in the same direction. Guzman fled before him. Cortés
joined his fleet at the port where Guzman had seized his ship on the
earlier voyage, and embarked. Crossing to the California peninsula,
he began the settlement of a colony on its eastern shore. He left the
settlers there, and returned to Acapulco to send forward additional
supplies and recruits.
[Illustration: CORTÉS.
This follows a sketch of the picture, in the Hospital of Jesus at
Mexico, which is given in Charton’s _Voyageurs_, iii. 359. Prescott
gives an engraving after a copy then in his own possession. The picture
in the Hospital is also said to be a copy of one taken in Spain a few
years before the death of Cortés, during his last visit. The original
is not known to exist. The present descendants of the Conqueror, the
family of the Duke of Monteleone in Italy, have only a copy of the
one at Mexico. Another copy, made during General Scott’s occupation
of the city, is in the gallery of the Pennsylvania Historical Society
(_Catalogue_, no. 130). The upper part of the figure is reproduced in
Carbajal’s _Historia de México_, ii. 12; and it is also given entire in
Cumplido’s edition of Prescott’s _Mexico_, vol. iii.]
At this juncture the new Viceroy had reached Mexico; and it was
not long before he began to entertain schemes of despatching
fleets of discovery, and Cortés found a new rival in his plans.
The Captain-General got the start of his rival, and sent out a new
expedition from Acapulco under Francisco de Ulloa; but the Viceroy gave
orders to prevent other vessels following, and his officers seized
one already at sea, which chanced to put into one of the upper ports.
Cortés could endure such thraldom no longer, and early in 1540 he left
again for Spain to plead his interests with the Emperor. He never saw
the land of his conquest again.
We left Guzman for a while in Mexico, where Mendoza not unkindly
received him, as one who hated Cortés as much or more than he did.
Guzman was bent on escaping, and had ordered a vessel to be ready on
the coast. He was a little too late, however. The Emperor had sent
a judge to call him to account, and Guzman suddenly found this evil
genius was in Mexico. The judge put him under arrest and marched him
to prison. A trial was begun; but it dragged along, and Guzman sent
an appeal forward to the Council for the Indies, in which he charged
Cortés with promoting his persecution. He was in the end remanded to
Spain, where he lingered out a despised life for a few years, with
a gleam of satisfaction, perhaps, in finding, some time after, that
Cortés too had found a longer stay in New Spain unprofitable.
[Illustration: CORTÉS MEDAL.
This follows the engraving in Ruge’s _Das Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_
(p. 361) of a specimen in the Royal Cabinet at Berlin. The original is
of the same size.]
Cortés had reached Spain in the early part of 1540, and had been
received with honor by the Court; but when he began to press for a
judgment that might restore his losses and rehabilitate him in his
self-respect, he found nothing but refusal and procrastination. He
asked to return to Mexico, but found he could not. With a reckless aim
he joined an expedition against Algiers; but the ship on which he
embarked was wrecked, and he only saved himself by swimming, losing
the choicest of his Mexican jewels, which he carried on his person.
Then again he memorialized the Emperor for a hearing and award, but
was disregarded. Later he once more appealed, but was still unheard.
Again he asked permission to return to New Spain. This time it was
granted; but before he could make the final preparations, he sank under
his burdens, and at a village near Seville Cortés died on the 2d of
December, 1547, in his sixty-second year.[1081]
CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE DOCUMENTARY SOURCES OF MEXICAN HISTORY.
MR. H. H. BANCROFT, in speaking of the facilities which writers of
Spanish American history now have in excess of those enjoyed by the
historian of thirty years ago, claims that in documentary evidence
there are twenty papers for his use in print to-day for one then.[1082]
These are found in part in the great _Coleccion_ of Pacheco and others
mentioned in the Introduction. The Mexican writer Joaquin Garcia
Icazbalceta (born 1825) made a most important contribution in the two
volumes of a _Coleccion de documentos para la historia de México_
which passes by his name and which appeared respectively in 1858 and
1866.[1083] He found in Mexico few of the papers which he printed,
obtaining them chiefly from Spain.
[Illustration: Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta]
Of great interest among those which he gives is the _Itinerario_
of Grijalva, both in the Italian and Spanish text.[1084] Of Cortés
himself there are in this publication various letters not earlier made
public. The quarrel between him and Velasquez is illustrated by other
papers. Here also we find what is mentioned elsewhere as “De rebus
gestis Cortesii” printed as a “Vida de Cortés,” and attributed to C.
Calvet de Estrella. The recital of the so-called “Anonymous Conqueror,”
held by some to be Francisco de Terrazas, is translated from Ramusio
(the original Spanish is not known), with a fac-simile of the plan of
Mexico.[1085] There is also the letter from the army of Cortés to the
Emperor; and in the second volume various other papers interesting
in connection with Cortés’ career, including the memorial of Luis de
Cárdenas, etc. Two other papers have been recognized as important. One
of these in the first volume is the _Historia de los Indios de Nueva
España_ of Fray Toribio Motolinia, accompanied by a Life of the Father
by Ramirez, with a gathering of bibliographical detail. Toribio de
Benavente—Motolinia was a name which he took from a description of him
by the natives—had come over with the Franciscans in 1523. He was a
devoted, self-sacrificing missionary; but he proved that his work did
not quiet all the passions, for he became a violent opponent of Las
Casas’ views and measures.[1086] His labors took him the length and
breadth of the land; his assiduity acquired for him a large knowledge
of the Aztec tongue and beliefs; and his work, besides describing
institutions of this people, tells of the success and methods secured
or adopted by himself and his companions in effecting their conversion
to the faith of the conquerors. Robertson used a manuscript copy of the
work, and Obadiah Rich procured a copy for Prescott, who ventured the
assertion, when he wrote, that it had so little of popular interest
that it would never probably be printed.[1087]
Bancroft[1088] calls the _Relacion_ of Andrés de Tápia one of the most
valuable documents of the early parts of the Conquest. It ends with the
capture of Narvaez; recounting the antecedent events, however, with
“uneven completeness.” It is written warmly in the interests of Cortés.
Icazbalceta got what seemed to be the original from the Library of the
Academy of History in Madrid, and printed it in his second volume (p.
554). It was not known to Prescott, who quotes it at second hand in
Gomara.[1089]
The next most important collection is that published in Mexico from
1852 to 1857,[1090] under the general title of _Documentos para la
historia de México_. This collection of four series, reckoned variously
in nineteen or twenty-one volumes, is chiefly derived from Mexican
sources, and is largely illustrative of the history of northwestern
Mexico, and in general concerns Mexican history of a period posterior
to the Conquest.
There have been two important series of documents published and in part
unearthed by José Fernando Ramirez, who became Minister of State under
Maximilian. The first of these is the testimony at the examination
of the charges which were brought against Pedro de Alvarado, and
some of those made in respect to Nuño de Guzman,—_Procesos de
residencia_,[1091] which was published in Mexico in 1847;[1092] the
other set of documents pertain to the trial of Cortés himself. Such of
these as were found in the Mexican Archives were edited by Ignacio L.
Rayon under the title of _Archivo Mexicano; Documentos para la historia
de México_, and published in the city of Mexico in 1852-1853, in two
volumes. At a later day (1867-1868) Ramirez discovered in the Spanish
Archives other considerable portions of the same trial, and these have
been printed in the _Coleccion de documentos inéditos de las Indias_,
vols. xxvi.-xxix.
The records of the municipality of Mexico date from March 8, 1524, and
chronicle for a long time the sessions as held in Cortés’ house; and
are particularly interesting, as Bancroft says,[1093] after 1524, when
we no longer have Cortés’ own letters to follow, down to 1529. Harrisse
has told us what he found in the repositories of Italy, particularly at
Venice, among the letters sent to the Senate during this period by the
Venetian ambassadors at Madrid.[1094] Three volumes have so far been
published of a _Coleccion de documentos para la historia de Costa-Rica_
at San José de Costa-Rica, under the editing of León Fernández,
which have been drawn from the Archives of the Indies and from the
repositories in Guatemala. A few letters of Alvarado and other letters
of the Conquest period are found in the _Coleccion de documentos
antiguous de Guatemala_ published at Guatemala in 1857.[1095]
No more voluminous contributor to the monographic and documentary
history of Mexico can be named than Carlos Maria de Bustamante.
There will be occasion in other connections to dwell upon particular
publications, and some others are of little interest to us at present,
referring to periods as late as the present century. Bustamante was
a Spaniard, but he threw himself with characteristic energy into a
heated advoracy of national Mexican feelings; and this warmly partisan
exhibition of himself did much toward rendering the gathering of his
scattered writings very difficult, in view of the enemies whom he made
and of their ability to suppress obnoxious publications when they
came into power. Most of these works date from 1812 to 1850, and
when collected make nearly or quite fifty volumes, though frequently
bound in fewer.[1096] The completest list, however, is probably that
included in the enumeration of authorities prefixed by Bancroft to his
_Central America_ and _Mexico_, which shows not only the printed works
of Bustamante, but also the autograph originals,—which, Bancroft says,
contain much not in the published works.[1097] Indeed, these lists
show an extremely full equipment of the manuscript documentary stores
relating to the whole period of Mexican history,[1098] including a copy
of the _Archivo general de México_, as well as much from the catalogues
of José Maria Andrade and José Fernando Ramirez, records of the early
Mexican councils, and much else of an ecclesiastical and missionary
character not yet put in print.[1099]
Of particular value for the documents which it includes is the
_Historia de la fundacion y discurso de la provincia de Santiago de
México, de la orden de predicadores, por las vidas de sus varones
insignes y casos notables de Nueva España_, published in Madrid in
1596.[1100] The author, Davilla Padilla, was born in Mexico in 1562
of good stock; he became a Dominican in 1579, and died in 1604. His
opportunities for gathering material were good, and he has amassed a
useful store of information regarding the contact of the Spanish and
the Indians, and the evidences of the national traits of the natives.
His book has another interest, in that we find in it the earliest
mention of the establishment of a press in Mexico.[1101]
One of the earliest of the modern collections of documents and early
monographs is the _Historiadores primitivos de las Indias occidentales_
of Andres Gonzales de Barcia Carballido y Zuniga (known usually
as Barcia), published at Madrid in 1749 in three volumes folio,
and enriched with the editor’s notes. The sections were published
separately; and it was not till after the editor’s death (1743) that
they were grouped and put out collectively with the above distinctive
title. In this form the collection is rare, and it has been stated
that not over one or two hundred copies were so gathered.[1102]
* * * * *
First among all documents respecting the Conquest are the letters sent
by Cortés himself to the Emperor; and of these a somewhat detailed
bibliographical account is given in the Notes following this Essay,
as well as an examination of the corrective value of certain other
contemporaneous and later writers.
[Illustration]
NOTES.
=A.= THE LETTERS OF CORTÉS.—I. _The Lost First Letter_, _July_ 10,
1519. The series of letters which Cortés sent to the Emperor is
supposed to have begun with one dated at Vera Cruz in July, 1519,
which is now lost, but which Barcia and Wilson suppose to have been
suppressed by the Council of the Indies at the request of Narvaez.
There are contemporaneous references to show that it once existed.
Cortés himself mentions it in his second letter, and Bernal Diaz
implies that it was not shown by Cortés to his companions. Gomara
mentions it, and is thought to give its purport in brief. Thinking
that Charles V. may have carried it to Germany, Robertson caused the
Vienna Archives to be searched, but without avail; though it has been
the belief that this letter existed there at one time, and another sent
with it is known to be in those Archives. Prescott caused thorough
examinations of the repositories of London, Paris, and Madrid to be
made,—equally without result.
Fortunately the same vessel took two other letters, one of which we
have. This was addressed by the _justicia y regimiento_ of La Villa
Rica de la Vera Cruz, and was dated July 10, 1519. It was discovered,
by Robertson’s agency, in the Imperial Library at Vienna. It rehearses
the discoveries of Córdoba and Grijalva, and sustains the views of
Cortés, who charged Velasquez with being incompetent and dishonest.
This letter is sometimes counted as the first of the series; for though
it was not written by Cortés, he is thought to have inspired it.[1103]
The other letter is known only through the use of it which contemporary
writers made. It was from some of the leading companions in arms of
Cortés, who, while they praised their commander, had something to say
of others not quite to the satisfaction of Cortés. The Conqueror, it
is intimated, intrigued to prevent its reaching the Emperor,—which may
account for its loss. Las Casas and Tapia both mention it.[1104]
Beside the account given in Gomara of Cortés’ early life and his doings
in the New World up to the time of his leaving Cuba in 1519, there
is a contemporary narrative, quite in Cortés’ interest, of unknown
authorship, which was found by Muñoz at Simancas.[1105] The Latin
version is called “De rebus gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii;” but it is
called “Vida de Hernan Cortés” in the Spanish rendering which is given
by Icazbalceta in his _Coleccion de documentos_, i. 309-357.[1106]
A publication of Peter Martyr at Basle in 1521 is often taken as a
substitute for the lost first epistle of Cortés. This is the _De nuper
sub D. Carolo repertis insulis ... Petri Martyris enchiridion_, which
gives a narrative of the expeditions of Grijalva and Cortés, as a sort
of supplement to what Peter Martyr had written on the affairs of the
Indies in his Three Decades. It was afterward included in his Basle
edition of 1533 and in the Paris _Extraict_ of 1532.[1107]
[Illustration]
Harrisse[1108] points out an allusion to the expedition of Cortés and a
description of those of Córdoba and Grijalva, in _Ein Auszug ettlicher
Sendbrieff ... von wegen einer new gefunden Inseln_, published at
Nuremberg in March, 1520;[1109] and Harrisse supposes the information
is derived from Peter Martyr.[1110] Bancroft[1111] points out a mere
reference in a publication of 1522,—_Translationuss hispanischer
Sprach_, etc.
II. _The Second Letter, Oct. 30, 1520._ We possess four early editions
of this,—two Spanish (1, 2) and one Latin (3), and one Italian (4).
1. The earliest Spanish edition was published at Seville Nov. 8, 1522,
as _Carta de relaciō_, having twenty-eight leaves, in gothic type.[1112]
2. The second Spanish edition, _Carta de relacion_, was printed at
Saragossa in 1524. It is in gothic letter, twenty-eight leaves, and has
a cut of Cortés before Charles V. and his Court, of which a reduced
fac-simile is herewith given.[1113]
[Illustration: CORTÉS’ GULF OF MEXICO.
This fac-simile follows the reproduction given by Stevens in his
_American Bibliographer_, p. 86, and in his _Notes_, etc., pl. iv.
Dr. Kohl published in the _Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde_, neue
Folge, vol. xv., a paper on the “Aelteste Geschichte der Entdeckung
und Erforschung des Golfs von Mexico durch die Spanier von 1492 bis
1543.” Cf. also Oscar Peschel’s _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_ (1858),
chap. vii., and Ruge’s _Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen_,
p. 355.]
3. The first Latin edition was published in folio at Nuremberg, in
August, 1524, in roman type, with marginal notes in gothic, and was
entitled: _Præclara Ferdinādi Cortesii de noua maris Oceani Hypania
narratio_. It was the work of Pierre Savorgnanus.[1114]
[Illustration: TITLE OF THE LATIN CORTÉS, 1524.—REDUCED.]
[Illustration: ARMS, ON THE REVERSE OF TITLE, OF THE LATIN CORTÉS,
1524.]
[Illustration: CLEMENT VII.
Fac-simile of a cut in the Latin Cortés of 1524. It was this Pope who
was so delighted with the Indian jugglers sent to Rome by Cortés. The
Conqueror also made His Holiness other more substantial supplications
for his favor, which resulted in Cortés receiving plenary indulgence
for his and his companions’ sins (Prescott, iii. 299).]
4. The Italian edition, _La preclara narratione di Ferdinando Cortese
della Nuova Hispagna del Mare Oceano ... per Nicolo Liburnio con
fidelta... tradotta_, was printed at Venice in 1524. It follows the
Latin version of Savorgnanus, and includes also the third letter.
This edition has a new engraving of the map in the Nuremberg edition,
though Quaritch and others have doubted if such a map belongs to it.
Leclerc (no. 151) chronicles copies with and without the map.[1115] An
abstract of the second letter in Italian, _Noue de le Isole et Terra
Ferma nouamente trouate_, had already appeared two years earlier, in
1522, at Milan.[1116]
There were other contemporary abstracts of this letter. Sigmund Grimm,
of Augsburg, is said to be the author of one, published about 1522 or
1523, called _Ein schöne newe Zeytung, so kayserlich Mayestet auss
India yetz newlich zūckommen seind_. It is cited in Harrisse and the
_Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_; and Ternaux (no. 5) is thought to err in
assigning the date of 1520 to it, as if printed in Augsburg. Of about
the same date is another described by Sabin (vol. iv. no. 16,952) as
printed at Antwerp, and called _Tressacree Imperiale et Catholique
Mageste ... eust nouvelles des marches ysles et terre ferme occeanes_.
This seems to be based, according to Brunet, _Supplément_ (vol. i. col.
320), on the first and second letters, beginning with the departure, in
1519, from Vera Cruz, and ending with the death of Montezuma.[1117]
The second letter forms part of various collected editions, as follows:—
_In Spanish._ Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 543) notes the second and third
letters as being published in the Spanish _Thesóro de virtudes_ in 1543.
Barcia’s _Historiadores primitivos_ (1749); also edited by Enrique de
Vedia, Madrid, 1852-1853.
_Historia de Nueva España, escrita por su esclarecido Conquistador
Hernan Cortés, aumentada con otros documentos y notas por Don Francisco
Antonio Lorenzana, arzobispo de México_, Mexico, 1770. This important
work, embracing the second, third, and fourth letters, has a large view
of the great temple of Mexico, a map of New Spain,[1118] and thirty-one
plates of a hieroglyphic register of the tributaries of Montezuma,—the
same later reproduced in better style by Kingsborough. Lorenzana was
born in 1722, and rising through the gradations of his Church, and
earning a good name as Bishop of Puebla, was made Archbishop of Toledo
shortly after he had published the book now under consideration.
Pius VI. made him a cardinal in 1789, and he died in Rome in 1804.
Icazbalceta was not able to ascertain whether the Bishop had before him
the original editions of the letters or Barcia’s reprint; but he added
to the value of his text by numerous annotations. In 1828 an imperfect
reprint of this book, “á la ortografía moderna,” was produced in New
York for the Mexican market, by Manuel del Mar, under the title of
_Historia de Méjico_,[1119] to which a life of Cortés, by R. C. Sands,
was added.[1120] Icazbalceta notes some of the imperfections of this
edition in his _Coleccion_, vol. i. p. xxxv.[1121]
[Illustration]
_Cartas y relaciones al Emperador Carlos V., colegidas é ilustradas
por P. de Gayangos_, Paris, 1866. Besides the Cortés letters, this
distinguished scholar included in this book various other contemporary
documents relating to the Conquest, embracing letters sent to Cortés’
lieutenants; and he also added an important introduction. He included
the fifth letter for the first time in the series, and drew upon the
archives of Vienna and Simancas with advantage.[1122]
The letters were again included in the _Biblioteca histórica de la
Iberia_ published at Mexico in 1870.
* * * * *
_In Latin._ The second and third letters, with the account of Peter
Martyr, were issued at Cologne in 1532, with the title _De insulis
nuper inventis_, etc., as shown in the annexed fac-simile of the title,
with its portrait of Charles V. and the escutcheons of Spanish towns
and provinces.[1123]
[Illustration: LORENZANA’S MAP OF NEW SPAIN.]
[Illustration]
_In French._ Harrisse (_Bibl. Amer. Vet., Additions_, no. 73) notes a
French rendering of a text, seemingly made up of the first and second
letters, and probably following a Spanish original, now lost, which was
printed at Antwerp in 1523.[1124] This second letter is also epitomized
in the French _Extraict ou recueil des isles nouvellement trouvées_ of
Peter Martyr, printed at Paris in 1532, and in Bellegarde’s _Histoire
universelle des voyages_ (Amsterdam, 1708), vol. i.
The principal French translation is one based on Lorenzana, abridging
that edition somewhat, and numbering the letters erroneously first,
second, and third. It was published at Paris in 1778, 1779, etc., under
the title _Correspondance de Fernand Cortes avec l’Empereur Charles
Quint_, and was translated by the Vicomte de Flavigny.[1125] The text
of Flavigny’s second letter is included in Charton’s _Voyageurs_, iii.
368-420. There were also editions of Flavigny printed in Switzerland
and at Frankfort.
* * * * *
_In German._ A translation of the second and third letters, made by
Andrew Diether and Birck, was published at Augsburg in 1550 as _Cortesi
von dem Newen Hispanien_. After the second letter, which constitutes
part i., the beginning of part ii. is borrowed from Peter Martyr, which
is followed by the third letter of Cortés; and this is succeeded in
turn, on folios 51-60, by letters from Venezuela about the settlements
there (1534-1540), and one from Oviedo written at San Domingo in 1543.
There are matters which are not contained in any of the Spanish or
Latin editions.[1126]
The second, third, and fourth letters—translated by J. J. Stapfer,
who supplied a meritorious introduction and an appendix—were
printed at Heidelberg in 1779 as _Eroberung von Mexico_, and again
at Berne in 1793.[1127] Another German version, by Karl Wilhelm
Koppe,—_Drei Berichte des General-Kapitäns Cortes an Karl V._,—with an
introduction and notes, was published at Berlin in 1834. It has the
tribute-registers and map of New Spain, as in Lorenzana’s edition.[1128]
* * * * *
_In Dutch and Flemish._ Harrisse (_Bibl. Amer. Vet., Additions_, no.
72) notes a tract of thirty leaves, in gothic letter, called _De
Contreyen vanden Eylanden_, etc., which was printed in Antwerp in 1523
(with a French counterpart at the same time), and which seems to have
been based on the first and second letters, combined in a Spanish
original not now known. There is a copy in the National Library at
Paris. There was a Dutch version, or epitome, in the Dutch edition
of Grynæus, 1563, and a Flemish version appeared in Ablyn’s _Nieuwe
Weerelt_, at Antwerp, 1563. There was another Dutch rendering in
Gottfried and Vander Aa’s _Zee-en landreizen_ (1727)[1129] and in the
_Brieven van Ferdinand Cortes_, Amsterdam, 1780.[1130]
* * * * *
_In Italian._ In the third volume of Ramusio.
* * * * *
_In English._ Alsop translated from Flavigny the second letter,
in the _Portfolio_, Philadelphia, 1817. George Folsom, in 1843,
translated from Lorenzana’s text the second, third, and fourth letters,
which he published as _Despatches written during the Conquest_,
adding an introduction and notes, which in part are borrowed from
Lorenzana.[1131] Willes in his edition of Eden, as early as 1577, had
given an abridgment in his _History of Travayle_.[1132] (See Vol. III.
p. 204.)
* * * * *
III. _The Third Letter, covering the internal, Oct. 30, 1520, to May
15, 1522._ It is called _Carta tercera de relaciō_, and was printed
(thirty leaves) at Seville in 1523.[1133]
The next year, 1524, a Latin edition (_Tertia narratio_) appeared
at Nuremberg in connection with the Latin of the second letter of
that date.[1134] This version was also made by Savorgnanus, and was
reprinted in the _Novus orbis_ of 1555.[1135]
This third letter appeared also in collective editions, as explained
under the head of the second letter. This letter was accompanied by
what is known as the “secret letter,” which was first printed in the
_Documentos inéditos_, i. 11, in Kingsborough, vol. viii., and in
Gayangos’ edition of the letters.
* * * * *
IV. _The Fourth Letter, covering the interval, May, 1522, to October,
1524._ There were two Spanish editions (_a_, _b_).
_a. La quarta relacion_ (Toledo, 1525), in gothic letter, twenty-one
leaves.[1136]
_b. La quarta relaciō_ (Valencia, 1526), in gothic type, twenty-six
leaves.[1137]
This letter was accompanied by reports to Cortés from Alvarado and
Godoy, and these are also included in Barcia, Ramusio, etc.
A secret letter (dated October 15) of Cortés to the Emperor,—_Esta es
una carta que Hernando Cortés escrivio al Emperador_,—sent with this
fourth letter, is at Simancas. It was printed by Icazbalceta in 1855
(Mexico, sixty copies),[1138] who reprinted it in his _Coleccion_,
i. 470. Gayangos, in 1866, printed it in his edition (p. 325) from a
copy which Muñoz had made. Icazbalceta again printed it sumptuously,
“en caracteres góticos del siglo XVI.,” at Mexico in 1865 (seventy
copies).[1139] This letter also appears in collections mentioned under
the second letter. It was in this letter that Cortés explained to the
Emperor his purpose of finding the supposed strait which led from the
Atlantic to the south sea.
* * * * *
V. _The fifth letter, dated Sept. 3, 1526._ It pertains to the famous
expedition to Honduras.[1140] It is called _Carta quinta de relacion_,
and was discovered through Robertson’s instrumentality, but not printed
at length till it appeared in the _Coleccion de documentos inéditos_
(_España_), iv. 8-167, with other “relaciones” on this expedition.
George Folsom reprinted it in New York in 1848 as “carta sexta ...
publicada ahora por primera vez” by mistake for “carta quinta.”[1141]
It was translated and annotated by Gayangos for the Hakluyt Society
in 1868.[1142] Gayangos had already included it in his edition of the
_Cartas_, 1866, and it had also been printed by Vedia in Ribadeneyras’
_Biblioteca de autores Españoles_ (1852), vol. xxii., and later in
the _Biblioteca histórica de la Iberia_ (1870). Extracts in English
are given in the appendix of Prescott’s _Mexico_, vol. iii. Mr. Kirk,
the editor of Prescott, doubts if the copy in the Imperial Library
at Vienna is the original, because it has no date. A copy at Madrid,
purporting to be made from the original by Alonzo Diaz, is dated Sept.
3, 1526,[1143] and is preferred by Gayangos, who collated its text with
that of the Vienna Library. Various other less important letters of
Cortés have been printed from time to time.[1144]
* * * * *
In estimating the letters of Cortés as historical material, the
soldierly qualities of them impressed Prescott, and Helps is
struck with their directness so strongly that he is not willing to
believe in the prevarications or deceits of any part of them. H.
H. Bancroft,[1145] on the contrary, discovers in them “calculated
misstatements, both direct and negative.” It is well known that Bernal
Diaz and Pedro de Alvarado made complaints of their leader’s too great
willingness to ignore all others but himself.[1146]
=B.= THREE CONTEMPORARY WRITERS,—GOMARA, BERNAL DIAZ, AND
SAHAGUN.—Fortunately we have various other narratives to qualify or
confirm the recitals of the leader.
In 1540, when he was thirty years old, Francisco Lopez Gomara became
the chaplain and secretary of Cortés. In undertaking an historical
record in which his patron played a leading part, he might be suspected
to write somewhat as an adulator; and so Las Casas, Diaz, and many
others have claimed that he did, and Muñoz asserts that Gomara
believed his authorities too easily.[1147] That the Spanish Government
made a show of suppressing his book soon after it was published,
and kept the edict in their records till 1729, is rather in favor
of his honest chronicling. Gomara had good claims for consideration
in a learned training, a literary taste, and in the possession of
facilities which his relations with Cortés threw in his way; and we
find him indispensable, if for no other reason, because he had access
to documentary evidence which has since disappeared. His questionable
reputation for bias has not prevented Herrera and other later
historians placing great dependence on him, and a native writer of
the beginning of the seventeenth century, Chimalpain, has translated
Gomara, adding some illustrations for the Indian records.[1148]
Gomara’s book is in effect two distinct ones, though called at first
two parts of a _Historia general de las Indias_. Of these the second
part—_La conquista de México_—appeared earliest, at Saragossa in
1552, and is given to the Conquest of Mexico, while the first part,
more particularly relating to the subjugation of Peru, appeared in
1553.[1149] What usually passes for a second edition appeared at
Medina del Campo, also in 1553;[1150] and it was again reprinted at
Saragossa in 1554, this time as two distinct works,—one, _Cronica
de la Nueva España con la conquista de México_; and the other, _La
historia general de las Indias y Nuevo Mundo_.[1151] The same year
(1554) saw several editions in Spanish at Antwerp, with different
publishers.[1152] An Italian edition followed in 1555-1556, for one
titlepage, _Historia del ... capitano Don Ferdinando Cortés_, is dated
1556, and a second, _Historia de México_, has 1555,—both at Rome.[1153]
[Illustration]
Other editions, more or less complete, are noted as published in Venice
in 1560, 1564, 1565, 1566, 1570, 1573, 1576, and 1599.[1154] The
earliest French edition appeared at Paris in 1568 and 1569, for the two
dates and two imprints seem to belong to one issue; and its text—a not
very creditable translation by Fumée—was reproduced in the editions
of 1577, 1578, 1580, and with some additions in 1584, 1587, 1588, and
1597.[1155] The earliest edition in English omits much. It is called
_The Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the Weast India, now called
New Spayne, atchieved by the worthy Prince Hernando Cortes, Marques of
the valley of Huaxacac, most delectable to reade, translated out of the
Spanishe tongue by T[homas] N[icholas]_, published by Henry Bynneman
in 1578.[1156] Gomara himself warned his readers against undertaking
a Latin version, as he had one in hand himself; but it was never
printed.[1157]
* * * * *
Gomara had, no doubt, obscured the merits of the captains of Cortés
in telling the story of that leader’s career. Instigated largely by
this, and confirmed in his purpose, one of the partakers in the glories
and hardships of the Conquest was impelled to tell the story anew, in
the light of the observation which fell to a subordinate. He was not
perhaps so much jealous of the fame of Cortés as he was hurt at the
neglect by Gomara of those whose support had made the fame of Cortés
possible.
[Illustration]
This was Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and his book is known as the
_Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Neuva España_, which was
not printed till 1632 at Madrid, nor had it been written till half a
century after the Conquest, during which interval the name of Cortés
had gathered its historic prestige. Diaz had begun the writing of it
in 1568 at Santiago in Guatemala, when, as he tells us, only five of
the original companions of Cortés remained alive.[1158] It is rudely,
or rather simply, written, as one might expect. The author has none of
the practised arts of condensation; and Prescott[1159] well defines
the story as long-winded and gossiping, but of great importance. It is
indeed inestimable, as the record of the actor in more than a hundred
of the fights which marked the progress of the Conquest. The untutored
air of the recital impressed Robertson and Southey with confidence
in its statements, and the reader does not fail to be conscious of a
minute rendering of the life which made up those eventful days. His
criticism of Cortés himself does not, by any means, prevent his giving
him great praise; and, as Prescott says,[1160] he censures his leader,
but he does not allow any one else to do the same. The lapse of time
before Diaz set about his literary task did not seem to abate his zeal
or check his memory; but it does not fail, however, to diminish our
own confidence a good deal. Prescott[1161] contends that the better
the acquaintance with Diaz’ narrative, the less is the trust which one
is inclined to put in it.[1162] The Spanish text which we possess is
taken, it is said, directly from the original manuscript, which had
slumbered in private hands till Father Alonso Rémon found it, or a copy
of it, in Spain, and obtained a decree to print it,[1163] about fifty
years after Diaz’ death, which occurred in 1593, or thereabouts.
* * * * *