We fought from morning until noon, when we returned with the utmost
sadness to our fortress. On account of this they [the enemy] gained such
courage that they came almost up to the doors, and they took possession
of the great Mosque[15], and about five hundred Indians, who appeared to
me to be persons of distinction, ascended the principal and most lofty
tower, and took up there a great store of bread and water and other
things to eat, and nearly all of them had very long lances with flint
heads, broader than ours and no less sharp.
From that position they did much damage to the people in the fort, for
it was very close to it. The Spaniards attacked this said tower two or
three times and endeavoured to ascend it, but it was very lofty, and the
ascent was steep, for it had more than one hundred steps, and as those
on the top were well supplied with stones and other arms, and were
protected because we were unable to occupy the other terraces, every
time the Spaniards began the ascent they were rolled back again and many
were wounded. When those of the enemy who held other positions saw this,
they were so greatly encouraged they came after us up to the fort
without any fear.
Then I (seeing that if they could continue to hold the tower, in
addition to the great damage they could do us from it, that it would
encourage them to attack us) set out from the fort, although maimed in
my left hand by a wound that was given me on the first day, and lashing
the shield to my arm, I went to the tower accompanied by some Spaniards
and had the base of it surrounded, for this was easily done, although
those surrounding it had no easy time, for on all sides they were
fighting with the enemy who came in great numbers to the assistance of
their comrades. I then began to ascend the stairway of the said tower
with some Spaniards supporting me, and although the enemy resisted our
ascent very stubbornly, so much so that they flung down three or four
Spaniards, with the aid of God and his Glorious Mother (for whose
habitation that tower had been chosen and her image placed in it), we
ascended the said tower and reaching the summit we fought them so
resolutely that they were forced to jump down to some terraces about a
pace in width which ran round the tower. Of these the said tower had
three or four, thrice a man’s height from one [terrace] to the other.
Some fell down the whole distance [to the ground], and in addition to
the hurt they received from the fall, the Spaniards below who surrounded
the tower put them to death. Those who remained on the terraces fought
thence very stoutly, and it took us more than three hours to kill them
all, so that all died and none escaped ... and I set fire to the tower
and to the others which there were in the Mosque.
JUAN DE TORQUEMADA, Monarchia Indiana, Vol. II. Book 8, Ch. XI. p.
144. [Giving a description of the Great Temple.]
This Temple was rebuilt and added to a second time; and was so large and
of such great extent, that it was more than a crossbow-shot square.
It was all enclosed in masonry of well squared stone.
There were in the square four gateways which opened to the four
principal streets, three of them by which the city was approached along
the causeways from the land, [the fourth] on the east in the direction
of the lake whence the City was entered by water.
In the middle of this enormous square was the Temple which was like a
quadrangular tower (as we have already stated) built of masonry, large
and massive.
This Temple (not counting the square within which it was built) measured
three hundred and sixty feet from corner to corner, and was pyramidal in
form and make, for the higher one ascended the narrower became the
edifice, the contractions being made at intervals so as to embellish it.
On the top, where there was a pavement and small plaza rather more than
seventy feet wide, two very large altars had been built, one apart from
the other, set almost at the edge or border of the tower on the east
side, so that there was only just sufficient ground and space for a man
to walk [on the east side] without danger of falling down from the
building.
These altars were five palms in height with their walls inlaid with
stone, all painted with figures according to the whim and taste of him
who ordered the painting to be done. Above the altars were the chapels
roofed with very well dressed and carved wood.
Each of these chapels had three stories one above the other, and each
story or stage was of great height, so that each one of them [of the
chapels] if set on the ground (not on that tower, but on the ground
level whence the edifice sprang) would have made a very lofty and
sumptuous building, and for this reason the whole fabric of the Temple
was so lofty that its height compelled admiration. To behold, from the
summit of this temple, the city and its surroundings, with the lakes and
all the towns and cities that were built in it and on its banks, was a
matter of great pleasure and contentment.
On the West side this building had no stages [contractions], but steps
by which one ascended to the level of the chapels, and the said steps
had a rise of one foot or more. The steps, or stairs, of this famous
temple numbered one hundred and thirteen, and all were of very well
dressed stone.
From the last step at the summit of this Temple to the Altars and
entrance to the Chapels was a considerable space of ground, so that the
priests and ministers of the Idols could carry out their functions
unimpeded and thoroughly.
On each of the two altars stood an Idol of great bulk, each one
representing the greatest God they possessed, which was Huitzilupuchtli
or by his other name Mexitli.
Near and around this Great Temple there were more than forty lesser
ones, each one of them dedicated and erected to a God, and its tower and
shape narrowed up to the floor on which the Chapel and altar began to
arise, and it was not as large as the Great Temple, nor did it approach
it by far in size, and all these lesser Temples and towers were
associated with the Great Temple and tower which there was in this City.
The difference between the Great Temple and the lesser ones was not in
the form and structure, for all were the same, but they differed in site
and position [orientation], for the Great Temple had its back to the
East, which is the practice the large temples ought to follow, as we
have noticed that the ancients assert, and their steps and entrance to
the West (as we are accustomed to place many of our Christian Churches),
so that they paid reverence in the direction of the sun as it rose, the
smaller temples looked in the other direction towards the East and to
other parts of the heaven [that is to] the North and South.
* * * * *
In order that my readers may not think that I speak heedlessly, and
without a limit to my figures, I wish to quote here the words of Padre
Fray Bernadino de Sahagun, a friar of my Order and one of those who
joined very early in the discovery of this New Spain in the year
twenty-nine [1529], who saw this and the other temples.... He says these
words:—“This Temple was enclosed on all sides by stone walls half as
high again as a man, all embattled and whitened. The ground of this
Temple was all paved, with very smooth flag stones (not dressed but
natural) as smooth and slippery as ice. There was much to be seen in the
buildings of this Temple; I made a picture of it in this City of Mexico,
and they took it to Spain for me, as a thing well worth beholding, and I
could not regain possession of it, nor paint it again, and although in
the painting it looks so fine, it was in reality much more so, and the
building was more beautiful. The principal shrine or chapel which it
possessed was dedicated to the God Huitzilupuchtli, and to another God
his companion named Tlacahuepancuezcotzin, and to another, of less
importance than the two, called Paynalton....”
And he adds more, saying “the square was of such great circumference
that it included and contained within its area all the ground where the
Cathedral, the houses of the Marques del Valle[A], the Royal houses[16]
and the houses of the Archbishop have now been built, and a great part
of what is now the market place,” which seems incredible, so great is
the said area and space of ground.
I remember to have seen, thirty-five years ago, a part of these
buildings in the Plaza, on the side of the Cathedral, which looked to me
like hills of stone and earth, which were being used up in the
foundations of God’s house and Cathedral which is being built now with
great splendour.
PADRE FRAY DIEGO DURAN, Historia de los Indias de Nueva Espana, Vol.
II. Ch. LXXX. p. 82.
Having heard what has been said about the decoration of the Idol, let us
hear what there is notable about the beauty of the Temples. I do not
wish to begin by relating the accounts given me by the Indians, but that
obtained by a monk who was among the first of the Conquerors who entered
the country, named Fray Francisco de Aguilar, a very venerable person
and one of great authority in the order of our Glorious Father Santo
Domingo, and from other conquerors of strict veracity and authority who
assured me that on the day when they entered the City of Mexico and
beheld the height and beauty of the Temples they believed them to be
turreted fortresses for the defence and ornament of the City, or that
they were palaces and royal houses with many towers and galleries, such
was their beauty and height which could be seen from afar off.
It should be known that of the eight or nine temples which there were in
the City all stood close to one another within a great enclosure, inside
of which enclosure each one adjoined the other, but each had its own
steps and separate patio[17], as well as living rooms and sleeping
places for the Ministers of the temples, all of which occupied
considerable amount of space and ground. It was indeed a most beautiful
sight, for some were more lofty than the others, and some more
ornamental than others, some with an entrance to the East others to the
West, others to the North and others to the South, all plastered and
sculptured, and turreted with various kinds of battlements, painted with
animals and figures and fortified with huge and wide buttresses of
stone, and it beautified the city so greatly and gave it such an
appearance of splendour that one could do nothing but stare at it.
However, as regards the Temple, especially [dedicated to] the Idol
[Huitzilopochtli] with which we are dealing, as it was that of the
principal God, it was the most sumptuous magnificent of them all.
It had a very large wall round its special court, all built of great
stones carved to look like snakes, one holding on to the other, and
anyone who wishes to see these stones, let him go to the principal
Church of Mexico and there he will see them used as pedestals and bases
of the pillars. These stones which are now used there as pedestals
formed the wall of the Temple of Huitzilopochtli, and they called this
wall Coatepantli, which means wall of snakes. There was on the top of
the halls or oratories where the Idol stood a very elegant breastwork
covered with small black stones like jet, arranged with much order and
regularity, all the groundwork being of white and red plaster, which
shone wonderfully [when looked at] from below—on the top of this
breastwork were some very ornamental merlons carved in the shape of
shells.
At the end of the abutments, which arose like steps a fathom high, there
were two seated Indians, in stone, with two torch-holders in their
hands, from which torch-holders emerged things like the arms of a cross,
ending in rich green and yellow feathers and long borders of the same.
Inside this [the] court there were many chambers and lodgings for the
monks and nuns, as well as others on the summit for the priests and
ministers who performed the service of the Idol.
This Court was so large that on the occasion of a festival eight or ten
thousand men assembled in it; and to show that this is not impossible, I
wish to relate an event that is true, related by one who with his own
hands killed many Indians within it....
This Court had four doors or entrances, one towards the East, another
towards the West, another towards the South, and one on the North side.
From these commenced four Causeways, one towards Tlacopan, which we now
call the street of Tacuba, another towards Guadelupe, another towards
Coyoacan, and the other led to the lake and the landing place of the
canoes.
The four principal Temples also have their portals towards the said four
directions, and the four Gods which stand in them also have their fronts
turned in the same directions.
* * * * *
Opposite the principal gateway of this Temple of Huitzilopochtli there
were thirty long steps thirty fathoms long; a street separated them from
the wall of the patio[18]. On the top of them [the steps] was a terrace,
30 feet wide and as long as the steps, which was all coated with
plaster, and the steps very well made.
Lengthwise along the middle of this broad and long platform was a very
well made palisade as high as a tall tree, all planted in a straight
line, so that the poles were a fathom apart. These thick poles were all
pierced with small holes, and these holes were so close together that
there was not half a yard between them, and these holes were continued
to the top of the thick and high poles. From pole to pole through the
holes came some slender cross-bars on which many human skulls were
strung through the forehead. Each cross-bar held thirty heads, and these
rows of skulls reached to the top of the timbers and were full from end
to end ... all were skulls of the persons who had been sacrificed.
* * * * *
After describing a procession in which the God was carried to
Chapultapec and thence to Coyoacan, the author continues:—
When they arrived at the foot of the steps of the Temple they placed the
litter [on which the image of the God was carried] there, and promptly
taking some thick ropes they tied them to the handles of the litter,
and, with great circumspection and reverence, some making efforts from
above and others helping from below, they raised the litter with the
Idol to the top of the Temple, with much sounding of trumpets and
flutes, and clamour of conch-shells and drums; they raised it up in this
manner because the steps of the Temple were very steep and narrow [in
the tread] and the stairway was long and they could not ascend with it
on their shoulders without falling, and so they took that means to raise
it up.
HERNANDO ALVARADO TEZOZOMOC, Cronica Mexicana, Ch. XXX, p. 319,
writing of the Temple of Huitzilipochtli, says:—
It could be ascended on three sides and would have as many steps as
there are days in the year, for at that time the year consisted of
eighteen months, and each month contained twenty days, which amounts to
three hundred and sixty days, five days less than our Catholic religion
counts. Others count thirteen months to the year. At all events the
steps were arranged on three sides of the ascent.
The principal ascent faced the south, the second the east, and the third
the west, and on the north side were three walls like a chamber open to
the south. It had a great court and Mexican plaza all surrounded by a
stone wall, massive and strong, [of which] the foundations were more
than a fathom and the height [of the wall] was that of four men’s
stature. It had three gateways, two of them small, one facing the east
and the other the west; the gateway in the middle was larger, and that
one faced the south, and in that direction was the great market place
and Tianguiz[19], so that it stood in front of the great palace of
Montezuma and the Great Cu. The height of it [the Great Cu or Temple]
was so great that, from below, persons [on its summit], however tall
they might be, appeared to be of the size of children eight years old or
less.
IXTLILXOCHITL (‘Codice Goupil’).
The Temple and principal Cu of this City, indeed of all New Spain, was
built in the middle of the city, four square and massive as a mound
(terrapleno) of stone and clay, merely and only the surface [built] of
masonry. Each side was eighty fathoms long (445 Eng. ft.) and the height
was over twenty-seven fathoms (150 Eng. ft.). On the side by which it
was ascended were one hundred and sixty steps which faced the west. The
edifice was of such a shape that from its foundation it diminished in
size and became narrower as it rose in the shape of a pyramid, and at
certain distances as it rose it had landing places like benches all
around it. In the middle of the steps from the ground and foundation
there rose a wall up to the summit and top of the steps, which was like
a division that went between the two ascents as far as the patio which
was on the top, where there were two great chambers, one larger than the
other—the larger one to the south, and there stood the Idol
Huitzilopochtli; the other, which was smaller, was to the north and
contained the Idol Tlaloc, which (Idol) and Huitzilopochtli and the
chambers looked to the west. These chambers were built at the eastern
edge and border of the said patio, and thus in front of them the patio
extended to the north and south with a [floor of] cement three palms and
more in thickness, highly polished, and so capacious that it would hold
five hundred men, and at one side of it towards the door of the larger
chamber of Huitzilopochtli was a stone rising a yard in height, of the
shape and design of an arched coffer, which was called Techcatl
(Texcatl) where the Indians were sacrificed. Each of these chambers had
upper stories, which were reached from within, the one from the other by
movable wooden ladders, and were full of stores of every sort of arms,
especially macanas, shields, bows, arrows, lances, slings and pebbles,
and every sort of clothing and bows for war. The face and front of the
larger chamber was ornamented with stone in the shape and form of
death’s heads whitened with lime, which were placed all over the front,
and above, for merlons, there were carved stones in the shape of great
shells, which and the other with the rest of the Cu is painted on the
following page. * * * * [see Plate D].
PLATE A.
Part of the City of Mexico from a modern Map.
TRACING A_{1}.
After J. García Icazbalceta.
TRACING A_{2}.
Suggested site of the Great Teocalli and enclosure.
PLATE B.
Suggested plan and section of the Great Teocalli.
PLATE C.
Plan by Padre Sahagun, after Dr. E. Seler.
PLATE D.
View of the Great Teocalli, after Ixtlilxochitl (‘Codice Goupil’).
PLATE E.
View of the Great Teocalli and enclosure, from ‘The Chronicle of
Mexico,’ 1576. (Manuscript in British Museum, No. 31219. Additional.)
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
[Illustration: