What do you think?
Rate this book
The History of the Conquest of New Spain
"The History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo," a new abridgement of Diaz del Castillo's classic "Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva Espaa," offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the political and religious forces that drove the great cultural encounter between Spain and the Americas known as the "conquest of Mexico." Besides containing important passages, scenes, and events excluded from other abridgements, this edition includes eight useful interpretive essays that address indigenous religions and cultural practices, sexuality during the early colonial period, the roles of women in indigenous cultures, and analysis of the political and economic purposes behind Diaz del Castillo's narrative. A series of maps illuminate the routes of the conquistadors, the organization of indigenous settlements, the struggle for the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, as well as the disastrous Spanish journey to Honduras. The information compiled for this volume offers increased accessibility to the original text, places it in a wider social and narrative context, and encourages further learning, research, and understanding.
505 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1568
779 people are currently reading
9587 people want to read
About the author
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
189 books55 followersBernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 – ca. 1580) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés. Born in Medina del Campo (Spain), he came from a family of little wealth and he himself had received only a minimal education. He sailed to Tierra Firme in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two years found few opportunities there. Much of the native population had already been killed by epidemics and there was political unrest. So he sailed to Cuba, where he was promised a grant of Indian slaves. But that promise was never fulfilled, leading Díaz, in 1517, to join an expedition being organized by a group of about 110 fellow settlers from Tierra Firme and similarly disaffected Spaniards. They chose Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, a wealthy Cuban landowner, to lead the expedition. It was a difficult venture, and although they discovered the Yucatán coast, by the time the expedition returned to Cuba they were in disastrous shape.
Nevertheless, Díaz returned to the coast of Yucatán the following year, on an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortés. In this third effort, Díaz took part in one of the legendary military campaigns of history, bringing an end to the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his companions in arms about their experiences, collecting them into a coherent narration. The book that resulted from this was Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (English: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he claims to have participated, culminating in the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.
As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He began writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, in response to an alternative history written by Cortés's chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the Historia Verdadera ("True History"), in response to the claims made in the earlier work.
Díaz died in 1585, without seeing his book published. A manuscript was found in a Madrid library in 1632 and finally published, providing an eye-witness account of the events, often told from the perspective of a common soldier. Today it is one of the most important sources in understanding the campaign that led to the collapse of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
Nevertheless, Díaz returned to the coast of Yucatán the following year, on an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortés. In this third effort, Díaz took part in one of the legendary military campaigns of history, bringing an end to the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his companions in arms about their experiences, collecting them into a coherent narration. The book that resulted from this was Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (English: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he claims to have participated, culminating in the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.
As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He began writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, in response to an alternative history written by Cortés's chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the Historia Verdadera ("True History"), in response to the claims made in the earlier work.
Díaz died in 1585, without seeing his book published. A manuscript was found in a Madrid library in 1632 and finally published, providing an eye-witness account of the events, often told from the perspective of a common soldier. Today it is one of the most important sources in understanding the campaign that led to the collapse of the Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 377 reviews
September 27, 2024
An absolutely astonishing first-hand account of the conquest of Mexico, written some decades after the conquest took place.
It’s fair to say that Díaz del Castillo portrays the conquistadores in a more favourable light than they generally receive. Some of the worst excesses during the conquest are either played down or not mentioned at all. He clearly resents some of the criticisms levelled by Bartolomé de las Casas. Díaz does though portray the conquistadores' unbridled greed, often in strongly critical terms, and several times describes how local caciques were variously bullied, tortured and even hanged by conquistadores seeking to extort gold. Elsewhere, he describes how people who rebelled against Spanish rule were enslaved, and were branded on the face to show their status to all.
Not that pre-Columbian Mexico was exactly Utopia, and through Díaz’s eyes we can catch a few glimpses of this unique culture. He describes his shock and revulsion at the heaps of skulls collected from human sacrifices, and of how, as is well-documented, the various city-states of Mesoamerica were probably the only highly organised societies ever to have institutionalised cannibalism.
“The Indians ate human flesh in the same way as we do that of oxen, and there were large wooden cages in every town in which men, women and children were fattened for their sacrifices and feasts.”
Both the Spanish invaders, and the Mesoamericans, seem to have treated women appallingly, and caciques who wanted to curry favour with the Spaniards frequently gave them women as presents. Interestingly, homosexuality and transgenderism seem to have been accepted. Díaz was outraged:
“Most of the Indians…were given to unnatural lusts. To such a dreadful degree was this practised, that men went about in female garments, and made a livelihood by their diabolical and cursed lewdness”.
Clearly, in this aspect of Mesoamerican society, most modern readers would be less judgemental than Díaz!
The most dramatic sections of the book are those which feature the conquistadores’ arrival in Mexico, and after their initial expulsion, the titanic 93-day battle for the city. Díaz memorably describes his astonishment at his first sight of the great city of Mexico, “…it is impossible to speak coolly of things which we had never seen nor heard of, nor even could have dreamt of…”, “…everything was so charming and beautiful that we could find no words to express our astonishment.”, but he continues, “…there is not a vestige of this remaining, and not a stone of this beautiful city is now standing.” A hint of regret perhaps, from Díaz, for the destruction he helped bring about?
The 93-day siege of the city, and its grim outcome, is told in compelling form. No-one knows how many Mexicans perished during their ferocious resistance, despite their having weapons of only very limited effectiveness. Some historians estimate the number in six figures. Díaz describes the aftermath in sobering terms. Not that the Spaniards always had things their own way, and one incident, in which 62 captured Spaniards were sacrificed at the top of the Mexicans’ main temple - a sight clearly visible to their comrades - seems to have left Díaz with what we would now recognise as a form of PTSD. Cortés comes over as a truly remarkable figure; repulsively greedy and cruel, utterly ruthless, determined and single minded; a risk taker to the point of recklessness; and a skilled dissembler who cleverly exploited rivalries between the Mesoamericans to add native allies to his army.
Really there is so much I could quote from this account, but my review would go on for ever. The book has its weaknesses. It is at times repetitive, and the last quarter meanders into political machinations at the Spanish court, but the conquest itself was one of the most amazing, and momentous, events in history. Reading this you get the impression that, looking back, Díaz himself could scarcely believe that they pulled it off.
It’s fair to say that Díaz del Castillo portrays the conquistadores in a more favourable light than they generally receive. Some of the worst excesses during the conquest are either played down or not mentioned at all. He clearly resents some of the criticisms levelled by Bartolomé de las Casas. Díaz does though portray the conquistadores' unbridled greed, often in strongly critical terms, and several times describes how local caciques were variously bullied, tortured and even hanged by conquistadores seeking to extort gold. Elsewhere, he describes how people who rebelled against Spanish rule were enslaved, and were branded on the face to show their status to all.
Not that pre-Columbian Mexico was exactly Utopia, and through Díaz’s eyes we can catch a few glimpses of this unique culture. He describes his shock and revulsion at the heaps of skulls collected from human sacrifices, and of how, as is well-documented, the various city-states of Mesoamerica were probably the only highly organised societies ever to have institutionalised cannibalism.
“The Indians ate human flesh in the same way as we do that of oxen, and there were large wooden cages in every town in which men, women and children were fattened for their sacrifices and feasts.”
Both the Spanish invaders, and the Mesoamericans, seem to have treated women appallingly, and caciques who wanted to curry favour with the Spaniards frequently gave them women as presents. Interestingly, homosexuality and transgenderism seem to have been accepted. Díaz was outraged:
“Most of the Indians…were given to unnatural lusts. To such a dreadful degree was this practised, that men went about in female garments, and made a livelihood by their diabolical and cursed lewdness”.
Clearly, in this aspect of Mesoamerican society, most modern readers would be less judgemental than Díaz!
The most dramatic sections of the book are those which feature the conquistadores’ arrival in Mexico, and after their initial expulsion, the titanic 93-day battle for the city. Díaz memorably describes his astonishment at his first sight of the great city of Mexico, “…it is impossible to speak coolly of things which we had never seen nor heard of, nor even could have dreamt of…”, “…everything was so charming and beautiful that we could find no words to express our astonishment.”, but he continues, “…there is not a vestige of this remaining, and not a stone of this beautiful city is now standing.” A hint of regret perhaps, from Díaz, for the destruction he helped bring about?
The 93-day siege of the city, and its grim outcome, is told in compelling form. No-one knows how many Mexicans perished during their ferocious resistance, despite their having weapons of only very limited effectiveness. Some historians estimate the number in six figures. Díaz describes the aftermath in sobering terms. Not that the Spaniards always had things their own way, and one incident, in which 62 captured Spaniards were sacrificed at the top of the Mexicans’ main temple - a sight clearly visible to their comrades - seems to have left Díaz with what we would now recognise as a form of PTSD. Cortés comes over as a truly remarkable figure; repulsively greedy and cruel, utterly ruthless, determined and single minded; a risk taker to the point of recklessness; and a skilled dissembler who cleverly exploited rivalries between the Mesoamericans to add native allies to his army.
Really there is so much I could quote from this account, but my review would go on for ever. The book has its weaknesses. It is at times repetitive, and the last quarter meanders into political machinations at the Spanish court, but the conquest itself was one of the most amazing, and momentous, events in history. Reading this you get the impression that, looking back, Díaz himself could scarcely believe that they pulled it off.
Read
April 4, 2020"When we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues and buildings rising from the water all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surprising therefore that I should write in this vein. It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before". (p. 214).
This translation is an abbreviated version of Bernal Diaz del Castillo's account of the conquest of modern Mexico, starting from landings on the coast in Maya areas. Most of the text is taken up by the conquest of the Aztec Empire and occasionally interrupted by troubles with potential colonial rivals back on Hispaniola.
It is a breathless account of a culture clash between the Castilians with their horses, steel weapons and armour, attack dogs, artillery and firearms on the one side and the rich, sophisticated world of late stone-age Mexico on the other. As a result the text overflows with details about the lifestyles and peoples the Spanish come across, fight against, and work with (and they would not have succeeded without their local allies drawn from the Aztec's rivals particularly Tlaxcala) to topple the chocolate drinking Montezuma . It's not a fine example of prose but the author's sense of wonder and amazement pulls you along through the negotiations, canoe building, town founding and inevitable hauling of artillery pieces up from the coast to the centre of the country.
The Amadis mentioned in the quote above is The Amadis of Gaul one of the favourite books of Don Quixote. In one way the actions of the conquering Spanish seem no less incredible, audacious, destructive, or even insane than those of the Quixote, while in another the same spirit and dreams of great deeds of heroism and chivalry inspired them both. The only difference being that Bernal and his companions won the governorships of islands that were only ever promised to Sancho Panza.
This translation is an abbreviated version of Bernal Diaz del Castillo's account of the conquest of modern Mexico, starting from landings on the coast in Maya areas. Most of the text is taken up by the conquest of the Aztec Empire and occasionally interrupted by troubles with potential colonial rivals back on Hispaniola.
It is a breathless account of a culture clash between the Castilians with their horses, steel weapons and armour, attack dogs, artillery and firearms on the one side and the rich, sophisticated world of late stone-age Mexico on the other. As a result the text overflows with details about the lifestyles and peoples the Spanish come across, fight against, and work with (and they would not have succeeded without their local allies drawn from the Aztec's rivals particularly Tlaxcala) to topple the chocolate drinking Montezuma . It's not a fine example of prose but the author's sense of wonder and amazement pulls you along through the negotiations, canoe building, town founding and inevitable hauling of artillery pieces up from the coast to the centre of the country.
The Amadis mentioned in the quote above is The Amadis of Gaul one of the favourite books of Don Quixote. In one way the actions of the conquering Spanish seem no less incredible, audacious, destructive, or even insane than those of the Quixote, while in another the same spirit and dreams of great deeds of heroism and chivalry inspired them both. The only difference being that Bernal and his companions won the governorships of islands that were only ever promised to Sancho Panza.
December 12, 2020
On the spot reportage from 16th century conquistador
Many decades ago, as a college sophomore, I was assigned to read Bernal Díaz' work as part of a Latin American history course. The title did not give me much hope. I imagined having to force myself to sit at a desk night after night in order to finish the book. To my great surprise, once I began to read this incredible eye-witness account, I could not put it down. Still, some 50 odd years later, Bernal Díaz' story, as one of the soldiers who accompanied Cortés, remains forever as one of the best books I have ever read on any subject.
Vivid, eye-witness description of the whole story of the Conquest of Mexico in 1519 will rivet you to the pages, if you have even the slightest sense of history or desire to imagine strange events in far off places. Here is the tale of how the Spanish soldiers, led by Cortés, despite tremendous odds, toppled an ancient civilization, destroying it utterly, and began a new society that would eventually become modern Mexico. Where else are you going to read words like these, describing the Spaniards' first arrival in Tenochtitlan, which would become Mexico City ? "When we saw so many cities and villages built both in the water and on dry land, and this straight, level causeway, we couldn't restrain our admiration. It was like the enchantments told about in the book of Amadis, because of the high towers, temples, and other buildings, all of masonry, which rose from the water. Some of our soldiers asked if what we saw was not a dream." Alliances, intrigues, battles, retributions, strange gods and the clash of utterly different cultures fill this amazing book. If you have any fondness for history, if you have any curiosity about vanished civilizations, if you would like to ponder about Fate with more substance than usual (!), then Bernal Díaz is your man. Do not pass this book by.
And, if we ever travel through space to other planets with intelligent life, you may wonder if the same story will not play out like this again. Human nature...........
Many decades ago, as a college sophomore, I was assigned to read Bernal Díaz' work as part of a Latin American history course. The title did not give me much hope. I imagined having to force myself to sit at a desk night after night in order to finish the book. To my great surprise, once I began to read this incredible eye-witness account, I could not put it down. Still, some 50 odd years later, Bernal Díaz' story, as one of the soldiers who accompanied Cortés, remains forever as one of the best books I have ever read on any subject.
Vivid, eye-witness description of the whole story of the Conquest of Mexico in 1519 will rivet you to the pages, if you have even the slightest sense of history or desire to imagine strange events in far off places. Here is the tale of how the Spanish soldiers, led by Cortés, despite tremendous odds, toppled an ancient civilization, destroying it utterly, and began a new society that would eventually become modern Mexico. Where else are you going to read words like these, describing the Spaniards' first arrival in Tenochtitlan, which would become Mexico City ? "When we saw so many cities and villages built both in the water and on dry land, and this straight, level causeway, we couldn't restrain our admiration. It was like the enchantments told about in the book of Amadis, because of the high towers, temples, and other buildings, all of masonry, which rose from the water. Some of our soldiers asked if what we saw was not a dream." Alliances, intrigues, battles, retributions, strange gods and the clash of utterly different cultures fill this amazing book. If you have any fondness for history, if you have any curiosity about vanished civilizations, if you would like to ponder about Fate with more substance than usual (!), then Bernal Díaz is your man. Do not pass this book by.
And, if we ever travel through space to other planets with intelligent life, you may wonder if the same story will not play out like this again. Human nature...........
October 7, 2021
This book is written in a rather conversational writing style but with a quite compelling first-person narrative. I enjoyed the author's vivid portrayals of the native cultures and the initial reactions of the people involved in this unprecedented encounter between two contrasting civilizations. I could only imagine how exciting it must have been for the eyes to absorb and minds of all the men and women to adapt to these new scenes of life. Their perception of things, and in general the perception of man, must have experienced a metamorphosis. With the New World, came along a new reality. But the initial excitement quickly soured and things turned gory.
The author Bernal Diaz Del Castillo who lived to be 90-years-old was a soldier in his youth under Hernan Cortes. He shares a rare first-hand account of the Spanish expeditions to Mexico from the year 1517 to the conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521. What I have discovered is that the Spanish victory over the Aztec Empire was accomplished by forming essential and elaborate alliances with the surrounding indigenous tribes and their settlements. Also, it should be noted that the Conquistadors secondary goal in Mexico was to spread the Christian faith and eradicate cannibalism and human sacrifices practice by the natives, which the latter sounds justifiable, but their primary goal was power and most importantly to get their hands on the gold and there was a lot of it in Mexico already mined.
The Spanish settlers were present in the Caribbean for over a quarter of a century before discovering the Aztecan civilization. Hence, the Conquistadors had set sail east from Cuba to the Gulf of Mexico and disembarked around Veracruz, and worked their way inland to this ancient Mesoamerican city (I am just writing this in case someone mistakenly thought that the Spanish arrived from the Pacific Oceans side and landed on the western shores of Mexico).
While reading about this Mesoamerican civilization one realizes how underrated these ancient societies are in literature. One has to remember they independently developed their writing systems and agriculture while being cut off from the rest of the world for at least a dozen millennia. Thereby, they could not benefit from the accumulated knowledge and inventions that were available in Eurasia and Africa. The Old World had a head start, and the innumerable interactions between different cultures and civilizations and other quantifiables made it more probably to develop and exchange knowledge.
Fair warning given, there are numerous descriptive accounts of all the battles and military tactics which could be wearisome to some readers, and at times it seems that some of Bernal Diaz's accounts are exaggerated and questionable. Although, I still think that for anyone interested in the history of Mesoamerica this book should be at the top of their list.
The author Bernal Diaz Del Castillo who lived to be 90-years-old was a soldier in his youth under Hernan Cortes. He shares a rare first-hand account of the Spanish expeditions to Mexico from the year 1517 to the conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521. What I have discovered is that the Spanish victory over the Aztec Empire was accomplished by forming essential and elaborate alliances with the surrounding indigenous tribes and their settlements. Also, it should be noted that the Conquistadors secondary goal in Mexico was to spread the Christian faith and eradicate cannibalism and human sacrifices practice by the natives, which the latter sounds justifiable, but their primary goal was power and most importantly to get their hands on the gold and there was a lot of it in Mexico already mined.
The Spanish settlers were present in the Caribbean for over a quarter of a century before discovering the Aztecan civilization. Hence, the Conquistadors had set sail east from Cuba to the Gulf of Mexico and disembarked around Veracruz, and worked their way inland to this ancient Mesoamerican city (I am just writing this in case someone mistakenly thought that the Spanish arrived from the Pacific Oceans side and landed on the western shores of Mexico).
While reading about this Mesoamerican civilization one realizes how underrated these ancient societies are in literature. One has to remember they independently developed their writing systems and agriculture while being cut off from the rest of the world for at least a dozen millennia. Thereby, they could not benefit from the accumulated knowledge and inventions that were available in Eurasia and Africa. The Old World had a head start, and the innumerable interactions between different cultures and civilizations and other quantifiables made it more probably to develop and exchange knowledge.
Fair warning given, there are numerous descriptive accounts of all the battles and military tactics which could be wearisome to some readers, and at times it seems that some of Bernal Diaz's accounts are exaggerated and questionable. Although, I still think that for anyone interested in the history of Mesoamerica this book should be at the top of their list.
May 5, 2012
The author started writing this when he was over 70, made his fair copy of it at age 76, and wrote a preliminary note for it at age 84. Five years later, he was dead.
Arguedas's "Deep Rivers" and Galeano's "Genesis (Memory of Fire 1)", which I recently read, both have an unmistakable bias against the Spanish conquistadores of the Americas during the 16th and 17th centuries. Here, for a change, I listen to one of these conquistadores, for the author Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a Spanish soldier who served under Hernando Cortes, conqueror of the Aztec empire based then in Mexico. The events narrated here happened between 1519 to 1521 when the author was in his mid-20s.
For a 70-year-old guy you will be amazed not by how much Diaz had forgotten (noted in the translator's footnotes) but how much he remembered of events which took place half a century before. He was a wonderful storyteller. Some things I learned about life in that part of the world almost 500 years ago:
1. the Indians/Aztecs practiced sodomy, human sacrifice and cannibalism. They open up the body while the poor victim is very much alive, scoop out his/her heart, and offer his/her still-beating heart to their gods/idols in their temple. The limbs they eat, the rest they throw away;
2. their own kind whom they intend to sacrifice and turn into their favorite dishes they first fatten up inside cages like they're domesticated pigs or cattle being prepared for slaughter;
3. a patriarchal society, it seemed that women among the Indians had no role except do menial jobs, bear children and be given (by their fathers) as gifts to other men. There was only one Indian woman here who sort of stood out from Diaz's entire narrative. She was given as a gift to Cortes who, in turn, gave her to his favorite officer, and who later acted as their interpreter in dealing with the Indians. Fond of juicy gossips, Diaz didn't fail to mention that Cortes had a child by her later;
4. for the Spaniards, the way to get rich then was to go out there, discover new lands, conquer their people and get their gold in the name of the Spanish monarch. Whatever they get the latter is automatically entitled to one-fifth thereof, the so-called "Royal Fifth"; and
5. these Spanish adventurers would first try to befriend the native Indians, try to convert them to Catholicism and to make them vassals of Spain. If friendly persuasion doesn't work, they subdue them by force of arms and take everything they want.
In the book's blurb there is the claim that "(t)he defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small bad of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history." This could mislead. As if Cortes' 500 or so Spanish soldiers were, by themselves, able to defeat the Aztecs numbering tens of thousands. Actually, several Indian tribes fought along Cortes and--although Diaz was silent about this--did most of the dying. I agree, however, that Cortes was a brilliant military leader: BRAVE (he fought with his soldiers, got wounded and almost died several times), CUNNING (he made Indians fight fellow Indians, outmaneuvered not only his Indian enemies but his Spanish enemies as well) and LUCKY (maybe because he was so damn brilliant that he became a living demonstration of the chess players' well-known adage: "A good player is always lucky.").
Bernal Diaz praised Cortes to high heavens but he likewise didn't mince words in implying that this great leader was also a thief (or maybe Diaz was also praising Cortes as a good BUSINESSMAN?). An amusing anecdote he related towards the end of this book where, after the conquest of Mexico, the common soldiers like Diaz were grumbling about the very little share they will get of the booty:
"While Cortes was at Coyoacan, he lodged in a palace with whitewashed walls on which it was easy to write with charcoal and ink; and every morning malicious remarks appeared, some in verse and some in prose, in the manner of lampoons. One said the sun, moon, and stars, and earth and sea followed their courses, and if they ever deviated from the plane for which they were created, soon reverted to their original place. So it would be with Cortes' ambition for command. He would soon return to his original (humble) condition. Another said that he had dealt us a worse defeat than he had given to Mexico, and that we ought to call ourselves not the victors of New Spain but the victims of Hernando Cortes. Another said he had not been content with a general's share but had taken a king's, not counting other profits; and yet another: 'My soul is very sad and will be till that day when Cortes gives us back the gold he's hidden away.' It was also remarked that (Cortes' fellow adventurer) Diego Velazquez had spent his whole fortune and discovered all the northern coast as far as Panuco, and then Cortes had come to enjoy the benefit and rebelliously taken both the land and the treasure. And other words were written up too, unfit to record in this story.
"When Cortes came out of his quarters of a morning he would read these lampoons. Their style was elegant, the verses well rhymed, and each couplet not only had point but ended with a sharp reproof that was not so naive as I may have suggested. As Cortes himself was something of a poet, he prided himself on composing answers, which tended to praise his own great deeds and belittle those of Diego Velazquez, Grijalva, and Francisco Hernandez de Cordova. In fact, he too wrote some good verses which were much to the point. But the couplets and sentences they scrawled up became every day more scurrilous, until in the end Cortes wrote: 'A blank wall is a fool's writing paper.' And next morning someone added: 'A wise man's too, who knows the truth, as His Majesty will do very soon!' Knowing who was responsible for this (a certain Tirado, a friend of Diego Velazquez and some others who wished to make their defiance clear) Cortes flew into a rage and publicly proclaimed that they must write up no more libels or he would punish the shameless villanins.
"Many of us were in debt to one another. Some owed fifty or sixty pesos for crossbows, and others fifty for a sword. Everything we had bought was equally dear...."
For God, Country and King? No. Then, and as always, it has always been about the gold, stupid.
Arguedas's "Deep Rivers" and Galeano's "Genesis (Memory of Fire 1)", which I recently read, both have an unmistakable bias against the Spanish conquistadores of the Americas during the 16th and 17th centuries. Here, for a change, I listen to one of these conquistadores, for the author Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a Spanish soldier who served under Hernando Cortes, conqueror of the Aztec empire based then in Mexico. The events narrated here happened between 1519 to 1521 when the author was in his mid-20s.
For a 70-year-old guy you will be amazed not by how much Diaz had forgotten (noted in the translator's footnotes) but how much he remembered of events which took place half a century before. He was a wonderful storyteller. Some things I learned about life in that part of the world almost 500 years ago:
1. the Indians/Aztecs practiced sodomy, human sacrifice and cannibalism. They open up the body while the poor victim is very much alive, scoop out his/her heart, and offer his/her still-beating heart to their gods/idols in their temple. The limbs they eat, the rest they throw away;
2. their own kind whom they intend to sacrifice and turn into their favorite dishes they first fatten up inside cages like they're domesticated pigs or cattle being prepared for slaughter;
3. a patriarchal society, it seemed that women among the Indians had no role except do menial jobs, bear children and be given (by their fathers) as gifts to other men. There was only one Indian woman here who sort of stood out from Diaz's entire narrative. She was given as a gift to Cortes who, in turn, gave her to his favorite officer, and who later acted as their interpreter in dealing with the Indians. Fond of juicy gossips, Diaz didn't fail to mention that Cortes had a child by her later;
4. for the Spaniards, the way to get rich then was to go out there, discover new lands, conquer their people and get their gold in the name of the Spanish monarch. Whatever they get the latter is automatically entitled to one-fifth thereof, the so-called "Royal Fifth"; and
5. these Spanish adventurers would first try to befriend the native Indians, try to convert them to Catholicism and to make them vassals of Spain. If friendly persuasion doesn't work, they subdue them by force of arms and take everything they want.
In the book's blurb there is the claim that "(t)he defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small bad of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history." This could mislead. As if Cortes' 500 or so Spanish soldiers were, by themselves, able to defeat the Aztecs numbering tens of thousands. Actually, several Indian tribes fought along Cortes and--although Diaz was silent about this--did most of the dying. I agree, however, that Cortes was a brilliant military leader: BRAVE (he fought with his soldiers, got wounded and almost died several times), CUNNING (he made Indians fight fellow Indians, outmaneuvered not only his Indian enemies but his Spanish enemies as well) and LUCKY (maybe because he was so damn brilliant that he became a living demonstration of the chess players' well-known adage: "A good player is always lucky.").
Bernal Diaz praised Cortes to high heavens but he likewise didn't mince words in implying that this great leader was also a thief (or maybe Diaz was also praising Cortes as a good BUSINESSMAN?). An amusing anecdote he related towards the end of this book where, after the conquest of Mexico, the common soldiers like Diaz were grumbling about the very little share they will get of the booty:
"While Cortes was at Coyoacan, he lodged in a palace with whitewashed walls on which it was easy to write with charcoal and ink; and every morning malicious remarks appeared, some in verse and some in prose, in the manner of lampoons. One said the sun, moon, and stars, and earth and sea followed their courses, and if they ever deviated from the plane for which they were created, soon reverted to their original place. So it would be with Cortes' ambition for command. He would soon return to his original (humble) condition. Another said that he had dealt us a worse defeat than he had given to Mexico, and that we ought to call ourselves not the victors of New Spain but the victims of Hernando Cortes. Another said he had not been content with a general's share but had taken a king's, not counting other profits; and yet another: 'My soul is very sad and will be till that day when Cortes gives us back the gold he's hidden away.' It was also remarked that (Cortes' fellow adventurer) Diego Velazquez had spent his whole fortune and discovered all the northern coast as far as Panuco, and then Cortes had come to enjoy the benefit and rebelliously taken both the land and the treasure. And other words were written up too, unfit to record in this story.
"When Cortes came out of his quarters of a morning he would read these lampoons. Their style was elegant, the verses well rhymed, and each couplet not only had point but ended with a sharp reproof that was not so naive as I may have suggested. As Cortes himself was something of a poet, he prided himself on composing answers, which tended to praise his own great deeds and belittle those of Diego Velazquez, Grijalva, and Francisco Hernandez de Cordova. In fact, he too wrote some good verses which were much to the point. But the couplets and sentences they scrawled up became every day more scurrilous, until in the end Cortes wrote: 'A blank wall is a fool's writing paper.' And next morning someone added: 'A wise man's too, who knows the truth, as His Majesty will do very soon!' Knowing who was responsible for this (a certain Tirado, a friend of Diego Velazquez and some others who wished to make their defiance clear) Cortes flew into a rage and publicly proclaimed that they must write up no more libels or he would punish the shameless villanins.
"Many of us were in debt to one another. Some owed fifty or sixty pesos for crossbows, and others fifty for a sword. Everything we had bought was equally dear...."
For God, Country and King? No. Then, and as always, it has always been about the gold, stupid.
September 16, 2021
The “discovery” of Mexico, as we all know, had nothing whatsoever to do with the Spaniards. The true discoverers of Mexico crossed the land bridge from Asia tens of thousands of years ago, and made their way down through the Americas to what is now Mexico; those bold explorers were the ancestors of the indigenous North Americans who inhabited Mexico when Hernando Cortés and his expeditionary force arrived there in 1519. But the Spaniards certainly did conquer Mexico; and that story, in all its blood and fire and cruelty, comes through vividly in the memoir of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a work that has come down to us in this English translation as The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico.
Díaz was a young and ambitious conquistador, still in his early thirties, when he followed Cortés into Mexico in 1519; by contrast, he was a much older man, well into his eighties, when he set down his memoirs under the original title of Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (The True History of the Conquest of New Spain) in 1576. Why would this old man, five years away from death, enjoying prosperity as a colonial governor in Guatemala, want to undertake the labor of setting down his memoirs of the conquest?
Perhaps, for one thing, Díaz wanted his chance to respond to earlier writings about the conquest of Spanish America. Bartolomé de las Casas had raised many colonial hackles decades earlier, in 1552, when he published his Brevíssima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies). The compassionate Las Casas, appalled by the cruelty with which the Spaniards exploited indigenous people for slave labor, had done much to make many Spaniards question their nation’s colonial policy, and Díaz may simply have wanted to get in a good word for his own side while he was still living. There is also the possibility that Díaz wanted to make sure that his own view of Cortés would be preserved for the historical record, as Díaz’s view of Cortés is complex, multilayered, and often quite critical.
Díaz has a gift for the telling anecdote that contributes to an epic story, as when he writes of how Cortés responded to a prospective mutiny by subordinates and rivals who felt that Cortés had exceeded his mandate in coming to Mexico: “[T]his matter of destroying the ships which we suggested to Cortés during our conversation, had already been decided on by him, but he wished it to appear as though it came from us, so that if any one should ask him to pay for the ships, he could say that he had acted on our advice and we would all be concerned in their payment. Then he sent Juan de Escalante to Villa Rica with orders to bring on shore all the anchors, cables, sails, and everything else on board which might prove useful, and then to destroy the ships and preserve nothing but the boats…” (p. 109)
Burning the ships – since that time, it has been a classically-inflected motif for cutting oneself off from the possibility of retreat, committing oneself to victory or death. And yet at the same time, one sees in the anecdote a hint of Díaz’s critical attitude toward Cortés. Note how assiduously Cortés, who fully intends to stay in Mexico and conquer the country, maintains plausible deniability -- ensuring that something he wants to do can be blamed, at least in part, on his subordinates, in case things go awry. Niccolò Machiavelli had written The Prince in 1513, just six years before Cortés’ voyage to Mexico, and yet Cortés’ machinations seem like the actions of someone who has read The Prince and knows it well.
Throughout The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, Cortés also seems like someone who would fit right in amidst the scheming and machination of contemporary politics. Cortés always gets paid – indeed, Díaz often complains that Cortés gets more than his share of everything the Spanish conquistadors want, from gold to gems to enslaved indigenous women – and Cortés always gets to look noble and make fine speeches, leaving to others the tasks of torture, assassination, and mass destruction that constitute the dirty work of building an empire.
Another of those central historical moments that Díaz shares with us comes when Cortés’ forces have arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec nation that Cortés must subjugate if he is to become the master of Mexico. Received as a “guest” by the Aztec king Montezuma, who nonetheless fears and distrusts the Spanish visitors, Cortés takes advantage of an unguarded moment to take Montezuma into house arrest, citing attempts by Montezuma to have the Spaniards killed and adding, “I do not wish to begin a war on this account nor to destroy this city, I am willing to forgive it all, if silently and without raising any disturbance you will come with us to our quarters, where you will be as well served and attended to as though you were in your own house, but if you cry out or make any disturbance you will immediately be killed by these my Captains, whom I brought solely for this purpose” (p. 229).
Checkmate. From that moment, with Montezuma a de facto prisoner, the Spaniards are in a position of advantage that they will never fully surrender, even as the momentum in the fighting goes back and forth between the Spaniards and their Native American allies on the one hand, and the Aztecs on the other.
The death of Montezuma is treated in a comparably dramatic fashion, in “The Flight From Mexico,” the section of the book dealing with the time when the Spaniards were temporarily driven away from Tenochtitlan. As Díaz tells it, the hostage-king Montezuma pleads with his people to let the besieged Spaniards leave the city; but “suddenly such a shower of stones and darts were discharged that…he was hit by three stones, one on the head, another on the arm and another on the leg, and although they begged him to have the wounds dressed and to take food, and spoke kind words to him about it, he would not. Indeed, when we least expected it, they came to say that he was dead” (p. 310).
Particularly striking is Díaz’s account of the grief that the Spaniards felt at the death of Montezuma: “Cortés wept for him, and all of us Captains and soldiers, and there was no man among us who knew him and was intimate with him, who did not bemoan him as though he were our father, and it is not to be wondered at, considering how good he was” (p. 310). While the picture of Montezuma that emerges from history is of a mercurial and indecisive ruler, the Spaniards, for whatever reason, seem to have missed him when he was gone. And Montezuma, who had descended so quickly from god-emperor to prisoner, seems to have welcomed death, once his time had come.
Readers in search of battle action will find plenty of it in The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. Díaz seems always to have been in the thick of the fighting, as when, describing one of the campaigns by which the Spaniards returned to Tenochtitlan and finally conquered the city, he writes of how “many Indians had already laid hold of me, but I managed to get my arm free, and our Lord Jesus Christ gave me strength so that by some good sword thrusts that I gave them I saved myself, but I was badly wounded in one arm, and when I found myself out of that water in safety, I became insensible and without power to stand on my feet and altogether breathless, and this was caused by the great strain that I exerted in getting away from that rabble and from the quantity of blood I had lost” (p. 421).
Bernal Díaz de Castillo paints on an epic-sized canvas in The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico; the reader sees the clash of two major civilizations, and the destruction of one of them. If only the courage and determination that Díaz demonstrated throughout Cortés’s campaigns in Mexico had been exerted in a better cause.
Díaz was a young and ambitious conquistador, still in his early thirties, when he followed Cortés into Mexico in 1519; by contrast, he was a much older man, well into his eighties, when he set down his memoirs under the original title of Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (The True History of the Conquest of New Spain) in 1576. Why would this old man, five years away from death, enjoying prosperity as a colonial governor in Guatemala, want to undertake the labor of setting down his memoirs of the conquest?
Perhaps, for one thing, Díaz wanted his chance to respond to earlier writings about the conquest of Spanish America. Bartolomé de las Casas had raised many colonial hackles decades earlier, in 1552, when he published his Brevíssima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies). The compassionate Las Casas, appalled by the cruelty with which the Spaniards exploited indigenous people for slave labor, had done much to make many Spaniards question their nation’s colonial policy, and Díaz may simply have wanted to get in a good word for his own side while he was still living. There is also the possibility that Díaz wanted to make sure that his own view of Cortés would be preserved for the historical record, as Díaz’s view of Cortés is complex, multilayered, and often quite critical.
Díaz has a gift for the telling anecdote that contributes to an epic story, as when he writes of how Cortés responded to a prospective mutiny by subordinates and rivals who felt that Cortés had exceeded his mandate in coming to Mexico: “[T]his matter of destroying the ships which we suggested to Cortés during our conversation, had already been decided on by him, but he wished it to appear as though it came from us, so that if any one should ask him to pay for the ships, he could say that he had acted on our advice and we would all be concerned in their payment. Then he sent Juan de Escalante to Villa Rica with orders to bring on shore all the anchors, cables, sails, and everything else on board which might prove useful, and then to destroy the ships and preserve nothing but the boats…” (p. 109)
Burning the ships – since that time, it has been a classically-inflected motif for cutting oneself off from the possibility of retreat, committing oneself to victory or death. And yet at the same time, one sees in the anecdote a hint of Díaz’s critical attitude toward Cortés. Note how assiduously Cortés, who fully intends to stay in Mexico and conquer the country, maintains plausible deniability -- ensuring that something he wants to do can be blamed, at least in part, on his subordinates, in case things go awry. Niccolò Machiavelli had written The Prince in 1513, just six years before Cortés’ voyage to Mexico, and yet Cortés’ machinations seem like the actions of someone who has read The Prince and knows it well.
Throughout The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, Cortés also seems like someone who would fit right in amidst the scheming and machination of contemporary politics. Cortés always gets paid – indeed, Díaz often complains that Cortés gets more than his share of everything the Spanish conquistadors want, from gold to gems to enslaved indigenous women – and Cortés always gets to look noble and make fine speeches, leaving to others the tasks of torture, assassination, and mass destruction that constitute the dirty work of building an empire.
Another of those central historical moments that Díaz shares with us comes when Cortés’ forces have arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec nation that Cortés must subjugate if he is to become the master of Mexico. Received as a “guest” by the Aztec king Montezuma, who nonetheless fears and distrusts the Spanish visitors, Cortés takes advantage of an unguarded moment to take Montezuma into house arrest, citing attempts by Montezuma to have the Spaniards killed and adding, “I do not wish to begin a war on this account nor to destroy this city, I am willing to forgive it all, if silently and without raising any disturbance you will come with us to our quarters, where you will be as well served and attended to as though you were in your own house, but if you cry out or make any disturbance you will immediately be killed by these my Captains, whom I brought solely for this purpose” (p. 229).
Checkmate. From that moment, with Montezuma a de facto prisoner, the Spaniards are in a position of advantage that they will never fully surrender, even as the momentum in the fighting goes back and forth between the Spaniards and their Native American allies on the one hand, and the Aztecs on the other.
The death of Montezuma is treated in a comparably dramatic fashion, in “The Flight From Mexico,” the section of the book dealing with the time when the Spaniards were temporarily driven away from Tenochtitlan. As Díaz tells it, the hostage-king Montezuma pleads with his people to let the besieged Spaniards leave the city; but “suddenly such a shower of stones and darts were discharged that…he was hit by three stones, one on the head, another on the arm and another on the leg, and although they begged him to have the wounds dressed and to take food, and spoke kind words to him about it, he would not. Indeed, when we least expected it, they came to say that he was dead” (p. 310).
Particularly striking is Díaz’s account of the grief that the Spaniards felt at the death of Montezuma: “Cortés wept for him, and all of us Captains and soldiers, and there was no man among us who knew him and was intimate with him, who did not bemoan him as though he were our father, and it is not to be wondered at, considering how good he was” (p. 310). While the picture of Montezuma that emerges from history is of a mercurial and indecisive ruler, the Spaniards, for whatever reason, seem to have missed him when he was gone. And Montezuma, who had descended so quickly from god-emperor to prisoner, seems to have welcomed death, once his time had come.
Readers in search of battle action will find plenty of it in The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. Díaz seems always to have been in the thick of the fighting, as when, describing one of the campaigns by which the Spaniards returned to Tenochtitlan and finally conquered the city, he writes of how “many Indians had already laid hold of me, but I managed to get my arm free, and our Lord Jesus Christ gave me strength so that by some good sword thrusts that I gave them I saved myself, but I was badly wounded in one arm, and when I found myself out of that water in safety, I became insensible and without power to stand on my feet and altogether breathless, and this was caused by the great strain that I exerted in getting away from that rabble and from the quantity of blood I had lost” (p. 421).
Bernal Díaz de Castillo paints on an epic-sized canvas in The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico; the reader sees the clash of two major civilizations, and the destruction of one of them. If only the courage and determination that Díaz demonstrated throughout Cortés’s campaigns in Mexico had been exerted in a better cause.
April 18, 2024
This is undoubtedly one of the greatest books I have ever read.
The author fought with Cortez, and this is his account. He received an estate in Guatemala for his services to the Spanish crown, and this manuscript resided in Guatemalan State archives for centuries.
The intro states that it had been highly sanitized by the Catholic Church, but secular scholars were able to access it in the mid 20th Century, and this more accurate account is the result.
This is no corny Lone Ranger stuff, both sides came across in a very realistic way.
Watch Apocalypto for an idea of who the Spaniards were fighting. Cortez was genius at enlisting the smaller exploited tribes against the main Mexican tribe under Montezuma. He was shrewd in turning the tide on competing Spanish groups also.
The author fought with Cortez, and this is his account. He received an estate in Guatemala for his services to the Spanish crown, and this manuscript resided in Guatemalan State archives for centuries.
The intro states that it had been highly sanitized by the Catholic Church, but secular scholars were able to access it in the mid 20th Century, and this more accurate account is the result.
This is no corny Lone Ranger stuff, both sides came across in a very realistic way.
Watch Apocalypto for an idea of who the Spaniards were fighting. Cortez was genius at enlisting the smaller exploited tribes against the main Mexican tribe under Montezuma. He was shrewd in turning the tide on competing Spanish groups also.
May 28, 2021
Like reading a novel, from the victor’s perspective, of course.
Author Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a soldier under Cortes, and he provides a vivid description of the Spanish landing in Mexico in 1520. Díaz was involved in various expeditions and skirmishes under other captains before joining Cortes for the long march and the big confrontation with Montezuma, which the author describes beginning about halfway through the book.
Of the author’s reportage, the translator writes….
“Díaz introduces us into the heart of the camp, we huddle round the bivouac with the soldiers, loiter with them on their wearisome marches, listen to their stories, their murmurs of discontent, their plans of conquest, their hopes, their triumphs, their disappointments. All the picturesque scenes and romantic incidents of the campaign are reflected in his page as in a mirror…
…. The lapse of fifty years {before writing this account] has no power over the spirit of the veteran. The fire of youth glows in every line of his rude history; and, as he calls up the scenes of the past, the remembrance of the brave companions who are gone gives, it may be, a warmer coloring to the picture than if it had been made at an earlier period. Time, and reflection, and the apprehensions for the future which might steal over the evening of life, have no power over the settled opinions of his earlier days.”
Example one of Bernal Diaz’s most vivid descriptions.
“The great Montezuma descended from his litter, and these other great Caciques supported him beneath a marvelously rich canopy of green feathers, decorated with gold work, silver, pearls, and chalchihuites, which hung from a sort of border. It was a marvelous sight. The great Montezuma was magnificently clad, in their fashion, and wore sandals of a kind for which their name is cotaras, the soles of which are of gold and the upper parts ornamented with precious stones.”
In the end, it’s pagan idolatry, with human sacrifice, versus Roman Catholic mythology, with the imagined sacrifice of the Eucharist: a battle of religions, with the bonus of who gets to keep the gold.
Author Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a soldier under Cortes, and he provides a vivid description of the Spanish landing in Mexico in 1520. Díaz was involved in various expeditions and skirmishes under other captains before joining Cortes for the long march and the big confrontation with Montezuma, which the author describes beginning about halfway through the book.
Of the author’s reportage, the translator writes….
“Díaz introduces us into the heart of the camp, we huddle round the bivouac with the soldiers, loiter with them on their wearisome marches, listen to their stories, their murmurs of discontent, their plans of conquest, their hopes, their triumphs, their disappointments. All the picturesque scenes and romantic incidents of the campaign are reflected in his page as in a mirror…
…. The lapse of fifty years {before writing this account] has no power over the spirit of the veteran. The fire of youth glows in every line of his rude history; and, as he calls up the scenes of the past, the remembrance of the brave companions who are gone gives, it may be, a warmer coloring to the picture than if it had been made at an earlier period. Time, and reflection, and the apprehensions for the future which might steal over the evening of life, have no power over the settled opinions of his earlier days.”
Example one of Bernal Diaz’s most vivid descriptions.
“The great Montezuma descended from his litter, and these other great Caciques supported him beneath a marvelously rich canopy of green feathers, decorated with gold work, silver, pearls, and chalchihuites, which hung from a sort of border. It was a marvelous sight. The great Montezuma was magnificently clad, in their fashion, and wore sandals of a kind for which their name is cotaras, the soles of which are of gold and the upper parts ornamented with precious stones.”
In the end, it’s pagan idolatry, with human sacrifice, versus Roman Catholic mythology, with the imagined sacrifice of the Eucharist: a battle of religions, with the bonus of who gets to keep the gold.
February 21, 2021
The Conquest of New Spain, Mexico.
By Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1495 – 1584)
“The true story”, told by the eye witness, as being History as he has seen it and witnessed it.
Hernando Cortez is the name of the leader of the expedition, commonly associated with New Spain, and Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztec Empire.
Cortez and his six hundred soldiers, sixteen horses and some light artillery, set out from Cuba in 1519, with orders to explore the continent and to bring back gold and riches.
However, Cortez decided to change the orders and make his own fortune by colonising whatever city and country he could conquer. To prevent some of his soldiers to return back to Cuba, he had his three ships destroyed after landing.
From 1519 to 1521 the author, a simple soldier under Cortez, counts 119 terrible battles in which he himself was engaged, and was wounded a countless number of times.
The Indians, while largely outnumbering the invaders, opposed fierce defences and fought extremely bravely but the Spaniard had Armor protections, gunpowder and horses, unknown and frightening to the Indians.
A great clash of civilisations. The greed for gold and the fanatic willpower to impose the Christian Faith upon the Indians, while destroying their ancient Idols and prevent the human sacrifices to them, made up a cruel context that we can hardly imagine today.
Bernal Diaz was over eighty years old when he composed this memoir, not from a diary, but from an exceptional memory, only five of his companions are still alive.
His style is narrative and simple, but overwhelming in details of action and names, not only of his Spanish friends and soldiers but also from countless Indian chiefs and villages.
His tale has rightly been compared with the “Anabase” by Xenophon, which he surpasses in volume.
By Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1495 – 1584)
“The true story”, told by the eye witness, as being History as he has seen it and witnessed it.
Hernando Cortez is the name of the leader of the expedition, commonly associated with New Spain, and Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztec Empire.
Cortez and his six hundred soldiers, sixteen horses and some light artillery, set out from Cuba in 1519, with orders to explore the continent and to bring back gold and riches.
However, Cortez decided to change the orders and make his own fortune by colonising whatever city and country he could conquer. To prevent some of his soldiers to return back to Cuba, he had his three ships destroyed after landing.
From 1519 to 1521 the author, a simple soldier under Cortez, counts 119 terrible battles in which he himself was engaged, and was wounded a countless number of times.
The Indians, while largely outnumbering the invaders, opposed fierce defences and fought extremely bravely but the Spaniard had Armor protections, gunpowder and horses, unknown and frightening to the Indians.
A great clash of civilisations. The greed for gold and the fanatic willpower to impose the Christian Faith upon the Indians, while destroying their ancient Idols and prevent the human sacrifices to them, made up a cruel context that we can hardly imagine today.
Bernal Diaz was over eighty years old when he composed this memoir, not from a diary, but from an exceptional memory, only five of his companions are still alive.
His style is narrative and simple, but overwhelming in details of action and names, not only of his Spanish friends and soldiers but also from countless Indian chiefs and villages.
His tale has rightly been compared with the “Anabase” by Xenophon, which he surpasses in volume.
April 26, 2023
От извора имаме невероятна възможност да прочетем за завоюването на Нова Испания , книга учебник по история за това което е било в действителност, а то е било касапница меко казано , политически и авторитетни войни , игри за надмощие и 550 войника превзели стотиците хиляди индиански племена .
Най -хубавото в края на сметка е премахването на човекоядството , жертвоприношенията и полагане на основите на цивилизованият свят по тези места , някой и до днес твърдят че е унищожена цяла "култура" да ацтеките отиват в историята но техният начин на живот е бил зверски и Кортес слагат края на това .
Мога да пиша много за тази книга, за мен тя е една фундаменталните книги в човешката история и е хубаво да се изучава .
Най -хубавото в края на сметка е премахването на човекоядството , жертвоприношенията и полагане на основите на цивилизованият свят по тези места , някой и до днес твърдят че е унищожена цяла "култура" да ацтеките отиват в историята но техният начин на живот е бил зверски и Кортес слагат края на това .
Мога да пиша много за тази книга, за мен тя е една фундаменталните книги в човешката история и е хубаво да се изучава .
August 28, 2023
ამ წიგნის აღმოჩენისთვის მადლობა ეკუთვნის არჩილ ქიქოძეს. მათთვის, ვინც "ახალი ესპანეთის" დაპყრობით, ერნან კორტესის ერთი შეხედვით განწირული წამოწყებით, მონტესუმას ქვეშევრდომთა ტრადიციებით არის დაინტერესებული, ბერნალ დიას დელ კასტილიოს ჩანაწერები ნამდვილი მონაპოვარია. რა თქმა უნდა, როგორც ყველა ისტორიაში, აქაც ვერ ვიქნებით ავტორის ობიექტურობის იმედად (ის ხომ თავად მონაწილეობდა დაპყრობაში და პირადი, მათ შორის ფინანსური, ინტერესები ამოძრავებდა), მაგრამ ასეთ დეტალურ, თანაც "ყოველდღიური" ენით დაწერილ წყაროს რთულად თუ შევხვდებით.
April 9, 2021
Whatever you heard about Cortés in grade school is probably true enough, but wow, the details are amazing.
Sure, Cortés might have been a deceitful, gold-hungry, womanizing, slave-taking, blood-soaked psychopath (and alleged poisoner), but that's part of what makes him a riveting character, because he was also a brilliant and charismatic velvet-glove-over-iron-fist diplomat, a savvy and calculating strategist, and--if Diaz is to be believed--a fervent Christian (lecturing people constantly on the Trinity and reverence for the Virgin Mary) who claimed the locals were the bad guys who needed to quit their human sacrifices, idolatry, cannibalism, robbery, and 'sodomy' ASAP--or at least right after they pointed him toward the gold and helped him get it. And he was certainly among the most audacious leaders in history.
Furthermore, Diaz's history of the conquest of Mexico is as readable as a contemporary novel, and it's just loaded with intriguing tidbits. Well, there are big things like how Cortés scuttles his own ships to ensure there's no going back, or how the governor of Cuba sends a force to reel him in and Cortés takes a break from fighting the locals to fight a force of Spaniards and wins, or how Cortés takes Montezuma prisoner but eventually gets kicked out of the city but eventually comes back for a long, grueling, inch-by-inch conquest wherein people are throwing the heads of Spaniards back at them or sacrificing them on altars within sight as the battle goes on.
But there's also the little stuff, like the guy who has a volcano put on his coat of arms, or the sorceror/astrologer in Cortés's force who has a spirit totem and some weird (possibly sex-related) items on him, or the soldier who farts at Montezuma while guarding him, or all the amazing details about Tenochtitlan (public restrooms, a section of the city set aside for circus performers, Montezuma's zoo, etc.), or the guy who told Cortés he'd been in the Italian campaigns and knew how to build a catapult but in fact built one that fizzled, and so on.
There's plenty to doubt about Diaz's recall and point of view, but as first person historical narratives go, this one's hard to beat.
Sure, Cortés might have been a deceitful, gold-hungry, womanizing, slave-taking, blood-soaked psychopath (and alleged poisoner), but that's part of what makes him a riveting character, because he was also a brilliant and charismatic velvet-glove-over-iron-fist diplomat, a savvy and calculating strategist, and--if Diaz is to be believed--a fervent Christian (lecturing people constantly on the Trinity and reverence for the Virgin Mary) who claimed the locals were the bad guys who needed to quit their human sacrifices, idolatry, cannibalism, robbery, and 'sodomy' ASAP--or at least right after they pointed him toward the gold and helped him get it. And he was certainly among the most audacious leaders in history.
Furthermore, Diaz's history of the conquest of Mexico is as readable as a contemporary novel, and it's just loaded with intriguing tidbits. Well, there are big things like how Cortés scuttles his own ships to ensure there's no going back, or how the governor of Cuba sends a force to reel him in and Cortés takes a break from fighting the locals to fight a force of Spaniards and wins, or how Cortés takes Montezuma prisoner but eventually gets kicked out of the city but eventually comes back for a long, grueling, inch-by-inch conquest wherein people are throwing the heads of Spaniards back at them or sacrificing them on altars within sight as the battle goes on.
But there's also the little stuff, like the guy who has a volcano put on his coat of arms, or the sorceror/astrologer in Cortés's force who has a spirit totem and some weird (possibly sex-related) items on him, or the soldier who farts at Montezuma while guarding him, or all the amazing details about Tenochtitlan (public restrooms, a section of the city set aside for circus performers, Montezuma's zoo, etc.), or the guy who told Cortés he'd been in the Italian campaigns and knew how to build a catapult but in fact built one that fizzled, and so on.
There's plenty to doubt about Diaz's recall and point of view, but as first person historical narratives go, this one's hard to beat.
March 18, 2011
This is a 2-volume English translation of Castillo’s memoirs centered on his years with Cortes’ expedition-invasion of Mexico and Mexico City in the 1519-21 period. Castillo was one of the 550 original conquistadors w/Cortes. In his later years he was an official in Guatemala. Castillo wrote his memoirs beginning in 1568 and he indicates towards the end of the book that he is one of 5 surviving original conquistadors.
The book approaches 1000 pages. It has 213 chapters. I read it on and off over a year on my Kindle, but must admit it was a slog to read (think of a text book). Yet it was amazingly interesting at times – especially describing battles, the way the Mayans sacrificed humans, and how driven for gold they all were. Castillo claims at the end of his book that he fought in over 100 battles. I was too exhausted to have counted, but certainly they had numerous battles with the natives. Castillo is appreciative and respectful of Cortes, but much of the book he tries to point out how important all the soldiers were to the ultimate success of their conquest. He opines they were not rewarded with sufficient land grants, areas to govern (and tax), and Indians (slaves).
I wish I had had two good maps of the relevant region when I read the book. There were so many names of rivers, mountains and towns they went through on the various campaigns that the reader is overwhelmed. One map would be a modern one, and the other from about 1540 of the same area.
The short version story of Cortes is he has been living in Cuba and Hispaniola (i.e., D.R.-Haiti) for about 15 years when he leads a large expedition to explore what is now Mexico. They land at Vera Cruz in the Yucatan. They fight with and then work together with the Mayans, who do not like the Aztecs to the West - who are rich and keep invading them. So, Cortes and most of his men along with many Indians opposed to the Aztecs march to Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) and confront Montezuma. At first all is well and the conquistadors are overwhelmed with the buildings, dikes, temples, gold. Events occur and they are forced to flee barely surviving and rush back to the Yucatan, but not before losing a lot of men and a lot of gold. A couple of years later they return with overwhelming force and take the city.
Tid bits: Generally on their campaigns they were short of food, so they had to scrounge around - beg, borrow, and steal from the natives. As part of the peace making process the natives gave gold, cloth, food, and women! The Spanish had a unique advantage with horses, which terrified and amazed the Indians. Their muskets, cannons, armored vests, steel bladed swords and steel –tipped lances also gave them an advantage. Humans sacrificed by the Indians were taken to the top of pyramid-like temples, and the native priests would pull out the beating heart to offer to the gods. The body was thrown down, and folks would grab and cook parts for dinner. There were a lot of ways to die – infections, TB, venereal disease, malaria, let alone from battles. The conquistadors were very religious – they brought their monks with them. Their goal was to baptize the Indians. They felt compelled and did share about 20% of all gold and treasures with the King of Spain. I was amazed at how litigious the conquistadors and subsequent arrivers to Mexico were over land and control of districts; and, how the Spanish crown sent many accountants and lawyers to help keep order and protect its own.
August 17, 2022
One of the greatest stories in the history of the world!
December 8, 2024
An interesting, readable, reportage account of the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes, written over ten years later by an eye witness to many of exploits of Cortes in conquering the Montezuma’s Aztec empire in 1520.
This book was first published in 1568.
This book was first published in 1568.
January 20, 2017
Escrito por Bernal Díaz del Castillo, uno de los soldados que participó en la conquista de México, “Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España” es una excelente fuente histórica de lo que ocurrió entre 1519 y 1521 cuando Hernán Cortés, desobediendo ordenes superiores, decidió comenzar la conquista de la América continental.
El libro no es fácil de leer, es muy extenso, está escrito en español antiguo y en un estilo pobre que tiende a ser repetitivo. Sin embargo es uno de los pocos libros de historia escrito por alguien que de hecho participó en el desarrollo de los acontecimientos que narra. No solo contiene hechos históricos interesantes y de primera mano, sino que es como una totalidad un libro que vale la pena por los increibles sucesos que narra: el encuentro de dos culturas tan diferentes, la impresión de ambos ante los otros, las dificilísimas condiciones que los españoles hubieron de soportar, su enorme sorpresa al ver por vez primera Tenochtitlan, el increible hecho de que siendo un centenar de hombres con unas decenas de caballos y aún menos armas de fuego hayan logrado derrotar a ejércitos formados por miles de hombres –por supuesto en este aspecto influye la habilidad política de Cortés y las alianzas que logró formar con otras culturas nativas.
Un libro difícil pero que vale la pena.
El libro no es fácil de leer, es muy extenso, está escrito en español antiguo y en un estilo pobre que tiende a ser repetitivo. Sin embargo es uno de los pocos libros de historia escrito por alguien que de hecho participó en el desarrollo de los acontecimientos que narra. No solo contiene hechos históricos interesantes y de primera mano, sino que es como una totalidad un libro que vale la pena por los increibles sucesos que narra: el encuentro de dos culturas tan diferentes, la impresión de ambos ante los otros, las dificilísimas condiciones que los españoles hubieron de soportar, su enorme sorpresa al ver por vez primera Tenochtitlan, el increible hecho de que siendo un centenar de hombres con unas decenas de caballos y aún menos armas de fuego hayan logrado derrotar a ejércitos formados por miles de hombres –por supuesto en este aspecto influye la habilidad política de Cortés y las alianzas que logró formar con otras culturas nativas.
Un libro difícil pero que vale la pena.
November 18, 2021
The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo was first published in 1632, but was written over 3 decades following the events it describes, which begin in the 1520s. Diaz Del Castillo died in 1582.
It is claimed to be a true history, written from the perspective of one who was there, part of the action, as Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors ravaged New Spain, what is now Mexico and parts of South America.
It has been written with incredible attention to detail, although the author admits on several occasions that he can't remember the names of certain people or places. But it is remarkable more for what he remembers than for what he can't quite recall.
He also claims frequently that records and accounts of events published by others are incorrect, driven by self-interest, or deliberately misrepresentative, and that his records of events is a truth that can be relied on.
While this is indeed a fascinating record of historical events, it does become tedious and repetitious, and I admit that I skipped or skim read some of the final chapters because I was getting tired of it.
For this is a record of continuous fighting, of battles between the Spanish invaders, driven by a lust for more gold and other treasures, and the local Indian natives determined to protect their lands and cultures.
Battle after battle is described in fine detail, including numbers killed and wounded, detailing the tactics and brutal practices employed by both sides as they endeavoured to kill each other.
There was also plenty of political conniving by Cortes, trying to woo local Indian chiefs into more peaceful and cooperative (and profitable) arrangements, but negotiations were constantly marred by duplicitous behaviours.
This is a typical tale of colonial conquest, repeated so many times by expansionist nations, mostly Europeans, seeking to expand their empires and their coffers by venturing into the New World to exploit untapped natural and human resources.
The Spanish, driven by greed and a fierce passion for their Catholic monarch, did not respect the peoples of the lands they sought to conquer, mostly brown people, and were only interested in subjugation, exploitation and increasing their personal wealth.
They demeaned local religions and customs, deeming them to be the actions of heathens, and tried to impose their own brand of Christianity onto people they saw as clearly inferior. They killed without compunction or mercy, took slaves for forced labour, including local women as virtual sex slaves.
Diaz Del Castillo presents this record from his perspective as a record of glory on behalf of the Spanish Empire, written with pride about the bravery and successes of the Spanish Conquistadors, but through any modern lens, there is no honour or glory here, only a record of brutality , lust and greed, and shame.
It is claimed to be a true history, written from the perspective of one who was there, part of the action, as Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors ravaged New Spain, what is now Mexico and parts of South America.
It has been written with incredible attention to detail, although the author admits on several occasions that he can't remember the names of certain people or places. But it is remarkable more for what he remembers than for what he can't quite recall.
He also claims frequently that records and accounts of events published by others are incorrect, driven by self-interest, or deliberately misrepresentative, and that his records of events is a truth that can be relied on.
While this is indeed a fascinating record of historical events, it does become tedious and repetitious, and I admit that I skipped or skim read some of the final chapters because I was getting tired of it.
For this is a record of continuous fighting, of battles between the Spanish invaders, driven by a lust for more gold and other treasures, and the local Indian natives determined to protect their lands and cultures.
Battle after battle is described in fine detail, including numbers killed and wounded, detailing the tactics and brutal practices employed by both sides as they endeavoured to kill each other.
There was also plenty of political conniving by Cortes, trying to woo local Indian chiefs into more peaceful and cooperative (and profitable) arrangements, but negotiations were constantly marred by duplicitous behaviours.
This is a typical tale of colonial conquest, repeated so many times by expansionist nations, mostly Europeans, seeking to expand their empires and their coffers by venturing into the New World to exploit untapped natural and human resources.
The Spanish, driven by greed and a fierce passion for their Catholic monarch, did not respect the peoples of the lands they sought to conquer, mostly brown people, and were only interested in subjugation, exploitation and increasing their personal wealth.
They demeaned local religions and customs, deeming them to be the actions of heathens, and tried to impose their own brand of Christianity onto people they saw as clearly inferior. They killed without compunction or mercy, took slaves for forced labour, including local women as virtual sex slaves.
Diaz Del Castillo presents this record from his perspective as a record of glory on behalf of the Spanish Empire, written with pride about the bravery and successes of the Spanish Conquistadors, but through any modern lens, there is no honour or glory here, only a record of brutality , lust and greed, and shame.
March 30, 2013
Wow. This book stands out as one of the most fascinating books that I can think of. The only thing I can fault it for are the doubts about its veracity. It certainly reads like an authentic account, and if it is, what an account. History was never so fascinating. I certainly enjoyed this book far more than A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and it comes across as far more accurate and nuanced.
The characters really come to life in this account. Cortés is captured as a magnificent, though ruthless and duplicitous leader. He was a superb diplomat who fought no more battles than he had to. I was surprised to find myself rooting for the Spanish, despite the many atrocities they committed. They came across as men of their time, certainly guilty of much of what has been accused of them, though they're not the despicable demons that they're often made out to be. Perhaps the best description of their motives is the one Díaz himself uses, "We went there to serve God, and also to get rich"
I think my favourite aspect of the book is the insight into how amazing it must have been to enter Mexico at that time, to be confronted with an Empire great enough to match any in history but to have it be completely new and unknown. I can just imagine how exciting it would be to hear the stories told in person had Díaz returned to Spain and tell the Europeans what amazing sights could be found over the horizon. The other great thing are the little details that Díaz includes that make his story so much richer. The graffiti wars between Cortés and his dissatisfied soldiers, the trip up the volcano, and politics between Cortés and his men and his enemies.
The characters really come to life in this account. Cortés is captured as a magnificent, though ruthless and duplicitous leader. He was a superb diplomat who fought no more battles than he had to. I was surprised to find myself rooting for the Spanish, despite the many atrocities they committed. They came across as men of their time, certainly guilty of much of what has been accused of them, though they're not the despicable demons that they're often made out to be. Perhaps the best description of their motives is the one Díaz himself uses, "We went there to serve God, and also to get rich"
I think my favourite aspect of the book is the insight into how amazing it must have been to enter Mexico at that time, to be confronted with an Empire great enough to match any in history but to have it be completely new and unknown. I can just imagine how exciting it would be to hear the stories told in person had Díaz returned to Spain and tell the Europeans what amazing sights could be found over the horizon. The other great thing are the little details that Díaz includes that make his story so much richer. The graffiti wars between Cortés and his dissatisfied soldiers, the trip up the volcano, and politics between Cortés and his men and his enemies.
December 24, 2024
History as written by the victors. Biased, yes, but an essential lens to understanding one of the most fascinating moments in world history.
March 15, 2024
Although this book took forever to read, I genuinely enjoyed it. I originally had to read it for a class, but I was unable to read it on time and wrote the essay without reading the whole thing. I’m very glad that I went back to finish it. Diaz writes as if he is retelling the story to you by a campfire. There are fun stories sprinkled throughout that keep the story captivating while it drags on slowly to its climax. Reading about all the activities the Teules engaged in with Montezuma while he was in captivity or their encounters with people around the lake was very fun and often made me smile. My boy Cortes is also one the most pious people I have ever read about, always trying to “save” the people by giving them an image of Mary or constantly forgiving people when an ordinary general would have people executed. I highly recommend reading the book just for those small little stories, but also if you enjoy Mexican history. Diaz’ book gives us a glimpse into one of the most interesting events in human history: the conquest of an entire empire by ~500 Spaniards.
June 16, 2018
Escrito varias décadas después de la conquista, siempre ha suscitado la admiración de quienes estiman notable que un Bernal Díaz ya anciano, recuerde tantos detalles con tantos colores. Quizás no lo sea demasiado, pues la gesta que rememora fue lo máximo que logró en su larga vida, y en medio de tantas vicisitudes pudo forjar amistades con los compañeros que lo acompañaron a sus tres incursiones a la conquista de nuestro país, haciéndolos inolvidables, recordando los nombres, patrias, habilidades y fisonomías de algunos cientos de ellos.
Hernán Cortés, personaje vilipendiado, no sé si injustamente, por las mayorías, es aquí reconocido y admirado, como un Capitán de enorme valor, en quien reconozco como principales fortalezas la capacidad de leer y aprovechar las circunstancias de una civilización seguramente incomprensible para el común de los europeos, y por el empuje que tuvo, tal que “en todo trataba de imitar a Alejandro el Macedonio” y aún logró convencer a las voces de la prudencia de seguir adelante. Pese a ello, era pésimo repartiendo botines y Bernal Díaz no deja de recriminárselo.
Alrededor de la mitad del libro, Tenochtitlán cae, luego de tres meses de sitio, en el que los sitiadores eran en realidad los sitiados, superados siempre, quizás 20 a 1, alimentados con no más que quelites, tortillas y chile, y en un terreno que les dificultaba cualquier movimiento. Caída la metrópoli, se desploma también la suerte de Cortés, que en posteriores intentos no logra más que el desastre. Tampoco pudo nunca gobernar el imperio que conquistó, a pesar de asumirse con tal derecho.
Un libro muy ameno, siempre que se trata de expediciones y conquistas, y no de actas, juicios, litigios y testimonios, narrado con la sencillez de un abuelo narrando anécdotas de su juventud. No se permite divagar nunca más de unas pocas líneas, y eso se agradece. La belleza natural de ese territorio prístino no le merece la menor atención, y eso se extraña. Minimiza dolorosamente las masacres de Cholula y del Templo Mayor, y eso se le puede reprochar.
Hernán Cortés, personaje vilipendiado, no sé si injustamente, por las mayorías, es aquí reconocido y admirado, como un Capitán de enorme valor, en quien reconozco como principales fortalezas la capacidad de leer y aprovechar las circunstancias de una civilización seguramente incomprensible para el común de los europeos, y por el empuje que tuvo, tal que “en todo trataba de imitar a Alejandro el Macedonio” y aún logró convencer a las voces de la prudencia de seguir adelante. Pese a ello, era pésimo repartiendo botines y Bernal Díaz no deja de recriminárselo.
Alrededor de la mitad del libro, Tenochtitlán cae, luego de tres meses de sitio, en el que los sitiadores eran en realidad los sitiados, superados siempre, quizás 20 a 1, alimentados con no más que quelites, tortillas y chile, y en un terreno que les dificultaba cualquier movimiento. Caída la metrópoli, se desploma también la suerte de Cortés, que en posteriores intentos no logra más que el desastre. Tampoco pudo nunca gobernar el imperio que conquistó, a pesar de asumirse con tal derecho.
Un libro muy ameno, siempre que se trata de expediciones y conquistas, y no de actas, juicios, litigios y testimonios, narrado con la sencillez de un abuelo narrando anécdotas de su juventud. No se permite divagar nunca más de unas pocas líneas, y eso se agradece. La belleza natural de ese territorio prístino no le merece la menor atención, y eso se extraña. Minimiza dolorosamente las masacres de Cholula y del Templo Mayor, y eso se le puede reprochar.
February 2, 2020
It was amazing to read a first hand account of events that took place 500 years ago (1519-1521). Maudslay included translations of some of Cortez's letters to provide different perspectives of some battles. Those sections did not read as well as Castillo's narrative.
It would seem that "the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico" by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo, was the main source for Hancock's War God trilogy. There was sufficient material that there could have been two more books in the series but perhaps with dwindling sales (despite improved ratings) the sequels have yet to emerge.
The passages on battles and killings went on at such length and even Castillo mentions tiring of telling it as the final fighting went on ninety days and nights. For all the cultural differences between the natives and the Spaniards there were notable similarties in use of war, deceit, recognition for doing well, and treating women as chattel. The Spaniards found it reprehensible that humans should be sacrificed but accepted females as spoils of war.
One can't totally blame attitudes in the European continent as my recent reading of "Istanbul" revealed advances made of treatment of women in the 1400s.
It would seem that "the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico" by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo, was the main source for Hancock's War God trilogy. There was sufficient material that there could have been two more books in the series but perhaps with dwindling sales (despite improved ratings) the sequels have yet to emerge.
The passages on battles and killings went on at such length and even Castillo mentions tiring of telling it as the final fighting went on ninety days and nights. For all the cultural differences between the natives and the Spaniards there were notable similarties in use of war, deceit, recognition for doing well, and treating women as chattel. The Spaniards found it reprehensible that humans should be sacrificed but accepted females as spoils of war.
One can't totally blame attitudes in the European continent as my recent reading of "Istanbul" revealed advances made of treatment of women in the 1400s.
December 9, 2024
Amazing first-hand historical record of expeditions that if written as fictional action/adventure movie screenplay would be laughed out of the producer's office as ridiculously far-fetched (not to say, impossible to film without v.expensive CGI). Impossible to put down, and continuously jaw-dropping.
October 2, 2023
Quite a read, and a brain twister for the politically sensitive. Cortez' old soldier Bernal Díaz wrote up this account of their campaigns against the Aztec empire, in the name of Emperor Charles of Spain - and obviously with a their own state-Christian and colonistic agenda. That part wasn't surprising;in fact a lot of this is just extremelyy tedious recounting of endless battles, skirmishes, casualties, treaties, treks and dealings, plundering and war - repetitious almost ad nauseam. What made it interesting enough to slog through for me was for one thing, a morbid fascination with the bare shameless brutal logic of these martial maneuvres. It's almost like a nearly endless Lord of the Rings battle scene, but for real - and there seems to be, despite my best intentions to sympathize with the indigenous Mexicans, no good side in all of this. The Spaniards are of course after gold and power and slaves, Cortez being a charismatic strategist and a wily manipulative old shit into the bargain. The con act he does on Montezuma should be remembered as a prominent example of purposefully induced Stockholm syndrome. However, it is hard to side with victims here, as the no less martial Mexican empire is also built solidly on a state religion of outright human sacrifice, feudal hierarchy, treachery, slavery and war. I'm aware there's a strong pro-Spanish bent in this account, but cannot seriously consider that Bernal Díaz was in any way motivated to vilify their enemies - the Spanish conquerors were after all acting in the name of God and received official pardons for all sins from the Pope, and were generally celebrated at home, it's not like they needed to falsify Aztec culture to gain any justification for their actions. These chronicles are extremely detailed (though keep apologizing for repetitions, as well as highlighting omissions for lack of remembrance or relevance), and come across as largely factual, with much fascination for the cultures they encounter, details of the ignobilities on the Spanish side - including follies by Cortez himself.
Another highlight is the prominent role of their translators. Cortez manages a whole web of flattery, promises, threats and diplomacy through two translators, who are themselves instrumental in the entire operative project of New Spain. Without creative translators and smallpox, the whole operation would've fizzled out in a flurry of feathers.
To quote the famous words of James Joyce: "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake."
Another highlight is the prominent role of their translators. Cortez manages a whole web of flattery, promises, threats and diplomacy through two translators, who are themselves instrumental in the entire operative project of New Spain. Without creative translators and smallpox, the whole operation would've fizzled out in a flurry of feathers.
To quote the famous words of James Joyce: "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake."
July 18, 2024
Wow! Twenty years in waiting to read this, this chronicle by Bernal Diaz came 40 years after his first-hand, eye witness participation in the first contact with the heavily populated lands from the Yucatan to the Valley of Mexico, Lake Texcoco and the Seven Cities. In this account Diaz in his 70s and 80s recounts the three exploratory voyages, first by Cordoba to Cozumel, then Grijalva to Tabasco, and ending with Cortez’s landing Tonala/San Antonio, contact with Montezuma’s diplomatic outreach, and marching (uninvited) from their first garrison and settlement at Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz to the Valley of Mexico.
What I knew beforehand was that the people of Tenochtitlan where called Mexica, their language was Nahautl, and their political rivals sided with Cortes. Thus, through forces of advantageous weaponry, sheer luck and deceit, the powerful Aztecs under Montezuma were defeated in 1521. However, Bernal Diaz remembrance of his involvement in the adventurous and daring conquest expands a vision of a fearsome adversary far more politically divided, of numerous city states that Cortes’s small force of soldiers, horsemen, crossbowers and musketeers had to subdue against Cempoalo, Tlascala, Chulula, and Texcoco before being able to meet Montezuma. The section on the captivity of Montezuma is the highlight of everything the reader thinks they know being incorrect. The stage for Cortes and Montezuma diplomacy and political maneuvering is central to the narrative, and its detailed elaboration is fascinating.
Diaz at times suggests the conquest by Cortes recall the daring of Paladin Roland, or the level of death following the siege of Tenochtitlan to that of ancient Jerusalem, likening the city’s destruction to that of Troy, or referring to military maneuvers of Roman generals. The exploits of their initial stay in Tenochtitlan, exodus, encircling and siege of the city showcase a level of military genius and incredible finesse that almost, almost cannot be believed. I will be reading Prescott’s The History of the Conquest of Mexico to get yet a more authoritative and corroborated history of this disastrously significant conquest, though Prescott praised the historical quality of Diaz’s narrative.
And here we arrive at how trustworthy the narrative of Bernal Diaz is, even if being far more insightful and experiential than The Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by de las Casas, to whom Diaz comments:
Quite absent in de las Casas are the human sacrifices on the cues by the papas to the teules of those captured in war. Diaz goes on to describe how throughout the Yucatan and into Mexico the heart and blood was delivered on altars to the teules while the arms and legs were eaten. Indeed, one of the major moral claims Diaz makes for the righteousness of the conquest of ‘New Spain’ is the deliverance of the people from their evil ways.
These claims because of their repetitive frequency come to be believed, and certain violent warrior culture beliefs still remain about the human sacrifices. What surprises me is how Diaz describes the cannibalism is a way that de las Casas never even mentions. However, Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe in an adaptive narrative brings forth stories of adventure, failure, success, isolation, survival, redemption and domination of a small island in the Lesser Antilles (near Trinidad) where savage cannibals come to eat the victims captured in their neighborly warring. It seems to me this idea derives from somewhere, and the veracity of its occurrence and the contexts of its practice may be overwhelmingly biased by/based on accounts like Diaz. I am fascinated as to how much the theme of cannibalism is historically inspired and how the the themes of cannibalism were developed by works modeled on Robinson Crusoe: Gulliver’s Travels, Treasure Island, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invention of Morel, The Life of Pi. This is but an aside.
The events of this work are made all the more believable by the characters that inhabit the pages: Hernando Cortes (also Malinche), the native translators Dona Marina and Jeronimo de Aguilar, and the four captains: Pedro de Alvarado, Juan Velasquez de Leon, Diego de Ortaz, and Gonzalo de Sandoval. Not to mention the indigenous leaders of the Tlascala, Montezuma’s widespread kinship, and the last Mexican leader, Guatemoc, who despite the blockade of Tenochtitlan, bravely fought the Spaniards with their alliance of Mexican enemies. This is really an unforgettable story of conquest and war, but also of first contact and the exchange of religious beliefs, tactical warfare, and diplomacy. The subtleties of the narrative make Bernal Diaz a must-read, and so, read it already. I wish I had.
What I knew beforehand was that the people of Tenochtitlan where called Mexica, their language was Nahautl, and their political rivals sided with Cortes. Thus, through forces of advantageous weaponry, sheer luck and deceit, the powerful Aztecs under Montezuma were defeated in 1521. However, Bernal Diaz remembrance of his involvement in the adventurous and daring conquest expands a vision of a fearsome adversary far more politically divided, of numerous city states that Cortes’s small force of soldiers, horsemen, crossbowers and musketeers had to subdue against Cempoalo, Tlascala, Chulula, and Texcoco before being able to meet Montezuma. The section on the captivity of Montezuma is the highlight of everything the reader thinks they know being incorrect. The stage for Cortes and Montezuma diplomacy and political maneuvering is central to the narrative, and its detailed elaboration is fascinating.
Diaz at times suggests the conquest by Cortes recall the daring of Paladin Roland, or the level of death following the siege of Tenochtitlan to that of ancient Jerusalem, likening the city’s destruction to that of Troy, or referring to military maneuvers of Roman generals. The exploits of their initial stay in Tenochtitlan, exodus, encircling and siege of the city showcase a level of military genius and incredible finesse that almost, almost cannot be believed. I will be reading Prescott’s The History of the Conquest of Mexico to get yet a more authoritative and corroborated history of this disastrously significant conquest, though Prescott praised the historical quality of Diaz’s narrative.
And here we arrive at how trustworthy the narrative of Bernal Diaz is, even if being far more insightful and experiential than The Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by de las Casas, to whom Diaz comments:
I think that my readers must have heard enough of this tale of Cholula, and I wish that I were finished with it. But I cannot omit to mention the cages of stout wooden bars that we found in the city, full of men and boys who were being fattened for the sacrifice at which their flesh would be eaten. We destroyed these cages, and Cortes ordered the prisoners who were confined in them to return to their native districts. Then, with threats, he ordered the Caciques and captains and papas of the city to imprison no more Indians in that way and to eat no more human flesh. They promised to obey him. But since they were not kept, of what use were their promises?
Let us anticipate a little and say that these were the great cruelties about which the bishop of Chiapas, Fray Bartolome de las Casas, wrote, and was never tired of talking. He insisted that we punished the Cholulans for no reason at all, or just to amuse ourselves and because we had a fancy to. He writes so persuasively that he would convince anyone who had not witnessed the event, or had no knowledge of it, that these and the other cruelties of which he writes took place as he says, whereas the reverse is true.
Quite absent in de las Casas are the human sacrifices on the cues by the papas to the teules of those captured in war. Diaz goes on to describe how throughout the Yucatan and into Mexico the heart and blood was delivered on altars to the teules while the arms and legs were eaten. Indeed, one of the major moral claims Diaz makes for the righteousness of the conquest of ‘New Spain’ is the deliverance of the people from their evil ways.
Still on his horse, with Doña Marina beside him, Cortes then asked the Caciques why they had turned traitors and decided the night before that they would kill us, seeing that we had done them no harm but had merely warned them against certain things as we had warned every town through which we had passed: against wickedness and human sacrifice, and the worship of idols, and eating their neighbours' flesh, and sodomy. All we had done was to tell them to lead good lives and inform them of certain matters concerning our holy faith, and this without compulsion of any kind.
These claims because of their repetitive frequency come to be believed, and certain violent warrior culture beliefs still remain about the human sacrifices. What surprises me is how Diaz describes the cannibalism is a way that de las Casas never even mentions. However, Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe in an adaptive narrative brings forth stories of adventure, failure, success, isolation, survival, redemption and domination of a small island in the Lesser Antilles (near Trinidad) where savage cannibals come to eat the victims captured in their neighborly warring. It seems to me this idea derives from somewhere, and the veracity of its occurrence and the contexts of its practice may be overwhelmingly biased by/based on accounts like Diaz. I am fascinated as to how much the theme of cannibalism is historically inspired and how the the themes of cannibalism were developed by works modeled on Robinson Crusoe: Gulliver’s Travels, Treasure Island, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invention of Morel, The Life of Pi. This is but an aside.
The events of this work are made all the more believable by the characters that inhabit the pages: Hernando Cortes (also Malinche), the native translators Dona Marina and Jeronimo de Aguilar, and the four captains: Pedro de Alvarado, Juan Velasquez de Leon, Diego de Ortaz, and Gonzalo de Sandoval. Not to mention the indigenous leaders of the Tlascala, Montezuma’s widespread kinship, and the last Mexican leader, Guatemoc, who despite the blockade of Tenochtitlan, bravely fought the Spaniards with their alliance of Mexican enemies. This is really an unforgettable story of conquest and war, but also of first contact and the exchange of religious beliefs, tactical warfare, and diplomacy. The subtleties of the narrative make Bernal Diaz a must-read, and so, read it already. I wish I had.
December 15, 2021
Wow! I expected this to be just another dry history book, but I was wrong.
Living in the USA, specifically in Texas - an area that was explored by Conquistadores and considered to be a part of New Spain - I had been taught about this era in my Texas history classes since the 4th grade. I learned the facts of who had explored here and when, why they explored here (gold and religion), and some of the results of their explorations.
This book brought the dry facts to life. It was written by one of the Conquistadores who actually spent years exploring the area that later became Mexico and Central America with Cordoba, Grijalva, and Cortes. There were so many things that surprised me. For example, I had always thought that the explorers had felt contempt for the indigenous population's intelligence, living conditions, and abilities. But what I read in this book spoke of the author's respect and admiration for the people they found here. He found that they had well-built towns & cities with organized and planned forms of government and religion. They had well-trained armies who fought planned campaigns against the explorers. And they had knowledge of agriculture and food production that went beyond mere hunting and gathering.
I was amazed to read about a culture that was so much more than I had been taught. Yes, what I was taught about the indigenous people was wrong in so many areas. But what I had been taught about the explorers was equally wrong. They did not just step onto shore and immediately subjugate the population. They (at least Cortes' group) did not just run roughshod over an unarmed, unable, and unintelligent group of "savages". Instead, this was a clash of two cultures that could easily have turned out differently. This was an intricate story, not the simple land-grab that I had been taught.
Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a primary source of information about this period of history and I'm sorry that I did not know about him and his book until I turned 65! I trust his story. He was there. He participated. He lived the story. His words gave me a new respect for all the parties involved.
Living in the USA, specifically in Texas - an area that was explored by Conquistadores and considered to be a part of New Spain - I had been taught about this era in my Texas history classes since the 4th grade. I learned the facts of who had explored here and when, why they explored here (gold and religion), and some of the results of their explorations.
This book brought the dry facts to life. It was written by one of the Conquistadores who actually spent years exploring the area that later became Mexico and Central America with Cordoba, Grijalva, and Cortes. There were so many things that surprised me. For example, I had always thought that the explorers had felt contempt for the indigenous population's intelligence, living conditions, and abilities. But what I read in this book spoke of the author's respect and admiration for the people they found here. He found that they had well-built towns & cities with organized and planned forms of government and religion. They had well-trained armies who fought planned campaigns against the explorers. And they had knowledge of agriculture and food production that went beyond mere hunting and gathering.
I was amazed to read about a culture that was so much more than I had been taught. Yes, what I was taught about the indigenous people was wrong in so many areas. But what I had been taught about the explorers was equally wrong. They did not just step onto shore and immediately subjugate the population. They (at least Cortes' group) did not just run roughshod over an unarmed, unable, and unintelligent group of "savages". Instead, this was a clash of two cultures that could easily have turned out differently. This was an intricate story, not the simple land-grab that I had been taught.
Bernal Diaz del Castillo was a primary source of information about this period of history and I'm sorry that I did not know about him and his book until I turned 65! I trust his story. He was there. He participated. He lived the story. His words gave me a new respect for all the parties involved.
October 13, 2020
Apie Tenočtitlano puolimą kone visas žinias iki šiol buvau pasisėmęs iš „Montesumos dukters“. Bet štai kone lygiagrečiai pažiūrėjau ispanų serialą „Hernán" ir perskaičiau Díazo knygą. Ir nors visi jau žinome, kad istoriją rašo visai ne nugalėtojai (che-che), bet čia kaip tik ir turime žvilgsnį iš nugalėtojų varpinės. Ir į tai tenka atsižvelgt. Aš net nekalbu apie visus tuos „mes kovėmės narsiai“, „jie puolė klastingai, niekšiškai“. Tą galima atleisti. Bet filtrą įsijungt reikia. Ypač, kai Bernalis ima operuoti skaičiais. Aš, žinia, ne specialistas, bet kai „mūsų buvo 200, dar 86 raiteliai ir 47 arbaletininkai“, o „meškalių buvo 20 000, o kai Kuautemokas pamatė, kad mes imam viršų, metė prieš mus dar 10 000“... Susimąstai kažkaip.
Ir vis tiek įdomu skaityti liudijimus žmogaus, tiesiogiai dalyvavusio visuose tuose įvykiuose. Tiesa, nuoseklumo jo paties pozicijoje Korteso atžvilgiu pasigedau. Tai liaupsina kaip nežinia ką ir giria, tai pasakoja, kaip Kortesas visus (įskaitant Bernalį) skriaudė, sau nusukdamas didesnę nei sutarta prisiplėšto grobio dalį. Va, kas įdomu – visas tas aukso godulys nemaskuojamas, bet ne todėl, kad Bernalis toks labai sąžiningas, o todėl, kad jis į tai žvelgė natūraliai – tai tarsi savaime suprantama. Ir visi tie „narsūs konkistadoriai“ nuolat tarpusavy riejasi, rezga sąmokslus – toks įspūdis, kad stebi skorpionus stiklainyje.
Už ką Bernalį galima pagirti, tai už šventųjų palikimą ramybėje. Ne vienas jo amžininkas rimtu veidu aprašydavo, kaip mūšio įkarštyje prisijungdavo vienas ar du šventieji, puolę priešus ir perlaužę kovos eigą. Bernalis žinoma, kas tiems laikams natūralu, pamini Švenčiausią Mergelę, kuri jiems padėjo, bet bent jau nepuola jos įvedinėt į patį mūšį.
Apibendrinant – įdomus istorinis tekstas, apkrautas nelabai reikalingomis smulkmenomis. Kita vertus tai ne grožinis kūrinys, o autentiškas laikmečio liudijimas. Ir kaip toks, be abejo, vertas bent jau keturių iš penkių.
Ir vis tiek įdomu skaityti liudijimus žmogaus, tiesiogiai dalyvavusio visuose tuose įvykiuose. Tiesa, nuoseklumo jo paties pozicijoje Korteso atžvilgiu pasigedau. Tai liaupsina kaip nežinia ką ir giria, tai pasakoja, kaip Kortesas visus (įskaitant Bernalį) skriaudė, sau nusukdamas didesnę nei sutarta prisiplėšto grobio dalį. Va, kas įdomu – visas tas aukso godulys nemaskuojamas, bet ne todėl, kad Bernalis toks labai sąžiningas, o todėl, kad jis į tai žvelgė natūraliai – tai tarsi savaime suprantama. Ir visi tie „narsūs konkistadoriai“ nuolat tarpusavy riejasi, rezga sąmokslus – toks įspūdis, kad stebi skorpionus stiklainyje.
Už ką Bernalį galima pagirti, tai už šventųjų palikimą ramybėje. Ne vienas jo amžininkas rimtu veidu aprašydavo, kaip mūšio įkarštyje prisijungdavo vienas ar du šventieji, puolę priešus ir perlaužę kovos eigą. Bernalis žinoma, kas tiems laikams natūralu, pamini Švenčiausią Mergelę, kuri jiems padėjo, bet bent jau nepuola jos įvedinėt į patį mūšį.
Apibendrinant – įdomus istorinis tekstas, apkrautas nelabai reikalingomis smulkmenomis. Kita vertus tai ne grožinis kūrinys, o autentiškas laikmečio liudijimas. Ir kaip toks, be abejo, vertas bent jau keturių iš penkių.
October 20, 2012
De l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace
First, this makes every high fantasy adventure novel out there seem like rather thin gruel. It is easy to imagine it larded with appropriate conversations and lurid description to make it three or four time the size and then selling a gazillion copies as a story of a group of ruthless fantasy adventurers overthrowing an evil empire.
Second, it is lucky Osama bin Laden (I assume) never read it, since it is practically a textbook example of how to go about overthrowing a decadent and evil civilisation. Sure, a technological advantage helps; acts of terror; an unshakeable confidence in the rightness of your cause: but above and beyond this Cortes emerges as a master of the technique of 'divide and conquer', skillfully finding and exploiting the fractures in the Mexican Empire to his own advantage. He has absolutely no compunction against lying to the heathens (or his own men); he is always ready to promise anything to anyone. And, then there is the audacity. Cortes realises that the only way to succeed is to keep moving forward; if for once you hesitate, if for once you let the enemy know your weakness, then you are lost. The only way is onward: attack, attack, attack! Burn the boats, and cast the die, and maybe it is still a one-in-a-million chance that you will be master of the greatest city of a continent, its streets and canals choked with unburied dead; but that is the oly way to have any chance at all. And as Terry Pratchett never tires of telling us, a one-in-a-million chance is practically a certainty.
First, this makes every high fantasy adventure novel out there seem like rather thin gruel. It is easy to imagine it larded with appropriate conversations and lurid description to make it three or four time the size and then selling a gazillion copies as a story of a group of ruthless fantasy adventurers overthrowing an evil empire.
Second, it is lucky Osama bin Laden (I assume) never read it, since it is practically a textbook example of how to go about overthrowing a decadent and evil civilisation. Sure, a technological advantage helps; acts of terror; an unshakeable confidence in the rightness of your cause: but above and beyond this Cortes emerges as a master of the technique of 'divide and conquer', skillfully finding and exploiting the fractures in the Mexican Empire to his own advantage. He has absolutely no compunction against lying to the heathens (or his own men); he is always ready to promise anything to anyone. And, then there is the audacity. Cortes realises that the only way to succeed is to keep moving forward; if for once you hesitate, if for once you let the enemy know your weakness, then you are lost. The only way is onward: attack, attack, attack! Burn the boats, and cast the die, and maybe it is still a one-in-a-million chance that you will be master of the greatest city of a continent, its streets and canals choked with unburied dead; but that is the oly way to have any chance at all. And as Terry Pratchett never tires of telling us, a one-in-a-million chance is practically a certainty.
October 20, 2021
This might be the most remarkable primary source there is.
Bernal Diaz was a conquistador who was present for the entirety of Spain's conquest of Mexico. Uniquely, he left us with a meticulous memoir detailing the experience. It was, to put it mildly, an utterly insane event.
The meeting of two great empires from two sides of the world is noteworthy. The fact that it occurred via a handful of greedy, crazy, bloodthirsty, utterly tenacious adventurers is maybe not surprising. The fact that a handful of these maniacs (with limited information, resources, or even support from Spain) set out to conquer the millions-strong Aztec Empire is pretty wild.
That they then successfully did so is almost beyond belief (a fact that was not lost on either the conquistadors or the Aztecs at the time).
This book is a captivating, stranger-than-fiction story, a psychological study in greed and politics, and an anthropological treasure all in one. It is a must read.
Bernal Diaz was a conquistador who was present for the entirety of Spain's conquest of Mexico. Uniquely, he left us with a meticulous memoir detailing the experience. It was, to put it mildly, an utterly insane event.
The meeting of two great empires from two sides of the world is noteworthy. The fact that it occurred via a handful of greedy, crazy, bloodthirsty, utterly tenacious adventurers is maybe not surprising. The fact that a handful of these maniacs (with limited information, resources, or even support from Spain) set out to conquer the millions-strong Aztec Empire is pretty wild.
That they then successfully did so is almost beyond belief (a fact that was not lost on either the conquistadors or the Aztecs at the time).
This book is a captivating, stranger-than-fiction story, a psychological study in greed and politics, and an anthropological treasure all in one. It is a must read.
September 9, 2008
Anthony read this book in college and recommended it to me. I read it during our flights to and from Iceland - and loved it! It gives a first hand account of Cortes and his conquest over the Aztec empire and the defeat of Montezuma. Translated from the diary of Bernal Diaz - a solider who accompanied Cortes - it creates vivid pictures and insight of the trials and successes of the Spanish.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 377 reviews