Aztec Meets Spanish

The story of the Cortes-Montezuma encounter is one that altered completely the very fabric of life in current-day Mexico. Ask yourself the following questions: what role the nations and characters involved in this event play, and how do we perceive them today? What parts of your previous knowledge of the Cortes-Montezuma encounter were based in myth, and what can be done to dispel misleading myths while acknowledging the shortcomings of any historical perspective?

This paper will begin by looking at the nations who played a prominent role in the Cortes-Montezuma encounter before delving into the events that took place between 1519 and 1521, analyzing them in terms of fact and myth. At the end, we will look at the way that the individuals involved in the encounter shape the way we look at the event in modern times.

The encounter, “vividly described both by the conquistadors and the natives, was something more than a meeting between two expanding nations; it was the meeting of two radically dissimilar cultures, two radically different modes of interpreting existence.

Spain had recently brought the long wars of reconquest against the Moors to a triumphant conclusion and was now the greatest power in Europe. The Aztec state had also reached a climax, and its magnificence was evident in its capital city and its vigorous religious, social, economic and political structure.” (Portilla, vii, xv)

 

Mexico at the Time of Conquest

The ‘Aztec empire’ was set up in less than a century thanks to war and diplomacy, emerging from a confused situation in which the whole centre of the country was divided into numerouslittle independent states like the ancient Greek cities. Each of these states had the same structure of government: a monarch, assisted by one or sometimes several counsels, and surrounded by dignitaries entrusted with military or administrative functions… tribute [was] paid to the monarch by the subject towns.” (Gruzinski 27).

During the “War of the Flowers, power was consolidated in the monarch at the capital city of Tenochtitlan. All of this ultimately led to the fractured empire that Cortes found upon reaching Tlaxcala. Indeed, fractures in the area ran so deep that Tlaxcalan songs written at the time “present the war as a kind of civil or local conflict, between rival city-states within the same ethnic and linguistic area. The Spaniards play important roles, but secondary ones as agents of native ambition…” (7 myths, 46)

The Aztec Empire at the time of conquest was great both in size and beauty. When Cortes arrived in the capital city of Tenochtitlan in 1519, it would have been inhabited by 150,000 to 300,000 people, making it among the largest cities of it’s time. Upon seeing the capital for the first time, Cortes would write,

“The great city of Tenochtitlan is built in the midst of this salt lake… Four causeways lead to it, all made by hand and some twelve feet wide. The city itself is as large as Seville or Cordova… Every kind of merchandise such as may be met with in every land is for sale there… “ (Cortes, 86-89)

Cortes would also write:

“There are a very large number of mosques or dwelling places for idols… Among these temples there is one chief one in particular whose size and magnificence no human tongue could describe…” “Upon this Muteczuma and many of the chief men of the city went with me to remove the idols, cleanse the chapels, and place images of the saints therin, and all with cheerful faces. I forbade them moreover to make human sacrifice to idols” (Cortes, 91)

Click here for more information on Aztec life, religion, and human sacrifice.

 

Spain at the Time of Conquest

“Bright, energetic, intolerant, driven by dreams of faith and unity, but quite alien to the dream of cultural unity, Isabella married king of Aragon, Ferdinand, in 1469… her wedding enabled Spain to unify the medieval kingdoms and bring forward… all the forces furthering order, legality, and unity, at the expense of both feudal power in the countryside and civil power in cities” (Fuentes 80).

Their union allowed for the massive expulsion of Jews known as the Spanish Inquisition, as well as a vicious war against the Moors, Spain’s Muslim population.

When Charles V assumed the throne, it was thanks to Ferdinand and Isabella’s ruthless homogenization that he now “ruled the first and the greatest of all modern empires” (Fuentes 151).

In Spain in the century leading up to the conquest, “new ideas influenced physical reality as much as physical reality influenced the intellectual climate. The so-called discovery of America, whatever one might idealogically think about it, was a great triumph of scientific hypothesis over physical perception” (Fuentes 83).

This did not lessen, however, the violent attacks of the Spanish crown against any and all non-Christians. Indeed, the expulsion of Jews was so significant that “ Spain in effect deprived itself of many of the talents and services it would later sorely need to maintain its imperial structure” (Fuentes 82).

The Encounter

Cortes and his soldiers arrived at Veracruz on Good Friday of 1519. These Conquerors, “bent on glorious conquest were in fact undertaking a dangerous enterprise of dubious legality. Their leader, Hernan Cortes, had defied the orders of his sponsor, Cuban governor Diego Velazquez, and appealed directly to King Charles I of Spain… for recognition as the rightful conqueror of the mainland.”

“Shortly after landing on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in 1519, in a move routinely hailed as bold and brilliant, Cortes burned the ships. Actually, he did not. The ships were scuttled and at least one was merely grounded… The myth of the burning ships not only reflects the existence of numerous little legends within larger myths, but also illustrates how every move of Cortes’s has been taken as indicative of his exceptionality” (Restall 18-19).

The March Inland

Following their sojourn in Vera Cruz, the band of 450 soldiers marched inland At great risk to their livelihood and sponsorship. There they found Tlaxcala, a city-state disgruntled with the Tenochtitlan capital. According to Aztec accounts, the Spaniards were greeted by the Tlaxcalans who, according to the Codex Florentino “paid them great honors, attended to their every want, joined with them as allies, and even gave them their daughters.” (Portilla 39)

From Tlaxcala, the Spanish took their new allies and marched to Cholula. Here, Aztec accounts differ on what lead to the massacre by the Spanish on the Cholultecs.

The Massacre at Cholula

“According to Sahagun’s informants, the massacre was inspired by the intrigues of the Tlaxcaltecas, whose ‘souls burned with hatred for the people of Cholula.’ According to Munoz Camargo,” a mestizo, “the Cholultecas brought their own destruction on themselves by not surrendering to Cortes and by treacherously murdering the envoy from Tlaxcala.” (Portilla 37-38)

According to the Codex Florentino, “The people of Cholula had not foreseen it… The cause of the slaughter was treachery. They died blindly, without knowing why, because of the lies of the Tlaxcaltecas” (Portilla 41).

Exploiting the rifts among the Aztec groups, the Spaniards managed to form a strong band of allies, and “from this time forward, the Spaniards had no other purpose than to raise soldiers against the [Aztecs]” (Portilla 41).

The Meeting On the Causeway

“On the morning of 8 November 1519, on a causeway crossing Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico, a unique encounter in world history occurred. Moctezuma met Cortes…. The meeting was friendly, with both sides keen to display an unswerving commitment to diplomacy. Yet a clash of cultures was also immediately apparent… When the Mexica monarch descended onto the causeway and walked with his entourage towards the Spaniards, Cortes likewise dismounted and approached Moctezuma.’

“At this point accounts diverge a little, but the tension is tangible in all versions. According to Bernal Diaz, ‘Cortes, I think, offered Moctezuma his right hand, but Moctezuma refused it and extended his own.’

“Gomara gloses over the awkward moment by stating simply that, “the two men saluted each other.’

“Cortes makes no mention of hands, but confesses that he “stepped forward to embrace Moctezuma, but the two lords who were with him stopped me with their hands so that I should not touch him.’

“Diaz and Gomara also mention the aborted hug (that would have been, in Mexica eyes, “an indignity,” wrote the former and “a sin” according to the latter)…” (Restall 80).

After this meeting, Moctezuma led the Spaniards around the city, ending at the Royal House. Aztec Codices tell the story this way:“The Spaniards examined everything they saw. They dismounted from their horses, and mounted them again, and dismounted again, so as not to miss anything of importance… When the Spaniards entered the Royal House, they placed Moctezuma under guard and kept him under their vigilance… Then the Spaniards fired one of their cannons, and this caused great confusion in the city. The people scattered in every direction… They were all overcome by terror.” (Portilla 65).

 

According to Bernal Diaz, however, the Spaniards waited several days until Moctezuma announced that his priests had declared that the Spaniards had to leave. Diaz says of this moment,

“Cortes and our Captains felt grief at what he said and were even a good deal disquieted… Cortes replied that he thanked Montezuma sincerely for the warning, and at the present time there were two things that troubled him, one was that he had no vessels to sail… and the other was that Montezuma would be forced to come with us so that our Emperor might see him...” and so the Spaniards “placed a strong Guard over Montezuma” (Castillo 253-254).

The Conquest, however, was not that simple. Following this original imprisonment of Moctezuma, Cortes was forced to leave the city to fight Panfilo de Narvaez, who was coming on orders from the Cuban governor to arrest Cortes for not following orders.

20 days after Cortes left, the Spaniards massacred the Aztecs during their most important religious fiesta; the Aztecs retalliated by laying siege upon the palace.

In “Broken Spears,” the event is described in the following way:

“The Mexicans were enraged because the attack on the captains had been so treacherous: their warriors had been killed without the slightest warning. Now they refused to go away or to put down their arms… ‘The Mexicans kept them under attack for seven days, and for twenty-three days they foiled their attempts to break out” (Portilla 78-80)

Upon Cortes’ return, he found the city in chaos. The battle on the palace raged for another four days, and at some time during the battle, the body of Moctezuma was dragged out of the palace. (Portilla 83).

“It soon became obvious to Cortes that he would have to abandon Tenochtitlan. He withdrew at night, but the retreat was discovered, and the Aztecs avenged themselves for the massacre in the temple patio. They attacked as the Spaniards were fleeing down the … causeway, and the rout was so disastrous that it has been known ever since as ‘la noche triste,’ the night of sorrows.” (Portilla 83-84).

Following the night of sorrows, a plague of smallpox took hold of Tenochtitlan, killing the new Aztec king, Cuauhtemoc, and hundreds of the Tenochtitlan citizens. Meanwhile, the Spaniards re-grouped and came back against Tenochtitlan in full force with a dozen ships and cannons.

Finally, Cortes and his band of soldiers took hold of the city, held its citizens captive, and began a long period of Spanish colonization in what had once been perhaps the greatest empire in Mexico.

Myths of the Encounter

The Myth of Aztec Submission

One issue that continues to be controversial is the search for an explanation as to why the Aztecs were so hospitable to the Spaniards. Often, Moctezuma’s seemingly naïve welcoming of Cortes and ensuing imprisonment is explained by the concept that the Aztecs regarded Cortes as the returning god or priest-king, Quetzalcoatl.

“No evidence has apparently been found,however, to prove the existence of any pre-conquest tradition of Quetzalcoatl leading his followers [east].” It is possible that the stories of a return from the east… sprang up after the conquest… in the 1540s,” the fancy of two Franciscan priests. (MR 106)

Additionally, Cortes’ accounts of the speeches in which Moctezuma declares him a god “are couched in tones quite alien to an Aztec… they subtly combine the themes of the coming of a Messiah and the return of a natural lord to his vassals… It is hard to avoid the impression the Cortes was drawing on all his very considerable reserves of imagination in order to paint for Charles V a solemn and spectacular picture of a scene that may never have occurred.” (MR 106).

 

The Myth Of Words

The way in which the story was passed from place to place and generation to generation let to another misunderstanding. This myth revolves around the very nature of how to define the Cortes-Moctezuma encounter. The title of ‘conquest,’ for example, is the legacy of Spaniards who “consistently presented their deeds and those of their compatriots in terms that prematurely anticipated the completion of Conquest campaigns and imbued Conquest chronicles with an air of inevitability.” (Restall 65)

Indeed, this is not at all the case. “The colonial period of New Spain, while presenting an outward façade of stability most of the time, was in fact rife with hardship rivalries, and conflict. Indigenous groups that had allied with the Spaniards, making the Conquest possible, ultimately received treatment from the conquerors that was no more humane than that which the Spanish accorded the vanquished…” (Restall 65)

 

The Myth of Moctezuma

“The high status of Moctezuma…made [him] unsuited in the long run for the role of puppet [ruler] and condemned [him] to death at the hands of Spaniards. Lesser native rulers, however, were able to negotiate their way out of captivity and execution, or avoid imprisonment altogether, and be confirmed in office by the colonial authorities” (Restall 124).

Moctezuma’s downfall as a result of his power has led to his being a very complicated figure in modern times. “The more that Moctezuma is condemned as ‘timorous and cowardly… the more Cortes seems ‘noble and valiant’ – and by the implication that the appearance, abilities, and actions of the conquistadors inspired natives to take them for gods” (Restall 126).

 

The Myth of Cortes

Cortes is also an equally controversial figure, not only today but in his own time.

Upon return to Spain, Cortes’ letters “so efficiently promoted the Conquest as Cortes’ achievement, and soled so well in at least five languages, that the crown banned the cartas lest the conqueror’s cult status become a political threat.”

Compare this to the man the Bernal Diaz described only a few years earlier, deeply in debt and commanding only in his way with words.

The Aztec account of Cortes from the “Codex Florentino” is equally frightening; their original encounter with the Spaniards is colored by a moment in which Cortes responds to the Aztec welcome gifts by chaining the Aztec messengers and firing cannons to frighten them into submission.

Cortes is even more of a mystery today; he can be seen as a malicious figure, the conniving lawyer who used deception and violence to overthrow a nation, and also as a cunning, intelligent man, fearlessly venturing into the unknown.

 

The Myth of La Malinche

Thought by some to be the most controversial figure involved in the Cortes-Moctezuma encounter, La Malinche or Dona Marina – by her Spanish name – is also the character least mentioned in most Spanish and Aztec accounts. When she is mentioned, it is in passing, as the translator.

The Codex Florentino mentions her for the first time when it says,

“The strangers are accompanied by a woman from this land, who speaks our Nahuatl tongue. She is called La Malinche, and she is from Teticpac. They found her there on the coast…”

Bernal Diaz, on the other hand, describes her not as being ‘found,’ but as a gift from the Tlaxcalans, an enslaved woman who was once the daughter of nobility.

Later in the encounter, there are a number of scenes that begin to reveal the controversy that would continue to surround La Malinche. Aztec codices record the following event that took place after the Spaniards took posession of Moctezuma and the city of Tenochtitlan for the first time:

“La Malinche called the nobles together. She climbed up to the palace roof and cried, ‘Mexicanos, come forward! The Spaniards need your help! Bring them food and pure water. They are tired and hungry; they are almost fainting from exhaustion! Why do you not come forward? Are you angry with them?’

“The Mexicans were too frightened to approach. They were crushed by terror and would not risk coming forward… Yet they did not abandon the Spaniards to hunger and thirst. They brought them whatever they needed, but they shook with fear as they did so” (Portilla 69).

Contrast that once behind-the-scenes, domestic status from then with perceptions of her that exist today: “malinchista” is the word used today in Mexico to describe a national traitor.

The Myth of Truth

When Bernal Diaz encountered the Aztec Empire in 1519, he became speechless. As Restall says in the book “Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest, Diaz’s “struggle to describe what he saw… derived from his shock at realizing that the world was not what he perceived it to be. Just as artists would for centuries draw pre-conquest Tenochtitlan with distinctly European features, so did Diaz try to compare the valley to European cityscapes of his experience, but could not… Cortes was likewise daunted by the challenge of finding a comparable city in the ‘old’ world… the accounts… of what they saw and did in the Americas were inescapably framed by the concepts and language of their own culture…” (Restall xiii-xv)

This struggle, described so concisely by Restall, is really the crux of understanding any cross-cultural encounter. It is important to search for truth, but Restall reminds us that, “In the realm of subjectivity, things can get really interesting. The concepts of a particular culture, the way they are expressed, and the relationship between those words and reality, can lead to genuine insight into an historical phenomenon such as the Spanish Conquest” (Restall xv).