"... an exalted view of the royal service, and of Castile's divinely appointed mission. Both the divine and the royal favor would shine on those who cast down idols, extirpated pagan superstitions, and won new lands and peoples for God and Castile. But there was a wrong way, as well as a right way.... Cortés had seen with his own eyes how captains and soldiers whose sole concern was the quest for gold and the capture of slaves and booty had destroyed the islands and peoples discovered by Columbus only a generation ago. The extension to the New World of a style of warfare reminiscent of the war against the Moors in medieval Spain had made a desert of a paradise and had left even the Spaniards themselves shiftless and discontented.... [spoke to] the lesson already learned by Cortés -- that conquest, to achieve any long-term success, required intelligent colonization." [p xvii]
But Cortés knew this wasn't his charge. He was supposed to explore, trade and find out if there were any survivors from Grijalva's expedition of the year before in the Yucatan, at most. Yes, Velázquez had rescinded that order to explore and trade and Cortés had left anyway. But it seems, Cortés figured that, if he came back with more than was expected and made his own petition to the king, that perhaps his plea to settle and colonize could be granted, in effect, over the heads of the ministers, his direct bosses, in Cuba. It was a big gamble, especially since there were many who went with Cortés that remained loyal to Velászquez and were keeping an eye on not just Cortés, but also, any way they might be able to better secure a future for themselves.
When Velázquez realized that Cortés had left with all these men and ships, a dispatch was sent to Spain to explain to the new king how Cortés had resorted to treachery and treason and that sadly he could no longer be trusted. After all, Velázquez sought these lands for his own colonization. Indeed, not only had he petitioned the local representatives of the king, the Hieronymous governors of Hispaniola, but now had sent agents back to Spain and could depend on the influential bishop of Burgos Juan de Fonseca, his wife's uncle and formerly, the councillor responsible for the Indies under the former monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella.
So it was understood that Velázquez was well connected and was going through the steps of ensuring his future preeminence. But so were all the other Spaniards there in the Caribbean.
Dr Elliott says that as soon as Cortes knew of the very existence of Moctezuma, a single, solitary leader of this entire region of Mesoamerica, he knew he had to capture that man and get him to 'acknowledge the superiority' of the king of Spain. [p. xii] All else would follow from this, he hoped. So he had to make his efforts both real and symbolic, to win by force of arms, deception, the projection of power and, in time, persuasion: in the jungles; among his compatriots that he fought with, directed and punished, in turn; among the pagan natives that none of them understood; as well as with the agents and councillors at court back in Spain.
Cortés says he wrote a letter detailing the break from Cuba and Velázquez, the first tentative approaches in Yucatan and then, the establishment of the Vera Cruz settlement. His claim was that the men under him demanded they establish this settlement. He knew it was in contravention to orders from Cuba but as he also rightly guessed, a king might know a bit about the necessity of keeping underlings happy. As J.H. Elliott says,
"It was the soldiers, eager to convert a trading expedition into a military and colonizing enterprise, who had demanded a change of plan; and Cortés, after due deliberation, had accepted their demand as conducive to the royal interest." [p. xxi]
But we don't know exactly what Cortés wrote when he arrived in Mexico, if indeed he did, as that letter has never been found. What we do have is a letter from 'the municipal council of Veracruz', newly established and sent from there in July 1519 along with Cortés' agents to plead his case back in Spain. This is the letter, frequently called the 'First' letter of Cortés and which, Dr Elliott tells us should be read not as history,
"... but as a brilliant piece of special pleading, designed to justify an act of rebellion and to press the claims of Cortés against those of the governor of Cuba." [p. xx]
So in this crucial period when Cortés had to act fast and accomplish much in a short time and against all the rules, for God and king, he also had to set his mind to how best to make his case to the young Flemish king that he didn't know, half a world away.
All quotes from the Introductory Essay of J.H. Elliott, ""Cortés, Velázquez and Charles V", printed in Hernán Cortés: Letters From Mexico, translated, edited and with a new intro by Anthony Pagden, as a Yale Nota Bene book, Yale University Press, USA 2001
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