Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Cortes Weighs Options: Tlaxcala, 1519

There is much more in Bernal Diaz concerning the negotiations and actions with the Tlaxcala and their various forces, than Cortes spends dwelling on them. In Diaz, a trip to a nearby town is completed [ch 68] to quell disturbances and make allies. Cortes doesn't tell that story. Diaz also gives a long telling [chs. 70-71] of the Tlaxcala who came to spy on the europeans, to see what they ate, how they acted with women, whether they received feathers as sacrificial items, as they thought teules would receive them. This is where Diaz concludes that the story of the spies being mutilated and sent back was the ultimate reason that the younger Xicotencatl of the Tlaxcalans finally agreed to ask for peace.

After the conclusion of this story, Cortes, in his second letter, explains how he dealt with those in the camp who no longer wished to advance into the Mexica interior. The men were frightened, many had perished. Still more suffered from their wounds, were claimed by fever or, saw little benefit in trusting the locals either, in front of, or behind them. Cortes argued there could be no turning back. They had a duty to the King, to God, to themselves and each other. They had promised their new allies, the Cempoala and now the Tlaxcala, that they would fight the tyranny of Motecuhzoma for them, with them, and free them from their servitude. If they turned back now, they would make enemies of their new-found friends. And that would be their end. Further, he argued, they should depend on their faith in God to carry the message of Christ and the love of God, converting the locals and spreading the word of God to all, and this would sustain them, or at least, grant them benefits in heaven aplenty. This was persuasive enough. Diaz said they enetered the city of Tlaxcala at last, on September 23, 1519.

The story of this potential mutiny instead, is told very plainly, yet heartfelt, in the account of Cortes and is then  followed by petitions from the locals for peace. But maybe these were different locals. There is a paucity of names in Cortes when referencing the many factions and groups of the locals. At one point he does seem to recognise there were differnt groups headed by different chiefs among the Tlaxcala but he doesn't seem to understand the sharing of power among their chiefs either. His brief descriptions show local chieftains petitioning him, seeking his approval, in group after group.

When finally in Tlaxcala, Cortes says 'messengers from Montezuma' were following him around all the time, advising, and observing. These Mexica had returned and spoken directly to Cortes offering much gold and silver, stating that their capital was far away and inaccessible. Cortes, Anthony Pagden tells us did not take their advice at face value, at all. He also still maintains that leaders of the Cempoala and now, the Tlaxcala remained as chief advisors, calling them friends.
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All  mention of chapter sources from Bernal Díaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012

All other material not listed as from Diaz from, the Second Letter, pp. 63-7 of 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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