There were several stories of the Mexica during the siege of Tenochtitlan. How they would run away zig-zag when they found the direction that iron bolts from crossbows were fired. They told of the walls they would build and then climb on rooftops behind the walls to better use the higher ground for their arrows and take better aim from above. Most citizens fled to the north of the city complex avoiding the direct assault in the south. And there were those Tlatelolcas in the north that came down to the front of the attacks. Miguel Leon-Portilla our translator and editor for the Codex Florentinus tells us that most of Sahagùn's storytellers - where we get these details - were locals of Tlatelolco. They fought the Spaniards near where Motecuhzoma's palace was, they fought them at the Eagle Gate, they fought them again at Huitzillan. Bernal Diaz talks about all this in his chs 150+.
from The Broken Spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico, translated, edited with an introduction by Miguel León-Portilla, expanded and with a postscript, Beacon Press, 2006.
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There was the discussion of steel bolts as crossbow ammunition during the Spanish conquest (in the Valley of Mexico in particular), by Matt Restall in his Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. The cannons could and did destroy a lot, but it was the ripping of human flesh by steel, whether bolts or swords - and so quickly - that was to so decisively decimate those still left for the fighting.
from pp 142-7, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall, New York, Oxford University Press Inc., 2004
Marin Sanudo, May 16, 1505 (6:165-75), gives a marvelous description of the reception by Pope Julius - formerly Giuliano della Rovere - and of a tour at the Vatican, for a Venetian ambassador. There was a reception and a dinner, a grand tour of so many rooms and finery. The dinner after, with so many courses of so many kinds of food alone, is really marvelous. Sanudo quotes it all as written by Reynero di Fideli.
from pp. 167-72, Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll, editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008
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A brief summary of the basic nature and kinds of change for the German Diet that ocurred under Emperors Frederick and Maximillian in the period is due. It should be two-parts. Now I want more details about the Diet called for 1495.
Also on or near May 20, 1495, the French King Charles VIII decided it was time to leave Naples. Satisfied he could do all he could by taking the city (late in February) - the wags said he waited til his book full of portraits of local courtesans was filled - preparations were completed and the French army began returning north. Francesco Guicciardini has many details including many leading to the Battle of Fornovo in July.
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