Cortés Faction Contains Reactions, Extends Power: Bernal Díaz: summer 1519

Bernal Díaz did add a couple additional details to his version of the establishment of Vera Cruz. Especially, in the reactions of some of the Velázquez-party loyalists. Díaz begins his chapter xliii this way:

"When those who favored Diego Velázquez saw that we had, in fact, elected Cortés captain general and chief alcade, named the town, the alcaldes, and regidores [municipal officers], and named Pedro de Alvarado as captain, the chief constable, the maestre de campo, and all the others I have said, they were so angry and enraged tha they began to create factions and harmful tales, even saying ugly words against Cortés and those of us who had elected him. They said also that, because all the captains and soldiers who were there were not informed of the election, it was not done properly, that Diego Velázquez did not give Cortés such powers, only power to trade, and we in Cortés's party had our hands full seeing that they should not become more shameless and we would come to arms." [pp. 73-4]

This seems to mean that the loyalists were completely surprised by the affrontery of those usurping the powers that dictated their mission, first of all, and to attest that these usurpers were busy with ensuring more shamelessness than the loyalists could muster. Sound familiar?
A surprise, then a rushed vote, then quick adaptation of new measures setting in motion a new paradigm, a new chain of independent events, a new story, that immediately could only be countered with ad hoc, piecemeal ... defaming stories.
This is how Díaz relates the reaction of those loyalists still operating under the orders of Diego Velázquez.

Díaz adds one other thing to this account. He says that 'we' asked Cortés to order that certain orders of Diego Velázquez be added "...to the authority we had already given him."
And, "... we did this to so His Majesty in Spain would know that everything we did was in his royal service and so they could not bring false accusation against us."
These orders were the ones that had initially gave Cortés permission to 'trade as much as you can' and then to return. He continues:

"It was a very good idea because of the way we were being treated in Castile by don Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, bishop of Burgos and archbishop of Rosano, who we knew for very certain was trying to destroy us."

In a footnote, the translator supplies a brief bio of Bishop Fonseca (1451 - 1524).

"... one of the most powerful and effective of the Spanish Crown's bureaucrats. He organized the Casa de Contración ... responsible for collecting the royal fifth, and established the Royal ... Council of the Indies ... [which] came to oversee all activities of financial importance in the Americas and Asia." [p. 74]

 Velázquez had even tried to secure an alliance with this powerful man through a marriage to his niece, but that did not help him here. More on Fonseca later.

Some of the loyalists had to be arrested and held, but most others decided to stay with the party, according to Díaz. But what Gómara tells of this episode, Díaz asserts was completely wrong.


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All quotes 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

Sanudo Diaries: July 29, 1516: (22: 386-87)

Update!! Tom Tomorrow has Ted Cuccinelli on the case!

Francis I, the new pope says he has no right to judge people who are gay, but doesn't condone female priests , according to Reuters. The regular media in the US ran with and repeated this all day today. Getting states to recognize marriages from other states (NPR four minute audio here) and repealing the Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMA) enacted in state houses across the country becomes the next set of court cases revolving around LGBT rights expansion this year.
Also in Italy, today, there were floods in and around Napoli, a literal train wreck far in the north has injured at least forty, and a court's decision on whether or not to ban Silvio Berlusconi from public office, is due tomorrow. Rough summer without talking about the economy.

In Venice, on this day, in 1516, a bill was announced of a motion the previous night by the Council of Ten. It would pay, for the next eight days, any active agent in the act of sodomy some 300 ducats to also inform against the receiver of such acts. And while doing this they could also be absolved from charges of wrongdoing, if these accusations proved true against the passive partner's submission. This was a further step in the City's acknowledgement of the widespread practice, but was also aimed at gaining complicity from agents of homosexuality against the passive parties, and those recalled for over the last five years. This willingness to go after the passive actors by the state and reward the active agents, all in order to stop the willingness among 'those men', who had submitted to this practice and restore the rightful order of things, seems preposterous today.
Yet they had a different set of basic elements in how they viewed things and had to deal with them than we do. In some ways. Starting with the premise that the guilty parties were the passive parties,  rather than the active ones, the Council had agreed they would pay the 'snitch fee' if the passive accused partners did not themselves have the 300 ducats. Of course this was done at a time of war for Venice and just a year after the creation of the new loan scheme for paying public debt. But in spite of all this, or as they saw it, because there was so much public sin, something had to be done to make real gains against the scourge of passive homosexuals.

Sanudo Diaries: July 29, 1516: (22: 386-87); "This bill was of great importance and gave great attention to the city. When it was announced, I was at Rialto and heard it, and many foreigners laughed about it, saying that the old men have themselves worked over [dicendo li vechii si fano lavorar.] Thus this news will travel all over the world. Nevertheless, the most excellent Council of Ten decided it, so one must obey it and praise it."

Here, our helpful editors explain that it was difficult to certify acts that had been presumed to occur.
Editor's note: "Those involved were divided into the agents, or initiator (agenti), and those who permitted the act upon themselves, the passive parties (pacienti). In 1516 the "agents" were to be induced by promises of absolution and monetary rewards to identify their passive partners which led to some ribald mockery by foreigners in Venice....  Responses to this law did not always lead to conclusive guilt...." [p. 136]

All quotes as Sanudo Diaries or Editor's notes or Editor's Footnotes from 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

The Argument: The 'First Letter' of Cortes: July 1519

Once on the peninsula, the chronicle that the 'First Letter' presents is full of basic falsehoods, lapses and obfuscations, designed to show the best light on, what had become in four months, a pretty bad situation. Apart from the gifts from the locals.
The contacts and skirmishes at Pontonchon and Cintla in March, were glossed over, probably minimizing the dead and wounded on the Spaniard side, while also probably greatly exaggerating the number given of 40,000 locals engaged in combat.
Reassurances gained by any local having been read the requerimiento seem quite a bit exaggerated, at least, as well. But after this, the letter continues, they turned out to have made friends with the locals, then reproving them for their wickedness by planting a cross in the beach, they then sailed away.
It was at the next point in this retelling where locals came and offered to be vassals of and serve the Spaniards. Cortes gave this announcer a shirt, a coat and a gold belt.

Right here, the narrative of this 'First Letter' turns away from encounters with the locals, and sailing, and skirmishes, and begins a different sort of story.

"After this chieftain had taken leave of us and returned much contented to his own house, we in this fleet who were of noble lineage, gentlemen and knights, zealous in the service of God and of Your Royal Highnesses, and most eager to honor the Royal Crown, extend its dominions and increase its revenues, came together and urged the aforementioned captain Fernando Cortes, saying that this land was very good and, to judge by the samples of gold which the chieftain had brought, most wealthy also, and, moreover, that the chieftain and his Indians had shown us great goodwill: for these reasons, therefore, it seemed to us not fitting to Your Majesties' service to carry out the orders which Diego Velazquez had given to Hernando Cortes, which were to trade for as much gold as possible and return with it to the island of Fernandina [Cuba] ...."

The basic thesis is thus plainly lain out. The men of noble lineage on this expedition, claim themselves as 'we', and they 'came together' and, even 'urged' the captain, that the land was good and had gold and it wouldn't be right for it all to go to Diego Velazquez, in Cuba. Instead, the letter says, they preferred a different response.

"... it seemed to all of us better that a town with a court of justice be founded and inhabited in Your Royal Highnesses' name so that in this land also You might have sovereignty as You have in Your other kingdoms and dominions. For once the land has been settled by Spaniards, in addition to increasing Your Royal Highnesses' dominions and revenues, You may be so gracious as to grant favors to us and to the settlers who come in future."

This the letter says was decided and agreed on and then given to the captain as a petition to do the right thing and stop trading with the locals, as they had been, as that, "... to a large extent would destroy the land, which would do Your Majesties much disservice."

This is the basic wedge issue against Velazquez and the basic political argument against him gaining any more sway over Caribbean settlements. Chiefly, it was thought he had squandered a bad situation for himself. Much of Hispaniola and Cuba were already deforested after waves of European profiteers and adventurers and other miscreants had come there in the neearly three decades before. Cortes and others were critical of this method of 'subsistence scavenging' and were certain they knew a better way. But had not yet developed a working example, quite yet.

They also urged their captain, the letter continues, to select alcaldes and regidores for the administration of this new town they had founded. The captain was said to then take a day away for considering these proposals. But then the next day, dramatically came back and said he would show that he served the Royal Highnesses more than anyone and therefore agreed that these proposals would indeed serve the King and Their Royal Highnesses and should be agreed to.

"Therefore, he disregarded his personal interest in continuing trading, by which he had expected to recover his investment and the great expense of fitting out the fleet with Diego Velazquez, but rather set all this aside, and was pleased and willing to do all that we requested, for it would greatly benefit the service of Your Royal Highnesses."

So Cortes got busy, set up the town and appointed its leaders and then received the solemn vow which was customary. Others later disputed the timeliness of all this with most today concluding the discussions likely happened in San Juan de Ulua and the town establishing of Vera Cruz came later.

But they weren't done. According to this same letter the next day these same nobles asked Cortes for the letters that gave him control of this expedition. When they examined them they determined that Cortes was no longer in command and so they felt it best he should be elected as alcalde mayor after listing his skills and place of prominence among them.

They then decided on writing a letter and sending with it all the treasure acquired to prove their loyalty to the Royal Highnesses and also elected a representative to make their petition to the king. These were Alonso Puerto Carrero and Francisco de Montejo who sailed carrying this same letter along with instructions on pleading their case.

After all this comes the promised descriptions of the people and their rites and daily activities, some final words on the character of Diego Velazquez, and then the list of goods and precious items returned to the crown and found in the new lands.



all quotes from pp 24-8 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

The 'First Letter' of Cortes: July 1519

The reasons for a letter were many. The audience and means to get it there were complex. Some had to be convinced and others tricked into allowing what happened to first take place and then allow the letter to act as a counternarrative to the one Cortes assumed the king would have heard by the time he received this one. For now there were introductions that were necessary, a brief history of what had been found and a list of treasure to be sent home. Along the way, Cortes needed a careful persuasion to allow Cortes to look as reasonable as possible in showing a clear way out of the servitude under Diego Velázquez, the governor of Cuba while always seen as the one looking to the interest of God and king, first and foremost. This is how it starts:

"The First Letter Sent to the Queen Doña Juana and to the Emperor, Charles V, Her Son, by the Justiciary and Municipal Council of the Muy Rica Villa de la Vera Cruz on the Tenth Day of July, 1519.

MOST HIGH, MIGHTY AND EXCELLENT PRINCES, MOST CATHOLIC AND POWERFUL KINGS AND SOVEREIGNS:

We have reason to believe that Your Royal Highnesses have been informed, by letters of Diego Velázquez, the admiral's lieutenant in the island of Fernandina (Cuba), of a new land that was discovered in these parts some two years ago more or less, and which was first called Cozumel and later Yucatan, without it being either the one or the other as Your Royal Highness shall see from our report. For the accounts previously made of this land to Your Majesties, as to its wealth, and the way in which it was discovered and other details which have been described, were not, nor could have been true, as in this report we are sending Your Majesties, because until now no one has known any of these things. Here we will treat of the beginning, when it was first discovered, up until its present state, so that your Highnesses may know what land it is, what people live in it, the way in which they live, their rites and ceremonies, religions and customs and what profit Your Highnesses may gain from it, or have already gained; and by whom Your Majesties have been served, so that Your Highnesses may in all things do as You see fit. This very true and trustworthy acount is as follows.

It was some two years ago, more or less, ..."

The history, of Fernando de Cordoba, that of the ambassador Gonzalo de Guzman of Velazquez and the history of the second expedition of Grijalva is described. The letter has Cortes be the next natural leader of an expedition. The participants are not named but instead, a brief overview of the places visited, encounters made, and the peace established on Cozumel is lain out.
After this, the story continues of the landing on Yucatan, the skirmishes, the negotiations, the excahnge of goods, the desire by the men to establish a town. Then the ways these discussions changed and the conclusions were listed: to make a new town, to elect Cortes as captain-general, the desire to do more for God and king.

Then a quick list of things decided by this newly incorporated town and then, a much greater list of treasure that was being sent back to Spain and the king.

This is the framework, a simple outline of this First Letter. Another more descriptive letter has been lost, if it existed. The details of the pleading, the petition for this town and the discussions that led to this decision, and as Cortes approved of them will follow.

catching up, more news late july2013

Lot at 1106 RI in my town is up for sale and has some history.

a post mortem, what happened in Detroit by looking at economics, on planet money, 22 min audio

US House and Senate are looking at reforming housing lending institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So Diane Rhem had a show discussing the mortgage mess, and possible futures, updated summer 2013, 50 min audio

Woman loses all her stuff due to bank error and wrongful confiscation of all her property in her house. The movers showed up, she wasn't home and they took all her stuff away.

How to get rid of student loan debt without paying. This says it's out there.

Today was closing arguments for the defense in the case of Cpl Bradley Manning, #Manning. Kevin Gosztola has the week's story so far.
This nprlink is for the comments that should fill up this weekend and give some idea of the range of opinion.

Paddy Hirsch explains what SAC did as a major hedge fund marketer and why they're being indicted for insider trading. under four min vid.

North Pole seen as a lake summer 2013.

Haliburton pays a $200K fine and pleads guilty to destroying evidence over BP blow-up in the Gulf of Mexico 3 years ago. More from Marketplace who says this means they won't face criminal prosecution.

They had to cancel some of the activities this week surrounding the Festa around St James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain and the annual pilgrimage for the birth of the Saint, as a result of the massive train wreck nearby.

Even the daily show does a bang up job nailing of the big banks. John Oliver explains how they hoard things to artificially inflate prices and their speculations. five min video. Also here by itself in ten minutes.
random comedy from Jimmy Fallon in Thank You Notes, hashtags and hulu this week, thanks to Lorne Michaels and NBC.

Díaz: A Conspiracy, A 'Public' Deception, A Vote and A New Town: late July, 1519

It surely was hot and full of mosquitos that summer for the Europeans on the west coast of Mexico in 1519. At some point they did move from Juan de Ulua to a point farther north where they established an incorporated town and called it Vera Cruz. It was there that many discussions, plans, conclusions, resolutions, and at least one letter were completed, under the guiding and suasion of Cortes.

Bernal Díaz begins chapter xlii of his version of these heady days as someone personally included in the motions of the Cortes camp. A list of people - with Francisco de Montejo specifically singled out as someone who knew what was going on - according to Diaz's recollection was carefully lain out, and shows the people included early on in discussion.

Then, "... one night after midnight," a group of companions including one relation, came to his hut and invited him to go on the rounds with Cortes. But then, after drawing him away,

"Look here, sir, keep secret for awhile what we're going to tell you. It's a serious matter, and the companions in your shelter who are of Diego Velázquez's party don't know about it." [p. 70]

They spoke to him asking if it seemed right that Cortes had been deceiving them all along. In Cuba he said they would do one thing, and now that they were here and saw the riches to be found, Cortes said, they can only trade. But, if we return, they explained to Díaz, to Cuba, now, like some want to, then all the gotten gold will just be given to Velázquez and won't be a help at all.

"Look, sir, you've now come here three times, including this one, using your own assets, going into debt, risking your life so many times with so many wounds. Let's explain to you, sir, why things can't continue this way. There are many of us gentlemen who believe that we are your friends and that this land should be settled in the name of His Majesty and Hernando Cortes in his royal name, while we await the possibility of making this fact known in Castile to our king and lord. Make sure, sir, to cast your vote so that we unanimously elect Cortes as captain, because doing so will serve God and our lord the king." [p. 71]

Díaz could agree that returning to Cuba was a bad idea. And this is pretty remarkable remembering their circumstance. But it is easy to undrestand, since they were in this together and Díaz could agree easily, as one of the group. He trusted his companions as looking out for him. He also agrees with them when he said that "... it would be good to settle the land and that we should elect Cortes as general and justicia mayor until His Majesty ordered otherwise."

Our translator and editor for Díaz's text explains in a footnote that, ".... justicia mayor was the chief administrator of justice in the domain of his jurisdiction with broad responsibility and authority for appointing other administrators of justice and judges." [p.71]

Of course, the partisans and allies of Velázquez did find out and reacted "... with somewhat  insolent words..." and complaining of Cortes "planning tricks". That Velázquez would not approve what he was doing and that they should return to Cuba and desist with the "going around in secret with the soldiers, for we had no provisions, no people, no possibility of settling."

Cortes was not bothered by this and even agreed they should return to Cuba, and the next day they should all go to the ships they had come in and return. Díaz says that those "...in on the agreement ..." then said to Cortes,

"... that it was not good to keep us deceived in this way, that in Cuba he had proclaimed he was coming to settle, but now he is coming to trade. We challenged him on behalf of Our Lord God and His Majesty to settle immediately and do nothing else, because settling was a very great good and service to God and His Majesty. We said many other well-expressed things...." [pp. 71-2]

In the end, according to Díaz, Cortes accepted this,

"... although he made it look as if he took much convincing. As the saying goes, you are begging me but I want it." [p. 72]

There was a vote. Cortes was made captain-general, justicia mayor and was to be granted a fifth of everything found, after the royal fifth to be set aside. The power was granted before a notary named Diego de Godoy. Then they granted the creation of a new town named Villa Rica de la Veracruz. With Díaz mentioning that the Rica was named after what Puertocarrero had said to Cortes about seeing the rich lands and knowing how to conduct himself. Leaders for the new town were elected, though not Gonzalo de Sandoval, as he was too young and had not yet distinguished himself. And also, that Gomara told things backwards.
In the next chapter, Díaz explains the exasperated response by the loyalists to Velázquez. The permutations of these discussions are the ones carefully drawn out and given a different framework in what is called The First Letter of Cortes. A letter that did indeed make it back to the King, after leaving for home July 26, 1519, whose arguments will be soon detailed here.
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All quotes 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

some news late july2013

Talking about food seems always to be about value, substance, nutrition; but the way we talk about these is mostly focused on prices, taste, emotions. Mere parts of the larger supposed understanding of food and our relation to it. The same it seems for politics. Rather than, say talk about duty, honor and security, we focus on prices, party narratives and emotionally driven security-issues. It seems.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and other big banks make money delaying shipment of aluminum for manufacturing cans, raising the price per can in an industry that makes 90 billion cans a year. Chris Hayes explains with Senator Sherrod Brown, 8 min video.

US President Obama made remarks (18 min video) about Florida's Zimmerman case and living with the issue of race in the US. On Wednesday, he talked about the economy. Today TPM's day in 100 seconds catches the soundbits and some reactions, for reference.

Hayes also rebuts a Bill'OReilly expression of how he feels about race issues in the US. five min video. Also, the stop-and-frisk policy in New York City itself stems from the prior presumption of guilt that defines the black and brown experience in the US. discussion in 7 min video

a look at suppressing voters, registration and balloting in North Carolina, from digby

The Hercules oil rig of the Walter Oil&Gas Co, in the Gulf of Mexico blows up, fire consumes more of platform and as yet has not been put out since it was evacuated late Tuesday.

Japan's TEPCO admits to leaking radiation from Fukushima site into Pacific Ocean for last two years. 14 min video .

William and Kate named their first born George after days of anticipation and celebration who becomes next in line to the British Crown. Chris Hayes also, has discussion about wealth, health and gender disparity in the US that is against all our principles of equality before law, as compared to Britain's. 6 min video.

Tom Tomorrow has a different perspective on Security and George Zimmerman.

some news early july2013

Protests and violence continue to mark the fallout over the removal of Egypt's President Morsi last week. Fifty one people killed yesterday in clashes between Morsi's party and others. Some in the US want to criticise the president of the united states (POTUS) for not wanting to call it a military coup because this would require all USAID to Egypt to be cut . But even the POTUS Press Secretary says this could wipe out much of any bargaining  'leverage' the USGOV has with the country. Or at least, the ruling military. So, cynics gotta wag. On the other hand, multiple Al Jazeera staffers in Cairo are resigning in protest to the bureau's coverage, saying it is biased in favor of Morsi's party.

Syrian President Assad announces shake-up of his cabinet. Air strikes on Homs last week show a return of government forces to that city after the opposition took it over a year ago.

The massive and far-reaching scoop for the guardian continues to take up real estate and spread across the globe. Of course it is the story that has spread because the listeners are already virtually there. In addition to France, Germany and the UK (our closest EU allies), also Brasil, the rest of the EU and Latin America all seem up in arms over the surveillance revelations in their respective countries and casting about for ways to make known their displeasure. It is at times like these that US reps always like to remind these allies how much $$ the country gives them in aid and trade. After weeks of airport limbo, Snowden may get to go to Cuba from Moscow and then on to some, as yet undisclosed Latin American country. Are we talking about Surveillance Planet, yet? Ah yes. The FISA court has been working on expanding what they can oversee and granting themselves all sorts of unconstitutional powers in secret. In secret, because nobody would let them do it if they knew what they were doing, except a few in Congress who, conveniently, see less of a need for debate at this late date. But this expansion of definitions, for 'special needs' of the FISA court breaks all kinds of prior precedents in all sorts of ways. Literally non-rational displacement of precedents into entirely different fields for justifications in current activities. What the heck does this mean? This article begins the descent into the rabbit hole. Some are even showing comparisons to the Tudor/Stuart Star Chamber of renaissance Britain with this FISA court. That was a private court held in secret with no witnesses, juries or rights of appeal. Under Henry VIII and Cardinal Wollesley it became a powerful means to destroy political enemies.

The trials of 'Whitey' Bulger and George Zimmerman are interesting in how a state does or does not support the actions of vigilantes. Here is more on the history of Bulger in metro Boston from Fresh Air, 39 min audio.

The media blew their chance at accurately reporting the IRS 'scandal'. So more people are up in arms for the wrong things again.

Catholic bishops say Congress should act quickly on reasserting aspects of 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Pope Francis comes out strongly against wealth disparity, and bourgeois accumulation of goods - like cell phones and flashy cars - saying this kind of culture shows a lack of love amongst clergy.

The Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona that claimed 19 expert firefighters, all volunteers, continues to resound.

The Asiana 777 airliner that crashed into SF airport miraculously had few casualties. Every day, 50,000 flights pass through US airspace.

The train carrying crude oil in Quebec that derailed and crashed into a small town has killed at least 40 and destroyed thirty buildings. Investigations continue.

Military Forces Out Morsi In Egypt, July 3, 2013

Update: Within a few hours, Egypt Pres Morsi was removed to an undisclosed location by the Egyptian military who say there will be an interim Pres appointed and elections to follow. Morsi can even run again if he wants. Hecalls it a military coup, and many have repeated that meme. 

Today seems to be the day when Egypt falls into military rule. I say seems because it is happening within the hour as I type. The BBC says tanks have been rolling out, while the military has called for parliament to be dissolved (yesterday) and the president was given an ultimatum to step down, and Morsi has refused. This of course has followed weeks of protests all over Egypt calling for Egypt's first democratically elected president to resign. It has been called the biggest protest in all world history with as many as seventeen million joining in at one point. Winning the first ever election only by the smallest of margins, just a year ago, his administration has instead been widely seen as driving too hard a mandate in embracing his own party's agenda, and quicker than what is good for the country as a whole. People worry that this is a bad sign for democracy in Egypt. The election was so close and disputed and was followed by days of protests and rioting as well. By 5:00 GMT, the airport has announced a travel ban on President Morsi and chief leaders of his party.

Jordan in the middle of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel with Turkey and Egypt close at hand, is in a tight spot. NPR report 8 min audio

Sec Kerry tried to talk about the Isarael/Palestine conflict for several days last week, but nothing much more than 'optimism' at this point. Whatever that means. Doctors leave Syria which makes the outlook there seem worse than dangerous. NPR 5 min audio

that sidewalk guy in San Diego, CA turns out sensible, case was thrown out

blue sunsets on Mars, Krulwich wonders

Some Code, A Roman Disaster, A Sentence: On Or About July 1, 1499, 1527, 1494

In 1499 tensions with the Turks were on the rise. Andrea Gritti was a merchant for Venice acting as a spy to alert the city as best he could to the activities in Istanbul. Marin Sanudo tells us that Gritti used a kind of code language that would not be understood for what it was even if intercepted by the officials there. It took six weeks to receive a letter from the east and it would confirm the  prior launch of the Turkish armada.

Sanudo Diaries: July 1, 1499 (2:869-70) "After dinner there was a meeting of the Great Council. And a brigantine arrived, so that the entire city was full [of news] that the Turkish armada had set sail because so it was said by the master of the brigantine. Then the doge came up to a meeting with the savi di Collegio, and the letters were read. The truth was seen, and the master was sent for and greatly rebuked by the doge for having spread this falsehood. The master answered that his men on Corfu had told him it was so....
A communication from Andrea Gritti, consigned in Pera, was read. It is dated May 27 and is written in a cipher using a kind of business-transaction language. It states that the [Turkish] armada is assembled and will sail to Corfu within fifteen days and that the land army is organized and will go to Greece; he writes briefly using his code." [p. 233]

The war broke out and Gritti and sixteen others were captured and imprisoned for over two years.
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By 1527 Andrea Gritti would be doge of Venice. In those later days, an even greater turmoil than the Turk had arrived in Italy. Emperor Charles V had lain siege to and then sacked Rome itself. Many were allowed to flee, many Cardinals were killed or captured, held for ransom, robberies, rapes, destruction of holy relics and much else went on for a very long time. Italy was shocked, even terrified to the core. All of Europe shook from the scandalous brutality visited on the Holy See of Peter. In a way it was the biggest story in Italy since the invasion of the Huns or the Goths a thousand years before. So Sanudo gathered as much news as he could about it. This is just one excerpt.

Sanudo Diaries: July 1, 1527 (45:435-36) "Copy of a letter from Rome, sent June 15, 1527, written by a [certain] Vincenzo da Treviso [secretary of the archbishop of Spalato].
... As far as matters in Rome go, everyone has been taken prisoner, ... other convents of Rome [have become] bordellos, and such is the fate of all Roman women; the head of St John has been found in a ditch in the gardens of Sancta Santorum. The heads of St Peter and St Paul have been similarly stripped and ruined; the costume of Our Lady with all the relics has been thrown on the ground; all the silver has been stolen, as has everything else in Rome. All of the account books and registers of the banks have been cut up.... Mass is no longer said, nor are church bells rung in Rome. There is no image of Christ in the churches that has fewer than one or two hundred knife wounds, and St Peter's sarcophagus and the case containing Veronica's veil have been smashed. I would not be capable of recounting to you the cruelties that have been committed and are being committed in Rome." [pp 185-6]


All above quotes from 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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In concluding the case against Marina González in Toledo, sentence was handed down on June 30, 1494, as follows:

"HOLDING GOD BEFORE OUR EYES

We find that we must pronounce and declare that the chief prosecutor's intention has been well proven, while the party of Marina González has not proven anything useful. Therefore, we must declare her a relapsed heretic and an apostate. She has incurred a sentence of major excommunication, and the confiscation and loss of all her possessions. We must relax her to justice and the secular arm, and we declare our judgment through these writings.

This judgment was given in Toledo, June 30, 1494, by the lord inquisitors in the Plaza de Zocodover in that city, acting as the tribunal, while standing on a wooden scaffold; this judgment was read in a loud voice in the presence of  Marina González. Juan de Sepúlveda and Nicolas Fernández, canons of Toledo, were witnesses, as were the doctor of Canisales, and the magistrate Francisco de Vargas (treasurer of their Highnesses), and many other noblemen."

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quotes entirely from The Spanish Inquisition 1478-1614: An Anthology of Sources, edited and translated by Lu Ann Homza, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2006