"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.
_________________________________________________
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
No comments:
Post a Comment