Louis XII of France died in the night of 31 December, 1514. He was succeeded by his cousin and son-in-law, Francis of Valois who in September 1515, turned 21. Although Venice had been both opponents and allies with France in the previous decade, a new treaty was struck with the new king Francis June 27, 1515 and the young king set off for Italy to retake his inherited Duchy of Milan, and whoever else might come pay their respects. The Swiss had taken Milan a couple years before and young Francis was anxious to prove his mettle in battle. It was customary, by now for states to send a welcoming committee for dignitaries and royalty, if such important personages were not coming to visit the city directly. These get togethers could be very expensive and the least little thing could set off a young royal. It would be necessary to send the most trusted, gentile diplomats along with an abundance of servants. A note by Sanudo shows the city's careful response. [p. 188]
Sanudo Diaries: August 30, 1515 (20:495); "A bill was posted by the aforementioned savi to the effect that given His Most Christian Majesty's journey to this side of the mountains [the Alps], four ambassadors should now be elected from among the leaders of this city to honor His Excellency, from every governorship and current office ... and that they should each take thirty horses, as well as a secretary, an assistant, a manservant, and four attendants, at the expense of our Signoria. Each one is to be given thirty ductas for baggage, strongboxes, etc., as specified in the bill, which passsed."
Apparently, when they would meet, the dignitaries were expected to offer to help the king in his fight against the Swiss, that is, the emperor's forces, and they expected to be paid for the services up front. The horses were commonly needed for communications back and forth, a quick solution to a constant problem.
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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
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Friday, August 30, 2013
Diaz Recounts: The How and Why of the Scuttling of Ships, Veracruz, summer 1519
There were a number of disagreements and contrary views expressed within the european camp since they first made land in Cozumel. There were disagreements about food and the selling of found gold for food and at one point, Cortes had agreed that those who wanted to leave could do so. But at a certain point, Cortes had decided that some of them were acting in open rebellion to his command and must be punished for it. Some were executed and others suffered other deforming penalties, and then Cortes felt it necessary to make a return impossible for those who could not be otherwise dissuaded. This all happened, according to Diaz, before they set off farther inland and over the mtns to Tlaxcala.
On the way to Cingapacinga, Diaz tells us, Cortes sent messengers to order some of the men left back at Vera Cruz, with the boats, to come and aid their compatriots. On advice of the new friends from Cempoala, the lead group of Cortes with '400 men, fourteen horsemen and crossbowmen' had gone to resolve the issues between the Cempoala and Cingapacingans.
When the messengers arrived, some back at camp had decided they were leaving and returning to their own farms in Cuba. They 'haughtily' complained that, they had lost already, that setting out was enough, and that Cortes had promised them 'on the sandy beaches' that they could return if they wanted to. Of course he had.
But then, of course, some of the men, says Diaz, including alcaldes and regidores went to Cortes to demand that no one be allowed to leave this country for,
This all happened in chapter l (50) of Diaz.
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Later, after returning from Cingapacinga and Cempoala and after word from Spain was received, after the new town was founded and officials appointed, and four days after the letters sent with the representatives to Spain, some were still 'poorly disposed toward Cortes'. Some because he would not let them leave, some because he did not give them share of the gold that had gone to Spain and some, were still upset for the beatings they got for stealing salt pork on Cozumel. Some of them had loaded a small ship and loaded it with provisions and were set on leaving to try to intercept the ship full of gold, to tell Velazquez of Cortes' intentions upon their return to Cuba. But the night before, one of their number, Bernardino de Coria, 'seems to have repented', says Diaz, and informed Cortes.
Cortes ordered that the sails, compass and rudder be removed from the ship and that those men be taken prisoner and confess to him. They did and 'denounced others who were with us', though Cortes 'concealed this, because of the conditions, which permitted nothing else'. [p. 103]
On the way to Cingapacinga, Diaz tells us, Cortes sent messengers to order some of the men left back at Vera Cruz, with the boats, to come and aid their compatriots. On advice of the new friends from Cempoala, the lead group of Cortes with '400 men, fourteen horsemen and crossbowmen' had gone to resolve the issues between the Cempoala and Cingapacingans.
When the messengers arrived, some back at camp had decided they were leaving and returning to their own farms in Cuba. They 'haughtily' complained that, they had lost already, that setting out was enough, and that Cortes had promised them 'on the sandy beaches' that they could return if they wanted to. Of course he had.
"... seven soldiers were ready to return to Cuba. When Cortes learned this, he sent for them, and when he asked why they were doing such an ugly thing, they replied somewhat angrily that they were amazed that with so few soldiers he wanted to settle where there were known to be thousands of Indians and large settlements, that they were sick and fed up with going from place to place, and they wanted to return to Cuba to their homes and estates. They told him he should give them permission immediately, as he had promised. Cortes replied gently that it was true he promised what they said, but they were not doing the right thing in deserting the flag of their captain. He then ordered them to embark without delay, and he indicated a ship and ordered that they be given cassava, a jar of oil, and other vegetables and provisions...." [pp. 89-90]
But then, of course, some of the men, says Diaz, including alcaldes and regidores went to Cortes to demand that no one be allowed to leave this country for,
"... what was required for the service of Our Lord God and His Majesty, and anyone who requested such permission deserved the penalty of death according to the laws of the military, because such a man would be leaving his captain and flag abandoned in war and danger.... Cortes acted as though he wanted to give permission, but in the end he revoked it; they were left cheated and even put to shame."
This all happened in chapter l (50) of Diaz.
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Later, after returning from Cingapacinga and Cempoala and after word from Spain was received, after the new town was founded and officials appointed, and four days after the letters sent with the representatives to Spain, some were still 'poorly disposed toward Cortes'. Some because he would not let them leave, some because he did not give them share of the gold that had gone to Spain and some, were still upset for the beatings they got for stealing salt pork on Cozumel. Some of them had loaded a small ship and loaded it with provisions and were set on leaving to try to intercept the ship full of gold, to tell Velazquez of Cortes' intentions upon their return to Cuba. But the night before, one of their number, Bernardino de Coria, 'seems to have repented', says Diaz, and informed Cortes.
Cortes ordered that the sails, compass and rudder be removed from the ship and that those men be taken prisoner and confess to him. They did and 'denounced others who were with us', though Cortes 'concealed this, because of the conditions, which permitted nothing else'. [p. 103]
"By judicial sentence he ordered that Pedro Escudero and Juan Cermeño be hanged, the feet of the pilot Gonzalo de Umbria be cut off, the sailors Penates whipped, each two hundred lashes..."and apparently, 'inspred some fear' in Father Juan Diaz, as well. The report of Diaz on this matter closes with the image of Cortes signing the death warrants with sighs and lamentations wishing that he could not write, rather than have to sign for the death of men. Then they returned to Cempoala. Diaz also points out that Pedro de Alvarado was not present 'to see this justice done'.
This happened [pp. 103-4] in chapter lvii (57) of Diaz.
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It was in Cempoala, Diaz says, that many men came to Cortes and asked him to scuttle the ships so that no one might be tempted to rise up as had happened in the past. This would also, they argued, free up all the sailors and pilots, about a hundred men to go with them westward. Diaz plainly states that Cortes had already decided this but wanted the idea to come from the men, so if he were sued for the destruction of the ships, then the cost would come from all the men and not just him. The men were making a compact with Cortes, so that if they failed, they all would pay, even for the destruction of ships that brought them there. Cortes seems quite the master manipulator, cutting off all means of escape and requiring 'conspirators' to also pay if they all ended in failure. These are still tactics used in abusive and unequal relationships.
One Juan de Escalante, chief constable was sent to the port with the ships to ensure 'all anchors, cables, sails... and anything useful' be taken and removed from the ships and put under guard. He also was to bring the sailros and pilots who could fight inland, leaving the rest to guard the town in the event that more soldiers came from Cuba and, to fish. When Escalante arrived, Cortes introduced him to the local chieftains in Cempoala and told them, 'This is my brother'. They should help build the town of Veracruz and do whatever Escalante asked them to and if they needed help, he would come and help them personally. Here, again, Diaz counters what Gomara had told in his account. This is how Diaz ends his chapter lviii (58).
After this, in chapter lix, still in Cempoala, Cortes gives the men a 'good talk', explaining they no longer had anything to depend on to keep them going farther, but each other, and their faith in God. That this place here was like the Rubicon that Caesar hesitated before crossing, knowing that now there was no turning back. [p.106]
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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
Monday, August 26, 2013
longer reads, some analysis, late august 2013
An assortment of long or multiple-piece views, takeaways, analysis, reporting on Mexico, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia.
on the media, 23aug13, the whole show this week was great and really important, 50 min audio
transcript of Sec Kerry's strongly worded statement after going to Syria and seeing evidence of a rocket-sent nerve gas attack there, 26aug13. So everyone says there will be some war, some military response. Even the Russians said they would talk about appropriate responses.
a couple weeks ago, from the nyrb came a look at the refugee problem in Lebanon, in the wake of the war in Syria,
Over 40 killed across Iraq this weekend, following over 1000 killed in July there as a result of increasing Sunni and Shi'a attacks in car bombs, roadside explosives, snipers.
longer Portrait of Ali Khamenei in Foreign Affairs
Pervez Musharraf on trial for killing one of his rivals for office, Benazir Bhutto in late 2007
How China is looking at resource rich Central Asia these days
on the media, 23aug13, the whole show this week was great and really important, 50 min audio
transcript of Sec Kerry's strongly worded statement after going to Syria and seeing evidence of a rocket-sent nerve gas attack there, 26aug13. So everyone says there will be some war, some military response. Even the Russians said they would talk about appropriate responses.
a couple weeks ago, from the nyrb came a look at the refugee problem in Lebanon, in the wake of the war in Syria,
Over 40 killed across Iraq this weekend, following over 1000 killed in July there as a result of increasing Sunni and Shi'a attacks in car bombs, roadside explosives, snipers.
longer Portrait of Ali Khamenei in Foreign Affairs
Pervez Musharraf on trial for killing one of his rivals for office, Benazir Bhutto in late 2007
How China is looking at resource rich Central Asia these days
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Whose Idea Was This: The First Letter Returns To Spain: After Veracruz
The letter that is called the First Letter of Cortes, sent according to Diaz on July 26, 1519 to be delivered to the crown in Spain, making requests to settle along the Mexican coast, first had to get there and be received. That they were sent was one thing. That they were sent with a representative that could be trusted, another thing. That this representative would then be accepted, letter received and then heard or read by the king and his ministers, still more improbable. That all that did in fact was known to happen, that Diaz was able to relate and put the story of this trans-Atlantic communication into a - more or less - concurrent part of his larger story, was certainly helped because he wrote this account nearly forty years later.
Perhaps this is why in Diaz that we get this story, spread out as it is and with certain elements of it repeated. At one point he says,
For when they arrived, a ship had come from Cuba, says Diaz, bearing news from Spain, that Diego Velazquez had been granted the right to settle and colonize these lands. This was the news he says, that got them all talking, and the Velazquez loyalists excited, and the escalation of factions occurred.
Yet, because of the way the story is told there seems not only a catch-22 for the Velazquez loyalists - who in fact began to lose their bargaining power as a result of this info - but also, one finds, a series of (I don't know what else to call them but) prior sine qua non intentions, set up to justify what was about to happen. That is, if you set out to find out what caused this, you find yourself thinking it was probably Cortes' idea but, yet, he had said it was the men's idea, in that first letter. On the other hand, Diaz said it was both the men's idea and Cortes' actions blaming it on the men, but that was his idea, too. Without Cortes the men would not and without the men, Cortes would not have gone through what was to follow. That is the story they both told, with these very accounts.
And the time these things occurred happened in different contexts, as well. The talks were after they had resolved issues with the locals, they were after they received rich gifts from the Mexica, they were after the letter and captains from Cuba arrived, they were after other disturbances brought up by the Velazquez loyalists. Probably there was a bit of all this and maybe it's just partly how Diaz remembered it, in bits and pieces. Still, the causality question remains unanswerable in just such a way that makes it more compelling, in the telling, too.
In this most recent version, then [chp liii], it should be mentioned that the two representatives to be sent, 'men of business' Diaz reminds, went around and got the members to sign and affirm that they wanted to give their portion of gold that had been found so far, to the King, rather than keep it for themselves. This went in the First Letter, according to Diaz, along with the mention of Cortes being voted as their chief, and that Cortes too, wrote a letter, 'an honest report, but they had not seen it' and then that this all went, intended for Spain. Pilots were chosen to steer the ship 'through the Bahamas' and thus avoid Cuba and Velazquez.
But, instead, word was spread on Cuba before the letter and representatives of this Cortes faction, went to Spain. Francisco de Montejo insisted they stop at his farm there. Puertocarrero had got sick and more provisions were needed, Meanwhile, on Cuba, a sailor went from town to town telling everyone, Diaz says, what the company with Cortes were doing in Newest Spain and that the sailor had been sent by Montejo. [chp liv]
Velazquez was furious, blamed the man who had encouraged him to let Cortes go in the first place, and ordered two ships to head these messengers off when they reached the Bahamas and also, all the gold they were carrying back to Spain. But when they got there, these were told the ship had already sailed through the sandy shoals and was on its way.
Diaz in his chapter lvi says, that the ship with the gold, and the First Letter, and the representatives of the Cortes faction, did arrive in Valladolid. But the king of Spain had recently been made emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and was in Flanders learning what was needed to become one. This meant the Bishop of Burgos, who Cortes thought was more friendly to Velazquez was in charge, as president of the Indies. A position he profited from. Sharp words passed between the Bishop and the representatives of Cortes, Diaz assures us. In the end the emperor heard about the gold and gave his permission, but that came much later. And of course, much else would happen in the meantime.
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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
Perhaps this is why in Diaz that we get this story, spread out as it is and with certain elements of it repeated. At one point he says,
"... do not find me guilty because I leave something and wander off the course of events to talk about what happens further on." [p. 102]In the First Letter of Cortes, a certain rationale of intent, an argument is offered for the establishment of a settlement and colony in what would be called New Spain. Diaz offers the same rationale when he claims in his chapter xlii that the men wanted nothing else than to settle immediately and begin to work exclusively for God, and king, and themselves, rather than anyone else. It is only later, in chapter liii, that this discussion is mentioned to have occcurred later, after returning from resolving the issues in Cempoala and Cingapacinga.
For when they arrived, a ship had come from Cuba, says Diaz, bearing news from Spain, that Diego Velazquez had been granted the right to settle and colonize these lands. This was the news he says, that got them all talking, and the Velazquez loyalists excited, and the escalation of factions occurred.
Yet, because of the way the story is told there seems not only a catch-22 for the Velazquez loyalists - who in fact began to lose their bargaining power as a result of this info - but also, one finds, a series of (I don't know what else to call them but) prior sine qua non intentions, set up to justify what was about to happen. That is, if you set out to find out what caused this, you find yourself thinking it was probably Cortes' idea but, yet, he had said it was the men's idea, in that first letter. On the other hand, Diaz said it was both the men's idea and Cortes' actions blaming it on the men, but that was his idea, too. Without Cortes the men would not and without the men, Cortes would not have gone through what was to follow. That is the story they both told, with these very accounts.
And the time these things occurred happened in different contexts, as well. The talks were after they had resolved issues with the locals, they were after they received rich gifts from the Mexica, they were after the letter and captains from Cuba arrived, they were after other disturbances brought up by the Velazquez loyalists. Probably there was a bit of all this and maybe it's just partly how Diaz remembered it, in bits and pieces. Still, the causality question remains unanswerable in just such a way that makes it more compelling, in the telling, too.
In this most recent version, then [chp liii], it should be mentioned that the two representatives to be sent, 'men of business' Diaz reminds, went around and got the members to sign and affirm that they wanted to give their portion of gold that had been found so far, to the King, rather than keep it for themselves. This went in the First Letter, according to Diaz, along with the mention of Cortes being voted as their chief, and that Cortes too, wrote a letter, 'an honest report, but they had not seen it' and then that this all went, intended for Spain. Pilots were chosen to steer the ship 'through the Bahamas' and thus avoid Cuba and Velazquez.
But, instead, word was spread on Cuba before the letter and representatives of this Cortes faction, went to Spain. Francisco de Montejo insisted they stop at his farm there. Puertocarrero had got sick and more provisions were needed, Meanwhile, on Cuba, a sailor went from town to town telling everyone, Diaz says, what the company with Cortes were doing in Newest Spain and that the sailor had been sent by Montejo. [chp liv]
Velazquez was furious, blamed the man who had encouraged him to let Cortes go in the first place, and ordered two ships to head these messengers off when they reached the Bahamas and also, all the gold they were carrying back to Spain. But when they got there, these were told the ship had already sailed through the sandy shoals and was on its way.
"If Diego Velazquez was miserable before he sent the ships, he was even more distressed when he saw them return .... friends advised him to send a complaint ... to the bishop of Burgos, who was president of the Indies ... to the island of Santo Domingo, to the Royal Audencia that resided there, and to the Jeronymite friars who were acting as governors there...." [pp. 100-101]But Diaz tells us, without saying when, that these friars became convinced that Cortes and his company were doing the right thing by sending all their share of gold back to the King and that this distressed Velazquez further. He not only sent representatives back to Spain, but, says Diaz, spent the next year going up and down Cuba raising a fleet of eighteen ships and some 1300 men to go to Mexico and capture Cortes. Velazquez put Panfilo de Narvaez in charge of this new fleet. All this happens in Diaz chapter lv.
Diaz in his chapter lvi says, that the ship with the gold, and the First Letter, and the representatives of the Cortes faction, did arrive in Valladolid. But the king of Spain had recently been made emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and was in Flanders learning what was needed to become one. This meant the Bishop of Burgos, who Cortes thought was more friendly to Velazquez was in charge, as president of the Indies. A position he profited from. Sharp words passed between the Bishop and the representatives of Cortes, Diaz assures us. In the end the emperor heard about the gold and gave his permission, but that came much later. And of course, much else would happen in the meantime.
_______________________________________________
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
Friday, August 23, 2013
Cortes Faction Moves Onward, West Through Zautla, August 1519
The first several days of westward marching brought the company of Cortes little resistance. The towns they came upon were much like those around Cempoala, forced to give slaves to the Mexica tax-collectors but not confident on their own to stand against them. These towns were alerted that the Europeans were coming and opened their stores to them and fed them. Cortes also took these opportunities to proclaim the righteousness of the Christian God and the emporer Carlos V.
In this way, Diaz says they passed through Xalapa, Xicochimalco (which Diaz calls Socochima), Texutla and after clearing the mountains, Zocotlan (now Santiago Zautla) which he says, they called Castilblanco. They crossed mountains where, from lack of cover, they 'felt the frost' caused by the high altitudes. Then after another mountain pass it became clear they had entered 'a different kind of land'.
Diaz says that even if this journey seemed impossible, "... it is the nature of us Spanish soldiers, we still wanted to try our luck...". Then the cacique even let on that he didn't know if Montezuma would be happy they were there or that he had fed and sheltered them. [p. 110]
Then Diaz tells us that Cortes told them 'the usual things about the holy faith and the evil practices of the Indians.' But the priest with them, fray Bartolome de Olmedo warned them it was not a good place to erect a cross, "... because they are shameless and without fear, and because they are vassals of Montezuma, they might burn it or do some other evil thing." So they didn't erect a cross there. [p. 111]
This cacique Olintetl asked the locals that came along from Cempoala about the dog and the cannons. They explained these and said the horses brought could run like deer and with those they could track down anyone. Indeed, Diaz reports that the lucios lopes locals were so persuasive about what had been done and what the Europeans could do, that Olintetl ordered rich gifts and more and more gifts to be brought. Cortes then asked for twenty warriors to go with them and those were given, too. [pp. 111-12]
But they had entered a different land. The following passage completes his chapter lxi and gives a snapshot view of the place and the discussion of the path going forward.
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
In this way, Diaz says they passed through Xalapa, Xicochimalco (which Diaz calls Socochima), Texutla and after clearing the mountains, Zocotlan (now Santiago Zautla) which he says, they called Castilblanco. They crossed mountains where, from lack of cover, they 'felt the frost' caused by the high altitudes. Then after another mountain pass it became clear they had entered 'a different kind of land'.
"When we saw the whitened flat roofs and the house of the cacique and the cus and adoratorios, which were very high and plastered, they looked very good, like some towns of our Spain. We gave it the name Castilblanco, because some Portuguese said it was like the town of Castil-Blanco in Portugal.... When they learned in that town from the messengers we sent that we were coming, the cacique and other chieftains came out to receive us near their houses; this cacique was named Olintecle [Ed. note: Olintetl]. He took us to some buildings and gave us something to eat, very little and with ill will. After we had eaten, Cortes asked them through our interpreters about their lord Montezuma, and Olintecle talked about the great forces of warriors that Montezuma had in all the provinces subject to him, not to mention the many other armies he had on the frontiers and in neighboring districts. Then he spoke of the great fortress of Mexico and how the houses were built in water, that one could pass from one house to the other only by the bridges they had built or in canoes, and the houses all with flat roofs, and each flat roof, if they put defenses, was a fortress. He said that to enter the city there were three causeways .... Over each opening was a wooden bridge, and by raising any one of them no one could enter Mexico. Then he talked of the great amount of gold, silver, ... and he never stopped talking about how great a lord [Montezuma] was, and Cortes and all of us were astonished to hear it." [pp. 109-10]
Diaz says that even if this journey seemed impossible, "... it is the nature of us Spanish soldiers, we still wanted to try our luck...". Then the cacique even let on that he didn't know if Montezuma would be happy they were there or that he had fed and sheltered them. [p. 110]
Then Diaz tells us that Cortes told them 'the usual things about the holy faith and the evil practices of the Indians.' But the priest with them, fray Bartolome de Olmedo warned them it was not a good place to erect a cross, "... because they are shameless and without fear, and because they are vassals of Montezuma, they might burn it or do some other evil thing." So they didn't erect a cross there. [p. 111]
This cacique Olintetl asked the locals that came along from Cempoala about the dog and the cannons. They explained these and said the horses brought could run like deer and with those they could track down anyone. Indeed, Diaz reports that the lucios lopes locals were so persuasive about what had been done and what the Europeans could do, that Olintetl ordered rich gifts and more and more gifts to be brought. Cortes then asked for twenty warriors to go with them and those were given, too. [pp. 111-12]
But they had entered a different land. The following passage completes his chapter lxi and gives a snapshot view of the place and the discussion of the path going forward.
"I remember that many piles of human skulls were put in a plaza with many adoratories, and we could count them because of the order with which they were arranged, and it seems to me that there were more than one hundred thousand, and I say again over one hundred thousand. In another part of the plaza, there was an equal number of fleshless bones, bones of dead, so that they could not be counted, and they had many heads hung on some beams from one end to the other, and guarding those bones and skulls were three papas, who, as we understood, were in charge of them. We saw more of this when we got further inland, in all the towns it was like this, and also in the area of Tlaxcala. When everything I have said had occurred, we decided to go on our way toward Tlaxcala, because our friends said it was very close, that the boundaries where they had put some boundary stones as signs were near there. About this, we asked the cacique Olintecle which was the best and most level way to go to Mexico, and he said it was through a very large town called Cholula. But the people of Cempoala said to Cortes: "Sir, do not go by way of Cholula, for they are very treacherous, and Montezuma always has his war garrisons there," and that we should go by way of Tlaxcala, where the people are their friends, enemies of the Mexicans. So we decided to take the advice of the people of Cempoala, for God always guided everything. Cortes then requested of Olintecle twenty chieftains, warriors, to go with us, and he immediately gave them to us." [p. 112]_________________________________________________
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
Thursday, August 22, 2013
still news, late August 2013
For a real profile in courage, a really powerful story by the woman (16 min video) who deterred a sick man that wanted to murder a school full of children. Antoinette Tuff, this amazingly courageous woman who happened to be working the desk that morning, got the gunman to open up, put his guns down, make some phone calls and then lie down on the ground and rest awhile. Stunning. She says she owes it all to God and techniques the minister at her church encouraged parishioners to use to console those who were grieving and sick.
Watch an underwater sinkhole swallow up a bunch of trees in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, south of Baton Rouge, yesterday: 3 min video on youtube.
twitterfeeds re-enact the bloody summer of 1863 in Kansas, with a high-point of yesterday's sesquicentennial of Quantrill's Raid, in Lawrence, KS. All the different characters really make it lifelike.
the guardian repeats experts who say the asphyxiant in yesterday's 'gas attack' in Syria is possibly sarin. Gives evidence.
War! What is it good for? Excellent article by Andrew Bacevich with this timely reminder tied to our surveillance state. The Wall Street Journal says the NSA snoops on 75% of US internet traffic wth the ability to read emails and phone traffic. The Washington Post says PRISM works because it looks at so much moving traffic. But if business avoids US internet, it's effectiveness goes away. Released FISA Court documents show Chief Judge Bates knew NSA practice and abuses were unconstitutional. Much else here. Meet ICON, the newest member of your family. The one that knows more than you do. How much does the NSA spend to do all this? That's classified too.
New York City Council votes to overrule Mayor Bloomberg, thus bringing greater oversight and restrictions to stop-and-frisk policies and laws. This was done to curb the NYPD's ongoing practices resulting in racial profiling.
David Dayen goes after the lawyers of finance.
more maps for the visually inclined
West Papuan's seek greater freedoms from Indonesia, 29 min video
releases by Sly Stone and Bob Dylan show new sides to old favorites
UPDATE: At Ft Hood, TX, Major Nidal Hasan was convicted of killing 13 and wounding 32 in the Military Court Jury Trial, Friday. Sentencing will begin next week. Hasan has said he seeks the death penalty.
Afghani view on Staff Sgt Robert Bales in 5 min audio, from theworld.org. He's the one who killed 16 civilians, says he can't remember it. Faces the death penalty if convicted.
What a world! Bradley (nee) Chelsea Manning, sentenced to 35 years, is eligible for appeal and possible parole in 10 years, wants to be thought of as a woman, from now on.
UPDATE II: Here's another one of those videos of Andy Warhol eating a hamburger, 5 min video.
Here's the live video cam that's at Warhol's gravesite in Pittsburgh. People come and share their respects. I've seen Campbell Soup cans there. I've been told a Frank Zappa fan took and attached one of those floating metallic pillows in the shape of a heart that said 'Get Well Soon'. There are internet forums where people talk about what they see on the live webcam there...
Watch an underwater sinkhole swallow up a bunch of trees in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, south of Baton Rouge, yesterday: 3 min video on youtube.
twitterfeeds re-enact the bloody summer of 1863 in Kansas, with a high-point of yesterday's sesquicentennial of Quantrill's Raid, in Lawrence, KS. All the different characters really make it lifelike.
the guardian repeats experts who say the asphyxiant in yesterday's 'gas attack' in Syria is possibly sarin. Gives evidence.
War! What is it good for? Excellent article by Andrew Bacevich with this timely reminder tied to our surveillance state. The Wall Street Journal says the NSA snoops on 75% of US internet traffic wth the ability to read emails and phone traffic. The Washington Post says PRISM works because it looks at so much moving traffic. But if business avoids US internet, it's effectiveness goes away. Released FISA Court documents show Chief Judge Bates knew NSA practice and abuses were unconstitutional. Much else here. Meet ICON, the newest member of your family. The one that knows more than you do. How much does the NSA spend to do all this? That's classified too.
New York City Council votes to overrule Mayor Bloomberg, thus bringing greater oversight and restrictions to stop-and-frisk policies and laws. This was done to curb the NYPD's ongoing practices resulting in racial profiling.
David Dayen goes after the lawyers of finance.
more maps for the visually inclined
West Papuan's seek greater freedoms from Indonesia, 29 min video
releases by Sly Stone and Bob Dylan show new sides to old favorites
UPDATE: At Ft Hood, TX, Major Nidal Hasan was convicted of killing 13 and wounding 32 in the Military Court Jury Trial, Friday. Sentencing will begin next week. Hasan has said he seeks the death penalty.
Afghani view on Staff Sgt Robert Bales in 5 min audio, from theworld.org. He's the one who killed 16 civilians, says he can't remember it. Faces the death penalty if convicted.
What a world! Bradley (nee) Chelsea Manning, sentenced to 35 years, is eligible for appeal and possible parole in 10 years, wants to be thought of as a woman, from now on.
UPDATE II: Here's another one of those videos of Andy Warhol eating a hamburger, 5 min video.
Here's the live video cam that's at Warhol's gravesite in Pittsburgh. People come and share their respects. I've seen Campbell Soup cans there. I've been told a Frank Zappa fan took and attached one of those floating metallic pillows in the shape of a heart that said 'Get Well Soon'. There are internet forums where people talk about what they see on the live webcam there...
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Vote-Getter Arrested: Sanudo Diaries August 21, 1496
The late fifteenth century saw a Venice ready to prosecute against fraudulent ballot practices.
Editor's note: "In a system of government in which elections were continuous and rivalries for positions intense, electoral fraud wa as frequent as it was ardently condemned." [p. 138]
Sanudo Diaries August 21, 1496 (1:275); "I note that on August 18, by order of the Council of Ten, several members of the ducal staff whose job it was to carry the ballot boxes in the Great Council were arrested."
Editor's note: ballotini = ballot box clerks, who passed out and collected the ballot boxes.
Sanudo Diaries August 21, 1496 (1:275-6); "These men, Salvador Nocente and Francesco Triuli, were discovered in a way that would take too long to relate; [they had found a means by] which they could help those whom they wished to get elected to offices in the Great Council. They were discovered by Zuan Battista Foscarini as follows: He had been elected to the Senate, and one of the ballot-box clerks said to him, "I helped you." And he knew nothing about it."
Editor's note: "The organizer of this fraud was identified to the patrician Zuan Jacomo Bon. Arrested on his ship at Porto Pisano (he was a captain involved in the Venetian attempt to support Pisa against Florence), he was sent to Venice for judicial examination." [p. 139]
Twenty years later individuals could loan the government $$ and be placed in some public service offices, because money was needed to fund the war. But here, in 1496, strict adherence to the rules was enforced and those convicted made examples of, as a warning to others. And this apparently, even for people acting overseas on behalf of the state on sensitive maritime issues. This brief story will resume in September.
__________________________________________________
All quotes as Sanudo Diaries or Editor's notes or Editor's Footnotes from Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll, editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008
Editor's note: "In a system of government in which elections were continuous and rivalries for positions intense, electoral fraud wa as frequent as it was ardently condemned." [p. 138]
Sanudo Diaries August 21, 1496 (1:275); "I note that on August 18, by order of the Council of Ten, several members of the ducal staff whose job it was to carry the ballot boxes in the Great Council were arrested."
Editor's note: ballotini = ballot box clerks, who passed out and collected the ballot boxes.
Sanudo Diaries August 21, 1496 (1:275-6); "These men, Salvador Nocente and Francesco Triuli, were discovered in a way that would take too long to relate; [they had found a means by] which they could help those whom they wished to get elected to offices in the Great Council. They were discovered by Zuan Battista Foscarini as follows: He had been elected to the Senate, and one of the ballot-box clerks said to him, "I helped you." And he knew nothing about it."
Editor's note: "The organizer of this fraud was identified to the patrician Zuan Jacomo Bon. Arrested on his ship at Porto Pisano (he was a captain involved in the Venetian attempt to support Pisa against Florence), he was sent to Venice for judicial examination." [p. 139]
Twenty years later individuals could loan the government $$ and be placed in some public service offices, because money was needed to fund the war. But here, in 1496, strict adherence to the rules was enforced and those convicted made examples of, as a warning to others. And this apparently, even for people acting overseas on behalf of the state on sensitive maritime issues. This brief story will resume in September.
__________________________________________________
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
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Dark Arts in Brescia: Sanudo Diaries: August 20, 1518
In the summer of 1518, stories of witches in nearby Brescia became the talk of Venice. Marin Sanudo made sure to include it, as also, the Editors did. Case in point, our editors tell us, a full trial record of a case involving some of these accused was included in Sanudo's record, as well, but that had occurred earlier, in June. Here, they say is a separate entry, by another author. A plea, using methods of an emotional appeal, sent and signed by one Joseph Servitor. The editors almost warn us here as introduction,
Editor's footnote: "Goiter, resulting from a lack of iodine, which is found principally in seafood, was a common problem among mountain people." [p. 403]
Sanudo Diaries August 20, 1518 (25:602-04); "There is a valley located in the northern part of Brescian territory whose official name is Val Camonica. It is near the border with the Germans, where our butchers go every year to provision our city with lamb. This place, however, is more mountain than valley, more sterile than fertile, and its inhabitants for the most part are more ignorant than anything else, people afflicted with goiter, almost all of them with the grossest deformations and completely lacking in the forms of civilization. Their customs are most frequently rustic and wild; rare are those who are familiar with, let alone observe, the commandments of the Lord. One can say that in a sense there is as much difference between these valley folk and the other inhabitants of the Brescian territory as there is between the Portuguese and the people of Colocut. As rumor has it, for a number of years warlocks and witches have [practiced] there, such as used to exist in the time of Medea in Thessaly, of whom the ancients write.
It seems that in the intervening centuries the art of witchcraft was transmitted from Albania to the Val Comonica. This accursed activity has multiplied to such an extent there over the years that if the proper measures were not to be taken against it immediately, the sickness of the plague would spread so far and so fast that the inhabitants of the entire valley on the heights and on the plains, those poor priests and lay people, would lose their faith in God's divine majesty. More of them would be baptized than unbaptized, and therefore they would turn to the devil's works and learn the techniques of casting spells on men and bewitching little children. Wherefore, whether by the actions of some good Christian and public official of the valley who saw that it was rapidly moving toward perdition if someone did not root out such enormities and ward off such a curse or even by divine providence, the inquisitor of San Domenico finally went there several days ago with priests representing our bishops to look into this matter. In making their inquiries throughout the valley and its regions in order to cure it, they learned that there are an incredible number of warlocks and more followers of the devil than Christians. This is so because certain priests, whose duty should be the care of souls, were not truly baptizing infants at the baptismal font but only pretending to, with the result, it is said, that more than two thousand may be found there.... Some... were not consecrating the Host; and they have lived this way for some time. Thse priests were themselves the chief warlocks, [feeding on the people] as wolves do sheep, secretly serving the devil and not the true God. They committed all manner of evil, having, as the poet says, "a thousand harmful arts from Satan."
Editor's footnote: "Aeneid, 7:338 ("mille nocendi artes"). Virgil's reference is to Alecto, one of the Furies."
nedits: Not exactly Satan.
Sanudo Diaries August 20, 1518 (25:603-4); "There is great talk about how these kind of people become rebels against their living and true God and how they become, body and soul, possessions of the devil, and how they have proliferated faster than weeds. Some ... because they were not truly baptized... some, being poor, were promised great riches so that they could triumph without having to work hard for their livelihood; some lascivious old men were promised pleasure, which they could not get in any other way; some women with the goiter, whom no one but the devil would want, [went along] to get themselves well and truly laid, and [in a way] contrary to the way men should be with women.... The most common and popular explanation is that some, especially the head warlocks, ... seeing a person in despair would seemingly console him with sweet and artful words, pretending to be a friend or to have been moved to compassion. They would promise the desperate person that they could obtain for him the greatest good and the paradise of delights and happiness if he would do whatever they told him, for his own good. Undoubtedly those in despair, seeing that they were promised good things, wealth and lots of pleasures, agreed to do everything.
Thus each senior or master warlock, having converted the ignorant or desperate person to evil, took him into the forest to some remote spot or secret dwelling to ... initiate one.... Thse rituals having been completed, in order to turn the promises into effective reality, the initiate is made to have sexual relations, a male initiate with a woman and a female initiate with a man, of a beauty greater than Paris or Helen, at once represented to them as their lover. Apelles, the greatest painter of antiquity, could not have painted more beautiful figures than those presented to the initiates at this moment."
This letter does go on, (25:604-8), the editors tell us, but they turn to a different letter about the fallout from a week before. In it, it was reported that 64 people were burned for 'devilry', the same number sent to prison. Later that number was ammended to 66. The author of this letter says he witnessed eight witches burned who he thought were contrite believers. The Father in charge would not let him or others speak to the condemned before their sentence was carried out.
Sanudo Diaries August 12, 1518 (25:586-88); "... at the time that their sentences were read I saw that these women, in my opinion, were truly repentant, because they wree saying many prayers and commending themselves to God and the Blessed Virgin, crying out continuously, "Oh God, have mercy." And among other things, one of them in my presence said to Father Bernardino, the vicar, "Do you not know that you are doing me a great wrong, because I did not want to speak as you wanted me to? You called me a 'filty cow' and other insults; and you even promised to let me go if I spoke as you wished. You hold my soul up as one does a piece of cloth, and you are worse than I am. God knows this, and He is up in heaven." And almost all of them were told by him that he promised to release them if they would confess...." [p. 406]
There is more, of course. And some of these remained completely uncontrite, and even, obscenely defiant. But the author of this letter seems to have been much shaken about the whole proceeding, cautioning that only experts, that are God-fearing and with good conscience should do these things, "since it is a question of life and death." [p. 407]
After this long detailed section in latin, the letter returns to Italian.
Our editors say there is much more to this story, old senate decrees, more testimonials, priest confessions, complaints by the inquisitors of interference from the papacy, etc., and continues into September, 1518 and book 26 .
___________________________________________________
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
"...[i]t appears somewhat learned and literary, but it is also based more on prejudice and hearsay than on experience. The writer begins with an apology for not writing more frequently and then announces that he has something novel to relate, something the like of which has not been heard since the time of the sorceress Medea.... He tells the story dramatically...." [p. 402-3]
Editor's footnote: "Goiter, resulting from a lack of iodine, which is found principally in seafood, was a common problem among mountain people." [p. 403]
Sanudo Diaries August 20, 1518 (25:602-04); "There is a valley located in the northern part of Brescian territory whose official name is Val Camonica. It is near the border with the Germans, where our butchers go every year to provision our city with lamb. This place, however, is more mountain than valley, more sterile than fertile, and its inhabitants for the most part are more ignorant than anything else, people afflicted with goiter, almost all of them with the grossest deformations and completely lacking in the forms of civilization. Their customs are most frequently rustic and wild; rare are those who are familiar with, let alone observe, the commandments of the Lord. One can say that in a sense there is as much difference between these valley folk and the other inhabitants of the Brescian territory as there is between the Portuguese and the people of Colocut. As rumor has it, for a number of years warlocks and witches have [practiced] there, such as used to exist in the time of Medea in Thessaly, of whom the ancients write.
It seems that in the intervening centuries the art of witchcraft was transmitted from Albania to the Val Comonica. This accursed activity has multiplied to such an extent there over the years that if the proper measures were not to be taken against it immediately, the sickness of the plague would spread so far and so fast that the inhabitants of the entire valley on the heights and on the plains, those poor priests and lay people, would lose their faith in God's divine majesty. More of them would be baptized than unbaptized, and therefore they would turn to the devil's works and learn the techniques of casting spells on men and bewitching little children. Wherefore, whether by the actions of some good Christian and public official of the valley who saw that it was rapidly moving toward perdition if someone did not root out such enormities and ward off such a curse or even by divine providence, the inquisitor of San Domenico finally went there several days ago with priests representing our bishops to look into this matter. In making their inquiries throughout the valley and its regions in order to cure it, they learned that there are an incredible number of warlocks and more followers of the devil than Christians. This is so because certain priests, whose duty should be the care of souls, were not truly baptizing infants at the baptismal font but only pretending to, with the result, it is said, that more than two thousand may be found there.... Some... were not consecrating the Host; and they have lived this way for some time. Thse priests were themselves the chief warlocks, [feeding on the people] as wolves do sheep, secretly serving the devil and not the true God. They committed all manner of evil, having, as the poet says, "a thousand harmful arts from Satan."
Editor's footnote: "Aeneid, 7:338 ("mille nocendi artes"). Virgil's reference is to Alecto, one of the Furies."
nedits: Not exactly Satan.
Sanudo Diaries August 20, 1518 (25:603-4); "There is great talk about how these kind of people become rebels against their living and true God and how they become, body and soul, possessions of the devil, and how they have proliferated faster than weeds. Some ... because they were not truly baptized... some, being poor, were promised great riches so that they could triumph without having to work hard for their livelihood; some lascivious old men were promised pleasure, which they could not get in any other way; some women with the goiter, whom no one but the devil would want, [went along] to get themselves well and truly laid, and [in a way] contrary to the way men should be with women.... The most common and popular explanation is that some, especially the head warlocks, ... seeing a person in despair would seemingly console him with sweet and artful words, pretending to be a friend or to have been moved to compassion. They would promise the desperate person that they could obtain for him the greatest good and the paradise of delights and happiness if he would do whatever they told him, for his own good. Undoubtedly those in despair, seeing that they were promised good things, wealth and lots of pleasures, agreed to do everything.
Thus each senior or master warlock, having converted the ignorant or desperate person to evil, took him into the forest to some remote spot or secret dwelling to ... initiate one.... Thse rituals having been completed, in order to turn the promises into effective reality, the initiate is made to have sexual relations, a male initiate with a woman and a female initiate with a man, of a beauty greater than Paris or Helen, at once represented to them as their lover. Apelles, the greatest painter of antiquity, could not have painted more beautiful figures than those presented to the initiates at this moment."
This letter does go on, (25:604-8), the editors tell us, but they turn to a different letter about the fallout from a week before. In it, it was reported that 64 people were burned for 'devilry', the same number sent to prison. Later that number was ammended to 66. The author of this letter says he witnessed eight witches burned who he thought were contrite believers. The Father in charge would not let him or others speak to the condemned before their sentence was carried out.
Sanudo Diaries August 12, 1518 (25:586-88); "... at the time that their sentences were read I saw that these women, in my opinion, were truly repentant, because they wree saying many prayers and commending themselves to God and the Blessed Virgin, crying out continuously, "Oh God, have mercy." And among other things, one of them in my presence said to Father Bernardino, the vicar, "Do you not know that you are doing me a great wrong, because I did not want to speak as you wanted me to? You called me a 'filty cow' and other insults; and you even promised to let me go if I spoke as you wished. You hold my soul up as one does a piece of cloth, and you are worse than I am. God knows this, and He is up in heaven." And almost all of them were told by him that he promised to release them if they would confess...." [p. 406]
There is more, of course. And some of these remained completely uncontrite, and even, obscenely defiant. But the author of this letter seems to have been much shaken about the whole proceeding, cautioning that only experts, that are God-fearing and with good conscience should do these things, "since it is a question of life and death." [p. 407]
After this long detailed section in latin, the letter returns to Italian.
"I realize that these are grave matters to relate, and I am amazed and beside myself. I believe them, but yet I do not believe them. May God who sees and knows all things, uproot this evil seed from the land of the living. I have given a written account of these things to your magnificence, and if I have included anything that might be offensive to your ears, please forgive me, ... I wrote my report in obedience to your wishes and I phrased things in as veiled a way ... as I could ...." [p. 407]
Our editors say there is much more to this story, old senate decrees, more testimonials, priest confessions, complaints by the inquisitors of interference from the papacy, etc., and continues into September, 1518 and book 26 .
___________________________________________________
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
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Bernal Diaz Digest: Before Marching To Tlaxcala: August 1519
The broad outline of Diaz's depiction of the Cortes trek inland provides a wealth of detail on it's own, in addition to the passages where he breaks his narrative to report on concurrent or related stories. These related stories, despite the frequent pleas of Diaz that he is no great speaker or writer, act as building blocks rather than tangents, generating tension and emotional pathos along the way, without seeming to enlarge his greater narrative. An outline is helpful since, he himself says, he will tell a story later on, or, just as often, jumps out of chronology, picking up an earlier story to provide more context of whatever happens to be coming next. But the effect of jumping around in time, adds greatly to both the tension and the emotional appeal, compelling the reader forward. If only to find out 'what happened next'.
In outline form, then, first, was the survey group sent inland, headed by Pedro de Alvarado, in chapter xliv of Diaz. He found empty towns, with fresh human sacrifices, bodies hacked apart. Food was gathered in those places, however and brought back. Some of the loyalists to Velazquez were released from their shackles then, too. The group decided on venturing inland to Quiahuiztlan and camped on the shore nearest there. Some locals arrived that were recognized as those that had called them lopes lucios, and whose friendship was renewed. They brought food as well and advised the Spaniards to stop in Cempoala on their way to Quiahuiztlan.
The meeting and discussion with 'the fat cacique' from Cempoala is what fills chapter xlv. It is here Diaz has him tell of the regional control of Montezuma and their desire to be free from his domination. Cortes also says he wants to establish his headquarters in Quiahuiztlan, a fortress perched high on a rock. The next day, when chapter xlvi is begun, the westward troops arrived in Quiahuiztlan. What happened there continues into chapter xlvii, including the capture and release of the Mexica tax collectors and the spread of this news.
Then, in chapter xlviii, Diaz inserts the beginning of the building of La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, with stones and streets and buildings being built. Here also, came word that more messengers from Montezuma had come to offer gold gifts and promises of friendship. Cortes accepts them and when they leave tells his new friends, those called lopes lucios, not to worry. They tell themselves, Diaz reports, that Cortes must be a teule, since Motecuhzoma sends him gifts. The next chapter, xlix, the fat cacique tells them of the oppression on the locals by the forces of Montezuma. Cortes decides to send one of their group, Heredia, with the misfigured face, with a gun, to that place. He was ordered to go near the town, Cingapacinga, shooting the gun, an escopeta, with scouts sent ahead to warn that the teules were coming to smite them. He did this and the locals were elated. Cortes announces they will go the next day and take care of the Culua, the Mexica harassing the locals.
The chapter L of Diaz gives the story of loyalists to Velazquez expressing their desire not to go on this sidetrip to Cingapacinga and to return to Cuba.
Returning to the main narrative in chapter li, Diaz recounts the resolution Cortes made between Cempoalans and Cingapacingans. There is an attempt at marriages, at religious conversion, imposing the sense of Spanish morality, the destruction of idols. The locals crying, complained to their gods that these foreign teules were to blame and they could not defend them for fear of further attacks by the Mexica. Some attacked the Spaniards, who quickly laid hands on the fat cacique and the other chieftains there and so, the attackers withdrew.
After destroying one of these places with idols, in chapter lii, there is more talk about religion and some description of local priests. Marriages, a new church, and religious conversions with the 'brides' were completed there in Cingapacinga. Then, the Spaniards returned to their new town Vera Cruz.
In Veracruz, the next chapter liii, news was received from Cuba and Castile that the king had given permission for trade and the settling of the new lands, promoting Velazquez to the position of adelantando of Cuba. The party loyalists of Velazquez were overjoyed, but this got everyone talking and thinking about the future and their positions in it. This, led to the creation of the new town, says Diaz, and the drafting of the 'First' letter. That letter is explained again in chapter liv, some instruction for the representatives regarding that letter to the crown is given and the date of it's departure is listed.
The end of chapter liv and both lv and lvi talk about the representatives and letter sent to the king. They, avoiding Velazquez, but spreading word thru Cuba about the exploits of Cortes, and then, the state of things, they found, in Castile, at court and conflicts with the Bishop of Burgos are told.
Chapters lvii - lx detail the story of scuttling their ships in order to prevent rebellion among, or the return of, the Velazquez loyalists who no longer wanted to follow Cortes.
All this Diaz tells us, happened before the group turned again, to march inland, to Tlaxcala in chapter lxi.
________________________________________________
Digested 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
In outline form, then, first, was the survey group sent inland, headed by Pedro de Alvarado, in chapter xliv of Diaz. He found empty towns, with fresh human sacrifices, bodies hacked apart. Food was gathered in those places, however and brought back. Some of the loyalists to Velazquez were released from their shackles then, too. The group decided on venturing inland to Quiahuiztlan and camped on the shore nearest there. Some locals arrived that were recognized as those that had called them lopes lucios, and whose friendship was renewed. They brought food as well and advised the Spaniards to stop in Cempoala on their way to Quiahuiztlan.
The meeting and discussion with 'the fat cacique' from Cempoala is what fills chapter xlv. It is here Diaz has him tell of the regional control of Montezuma and their desire to be free from his domination. Cortes also says he wants to establish his headquarters in Quiahuiztlan, a fortress perched high on a rock. The next day, when chapter xlvi is begun, the westward troops arrived in Quiahuiztlan. What happened there continues into chapter xlvii, including the capture and release of the Mexica tax collectors and the spread of this news.
Then, in chapter xlviii, Diaz inserts the beginning of the building of La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, with stones and streets and buildings being built. Here also, came word that more messengers from Montezuma had come to offer gold gifts and promises of friendship. Cortes accepts them and when they leave tells his new friends, those called lopes lucios, not to worry. They tell themselves, Diaz reports, that Cortes must be a teule, since Motecuhzoma sends him gifts. The next chapter, xlix, the fat cacique tells them of the oppression on the locals by the forces of Montezuma. Cortes decides to send one of their group, Heredia, with the misfigured face, with a gun, to that place. He was ordered to go near the town, Cingapacinga, shooting the gun, an escopeta, with scouts sent ahead to warn that the teules were coming to smite them. He did this and the locals were elated. Cortes announces they will go the next day and take care of the Culua, the Mexica harassing the locals.
The chapter L of Diaz gives the story of loyalists to Velazquez expressing their desire not to go on this sidetrip to Cingapacinga and to return to Cuba.
Returning to the main narrative in chapter li, Diaz recounts the resolution Cortes made between Cempoalans and Cingapacingans. There is an attempt at marriages, at religious conversion, imposing the sense of Spanish morality, the destruction of idols. The locals crying, complained to their gods that these foreign teules were to blame and they could not defend them for fear of further attacks by the Mexica. Some attacked the Spaniards, who quickly laid hands on the fat cacique and the other chieftains there and so, the attackers withdrew.
After destroying one of these places with idols, in chapter lii, there is more talk about religion and some description of local priests. Marriages, a new church, and religious conversions with the 'brides' were completed there in Cingapacinga. Then, the Spaniards returned to their new town Vera Cruz.
In Veracruz, the next chapter liii, news was received from Cuba and Castile that the king had given permission for trade and the settling of the new lands, promoting Velazquez to the position of adelantando of Cuba. The party loyalists of Velazquez were overjoyed, but this got everyone talking and thinking about the future and their positions in it. This, led to the creation of the new town, says Diaz, and the drafting of the 'First' letter. That letter is explained again in chapter liv, some instruction for the representatives regarding that letter to the crown is given and the date of it's departure is listed.
The end of chapter liv and both lv and lvi talk about the representatives and letter sent to the king. They, avoiding Velazquez, but spreading word thru Cuba about the exploits of Cortes, and then, the state of things, they found, in Castile, at court and conflicts with the Bishop of Burgos are told.
Chapters lvii - lx detail the story of scuttling their ships in order to prevent rebellion among, or the return of, the Velazquez loyalists who no longer wanted to follow Cortes.
All this Diaz tells us, happened before the group turned again, to march inland, to Tlaxcala in chapter lxi.
________________________________________________
Digested 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
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Diaz: How Cortes Won Local Allies Against Mexica: summer 1519
Both Diaz and the second letter of Cortes say the Spaniards left for Tlaxcala in mid August. The letter of Cortes specifies, August 16. This departure follows a few weeks or so of machinations and negotiations with the 'fat cacique' and other representatives of the coastal people near Quiahuiztlan and Cempoala. It was through this fat cacique initially, and the ever-present Doña Marina and Jeronimo de Aguilar, that Cortes achieved the crucial, far-reaching alliance with the locals - some forty tribes, Cortes boasts - against the forces of Motecuhzoma and the ruling Mexica in the interior.
The Europeans had decided to venture first to Quiahuiztlan, described as a fortified town near the coast. Before they reached it, messengers from the closer town of Cempoala were kindly received and heard. Chickens and maize were brought and accepted as a token of good fortune. The Europeans were hungry. The group was encouraged to instead come to Cempoala where they would be welcomed and well-counseled. So they advanced, on their guard.
When they grew near to Cempoala, local chieftains again made overtures of welcome, with incense, and food, so the Europeans felt secure. It seems they spent some time hereabouts negotiating, though Diaz claims it was only a day in Cempoala, not the longer period Gomara claims. For us, however, the length of time remains vague. To complicate this, by this time, the narrative of Diaz has branched out with several stories being told in groups arranged by topic. Anecdotes of the Cortes group, the locals, the trips to various towns, the retold stories of the Mexica and Montezuma, the Spanish faction that wanted to return to Cuba, the other group returning to Castile, the effects on and by Diego Velasquez, all get treatment, appearing in serial fashion. The specifics of Cortes, for these matters, are again, much glossed over in this preperatory, yet especially important period.
How after all, are we to explain the apparently very quick alliance of forces, at once joining the Cortes faction with a great deal of locals? Diaz at least offers a mostly coherent story, although somewhat anachronistic and out of order.
In Diaz chapter xlv and xlvi, he goes into some detail announcing that these negotiations, in Quiahuiztlan and not in Cempoala, happened, despite being interrupted by the Mexica 'tax-collectors'. Richly dressed representatives from the interior who did not pay much attention to the Spaniards but acted like they owned the place, telling only the locals that they demanded twenty slaves to be taken away and sacrificed by the Mexica. After they passed through, Cortes summoned the locals and asked them what it meant. They understood that these were to gather slaves and sacrifice them to win favor of the Mexica god Huichilobos and thus, gain victory over the newcomers in battle.
This is how Diaz ends his chapter xlvi. The next thing Cortes did, according to Diaz in chapter xlvii, was order these 'tax-collectors' to be seized and shackled. At first the locals were shocked and horrified. But they did it. Then Cortes announced that the news of this should be spread and all other chieftains should no longer pay tax or obedience to Montezuma and that if there were other tax-collectors about, that he should be told about it.
Cortes then constructed another deception to gain more power over his new freinds. He ordered two of the shackled Mexica officials to be secretly stolen so that it would look as though they escaped. These were then brought to him and with interpreters instructed to return to Motecuhzoma and explain who captured them, that they were rescued by the Spaniards and that their captors would be scolded by Cortes himself. This they gladly agreed to and were allowed to be taken by the Spaniards far enough away to make their escape all the way to the interior and beyond the lands of the Cempoala.
The next day the locals were surprised the Mexica had escaped and were ready to sacrifice the others to show their loyalty to Cortes. But he acted surprised and scolded them for not doing what they were told. He then seized the other Mexica captured, saying that he would secure them himself and gave orders they be taken to the boats where they could more securely be held.
This deception worked and the local chiefs then,
______________________________________________________
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
The Europeans had decided to venture first to Quiahuiztlan, described as a fortified town near the coast. Before they reached it, messengers from the closer town of Cempoala were kindly received and heard. Chickens and maize were brought and accepted as a token of good fortune. The Europeans were hungry. The group was encouraged to instead come to Cempoala where they would be welcomed and well-counseled. So they advanced, on their guard.
When they grew near to Cempoala, local chieftains again made overtures of welcome, with incense, and food, so the Europeans felt secure. It seems they spent some time hereabouts negotiating, though Diaz claims it was only a day in Cempoala, not the longer period Gomara claims. For us, however, the length of time remains vague. To complicate this, by this time, the narrative of Diaz has branched out with several stories being told in groups arranged by topic. Anecdotes of the Cortes group, the locals, the trips to various towns, the retold stories of the Mexica and Montezuma, the Spanish faction that wanted to return to Cuba, the other group returning to Castile, the effects on and by Diego Velasquez, all get treatment, appearing in serial fashion. The specifics of Cortes, for these matters, are again, much glossed over in this preperatory, yet especially important period.
How after all, are we to explain the apparently very quick alliance of forces, at once joining the Cortes faction with a great deal of locals? Diaz at least offers a mostly coherent story, although somewhat anachronistic and out of order.
In Diaz chapter xlv and xlvi, he goes into some detail announcing that these negotiations, in Quiahuiztlan and not in Cempoala, happened, despite being interrupted by the Mexica 'tax-collectors'. Richly dressed representatives from the interior who did not pay much attention to the Spaniards but acted like they owned the place, telling only the locals that they demanded twenty slaves to be taken away and sacrificed by the Mexica. After they passed through, Cortes summoned the locals and asked them what it meant. They understood that these were to gather slaves and sacrifice them to win favor of the Mexica god Huichilobos and thus, gain victory over the newcomers in battle.
"... because, they said, Montezuma says he wants to take us to be his slaves. Cortes consoled them and said they should not be afraid, that he was there with all of us and would punish the Mexicans." [p. 82]
This is how Diaz ends his chapter xlvi. The next thing Cortes did, according to Diaz in chapter xlvii, was order these 'tax-collectors' to be seized and shackled. At first the locals were shocked and horrified. But they did it. Then Cortes announced that the news of this should be spread and all other chieftains should no longer pay tax or obedience to Montezuma and that if there were other tax-collectors about, that he should be told about it.
"That news spread throughout the province because the fat cacique immediately sent messengers to make it known, and the chieftains who had come in the company of those tax collectors also announced it, each immediately breaking away to go to his town.... Because such marvelous and important things were happening, that they said that human men would not have dared to do this, but teules, which is what they called the idols they worshipped. For this reason, from that time on, they called us teules, which is, as I have said, either gods or demons, and which I say teules in this acount, where our people are mentioned, you know that it is said of us." [p. 83]
Cortes then constructed another deception to gain more power over his new freinds. He ordered two of the shackled Mexica officials to be secretly stolen so that it would look as though they escaped. These were then brought to him and with interpreters instructed to return to Motecuhzoma and explain who captured them, that they were rescued by the Spaniards and that their captors would be scolded by Cortes himself. This they gladly agreed to and were allowed to be taken by the Spaniards far enough away to make their escape all the way to the interior and beyond the lands of the Cempoala.
The next day the locals were surprised the Mexica had escaped and were ready to sacrifice the others to show their loyalty to Cortes. But he acted surprised and scolded them for not doing what they were told. He then seized the other Mexica captured, saying that he would secure them himself and gave orders they be taken to the boats where they could more securely be held.
This deception worked and the local chiefs then,
"... promised they would be with us in everything we commanded them to do, and they would assemble their forces against Montezuma and all his allies. Here they pledged obedience to His Majesty before Diego de Godoy, the notary, and they sent to tell the rest of the towns of that province everything that had happened. Because they now gave no tribute at all and the tax collectors did not appear, there was no limit to their happiness over having been freed from that domination." [p. 85]It was at this time, Diaz asserts that the Spaniards decided to establish Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, with 'more than thirty mountain towns' as supporters, in his chapters xlviii, liv. This is still another version or part of the story revolving around the set up of Vera Cruz.
______________________________________________________
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
Friday, August 16, 2013
Recent Maps, August 2013
Found a couple really cool maps.
One is a world map of places discovered by Europeans. It's not what a reader of this blog might expect. But it is closer to what I have wanted to do. The rest of the site's stuff at radicalcartography.net is really great too.
One is from the University of Virginia, based on the 2010 census that gives a breakdown by race, with every person getting a single dot. The page takes awhile to load today.
One is a world map of places discovered by Europeans. It's not what a reader of this blog might expect. But it is closer to what I have wanted to do. The rest of the site's stuff at radicalcartography.net is really great too.
One is from the University of Virginia, based on the 2010 census that gives a breakdown by race, with every person getting a single dot. The page takes awhile to load today.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Hot In Here: news mid August 2013
Massive, widespread, deadly riots and seizures and sit-ins and counter-attacks overwhelmed Egypt yesterday after a month of all these, on a smaller scale. In Cairo, after a month of protests and sit-ins by the Muslim Brotherhood Party and their supporters, the Egyptian military stepped in yesterday, it must be said, like only a well-entrenched military state can. Reports of over 500 people have been killed with over 1700 wounded, with more reports coming in all the time. The military seems to have foucused their forces on the Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Islamist parties and those being out at the wrong time. The curfew overnight established by the military is reminiscent of the Mubarak days. Muslim Brotherhood spokespeople have warned of continued protests until their party's President Morsi is reestablished. Which will not happen. There are those that say the hard-hitting forces were justified, others call it an unnecessary massacre. Interim vice-president Mohamed El-Baradei has resigned in protest to yesterday's military response, which, along with the harshness of these actions, will make resolution to this emergency more difficult as many Muslims feel completely disenfranchised now from any democratic process toward civil society. This does not bode well for the Egyptian revolution of Feb 2011.
Major crime runs rampant in Honduras. One author says they should try the Guatemala method to reduce it.
Federal District Court judge rules New York City's 'Stop and Frisk' policy is unconstitutional. Jessica Williams on the Daily Show 'gets it' better than anyone else I've heard.
David Dayen points out that mortgage documents have been falsified and created falsely which makes those mortgage manufacturers the generators of fraud. And they are still doing it.
Meanwhile, as many remain optimistic despite the announced rise in foreclosure rates, even sceptics can only say the unknown real estate future, or cycle, may yet prove less than virtuous than some are currently predicting. So, it may get better for some, but they ask, why should it just because there is tension in anticpation?
James 'Whitey' Bulger found guilty of 11 murders.
Cpl Bradley Manning apologized in a statement during his sentencing hearing yesterday, 'if his actions hurt anyone or hurt the US gov', asks 'to return to a productive place in society'.
Carbon neutral farming methods in Costa Rica produces a great deal in a small plot without chemical fertilizers, limiting livestock flatulence etc. Redifining sustainability and subsistence, and even brought to being thru a governmental education project. The economy of it reminds me of chinampas in the Valley of Mexico 500 years ago, where small plots could produce an excess that could be sold for other local and imported goods.
Major crime runs rampant in Honduras. One author says they should try the Guatemala method to reduce it.
Federal District Court judge rules New York City's 'Stop and Frisk' policy is unconstitutional. Jessica Williams on the Daily Show 'gets it' better than anyone else I've heard.
David Dayen points out that mortgage documents have been falsified and created falsely which makes those mortgage manufacturers the generators of fraud. And they are still doing it.
Meanwhile, as many remain optimistic despite the announced rise in foreclosure rates, even sceptics can only say the unknown real estate future, or cycle, may yet prove less than virtuous than some are currently predicting. So, it may get better for some, but they ask, why should it just because there is tension in anticpation?
James 'Whitey' Bulger found guilty of 11 murders.
Cpl Bradley Manning apologized in a statement during his sentencing hearing yesterday, 'if his actions hurt anyone or hurt the US gov', asks 'to return to a productive place in society'.
Carbon neutral farming methods in Costa Rica produces a great deal in a small plot without chemical fertilizers, limiting livestock flatulence etc. Redifining sustainability and subsistence, and even brought to being thru a governmental education project. The economy of it reminds me of chinampas in the Valley of Mexico 500 years ago, where small plots could produce an excess that could be sold for other local and imported goods.
Friday, August 9, 2013
some of what news can do, early August, 2013
Daniel Ellsberg wrote a book, published in 2002 called Secrets. He was the one who in 1971 leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post what came to be known as The Pentagon Papers which arguably led to the end of the war in Viet Nam and the Nixon Administration. In this book Ellsberg recalls a conversation he had with Henry Kissinger. In 1968, before Kissinger was promoted to be in the new upcoming Nixon Administration. Stunning. I found out about this via digby by David Adkins who was quoting an article in 2010 by Kevin Drum, published by Mother Jones. File under: What you don't know, you don't know.
Another great link, tells how well they 'knew', that is the bourgeoning free marketeers knew, in 1771 that the poor must be kept poor or they will never achieve anything on their own.
Pepe Escobar has a view about what some would call the competetive relationship between Obama and Putin.
While Obama won't talk about recent drone strikes in Yemen, the White House did give its legal justification for its 'three-hop' reach of communication searches. There was discussion with former press secretary Robert Gibbs and Spencer Ackerman on All In, this week with Ezra Klein. The debate begins anew? 12 min video.
Poverty increases in suburbs in US. This has non-obvious ramifications discussed on Diane Rehm. 52 min audio
Hooray for those who made it to Chicago for the protests there against ALEC. Some folks got roughed up. details to come
Also, but not lastly, Clark and Dawes on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher and on the Australian Immigration problem as only they can do it
and today's song of the day is Shiina Ringo's video for her song Izonsho with english translation...
Another great link, tells how well they 'knew', that is the bourgeoning free marketeers knew, in 1771 that the poor must be kept poor or they will never achieve anything on their own.
Pepe Escobar has a view about what some would call the competetive relationship between Obama and Putin.
While Obama won't talk about recent drone strikes in Yemen, the White House did give its legal justification for its 'three-hop' reach of communication searches. There was discussion with former press secretary Robert Gibbs and Spencer Ackerman on All In, this week with Ezra Klein. The debate begins anew? 12 min video.
Poverty increases in suburbs in US. This has non-obvious ramifications discussed on Diane Rehm. 52 min audio
Hooray for those who made it to Chicago for the protests there against ALEC. Some folks got roughed up. details to come
Also, but not lastly, Clark and Dawes on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher and on the Australian Immigration problem as only they can do it
and today's song of the day is Shiina Ringo's video for her song Izonsho with english translation...
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Attempted Prison Break: Sanudo Diaries: August 5, 1497
Famous for being a marine empire, Venice was both protected and constrained by its environment. One example of how the limits in the physical size of the city reveals itself, is in how it dealt with its criminals. The lagoon was only so big, the amount of actual land to build upon was always at risk and needed to be improved upon. With so much to protect in its population, its mores, its cultural lifeblood, with so many ways for a population to err and stray, where was there room to punish the criminals?
Exile was a preferred course, but where to keep them in the meantime before sentencing, and what about those who could not be simply sent out of the city? Venice in those times did keep a prison and it was maintained in the center of the city. A prison break shows some of the problems of the city and its would be escapees.
Sanudo Diaries: August 5, 1497 (1:704-5) "It happened during the night in this city that a number of prisoners who were serving life sentences at prisons in Piazza San Marco -- decided to escape together. They chose a captain; he was Lodovico Fioravante, who had his father killed at the church of the Friars Minor on Holy Friday evening. The leaders were Marco Corner, "of the beard", serving a life sentence for sodomy, and Beneto Oetriani, for thievery, and quite a few others. In the evening of the fourth, when the guards of the prison, the prisoners had the chance to take them and disarm them. Thus they went from prison to prison [cell to cell], breaking out. Gathering strength, they got as far as the very new prison [newest cells] and were very close to breaking out completely. Many bows and arrows were kept there. And it happened that on that night two Saracens wanted to be the first to escape through a privy, and one escaped, and the other one drowned. The one who got away started to call for a boat in the night. One of the boats of the Council of Ten was passing, and when it stopped to pick him up, the [boatmen] began to wonder, since he was dark-skinned, if he was escaping, and they frightened him. From him they heard about the escape plot hatched by the prisoners.
The officials were called, and a strong guard was posted for the night. On the morning of the fifth, the heads of the Council of Ten were called: this month they are Cosma Pasqualigo, Nicolo da ca' da Pexaro, and Domenego Beneto." [pp. 142-3]
Editor's footnote: "The heads of the Council of Ten rotated every month."
Once those escaping could get out of the prison, then they had to leave the city. Someone had to have a boat. Also notice that skin tone is what made this escapee suspicious to the boatman and that this fact, Sanudo does not fail to list, as a mark for suspicion.
Sanudo Diaries (con't): "Together with a number of officials, they went to the prison, and the prisoners were very stubborn. In the end, burning straw was used to force smoke through all the windows of the prison, so that the smoke suffocated them. The heads of the Council of Ten issued a decree that if on the third try they did not respond and show obedience, they would all be hanged by the neck. Thus Marco Corner was the first to surrender, and then the others. They were put back in their prisons with more care, and the guards were ordered to pay more attention. I decided to include this incident because it is noteworthy."
Editor's footnote: "See Sanudo's entry for 19 August 1514 (18:445-48) for another jailbreak." [p. 143]
It should be remembered that using fire was a very dangerous weapon in such a crowded city in those days, even to control dangerous criminals.
________________________________________________
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
Exile was a preferred course, but where to keep them in the meantime before sentencing, and what about those who could not be simply sent out of the city? Venice in those times did keep a prison and it was maintained in the center of the city. A prison break shows some of the problems of the city and its would be escapees.
Sanudo Diaries: August 5, 1497 (1:704-5) "It happened during the night in this city that a number of prisoners who were serving life sentences at prisons in Piazza San Marco -- decided to escape together. They chose a captain; he was Lodovico Fioravante, who had his father killed at the church of the Friars Minor on Holy Friday evening. The leaders were Marco Corner, "of the beard", serving a life sentence for sodomy, and Beneto Oetriani, for thievery, and quite a few others. In the evening of the fourth, when the guards of the prison, the prisoners had the chance to take them and disarm them. Thus they went from prison to prison [cell to cell], breaking out. Gathering strength, they got as far as the very new prison [newest cells] and were very close to breaking out completely. Many bows and arrows were kept there. And it happened that on that night two Saracens wanted to be the first to escape through a privy, and one escaped, and the other one drowned. The one who got away started to call for a boat in the night. One of the boats of the Council of Ten was passing, and when it stopped to pick him up, the [boatmen] began to wonder, since he was dark-skinned, if he was escaping, and they frightened him. From him they heard about the escape plot hatched by the prisoners.
The officials were called, and a strong guard was posted for the night. On the morning of the fifth, the heads of the Council of Ten were called: this month they are Cosma Pasqualigo, Nicolo da ca' da Pexaro, and Domenego Beneto." [pp. 142-3]
Editor's footnote: "The heads of the Council of Ten rotated every month."
Once those escaping could get out of the prison, then they had to leave the city. Someone had to have a boat. Also notice that skin tone is what made this escapee suspicious to the boatman and that this fact, Sanudo does not fail to list, as a mark for suspicion.
Sanudo Diaries (con't): "Together with a number of officials, they went to the prison, and the prisoners were very stubborn. In the end, burning straw was used to force smoke through all the windows of the prison, so that the smoke suffocated them. The heads of the Council of Ten issued a decree that if on the third try they did not respond and show obedience, they would all be hanged by the neck. Thus Marco Corner was the first to surrender, and then the others. They were put back in their prisons with more care, and the guards were ordered to pay more attention. I decided to include this incident because it is noteworthy."
Editor's footnote: "See Sanudo's entry for 19 August 1514 (18:445-48) for another jailbreak." [p. 143]
It should be remembered that using fire was a very dangerous weapon in such a crowded city in those days, even to control dangerous criminals.
________________________________________________
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
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Columbus Sails From Spain On First Voyage, August 3, 1492
Today is the day that Bartolome de las Casas said that Cristobal Colon left Spain for 'the Indies', in 1492. Colon of course, known to the world as Columbus would find something other than what he went looking for. This was not the fault of de las Casas. His name is associated with the conquest of the Americas as Columbus' has been over the centuries, but instead as remaining in the column of conquereors or discoverers the name de las Casas sits in the column of apologists.
His story is interesting in its own right and has been championed and villified as Columbus' was. Las Casas was called Marxist and Socialist centuries aterward, though he lived centuries before those terms came into being, as well as called traitor and 'voice of the people'. His adaptation of the log-book of Columbus' first voyage has become the closest account reamaining since Columbus' own work disappeared long ago. But las Casas other works include The Devestation Of The Indies as well as being the first residing bishop of Chiapas in Mexico.
There is much to this Dominican Friar's life and much of that intertwines with the mesoamerican world as Europeans began to learn of it, both despite and through his efforts.
His story is interesting in its own right and has been championed and villified as Columbus' was. Las Casas was called Marxist and Socialist centuries aterward, though he lived centuries before those terms came into being, as well as called traitor and 'voice of the people'. His adaptation of the log-book of Columbus' first voyage has become the closest account reamaining since Columbus' own work disappeared long ago. But las Casas other works include The Devestation Of The Indies as well as being the first residing bishop of Chiapas in Mexico.
There is much to this Dominican Friar's life and much of that intertwines with the mesoamerican world as Europeans began to learn of it, both despite and through his efforts.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Bernardina Executed For Murder: Sanudo Diaries: August 2, 1521; (31:163-65)
A woman who killed her husband was sentenced to be executed and quartered, for the first time, in Venice, this day. Sanudo spends some time with the story asserting it was "... a very important case: it is quite true that other women have killed their husbands, but none with such ferocity." [p. 130]
It was known that the husband had beat his wife for a long time. Luca, from Monte Negro had been married for twenty-two years to her and they lived in San Antonin, the central residential neighborhood of Venice, in that time. Luca ran a grocery. People called him "The Jew". He had disappeared in the spring. She later confessed, she had knocked him senseless as he lay asleep. Asleep at the foot of the bed in their daughter's room. The daughter was told to say nothing as the body was first hidden. Later, Bernardina told a minor officer that she knew, what had happened and had him help her bury the body under a staircase in the home. He told her, Sanudo quotes, "You will be quartered." [p. 128]
Luca, still dead, had to endure still longer indignities and remain under that stair, as his wife wrote letters to various places in order to explain his 'disappearance'. An uncle of Luca's came inquiring and she gave him some of these letters who, in turn went as far as Ancona to see if they were true. When they were not, Sanudo says, the uncle began to suspect the wife. Meanwhile the commander of the soldier that helped her bury the body, one Captain Giacomo di Novello found out and reported her to the state attorneys.
She was taken into custody, the trial was begun and when she was called to testify, she acquitted herself so well that she was allowed to go free. But then,
The case was brought publicly before the tribunal of the Quarantia Criminal, and Sanudo siad many people came to hear it. This accursed, devilish woman, Sanudo calls her, an Erine. The documents were read, witnesses told all about the many years of abuse she had suffered and the three prosecutors voted to proceed and so discussion began as to her punishment. Two awful scenarios were argued for and then pronounced. She would be beaten senseless and then quartered and hung on the gallows for all to see. He says it again.
* Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, “Sopra le acque salse”: Espaces, pouvoir et société à Venise à la fin du moyen âge. 2 vols. (Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome, 156; Nuovi Studi Storici, 14.) Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 1992. Paper 1: pp. x, 1–676. 2: pp. iv, 677–1121; 18 maps, 11 black-and-white plates.
______________________________________________
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
It was known that the husband had beat his wife for a long time. Luca, from Monte Negro had been married for twenty-two years to her and they lived in San Antonin, the central residential neighborhood of Venice, in that time. Luca ran a grocery. People called him "The Jew". He had disappeared in the spring. She later confessed, she had knocked him senseless as he lay asleep. Asleep at the foot of the bed in their daughter's room. The daughter was told to say nothing as the body was first hidden. Later, Bernardina told a minor officer that she knew, what had happened and had him help her bury the body under a staircase in the home. He told her, Sanudo quotes, "You will be quartered." [p. 128]
Luca, still dead, had to endure still longer indignities and remain under that stair, as his wife wrote letters to various places in order to explain his 'disappearance'. An uncle of Luca's came inquiring and she gave him some of these letters who, in turn went as far as Ancona to see if they were true. When they were not, Sanudo says, the uncle began to suspect the wife. Meanwhile the commander of the soldier that helped her bury the body, one Captain Giacomo di Novello found out and reported her to the state attorneys.
She was taken into custody, the trial was begun and when she was called to testify, she acquitted herself so well that she was allowed to go free. But then,
"She had taken into her home a certain Vincenzo Zarla and his wife, and I believe that he turned her in, because after the daughter had been called, he told everything in his deposition. The said Bernardino was arrested, and she confessed the truth in every detail as I have detailed above, without being tortured. The notaries of teh state attorneys were sent to oversee an excavation, and they found the dead body in the said storage space." [p 129]
The case was brought publicly before the tribunal of the Quarantia Criminal, and Sanudo siad many people came to hear it. This accursed, devilish woman, Sanudo calls her, an Erine. The documents were read, witnesses told all about the many years of abuse she had suffered and the three prosecutors voted to proceed and so discussion began as to her punishment. Two awful scenarios were argued for and then pronounced. She would be beaten senseless and then quartered and hung on the gallows for all to see. He says it again.
"Note that no other case has been found of a woman who, whatever her crime, was quartered. This is the first one." [p. 130]The Editors remark on Sanudo's spending so much time with this story, longer than many. As they say, Elisabeth Crouvet- Pavan* pointed out in 1992, that while women can "cause them and are involved", rarely were they considered the enactors or protagonists of criminal offenses. Hence the lack of cases of capital punishment for women. But can you imagine the shuddering effect of such a case, in households all across the city? Seems cruel and sadistic. Husbands could point to the judgements of the state and say it wouldn't matter if he beat them all the time and everybody could know it, too. But there would not be any mercy for them if they struck back. Nor if they tried to be clever and cover it up. Amazing.
* Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, “Sopra le acque salse”: Espaces, pouvoir et société à Venise à la fin du moyen âge. 2 vols. (Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome, 156; Nuovi Studi Storici, 14.) Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 1992. Paper 1: pp. x, 1–676. 2: pp. iv, 677–1121; 18 maps, 11 black-and-white plates.
______________________________________________
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
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Thief, Rapist Convicted, Sentenced: Sanudo Diaries: August 1, 1513
Crime and how it is dealt with can say a lot about a society. As the ways crimes are reported, investigated, prosecuted, remembered, as well as what is considered criminal behavior to begin with - and how laws concerning crime are generated, - all show the character of a culture, so too, do the participants. Both the actors, perpetrators, victims, detectives, reporters, legislators, lawyers as well as the spectators. The drama of a mystery or the court case, TV shows and serials in literature fill up the airwaves, magazine racks and bookshelves in literate, cine-video and digital cultures.
Today, in the US, in particular, today's sentencing for Ariel Castro in Cleveland, OH drew widespread attention. He got 'life plus a thousand years' for 936 crimes he pled guilty to.
Sentencing continued for Bradley Manning at Ft Meade, MD, after the court returned to a 'closed session', meaning the press is banned from its proceedings. Testimony allowed by this military court, in this case is classified and thereby judged free from scrutiny of the press.
Edward Snowden was granted a year long amnesty in Russia today despite the extreme disappointment expressed by the POTUS Press Secretary Jay Carney. Snowden is wanted by the US Government for leaking secret programs of the NSA and the consequent vast global electronic surveillance series of systems that have operated for at least ten years and which have remained very much a secret until this summer.
People continued to gawk and squawk about Anthony Weiner and a San Diego mayor of worse behavior. All week. Crowds still enjoy pointing and shaming and laughing, or commiserating, identifying, going through the stages of grief.
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For a city of its size, Venice had its share of criminal activity. Crimes were judged by their severity and also, it seems by the class of the criminal themselves. Crimes committed by elite members of society could be dealt with very differently than crimes by other sorts of people. Sometimes it seemed expedient to set an example by doling out harsh punishments and sometimes certain crimes seemed to be overlooked. I'll give three different examples in the coming week with more coming later this month and still more scattered through the year. Descriptions of the criminal and the criminal acts, as in this following case, clearly lead an audience to a presumption of guilt before hearing specifics. But then, what the Quarantia Criminal decided on, when they decided it, as well as the Collegio, was good enough for Sanudo. His inquiry doesn't go beyond what was reported or what he himself could see. Gossip then, which he likes to discount, as well as repeat, was common as crime was for his, as well as our own times.
Sanudo Diaries: August 1, 1513 (16:579); "This morning in the Quarantia Criminal the proposal of ser Zuan Capelo, state attorney, and his colleagues was accepted. That is, tomorrow a certain Gasparo d'Arquà will be quartered. This man, using the pretext that he had a trembling disease in his head, made certain very ugly movements, twisting his head backward, and thus he went begging for alms."
This 'pretext' for Sanudo neither reveals nor conceals the factual merits of the accused's 'trembling disease in his head'. But his choice in words reveal what he believes. He continues:
"More than a year ago he found a traffic for himself: he brought many wet nurses and women from the country here and [took] others from this city out [to the country]. Once they were on the road, he took them into a certain wood and assaulted them and took their possessions and the money that they had on them, threatening to kill them. Then he would leave, and the poor women who had been shamed and who had lost their belongings were left there. He did this to more than eighty of them, including eleven maidens, whom he raped; the number from this city [whom he attacked] was sixteen, as is noted in the trial records. He was recognized in the street at San Fantin by one of these women, who said to him, "You assassin, here you are." She grabbed him and turned him over to the officials. It was decided that he be held in the custody of the Forty, and he made a full confession." [pp. 130-31]
A serial rapist and thief, discovered and apprehended by one of his own victims!
"His sentence was to be taken along the Grand Canal on a barge, as is customary, tomorrow at none. Then he will be disembarked at Santa Croce and dragged from a horse's tail [a coda di cavallo] to Piazza San Marco, where his head will be cut off and he will be quartered, with the quarters hung on the gallows, etc."
The Editors point out this dragging could have been literal, in which case it would be difficult for a horse to traverse all the bridges it would require to cross, in Venice, or the phrase could just mean he was handled roughly during the executing of the sentence. Dragging the convict through the streets and down the canal, beheading, quartering and hanging the remains on the gallows was typical for extreme crimes. Some of which was also used for at least one case of witchcraft eight years later.
Sanudo points out that the man convicted was executed a couple days later after pleading for privileges to do 'that thing' one more time. Also, the Venetian Sate Archives identify this man as a former vice-vicar of Arquà, a municipality south and west of Padua and Venice.
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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
Today, in the US, in particular, today's sentencing for Ariel Castro in Cleveland, OH drew widespread attention. He got 'life plus a thousand years' for 936 crimes he pled guilty to.
Sentencing continued for Bradley Manning at Ft Meade, MD, after the court returned to a 'closed session', meaning the press is banned from its proceedings. Testimony allowed by this military court, in this case is classified and thereby judged free from scrutiny of the press.
Edward Snowden was granted a year long amnesty in Russia today despite the extreme disappointment expressed by the POTUS Press Secretary Jay Carney. Snowden is wanted by the US Government for leaking secret programs of the NSA and the consequent vast global electronic surveillance series of systems that have operated for at least ten years and which have remained very much a secret until this summer.
People continued to gawk and squawk about Anthony Weiner and a San Diego mayor of worse behavior. All week. Crowds still enjoy pointing and shaming and laughing, or commiserating, identifying, going through the stages of grief.
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For a city of its size, Venice had its share of criminal activity. Crimes were judged by their severity and also, it seems by the class of the criminal themselves. Crimes committed by elite members of society could be dealt with very differently than crimes by other sorts of people. Sometimes it seemed expedient to set an example by doling out harsh punishments and sometimes certain crimes seemed to be overlooked. I'll give three different examples in the coming week with more coming later this month and still more scattered through the year. Descriptions of the criminal and the criminal acts, as in this following case, clearly lead an audience to a presumption of guilt before hearing specifics. But then, what the Quarantia Criminal decided on, when they decided it, as well as the Collegio, was good enough for Sanudo. His inquiry doesn't go beyond what was reported or what he himself could see. Gossip then, which he likes to discount, as well as repeat, was common as crime was for his, as well as our own times.
Sanudo Diaries: August 1, 1513 (16:579); "This morning in the Quarantia Criminal the proposal of ser Zuan Capelo, state attorney, and his colleagues was accepted. That is, tomorrow a certain Gasparo d'Arquà will be quartered. This man, using the pretext that he had a trembling disease in his head, made certain very ugly movements, twisting his head backward, and thus he went begging for alms."
This 'pretext' for Sanudo neither reveals nor conceals the factual merits of the accused's 'trembling disease in his head'. But his choice in words reveal what he believes. He continues:
"More than a year ago he found a traffic for himself: he brought many wet nurses and women from the country here and [took] others from this city out [to the country]. Once they were on the road, he took them into a certain wood and assaulted them and took their possessions and the money that they had on them, threatening to kill them. Then he would leave, and the poor women who had been shamed and who had lost their belongings were left there. He did this to more than eighty of them, including eleven maidens, whom he raped; the number from this city [whom he attacked] was sixteen, as is noted in the trial records. He was recognized in the street at San Fantin by one of these women, who said to him, "You assassin, here you are." She grabbed him and turned him over to the officials. It was decided that he be held in the custody of the Forty, and he made a full confession." [pp. 130-31]
A serial rapist and thief, discovered and apprehended by one of his own victims!
"His sentence was to be taken along the Grand Canal on a barge, as is customary, tomorrow at none. Then he will be disembarked at Santa Croce and dragged from a horse's tail [a coda di cavallo] to Piazza San Marco, where his head will be cut off and he will be quartered, with the quarters hung on the gallows, etc."
The Editors point out this dragging could have been literal, in which case it would be difficult for a horse to traverse all the bridges it would require to cross, in Venice, or the phrase could just mean he was handled roughly during the executing of the sentence. Dragging the convict through the streets and down the canal, beheading, quartering and hanging the remains on the gallows was typical for extreme crimes. Some of which was also used for at least one case of witchcraft eight years later.
Sanudo points out that the man convicted was executed a couple days later after pleading for privileges to do 'that thing' one more time. Also, the Venetian Sate Archives identify this man as a former vice-vicar of Arquà, a municipality south and west of Padua and Venice.
______________________________________________
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
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