Fall of the Mexica

Even the same. Hello and welcome to the History of the Atlantic World Podcast. This is part six of the conquest. I am your caffeinated host, Jesse Weist. Thank you for listening. Now, as you know, Big Heads Media is sort of like the Netflix of podcasts. And because that's because what they do is penetrate the deep dark forest of the internet. They find and hew down only the very best of possibilities.

And they do that so they can present only the finest of timbers to people like you and me who enjoy listening to podcasts. Now needless to say this means that we are part of an excellent lineup of history.

Uh like body count for example. Uh let me tell you, this show is fucking mahogany. So thanks for checking out their promo, and then we'll get to the Well you may think that history is eh vaguely interesting, the truth is it's fun and medal A. Echoes of the past are still reverberating through our world today and Body Count is here to show you how How our shared history affects your life on the daily. Whether you know it or not, so

Are you past the point of higher education? Feel like you didn't learn anything from your high school history teacher? Or just didn't give a flying crap about it? Are you tired of always missing out on the yellow history pie piece and trivial pursuits? Are you the horror of all your friends' game nights? Did you once proudly announce that Napoleon Bonaparte was a super short little nutsack? When in reality, he was an average size nutsack. Have you been thinking about living under a faulty dam?

Or perhaps an active volcano? It's not too late for you or your homeowner's insurance. Come on over and listen to Body Count, the podcast that explores death and disaster through the ages with only one rule: someone, or usually a lot of someones. Guys, because history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. A proud member of the MSE Podcast Network. It's been far too long. And I mentioned that specifically because for those of you listening within, say, a few days of me having uploaded this.

I imagine that probably means, unless you're just checking out my ad, that you really enjoy this show a lot. And so I want to apologize to you for how long it took me to complete this episode. Now If you're listening to the show later, I want to time it. You to help you understand. Today is November 7th, 2020. Obviously, this has been a very difficult year for a lot of people.

I essentially had to take uh basically a couple of months off from the show from where I would n the time uh I would normally be working on the show, I had to get a a part-time job, and money was just a little tight around my household for a while. um August and September and into October. So it took me a long fucking time to finish writing this script. Um now anyway my troubles, frankly, pale in comparison to what a lot of other people do.

Um so frankly that's enough of my whining anyway, uh because this is not the story of Jesse Weast. This is the story of the fall of the mission. I mean hell, I'm not the only one who had to take the a hiatus anyway. I mean they fucking cancelled sports for a few months. Sports! Well, just like this show is back, so are sports. The Maya and the Meshika, for example, they loved gambling on the sports that they used to play. And now you can too with mybookie.com.

Beyond that, you can double your first deposit with the return of winning season. That means survivor, super contests, and squares, and if you want to make like Montezuma. Celebrate the NFL season, then check out mybookie.com because signing up now means you'll get a dollar-for-dollar match all the way up to a thousand dollars. And that puts you in the My Bookie Supercon. Now, to do that you pick five NFL games against a sprit.

Never pick the Cowboys. And WAMO, you've got a chance at a one hundred thousand dollar grand prize in prizes. Excuse me, a hundred thousand in uh grand prizes. I'm talking cash. Uh it's simple. You make your picks, you win big, you collect your cash. It's really a no-brainer. Uh your winning season begins today. Only at

Thanks for supporting the people who support this show. Uh now technically I want to point out that my audience isn't really big enough that I am getting any kind of fat check from any kind of average. the a tiny bit of revenue from ads I do, uh, goes I put straight into marketing the show to help, you know, keep growing the audience. But you can help support the show directly. Uh first if you haven't, take a moment to share, subscribe, rate, review the podcast if possible.

Um and uh if you're really feeling generous, head on over to patreon uh dot com backslash Atlanticworld, become a patron of the show. Um By doing that you'll literally be helping me buy books for future episodes. You can do so for as little as one dollar per month, which is frankly a pittance in exchange for some great history content.

Uh you can check out the show notes for links to all this great stuff. And in addition, I've also got the uh bibliography for this episode listed there if you would like to read and learn more. Um so, that means the conquest of Mexico is upon us here at the History of the Atlantic World Pod. Inarguably, this is one of the most influential moments in the history of the world. Uh this is a story of courage, treachery, and conquer. In fact, it is perhaps the greatest conquest of all time.

wherein Hernan Cortez and a handful of Spaniards conquer a vast empire of millions, behind a backdrop of two completely independent worlds meeting one another. I mean if you tried to argue with me that the conquest of Mexico was more important even than what we've already discussed about what happens in fourteen ninety two, well, I'm not gonna lie, maybe you could convince me. Now moreover, this is a story that has been told before. It's been told so many times.

And even people with barely any passing interest in uh history could probably tell you a little bit about Cortez and Montezuma. Of course, the details, uh, however, are often poorly understood. Well, like the popular understanding of any historical.

But in part, the history of the conquest of Mexico is a bit obscure because even though it has been told many times, the accounts conflict uh conflict, I don't know what I said that so weird, on some at any rate, they conflict on some of the most important events of the conquest. The participants, too, were biased, starting with Cortez himself. He wrote several letters back to Spain talking about.

But the political motivations he had are kinda obvious, frankly, uh especially if you're reading even if you're just reading'em and you don't even know anything about this beforehand. Um when and especially they're especially uh Cortez you can see some of his bias if you compare

the descriptions of some of the events that take place with the descriptions that some of his fellow conquistadors give of those same Um, Cortes regularly minimizes both the efforts of his Indian allies, which might not surprise you, but of his fellow Spaniards. Um luckily for us, several conquistadors though, however, also wrote about it. And um They do some justice, uh quite a bit of justice towards correcting some of course.

But they still suffer from misinterpretations at times, especially of the actions of the uh to the Spaniards, human sacrifice and cannibalism were horrifying in the extreme. Now, even though the Spanish had no problem with, say, burning people alive, cutting the hands off of someone who they suspected was a spy or uh c you know, trying a criminal and killing them without trial. Um Those, just so you know, were practices that would have horrified.

But in contrast, the natives in Mexico had no problem cutting out someone's heart, turning their skin into a cloak, wearing it, and then eating part of their thigh. Now those particular practices, combined with the Mexican worship of what looked like bloody heathen gods, um or what were, I guess, bloody heathen gods. Um to the Christians of the 1500s, this all seemed to basically add up to devil worship. They could not comprehend how Mexicans even put up with such They were being imprisoned.

Um now that is a little funny, a lore ironic maybe, because they venerated often depicted as crucified, decapitated, uh had their breasts cut off, or otherwise mutilated with swords, arrows, or hot pokers. Um so the fact that they they didn't like the bloody heathen.

A little ironic, but um regardless. Whatever bias we might find in the Spanish accounts, one thing Cortes was only accompanied by a few hundred men, yet somehow he decisively defeated an empire of millions, and he did it in a very short amount of time. Or at least we could make that claim if we completely disregard the account of the natives. Or accounts of the natives, excuse me. That's what quite a few early writers of the conquest did.

Europeans who attributed the conquest uh to Corte or attribute Cortez's success to things like European cultural superiority, or Cortez's psychological superiority, for example. Ah, the early European writers often saw those things as at least as important, or as guns or horses. Uh in an attempt basically to make the h the conquistadors and to heroes.

Um which helped justify the conquest of the Americas, frankly. Uh the most important primary source of the conquest, though, um is probably the work of the Conquistador Burnouts. It's entitled The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. Now, the reason Diaz titled his work, The True History, was Specifically, to dispute what other writers were saying about the conquest. At the time, and which Diaz felt was too focused on the actions of Cortez.

Diaz believed that the ordinary Spanish soldier, and he was one of them, deserved a lot more credit. So he made it a specific point. A lot about a lot of the different conquistes. um their be even even what they looked like in their personalities sometimes. And and combined with the fact that Bernal Diaz's memory just it it just seems to have been a lot better.

A lot of his uh fellow conquistadors who wrote about the conquest or were interviewed about it. I mean his account, his big book is in invaluable. Now there are far fewer texts that exist from the indigenous point of view, but they do exist, and they help provide a counterpoint. A Franciscan friar named Bernardino de Sahagun and I wanna say I will probably massacre the uh pronunciations of um some of the some of the stuff here, especially in Nahuatl.

Um anyway, Sahagun uh gathered testimony after the conquest uh from survivors, uh which Sh really show that the conquest of Mexico was anything but a simple battle between Spanards on Spaniards on one side and Rather, Sahagun's informative

show that a variety of opinions and political considerations went into the uh decisions that various native groups made when they decided to side with either the Now, the Spanish, uh living as we are in the future, undoubtedly come out of But many indigenous groups were victors as well, militarily. Now the victory, however, is made for the And that's because smallpox arrives from Europe for the first time at Hispaniola in fifteen sixty.

and reaches Mexico during the events which I'm about to tell you all about. Uh which is gonna take place basically from uh fr the actions of Cortez anyway from fifteen nineteen. But we'll get to all of that. Uh but a at any rate, most other indigenous weren't really available to anyone, uh at least any any of the writers, um until about four hundred and fifty years.

Um and that's because the uh scholar Miguel Leon Portilla did not translate the sixteenth century accounts of Nahuatl or the he did not translate Nahuatl, uh until uh about four Um Miguel Leon Portilla's uh book um uh has been since translated into dozens of languages, including English in nineteen sixty two. It is called The Broken Spears. It is an invaluable source. Um and so because

That wasn't written until the late fifties or early sixties. I think the late fifties, um is when he translated. Um that means most of the histories written about the conquest of Mexico are incomplete by that. Um now I wouldn't even begin though to speculate how many books in total have been written. or i I mean and you know, if you include biographies of Cortez and Montezuma, um got countless. But for what it's worth, there are three critical texts written in English. about the conquest in my

One is William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico. It is the original historical account of the conquest in English. Um Prescott was writing in the late And so as you might imagine, he might be well he's pretty racist. He really He can barely believe any of their cultural accomplishments, and he makes it a point to condescend towards their accomplishments at every

Now with that said, he doesn't really like the Spanish all that much either. It's kind of funny, on account of them being Catholic. Um now with that said, Prescott though the reason this book is important other than it's like kind of the first one first really good history uh uh Um, Prescott writes some very flowery po prose. Uh despite his views, um, the history he writes is a good one and

Um but and you know, as you might note, he wrote a long time before the broken spears were published. Now the next uh important is by Hugh Thomas, I in my opinion. Uh who is an excellent historian, uh of the Atlantic world. He published Conquest in nineteen ninety three. It's a great tomb. To me, this is essentially the Bible of the Conquest of Mexico. I can't recommend the book enough. If you want more info uh on the conquest after this episode, I would suggest more than anything.

Now, while Prescott kind of writes with the most descriptive and pl flowery prose on this topic, you know, uh people don't write like the way he wrote in the you know, people just in the eighteen hundreds people just wrote red. They had they had more time. But but Thomas is no slouch. It's a good read. And in addition, there's a lot of materials that were not available to Prescott when he wrote. Uh Thomas, though, examined key teams.

Not not just the broken spears, but also uh a the residencia of fifteen twenty four against the governor of Cuba, Diego Velazquez. Who was Cortez's one-time superior? And the papers of Cortez's boat builder, Martin Lopez, and several other. statements uh which had not yet been published by conquistadors until Thomas found and and wrote about uh them in his book. Now so this uh combined with the native Now with that said, as fantastic as Conquest is

Hugh Thomas' conclusions, in my opinion, leave a lot to be desired. Basically, Thomas concludes that Hernan Cortez was indispensable. Spain would not have conquered Mexico. And we'll talk about that at the end of the episode as to why I think he'd wrong. So definitely read Hugh Thomas if you're so inclined, but don't sleep on this one. That's Mexico and the Spanish Conquest by Ross.

Hasig didn't write the same sort of book as either Thomas or Prescott, who both provide just loads of description. They kind of make you feel Um Hassig provides a very bare bone He focuses on the major events only, and I know that sounds horrible, but trust me. by him not spending any time recounting the splendor of the Mexican costumes the debates that the conquistadors had, or the details of minor battles or diplomatic engagements. Hassique is freed to focus on something else.

Nobody really before him had focused on to nearly And it's very important. And what Hasick focuses on is logistics. Now on the one hand this might seem boring, but by focusing on quote mundane yet crucial issues as logistics and marketing. Hazig presents a fuller and more accurate interpretation of what happened in Mexico. He even goes so far as to state and provides a very compelling case for this, that the Indians were the key movers in shape of the

that the Spaniards were exploited, so that indigenous people of Mexico could free themselves from Aztec control. And I I'm not sure if I'd go entirely as But uh it's not really you it's hard to dispute that the conquest of Mexico was anything other than the result of an alliance of Spanish and indigenous armies and Now I suppose then that we should get started.

But before we do, uh just one more quick point of business to discuss, and that's that we won't be talking, uh if you are kind of new to this show, um we will not be talking this episode broadly speaking about indigenous Culture. Um, not because it's not important, au contraire, because it is so important, it deserves its own episode. Uh if you are interested in that. Uh I published Blood Oath. It's a deep dive into all things Aztec, Maya, and more in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican history.

and a general history of Mesoamerica up to the eve of contact. So by all means check out Blood Oath if you want to learn more about the Mesika. I assure you that episode is not for the faint of heart. I can also assure you that I hope to never again attempt another six-hour-long episode. That was really rough on me. Okay, well, so for this episode.

We're not going to get into any Mesoamerican culture or society, at least not in like an explanatory way, except for uh this one thing about uh language, I guess, in addition to me apologizing for mis you know mispronunciations if I if I do that. I will occasionally use the terms you know, Mexico and As

heard, but that's not really how those people really talked about themselves. Meshika and Meshiko are probably more correct phonetically to talk about people of this And other than that comment or in if you're if you're wondering where Meshika and Meshikau come from. Um other than that, uh we're basically about to focus on the events of the fall of the

Specifically from about 1517 to 1521. Now, with that said, I still do want to be able to understand the Meshika. For us to walk a mile in their shoes and empathize. That's because this is a culture that we have more in common. And because these are fraught times where our future is uncertain, perhaps it might be to our be uh to our advantage to learn from the downfall.

Um because if nothing else, well their story will show you just how bad things could Oh no, unfortunately for me, the storyteller, there's a giant mountain in the way of me trying to help you understand just how alike you are. Now that mountain, of course, is basically a mountain of skulls, which make up the remains of the hundreds of thousands of people who were the victims of human sacrifice as a result of, say, them losing war. How could we possibly believe that we are

They believed in human sacrifice. They practiced it regularly. Well, lucky for you, we can cross that mountain and better understand the Aztecs, because I am an excellent guide and I know of a secret pass through that mountain. Yes, friends, you might not believe But I promise you right now, you believe in human sacrifice too.

Now, for those of you who have already listened to Blood Oath, you already know that you believe in human sacrifice, and pardon me for basically telling the same story twice. to trying to never do this again in the future. But if we're going to understand Mesoamerica, we really Sacrifice. Aztec, family structure, schools, monetary systems, construction and engineering accomplishments, all of that you can learn by listening to Blood Oath. Today we'll just get by on this.

The Mesoamericans practiced all sorts of sacrifices. Uh basically a sacrifice of blood without the death. And w that was a regular religion. Needles are used a lot to take blood from tongues, lobes of ears, even uh penises, and that blood would then be obtained via straws and fed to the god.

animals and birds especially uh especially birds uh were all And and in fact human sacrifice rule was practiced um on what you might call a modest scale, um, for thousands of years throughout In fourteen twenty eight these human sacrifices During the reign of the Emperor Itzkoatl, who stressed the greater role of Hitzilopochtli to the exclusion of other gods. He burned numerous books in order to see that this happened. Itzkoatl was served by his nephew.

Tlacklel, a general who engineered a great military expansion of the Meshika under the war god Whitalopot, The emphasis on continual war and the emphasis on a cult of the war god, meant that sacrifices hap started happening more regularly and on a more lavish level. and one chronicler, for example, Andres de Tapia, reported, upon reaching Tinochtitlan, a skull rack, which he claimed contained one hundred and thirty six thousand skulls.

Now, modern researchers have pointed out that by using Tapia's own measurements, the skull rack would have only been comprised of roughly sixty thousand skulls, but you could Over time, with Demeshika's success in war and conquest, Captives became more scarce, and previously conquered regions began offering up more and more commoners, especially the children of commoners. Hugh Thomas tells us that quote, Mercy was as foreign to the Meshika as it had been to the ancients.

What, after all, are life and death, but two sides of the same reality, as the Potters of Tatilko suggested when they made their double faces, one part alive, the other alive. Meshika boys were educated in war and in a philosophy that taught them to look forward to receiving a quote flowery death, unquote, via the obsidian knife, that this was something honorable. The gods had no interest in a death via disease or old age, and in fact the afterlife for met for mesmers.

was reserved only for those who died honorably in battle, or who died via sacrifice. Ordinary souls went to Mictlan instead Mikdlan was the great underworld of annihilation. Now, just in case that wasn't enough motivation for any Meshika about to be sacrificed.

Victims were usually given a hallucinogenic, uh or at least a heavy dose of alcohol in the form of pulquet to make them very compliant just like Now it's hard to believe that there was a lot of people who found this not only acceptable but necessary, but friends and foes alike of the Meshika not only believed in this humanity. seem spellbound by the beauty and terror of these dramatic religious festivals. Now, even with that uh knowledge in our heads, it's hard to accept

there were commoners who could have their children stripped away and sacrificed and then they would be happy about it. Um And that's problem.

not everybody would have been, but that wasn't the point of why the Mech the uh Mexica were doing these sacrifices on these grand scale. That wasn't the only Uh Friar Diego Duran, a writer in the fifteen fifties, who interviewed stated that visiting rulers who went to Tenochtitlan, often do so in secret, were shocked by the scale of the human sacrifices they saw they made.

Which was likely exactly the intention of the Mexica rulers. And I apologize if you hear some uh Joe Biden won the president's Okay, so it was uh the exactly the intention of the Mexico rulers was to shine to intimidate and shock their neighbors into submission. In fourteen seventy three a revolt occurred against when the King of Tatalolco, uh Mokwehuix, went around trying to get help from neighbouring cities to fight a He was complaining that Tenochtitlan was waged too.

Solely in order to keep their priests happy with captives of presumably Mukwex didn't really like the fact that his priest

were probably being conscripted to fight in these wars. Um now but with all of that said, it's unquestionable that many found all of this According to Father Duran, quote, many times did I ask Indians why they could not have been content to offer quail, turtle doves, and other birds The answer he received was that such were offerings of the poor, while to offer prisoners of war or slaves, was something suitable for great lords, and not for

However, the reason it's so important that I want to bring all of this up is because believe it or not, our morality and beliefs maybe aren't quite so different. At the end of Blood Oath, I talked about someone named Specialist Ross A. McGuinness. Specialist McGuinness If I remember correctly, he was twenty one. when he used his own body to cover an explosive device, which an Iraqi insurgent had taught

the Humvee that he was in alongside four other soldiers. And in order to uh prevent that device from detonating, because it got lodged uh in the dash and to keep it from killing his friends. McGinnis used his body as a shield. He gave up his life when the blast came so that others would live. Posthumously he was awarded the Medal of Honor. It is a paltry prize, in my opinion.

For the payment of your life, if you ask me. But uh specialist McGuinness, to use the parlance of our times, made the ultimate. Now the Aztecs abuse. And so in this episode, the fall of the Meshika, they will come across as villains. And when they lose, it will be in large part because fear of the Meshika evaporates for the peep uple the other Now what happens to the survivors?

Will technically actually be worse when the Spanish are in charge. Uh what in fact will happen after the Spanish are in charge is worse than what these people could have ever imagined before, uh when the Mexica were ruled. And even still the Aztecs will kind of come across as villains in this story. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to understand

why we need to understand why the people of Mesoamerica would put up with all that human sacrifice. Well, like I said, I'm we're not gonna do a deep dive into Mesoamerican beliefs. You can get them from Blood Oath. But briefly The cyclical nature of time in Mesoamerican belief um meant that time uh the meso people in Mesoamerica, the Maya, all these people did not t understand time as a linear process as a straight.

Instead they understood it as something that repeated over and over again, hence the the calendar and uh the the fact that Mesoamericans they they studied history in order to predict They believed they could decipher the future if they owned a few. Uh what they understood about the future by learning about the past, is that one day the gods were going to destroy the earth. And in fact, American peoples, on multiple occasions,

Experienced apocalyptic situations, extinctions of mammoth herds and other megafauna, volcanoes, asteroids. These are all events recorded into the cultural memory of the And so for a sophisticated society like the Anzi Perhaps it should not surprise us they took such lessons. The Aztec calendar was fifty two years long, and Meshika belief was that at the end of this fifty two year cycle their god Histalopochli would awaken from his slumber, view creation, and decide whether or not he would be

the world and the universe. At the end of one fifty two year cycle, he would definitely And the only thing that you could do about it was to show your appreciation to Whitster Lepochley. And if you showed your appreciation enough, he would give you another 52 years on this beautiful planet. Now, as was the case with many. The people of Mesoamerica therefore were faced with a very important spiritual question. How does a mortal show respect to the gods?

The gods have everything. They created everything, and in fact they may even be insulted. If their creations do not show a proper appreciation for life and existence, In Mesoamerica then, like in all other parts of the world, the answer to that question of how to show respect to the gods was to offer the gods like So in Mesoamerica long ago, people began offering flowers and fruit and crops and the products of hunts to the gods, in addition, blood is spent.

since perhaps by offering the gods the life of beautiful and important things on earth, then the gods would understand how appreciative people were to live here. In fact, the ultimate then one could offer the gods would be a human life. Now that's why I thought this episode

Or excuse me, that's why I thought it was so important in the episode of Blood Oath to tell the story of Specialist Rosse McGuinness. Not because dying on a battlefield to do with getting your heart cut out on a stone table on top of a pyramid, but because the essential motivations for those deaths are, shall we say, eerily similar in some way?

Mesoamericans believed that human sacrifice was a way to save their friends and loved ones, in the same way that Ross McGuinness believed that his actions would save the lives of

Soldiers. There were Meshika people who were willing to be sacrificed to the gods, to have their hearts cut out, because they knew that if they did that, Then their families would let them Now, you might be thinking, sure, some crazy religious nuts back in Mesoamerica probably were willing to be sacrificed, or even sacrifice their children, or whatever, but that doesn't mean it's the same thing.

Well I'd reply that maybe dying for your fellow soldiers in a desert halfway across the world so that General Electric and Halliburton can make a trillion dollars on no bid contracts is also a little funny. Maybe no problem about it. Is in my opinion the biggest tragedy and mistake that the United States has made in my life

I hate everything about it, why it was fought, why we fought it. In fact, I don't think offensive wars are a good thing in general to go about waging. Um and I but anyway, I I remember How angry I was when all How eagerly I voted for the first time in my life as a result for John Kerry, just in a vote out of anger. did did again recently. Unlike uh what recently happened, uh I was very disappointed. It was heartbreaking. Uh ultimately uh the war was heartbreaking too.

But all that still adds up to nothing more than a hill of beans. When I consider the sacrifice that specialist Ross A. McGuinness made when he decided to jump on top of a grenade, which was tossed into his Humvee. Because McGuinness's decision wasn't to leap out and save himself. He could have done that.

Instead he jumped on the grenade, which blew up, killing him. But those other four soldiers in the vehicle lived, and I hate the Iraq or I will never forget or forgive George W. Bush or Dick Fucking Chains. And I'll always be more suspicious of my nation as a result of it happening? And uh if if there w had been no Iraq war, we probably l literally wouldn't have had a Donald Trump.

But that doesn't mean I don't respect the hell out of Ross A. McGuinness, what he did. And if I were in his position. I hope that I would have the same courage and conviction that he showed that day. And I think that even if you feel the same way as me about the Iraq war, maybe you might still be able to appreciate. The decision, the sacrifice that Ross A. McGinnis made Well the ruling class of the Mexica abused the belief of Mesoamerica.

Uh the belie the belief of Mesoamericans that the gods would destroy the world transform a relatively rare event in Mesoamerica, the act of human sacrifice, into a tool of the state. Um they used human sacrifice to create an empire based on fear, and there were probably a lot of people in Mesoamerica who hated it. what their oppressive rule consisted of, but yet felt a profound sense of respect for the institution of human sacrifice. even as the Meshika abused that belief to gather more wealth

So I don't know why Ross McGinnis went to Iraq. Maybe he believed, like some people do, that the Iraq war was part of a struggle that's been going on since the seventh century. It was part of a crusade or a fatwa between Christians and Muslims. Maybe instead he thought they hate us for our freedom. And he thought he was spreading democracy. Maybe Ross McGuinness hated the Iraq war just like me. Maybe he went because he just needed money for college or to start a business.

Maybe he was just from some shitty little small town and he just wanted a good job and to see the world. I don't know if it em if it fucking matters why McGuinness went. At least not for our story about the fall of the Meshica. All I know is that his sacrifice was an honorable thing. It was a brave thing. It was a good day. So too was the sacrifice of Staff Sergeant Travis Adrian.

He was standing near three other soldiers, when an insurgent wearing an explosive vest approached them, activated the detonator for the device, and Atkins then jumped on the suit. He bear hugged him to the ground, and he gave his life in the process on june first, two thousand seven. Those three other soldiers lived. Corporal Jason Dunham, of the Marine Corps, made a similar sacrifice as well on april fourteenth, two thousand four.

On that date, Corporal Dunham leapt on a grenade, dropped by a detained insurgent, and later died of his injuries, though two other marines standing around lived. Master at arms, second class, Michael A. Monsour, was a naval sear a Navy SEAL, excuse me, he jumped on a grenade as well. He saved the lives of three Americans and three Iraqi soldiers who were on a roof. Monsieur leapt on the grenade to smother it, he saved the lives of the others in the process.

If you heard the ticking of a bomb And you knew you could act. To save people you loved. Would you do it? Tick. You're running out of time. It's time to make a decision. And if you can understand why men like that would give up their lives and protect people.

I think maybe you could understand why Mesoamericans would accept human sacrifice to the gods as a perfectly acceptable practice, even if the Aztecs were abusing it. And if you can understand that, then maybe you could envision yourself that Were you a person who lived in, I don't know, fifteen, eighteen in Mesoamerica, and you might even become a willing sacrifice to the gods. Well, if that were the case, you would not hear a tick, tick, tick.

You would hear boom, boom, boom, the boom of the drums that accompany the spectacle that would be your death. Shrill whistles and horns would play. Music music would play in your honor as majestically dressed dancers and costumes with huge feather plumes. Start taking part in choreographed dances for you, which to you in your zonked out as you were on sacred mushrooms would look like. Unfurling before you as if to already The one path to an afterlife of Paris.

Upon reaching the flat summit of the pyramid, the sound dancing would be accompanied by a powerful The Mexican sun would be shining down and reflecting off the brilliantly white stuccoed pyramid top. The drugs and the light would make it difficult to see much of what happened, as you would be stripped down of your feathered copper.

laid on a stone table, your arms and legs stretched out, and with one final breath, one final heave, Your priestly executioner would cut asunder your ribs with a sharp razor, thrust his hand into the wound, and tear out your still beating heart. your last vision on earth, as your eyelids begin to close, would be the priest depositing your hot and reeking heart into a golden censor, in front of the idol of Whit's Dilopoche.

Your body would then be hurled down the steep steps of the pyramid and mutilated by those below. Your arms and legs would be eaten, your head cut off and stuck on a skull rack, and your torso would be fed to the beasts of the Emperor's zoo. But were you a true believer at that moment? You would die with the satisfaction that your sacrifice saved not just your loved ones. but all of creation. I think it's very important to begin our story in an attempt to get into the

Because our story begins from their perspective. In the year fifteen oh five. At the trading post in a city called Zicalanco, constructed by the Aztecs on the Gulf of Mexico to serve as a gateway of trade between the Valley of Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula. The indigenous accounts mention a number of omens and a bewildered Montezuma in the face of increasing evidence that an outsider group of powerful and dangerous warriors was near the border.

There are eight reputed omens. Sets of eight were important. But it's unclear whether or not these omens were really even seen as such before the It seems actually that after the conquest, indigenous accounts sought to explain the Meshika's defeat via supernatural means, and as a result, Montezuma is depicted as indiscreet. Practically impotent in the face of the But the indigeno indigenous accounts w now all of which were written after the conquest.

might have been adding a quote unquote post conquest gloss to the story. That's what Stuart Schwartz, editor of Victors and Vanquished, Spanish and Nahua views of the conquest of Mexico. Th he believes that the Spanish accounts, which were the the Spanish and the Nahua accounts written after the fact started to lack Having happened as a way of underlining the preordained nature.

Now regardless, um Sahagun's informus informants tell us that quote ten years before the arrival of the An omen first appeared in the sky, like a flame or tongue of fire, like the light of water. It appeared to be throwing off sparks, and seemed to pierce the sky when it came out at midnight. It appeared like the dawn. For a full year it showed. And when it appeared there would be an outcry. People would hit their hand against their mouths as they yelled. People were taken aback. They lamented.

Said that this comet was visible in the sky every night until dawn. And I should point out before I get going any farther, uh if if it if a lot of times Nahuatl even translated sounds a little weird, it's because often a lot of things are repeated. Sometimes the way they would write things they would say things they would write it l the literal way and then also they would repeat it another like a metaphorical way. Uh you'll know if if you didn't notice

The second omen was that, quote, of its own accord, the house of the devil Whitz-Lapochtli burned and flared it up. No one set fire. It just took fire itself. When they threw water on it, trying to extinguish it, it blew up all the more. It could not be put out. It burned out. The third omen was a disaster at another temple. A temple was struck by lightning, hit by a thunderbolt. It was just a building of straw at the temple complex of Zuitokle, excuse me, I'm sure

The reason it was taken for an omen was that it was not raining hard, just drizzling. It was said that it was struck when the sun was shining, nor was thunder heard. The fourth omen was that while the sun was still out, a a comet fell in three parts. Now likely, if you ask me, that was the same comet that had been in the sky every day for a year earlier, if you ask me. But anyway, the fifth omen was that the water of the lake boiled up. It was not windy.

It bubbled and made exploding sounds, rising high in the air. It reached the foundations of the houses, it flooded them and they collapsed. This is the great lake that extends around us here in Mexico. Now, the Valley of Mexico is a volcanic region, and if you asked me, this sounds like some probably some seismic activity. The sixth omen was that many times a woman would be heard going along and weeping and shouting. She cried loudly at night, saying, O my children, we are about to go forever!

Sometimes she said, O my children, where am I to take you? The seventh omen was that once the water folk were hunting or snaring, they caught an ash colored bird. On top of its head was something like a mirror. It was round, circular, seeming to be perforated. Where the sky, the stars, and the fire dwelling.

the constellation could be seen. They took it to show Montezuma, and the emperor took it to be a very bad omen. And the second time he looked at the bird's head he saw something like a multitude of people. Coming bunched, outfitted for war, carried on the backs of deer. Then he called soothsayers, the sages, but when they were going to answer him what they saw disappeared, and they said nothing more.

The final, eighth omen, was that many times people appeared with two heads but one body. They took them and showed them to Montezuma. When he had seen them, they did. Now I think the eight omens are probably mainly a result of people looking backwards and searching for signs and meanings to explain their present. But that doesn't mean the Meshika didn't foresee the coming of the span.

In 1512, two survivors from Jamaica landed on the shores of the Yucatan, though they probably had trouble communicating, since neither Maya nor Nahuatl were spoken in the Caribbean. The stories that those two survivors told would have been terrifying. So rather than omens, it was news from Zokelanko, the Aztec trading post on the Gulf, where the Meshika heard rumors of bearded white men in the Caribbean, beyond the Yucatan, probably starting it seems

Stories about what happened in the larger islands of the Caribbean are especially likely to have reached the Valley of Mexico via pre Columbian trade routes. Those stories wouldn't require exaggeration either, to be terrified. Now a Spanish trunk washed up on shore that was brought back. It held several suits of strange clothes, jewels, and a sword like none that had ever been seen in the world.

Tozuma, divided the gifts, uh divided the contents as gifts, excuse me. He gave some to the king of Tecuba, Two of his allied cities. Around that same time, a merchant from Yucatan brought a folded manuscript to It depicted three white temples at sea floating on large walls. The Aztec merchants, the Pochteka, were a class who also acted as spies or informants for the emperor.

long distance luxury traders, they sent reports from abroad of the strange new men, it seems. Other Mexican outposts existed farther south. These, too, started sending reports of strange warriors, and so Montezuma heard about the colony established at Darien in fifteen thirteen, a thousand miles southeast And from Darien, stories of men riding deer, probably The king of Texcoco, Nezahualpili, even went to his deathbed in fifteen fourteen, convinced that the Meshika would be ruled by strangers.

So it seems regardless about whether or not eight omens were taking place that at the time the Mexica t the Mexica took to be bad. Um it's clear that uh Montezuma and perhaps some of the other Mexica people knew at least a little bit about the Spanish before Cortez landed in Mexico. Before him. At least they knew enough to be seriously worried. And some of those omens were indisputably historical events. A comet was reported as spotted in China, Japan, and Spain.

And incidentally, in Spain, that comet was thought to have foreshadowed the death of King Philip. Ah, so you know, how do we even know? And in fact, most of the portents probably really did occur as factual events.

omens regarding two headed beings or a bird with a mirror for a head, he thinks those quote, sound as if they were figments in the imagination of someone who had eaten sacred mushrooms, Now that brings us to Montezuma, which, for what it's worth, I don't know the correct pronunciation of his name, neither apparently did many of the conquistadors who met him, though that so I don't feel too bad. Uh but it's definitely not Montezuma. Montezoma Matazuma? Matazoma? Moctezoma? Motekazuma?

These are all possibilities amongst the Cortez is known to have sproken Nahuatl horribly, and he used Mutazoma, which is, I think, almost certainly wrong, probably, though I'm not a hundred percent sure, and I think I'm also almost a hundred percent sure that Montezuma is wrong, but for clarity's sake, I'm using Montezuma, so do forgive me or maybe not.

difficulties with his name aside, we know more about Montezuma than any other Meshica person. Seriously, at least of the era. In the words of Hugh Thomas, Quote Most of the others remain two dimensional, dominated by their offices, their unpronounceable titles, often confounded with difficult names, leave them hidden in the anonymity of the collective splendor

That is, the Aztec Empire. Montezuma came to the throne, or what Meshica, the Meshika understood as the sacred mat, in 1502. In 1518, he was about Before he was the uh emperor, Montezuma was the chief high priest of Huistilopochli for a time, Uh and before that, in his youth, he also served as a general. His background as priest has led many historians to wonder whether or not his spiritual beliefs were responsible for his behavior. And I'm not sure if that's true.

You know, sometimes I wonder if some of Montezuma's personality traits are maybe they're the result of extreme opulence and inheritance. Um Mexican rule didn't strictly transfer from father to son, at least not very often, but Montezuma bears the title Montezuma II or Montezuma the Younger, because his great grandfather was emperor by the same name, who he was a great conqueror. in the mid fifteenth century.

Had these bounces of helpless giggling, and could often be kind. And these were traits that went side by side with his inclination to rule with fear, not Like his predecessor, Ahitzotel, Montezuma often used his authority like a complete authority. he uh his predecessor and him were the first two uh and only two emperors in The history of the Mexico, who had sometimes stopped consulting with the Supreme Council, uh which Mexican leaders were were always supposed to consult.

Um Montezuma once had seven corrupt judges jailed in cages and then killed when they procrastinated upon giving a decision. uh his meals he would eat alone, but would be attended by innumerous servants, and guards, jugglers, jesters, dwarfs, hunchbacks, His halls were lined with musicians that kept him mused from day to day, as did his several wives and numerous concubines. He had something somewhere between a hundred and

three of whom were the daughters of his chief wife. Four times a day he changed his clothes. He never wore the same sunic tunic twice. I mean his life was pretty obvious. He was a capable commander or known to be in his time, and he extended the Meshika influence to the coast. He defeated as many cities as his predecessor, and most of his conquests were on the fertile coast of the Yucatan, which meant he gave the Mexica a steady supply of the green Quetzal feathers

Which was the first time in the history of the Empire that this had taken place. Now, of course, recently conquered cities. In addition, inequality with the within the empire grew almost out of control during the reign of Montezuma. But these issues aside, Montezuma was having a great time as emperor, right up until about the When he received terrible news. The bearded strangers from the sea were now off the coast of the Yucatan.

When Montezuma began hearing rumors of Spanish activity near his borders, he sent for wise men, magicians, men who would take hallucinatory plants to assist their magical divinations of the future. But Montezuma didn't really like the answer. Presumably these magicians would have been familiar with the situation in Central America, because what they told them about was that they foresaw men with beards riding deer coming to Mexico. In response, Montezuma had his magicians arrested.

When they escaped from prison, the emperor had their families imprisoned in order to force the magicians to reappear, and when that didn't work, he had their families executed. Or maybe the magicians never escaped. Montezuma just executed them and subsequently executed their families. It's not even entirely clear. Montezuma also apparently began asking some of the prominent citizens of Tenochtitlan about what he should do, about the foreboding trouble that he's in.

when those ordinary citizens gave their candid opinions about the bad things that they thought might happen. Montezuma had them imprisoned and starved Uh next he considered building a new colossal shrine to Whitzdelopo. to war to help ward off whatever evil was coming his way, and he consulted with one of his vassals, the ruler of the city of Quitlahuac, which was a smaller city

and whose rulers were supposedly d directly descended from another god, Mixquato. The king of Quitlahuac told Montezuma that his plan would exhaust the people and offend them. Montezuma had that king executed, along with his supposedly holy. although he did abandon the idea of building the new temple. Now in short, you could say that Montezuma did very little in preparation of hearing this rumor that we might consider useful. Instead he went on a quote unquote frenzied witch hunt to

Hugh Thomas. While his actions did little to prepare for an invasion, uh much less an invasion of technologically superior Europeans with steel and gunpowder and horses, Montezuma's witch hunt does. The kind of freedom which the Emperor of Mexico had to carry out basically any kind of brutal action against the people of Mesimo America he so desired, both inside and outside.

In the spring of fifteen eighteen, a commoner, who was said to be roughly dressed without ears, thumbs, or big toes, quite unfortunate, arrived from the He brought news. And like everyone else who gave Montezuma bad news, the man was promptly put into prison. Montezuma then sent an official to go to the coast and find out if the man was taking the telling the truth. Excuse me, and that agent whose title translates into Keeper of the House of Darkness.

School, had some scouts go about and hide in some trees near the coasts, and there those scouts witnessed the truth of what the deformed peasant spoke. Mountains on the way Further, they saw men leave the mountains in a small boat to fish, using metal hooks and nets in ways that would have been very familiar to the Mexica. But the language they heard was not.

The Michigans watched until the Spaniards got back in their canoes and went back to quote, went back to the thing on the sea with the two towers. Montezuma reportedly was very dismayed by the news of the bearded girl. coast, but he also prepared a gift for the A series of gold and feathered objects Bracelets, fans, chains, and two large wooden discs covered with gold and silver were also fashioned into calendars that were to be used for the

um were were ordered to be constructed. But complete secret regarding who the commissioned goods were for. Like the magicians of the year before, the deformed peasant was either murdered or escaped from prison in secret, uh whatever it was

From talking, I'm sure. The giant gold calendars took time to manufacture. But Montezuma sent the other gifts to the coast, along with ample scouts to watch the entire The next time ships appeared, a Meshika delegation rode out to the ships, albeit they were larger than they'd imagined them even being, uh, and they gave the gift. Then he spoke to an interpreter, whose skill was already

Still, the Mexicans were able to relate some pieces of information to the Spaniards. In answer of who are you? And where do you come from? They told the Spaniards We have come from Mexico, and in response to what the name of their ruler is, they replied, Our Lord's name is Montezuma. The Spaniards also told the Mexican the Mexicans that they were soon to depart to Castile, but they would not delay in returning to Mexico.

In response, the Spaniards gave the delegation some gifts as well, clothes and beads, and quickly learned that green The Spaniards also gave some food, which was not very appreciated. When Montezuma examined the presents, he reportedly liked them. But when he ate a Spanish biscuit, he said it tasted like tofa rock. And then to satisfy his curiosity, he weighed the biscuit against a tofa rock.

The biscuit weighed more, the emperor fed his dwarves some of the bread, um probably yucca bread. The dwarves said that tasted good, but the rest of the food was buried at the foot of the shore. The Spaniards left quickly after that meeting, and the few Mexicans who knew of their arrival in the first place were threatened with death if they ever spoke to them. The emperor had artists compose pictures of everything they could.

His archivists in the libraries of Tinochtlan found nothing in the past would could that could prepare them for this. It was very difficult for them to understand mysterious arrivals for which there was no precedent. Some of Montezuma's predecessors had burned most of the older histories anyway. So Aztec research was quite literally hampered by Aztec political corruption. Even if precedent for such strange ships had been

But there was one old man named Qualatsli who lived in the city of Zokemilko, who had a personal library of old pre imperial codices. He said the artist meant that they were people long dead, returning to their homeland led by Quetzalcoatl. Now this did not make Montezuma very happy at all, and Quilatzli was promptly imprisoned in Tenosh. Hugh Thomas tells us quote a year.

Montezuma became once more immersed in his imperial duties. His favorite concubine brought him a new son. The court hunchbacks danced, the dwarfs sang, Jugglers lay on their backs, with their feet turned upwards and spun balls round in the air. The regular program of sacrifices The music of flutes and drums, the dressing up and the painting of faces, the singing, the collecting of flowers, and no doubt, the uncontrollable laughter caused by the eating of sacred.

The priests kept the fires burning in the great temples. Another year's tribute came in on the backs of patient bears. merchants brought back beautiful long green feathers of the Quetzelbird, and rumors of war from the Workers in precious stones rejoiced that Montezuma had conquered the territories to where there was good sand with which to polish their raw. ordinary men and women, the Meswalton and Mayekis, they pursued their regular paths.

Celebrated pregnancy and childbirth, educated children, sought to instill moral codes, died and A place of gloomy emptiness, to which everyone who lived in unintentional Poems were composed at Texcoco by courtiers, mourning the brevity of life and the decay of empires. The emperor made a fine speech about his forebearers. He almost forgot. eighteen But the strangers did not forget the As they had promised the next year, year of one read fifteen nineteen, they came again.

It's in my opinion, perhaps Thomas's best passage, certainly a great example of his writing at his finest. At any rate, the Mexica don't meet the Spanish until a second. I briefly talked about the two pre Cortez voyages a few episodes ago, but it's worth going them uh again in a little while.

That first one was captained by Hernandez de Cordoba, and he is credited with the quote unquote discovery of what he believed to be the island of Technically, uh Juan Ponce de Leon may have visited it uh after on the return trip to Florida, but he uh apparently doesn't count. He came to that opinion when he asked the natives where he was, and they replied, Yucatan? Yucatan is Maya, for I do not understand

Cordoba's discovery of Yucatan did not go well for the conquistadors involved. The Spanish claimed to have come ashore peacefully to trade and they were immediately and quite treacherous. Now know Maya account. were recorded that we know of, but Ross Hassig reminds us that the Maya had advanced knowledge of who the Spanish were, and even if this was the first time the Spanish had seen the Yucatan, Columbus himself

Seafaring Maya traders, and who knows whether other ship sightings, shipwreck survivors, or stories about the Caribbean were going on in Maya cities. At any rate, the quote-unquote peaceful Spanish trade. came ashore with their crossbows and arquebuses, so who knows if what they claim to be true

Now the Maya fought with similar weapons as the Spanish had encountered before in the Americas, bows and arrows, slings, lances and shields. But this was the first time that the Spanish encountered an American. The Maya fought in well ordered ranks, with discipline that did not exist in Caribbean The battle began thus, with a Maya initiating a barrage of arrows and slingstones that wounded fifteen Spaniards, and then was closely followed by the Maya closing in for hand.

This placed the conquistadors on the defensive immediately, and luckily, there for them anyway, the metal armor and swords they wielded prevented a complete revolt. Once they were able to organize themselves in response, the effect of the crossbows and arquebuses were devastating. Ross Haseg is an excellent historian for providing us with the logistics. The military crossbows of the early fifteen hundreds were insane in comparison to bows and slings.

Crossbows weighed between five and a half and six kilograms, or fifteen to sixteen pounds. Fellows, and they could fire wooden bolts that weighed between 1.5 and 3 kilograms, a distance of roughly 320 meters. roughly 1,050 feet, which compares to a maximum range of about 180 meters or 600 feet for the indigenous bows. Now reloading a crossbow was slow in comparison to a bow. Of one crossbow bolt. But the crossbow's greater range also came with the greater power.

And further demanded far less skill to use. So crossbows might have been even a more important weapon to the Spanish than the Aqua. which were less accurate and had a shorter range, about a hundred and thirty-seven meters, and accurate to only about half of that. And the rate of fire was something like once a minute to once a minute.

Now in addition, on long marches, The gunpowder, sometimes separated into its component parts, and then had to be mixed thoroughly before the battle started, or in the middle of the battle, but regardless, the Arquebus was a devastating psychological Especially in the Americas. Cordoba's men brought fifteen crossbows and ten arquebuses on shore, and these were used in this first

where a hundred and ten Spanish conquistadors faced a Maya force that probably numbered somewhere in the hundreds. And after fifteen natives were killed, the Maya broke contact and reta retreated The Spanish responded by looting their houses and the temples of the town they lived in. They also took two Maya children as slaves who were later baptized as Juanilo and Melcore, and were taught Spanish.

Now, after that, Cordoba was much more careful. He landed a few more times as he went along the coast, but gold was relatively rare. Which is what he was after. And he was careful not to simply plant his forces down. But he didn't simply avoid the Maya, in fact he couldn't. Fresh water is hard to come by. So, the Spanish were actually forced to repeatedly ask for water at Maya cities, despite the danger of another battle. Now, at any rate, that is.

They were led into the city by a party of Indians, and from there directed to the local political capital at another city, Chanpotan. There the Spanish camped ashore, and they were surrounded while they camped by a force of And they were attacked at dawn. Eighty conquistadors were wounded from the barrage of arrows, darts, and stones before once again the combat.

Now the Maya had great numerical superiority, but only the first rank or two would actively engage the Spanish, and that really kind of diminishes the fighting ability of and um eventually they pulled back and resumed the onslaught of arrows and stones instead. Then Maya reinforcements arrived. The battle lasted only an hour, but the Spanish were def decisive.

Of the one hundred and ten men under Cordoba's command, only fifty uh fifty were killed, two were carried off alive, and all but one of the survivors were wounded, and some of those died. Cordoba was actually forced to burn one of his ships, since he was so short handed. He returned to Cuba in defeat on april twentieth, fifteen seventeen. Now I said there wasn't a lot of gold in the Yucatan, but that

any gold in the Yucatan, and tales of golden jewelry on Maya nobility made for some thirsty ass conquistadors back on Cuba. So of course Governor Valentine super stoked about sending another expedition. Cordoba wa therefore was basically in and out of Mexico real quick, but the second voyage would spend a little To a conquistador named Juan Diaz, who left an account of the voyage, we have a pretty good idea about what happened. Diaz, as for him, was shipped to the

He was a secular m member of a religious order, the Mercad Mercedarians, excuse me. It was the first order to be sent from Spain. And after six years of what was, allegedly, missionary work in the Caribbean, Juan Diaz was then chosen to accompany Juan de Grijalva to follow up on Cordoba's discovery, and discover the secret Yucatan? Grihalva was better armed and equipped with supplies and men than Cordoba had been, but the latter's defeat made Grihalva maybe a little too much.

The last Either that or Grijalva just wasn't as bold as some of the people. were sent on such voyages. Either way he absolutely did not go off in search of any cities that weren't Kempiche, the one Maya town that had not been up in arms against Cordova. Diaz let us know that Griholva and his men though did get into plenty of trouble with the Maya Ekempiche, uh before the Meshika delegation ever showed up. Things didn't start out.

Nevertheless, a big The Maya probably got tired of feeding the one hundred Spanish soldiers who come ashore marking. town, near the temple, and promptly begin demanding food and water. But at any rate, a force to uh begin to gather, uh, to uh attempt to force. But Grijalva had a secret weapon that Cordoba I don't know how many he had, but it wasn't.

And I don't no I don't know what kind they were, but probably falconets, according to Ross Hassig, since at the time falconets were mounted on the rails of ships topside and thus much more easily transportable than the large The gun ports cut into the sides of European ships were reached. At any rate, falconets were light guns, which meant they weighed about 500 pounds or 225 kilograms, so they could be up to double.

Now generally the caliber is about six or seven centimeters or two point three to two point seven inches and the balls they Blank, or they could reach a maximum distance of 2,000 meters. Now the falconets were also breechless. So that meant they were pretty fucking dangerous, since breech loading guns of that era tended to explode on occasion, but it also meant they could be fired twice as rapidly as other guns.

Now the disadvantages, anyway, of breech loading weapons in the sixteenth century were very minor in comparison. The Indians who did not have gunpowder weapons at all. The only big drawback of the cannon against the Native Americans was their lack of mobility. 500 pound guns might be light. But that's not exactly an easy thing to shift around into position. And the Spanish conquistadors didn't even have wheeled carriages.

added into the relatively slow rate of fire, um, and and and how hard you you add that into how hard it is to move them around, the indigenous people were actually pretty quick to adjust to the terror. Now, at any rate, however, this was their very first deployment, and those breech loading cannons saved.

though one man died and forty more were wounded before the battle ended, um, those cannons were fired, and the Mayat retreated immediately. Not long after Now, Grajava followed the same route as Cordoba, so this meant that he was going to be near the

Uh but Grijalva was aware that Cordoba had lost half his men there, and so when some canoes approached his s ship, he just fired two cannon shots to scare them away, and left with Instead he continued to sail along, and he reached a river which shortly The Grijalva River. There, the Spanish were able to convince the locals, about 2,000 of whom had gathered in war canoes to follow.

um that the only reason they'd come was to trade. And this appeal succeeded. Grihava continued sailing along, um trading with uh some Mexico Mexico ruled cities like Cortezwalco and Nahualtan um in addition And and thus the Spanish conquistadors met the Mexica and then the Mexica. Now, Grahalva did not have a few Telling him to settle. He was supposed to just trade and explore and look for gold.

Nevertheless, many of his men wanted to, including Juan Diaz, and in fact despite his instructions to the contrary, the governor of Cuba, Velasquez, will make fun of Grihalva when he returns for not having At any rate, Grajova ended up getting in two more minor battles, one at Champoton and one at Campiche on his way back, so maybe it was.

Uh now with that said, I guess we better start with the Velasquez, the conqueror and governor of Cuba, who we discussed way back in Song of the Tino, episode two, Now, within the first few years of his initial conquest, Velazquez founded seven colonial townships. He had also depleted the indigenous population and afterwards might best be described as idle in comparison.

Cuba was quickly becoming a semi-failed backwater colony under his leadership, and he was searching for opportunities for more wealth, just maybe not. Searching uh with as uh much energy, excuse me, as some of the other advocacy. Um and that's because Velaska is basically considered his conquistador

He preferred sending others out on expeditions like Grijalva and Cadorba, for example. But and even in his more active years, he delegated a lot of responsibility to his chief lieutenant Panfilo de Naruto. Velasquez was involved in the massacre at Zaragua and the burning of Hatway, which was

But with that said he was still far from being the most brutal of the conquistadors, or at least by all accounts, Velazquez at least was not the type of person who liked to torture and mutilate people for fun. So I guess he's got Um so Velasquez is not really thought of as the most competent commander in the Caribbean at the time, but he was still a scheming. He got his governorship by being disloyal to DA.

who had rights to Hispaniola, and from there Velazquez had fled to partake in the conquest of Cuba, and he damn sure didn't share any authority or goal. He was finished. And that meant Velazquez had a great relationship with the Crown, which was involved in legal battles with the Columbus family over the rights of the Caribbean. Two other captains or Caudios in the Caribbean were Francisco.

They ruled Jamaica and Puerto Rico, respectively. And in addition to these, Pedro Arias de Avila was or Pedrerius was the Codillo of the Castillo del Oro, or the Spanish main at Lino. Vesco Nunes Dil Baboa.

Now, from the perspective of Velazquez, all of these other caudillos represent Especially after he received news on april first, fifteen fourteen that quote Certain Indians had come from the islands beyond Cuba, towards the side of the north, navigating five or six days by canoe, and there gave news of other islands that lie beyond Cuba. According to a letter that Velasquez wrote to King Ferdinand. Now no other accounts still exist of whatever expedition.

But five or six days travel would have meant a delegation of either Now perhaps that expedition from Mexico Mexico into the Caribbean was the one that began building the legend of fear. Velasquez was curious, but he didn't immediately investigate the native body. was dwindling, and for the next few years Velasquez was very busy, uh and all the ships in Cuba were very busy and doing the same thing that all the other ships sending uh launching slave raids to the Bahamas or

Honduras in order to obtain replacement slaves for their work camps. At any rate, it wasn't for three years, in fifteen seventeen, when Velazquez finally took advantage. probably uh doing so quickly to try and beat Ponce de Lyon or Francisco de Guerrey to the punch. Both of them were Thus was the first de Cordoba and subsequently in fifteen eighteen that of Juan de Grijalva, which, by the way, was sent before Cordoba even returned, and the next year, before Grijhalva returned.

Velasquez was already preparing a third expedition, and this one was going to be much, much larger than the first two. Now, Velazquez considered sending And in retrospect, he probably should have. But he thought Nervaez was perhaps capable of doing something treacherous. declaring independence as soon as he reached foreign soil, like Velazquez did to Diego Columbus for

He also asked some of his family members. They were all very happy on their estates, and and they recommended he give Grihal But Velasquez was still very angry that Grijalva had not broken his instructions and settled on the U.S. What can I say? People can be very hypocritical sometimes. Velasquez was scared that Narvaez would rebel, and he didn't trust Grijalva, so instead he selected Hernan Cortez to lead. Cortez was born some time earlier.

He arrived in the Caribbean around the age of twenty two when he reached Santo Domingo in fifteen oh. Velasquez selected him to take charge of the follow up to the expedition of Grijalva when Cortez was thirty four, quite the quote the right age for leading. Hugh Thomas also tells us that Cortez was descended from some of the most turbulent families in the most undisciplined of towns, Medellin, in Extremadura, the wildest part of the world.

He came from an immense family of Hidalgos or minor noblemen, who, despite their nobility, were apparently very poor. Hernan Cortez's father, Martin, gave his son a noble lineage, but he could not afford to buy a horse to take him off to war, when Martin, as young man, rode off a generation earlier, and himself fought in several private wars as an

in an era where the noblemen of Extremadura fought one another for control of castles, land, and cattle. Battles that became part of the civil war of the fourteen seventy. Hernan Cortez grew up until he was ten in a multicultural land, at which point he witnessed the expulsion of his Jewish children.

When Cortes was about twelve years old, he fled Medellin, his father the result of a feud with a local lord, wherein one of Cortez's friends killed one of the powerful lord's friends and, you know I mean some really just some ludicrous calculate and monetary And ultimately this ends when Cortes when he he has to go to Salamanca in about fourteen ninety-six, which was allegedly the city where his father had been born, and he lived with his aunt.

In Salamanca, Cortes had the opportunity to learn Latin and grammar and ultimately entered law school. He did not graduate, but when you examine Cortez's letters, it's clear he made the most of his time studying. at least for his own purposes. Las Casas, who did not like Cortez, agreed he was a good Latinist or Latin speaker, and that he had a good amount of knowledge Cortez, though, also spent a significant amount of time learning to use arms and learning to gamble.

And eventually, though, he returned to Medellin at the age of seventeen. In fifteen oh one, his re parents were reputedly very angry. They were graduate from law school, um, like a perfectly reasonable pair of parents, but Cortez was determined to live a He considered going to Italy to fight under Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordoba, the great and legendary quote great captain of Spain, but ultimately Cortez instead chose to make his fate in the Indians.

He nearly left on the fleet of Nicolos de Ovando, but while waiting for the ship to be ready to Seville, Cortez hurt himself, trying to climb through a young woman's window, and while recovering he caught malaria. Perhaps he was lucky with this mishap, because the fleet of Vando caught a horrible fever in the Caribbean and half of the two thousand men who arrived died. Shortly after arriving. So Cortes ended up spending a few more years in Spain. It wasn't until the summer of 1500.

twenty two to Hispaniola. There, Governor Ovando favored Cortes, perhaps because they were related to Cortes's grandfather, illegitimate. Or maybe it was because they were both extremenos. Perhaps it was nothing more than the fact that Cortes was clever and eager for action. Whatever it was, Cortes was amongst those who took part in the brutal pacification.

Afterwards, Cortes obtained work at a sugar mill, though exactly what he was doing is unclear, and after that he became the scribe of a town in Hispaniola. Eventually though, Cortez was bored. He got in started getting in fights, then he got in some trouble, and he thought of leaving. Once again. Health. He developed some sort of infirmity in his leg, and that prevented him from sailing off with Diego de Nisuza as he was planning. That expedition was doomed to nothing.

And since Cortes wasn't on that expedition, that meant he was later free to join with Diego Velazquez in the conquest of Cuba. was probably present at the burning of the Chief of Hatway, and so his time in the Caribbean was spent learning lessons in brutality. Hugh Thomas thinks that Cortez probably draught letters, which he then sent back to the king to inform Spain of his achievements.

But not long after the conquest, Cortes began quarreling with Velazquez. At the age of thirty, in fifteen fourteen, Cortes joined a group of maled They didn't like the way Velazquez was doing things, especially the way he was, say, divvying up Taino slaves. The next year, Vel Cortez really got He was courting and seducing a young woman named Catalina Suarez, who came with her two sisters.

and after seducing her, Cortez suddenly got cold feet and didn't want to marry her. Well, Velazquez was married to one. and so that caused another rift between the two men. Catalina later threatened to sue Cortes, and when Cortes continued Yeah.

put in jail. Cortez somehow managed to break out of that jail, took sanctuary at a church for some time, and Perhaps with the aid of the priest of that church, at any rate, somehow at its uh later things got mended up ultimately between the Cortez accompanied Velasquez to West Cuba, quote, to put down certain rebels, unquote, and and upon their return, Cortez finally. The pair settled down on an encomienda far from the capital, and Velasquez and Cortez lucked into his

Oh excuse me, far from the capital and Velasquez, and Cortez's encomienda was a good one. He lucked into a good spot for finding gold, and this got him to buy his share in gold. Now by this point Cortez had a good amount going for. He had uh wealth, enough to put down his investment on his own expedition if he wanted. He was in pretty good with Velazquez, despite the battles he and Velasquez had earlier. And Cortez had a coolness to him. He never seems to lose his temper when things get wild.

But on the other hand, he did not have much experience with command or tactics, he had experience fighting, but no experience with anything close to the sort of thing. At any rate, Velasquez told Cortez one day the greatest

and because Grijalvel was having such difficulty that Cortez should go to the island of Yucatan? Velasquez would provide Cortez with two or three ships. Cortez would find money for the other vessels, and Hugh Thomas surmises that Velazquez did this because he believed Cortez would be able to realize

Cortes of course accepted the commission. Both were pressed for time. Velazquez wished desperately to control the Yucatan and whatever else was around it, and specifically to find a strait through the Americas. And Velasquez believed rightly so that if he didn't do it quick, then someone like Pedrarius, the governor of Darien, might do it first.

The goal of finding a route to China was an uh and great encouragement for Send w Well s excuse me, was perhaps even a greater encouragement for sending Cortes, perhaps than even the riches that might Uh these guys sure don't know that Balboa has discovered the Pacific, but they think there might be a a route. Um Cortez uh receives his orders and immediately.

Now, he had town crier start spreading the word to conquistadors on Cuba, uh, that anyone who wished to roll their dice on Mexico ought to join up with Cortes, and in the meanwhile he bought five He financed his own ship, horses, and men, and because of that became one of Cortez's most trusted

Incidentally, Alvarado was so interested in financing his own stuff because he was on a previous voyage to Mexico, either Grijalva or Codoba, I'm not entirely sure. But Hugh Thomas speculates that Alvarado had seen quite a bit. Quote. Maybe he'd even specifically encounter Totonac people, a recently subjected ethnic group on the coast of Mexico, wherein the Mexica delegation was stationed. And Tom

Kind of speculating here, though I think I agree with him. He says that Alvarado might have specifically realized that the Totonacs were enthusiastic. as a potential ally against their Michigan masters. At any rate, Alvarado will play a key Beyond that, there are times when Cortez, afterwards, will show unquestionable support to Alvarado, even when he doesn't deserve it.

And it helps explain perhaps, um, at least Alvarado, uh the knowledge he probably Hugh Thomas thinks that explains, quote, why Cortez, a cautious man, was persuaded suddenly that here was the great opportunity which the goddess foreseen. And why he invested everything he had. Unquote. At any rate, Cortez also viewed the expedition in spiritual terms, as well as

That doesn't mean those are separate in his mind, by the way. And it doesn't mean at any time that at any point he wasn't just cold-bloodedly logical, because a lot of the time he is, at least judging by his letters. He went about the conquest. But rather I mean Cortez very much understood that what he was doing was the stuff of legends. The Yucatan, Mexico, and whatever lay beyond were magnetic.

And immediately from contact even with just the Maya who lived in city states, excuse me, and having received a delegation from the measure of It was apparent to quite a few people on Cuba that whatever Mesoamerica was, it was an urban place of empire.

The skylines were dotted with these populous cities with massive pyramids, palaces, temples that spoke to a civilization that even if it was And horses, was nevertheless a literate society capable of incredible feats of engineering that astonished. And agriculture that mystified the civilized barbarians from Europe, who gallery.

that I mean literally these a lot of these places dwarfed all but the large At any rate, because of that it seemed to the Spaniards involved even as these events unfolded, that the conquest of Mexico, what they were engaged in One of the most important events in world history. Well, at any rate, maybe that is why Cortez really started dressing to impress as the scale of his And in fact it began to occur to Velazquez, in fact, what Cortez was planning, maybe was a little bit beyond.

His instructions had been, which hadn't quite called for such a massive force, which was starting to look to Velazquez as a much larger and more massive. In fact, nearly every man in Cuba with a sword was signed.

And it probably didn't help the governor's paranoia, either that some of his friends, who'd earlier turned down the part of leading the expedition, started to express regret for the Or that Cortez was now walking around town in with a hat with a plume of feathers, a golden medallion, and a black velvet cloak with golden nuns. Velasquez jester named Cervantes teased that Cortez was going to make off with his master's fleet. Velazquez mentioned that joke to Cortez, but Cortez was not

He insisted instead gravely that the servest that the jester was insane. Well, insane or not, Cervantes. two. Now, just two weeks after getting his instructions, Cortez had already procured three ships, three hundred men, which and this is something that would have normally Two or three months. And when Cortez learned that Velazquez was starting to have second thoughts, he redoubled his efforts and started preparing.

He was worried that Cort that Velasquez wasn't going to hold up to and hid the his end of the bargain, that he was gonna steal whatever par profits the Cortez tried to obtain, and he understood that one day there was gonna be a royal ship. And it was going to inform everyone in the Caribbean who the adelantado of the Yucatan was going to be. And Cortez knew that if he didn't get to the Yucatan quickly, there was no way that it was going to be.

Well after a few weeks of advertising, conquistadors also began arriving from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Cuba hardly had a monopoly on grumpy Spaniards who wanted more trade. Velasquez also finally decided to put Cortez out of control of the operation, but didn't want to cause. And in retrospect, Velasquez probably could have replaced Cortez right then and there if he had been firm about it at this point. Because Velasquez was also very, very popular.

As long as he was just replacing Cortez and not canceling the voyage, it's doubtful that anybody would have. But Cortez was his brother in law, you know, and he decided instead to send an agent to Cortez to inform him that just you know, you know, not to tell him. fired or anything, but that just to ask him if he wanted to recuse himself, because if he did that then the governor would reimburse him for everything he'd spent. Velazquez also attempted to stop Cortez from buying more food.

Cortez declined the polite offer to please step aside, and instead decided to leave Santiago ASAP. He promptly sent armed men to the city's slaughterhouse to buy the meats. From buying, and when the butcher refused, on the grounds that the meat he had was, by contract, meant to feed the town, Cortez.

Everything. In payment, Cortes then pulled the gold chain he wore around his neck off and gave it to the butcher, which presumably Covered the cost of the meat, though uh how the city of Santiago fed itself for the next few weeks is not. The next morning, after the butcher informed the governor of what happened, uh well, Velasquez was mad and finally

Who uh the two finally spoke. Albeit Cortez was flanked by armed men, and on a small boat offshore while Cortez asked for forgiveness for not having said goodbye earlier, and It was november eighteenth, eighteen. Unfortunately for Velazquez, who I'm sure was very upset, he didn't have a fleet anymore. Cortez basically enlisted every ship at the ready, so Velazquez couldn't follow, even if he wanted.

Cortez made a couple of stops on the other side of Cuba, where he continued to inform various officers. They would be selling him their supplies, or else he would be taking them free of charge. He even sent one of his ships, he had six.

to seize a ship carrying provisions, which he heard was headed to Darien, that Brigantine returned, with a load of 4,000 aerobas of bread, 1500 flitches of bacon or salted chicken too, and I have no idea what an aeroba or a flitch is, but I mean 1,500 flitches of bacon. An awful lot of bacon. Cortes picked up the more conquistadors on the other end of Cuba, who uh joined up in the expedition, and a lot of these were people who had returned uh from Grijalva's.

Returned, and uh despite everything that had happened to them, were very easy. And this is the first time that Cortez and a lot of the other members see firsthand some of the treasure which might be obtained in Mexico. And so if you think they were amped out about going to the Yucatán before this, well let me tell By the time Cortez sailed across the Gulf to the Yucatan, he was nearly fully provisioned, and commanded a fleet of eleven.

Four large ships capable of carrying between sixty and one hundred thousand. and seven brigantines. Pedro de Alvarado's ship was late to the final muster, and Or maybe instead of being late he sailed ahead early. It's not entirely clear. But this is the first of many instances where Alvarado He receives leniency from Cortez afterwards.

At any rate, Alvarado sailed later and caught up and altogether counting those late arrivals. Cortez was in command of five hundred thirty conquistadors aboard a Thirty were crossbowmen, twelve had arquebuses. fifty of the men were sailors by trade, a crew which was multinational. There were Portuguese, Genoese, Neapolitans, and Frenchmen as part of that crew, in addition to numerous And besides the sailors, there were Portuguese, Italian, and Greek conquistadors.

But by far, the majority came from Spain, specifically a third. Another sixteen. Cortez did from Extremadura. And there were even women who traveled. One conquistador Diego Ordaz brought his two sisters. And in addition, three or four maids and two housekeepers are recorded. Also along were the sixteen horses Cortez had at his disposal, which Cordoba and Grijalva had not brought, and in addition numerous warriors.

A bit obscure to us today. So, with that said, when I say they were provisioned or nearly fully provisioned, I mean they were provisioned for crossing to the Yucatan, maybe for a couple of There was not enough food to be sufficient for long, but that did mean they were free and who, in addition to have to take some time to get a fleet together, also governed an island with a population of maybe one thousand white males, three hundred or more of which had left to join.

up with Cortez's five hundred plus. It was february eighteenth, fifteen nineteen, when Cortez officially sailed across to the Yucatan as a third When he got there he found a surprise Alvarado. who insisted that he'd arrived at the rally point before Cortez, that bad weather had forced him out to sea, and that's definitely the only reason he arrived. A likely story, perhaps. At any rate, when Cortes and his men landed, he found the inhabitants of the coastal villages had fled.

Probably because Alvarado and his men had been seizing turkeys, men and women as slaves, and whatever golden ornaments they could find from the local. Cortez reprimanded him that this was no way to pacify the country, and Alvarado denied merely even having done anything unusual. At any rate, after the Spaniards spent some time pillaging, um an old woman, probably the wife of one of the nobility, showed herself to the conquistadors. She was accompanied by her servants in chair.

Cortez gave her some clothes and other a Cossas de Castilla. To like uh for example, toys for the children and mirrors and scissors for the servants. The translator for this meeting was Melkor, one of the two boys uh who'd survived since being taken a couple of years earlier during Coronado's.

Melkor wasn't a great translator, apparently. After he was kidnapped, for some reason he just wasn't all that interested in learning Castilian. Um the Spanish just couldn't understand why, but enough communication. Cortez successfully asked the Maya women to invite the chiefs and others of Yucatan back.

he promised they would be well treated, and beyond that he promised that the things stolen by Alvarado's men would be returned. In fact, Cortez was so friendly Much of the city even patiently listened to him when he extolled the virtues of the one true God and his son Jesus Christ, how their own deities were devils, and that human sacrifice was a horrible. And in fact, he told the people of Cozumel that they should break their idols.

And beyond that, Cortez even interrupted a Maya religious ceremony to begin to sermonize about how the Maya were going to be doomed to hell if they did not. Well, either that or maybe the Mile was an uh a technology not previously known to the Americas. More so in fact even than the horses, the guns, or anything else. Candles made an immediate I need From the Maya perspective.

the immediate attraction to candles, they also liked the fact liked uh the fact that to accompany the mass, the Cortes and the Spanish had built a cross hung it up on top of a high tower in the made pyramid of Cosumel, along with an image of the Virgin Mary, which they hung with native clothes. Now, it doesn't might not sound to you that people would

you went to their temple, that non Christian temple, and then just nailed up a cross on the wall. But believe it or not, the cross was a holy symbol to the Maya in addition. So, it may very well have been that the Maya believed that Cortes was simply telling them that they needed to show better respect to a deity that already existed. At any rate, the Spanish were pleased, because while the Castilian stayed at Cozumel, no sacrifices of human beings.

With that said, I as I explained at Blood Oath, the Maya didn't really sacrifice a whole lot of people in comparison to the Mexica. And in fact normal Maya sacrifices instead included part of the Now, Cosimo is an And after some time of friendly relations, the locals of Cosmel informed Cortez that on the As Yucatan, there were two Christians who had been carried there a long time ago on a boat, and a lord of that land held them as captives. Well, that's a story that was.

Though the chief also mentioned that he would not be sending his troops Because he was afraid they might be captured in each. But Cortes was resolved to send someone. He paid some Maya, who were willing to do the job. They went along with one of Cortes' friends, Juan de Escalante, on three brigantines with fifty men. That expedition was gone for over a week, and that concerned Cortez great

more concerned with the missing fifty men, or the potential of missing out on better interpreters. Melkor's ability in Castilian, as befitting a children who'd been kidnapped and then spent two years Was not the best? The messengers searched for the captives. One of them carried a concealed message written from Cortez hidden in his hair. This brief letter stated that Cortez had arrived with five hundred fifty Spaniards to discover the

When Escalante returned, though, he did so without the two missing Spaniards. Cortez sailed on to the UK. Well, the expedition was not long on the On march twelfth, fifteen nineteen, a canoe approached the fleet. It carried three naked men, except their private colours. Hair was tied as woman's hair is tied, and they carried bows and arrows. They made signs that the Castilians should not be afraid and reached the shore. One of them approached

Gentlemen Are you Christians? Whose subjects are you? One of the conquistadors replied They were Castilians, and were vassalos of the King of Castile. The man began to weep with joy, and asked them to His name was Geronimo de Aguilar, and he was one of the two men who had been kept alive at Yucatan in captivity. Aguilar. He was about thirty years old at the time and was a minor celebrity.

Town as a result of his misfortune. His mother, having heard that her son was the prisoner of cannibals, henceforth refused to eat meat. That is the flesh of my son, she would cry. Or am I not the most unhappy of mothers? Well, I certainly hope for her sake, that she lives. Aguilar explained in spring. that he was on a ship, under the command of a conquistadorman named Valdig

and was headed from Darien to Santo Domingo in order to report on the quarrels between Sueza and Balboa. That ship struck shoals, and Aguilar ended up sending off in a boat with twenty other men, with no food or water and only one pair of oars. The current When they reached Yucatan, half the men were dead. captured the rest, promptly sacrificed Valdivia, and four others, and ate their bodies at a feast.

Aguilar and the others were put in cages, fattened up, and were apparently to be eaten at the next banquet, but they broke out and fled. They were sheltered by a Maya chief named Zemazanga or excuse me, Zemazanga. He kept them as slaves. By the time Cortez arrived, though, all but two were dead Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerro Guerrero, excuse me. Unlike Aguilar, Guerrero did not Angelore was very

Ver one account stated he even kept with him throughout his captivity a well-used book of prayers. He claimed to the conquistadors that his strength of faith had kept him from the temptations of women offered to him by his A likely story, perhaps, but regardless, one that differed tremendously Warero now had a Maya wife, who was the daughter of the Lord of Chetemal. That was a city hundred.

He had three children, a pierced nose and ears, and his face and hands were now tattooed in the Maya style. Agalor said that Guerrero was too ashamed. And in addition, wasn't exactly just some enslaved captive like Aguilar. Instead, he was a military advisor of Naj. the Lord of Chatamal and his father in law. Hugh Thomas says, too, that it's possible that Guerrero had unhappy memories of his hometown, Nieva,

In his youth, a famine there had reduced the population Miablo to cannibalism. Guerrero was probably far less shocked by this aspect of medicine. Mexico might not have been William H. Prescott says it took us it took some time for Aguilar to report all of this, and in fact he became acculturated back to the Spaniards in general.

even if he had not gone fully native like Rero. In my opinion, this is one of Prescott's best passages. Quote Aguilar was simply clad in the habiliments of his country, some It was long indeed before his tastes, which he had acquired in the freedom of the forest, could be reconciled to the constraints of dress or manners imposed by the artificial forms.

Aguilar's long residence in the country had familiarized him with the Maya dialects of Yucatan, and as he gradually revived his Castillian, he became of a Cortez tested Aguilar's interpreter with attempt and with attempted an attempted excuse me with another attempted sermon. wherein he extolled the virtues of Christian salvation, and even went got so bold as to destroy some Then afterward the expedition continued on, now with a much better interpreter, or at least one who knew a little bit.

They sailed along the same routes, taken first by Cordoba and then by Grijalva, since Cortez had the same pilots. But he also had one brigantine sail closer to the coast in order to find whatever signal. Those pilots persuaded Cortes not to stop at Champotan. The Cordillo was thinking about attempting to avenge the defeat of Hernandez de Cordoba. shallow. So they went past Instead they stopped at a harbour which had been discovered by

and named by that discoverer Puerto Desiado. There they found a mastive dog left behind by It had still alive, eating rabbits and other game for the entire year, very happy and apparently without much difficulty. And the conquistadors took this to be a good Along with another incident. A storm a thunderstorm, uh separated one of the ships from the fleet, but it was quickly recovered and without loss of of life. And between that and finally the dog uh they were all in very good mood.

Cortes sent Alvarado and Alonso de Avillia on foot, each with fifty men to explore each. Parties found natives who lived in a town called Paton, they immediately came. Cortez allegedly took possession of Though obviously the Maya would not have understood that document, and even if they did, I'm sure you would agree with the questionable nature, to say the least of such legal proceedings. Regardless, the next day a Maya delegation brought food in eight canoes to the house.

And Cortez received this delegation with all the grace that the average conquistador offered native peoples. He accepted the food and informed the Maya that he needed. that it was very rude in fact of them to let the Castilians starve. And in fact if they were to let the Spanish into their city, then Cortes would do something very good for them. In fact he would give them very Really, really great advice. He assured these diplomats that the their lord was going to be.

Well, the Maya replied that actually they didn't need any advice, and frankly, the Spaniards should go away, and also that they should stop bullying them. The Maya continued. saying that in fact if they did not leave, they would all be killed.

Cortes replied that he would enter their town that very night, and even if they got very pissed off about it. Well, the Maya and Cortez read some sort of in which he demanded the acceptance their acceptance of his king, and when they did that the Patonchon forces were immediately

This attack was organized with bows and arrows and stones flinging from slings that were fired at the Castillans as the units of Maya soldiers attacked or Some of the Maya units even waded out knee deep into the water to attack the boats, and the men in the ships to make the rescue of the water. Cortez might have actually been defeated right then and there.

Twoard had fired, and that frightened the Maya soldiers for a bit, but not for long. The Maya were skilled in combat, their leaders rallied the army. shooting more arrows, flinging spear shmaddle adults, and maybe even using the wooden swords with obsidian blades, which the Merchant Beyond the organization of the Patanchon army, individual Maya warriors were likely far more experienced than the Spanish. Few of whom had ever experienced an actual battle against a law.

Now the conquistadors were very experienced in violence, of course, but the largest armies, quote unquote armies, most of them had seen before this engagement, um belonged to much smaller. Twenty conquistadors were wounded quickly, but luckily for them they had a technological advantage, and ultimately the Spanish rallied. A beautiful Seba tree stood in the center of the square. Cortez took symbolic possession of the battle by making three cats.

The only Castilian casualties, though, were twenty injured men. Except for Melkor, the young interpreter slave, he used that opportunity to hang up his old clothes on a tree and escape into the night. Uh of course, we do not know if he ever succeeded in rejoining his own people. But I hope he did. In which case, perhaps he reunited with his family and led a good life as a fisherman on the Cortez specifically learned after the battle from the first time. Melkor did just go beyond simply escape.

The prisoners, uh, to uh that he obtained, the four hundred prisoners, told him that Melkor came to them and told them that the Spaniards were most certainly mortal, and that the Maya should attack them unseasonably. But Cortez was always a little bit more. First, that his artillery was of primary importance to his victories. The shock effect of his guns had a consequence out of proportion to their lethality, and this made them incredibly valuable. Excuse me, I'm gonna have a sip of water.

Second, the Indians fought to secure captives, not to kill on the battlefield. And that was a far more difficult ca task. I mean if you can imagine Uh no, just how more difficult it is than say if you're not interested in trying to shoot someone with an arrow, you're

Um well at any rate, because of that, sometimes uh it was possible for a small number of Spaniards to have great success against a much larger number of the more difficult it was to capture someone in the Mesoamerican rules of warfare, the more valuable they were to capture. At any rate. Wooden and stone weapons had trouble penetrating iron Spanish armor, but despite the large number of Maya soldiers, there were Maya men who could have killed.

But some warriors were willing to, quote, impale themselves on the points of Castilian swords, so as to lay their hands on their owners, unquote, according to Bernal Dia. Taking captives was necessary, of course, for fulfilling the requirements a community had to the gods, and beyond that, slavery was widespread in Mesoamerica. Most people were not killed and eaten.

But rather for example, many, many families in Tenashtitlan had slaves. I mean slavery in the Aztec Empire g kinda operated like slavery in the Roman. Very widespread. Obtaining captives for the flowery war, is what it was called, was a prominent. What this meant was, like I said, it just took significantly more effort.

Spanish soldiers and on numerous occasions, from this point onwards, and even twice to Cortez himself, conquistadors will be saved because their attackers are trying to capture the Now, I know this sounds crazy, but it also sounds crazy uh to me that someone might wear metal armor in the hot Mexican sun. Well, that's what the Spanish were doing. The third lesson Cortez learned was that he didn't need to do.

armor. The quilted cotton armor, which the Maya and other Mesoamerican armies used, was actually superior for protection against arrows and slings. And not only did you not get all worn out wearing metal armor in the hot sun, but also arrows and stones did not ricochet off the cockpit.

which could still you know, an an arrow could ricochet off you and hit pokey in the eye. So just like your mother always did. From this point onward, in fact, the Spanish actually basically used their metal armor for psychological

And in that way, this metal armor becomes more similar in function to the feathered costumes that the indigenous At any rate, the day after the attack, Cortez had the prisoners brought before him, and he informed them that what happened was their fault, since he had peacefully begged to be Cortez stated that he wished to talk to their king, he let them leave, which they did, and when no Maya King arrived, Cortez thought maybe that was a mistake. Because he noticed that the Maya were reassisting.

So Cortez sent troops out his reconnaissance in all directions, um he captured as many as the Maya as he could, and for the rest of that day he just tried to obtain intelligence. Surrounded in the town. Two days after the attack, um, the army surrounding him still had not attacked, and instead, the leader came before Cortez. They greeted him introduction.

They told Cortez that if he did not burn down their town, which he was sieged up in, they would bring him food. But the impasse continued, because de Maya only brought some fruit, and apologized well that's not. Cortez got very angry, and he sent out parties of men to go secure food. And that is how Gonzalo de Alvarado, in command of two hundred and fifty men, uh Gonzalo, the brother of Pedro, uh found some maize

Uh belonging to the Maya, and went to steal the crops, but those sealed were guarded. A battle ensued, and when the Castilians found that the Ultimately the Spaniards were forced to retreat, even after Cortez had The next day fighting continued, and for the first time Cortez brought out most

The battle took place near irrigation ditches, where the resulting trench warfare made the crossbowmen and arquabusiers very ineffective. Even the artillery In this region, as the Cortez every time I mean basically the longer Cortez fought against uh a single city, the the better the uh defenders would become at overcoming their fear. And uh in the dish. But horses were another thing. The Maya thought that actual real life dragons had descended to the earth, or at least

One horseman in particular, Francisco de Morla, was in his steel helmet and cuirass, and on his armored steed, shining in the sun. He did a lot of Even his fellow Castilians, who just for your information were nearly as credulous as the Maya, who thought Morla was a centaur, thought for some time that Morla was Santiago himself, the patron. who uh apparently had magically Uh ultimately the Maya withdrew. The Spaniards won the war.

sixty of them were now wounded, and some very badly, and shortly afterwards a hundred more were temporarily out of action and sick from a water bug from one of the streams. But as a result, um what happened was both. The Maya Lord of Patonchon finally came out to meet Cortez. He brought gold, turquoise, and twenty men for the conquistadors.

Where were the gold mines? The Maya told them they didn't have any of those, but that the Meshika had plenty, which, incidentally, was a frequently claimed by the i it'd often just be something you would say, just to make the Spaniards leave. At any rate, the Maya explained that unlike Grijalva, who wanted gold, Cortez had asked for food. And that is why the trouble The Spanish were lucky, in fact, from the Maya perspective, and

that uh if his soldiers had not been so dazzled by metal, swords, gunpowder, and horses, all of the Spaniards would have been destroyed. Well, at any rate, peace was declared, and afterwards Cortez spent three weeks Trading with the Maya, attempting his best to explain the benefits of joining with Spain to them and serving the Emperor and the Christian god, and in fact that Maya were eager to become vassals of them.

Not entirely clear if they understood the difference between vassal and friend in these early communications, but at any rate, the Maya likewise enthusiastically joined and like them at such as the Mass, uh uh just as they had earlier with Cortez, uh and again it's not really clear if they understood what the Mass was about. Um and again Seems like they were probably more interested in the candles. And the Spaniards' willingness to teach the Maya how to make their own candles greatly.

uh early masses. And regardless um what you think of them or how this might have gone down, these early weeks Were the important first steps that were taken in Mesoamerica in the process of syncretism between Mesoamerican The Lord of Panton also offered Cortez uh a girl who spoke both the local Chantal Maya language as well as Nahuatl. Language of Mexica of the Meshica. And this is of extreme importance. Important because while Aguilar could communicate with the Maya, he did not.

And by having these two interpreters, Cortez could communicate through Aguilar, and then through this woman, and then to the Meshika. So a double translation. Her name is Melina, or uh Melinda. Anyway, this took time and isn't obviously the most efficient way of communicating, but nevertheless, Cortez could communicate with the people of Mexico in a way that the Spanish on the Caribbean had not been able to before.

could do. And Cortez gave her at first to one of his captains, but after a while she will eventually become Cortez's mistress. Like I said, uh her name is Malina or Malinche, although originally her name may have At any rate, that is Malinali being the name of the twelfth Mexican month. But she was christened Marina. She is without a doubt, including even including Montezuma and Amongst them.

Uh La Malinche as she was called, uh, was born around the year fifteen hundred to a noble family of Nomwatal speakers in a region called Oloutla, along the Kotzelcocos River. Her family seems to have been very high ranking. Bernal Diaz reports that her family ruled. But it also seems that her family fell into disfavor. She was sold as a consequence to a backwander of the Aztec

In the Maya realms. She exhibited quite a bit of intelligence with skill and skill with languages, and after some time, Angelar was even basically disposed of as an interpreter. And ultimately, um after some time, Cortez will get by with only La. She learns some Spanish. Before that, and around that time, she also becomes Cortes' mistress. In certain ways, her life is powerless. In the same way, I mean women did not have power.

But from this poet, um, she does get a little bit of power and she leverages it well, I think. She plays a pivotal role. Indigenous depictions of the meetings between Montezuma and Cortez always feature La Malinche prominently. A lot about her is mistaken. probably a result of the sexism of both of these societies, that minimized her role to some extent, um, but both Spanish and Meh Mexica accounts give what I would call a begrudging token.

Yeah, I admit this woman was pretty important. Um but the Mexico was shocked that that Cortez was using a woman. Hugh Thomas writes that despite her importance, quote, neither her mistakes in translation nor her prejudices will ever be known. Her loyalty to Cortez seems to have been absolute. Her value was certainly a quote. Um Cortez's ships reached the island discovered by Grijalva, and which that conquistador, earlier christened San Juan.

on May in May of fifteen nineteen. The island is less than a mile at the modern port of Veracruz. And at the time it was very close to the Totonac town of Chao Chikan. Veracruz And it was rec and who they had been recently called. The uh Mexic the Meshica Lord of the region sent out a delegation to meet Cortana. uh they reached the ships and canoes, and were given wine and some glass blue bleeds. The next day, on Good Friday, Cortes landed.

He hadn't received permission, but he there wasn't an army ready to oppose him either. Anyway, he brought about two hundred of his conquistadors, along with some horses, artillery, his Cuban slaves and a few a veteran of Italy, named Francisco uh Mesa, uh was in charge of the guns. He placed them. They were probably breech loading, like I had mentioned earlier, taking Once Cortez landed, he was received with signs of love.

uh, he reports, excuse me, not by Nahuatl speaking Mek Meshika, but by the local Totonac population. The Totonaks were a people who had been recently And they weren't very happy about it. They took the appearance of these militarized strangers to be a very good. Grihalva was remembered fondly there after leaving both Patonchon with the Maya and by Trading um peacefully with them. And historians believe that the Totonacs had been anticipating a possible span.

and were already thinking about how that could lead to a war of liberation against their oppressors from The Totoneks presented beans, meat, fish, maize cakes, turkeys, and other foods, in addition to cloaks and silver and copper plates to Cortez. The Caudillo offered back presents to the Totonac chiefs gold belts, Spanish breeches, two red shirts and berets. Red, incidentally, is the cuther colour which Quechelcoana.

And it's recorded as a joyous day. One man, Benito, a tambourine player, who was on the voyage of Grijolva, did as he had done on that voyage. He played music and dancing. Now despite the lack of horses in Mesoamerica, the Mezuga developed a very speedy system of messenger. Because the Spanish arrived on a Thursday, and it was only four days later, on Sunday, when a Mexica delegation arrived to speak with Cortez, that had been A slave named Quitla Quitlan.

led a train of servants to the coast. They brought enough food for the expedition for several days, as well as jewels and Cortez banned this excuse me, banned his expedition from privately trading gold. He put up a table just outside the camp where trade was to be officially conducted. In addition, local Meshika the local Meshica stewards

His name was Tudile. He came with many warriors. He was unarmed, but uh he wore his feathers and his embroidered cloak, and so did his warriors, and it was also bearing many provisions for the Spaniards. He said that Montezuma had heard of the and presented Cortez with more gifts. His name was uh Tudile, like I said, excuse me, and he ordered his men to build huts for the Spanish, since it would soon be the

Done quickly. The Spanish were stunned at the two thousand servants put at their disposal, the first indication that they had the of the tremendous There was no doubt. Started to notice this, how many people were around. We don't know what sort of priests and sorcerers and spies that Montezuma seeded in this group.

And this grand act of hospitality and gift giving and shelter building also contained a hidden tactic. It was better, in Montezuma's eyes, to have the new Cortez and his captains dined with two Melenchet and Aguilar combined to allow for a stilted but manageable conversation. Toudell wondered about the pieces of wood, which the Spaniards humbled themselves Cortes explained that he was the subject of Don Carlos, King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor, and had been sent there by his king.

Tudai replied that his king was no less than For Montezuma was also a great lord, sir. He then revealed a chest full of gold and Mostly joy. And as well finely worked out. which reportedly Tudile accepted with good grace, but n unenthusiastic. Cortez offered that Montezuma might sit in the chair and wear the red cap when Cortes himself came to visit, so that he could set up in one of their temples a quote cross and an image of our lady with their precious

The two also spoke of what Montezuma looked like. Tudile told him, quote, He is a mature man, not fat but spare. Small and thin, unquote. Cortez paraded his men in military formation to the sound of drum and fif, and staged a show of mock combat with their swords flanging. while Alvarado led the horsemen to gallop along the beach, bells attached to the bridles of their mounts, and the Lombards guard the Lombard guns loosed a thunderous charge of cannons.

of fire. Uh excuse me. The Meshika were overcome with admiration for the military power Spanish possessed, most specifically the guns and horses, and were also specifically impressed by how much a Toudell prepared a lengthy report for Montezuma. It was complete with the work of artists who had carefully sketched on cotton cloth their impressions of the visitors, as well as the horses, swords, guns, and But he made perhaps one big mistake. He answered a honest question an answer of course.

and that was Cortes asked Tudile if Montezuma possessed gold. He asked, since he knew that, of course, gold's good for a bad heart Some of his men were ill with that complaint. Oh yes, Tudal replied. Montezuma did have gold. Nothing could have been more difficult. The Michigan Governor went home after that, leaving one of his lieutenants in charge of the servants, who were commanded to maintain the several hundred huts.

As well as to give tortillas, beans, meat and fish to the visitors on a regular basis. Tudal's report reached Montezuma in a day and a half, longer than it might have otherwise taken via the relay messenger system. That's because the report was not taken. traditional relay messaging system. Instead, it was brought strictly by messengers who'd seen them

they operated under orders of secrecy to tell no one of that what they had seen. And It's hard to say if and if they did exactly how much that these sources might have over represented the dread that Montezuma is reporting. Because those sources come from after Um but at any rate, Montezuma is reported to have received the information with no shortage of alarm.

He probably did, like I said, know a lot about what had happened in Costuro de Oro and in the Caribbean, especially on the Big Islands, at least more than what we know. And he almost certainly had heard everything about Cortez's activities in the Yucatan, his speeches about the one true god and the great Spanish king, and the Spanish hostility to human sacrifice. Humus uh excuse me, hu Humus. Hugh Thomas says Cortes or excuse me, Montezuma quote, must have felt that locusts were coming.

Ever smaller. One source says Montezuma almost died of fright. Another says that he was filled with dread, as if swooning, and kept repeating, What will happen to us? Well, at any rate, it appears that Montezuma sacrificed two captives and sprinkled the messengers liberally with the Then he received the report. After that, in the house of serpents, he tasted the Spanish food and examined an iron helmet, which was part of the loot. The messengers told Montezuma how the cannon was defined.

that the smoke smelled foul, that the cannonballs had the power to destroy trees. The reports of horses, quote, high as rooftops, unquote, and the large war dogs were also But perhaps most distressing to the emperor was the report that the man in charge of this expedition, this Cortez, was He seemed very intent on visiting Tenochtitlan. It is said that the emperor considered hiding at Sinkalko, where there was a secret royal

Royals were buried, his priests, though, reportedly also convinced him he must remain at his post. Hugh Thomas says that Montezuma was left with few possibilities as to who to be. One, that the Castilians were Chichimiks, the Nahuatl word for barbarians, and that that meant they were just one more powerful group of outsiders. Here to be a very good. Much like his own. This was definitely the dominant view of many. And for the matter matter, the Maya in Yukon.

similar view as well, considering how stringent their defenses were. At any rate, Tudile and his messengers told Montezuma and that the Spanish were a new quote powerful, cruel A second hypothesis was that the Spanish were exactly what they claimed to be. That is, that the Spanish tried to present themselves, for what it's worth, as peaceful ambassadors from a faraway land, here only to preach and Nobody really seems to have bought this. Even the Spanish allies seem to have been.

warriors uh than as trading partners. The Totonaks put forth their own hypothesis, however. And this might The Tartonacs were going around telling everyone that Cortez and his companions were sent together. that they were immortal, and that they were definitely Thulees, or gods, great supernatural creatures, or Where exactly they were from, that wasn't important, if you ask the Totonacs. Maybe they weren't from anywhere in particular at all.

The Totoneks thus justified whatever actions the Spanish took, good or bad. Gods weren't necessarily saints after all. Mesoamerican Tules or gods could do terrible things like the Greek deities, which to the Poachley, the machine. reportedly stole the clothes from the Meshika who worshipped him while they were bathing on their legs. Quetzalcoato reportedly got drunk and seduced his own sister all sorts of things.

Bernantias said that the Totonaks called the Spanish Tules, which is their name for both gods and The identity of who Quetzal Coetel is and why he is specifically such a And whether or not anyone thought of this after the fact or not. Well that's a big part of why the Totonacs, at least, were so eager to put forth the hypothesis. Divine. Quetzalcoatl may have been a religious innovator who sought to end human sacrifices but was destroyed by the conservative forces.

Maybe he was an older god of the valley instead, whom the Emperor Itzak Itzkoatl refused to accept as not warlike enough, and uh wrote Perhaps Quetzalcoato was a prince or a priest who in the long ago past led a popular rebellion. Well whatever the truth was, at some point in the past, he probably was a real person. And his worship was something subversive from the uh Meshika perspective before the arrival.

It was also a little bit more complicated than that too. The people of Mesoamerica believed quite a bit. Spirit of regeneration. Whatever his true origins, there were minor temples to him in all sorts of places, even in Tenot. where the priesthood of Hitzta Lopochli was very much dominant in society, but Quetzal Kowatl was still worshipped as the patron of the Kalmacox, the schools of the upper class, So there's a lot of mystery about the

Venerated even by the Meshika, who had reason to fear his return. But what is clear is this. Montezuma seems to have put a lot more faith into this possibility.

Whatever Montezuma might have thought Whether or not his feels his excuse me his fears were real or an invention made up after the fact Many other Mexica rulers, albeit in subservient rules to the emperor, were convinced, instead, that the Spanish were nothing more than a group of criminals to be dealt with in the same way that a modern government might label Montezuma instead settled on a policy which might be considered a piece of

these mysterious strangers were to be given more presents. Another official emissim emissary was quickly He may have believed that uh the god Tezcatlipoka, or quote unquote, smoking mirrors, was angry with him, that his fate was sealed. Tez Catlipoka is something of a trick. A Loki figure. And Montezuma does seem like he was quite religious.

Supposedly, the emperor stated to his envoy quote, all of us will die at the hands of the Tules, and those who survive will be their slaves and vassals. They are the ones to reign now, and I shall be the last one. Even if some of our relations and descendants survive, they will be Or at least one Spanish chronicle.

And I'm not so sure if that's something Montezuma really ever would have said, even if it was, to one of his most trusted advisors, that sounds uh very I think perhaps likely that Montezuma s held similar Spaniards could be allied with and used as a powerful weapon. And in the Emperor's case, to initiate greater conquest. But with that said, Montezuma appears more fearful of the Spaniards than others in Mexico leadership for sure. Many of them are itching for a fight.

And he will also at times maybe s come across as Like he might be suffering from depression or he is more distressed, at least in the chronicles, than other Meshika leaders, but again that might be something added after the fact.

Maybe Montezuma was just gloomy because he knew more than anyone else in the Empire about the capabilities of the Spanish and their weaponry. But whatever it was that went into his Montezuma did not send an army to fight the Castillians, and if he'd have done that he probably would have

Instead he sent an ambassador with more gifts of gold, jewels golden bells and necklaces, golden models of ducks, lions, jaguars, deer and monkeys, bows and arrows made of gold, golden staffs of office, all of this So too were beautiful headdresses and fans of green feathers, some with gold attachments as well. Cloaks, wigs, mirrors, shields, masks, jackets, sticks, earrings, diamonds.

Montezuma sent it with the message Go, do not delay, make reverence to our Lord, tell him that his lieutenant Montezuma has sent you. he gives you in here is what he gives you in hi in honor of your arrival. In your Now, some of that talk, um I should you know, him calling himself Cortez's lieutenant, uh that's just A phrase like in Old English, like your servants, uh an indication of courage.

Regardless. It's probably pretty clear that the Emperor, I think, had not yet decided who he was dealing with. Because he also gave very explicit instructions on how to feed the Spaniards. The emissary was to cook traditional food. Quote If he eats and drinks what you give him, he is surely going to be will be shown to be familiar with our food. If by chance he does not like the food which you have given him and he is desirous of eating human flesh, and would like to eat you, allow yourself.

I assure you that I will look after your wife, relations, and children, unquote. Presumably that second instruction would have basically been proof that Cortez was instead associated with the Tulai Huitzilapot. At any rate, that emissary, named Teoclamakazzi, found that Cortez was back on the ship. It wasn't entirely clear what goes down afterwards, but when the Meshika delegation spoke with Malin,

They were with We Come From Mexico, La Militia replied, You may or may not come from there. Perhaps you are teasing us. Now, I say it isn't entirely clear what happens next, because one chronicle states that the Michigans and Coato, and the Spaniards began to whisper amongst themselves wondering what this meant. Who is Quetzoato? Now at any rate, Cortes did basically

Teotla Makansky and the other emissaries offered to sacrifice ten slaves for Cortez. He refused. Curious though, if he were a two rich The Meshika dressed Cortez in conventional Meshika clothing, they put a dragon black. A rich cloak of feathers, rings of gold and silver on his ankles, green earrings in the shape of serpents on his ears, ornaments relayed at his side like a mirror of his city.

A tray of gold, a jar of gold, fans, a shield of mother of pearl. They asked Cortez what other lords were aboard his ship, and a few captains were also aboard. Striking blonde hair, and was from that time nicknamed Tonatia, the Sun, a compliment in basically any country, but a particularly different He moved forward the sun to the sun. And now the sun is overturned, meant a ruler.

At any rate, the Meshika, first and foremost, wanted to know Cortez's intentions. Cortes, with Malinchea translating, stated he intended to go to Tenashtitland, see Montezuma, and enjoy his presence. Now that's the sort of thing.

But on the other hand, the delegation saw that while the Spaniards ate most of the food offered to them, the traditionally prepared tortillas, As one final tap, one or more of the Meshika bled themselves, probably from the They filled a cup shaped like an eagle with blood. angry, or at least he pretended to be angry, and he beat the Mechican who offered it with the flat of his sword. He then continued to bully and berade And he had the Lombard fire. Several of them fell to the floor and fainted.

After they were all revived, Cortells Cortez followed that up by challenging them to a duel. He uh Stated he intended to joust one of them in the morning. Now presumably he didn't really actually have any intention of entering in personal hand to hand. See how they would react. But the delegation ended up leaving the ship promptly, paddling in their When they reached Tudil in his town, Quektachplan, they refused to stay, though the Meshika governor offered his hospitality.

We must give news to our Lord. We must tell him what we have seen, which is terrifying. It has like nothing has been seen before, unquote. Montezuma decided to continue with his unusual strategy. He would try to keep the strangers. While simultaneously he would continue to give them gifts of food and treasure. Perhaps as a way to bribe them. which in retrospect is probably a terrible idea, because each ounce of gold he sent literally only served to make the Spanish even more eager to

Simultaneously. A delegation of twenty Totoneks reached Cortez and his camp. They came from the city of Kempoala, which was forced to pay tribute to the The door was opened for an alliance. Right at this moment, though, Cortez was much busier trying to prevent mutiny. Because his men were quarrelling over all the gold.

To do. The Emperor was also employing magicians and sorcerers against the Spanish, but they Presumably the conquistadors were too paranoid to allow sketchy looking Meshika priests to get close enough to be ensorcelled or poisoned or whatever. At any rate, they returned to Montezuma and stated their magic was not as was not powerful enough to deal with the newcomers. Um Governor Two And he told Cortez that now it would be best for the Spaniards to leave Mexico. He took the two thousand

and while he gave them more gifts before leaving, food was not amongst those items. Cortes, of course, did not leave. Instead the Caudillo Luckily for the Spaniards, the coast abundance shellfish, without which they probably would have been forced back to Cuba or starved, but at any rate, Cortez gets a lot of credit for doing this, for building up. Goal the whole time. But the reality of the situation seems to be He may have been forced into it by his men as much as he wanted to do it.

Specifically. Gotten the treasure that they had expected in Hispaniola or Cuba or Puerto Rico or Castillo de Oro, and now the Yucatan or Mexico or wherever it promised to reserve reverse.

Hugh Thomas writes, quote, their point of view was impossible to ignore. Perhaps it was more important than historians have realized, unquote. It's a fascinating question. Did Cortes But perhaps more Almost every conquistador who went on that voyage knew they would be settling on the Yucatan before they ever reached.

If Cortes had for some reason opposed this, remember, even Governor Velazquez wanted to settle on Yucatan, he just wanted to be in charge of it without going. They would have done And it either way, they named the town Viri. Well, with that said, there were factions within the Spanish force, like I said, and regardless of their shared desire to settle the Yucatan, they were arguing about treasure in addition

Cortez did his best to solve the infighting amongst the men by divvying up leadership roles at Veracruz between those who supported him and those who did not. A pretty clever strategy, though regardless of the Regardless of whatever political considerations the leaders at Veracruz had almost Cortez. Cortes had absolutely no authority to start up his own colony, especially not one independent of Velazquez. But that's exactly what he did.

quote unquote community, comunidad. Cortes could call, thus, by building a comunidad, call upon medieval Spanish law, which said that any community of Spaniards own local government. Of course, technically, the supplies to build the town were still on the ship. Founded this community. Like that get in the way. And so for a while, the Spaniards of Veracruz were a town council without a town. Cortes set off for the The construction of Veracruz had beg begun and uh and he was visited um on the way.

And they brought news that their lord was unable to welcome Cortez himself. Really. Kempwalan was a city technician. But it was also served as the seat of political power of the recently subjected Totonac people. And when Cortes entered Museum, And now Very fat. The reception and accommodations astonished the Castillians, to the extent that Cortez even feared a trap was being set up. The captain in fact set up carelessly.

But no attack came. For several days, in fact, the Spanish simply took stock of the first Cortes made a formal visit. And uh just so you know, the Spaniards will continue to refer to him as the Fant Chief or the Fant Cacique, which s sounds very insulting, but it is what it is, and I I'm actually not a hundred percent Mm almost more of a boast. Anyway, the chief He claimed the Meshika were taking everything.

Before the conquest, people of Kempawala had lived in quote peace, quietness, and liberty, unquote. Now technically the chief اشتركوا في القناة I'm not just saying that as some wacko uh lefty, but rather the giant population. To bring together great quantities of goods with Or at least that's what one sixteenth century Spanish judge thought about it when he Hugh Thomas reminds us, however, that quote subject peoples never

The fat chief went on to Cortez. He described Tenochtitlan, telling him how it was built in the But the Meshika had many enemies, he told Cortes. The people of the cities of Huexotzinko and Plaskala also hated them. So too did a powerful noble named Isaitsoto, who had many followers. He was a rival. Coco. The fat chief proposed that Cortez seek an alliance.

Would easily be defeated with all of their help. The conversation, of course, went slowly. Well, with the chain of interpreters, but this was an Almost everything that the fat chief told him was accurate, except He and his followers hated Montezuma. So too did the people of Tlashkala. Wetzakinka. Unlike the Totonaks or the Tashkhalans, wasn't yet really ready to oppose Meshika rule.

peace and they weren't r they were more so enemies of Tlushcollins at the moment than they were of the Mexica. But regardless, this still meant. The reason why he was a very good idea. lure the Spanish into a trap. They just wanted friendship and an alliance to fight against Montezuma and the Mexica. Just like that Curtis' vision expanded far beyond the idea of breaking. Adolentado of the Yucatan. Cortez had aspired to build a settlement.

the idea, quote, of coordinating an alliance to fight an empire, seems not to have occurred After that meeting, Cortez started spreading propaganda and started telling everyone that he had come to Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico to soothe disputes and destroy tyrannies. I want to say quickly um recording a bit late at night than I usually am. I am quickly trying to drink some coffee to to wake up a little bit, but uh

It is tough to say Nahuatl names sometimes. The Spanish spent two weeks in Kempawalan, But disagreements did pop up between these two new allies with Radio. Like when Cortez freed sl five slaves destined for sacrifice, the people of Campualan and the Fat Chief were horrified, the fat chief scolded Cortez, you will ruin me and all the safety.

Our infuriated gods will send locusts to devour our harvests, hail to beat them down, drought to burn them, and torrential rain to swamp them, if we offer no more sacrifices. Excuse me, I drank all that coffee now I got the hiccups. Cortez had the slays returned. He was unwilling to break his friendship with the Totonacs, and the two fronts It was not yet.

In addition to this information about Mexican politics, the Totonacs gave Cortes another gift: 400 Totonac porters. These important bearers for the journey. not sound like a lot of help, but after this point, Cortez and his men rarely, if ever, had to carry their own equipment. Their presents, their guns, their tents, or their bedding. it's really almost...

Essentially what this means is that the Spaniards could march all day, arrive at a location, but not And so Cortez continues to be Intent on seeing Tenochtitlan, meeting the Emperor Montezuma, and the conquistadors leave Kumpawalan and then march. Quiahuitzlan. They arrived there about the same time as a delegation of Mexica tax collectors. That delegation wore embroidered clothes. Each of them carried out.

They carried crooked sticks and were smelling flowers specifically that were restricted to the Meshika nobility. Sir. meeting, and despite the Lord's fear at the reception of the Meshiga tax collectors, Cortez convinced the brawler of Cuyawitzlan that he should arrest the tax collectors. The Spaniards would guard them, of course. This was ordered and accomplished. The tax collectors were tied to poles and imprisoned.

Trick and released two members of the delegation. He told them that he didn't like to see Montezuma's agents mistreated. And that he would be great. told Montezuma of Cortez's intent of being friends. Two Spaniards rode the two safely and as fast as possible. Cortez may have believed that he could be allied with both the Totonacs and Montezuma, or at least he wanted to feign.

The Lord of Quiehutzlan was quite angry, as you might imagine, when he realized two of his prisoners had escaped and Cortez Um it helped a bit when he offered to have the remainder of the Keeping them off shore. But while Cortes' deception was successful, he still had to make a choice. The Lord of Quiahitzlan offered Cortes a Totonek army to rebel against Montezuma. has agreed. He told the Lord he valued the Totonak's friendship more than that of Montezuma. The die was cast.

Cot Cortez then asked, How many men could this lord assemble? I wonder what look Cortez gave. If the astonishment was visible from his face. When the reply to his question was translated. The Totonaks could assemble a force of one hundred thousand men. Well suddenly Cortes realized that he could literally gather as many enemies of the Meshika as possible, and simply march to Tenochtitlan.

But he had to finish Veracruz first. So it wasn't until June twenty eighth, fifteen nineteen, when the town was formally founded, then incidentally, on the same day. Roman Emperor and became Charles V. Of course the Spaniards probably did very little of the town building. It was almost certainly entirely the work of the Cuban. They definitely almost certainly would have made and laid all of the bricks as well in order to build the town. None of the sources say so, but Tino Labor built.

While Cortez was overseeing this, another man before, and with another gift. They brought back the helmet, which Cortez gave to Tudile. Now To help Cortes cure his men of their heart sickness. The messengers brought other gifts as well, told the Spaniards that the emperor was busy with war. could not say when a meeting would be possible. So of course

He told the Lord of Quihitzlan that he should go about telling everyone though, that the Totonaks were free from the Meshka. Cortez probably thought he could keep the Not long after the Totonak town started rebelling, and then a nearby Meshika garrison. a hillside town called Tizapanzingo attacked the Totonaks. fled there when the tributary Totonek towns rebelled, and then they promptly began organizing an army to suppress. Cortez responded instantly. He took most of the conquistadors.

They met the Mesika, who appeared to be Concorns. The horses could not follow up the rock. And so Cortez and his men dismounted. The army eventually forced open the gates of Tizapensingo with their swords. The few remaining Meshika soldiers He promised he definitely would not sacrifice him. Of course whether or not or not that happened, I don't know. But I do know The Kempawalans, according to Bernal Diaz, set up a miserable howl. They covered their faces and begged forgiveness of the idols.

This action probably wasn't a smart one. Cortez still convinced five of the priests at this at Campoalan to cut their hair and promise to look after the Christian shrine. Cortez had replaced it. Placed a Christian shrine in the temple after whitewashing it and a mass was performed and now what exactly a hair Now what I find incredible though, to be clear, is that Cortez five toe to neck pre.

were not baptized, definitely were not baptized, and who presumably he believed they literally worship that they were literally worshiping the devil. He told them that they were to be Alter. It's a perplexing decision, in my opinion, to chide the children. Then put the priest in the

An incredibly important invention, since they're so much less dangerous than torches, of course, not to mention more efficient. It seems that the combination of new knowledge and the free All the Spanish were brutes, they were still brutes who were worth being allied with. Well at any rate, the Spaniards soon left Kempawalan to go back to Veracruz, and the Toton

Um well, Cortez went back to Veracruz specifically to meet with a ship of reinforcements. He welcomed sixty men and several horses, under the command of Francisco de Salcido, to Veracruz, and Salcito had sailed to Cuba and was planning on doing some slave raiding somewhere else when he heard about Cortez's expedition and said, Hey. Fun than slave raiding. Salcido also gave Cortes some important advice: that Cortes better send some messengers back to Spain to counter the claims of Valencia.

Salcito's suggestion, Cortez probably would have ended up conquering Mexico and immediately doing so for the So Cortes ended up sending three letters back to Spain. Maybe two, it's not clear. He wrote three, one of which was supposedly a personal letter to the king, but may have never been sent, or But at anyway, one of the surviving letters described what had happened thus far in the expedition. Though Thoroughly explaining why Velasquez should under no

Another letter documented the previous journeys of Cordoba and Grijalva, in addition to Cortez's voyage. That one was signed by all of the quote unquote citizens. which compared to the land they compared it also, the Yucatan, that is, to the land at which Solomon took his gold from to build the temple in Jerusalem. That those facts of course were going to justify anything that happened.

In case of Steve, the letter continued by stating, without evidence, that all the Meshika were also sodomites as well, but not the Totonak allies, whose quote devotion, trust, and hope, unquote, meant that they would and diligence, unquote. A convenient justification. Now, that the evil which the

Killings, rape, and tortures the Spaniards committed, oh of course that's all coincidence. Now, that doesn't really mean they didn't believe that wasn't true. Um Anyway, uh and just so you know, even though all of the men signed that letter, of course was the sole. W anyway, whatever Cortes wrote in the missing letter, of course we don't know. But judging from some of the things he says later, it's probably

Deliver him as a subject to Spain. Cortes also wrote a fourth letter. This one was directed to his father. Was sent along with some gold to his parents and some instructions. The treasures of Villarica de la Veracruz believed the gold and silver, measured by weight alone, was worth about twenty two thousand dollars. Did not include the featherwork and cotton. The treasure, all of it, not just the king's share, was then set in the middle of the square. And exactly as

Fight about it. The conquistadors don't leave a clear record as to what happened next, but presumably, Cortez. Or after the treasure was placed in the center of the town, or maybe both. But not everything which Cortes received.

Bernal Diaz specifically reports that the helmet, though, that the helmet full of gold dust, the giant wheels of gold and silver, originally constructed for Grihalva, many of the golden figurines of animals, and most of the So too were two painted books, quote, folded in the style of cloth of Castile. The receipt put on the King's Fifth was for two thousand pesos by the treasurers. That implies that the total was only ten.

The treasury was valued at 22,500 pesos, so if those numbers are true, then the king only received a tenth, not a fifth. Cortes sent also 7,000. four thousand to his father and thirty five hundred for the two men tasked with delivering that to his father. I'm dubious that Cortez would have used his own share for that. Anyway, he promised. At any rate, however you cut it, though, twelve thousand five hundred Castellanos worth of gold.

Fighting began amongst the conquistadors about precisely that issue. I don't know what happened. I mean, Cortez could have easily took the entire uh sum, maybe sent five seven. and pocketed the rest, or maybe somebody else did, or maybe just enough conquistadors, each of them pilfered just a little bit, that all over time it added up to a great big sum. I don't know.

Some of the party wanted to go home after this and didn't want to go to the interior, besides this. Uh a particular some of Velasquez's friends were happy with their treasure and just wanted to go back to Cuba. Cortes refused permission of anyone to depart, and if you think these disgruntled orders you are sadly mistaken. In consequence of Cortez's refusal to allow everyone to leave, instead a plot developed to seize one of the ships, kill the ship's captain, and go back to Cuba.

Might intercept the men carrying Cortez's letters, and more importantly, the treasure he sent ahead for his father before that. Unfortunately for the conspirators, they were betrayed by Bernardino de Soria, one of the men who informed Cortez had the leaders arrested, including a priest, a pilot, and some sailors. An expage of Governor of Alaska. Two were hanged, another had part of his foot.

and a few received one hundred lashes, but others were just imprisoned for several days and then released. Cortes was angry. He felt like he had to deal with the ringleaders, but the entire reason He ordered his for storage at Veracruz and announced that the ships were on sea work. We probably bribed the captains of the vessels to do this. Maybe that's where the missing treasure went. Who knows? Cortez did not burn the ship.

They were grounded. All the sources agree they were grounded. It is entirely the fault of a Spanish historian named Cervantes de Salazar, who probably could not name A Brondo, or Braking, as in ships breaking, and thought that the doctors Mundo or burning. Anyway, grounding the ships is a less dramatic but just as effective at as keeping. And even though they weren't burnt, William President. Quote It was perhaps the most remarkable passage in the book.

History indeed affords examples of similar expedient emergencies, somewhat similar, but none where the changes where the chances And defeat would be so disastrous. Had he failed? He had set fortune, fame, life itself, all upon the act and must abide the issue. There was no alternative. An act of resolution. Finished with cutting off his own retreat, Cortez finally set out with his holy company for Tenashtis. About three hundred.

The food, equipment, and hall, the artillery, and then they were accompanied by a Totonac chief named Mamaxi. He led eight hundred Totonac warriors alongside the Spaniards. Cortez Earl. Absolutely no way, he continued. Before setting out, um Bernal Dia said that Cortes addressed the army, quote, to conquer the land or to die, unquote, was his message. Three roads led from the coast

Cortez and his army chose without a difficult, without a doubt the most difficult. Now I don't know why, but probably the Meshika told probably either the Meshika At any rate, all the towns along the road of the But they still provided the Spaniards with some food and lodgings. This courtesy was extended despite the fact that Montezuma was growing increasingly anxious at the news that Cortez was on the move and on his

T Lon. Now the first large city was The ruler of this city, Olen Tecle, gave food and lodgings to the Castillians and then got the honor of hearing Cortes now pretty well. Holin Tikle himself should give the Cortes also, of course, mentioned that Olenticle should give him some gold, and in fact he might. Right there at the spot. Because Montezuma would shortly be a vassal as well. What was the harm in waiting to declare vassalage? Olen Ticle declined. Probably because a large Mexica guarantee.

He stated that if Montezuna told him to give gold he would do so, but until then the gold he had was his own. Well, Cortez decided against further challenging Tido, who instead simply told the ruler that he would uh indeed soon order Montezuna to give him his gold. Meanwhile, the Totonia Totally badass and deadly the horses and dogs were, and that the Spanish indeed were Tullays, which seems an it to indicate that the Totonaks, more than anyone, are probably responsible for the rumor.

At any rate, Cortez asked Olentecle what way would be best to go to Tenechtitlan? He had two choices. Cholula. Olen Tikle remecked Cholula, of course, since it was another And also it was on the road to Tenashtitlan. Maxi, though, the Totonak general, continued to urge for Tlaxcala instead But first, the Spaniards rested for three weeks in Zapla. They witnessed a festival in which Olen Tecle sacrificed six fifty men, apparently. Cortez does not mention the festival in his name.

Neither did he dwell much upon the great treatment he received, but apparently he and his men were carried in hammocks on the shoulders of Olentekle's servants. Or the fact that he was treated maybe even a little more royally than his Highness was At any rate, during those three weeks, Olentecle continued to tell Corona.

That he would receive many gifts there, and a royal welcome. If we are to give credit to for the success, Then let us not forget Mamaxe, therefore, general of eight hundred Totonaks who continued to advise against And might have prevented Cortez and his men from, shall we say, being seduced into a life of luxury. Mamexi not only argued that it would be best to go by way of Plaskala, but that specifically it would be fatal to continue to go.

Or to enter Tolula. Well, so off to Tlashkala they went. And on the way, they encountered a Heh It Max Titlan, an important local m small town, as well as Zatwa for that matter, and anywhere, the hospitality shown to the Castilians and their Indian allies must have literally been ruined. in Mesoamerica. Undoubtedly, the maize used to feed these armies, uh, which in Hundreds of Tino slaves and at the moment eight hundred Totonak warriors as well.

I'm sure a lot of people faced hunger hardships in Mesoamerica as a result of Cortez and his merry band of men traveling through. Not the least. two six. Cortez sent messengers ahead to Talashkawa. When they didn't return in a timely fashion, he set off to find them. He brought one thousand Meshika soldiers from Itza Kim. Twenty miles south.

nine feet high and twenty piece paces wide. It was built as a border between uh Mexico and Toshcala. And walls were rare in Mexico, the barrier existed solely as a function 'Cortes, in fact, thought it was a point. The wall wasn't manned and there was a gate, so the Castillians opened it and poured right through across the border. Not far from it, two horsemen.

encountered a small squadron of fifteen Tlashkolan scouts, who began to flee Cortez and some of his men caught up with them, and Cortez tried to reason with them, to say with signs he was interested in negotiation, but the Tushkalans would not stop running until the horses literally overcome. Of course, horses are very fast, they did catch up. But that didn't work out so well either. The Tlushcollins responded to the Spanish advance by using their obsidian bladed swords with precision.

One of the Tlashkollens struck a horse and with a single stroke sliced the Another horse was killed in the brief engagement, three more were wounded, and as this skirmish occurred a much larger force of Toshcollins approached. Andres de Topia claims one hundred. But Hugh Thomas says of Andres de Topia, quote, as with most of his companions, accurate figures were not a strong suit, unquote.

No matter how many plush columns there were, there were an awful lot of them, with painted faces. They were wildly leaping into the air and making war whoops most menacingly. Some men Collins were also frightened, especially when the Spanish horsemen made a charge. They were able to kill somewhere between sixteen and sixty Tlashcollan men, and the army fellow. Cortez had his dead children.

But even with this done, he understood that the Twashkalan fear of the horses was soon going to be lessened considerably once news.

The reason that a handful of horsemen were able to simply ride up and save Cortez or whoever Treat was a consequence of the Mesoamerican tactics, where the tradition of head on combat meant that only the front rank of an army really did any fighting and if that replace it, followed by a third, which basically meant that a Spanish opponent on a horse with a superior weapons could stamina permitting effectively face off against many flash columns.

because they were basically trained to stand there and wait their turn to fight. Now, these tactics change quickly as Mezuel But whenever Mesoamerican armies fight against Spanish horses for the first time, the result was usually. Quickly forced to reckon with the fact that they needed a very Very mobile enemy. Of course, in addition, the Tlash Collins, just like the Maya and the Meshika, were actually less interested in killing.

For sacrifice to the sun, to nourish that fire with blood. This was a failure. Finally, their swords, while initially very damaging, were able, for example, to cut the fucking head off a horse horse with one stroke, but they also broke quickly when when the when the stone blazed. So on the one hand, while the Spaniards were not exactly well a well trained Prussian soldiers or anything like that, they fought with enormous.

That the better weaponry and the speed of their horses led to another quick victory, but it was costly. The military prowess of the Tlashcallans was quote skilled beyond anything. Hassack now and Cortez was overseeing the burial of two horses to prove it. Two dead horses was a big fucking deal for Cortez. For some time the captain was probably a bit worried too. The Tlashkans were supposed to be great allies against the Mexica Cortez. It only seemed like they weren't interested in peace at all.

retreated though, the Clashcollins were capable of putting up a very large force. Even if the 100,000 man army is an exaggeration. The Castilians dressed Apparently with the fat of a dead Indian, which personally sounds almost like Reportedly that is what took place. Okay, so do not eat people but cook. Two of the four emissaries which Cortez sent to Tlaskala returned.

tell the Spaniards they were sorry. And in fact, what happened was an army of Atomis, which the Otomis are an ethnic group that live in very Well the Otomis were completely responsible for the violence and the Tlash Collins had nothing to do with it. The reality They failed, then the Toshkhalists could claim they had nothing to do with what they were now doing. And that might also help explain the army.

circumstances. At any rate, Tlaxcala was about twenty miles from where Cortes camped. It was a small republic, smaller a bit than the modern state of uh Tlaxcala in Mexico. Which is a pretty small state, in case you don't know, but it was densely populated. Probably a hundred and fifty thousand people lived in the city. enemies. And just like the Meshica, the Tosh Collins in fact were shown where to build their city by a bird, not an eagle, in their case a white heron. But the Republican

Each was ruled by a king, and all four of those kings voted uh on decisions. And so by republic, I'm literally talking about four do. Three more. So the Spaniards at any rate they felt that Tlashkala's government was very similar to Venice. Peter Martyr even compared Tlashkala to the Roman Republic before it degenerated into a despotic monarchy.

The emissaries who returned from Toscala had more than just a message of peace for Cortez. They also wanted to pay for the dead horses, and that just sounds very nice, doesn't it? It would valued their horses. But the Costilians were also learning. A debate. They decided how they should proceed if they were ever again surrounded by such a large force, and it was decided that the horsemen would ride forward and attempt to scatter their enemies, that they should hold their lances verted.

Cortez soon encountered the Atomi army again. He read them the Requiemento, helped by La Malenche and Aguilar, and in the presence of his notary Diego de Godor. I don't know. But the Atomi responded by attacking with arrows. Castilians advanced, crying out Santiago Isier Espana, just as their Spaniards had called out against the Moles. The battle lasted several hours. The Spaniards and their allies forced the Atomi back and advanced, but that retreat was planned. The Spanish army

Large number of atomies on both sides of it. The Tlashkalan general, named Zuko Tenkatel, had previously hidden. Cortez estimated that one hundred thousand Otomis were arranged against them, a figure which Hugh Thomas calls a magic figure. Forty thousand Indians were against them. Now that's a large enough number. Obviously that is still quite astounding, and even if that is an exaggeration, clearly a very

I want to be clear though. The Tlash Callons could have annihilated, or at least come seriously close to annihilating. Meso American general The point of America Mesoamerican ambush was not to dishonorably strike and kill your enemies while hitting them. When Mesoamerican armies ambushed others, it was in order to dramatic So the Atomi didn't ambush the Spanish to throw rocks down at them and crush them like you're imagining, they did it to scare them.

In fact, much of the goal of the battle for the Atomies seems to have been to capture a horse, and eventually they did. First aid seriously wounded the rider, Pedro de Moron, who himself died several days later, and the horse was sacred. in a ceremony that also involved the sacrifice of the red Tafeta hat, which Cortez had gifted the Tosh Collins and which he did not realize at the time, but looked kinda similar to the Toshcollins Which mission?

They didn't fight in the battle, but Cortez entered Toscala and Whoops. At any rate, the Spaniards fought along the ravine and reportedly much assistance was given by their totonac. Between Totone courage and the fear caused by the six cannons and the Spanish were able to fight their way through. Several Otomi leaders died during the battle as well, and so the next

to meet the Spanish again. Cortez sent another message asking for peace, though along with that message of peace he also rode out with two hundred Spaniards and the Totonacs, and they began Thank you. The Castilians apparently perpetrated atrocities. There were reports of people whose noses, ears, arms and feet and testicles were cut off.

Priests were tossed from the tops of buildings. The Totonacs also similarly committed various outrages. The expedition was low in food, they were eating mainly little dogs at the moment, so Maybe they were just very hangry. Excuse for torturing people. At any rate, uh Cortez expected to find help in Tlashkala, but so far he's So he let his men take the Whatever the reason for it, it's what happened. And the next day the Toshcollins sent the Spaniards a large gift of food. Three hundred turkeys.

The Tunash Kalans planned instead that, quote, once they are filled up with food, let us attack and we shall eat them, and in that way, they will pay us for the turkeys and cakes. The Tlachkollans assembled another army, this one large enough to expand Better equipped and organized Flush Collins squadrons as well were lined up in their feathers, armor, and war paint. Each squadron, accompanied by drummers and conch blowers that announced the start of conflict and a fierce battle followed.

In this dangerous and perilous battle, we were in considerable confusion, said Bernal Diaz. Only the simple use of steel swords saved us, unquote. This was probably the largest and most difficult battle fought thus far in the Americas between Europe and the European Europe. But the conquistadors on Cortes' voyage, and Cortes himself, devote very little time to it in their writings. Historians believe that perhaps the conquistadors did not enjoy reflection. Now later they will be able to do that.

Still today they did preva prevail ultimately and when the Tashkhalans eventually retired only a couple of conquistors were had been killed. Still, all of the horses were wounded, and so too were sixty men. After the battle, the Spaniards again. The next day Cortez went on another punitive expedition. He burnt ten towns, one of which was not Upon his return he was just in time for another attack by the Tushkalans, who fought with the Spaniards again, once again with inconclusive.

Now after this, uh the one uh a a delegation from the one thousand Mexicans who had followed We're not fighting. amused almost watching this. They offered gifts. informed him that under no circumstance should he ally with the Tosh Collins, that Montezuma was very pleased to hear of his great victories against such horrible people, and He was very happy that Courtney

Otomi had a fierce reputation as fighters, but the Spanish treated them as if they were nothing. And after the next several days had produced no clear victory against the Spaniards, a resolution of peace The Tlashkala delegation brought no gold or silver gifts. Food, incense, and slaves were all they got, along with a message of alliance against Montezuma's.

Cortez responded he was very angry about the dead horses, and so that's why he treated them so severely, but he was happy to pardon them. He then, shortly after, rode to the Dismounted from his horse and made a deep bow and embraced Zikoktenkatel, the leader of that city. Feasting and celebrations followed.

The date was September Even the dogs and horses received turkey and maize, and Cortez spent twenty days in Tloschkal, and with the important consequence of a lasting alliance being formed, The capital, the those rulers apologized that the blockade placed upon them meant that they had few gifts. Collins believed, uh, for their part that this would help them breed a warrior race to help them rule the future, I guess. Um at any rate. Later, Cortez seems to have

himself. He after several days decided they needed to be baptized, and uh the last couple of weeks he'd spent in Tlashkala, he talked a lot about Christianity. Well needless to say, But say that their people would lynch them if they just gave up their religion, tossed out the idols, uh, to be replaced by these very At any rate, Cortez seems to have been the only one, maybe who was suddenly worried, because most of the conquistadors found female companionship at Tlushkala, and most of

At any rate, Cortez was also sleeping with La Malenche during this time, so maybe his sudden morality was just him taking his own feelings of remorse for cheating. No that's what I would presume. He wanted to read. Perhaps due to this desire he did not take the path which Tesh Collins laid out for him, which would have taken him to Heksotsinko, and from there to Tenashtelan, instead he listened to Now earlier the Totonaks warned

But now the Cardillo had new bearers and warriors from Toscala. That made his force much larger, in addition, much less afraid. Specifically, the native Very effective at scattering indigenous forces, but alone the Spanish were too few to consolidate their gains. The Totonac army of 800 helped a lot. But now, Cortes Five and six thousand collins at his back as well. And that's a force enough that could occupy significant territory.

So combined, the Spaniards and the Tlashcollins represented a very powerful fighting force. So now armed with this Cortez marched to Cholula. But he also sent two men ahead to go look for the city of themselves Pedro de Alvarado and Bernard. At least they went with Meshika and Flaskalan guides. Cortez wanted to visit Cholula possibly also to secure the loyalty of that city just in case.

City between him and the coast if things went well here. The Tush Collins, of course, didn't care about that one way or another. Teatlon. They were actually suspicious of Alvarado and Tapia going to Tolola with Meshika guides, with some sort of secret message. According to Tapia, they even attempted to kill him. Alvarado were walking much too slowly for their liking, and at several points Alvarado and Tapia were grabbed and pulled by the Meshika guides to hurry them up.

Ultimately, the scouting party got closer to Looked at it from some distance. They met with the delegation from the capital, and they were told promptly. Said that they he got sent to Chalk to uh Chaluka. He went ahead to Chuluva. Excuse me. And anyway, they were promptly told a no. Outside of the city, that Montezuma was ill, would not see them, and so Cortez should absolutely return to the coast immediately. Now, Alvarado.

Um, but they didn't really have any news from the happenings of the city. They'd only seen the city from a distance. All they could really Was not exaggerated. At any rate, Cortez had gone ahead to Cholula. The Talash Kalans were unable to convince him to march straight to Tenachitita. Instead now.

streets because th they were gonna block the streets of Cholula once inside so the Spaniards could be captured more easily. They also were saying that the Cholulans were starting to s store stones on the ruins Above and they gave the Cortez some advice that if he were to meet the Meshica in battle, he'd better leave no The young, quote, lest they bear arms again, nor the old, lest they give good advice.

Not Tenochtitlan. The Tlash Collins were not completely unaware of the defensive capabilities. And um then after some time a one woman, uh one Tashkala woman, who was the mistress of Alvarado, told Alvarado uh that her brother

Military men was going to help the Cholulans attack the Spaniards. And when she told Alvarado, Alvarado, of course, told Cortez, and Cortez had Now the distance Hanging the rebellious noble, Cortes sent word to Cholula that he was ordering the lords of Cholula to present themselves before him, or else he would consider the city an over. Fairly remarkable threat. How could they possibly have?

At any rate, Cortez made his threat, and afterwards some senior lords from Cholula did present themselves. They readily That night Cortez camped in an open field on his way to Cholola. who brought food and said they were very worried, that Cortez had been listening to foul rumors. When they did finally all go into Cholula, food and lodgings were made available to the Spaniards, and at least some of the Flash Collins and Totonics. Cortes wrote that following A most injudicious

He also said that the food was wanting, though other conquistadors who wrote about this disagree, they said the food was adequate at first, but regardless. After a while, the Chololan that food was available at all. 180 to 200,000 inhabitants. Houses. And the skyline was dotted by four hundred and thirty pyramids, or as Cortez described it, quote unquote. Cholula was also the place where the largest and most powerful temple to Quetzalkualto was, the god in which many believed might be returning.

Now Alvarado and Velasquez de Tapia had one line. They also told Cortez that it would be pretty easy to do. Even though the Mexica dex legation was still with Cortez and told him that uh he definitely should not be going. Uh But at the moment he still had other matters at hand. Cortez and his band awoke on the third day. I would not give them food. That day, the Castilians received no food, just wood and water. And

find food. When Cortes realized that the Tololan leadership didn't intend on visiting him to explain the lack of food, he went off himself in search of the ruler. His name was Tacoya. Some of the fellow s his fellow Spaniards began to notice, meanwhile, too, that the Chololans were indeed

and were piling rocks on top of roofs just like the Tlashcollins had said they would. Cortez had trouble finding Tacoya. Instead he went When Cortez finally found Telqua there, uh when Tlaya finally went to the temple to meet with Cortez, he asked why everyone thought Well, just to make sure that he was telling the truth, Cortez promptly tortured the two priests, until they consolidated The priest said that the emperor could not decide what to do.

killed may or may not have been true. But you know the sound might be true. Montezuma probably still not had yet fully The tortured priests also confessed that twenty thousand warriors and that Hammocks so that they could be sacrificed. That sounds exceedingly difficult to accomplish, if you ask me, but remember the goal of warfare in Mexico America. And an exceedingly difficult to capture sacrifice is exactly

Destruction of the universe. Well, Cortes had a meeting with his captains and they debated on what to do. Some wanted to retreat to Tlashkala, others wanted to reroute to Hexotzinko, and attempt to pink up pick up more prospective allies. argued for a preemptive attack. The Tloshcollins agreed with that, and perhaps due

6,000 Tlash Kalan warriors alongside fewer than 1,000 Spaniards. This is the viewpoint that carries the day. In preparation for the battle, But Cortez assured them they would punish the city together, and to avoid city. Cortes then ordered the chiefs of Toulouse Say goodbye before he left. That courtyard being the north. At this request, over one hundred showed up, including Tilquaya. They were unarmed reportedly. The Spaniards then closed the door.

Accused them of attempting to kill the Spaniards when all they did was He told them that he knew the countryside was full of Meshica warriors, to which the Chololans admitted culpability, though they said that Montezuma ordered it. Then Cortes stated for these crimes they must die. What follows shows us that Cortes was not a great man. Great men do not plan and execute these acts of barbarism. An Arquebus was followed.

One hundred or so lords of the courtyard were all executed, but it didn't stop there. For the next two hours, Castillo engaging what I wanna call an orgy of death. Cortez states three thousand were killed. However, The Tlash Collins, as reported by Cortez without his permission, continued to sack the town, putting the thousand year old city to the torch, it burned for two days.

Many priests ended up throwing themselves off the summits of their temples to avoid death or capture at the hands of the Toshkalans. Only after two days. The treasure found in the city was considerable, and the theft of this city It was all completely justified in the minds of Cortez and his followers. After all, during the carnage did they not free Indian slaves, some of them children, from wood.

The gold they recovered was not the sole reason that the Spaniards executed civilians on a mass scale. No. No. The gold was proof of God's approval, don't you don't you understand? The massacre at Cholola was undisputedly one of the most controversial events of the conquest. It leaves a with other conquistadors that no matter how you feel about them, even if you can

And you know, I mean just Cortez was just a real son of a bitch, you know. His friend All agreed the reason Cortez ordered the massacre wasn't as punishment, but as an opportunity. This was the same sort of a tactic he probably learned from Nicolas de Evando during the massacre of Zaragua, and relearned again under the direction of Velasco,

How now? With that said though, we can't leave the Tlash Collins off the hook, I suppose. The reports of stones on roofs and barricades, that all came from Tlashcollins sources and may as they c said it was. Now obviously I don't know for certain, but probably there I think it's a good thing. intended to expel the army. Uh I don't think it's worth considering though that maybe the Tlash Collins seized on an excuse to settle old scores with Cholola, which had switched to lead.

fairly recent past. Ross Hassig goes further, says the massacre was purely a clash column policy. The Clash Columns were seeking That only happened a year before, by the way. Writing of the incidents at Cholola, Hasig says His argument is that Cortez justified the massacre by arguing that the Chololans were duplicitous, but the massacre was carried out on behalf in fact in reality.

And with their assistance. Maybe Hassan goes a little far here. Like much about the conquest, the details are a little foggy, though. At any rate, even if Cortez really did just plan on killing about a hundred enemy leaders and nobody else. Locking one hundred people in a room, hacking them to death, is still a really, really shitty thing to do. If you're the type of person who would hack

Sure, you're also the type of person who would hack up many more than one hundred people in a day. Hugh Thomas writes, quote, once the bloodshed had begun, something like blood Hundreds were killed. None of the conquistadors involved seems to have wanted much to speak about the matter afterwards. After the massacre, Cortes went to the Mexica ambassadors who were half dead with fear. They were spared from the massacre, but they were shaking in their sandals as it were, hiding in the side.

Cortez told them that the chiefs of Cholola told him that Montezuma was responsible for the treachery of the Chololans. He thus informed the employees. The ambassadors responded that this in no way could be the case. They would have known about any of the To which Cortez agreed. That messenger travelled as quickly as possible. And when he brought news of what had had happened, the emperor and the enemy

One additional thing was made clear, though too, to the people of Tenashtitla from this action. Cortez, now the sacquer of the Temple of Quetzalcomato, certainly could not then also be. own. Montezuma responded with more appeasement. It's hard to believe, but the Emperor rushed more gifts. Of gold, fifteen hundred cotton cloaks, food, and an apology for the alleged rebellion. He said that the local Meshica garrison must have had some sort of arrangement.

Chalola local lords, he certainly was not behind anything nefarious. Of course, though, Cortes could under no circumstances. He could not feed the Spaniards. Cortes replied that he must visit the city anyway. He then took the most difficult way possible from Chololo to Tenochtitlan, a mountain pass that reaches just under the room.

Cortez now, in fact. He thought it would be the least likely to be blocked by the Meshaka. He left on november first, fifteen nineteen, said goodbye to Mamexi de Totonagina. Cortez still had a very large fighting force. The conquistadors quote stirred up the dust, their iron lances, their iron halberds glistened. Iron swords moved in a wavy line as the as if they were a water course, and their dogs went ahead, panting, phoning. The Spaniards passed by more cities.

The next stop was at the small town of Mikro. On the way to the Raised Empire, then to Itzapalapa, that was on the edge of the lake facing Tenochtitlan. Finally, on November 8th, Cortez started along the main causeway. Four horsemen, in traditional European armour, were in front. Leon, then the standard bearer, then a contingent of infantry with draws and swords, a few more horsemen and cotton.

Then a contingent of crossbowmen in cotton armor, with plumed helmets, followed by the Cortez rode at the rear with the small group of horsemen and standard barriers, and presumably after that, his personal staff. Probably on wooden carts by now, the pleasure which the Tlashcollans felt as they marched into the capital of their empire, as if in triumph? Huh? Now Tenochtitlan was larger than any city which Cortez or anyone in his band had ever seen.

Some might have seen cities which were close in size, Constantinople and Naples, but most of them had only seen Seville, and in fact no cities were A few in China, and nobody in Spain had seen any of those either. Bernal Diaz recalled that quote, gazing on such wonderful sights, we did not know. Or whether what appeared before us was real. For on one side And in the causeway there were many bridges at intervals, and in front of us stood the great city of Memory.

And we did not even number four hundred soldiers. And we well remembered the words and warnings given to us by the people of Tlashkala, and the many other warnings that they had given us that we should beware of entering Mexico where they would kill us. Yeah. The Spaniards gawked at the city, and as they did so the emperor came and met Cortes. Montezuma appeared born on a litter, with a canopy of green feathers, gold and silver bro and gold and silver embroidery and jade.

carried by noblemen. Other nobles swept the ground in front of the litter. Another walked with a symbolic stick showing Montezuma's authority. The two men Cortes placed a necklace of pearls around Montezuma's neck, and the emperor gave one to Cortez. It was surely a spectacle. Bernal Diaz says who could be animals or in the streets to see us? At all? There's actually a bit of differentiation in the accounts about how the initial meeting went down, just so you know. The accounts specifically

Charles. I think it's unlikely that Cortez simply invented a speech that Montezuma gave, but I also think that uh it's likely to be a good idea. To be a vassal. Some of the conquistadors allege that no speech took place until a few days later. Hugh Thomas, for what it's worth, believes that the speech was. That's the same thing. of gold, uh and that Cortez uh probably seized on whatever polite words Montezuma used at this initial meeting in order to hold them to them later.

Regardless, the Spanish expedition spent the next several days in like a state in a semi-dream state. They were well fed with tortillas. The horses and dogs ain't well. Even their body. The demands caused by feeding the large force must have been considerable, but for a time they caused no resentment with the Meshika. The resentment

Now almost none of the Spaniards had ever experienced being treated to anything like this sort of luxury back in Spain. Um their amazement was even massive grid of narrow streets of Tinoch Titlan, barely wide enough for two people to walk, though these were occasionally dissected by another over the large courtyards and astonishing gardens were full of fruits and vegetables and flowering trees. This was a city more alive and greater than any Yet in some ways there were similarities.

The conquistadors feel a certain familiarity regarding gender bowls. Cortez and his men were among the first Europeans to taste chocolate, if not the first. The numerous of the city offered. To the Spaniards, Tenerstitlan seemed in other ways bizarre, in some ways familiar. They described it in ways that were familiar, though. Quote, another Venice, or perhaps a great Venice. One Spaniard even called it Venice the Rich. Europeans also remarked in how clean Tenochtilam was. Team.

far cleaner than the cities which the Spanish were used to, what with literal pyrnals of human and animal features. Still the hundreds of hum of giant pyramid temples stood as a constant reminder that while some parts of familiar were familiar This was all.

We know far less about what the Mexica thought of the Spaniards, though considering that Mesoamericans regularly bathed in water, the lake or from the numerous baths or steamhouses in the city, it's likely that one of the first and foremost reactions was that the Spaniards stank. I think it's actually dousing them with incense might actually be precisely because Mesoamericans were uh offended at the smell. Anyway, Montezuma had recently Cortez settled in, and in the dead. Four captains.

Sandoval. They were accompanied by five soldiers, amongst them Bernaldinas, which is why we know so much about this meeting. Leon. Cortez friends. Montezuma received the delegation courteously. It is this meeting. Confusion regarding the various accounts of the meeting that occurred two days before, uh, and probably because. Decades later about these events. beyond that, that the Mexica should end

The priests and victims alike were brothers of Christ. Montesoma listened attentively via the chain of interpreters, and in the words of Hugh Thomas How much do we want to?

What shades of Afterwards one of the emperor's nephews presented gold jewels and ten loads of fine cloth for Cortez and each of his captains, and Montezuma bidding The Spaniards continued exploring, and over the next few days So gigantic that the market to the city was technically once a separate city, Tlatalolko, which had literally grown together into

Now basically one city, and the size of the market astonished the Spaniards. They frequently commented on it. Cortes believed it was Others in the party who'd been to Rome and Constantin Constantinople said they'd seen nothing like it. Montezuma gave Cortez a tour of the great temple to which Zoo, which had no real comparison in Europe, by the way. There were a few wealthy princes there who kept a small

nothing like what existed on the scale of Montezuma. He had a great menagerie, filled with jaguars and various other beasts like alligators, exotic vegetation and birds, and the Spaniards One incident in particular seems telling. In the temple of Huitzilfauchle, the Spaniards got a good look at the idol. Blood on the walls, and Cortez asked Montezuma how he could possibly worship these horrible.

Montezuma stated that if he had known that Cortez would have said such dishonorable things, he would not have brought And what's remarkable about this to me is that Cortez apologized after this. It's uh I think a remarkable As the days went on, though, the Spaniards began to get over being so Austrian a bit, and they started getting really paradox. They were the Flash Collins also were complaining. They didn't really like being cooped up in the palace of their oppressor. Massive though it was

How could they ever carry all this loot back from the city? I mean, especially considering the Meshika were planning to kill them. Ordaz noticed how easily the Meshika could raise the drawbridges in the city to keep them in. They had no boats. They couldn't flee across the lake. Hadn't their allies warned them against coming to Tenashtiba?

Who knew what the Meshika really thought underneath this courtesy and offer of vassalage? That Lashcollins repeatedly warned, especially the interpreter, Geronimo de Agri. That the friendliness of the marriage Cortez was paranoid too, he began weighing his options. He considered striking against Montezuma. But then news came from the coast, which greatly Tlosh Collins informed Cortez that his captain, Juan de Escalante, in charge

had been killed. So too had six other Castillans and many Totonaks. The cause, the report stated, was that Montezuma's agent told me That they must either continue paying tribute or At war, and when they refused, saying Cortes had forbidden it. That agent, his name was Qual Papaca, threatened. And when he made good on those threats, Escalante The Totonaks retreated, afterwards the Spaniards were routed. One conquistad

his head, complete with black curly beard, was sent to Montezuma as a trophy. It's always important, folks, by the way, At any rate, Escalante returned in disorder. Cortez was angry, as of course you know he was, but Cortez is also the sort of man he was one of the most brilliant military men I have ever read about, maybe the most. Cortez used this incident as a pretext to do one of the most important

He went with his captains to see Montezuma soon after learning about the death of Escalante and Veracruz. He started talking with the emperors if nothing was wrong, and then suddenly He became very angry, changed the subject, and questioned Montezuma why should the emperor have sent his men against the Spanish garrison at Veracruz? Suspiciously, this is the same thing that what happened at Cholola. He then presented a letter to Montezuma, which he stated implicated the emperor.

Cortez presented Montezuma with a choice of the He said that Montezuma must accompany Cortez immediately, without any fuss or raising his guards to the old palace where the Castillans were staying, so that Cortez could properly forgive times or if Montezuma were to cry out or make any noises. Cortez explained that his friends were becoming very annoyed, and soon there would be nothing he could do to help Montezuma. But the alternative was equally horrifying to him.

An argument began which lasted I think for hours, maybe even. Cortez reports that he was completely wrapped up with everything in thirty minutes. But once Cortez made his demand, he began arguing with Montezuma One of those captains was Velazquez de Leon, a particularly large and fearsome looking man. He laughed. Either he would go with them, or he would be killed on the spot.

The Emperor asked La Malinche what the conquistador had She replied by advising him to go with the Spaniards without any trouble, that the Spaniards would honor him appropriately, and if he did not do it. Montezuma reportedly then offered two sons and two daughters as hostages to Cortez that he could never men of Tenertlon. Cortez replied there was no alternative. Besides, he would simply be carrying on the administration of the Empire from the old palace. No other

Ultimately, Montezuma went. Hugh Thomas says though that Montezuma went with Cortez not entirely out of fear. Surely fear is But perhaps there was another reason. Thomas really also, and he's the expert, believes that in part Montezuma was fascinated with Cortes and the Spaniards. Sure he was afraid. But perhaps the Emperor was fascinated with these military Believed that by going with them, he might still yet bring an alliance between

Or at least learn more about their weaponry. The emperor insisted on He'd spoken to Hitzda Lopochtli, he told everyone, and he told them that Hitzdalpochtli told him that it would be good for his family. However much he might try to disguise the fact, however, and whatever alternative motives The inescapable truth is that henceforth armed Castilians always attended his royal presence. It was an obvious marker that despite his words he

At least not entirely, and so the kidnapping took place. Montezuma went across town, born on a litter, carried by some noblemen, attended by servants. But this was one of the most brilliant coup d'espoirs. Cortes now had the keys to the empire, one of the greatest empires on planet Earth, in fact. He was being truthful when he told Montezuma that he would continue to govern the Aztec Empire. But now it was also true.

Years later, the famous critic of Spanish colonialism, Bartolome de las Casas, spoke with Cortez over dinner and questioned him by what law Cortez laughed off the question with a comment along the lines I can't remember exactly something along the lines of let your ears. Course there was no law.

Cortez, though, never doubted that what he was doing was righteous. He was a crusader for his church and his king, and in the long run, his kidnapping of Montezuma was just necessary for the Meshika to remain. If fabulously wealthy while doing so, well then that was just further. At any rate, Montezuma quickly became accustomed to being imprisoned. He developed what we might It's been a lot.

In particular he developed a better friendship with a young boy Ortaguilla, who was a page of Cortez, and who had quickly learned some Nahuatl. Orta Montezuma would question the boy about the culture and society of the Spanish people, and in turn Ortaguilla would pass back information to Cortes about the nature of the Mexican regime. Sometimes it's actually hard for me to believe how like

during this captivity. This was reportedly a man who was once a general in his youth. The general of an army. It's most of the nobility, though, in Tenoshitlan were not fooled by the insistence of their emperor he was not a prisoner. And they were likewise not very amused Many started refusing to see the emperor, in fact, after he moved to the old palace, being borrowed by the Spaniards. Now the citizenry continued to provide food and wand

But increasingly they began to ignore new orders that Montezuma gave. But this also was. Because Montezuma, the emperor ruled as a despot. He was the quote heart of the city, a quetzelfather, a great silk. a wall, a barricade. These were all ways that he was described. From his greatness the people of the city took refuge. The emperor's words Metaphorized, in works of art, literally as precious jades as literal gemstones that would fall from the mountain.

Montezuma Montezuma didn't just govern his people, besides, he was literally to them necessary. Survival of the universe, only the Emperor's devotion to the Mesheka calendar and the required sacrifices to which the Lapochli kept the entire world safe. But now, Montezuma was in the hands of an evil group of visitors. Shortly after the captivity of Montezuma began, Cortes had the emperor order Qualpopoca, the official responsible for the death of Escalante, to be delivered to the king.

Along with his sons and fifteen other Mexica leaders, for the crime of having fought against the Spaniards. The Spaniards questioned Qual Popoca, who at first Under torture, though, he stated the emperor ordered him to attack the Spaniards. Cortez told Montezuma what Cualpopoca confessed and And then five. Despite this treachery, Cortez was now so fond of Montezuma, he would never. Popoca, his sons, and the other fifteen Mexica nobles

on the other hand, were board ordered burned to death. That was Before the Great Pyramid of the Sun, the fire was made using a pile of arrows and sword holders, which had been taken from a Meshika armory in the palace in order to purpose. Montezuma wished the execution while in irons. Now the Meshika who witnessed the burning did so Burning people alive was common.

them up to a pole, they scream in agony until they suffocate in com just complete misery. But to the Meshica, this is the same sort of horror that human sacrifice was to the Spaniards. Even still, Montezuma continued to rule in some ways for weeks.

Cortez even freed the emperor from his shackles after some time, but by then the emperor dared not flee. It is possible he had grown accustomed to But I think it's more likely that after the burning of Qualpapoca, the Emperor's reputation was in such shambles, he feared the first time. The city even seemed to return to normal, or some Montezuma's life is not

his diminished power and reputation aside, jugglers and jesters amused him. The Emperor watched and played the famous Aztec ball game. He often played it The game was so popular and was bet on so frequently in fact that the best way I think I could describe it the popular really not the game itself but the popularity is literally how the NF completely intertwined with the sport and it's played on both professional levels and people play kids play backyard football

Kids, and Montezuma was uh a great sport about it, too. Anyway, he would always be cheerfully paying people. He almost always gave away his winnings when he won, often in the form of uh jewels and girls, n sometimes to children, sometimes not the girls probably, the the Castilian guards. Um he also continued.

Of sacrifices, which Cortes pretended not to notice. Meanwhile, the Spaniards enjoyed the city's many delights. Some probably experimented with the very Cortez continued to deal with the matters of command as well, like replacing the Veracruz, who after Escalante was killed, was being run by one Alonzo de Grado. De uh Grado loves being in charge. He loved being in charge of Veracruz. He loved it so much.

Like a lord, gambling, eating well, and constantly demanding jewels and women from the Totonacs. Cortez replaced him, uh with Gonzalo de Sandoval, and in fact Sandoval's first order. That he was gonna return Grotto to Tin. Drotto was put in the stocks for two days as punishment for his poor governorship, and Cortez's suspicions that someone like that might try to deal with Velazquez should the Cuban governor ever attempt to

But Cortez also began to plan the construction of ships, which would, quote, be capable, whenever we might wish it, of taking three hundred men and the horses to the mainland, unquote. He put one of his conquistadors a certain Martin Lopez in command of the construction of the ships. Now Lopez had actually never built ships before, but some of his servants, who go unnamed to us, did understand how to build ships. And so Martin Lopez basically supervised it.

Such are the limitations of history. Lopez began the construction of four brigantines for a commission that was supposed to be two thousand pesos, though I'm doesn't seem like he ever got paid. Native carpenters, also a Boats. These were provided after Montezuma was told that the Spanish were building boats for pleasure. Each one could carry four.

The Emperor was aboard, in fact, the first uh trial run of the sailing, which was a great success, and afterwards the brigantines constantly clued cruised. This allowed the Spaniards to gain more and more information. Character, its vegetation, depths, and where the good harbors were to be found. And just as Cortez was learning more about the lake, he was Gold. He got that information easily too.

Well, the Aztecs didn't really care as much about gold as the Spanish did, and so Montezuma told him exactly what provinces produced the gold. If in contrast, though, for example, Cortes had instead Where did he get materials for paper? Or where did the jade come from? Where did the quetzel feathers come from? He might not have gotten very good answers, but as things Told exactly where the gold was, and then Cortez sent men to those places, uh especially to Oaxaca to meet the Mixtech people.

The state of Oaxaca, and who were the best metalsmiths in Mesoamerica, as well as several other regions where the Empire had the most gold, and these guys brought Cortez also plotted with Montezuma. Um the two often talked about how they would use all this gold to finance the conquest of China. Cortez himself would lead the armies of the Aztecs into Asia. And when they were both successful, both he and Montezuma would become very, very wealthy, and even more powerful.

envisioned things, and presumably talking about this made both men very, very happy while they waited upon the arrival of the treasure. Now, after it did arrive, the expedition The gold gained from the presence and seizures combined was estimated at one hundred sixty three. thousand pesos. Additionally, not counted amongst that Luth was seventy five. Jewelry. Cortez took his fifth 25,600 pesos of the remainder, leaving one. Of gold. Cortes then reimbursed himself for his expenses.

Cortez's agents in Spain, and to the seventy men at Veracruz. Ordinary soldiers were offered one hundred pesos, senior captains five hundred. Most looked as Cortez apparently managed to smooth some of them with secret payments, and in fact who knows how much loot Cortez really had to split up before the Well, to give you an idea of what might have been, Cortez's enemies, though, stated at least seven hundred thousand. The truth, of course, is probably somewhere in between.

For example, in comparison, Ponce de Leon reported twenty two thousand pesos of gold after conquering Puerto Rico. At any rate, Cortez is not the only person accused of theft. Alvarado was charged with seizing 30,000 pesos. Paid no royal fifth. They drew swords and fought over this gold at this instance. Both were wounded. plates apparently. Ultimate Cortes ultimately Cortes jailed both of them for a while until they cooled down. The citizens of Tenochtilan were Time

Well, this started to really get old. And it seems the city, generally speaking, was far less entrenched. Than Montezuma was. And um ultimately the Empire started. Miller. Either with or without Montezuma, if he was involved, the Spanish did not detect it. Early in the year of fifteen twenty, messengers of the government reached tributary governments of the Mesica. They began to take

Spell the intruders. Perhaps Montezuma was communicating privately with some important Tenochtitlan counselors, most of whom had been imprisoned, but those who were And Cortez was oblivious to this growing Mexica army, which may His help, like I said. But on April of 1520, he received news that Veracru from Veracruz, and that tore his. Together. Ships were seen off the coast near Via Rica de la Veracruz.

Surely, reinforcements had arrived, but Cortez was not so cheerful. He feared, rightfully so it turns out, that These ships were controlled by Diego Velazquez, the governor of Cuba, who s hadn't had any news at all.

Until he heard of the establishment of Veracruz, a new colonial venture which Cortes explicitly Well I imagine he was pretty much royally pissed off when he found out about that, or in the words of William Prescott quote, it would not be easy to paint the mingled emotions of curiosity, astonishment. Upon reading the news of the goings on in Mexico, and at any rate, the ships comprised Sent by Velasquez, who could not lead the fleet himself or did not want to because of an epidemic.

In fifteen nineteen, smallpox crossed the Atlantic to Hispaniola and there basically any In November, the epidemic reached Cuba, and according to Velasquez's own account, he felt duty to stay, to remain in Cuba. Narvaez' orders were to hang Cortes as a rebel, similarly as Pedrarius earlier treated Balboa. Narvaez commanded to help accomplish this deed nine hundred men, and he was no sooner. Now, Pamphilo de Nervaeas was about forty two years old.

He was tall, strong limbed, and according to Bernard Diaz, had a very large head, with a red beard and an agreeable presence, with a voice A voice and conversation very deep and hoarse, as if it came from a vault. Cortez wrote.

far from the truth for almost everyone on the fleet, a few consequences The reality was that the smallpox outbreak led many Spaniards on Cuba to realize that the encomiendas there were The native population was dwindling away, and while at the moment Padrarius' slave ships brought captives from Panama, well how long ago? Cortez's charges of a conscripted force aside, Narvaez instead brought with him an experienced Quote Of an experience as long as their reputation was due to me.

which is to say that unlike Cortez These men were f that these more and more forced into battle and thus poor soldiers. Look better by having incompetent soldiers around him. Well, they weren't necessarily very loyal to anything other than their own fortunes, but they were. Now Nervais' group amongst them, for example, was Juan Bono de Cuejo.

He'd already been on several expeditions, such as that of Pons de Lyon with the discovery of Florida in fifteen thirteen. He'd served the He also testified against Diego Columbus that year, so he was a favorite. After that, uh Cuho was involved with trading Indian slaves and Wealthy Trinidad in 1516. There, Cuejo and his men reportedly engaged in such terrible acts that he literally.

He was one of Cortez's friends, but he was also Governor of Alaska's secretary. Hugh Thomas tells us that conditions in Cuba must have been bad indeed. If so. Now, like Cortez's expedition, a third of the 900 came from Andalusia, 20% from Old Castile, and 8% from Extremadura. Many even abandoned provinces. Most, uh, especially those with families, probably For conquistadors with children especially. The conquistadors themselves, however, like most adults from Spain, had immunity.

None of them, though, understood they were potential vectors, sick or not, so of course none of them considered they might be bringing the disease along with them, as they themselves escaped the island. Now Diego Velazquez apparently seized a ship. paying for it in order to feed his fleet, resorting to the same sort of tactics that Cortez had gone to when he engaged to leave quickly. Large number of Cuban Taino slaves, though I don't know how many, before sending them off.

Nervaez led his fleet along the same path on the coast that had earlier been used by Cordoba, Grihal, That's how he found himself at the mouth of the Grihalva River on Easter Sunday, april seventh, fifteen twenty. The few natives he could find were hostile and ready for war. Narvaez was pleased to discover this because it was the result of the bad treatment.

Allies mainly at Veracruz. The expedition continued onwards, spreading disease as they went, and the native population of Yucatan was soon decimated as a result of the arrival of small One grasped what was happening exactly, and the significance of significance of this would only really become apparent much later. Nervaez swore to the locals he would be kinder than Cortés, and then sailed on. He then promptly encountered a storm.

Fleet and drowned 40 of his men, causing quite a bit of disarray before everyone managed to reconquer. There, Narvaez received an unexpected visitor. A certain Francisco Cervantes, a ship's carpenter who'd been along with Cortez, was able to vividly describe Tenarchina's. Apparently Cerantes had been the

which Cortez had sent to the gold producing regions of the Aztec Empire, and once Cerantes got there he decided to stay. A decision which absolutely infuriated And Cortez des made it a point to go to the coast when he heard a To greet them, and to tell everything that he knew, and also all about how much he didn't like Cortez. He also stated, though, that he believed that Cortez could probably raise an army of fifty thousand.

So Nervaeus was kind to the Totonacs, but Nervaeus's Via the town cler, which essentially was that Cortez and his men were bad men and robbers who came only to take prisoners. going to go to Tuneshtl- to Tutan, he was going to release Montezuma, and he was going to bring Cortes back in chains. This was The subjected Totonak people, of course, who were very happy.

And in fact it wasn't even all that popular amongst the conquistadors. Narvaeas' treasure even insisted that it was scandalous to speak of Cortez in such a way. The land was so peaceful. Beyond that, another man in the party, a judge in Cuba, Velazquez de Allion, had Storm before Narvaeas. He had been there several days early and apparently began thinking as a result of that, and maybe because he was a judge, that you know, maybe he should be in the world.

And as time passed and the expedition stayed on the coast, Allion began started having a lot of good things. Nervaeas had some of his agents agents arrest Alion and place him on a ship. Two of his troops Speaking well of Cortez, as well for good measure. Then defected DeCortes. They were going to the nearby town of Villarica de la Veracruz. Well, technically one didn't make it.

killed him, and that became more fodder for Narvaez. He accused Cortes of allowing the Meshica to realize that the Spanish weren't too late. At any rate, the Mexica were keeping an eye on the coast in case more ships did show up, and as a result of this, Montezuma was aware of Nervaz's arrival in the form of drawers.

He then sent runners directly to Nervaez, and he kept communicating with Nervaez in secret, which is exactly And is exactly how Norvais had known enough to had made his speech about going to Tenochtitlan to free the emperor. Narvaia stated that unlike Cortez, he did not want gold. He simply wanted to

and he was not gonna kill anyone. He was simply gonna colonize the land on the coast, and henceforth he should call himself Montezuma, and that Montezuma And if that sounds a little bit weird at the end, that's because Nervaez was familiar with customs in Hispaniola, wherein two leaders, traditionally in the Taino culture, would explain. Well Montezuma did not change his name. But he did send food and a golden medallion back to the coast, along with the message that Nervaez was welcomed.

Only then Montezuma finally let Cortez in on what he knew. He showed him the And this really alarmed Cortez, because at this point his And so the realization that a much larger fleet was off the coast was uh very Montezuma cheerfully added that Cortez should leave, because well now that there were ships here, you could take all your folks back to go to Castile together, can't you? Well Cortez wasn't

This was here from Mech from to capture him in Mexico, and both sides, uh Narvaez and Cortez, continued consolidating power. Now the Totonic Even the fat chief, as Cortes learned, was more interested in siding with the armed Castilians nearby than Cortes, who was all the way into Nestilan. However, Cortez was

Acruz. He got them to pledge their loyalty as the governor two days before agents of Norvaez arrived in the town and suggested that they Narvaez appointed himself Captain General of Yucatan shortly after that, when Cortes found out he wrote a letter. Hey, what gives? These lands are already co colonized, man. Narvaeus did not reply to that. He held the position of superiority. He felt no need to Cardillo held a conference.

I asked, What Signor does it seem to you we should do? Cortez's answer was death to him, and to anyone who argues about the matter, unquote. Cortez did not know that Montezuma was in direct contact with Nervaez, and so he warmly He said he had to deal with the bad Spaniards on the coast so that they did not mistreat them.

Montezuma then offered an army of one hundred thousand warriors and thirty thousand more to carry equipment. Cortez replied that Marina insisted to Cortez that Montezuma's sadness was pretended. Cortez did not learn about Montezuma and Nervaya's relationship, though, not until he was on the way to the coast, and that made him pretty upset. He took the precaution.

arrived, of distributing gold amongst his men that he took before he you know, before they got into any battle. It was an obvious play at securing their loyalty shortly before he He also hinted at lavish rewards. He sent also a message and read the basically informing him that he was to surrender immediately for the Requiem And civil war in Spanish law, and that messenger was promptly arrested and lucky for him.

Received. Cortez arrived at the coast, but he did not immediately attack, and in fact, doing so would have been pretty imprudent, uh considering his force was a lot smaller. So instead he spent several days scouting and spawning. dressing and painting men as Indians, they entered and stole two horses. He sent another man in with jewels to seduce basically as many of Nervius' men into disloyalty as possible. The battle finally ended.

Cortez knew Narvaez would expect him at dawn, and in fact Narvious And Indian allies, it seems that his overconfidence became his undoing. The Totonacs warned him on May twenty-eighth that Cortez and his camp had moved to within three miles. They stated they knew the captain that he would attack at night. The warnings of the Totonaks were not believed.

And in fact, Juan Bono de Cuejo even laughed at the suggestion. He scoffed, Do you take Cortesillo to be so brave that with the three Because this fat chief says so Cortesio meaning little Cortez. Extra. Extra insulting. The surprise night. Nervaeas was sleeping. He only awoke late in the battle when a sentry ran into the So Narvaez was still dressing himself for the attack, calling to arms when his men also heard Cortes and his men shouting Viva El Rey Spirito Sangu.

Many of Cortez's men had snuck up the steps of the pyramid with him. His horsemen were patrolling the foot of the pyramid to keep any potential reinforcements busy, and by the time Narvaez and his men had been All they were all they were able to do. Something in the darkness that was confused by It ended quickly when Nervaeus shouted, Holy Mary, protect me, for they have killed me and destroyed my

Norvias surrendered, his temple headquarters burning around him, his eye gushing blood, and shortly thereafter he demanded to see a surgeon. The victory was Maybe or excuse me, thousands of pesos, maybe tens of thousands of pesos worth of gold and jewels bribing Narvaez's men. In particular the Arquabusiers of Narvese. Who knows how much that cost? The cannon seems to have been mysteriously plugged by bees.

wearing an eye patch. And in fact Nervaeas will come back into our story again, I think, next episode, as well as part of um he is one of part of one of the most bizarre As for Cortes, in victory he immediately worked on force. He didn't necessarily work very hard at it, because most of those conquistadors were actually more than happy to switch sides, like, oh, why I can get more gold if I go with you. Excellent. Well, except for for

captured by a Meshica army from the city of Texcoco, and they were later sacrificed. And this seems to have shocked Cortez, and even if you'd thinking hm, maybe did he or As loyalists? Well, give you this, Cortez definitely is the type to do that, but some of his own loyalists were with that group, and they As well, so I don't think that's true. As Cortez pondered why the Mexica in Texcoco would dare attack his men, messengers from Ten

In Tenochtitlan, another massacre had taken place. Not too dissimilar. Cortez was hearing conflicting reports about who was responsible, but whatever happened one thing was clear. His men in Tenochtitlan were now understood. When Cortez had left Tenarchitlani placed Pedro de Cortez mentioned nothing of any power struggle, and in fact he was purposefully misfortune.

Zuma and the Mexica, who he was riding off to face on the coast. Not that Cortez knew much about that either, of course, but he had a pretty good idea, and regardless he formed everyone it was the Bosques.

Evil Bosques. Well, that seems to just have been a Cortez way of basically simplifying any discussion about who he was riding off to face, but to be honest I can't see could have done possibly anything to lessen the mysteria and curiosity of the average citizen of Tenochtitlan after he left, because once he left, rumors

and not to mention, of course, nobody in Mexico knew who the hell the Posts were, so they were very mysterious. An energy of excitement coursed through the city. And as the city approached uh one Calendar, too, the feast of Tuxcato. Cortés himself had given permission for the Mexica to celebrate before he left. In earlier Feast of Texcoatl was one more plea for rain, a sodius with the god Tez.

Like all the holy days, though, of the h of the calendar, the Meshika attached their own beliefs to the holiday. And so wherein in the past prayers to the god Tezcat Lapoka. In Tenushtlan the Meshika celebrated, instead by dressing up a young man like the god and then sacrificing him to Whitzidlopochtli. So we know that Montezuma asked for and received permission to hold the festival from Cortez, and we know also

And received permission again to hold the festival from Alvarado as the time drew nearer. What happens now? Especially considering Cortez already ordered. I guess the unanswered question here is did the Caudillo authorize what Alvarez Did the Collins go the Spanish into attack? I mean, there's just a couple of unknowns about what happened. Hugh Thomas.

Quote had bitter memories of previous festivals, fiestas of Tuxquatil, when the Meshika had sacrificed many of their people, unquote. So they probably started telling stories to the Trouble was going to brew for them during this upcoming festival, and at the same time, the Mexica did stop feeding the Castilians too. Now it's likely that feeding eventually exhausted the food reserves of even Tenochtitl.

Uh and but when one of the young girls who did the Castillian's laundry and cleaning argued against this food stoppage, she said that even conquistadors had to eat. Well, the next morning she was Something done to frighten off any other Mexica from serving the Castilians. Now food was still available. It's just the Spaniards had to go to the market and buy it for themselves. daily in the market. According to Alvarado, one morning though, he went out to the Great Square, a few

Place, and someone, presumably Atosh Khan, pointed out some stakes in the ground and told him that the Meshika intended to sacrifice the Castillians after tying em up to those stakes. You know, that big one over there, that's for you as well. At any rate, another conquistador testified he saw many pots, pans, and axes being prepared, and that the Indians told him they were getting ready to cook and eat the Spaniards with garlic.

Well, apparently Alvarado decided he needed to inspect things further. He certainly didn't like the fact that there were effigies to Histalopochtli, Tlaloc, and Tez Katlapoca, which had recently And were being carried around on leaders. Huitza Laposhli carried four arrows.

The other was a paper banner dripped in blood. Reminding everyone that Fitzilopochli was a war god and to Alvarado specifically seemed Suspicious that the Spaniards were, however, the show must go on, as they say, the religious festival began with a procession of people entering the country.

Starting with those who'd fasted, many Meshika girls fasted for twenty days before this festival, and so too did especially penitent men. They had fasted for an entire year. Next to enter the square where the castle

They entered in their uniforms dressed and painted. Along came sacrificial victims, likewise prepared in uniforms Now officially there was a Spanish edict forbidding human sacrifice, and under that edict, Alferado took likely war captives and not Meshika, and who instead of being sacrificed, um were sort of had something uh kind this is kind of Beyond that, Alvarado immediately had them take care of

Burning evergreen logs on their stomachs, in order in an effort to force them to tell him what was being planned, one of the three refused confession. The Spaniards gave up only after hours.

I'm sure he wish he had a just had his fucking heart cut off and be done with cart cut out and be done with it and that's just what happened I guess. And this, mind you, just to be clear, this is the Spanish Now the other two confessions are very difficult to take seriously, because basically Avarado had the Do they say that they are going to make war in Yes, sir, being the inevitable reply. Just take the fucking burn off my stom burning log off my stomach already. Regardless

The emperor merely stated Since he was imprisoned he couldn't do anything. The Tlashcollins, meanwhile, continued to work. One Flash Column warrior reportedly told him he saw the Meshika preparing ladders that were suspicious in that they were exactly the same size. They're not. Another told him that he was pretty sure I could hear something I it sounds like the Meshika are boring holes in the rear walls of the palace to me. Well, by that

Exact state of mind was. And Alvarado was no Cortez. He wasn't subtle. He wasn't the sort of person. allies. He was perfectly capable of enacting plans and being brutal and effective in combat. He just wasn't the strategist that Cortez was. And

I tensions were high for him, but pr tensions were also probably high for the Meshika. The persistent humiliation they undoubtedly had received uh meant that tensions were high on probably both sides, so it wouldn't be surprising at all if there was And the Meshika maybe worse.

On the other hand, there just isn't any testimony of the conquistadors who were there, um, other than the t excuse me, there is no evidence other than the testimony It seems likely that the Tlosh Collins noticed that Alvarado was getting Another conquistador, Francisco Alvarez Chico, one of Cortez's closest friends, mind you, also reportedly insisted to Alvarado, however, that the Spaniards simply must attack first. And that's the sort of thing though that makes you go hmm.

Well, maybe Cortez did know what was going to happen. I mean, probably not. But maybe. I mean, but probably not. But maybe. The first days of the Fiesta took place without further incident. Until may sixteenth, fifteen twenty, the sacred dancing with the associated with the festival then began and the Dancers slowly filled the square, flutes and drums playing as the event started. It was an incredible thing.

and they began to dance, one song after another, rising in waves, according to Sahagoon's informants. Probably about four hundred people were dancing. Now the Spaniards thought some dances in the Mexica were quote better than the Zambra of the Moors, unquote, which was the best dance in Spain. But others Such was this Which featured, quote, so many wriggles and glances and indecent coquetry, unquote. That to one Spanish observer it seemed at least a dance for want.

During the ritual ecstasy of the dance, the Castillo fully in their armor, with swords and shields. The Meshika, of course, did nothing but keep dancing, and what were they going to do? At the moment, they were participating in one of these So even if they were armed for battle, it seems unlikely It's a not entirely uncommon sight in Tenochtitlan. The Spaniards moved.

ten Spaniards posted at each entrance. Alvarado and the others of his men mixed in with the crowd. He divided his men so that the sixty so that sixty Only one Spaniard lazy. was evil, that it was and that was Velasquez Daetapia, though no other witnesses, for what it's worth, reported on this who reported on this incident anyway, recall him speaking his mind. Wan DS. Muiran Spanish for let them die. He and his men then fell on the dancers. They began with the young military captain.

Next, Castillian swords turned on the priest The informants of Sahagun reported. They went among the drums. They struck off the arms of the one who beat the drums, and afterwards his neck and his head flew off, falling far away. They pierced them off And they struck each.

Some they slashed open the back, and there their entrails fell out. Of some they split the head, they hacked their heads to pieces. Their heads were And of some they hit the shoulder, they struck it in the shank, on the thigh, of some they struck the belly, and then the entrails streamed. So the conquistadors busied themselves in that butchery of human flesh, in a not so dissimilar way that the Mesha Caprice did to be funest. Only the

One uh excuse me, once most of the dancers were dead, Alvarado turned his attention on the spectators. None of the Meshica were armed, and they were taken completely by surprise. Only a few and a f lucky few more feigned death and thus escaped by lying among Most, however, died in terror. The blood of the chieftains ran like water. It spread out slippery and a foul odor.

One of the priests tried to rally. Meshikans, are we not going to war? Have confidence, he reportedly cried out, grabbed some pine sticks. Those makeshift wooden clubs made little headway against the armored Spanish. The counterattack One conquistador was buying food at the market when the slaughter began, and when he returned, he found a stream of wounded Indians.

He asked Alvarado how they would get food now. Alvarado replied, The devil take the food. We have taken action. As the Indians did not take the first step, we have done the thing. He then continued to explain and the situation to the newly arrived Spaniard by stating that two or three thousand Indians were dead, and that he who became the

Soon after the slaughter the drums of war were played. Atop the Great Pyramid, all the leaders of the various Kalputin of the city summoned The male citizenry was O Meshika, O chieftains, hasten here, let us prepare our weapons, shields. Hasten here. Already many chieftains have died. They have been shattered, destroyed, put to death. O Meshica, O chieftains.

Castilians afterwards retreated to their quarters. They found that the conquistadors guarding Montezuma had accomplished their task. Many of the lords And when Alvarado returned, he angrily stormed before the emperor. He was covered in blood from the wound of the stone which hid his head. See what your people have done to me. Montezuma replied, calmly, Alvarado, If you had not begun it, my men I would not have done this. You have ruined yourself, and me also.

Now I want to point out specifically what I just described is the conquistadors version of events. They come out looking really bad, even if we believe the claims of the Meshika plot. Several indigenous codes. This is how Sahagun describe what his formants told him.

Show us how brave you are. Dance with all your hearts. At this moment in the fiesta, when the dance was loveliest and when song was linked to song, the Spaniards were urged seized by They all They closed the entrances and passageways, all the gates of the patio, the Eagle Gate and the Lesser Palace, the gate of the Cain.

They posted guards so that no one could escape and then rushed into the sacred patio to slaughter the celebrants. They came on foot, carrying their swords and their wooden or metal shields, they ran Forcing their way to the place of the Cut off his arms, and they cut off his head, and it rolled across the floor. All the celebrants, stabbing them, spearing them, striking them with their swords. They attacked some of them from behind, and these fell instantly.

With their entrails hanging out, others they beheaded. They cut off their heads or split their heads into pieces. They struck others in the shoulders on their Spilled to the ground, some attempted to run away. But their intestines dragged as they ran. Some seemed to tangle their feet in their own trails, no matter how much. Some attempted to force their way out, but the Spaniards murdered them at the gates. Others climbed the walls.

Those who ran in the communal houses were safe for a while, so were those who lay down among the victims. They stood up again. The Spaniards saw them and killed them. The blood of the warriors The pools widened, and the stench of blood and entrails filled the air. The Spaniards were They ran everywhere and searched everywhere. They invaded every room, hunting and killing. In response to the massacre,

They began setting fire to the door, but the Tlash Collins proved capable of holding the entrances to the palace. The native allies wet their own cloaks and set them on the flames to prevent the They did succeed in burning the four brigantines, however, which meant that Alvarez Ultimately, Alvarado stuck his dagger against Montezuma's chest and ordered him. He did that along with another.

A man named Itzquitzin. They did their best to stop the combat and largely succeeded, though not entirely. Sporadically groups continued to be But this was a crucial mistake on the part of the Meshica. Or if you prefer a critical failure by Montezuma, however you want to call it. Tenochtitlon would have been destroyed. Instead, as outraged as some of the Meshika were, they had trouble getting organisms.

Part of Montezuma's argument apparently was that because so many warriors had been killed by Alvarado and the Spanish inside, well it just simply made sense for everyone to stop fighting, right? That made the citizens of Tinochtilon so furious, that while they mainly obeyed, something akin to a modern constitutional crisis immediately. And ultimately, in fact, Montezuma.

Because when the Meshica realized that soon after uh they stopped assaulting the palace, that they would have destroyed the Spaniards in the city had they not stopped fighting the entire city. He was unfit to rule. In response to the that because his warriors are dead that people should stop fighting against Alvarado, scoffed. He replied, What saith Montezuma, O fool? Am I not one of his warriors?

Eight days of mourning followed this battle. The Meshik had been grievously wounded by the Spaniards' attack, but they were not at all interested in giving up their culture. Eight days of mourning followed. Careful attention was paid to the religious duties of the city, as far as sending the dead into the afterlife like all But unlike any other battle previously fought by Meshika armies. This one.

During this time Alvarado and his men were trapped. There was no more going to the market to procure food, and any time the Only Juan Alvarez, the man who had been getting the food, was able to seek But several bridges in the city were had been pulled up, and the streets were crowded. Other than getting food secretly at night, the Spaniards were At nights the city howled, the flower of the city.

Thousands of young men who had all gone through the best Kalmacax, who were raised to be proud of their land, their government and their people's achievements, men who had been raised to read. was a huge Cortes and his force and arrived before. helps explain, in part, the quiet of the city that they faced, but in addition, a boy

By whom exactly is unclear, but it wasn't Montezuma. And so most of the Meshika simply hid from the Spaniards. They would not speak to Cortez or his men, and merely looked at the Montezuma, in fact, was the only friendly Mexica left for the Spaniards. He'd offered up another.

fleet. And as for Alvarado and his men, they were nearly starved to death, so they were fucking delighted to see Cortez. And it might stun you to learn, though. Cortez did not punish Alvarado apparently suggested that Cortez pretend to be Excuse me. Frankly, like I said, it isn't clear if Cortez even really understood who was responsible. Perhaps he believed Montezuma and Narvaez had hatched some sort of plot, or alternatively, perhaps Cortez had

The attack himself. But however, Alvarado did get into motion after this, and afterwards the more reliable, industrious, and less flamboyant Sandoval replaced Alvarado. who would he would not speak to unless, quote, that dog of a Montezuma gave him twenty thousand Cortez needed Montezuma alive, but it was also his to his benefit to isolate and terrorise. Cortez's great hope was to keep the

Empire together. He needed it he he wanted to hand it as a gift to his Emperor, Charles the Fifth, and so it was to the Cadillos He keep Montezuma alive, but also very much dependent upon him. And if Montezuma was afraid, well he was gonna stay dependent. But when Cortes finally offered did went to see Montesuma and told him he needed to open up the markets, the now much reduced empi emperor told Cortes that was

Closed markets uh meant that Cortez couldn't show the hundreds of men who'd arrived with Narvaez about how wealthy they could all become. Cortez had to compromise, and now it was his turn. He told Montezuma to choose one of his books. Montezuma selected his brother, Quitlahuac, Lord of Itz Itzapalapa, to be freed and then accomplished this task of reopening the market. Quitlawak had under to Montezuma from the beginning, that he should attack the Spaniards long

and the instant he was free he began to organize significant resistance. And he was also prominently It's not clear if Montezuma understood that this would be the result when he selected his brother, but regardless, later that same day that quit the body. June fifteen twenty fifth, fifteen twenty, the Mexican made several

At which point Cortes realized perhaps I have made a mistake. Cortez sent out three hundred men, parading about with the Spanish flag in an attempt to correct this error and to calm. Four or five Spaniards were killed, and their commander, Diego de Ordaz, was wounded, along with eighty. Battles like this continued for several days, as the Castillian Took whatever positions they had lost. Now additionally alarming to Cortez was that the Mexica were now fighting in altogether new ways.

First landed in Mexico. One big difference was that the Mexica leaders no longer wore tunics. in this evolving new urban war, it was now much more difficult Cortez decided he needed to punch. On june twenty sixth, the Cadillo ordered the construction of three mantelets, a basically a sixteenth century tank made out of wood that could house which would be carrying crossbows, as well as It was basically a type of siege engine used in Europe previous.

It was proposed that the Mantalets could move through the city by being carried around by Tuxcollins, while the Spaniards inside could shoot through the loopholes or toss fire out onto the roof. And as the war machines were being constructed, twelve Meshika lords, dressed in feathers and finery, uh approached When Cortez saw them, he asked Montezuma to go with Marina to see who the men were, since one of them was being treated with especial reverence.

The emperor looked and stated it appeared to him that quickly. But Montezuma said he didn't want to go talk to the Aztecs like Cortez asked. He mum bemoaned instead. What more? I neither wish to live nor listen to him. For to such a pass And uh co Cortez would be called Malign. Still, after enough convincing, apparently, Montezuma did go to the roof to speak, and what happens next is dispute.

Cortez says that Montezuma looked down at the Mesheka from the roof, and then a hail of stones issued forth from the Meshica, and though two Castillians attempted to One stone stuck him right through the According to some of the conquistadors, a moment of silence. Visible. And as he began to speak, he mentioned that it was his will to live with the Spaniards and that there was no reason for war since the Castilians had promised to leave him.

Of those sources report that one noble in particular called back in response to Montezuma's words What is it we say? Horror of the Spaniards. Does he think that he can call to us with his wounded? We did not want to obey him, because he is already no longer our monarch, and indeed, we must give A wicked man. Afterwards a shower of stones, arrows, and darts.

and the Emperor was hit three times in the chest and hastily taken below. Now I should also point out, some indigenous sources dispute this claim entirely, and they say that Montezuma was assassinated after the Aztecs refused to heed his words, and was not Either way, it does appear that Montezuma refused treatment. However he got his wounds, he performed Now, Cortez was furious. His plans to rule Tendech Titlan via turning Montezuma into a puffer.

Ever. And uh, when his three war machines were finished, he marched them around the city, but so many defenders attacked. The engines were nearly destroyed very quickly. Daily skirmishes continued and at one point. himself was nearly tossed off the top of a pyramid he'd assaulted before that he was wounded badly in the hand. Montezuma, meanwhile, died. thirtieth. At any rate, the Castilians began to get increasingly nervous. Even if Cortez at first stated he would sooner be cut to pieces.

but all of his captains opposed him. And on june twenty fourth his astronomer inf uh Botello, was his name, informed him that if they didn't leave that night, they were all gonna be killed. Well, the idea was to leave at night to escape undetected. But there was a question about And that took a substantial amount of planning. They were not able to leave until July.

They left at midnight. A vanguard of two hundred men went in front, along with a small gathering of important mistresses like Marina and the priests. Next came Cortellina. With the bulk of his army and in the rear sixty horsemen. The vanguard carried a portable wooden bridge. They crossed the first four bridges without incident.

But then a woman going to get water saw them. She called out, Meshika, come quickly. Our enemies are leaving now that it is night. They are running away as fugitives. A few minutes later, a priest gave the command. Witzdillapoachly. Mechikan chiefs, your enemies are leaving. Run to your canoes of war.

The male population thus roused itself to the Alva Itzachkotl was an indigenous conquistador who wrote an He reported that when the Meshiko were roused, the boatmen paddled with all their might, they lashed. The cannon, many of the horses, and much of the gold was lost after the The Spaniards were forced to cross without bridges, many drowned. One canal became so full of dead Spaniards, Tlashcolins, and horses, that those who came last across the bridge.

were able to cross over a bridge of their dead comrades. Much is uncertain about that night, except one fact. The Castilians who set off with gold, with more gold, I should say, were weighed down, and they were more likely to be killed than those who did not. The worst fate was for those in the rearguard. As many as two hundred and seventy Castilians were forced to retreat back, unable to cross.

They held out for a day or two before they were captured. Then they were defeated by hunger. All All in all, probably six hundred Castilians were lost or killed that night, or sacrificed on a subsequent night, along with several thousand. The Spanish call it El November. Despite this defeat, perhaps Cordelia. with remarkable determination. During this horrible night, he reportedly responded to reports of his losses with just one statement, a question.

Did his ship builder, Martin Lopez, still live? The answer was yes. Lopez, like many, was badly wounded, but he was alive. Well let us go. The march to Talascala was not cheerful. even if the next two nights were spent in with relative uneventful uh uh uneventfully, uh, as they went north and were at least able to obtain some food, the third Sita Tepec. By this point, sporadic Meshica attacks were going on. Cortez was wounded in the head. Another attack that day killed a horse. That third

There were no rations to be found, and as they continued, many villages were unfriendly. As they turned around the northern shores to the lake and began heading east towards Tashkala, sometimes grass was the only food.

Afterwards, it seems that Quitlahuac, the new emperor, made another attempt to end the Castilians. He sent a large force under the command of his deputy to fight the Spaniards. The battle was Luckily for the Castilians though, the Meshica returned now to using their tactics of capturing. On the other hand, the Mexica army was massive, and was able to surround Cortez's force completely. The Cadilla was

Stood out. He brought with him five horsemen and rode out through the ranks of the Meshika. They surprised the commanders. Those Speed either, but to appear frightening. Cortes knocked one commander over, and one of his other horsemen promptly killed him with his lance, then swept up the commander's plume.

The loss of that leader and perhaps even more the loss of that standard swung the tide of the battle. The Meshika army without its battle standard is a lot like a ship without a rudder. And the Meshika They retired in disorder and uh and once again on the verge of victory, the Aztecs were just unable to follow.

After the battle, Cortez and his men were able to nurse their wounds, at which point Cortez made probably the most unnecessary He stood before his men, weak, wounded, and nearly starving, and he told them that each of them Apparently forty five thousand payfalls. recovered from the stunned army by this theft. Although with that said, apparently a lot of conquistadors also refused the order, the men Triste. The Tush Collins began to think too. What were they doing?

In part, because the Meshika Emperor Quitlahawak offered the Flash Collins a new alliance. Result, the two sides of Tashkhan leadership, those who wanted to continue siding with the Spanish, and those who wished to join the Almost came to blows when they debated it. One leader, Maxik Sikatsin, pushed another, Zigotankato the younger, down a flight of stairs. Eventually they came to a compromise, and that was that the Tlosh Kollins though would support Cortez, but a hard

First, they wanted the Castilians to guarantee that they would hand over the city of Cholula to the Tlashcolons. Second, In Tenochtitlan, which the TlashCollins alone would man, in order to permanently guarantee against any future attacks. Third, they wanted to divide any boot. And finally, they wanted perpetual freedom from paying tribute for whoever ruled that city in the future. Courtes to do nothing but agree to those terms and in return.

lands. The army and its continued assistance was so important, in fact, to Cortez that he he would And I want to be completely clear here, if not for the impact of smallpox and other disease, these capitulations forced upon Cortez by the would have meant that the end of the conquest would have m possibly ended in more of a Tlashkhalin victory than a Spanish one. At any rate, the army spent three Now in fifteen twenty nine an English case.

and this incident is specifically will be questioned. But Cortez was absolved of any guilt for having up offered those capitulations, under the reasoning that if the native They would have all been killed, because many of the Spaniards were wounded. Quistador served as chief smelter of metals, Antonio de Benavidas testified and continued, No Spaniard would have escaped the Mexica. There was nowhere else to go.

and probably around the same amount of time for which that city had reserves of food that could be used to feed such an army. Cortez and many others recovered. Four more men, however, died of their wounds, and many lived

some for the rest of their lives. Cortez, uh too, he would suffer head headaches for the rest of his life, and he blamed Quitlehuac, meanwhile, made another attempt at recruiting a powerful ally, the Taraskins, and number He sent messengers to see the leader of the But Zengwa merely received the gifts of the Meshiga, returned them with gifts of his own, but as for the offer of a military alliance, he said what purpose is

Help Mexico. We have always been at war when we approach each other. There is rancor between us. We must be care take care, lest this be a trick. They may want Treachery. No, Tarascan soldiers would be going to Tenashtilon. So, if there was a realistic way for the Meshika to retain their empire, this was probably.

Hugh Thomas says that the Zangwa was probably confident that his people's superiority The Trascans were fewer in Mexico, that were fewer in number than the Mexica, but every Mexica army ever sent against the Trascans failed, and often The Tarascans maintained a well-defended border with defensive fortifications, and while they did not use iron, they were very capable metalsmiths who sometimes did use copper.

At any rate, though the Spaniards found food and shelter and could heal from their wounds, some were very angry. Cortes nearly had a rebellion on his hand yet again.

random gold tax. So he had to make uh amends, and he did so apparently with what was a very good speech, or at least a speech wherein he promised he had a really because he was able to disquiet this content under him, at least for some time, probably because he started main The nearby hilltop fortress of Tipiaka, the Mexica center of tribute for the nearby region, and which seemed like a great place to recover some treasure.

Tepiaca collected tribute each year as follows four thousand loads of lime, four thousand loads of thick canes, eight thousand loads of arrow canes, two hundred frames for carrying goods Some of the older citizens still remembered being conquered by the Aztecs in the first place. So Cortes intended on striking against an integral part of the Empire, and also

And the battle went quickly. Cortez only had about 500 Castilians remaining at this point, 17 horses and six crossbowmen, and he had to leave several. But he left with no fewer than two thousand Plash Kalan warriors and two days of the Surrender, he attacked. Grabbing tearpakans off the streets into the And between the Tlashcollins and the horses the city surrendered quickly, and Cortez was harsh in victory. He enslaved the wives and children of

As for the men, some Tiapecans were lanced or piked to death after the surrender in an indiscriminate fashion. Others were torn to pieces by dogs. Cortes justified Charles V, which is preposterous. automatically go to your children, uh so at least those slaves were a little luckier, most of them.

And eaten, mind you. Cortez, of course, turned a blind eye to this. One conquistador, Diego de Avia, even went so far as to allege that during the Cortez himself had personally thrown Indians off a roof. They can eat them. There were even rumors in the aftermath of the battle that some Spaniards sell One city, Quechula, decided not to fight, and when about two thousand men were

4,000 women and children were enslaved from that city. Similar atrocities occurred at Izukar, another town, which accepted fealty. yet still faced pillage and enslavement. Other were similarly reduced to slaughter, enslavement, branding, and sacrificial cannibalism. Enemies of Cortez later stated that between fifteen

And that a similar number was given to the Tashkhalans. Cortes, in his letters, gave a rather bland account of these battles. He stated merely that the people had rebelled against the king. And that matter-of-factly reported, for they are all cannibals. So many people that ere that if I did not impose a great and cruel punishment, they would never be in reformed. Here's a line. His ingenuity, but manny he is a real shithead. Other things.

Even Burnout DS. And Hugh Thomas tells us that Friar Aguilar seems to have been especially forgetful, writing just one single sentence Tepeyaka gave fields. Resistance, unquote. Huh. Now that's funny that he would say that, Cortez reported it took twenty days to do. I think it's likely that the Spaniards were ashamed of the At any rate, Cortez had recently come so close to defeat after El Noche Triste, and considering there was no That this was just what he did to repeat.

The Mexica did what they could to prepare for another eventual return by Cortez. More fortifications were built, so too were long forces. The same kind they saw Cortez make prior to his But there were disadvantages. They didn't know when that these defense would be needed. And in some ways, it seems that Tenosh Titlan still It was also concerned about restoring its wealth and prestige. A great amount of effort was spent rebuilding.

Turning the idol to their own place t the idols to their places, and getting rid This was all probably important. maybe not necessarily all that helpful for the war effort. Cortez prepared as well. He set Martin Lopez to the task of building more ships, and then the Caudillo who was also dying of smallpox. Now we're not gonna be getting fully into the impact of smallpox until next episode. But the disease was already Thus far the disease had spread from Hispaniology.

Ijuya, a black porter on the Narvaeez expedition, and that is how smallpox reached the mainland. Now wherever Narvaeas stopped in the Yucatan, basically, the result, as such, was on the local Maya. The Totoneks were next to be struck by the disease. Native remedies for illnesses consisted mainly of alternating

They also liked to rub the herb bitumen on their sores, that was custom. Similarly, no effect at small on small punks. Now They had all sorts of treatments for these infirmities, and when they fell ill they called for priests or sorcerers, medicines. Cure cures and hallucinogenic plants or tobacco, but there was no vinyl. Some new cure was effective. And in fact the medicine men who called in to help the cure simply caught the disease themselves. They became vexed.

Meshika describes smallpox as the loss of their soul. Many believed gods were punished for Committed, yet while religious ceremonies might be conducted to appease the gods, no prayer. Town after town in Mexico became depopulated. In many places there was no way to collect the corpses. Officials began burying people by bringing Hugh Thomas writes The smell was almost a big

The suffering, far greater than anything, which the conquerors had previously brought. Those who did not die but who had caught the disease frightened the survivors merely by showing the pit of the In some place, half the population seems to have died. In september fifteen twenty, the disease reached Chalco in the Valley of Mexico. For seventy days, the plague devastated the city. Farmers and source died, so to degree.

By late October, the disease reached Tenochtitlon. Montezuma's successor, the war ready Quitleak, was amongst those killed. He died quickly, so even his royal army. so too were his looks and his character. Unlike Montezuma, we know almost nothing about him, except that he was against being friendly to from the Castilians from the beginning, that he inspired and

But he was unable to follow up on that success and crush Cortes on the road from Tenashtitlan back to Telashkala. And finally, that he left behind a wife, a son, and two daughters. The King of Tacuba died as well. So too did the king of Chalco. So too did Zengwa, ruler of the Tarascans. The borders of his empire proved inexpensive. In contrast, most Castillians by adult head had already conquered.

Lived or died as a child from the disease. And in fact, by adulthood, the average conquistador would have survived numerous epidemics, not just. So in Mexico, the disease spared almost every single adult Castilian while ravaging the natives, which seemed like an extra. Now, for their part, the Spaniards understood that an epidemic was happening, but they didn't really seem to quite grasp the significance or level.

Even still, the epidemic gave Cortes an incredible amount of power in the region. The uh death of the king. along with the chaos generally of the disease, meant that Cortes had become a king When Kings died in parts of Mexico, near to where Cortez and his forces were, I mean he basically got to choose So for example when the king of the Cortez decided to replace him with one of Montezuma's nephew.

Codex Florentine says that in Tenochtitlan, the pox was killing a vast number of our people. Sores erupted on our faces, our breasts, our bellies. We were covered with agonizing sores. The illness was so dreadful that no one could walk or move. The sick were so utterly helpless they could only lie on their beds like corpses, unable to move their libs or even their heads, if they did move. Cortez.

He was trying to control his political future as best he could, and meanwhile he was slowly receiving reinforcements. A series of six The first from Cuba, captained by Pedra Barba. It arrived with thirteen men, one horse, and plenty of yucca bread. Technically, they were supposed to resupply Nervia. But Barba and his men were quickly to join. So too were us another Lobera, who like

uh Lobera brought eight soldiers, six crossbowmen, and one horse. Lobera apparently also had a big store of extra twine for both The third arrival was Diego de Camargo. Organized by the governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay, to make a fortress somewhere north of Veracruz. in three ships under had left Jamaica under the command of Alvarez Pineda, along with seven But they were promptly defined.

re embarked and one ship sank. Many men drowned, Alonso Pineda amongst them. Camargo was the new commander, and he arrived at Via Rica with a shipful of ill men, but nevertheless, once restored those sixty survived. Garay also thereafter sent a ship to relieve. This was captured by Miguel.

A hearty, arrogant, rich, and fat conquistador, apparently, who had been one of the first colonists of Puerto Rico in 1511, had obtained a very valuable clothes across the Atlantic and sailed along, unable to find the fortress of Pineda, because of He, his fifty soldiers, seven horses, were warm. Next, Francisco Ramirez the Elder came, also by means of Garay, to resupply Pineda. He brought forty soldiers, ten horses, many

Finally, Juan de Burgos reached Villarica from the Canary Islands. At the request of Cortez' business friends in Seville and his father, this was the only ship which had Cortez was even expecting. It was laden with muskets, gunpowder, cross. Although the recent arrivals added about altogether, the recent arrivals added about two hundred thousand. Though of course the newcomers were instantly hated by the original conquistadors and even those who'd arrived with Narvine.

Veterans and rookies developed as often does. Supplied thusly, however, Cortez was so He even now allowed some members of the expedition, mainly some of Velasquez's allies, to return back to Cuba. There's still a lot of resentment. Men accused him of stealing gold, and so not everybody was happy to remain. And in addition, Cortes also sent two agents back to Spain with letters to the king.

royal support for the conquest. Back in Tenochtitlan, meanwhile, the Meshika installed a new emperor named Quatemok. He was to succeed Quat Quitleak, and he was also Or uh like his predecessor, excuse me, um, staunchly against the Spaniards from the beginning, and he opened his reign in He was also from Tantalco, the city of the that earlier separate from Tenochtitlan. The two had grown together. And in fact was uh the fact that he was from Tatalalco, not Tenochtitlan, was probably important.

Quatehamak's name. The faulting eagle, excuse me. And it's a fitting name, I think. Because he holds a Quatemc attempted to make allies, just as Quitlihuac had done, but he too failed. He sent another of the But the new ruler was just as suspicious as his predecessor has been and that new ruler.

Zinka Zinkicha responded to the request for help by sacrificing the delegation. He had Quetemoc and the Meshika were left to realize that all the old diplomatic swing And now, as the Spanish power grew and Cortes Fear of the man. Additionally, while Quatemac was very much pro war with Spain, he does not Deliberate weakening of the population, cutting off the supply of food and water if possible, so that then he could also.

As a feather to his emperor. But at any rate, Whitlawak was perhaps better suited for this, but the Meshikeman. In contrast, siege warfare was. The great captainz de Cordova. Famously in fourteen ninety five with siege warfare in Italy and then again in fifteen oh three, one of his detractors claimed the real victors were a ditch, a parapet, and an architect. Yeah. And now Cortez had with him eight.

Forty horses, eight or nine field guns, and though he was a little short on gunpowder, including the crossbowmen and arquebussiers, five hundred fifty infantrymen. He assembled these into In addition, and despite the death of Max Katzin, the leadership of Tlashkala provided a tremendous army. It was reported that Cortes was But he was unsure of how he would feed so many warriors and ended up taking just a quarter of that. And even if that number is exaggerated.

if not twenty thousand Tlashcollins who accompanied this march. For the Tlashkala, Hugh Thomas says, the Cortez gave a speech where He told his allies and his forces that he reassured them that they would be free of the Meshika soon. And from the Tashkala perspective though, they probably Once the Great War with the Meshica was finally concluded, of course they had no idea that this smallpox was just the start of many plagues that were going to decimate their population in the very near future.

Cortez said... Perhaps the most important part of his scheme, however, was not yet complete. Martin Locus ships. When the army left Plashkala and on the way, uh the Tlashkallans cleared obstacles from the roads which the Meshik had placed to slow the army, and Bernal Diaz reported that they all swore they would never Now, when the army reached the city of Cotepec, the ruler of that city came out in the night to Cortez and stated that that city intended to fight on his side.

They gave him a golden chain as a sign of peace, and thereafter Cortez had another powerful ally, though it's unclear what It is clear that the crumbling of the Aztec Empire began. On the thirtieth of december, Cortez was next to the Who wrote ahead as scouts that seven lords from Texcoco were coming, carrying golden banners of peace. Now that delegation was met peacefully.

Next day, however, thirty the thirty first, when they reached that city at noon, they were well received, just as the Vulords had told him. The streets though were empty. Cortez was a little suspicious about that, and in fact from the lodgings they had, he sold a little Was now moving out of the town in canoes across the lake to Mexico. The empire was crumbling yet. Tezkoko was one of Tenochtitlan's oldest allies, and while this was

The population of the city had largely escaped to Mexica controlled lands and was therefore able to provide much needed reinforcements, and Cortez was not very happy about this. He permitted Few men found were killed, the women and children declared slaves. This is unfortunate to historians everywhere, because uh the Clash Columns spent much of the Burning the city's palaces. I am one of those palaces in particular.

Codices and genealogical records for the Empire. The city served not just as archives, um, you know, just for the Texcocans, but for all of the Mexican kingdoms. An extraordinary But the Castilians certainly weren't bothered about it. They were too busy setting up a new puppet king in the empty city. A literal child was chosen this time, so uh this young boy was uh they At any rate the lords of the two other

Lidinjan came to see Cortes and beg his forgiveness. You see, they were merely towns of merchants, they explained. They just wanted to continue. They didn't have a big problem with Cortez. Texcoco and the surrounding environments were just some of the wealthiest parts of the city, or excuse me, parts of the empire, and so many of the Meshika who lived there were far more wealthy. Cortes kept money. With two hundred men and three to four thousand Flash Collins on a twenty mile march to Italy.

There a battle took place, where the people of that city came out to face uh Cortez in arms, and in fact the Mexica took very drastic measures It's the Palapa. It's a city on the lake, and as the Spaniards attacked the city, a massive dike was breached by the Meshica in a dramatic attempt to flood. But it just didn't work. Cortez and his allies were riding around on their horses through the city, killing people before withdrawing.

Perhaps had Demesh waited longer they could have drowned the Castillians, who planned Would have died instead of fleeting. another sack followed. Cortez blamed solely on the Tush Collins. The next few weeks were spent similarly, with the lords of some towns like Azumba, They began supplying maize to the expedition and critical. The lords of Chalco and Plemanalco sent word to the The offer of peace from Chalco is an especially noteworthy as a big change in the in the path.

Cortez set Sandoval, with court encased the doors under him to remove the Much credit apparently is deserving to the Collins, who apparently fought extremely Additional maze fields uh too. At any rate, Cortez offered peace to Tinachtilon, but Quatem. By the end of January, rather than attempting peace, he was busy deepening the channels beneath the bridges, making entrenchments.

In addition, by now the Mexica actually had quite a few weapons from the Castilians. They'd killed hundreds of them, after all, and El Noche Triste, and so Spanish steel Excuse me, smaller supply. Quatimak also told me. other towns of the lake. But when he did persuade two such towns to his side, Cortes The leaders of those towns ended up apologizing to Cortez, receiving In February, Cortez's army reached the western side of the lake. He visited two more.

Teayuka Teneyuka excuse me and as Kaputzalko. Five days after leaving Tezcoco, he then also reached Takuba. Cities of the Triple Alliance. Heavy fighting ensued when the Spanish and Tlashcollins tried to enter the city, and when they succeeded. The next day Cortez went out and looked at the causeway where so many It had been rebuilt. He and his men and so he and his men rode farther than they should have done down it, and the Meshika began attacking withles from roof.

Several conquistadors were killed before Cortez ordered a retreat. Day after day, however, Cortez did that same thing. He continued sallying forth down the causeway, fighting for during which time the two enemies uh armies taunted each other. In one instance, a Castillian shouted to the Meshika, they would all die of hunger. Tia's to Cortez in contempt. Take and eat this if you are hungry. We are Perhaps because it seemed like Tenashtitlam was on the verge of surrender, the Spaniards once again.

Mutiny erupted once. this time under a certain Antonio di Valafagna, who was supposedly planning to kill Cortes, and that's when one soldier told Cortes three hundred men under his command? Well, Cortes had Vilafania arrested and condemned to be hanged after this confession, and he also made a brilliant play. He had obtained Well Cortez pretended that Villafania was

Never got to see it. He told everyone he never saw it. And so half the fucking army, just about mind you, was then free and clear of any potential charges. It also meant that that half the army wasn't suspicious. They're signing up for the mutiny, except for one plotter, the shipmaster Diego Diaz, who was going to be taking some of the other mutinyers back to Cuba. But at any rate, Cortez's army was still growing because a seventh

Rodrigo de Bastides. In fifteen hundred, Bastides had discovered the Gulf of Uraba with the infamous Juan de la Cosa, who was very concerned, and he was very concerned that all of the slaves principal occupation, in fact, was slave trader, and so when Ah Bastidus heard A new line of business or a slightly new line of business. With three ships, Bastides brought many. Two excuse me, two hundred men, sixty horses, and one five.

Uraya. I specifically mentioned Father Urea because he had with him papal bulls with the power to absolve conquistadors of anything which they should have condemned. Returned Seville a very wealthy man. At any rate, on April 13th, Epustlan, which could only be entered by bridges, which of course were down, but two locals betrayed to the Spanish where that one one The leaders therefore

Next, Cortez went to Zuchimelco. They found a But once again, Cortez's army proved victorious, and by this point Cortez had defeated or subjugated nearly every city on the lake, and so he went back to Texcoco realize. In order to launch Each could carry between twenty five and thirty men, and each carried a small bronze cannon in the bow. Cortez then

Three on land, and the fourth to be under his direct supervision, divided onto the brigantines. When the navy wa before the navy was ready, Cortez had been sending part of his force to try to level a causeway in order to Long, but had been being attacked by canoes. Thirty Castilians had thus far been injured in the process, but on June first, The brigantines were launched, and in fact, thanks to the Meshika having destroyed the dike earlier, all the lakes were connected.

So began a great siege that was mainly forced Often the brigantines would penetrate. Despite fighting all day, little Spanish movement seems to have occurred in the other than the naval action during the early days of the siege, the main Try to block the north causeway out of the city. It took some time but And this critical lifeline therefore allowed the Meshika to continue to bring food into the city.

With three brigs, twenty-three horses, eighteen crossbowmen, one hundred foot soldiers, and after a few skirmishes, the northern route was taken. On june tenth, Cortez made a push into the city. He led two hundred men up a causeway right ahead of a huge If even if it was just one-tenth of that figure, eight thousand men charging down the causeway would be a terrifying force. Cortez and his army burnt. Temple, where the captain then set up some guns, fired em off, and then chased them.

By this point, however, the horsemen started retreating back to their quarters, and the Meshika rallied. They drove the A seesaw battle ensued. Later in the day, the horsemen returned. The Spaniards again. The Meshika threw and dropped stones from the heights of the city as the Castillians retreated. Cortez'd dream of handing over this great venom. The Indian allies continued in a different way. Each day, men from Cholula, Tashkala, Texcoco, and Huitzinko were filling in holes in the cause.

Meshikamen went out from Tenochtitlan and did their best to deepen the causeways. But over time, this was a losing battle. On june fifteenth, Cortez was The Meshica there continued to make breaches in the roads and causeways, but Cortez was able to sail brigantines close to the breaches, and the ships gave great effort.

So before long, once I Once again they were met with a tremendous level of opposition, and the Meshika ultimately But this time the uh counterattacks against the Castilians were less effective because the Indian allies were more uh were were prepared, they were clearing

By the time Cortez lost this engagement and was forced out, he fully realized the opposition he faced though. The measures He would not be handing over a jewel of the city, and in fact, he wasn't even sure he'd be recovering the gold he previously left here anymore. Who tells you? in the square on june fifteenth. Previously r uh this was just an outrage too. Uh the the Days of destruction followed. Cortez's army set about deliberately

Building by building. The Tlash Collins could not have been more eager to participate. In fact, none of the Indian allies were all that bothered by it. Cortez said uh or excuse me, Cortez saw he could not win otherwise. True Spain. him to succeed. He needed to do so with this campaign, and as he saw it, this was the only way. Hugh Thomas tells us one change immediately noticed was the result.

In addition to the noise of gunpowder, the shouting of the Mexican war cries, the neighing of horses, now the Com uh Cortez accomplished uh the task of um demolishing the city mainly by splitting his force. He attacked the city to penetrate it from Indian analysing canoes. But the Mexica were still not. Despite the odds they continued to fight and to adapt. On june twenty third, they set a trap and managed to impale several brigantines and posts set in the water. The men who retreated

Sacrificed. And in fact, had it not been for some timely horsemanship and cannonwork, according to Alvarado, who was commanded. Alvarado didn't You would have wanted him to if you were Cortez. I mentioned him specifically that Cortez probably should have fired him a long time ago. During this siege, he reported. Causeway is necessary to allow the army to move quickly. Um Cortez apparently lectured Alvarado on the port.

That he was too busy going to to Cuba each night, so that he could ensure a proper supply of crossbows and other equipment. But if that sounds suspicious to you, it is because it is suspicious and the real reason.

early after a nice day of fighting to her. Anyway, the Mesha continued to use hidden water traps, and later in the month they were able to ground and attack another fifteen Castillians on board were captured, many of the others seriously wounded, and if it hadn't been for the fact that another brig was there and the second was able to bump free,

And I think we've got to admire the ability of the Aztecs here to continue to find new strategies to deal with the Spaniards. I mean these brigantines a year ago Cotton as floating mountains or floating temples. Regardless, Cortes' victory was near, and he Destroyed and by the end of the month, the brigs had been able to almost completely stop the low the fishing and low-scale hunting.

protein. Now they did have stores of maize, the city did, but this may And as a result, a group of noblemen led by two more of Montezuma's sons tried to negotiate with the Castilians. By the end of that month, they were forced to abandon numerous precincts in the city to consolidate their power in just a few neighborhoods, and before long after that Part of Platilonco that represented about an eighth of the entire city's size.

Day after day redug ditches in the causeways, and day after day generally inflicted more damage on their opponents than one might have even supposed possible considering that Even after a full month of siege, it was impossible for the Spanish to travel down streets wherein the buildings had not been demolished or burned, but by this point political That's where everybody was hold up, the majority of the surviving population

But as difficult as things were for the Meshica, they still had hope. As July began, the attacks of the Spanish began to fall. The Meshica even captured a Spanish battle standard. For a few days they really did begin to hope was this.

Then they nearly got an even greater prize. Cortez, when he attempted his next major push into Latalalco, he and the army were stopped on the cause of the Spaniards were pushed back and the Allies, instead of rushing in behind them, just smashed into the s Spaniards essentially and the whole The Meshika responded brilliantly. They sent a raid of canoes into the water quickly, and those marine commandos proceeded to start capturing alone.

One Meshica even grabbed Cortez himself, the great Codillo, the architecture. His life was saved by Cristobal de Olea, a clever swordsman from Medina El Campo, who, with a skillful and timely stroke, cut the In Mexico. Then Olea, along with Corte's bodyguard, were able to help Cortez back to safety. The Mexico also One was a warrior named Ekatzin. He belonged to the military order Otomitel. These were composed of men who swore never to

Hatson was reportedly such an outstanding launcher of large stones that he personally killed and wounded countless Spaniards, and they began to fear his throes. He bedeviled the Spaniards, though. At other times he was disguised as a common soldier, his head always uncovered. This defeat was terrible. Twenty Castilians, including Olea, were killed in the battle. Another fifty three were captured, and two hundred Indian allies lost their lives. One cannon was lost and another bridge.

That night was a special Burnal Diaz wrote When they got them up to the little square in front of the shrines of the gods, the pyramids of Mexico of Mexico, by the way, were designed. ' Quote We placed them we saw them place plumes on their heads, and with things like fans, they forced them to dance before the god which the Lapochli. Then they placed them on their heads. They saw it open the door.

They kicked the bodies down the steps, and Indian butchers, who were waiting below, cut off the arms and legs, and flayed the faces with the beard still on, for use in drunken fiestas, while the butterfly And guts. Zoo. The Florentine Codex says that some Castilians wept, some sang. One It was all over. The Aztecs strung the heads of the Spaniards on a skull rack, along with the heads of four horses. The Castilians sat glumly as they watched these things, accompanied For hours.

I mean there's plenty of Nothing good at all for the war expert, and in fact might even be literally are literally hindering the war machine. But in the early days of July fifteen oh sacrifice. Into just a crippling defeat for Cortez and his army. They literally seem unable to do anything except for listen. Went on for four days. Literally four days.

Timok in contrast used As an opportunity to send messengers to the chiefs of Chalco, Zerchimilko, Kirnevaca, and elsewhere, so he could showcase the flayed heads of his bearded war captives, as well as the ' He said horses heads too, and assured the lords, half the advanced And the rest were wounded. Huitzilopochli had not abandoned the Meshika. The messenger stated instead

Fled Cortes during the night. Beyond all of this, the Mesica were now learning to use crossbows, and in fact, Quantemac had captured five crossbowmen whom he spared. Intent instead of turning the Now at any rate, Cortez realized the And each day brought news of what he termed rebellions in his letters. His chief problem. which had accepted Castilian rule in the spring when Cortes visited, but now had been attacked by a Mexican army, which had been spurred

conquistadors, the city needed help. And providing that sort of help in that sort of city in this sort of situation was the key to Cortez keeping the alliance of city-states he had under. A campaign which Tapia conducted with a remarkable He managed to force the enemy army out of the city and into hiding in the surrounding hills. Cortez also forced another expedition south, or excuse me, was he was also forced to send another expedition. Tommy allies saying.

As well. In addition, another portion of his force had to turn back to Thala. They were running out of food and other supplies. So when a Meshika army from Tullah in the rear and he had to spend yet another uh legion of troops to meet them.

In short order, Cortez went from having Tenochtitlan completely surrounded to being fearful of a potential counterattack on his headquarters. Ah his forces were now spread so thin, but The Spaniards, uh, there at the camp were even envisioning a second Noche Tri. But no attack came from the front. By the middle of July, it was clear to the Because the Meshica were now short of food and water and exhausted.

Flashcallins, thus, were perhaps the first to realize that their enemies were in the throes of defeat. The Spaniards were still tending their wounded and dreading their

when the Tlashcalan commander his name was uh Chemactecle, made a raid into the city without Spanish participation at all. For the first time, as far as we are aware, But the Flash Colin native bowmen attacked, captured a bridge, and made a strategic retreat at nightfall with many prisoners, and it was this victory, it seems, more than anything else, that seems specific. Knocking the Spaniards and Cortez out of the funnel.

fifty of their friends get sacrificed. Daily battles continued, as the Spaniards By now, Tenoshitlan simply sin had far too few people remaining. There was too little food and too Like, yeah. To do that. On july twenty second, Cortez and Sandoval led an ambush against the Meshica, and in the morning they succeeded in fully driving the last of any mechanical.

Still the Meshica continued to fight. On june twenty seventh, Cortez sent Alvarado in command of his forces to take the market. He and his army Later in the day, Cortez saw smoke and The next morning Cortez rode with Alvarado around the square, he climbed the Still there was no surrender. The courage of their enemies shocked and impressed the Spaniards. They reported that the Meshica, this late in the war, were still taunting.

They told the Toshkala that the Toshkhalans would rebuild it either by Mexica or Spanish overlords, and even in they continued to find energy for fighting. They remained a dangerous foe. on the ground, I guess, even in these late days. And it's not like the Meshika didn't debate on what to do. They wanted peace for what it's worth, it seemed, but even the Emperor and his captains wanted peace, but they just They seemed s for some reason unable to just make any j

The Aztecs were a people too proud. They owned too much might too recently to surrender, the shot of A recently won empire just suddenly falling apart just meant that they were just unable. Too great. But ultimately, the s leadership did realize that if they could not persevere. On the morning of april thirteenth, the emperor, along with many others. they were probably going to retreat to Atsapotzalko, where perhaps

But news of the emperor fleeing the city was not hidden. The Spaniards found out, and the brigantines began patrolling the lake to look with him for him with strictness. When Cortes entered the precinct that had up to this point still been controlled by the Meshica, he wrote of the conditions, that, quote, it was beyond our understanding how they could endure it, unquote. But the same thing.

Ashcollins killed a large number of the remaining citizens. A few more were captured and then sacrificed, and finally, on that day the thirteenth, most of their advanced Quatemok and other leaders had departed in fifty canoes with as much gold and treasure as they had remaining, as well as food, women and children, but they were captured on the lake. All but one of them The Spanish captain gave chase to the remaining canoe, when it did not stop, he loaded and aimed his cannon at them.

They stated they had an important person aboard and the emperor. He armed himself, and even this late in this stage, he prepared for battle, though finally now, as he surveyed personally, the noble When Cortez greeted the fallen empire, he had only one thing to say. What of the gold? Cord. In return he received all the gold which had been in the canoes. Is this all? The Cadillo grew angry. This was a trivial sum, in comparison to what he had followed.

Ortez pointed to the bridge where he had lost his fortune. You forced us to drop it there. You will produce it all. The captain was nervous. But they could produce It isn't even clear if they were aware of what treasure he spoke of. In the days that followed, Tlash Collin and Tex Kokon warriors continued. For gold, which they nevertheless really didn't recover much of. Perhaps it was at the bottom of the lake. Perhaps Montezuma had it recollected and hidden. But Montezuma was dead.

At any rate, Spaniards scavenged for gold to the city like pigs, but the only treasure they found, which they desired anyway, was human flesh. Their surviving man had Father Lopez de Gomara suggested that the Castilians lost only fifty men, six horses, and that the Meshica lost one hundred thousand, quote. Died from disease and hunger. Bernal Diaz, on the other hand, put that number higher. He said just a sh little bit less.

The Florentine Codex states that more than thirty thousand Flash Collins died, and that over two hundred forty thousand Mesheka died, including almost every single member of the nobility. The siege lasted nearly three months, and probably one hundred though in the two years since reaching Mexico from fifteen nineteen to fifteen twenty one, one

The Meska civilization were brutal and warlike, but it was also artistic in ways that kind of remind me of ancient Greece or Renaissance Europe. The poet it gives us, I think, insight into both the profound loss which the Mexica felt, and in fact how they processed Quote It was called the Jaguar San. Then it was The sun did not follow its course. When the sun arrived at noon, immediately it was dark, and it would become dark.

The giants greeted each other thusly: Do not fall down, for whoever falls down falls forever. The Castilians had a banquet rather than white poetry. The next day was a drunken revelry. Two days after that or excuse me, the two days after the conquest, the next day a mass and celebrated the birth of New Spain. So ended the Aztec Empire, and so fell the Mexica. Hugh Thomas leaves us with an excellent passage that gives Cortez, and I think allows us to reflect on

Quote The sense of triumph felt by Cortez at these moments was touched with melancholy. Time and case He had used phrases such as We could not be but saddened by their determination. There was also the destruction of Tinochtitlan to consider. The prospect he had once had of capturing a beautiful city of which he had first learned when he was still at Veracruz had surely.

Cortez had organized a complicated siege. He had inspired the brigantines, built an unlikely alliance with Indian subject peoples through clever He even made an alliance between Extremenos and Castillo. he had won a great victory with modest losses to his own men. His fellow conquistors had fought bravely against what seemed, especially in the beginning, to have been enormous odds. For a time he and his friends seem to have looked upon by some Mesheka at least as being reincarnations of deities.

But the in in the end, to be honest. It had been the Meshika who fought like gods. This was the end of one empire and the start of something new, but of course that is a story for another episode, our next one. Focus precisely on that. There's still questions left. What happens to Cortez? Does he receive? The legal justification he receives.

What about his companions? Did everyone get along as started as soon as they started divvying up the gold fairly, or did they start keep fighting? What about the remaining Meshek? Collins? What about the other peoples of Mexico? All of that and more will be coming soon. As for us, let us end by considering who is Now Hugh Thomas, the undisputed master, in my opinion, raises Cortez above all others as the crucial element in this mixture to Thomas Cortez.

I agree with that. Cortez was filled with, quote, a hint of imagination, impertinence, a capacity Which differentiation From mere valor. Cortes was also decisive, flexible, had had few scruples. One does not have to be a believer. Keep going back and wondering, well, what if Cortez wasn't there? Don't the Mexica still lose?

My answer is yes, of course they do. So as great as Hugh Thomas is, and if you want even more detail, again, I definitely recommend his book. The conclusion he has is full of shit. I mean just completely full of shit. I mean he's not wrong. and not a great person to have as an advertis an adversary. Cortez is in fact not just a dangerous opponent and strategist, but literally one of the greatest strategists of all fucking time.

But at the same time had been a little bit more than a little bit of Mexico anyway, in a few years that I mean once smallpox hits, and that was gonna happen no matter what, and it makes the conquest, well, inevitable. So yuck if I think the conquest went inevitable, then that means I almost agree with you. Wrong. He's right for all the wrong reasons. Prescott was certain the Spanish won because it was in.

And Prescott is a great historian, a great writer, he's also a racist, and he doesn't know shit about b he literally does not know beans about disease. Disease did make the Spanish victory in Mexico inevitable, but Christianity. And in fact, Prescott's actually so racist at times when everyone any of their achievements, he has to go on these long side ramps to justify his creation of a quote unquote middle

So that he can place the Aztecs, you know, below the Spanish. And like I said, he doesn't understand disease at all. Now, my theory. It was responsible for anything is still echoed by people like Hugh Thomas and these great historians. Hugh Thomas, don't get me wrong, attributes a lot to disease. Wrong.

Diaz made it quite clear who was responsible, that it was the Spanish under Cortez, the soldiers, not the Cordillo, who won the conquest. And at any rate, I'm not sure he's right either though, because I'm not sure if Cortez or Even as a racist as William Prescott state was, he stated, quote, It would be unjust to the Aztecs themselves, or at least their military prowess, to regard

alone. This would indeed be to arm the latter with the charmed shield of Ruggerio, with the magic lance of Astolfo, or returning its hunters. The Indian Empire was in a manner conquered by Indians. The first terrible encounter of the Spaniards with the Toshkollins, which had nearly proved their ruin, did in fact ensure their success.

Under the direction of European Had it been united, it might have bidden defiance to the invaders, its fate may serve as a striking proof that a government, which does not rest on the simple That human institutions were not connected with human prosperity and progress must fall. if not before the increasing light of civilization, and by the hand of violence, by violence from within, if not from without And who shall lament their fall?

Prescott is not alone in this opinion. Ross Hassig makes a very It certainly wasn't Cortez, and it frankly wasn't the Spaniards at all. It was the Tlashcollins, another native. If it weren't for the tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. Where would they have been then? I'll tell you where. Cortez would have had his chest split open and his still beating heart would have been given to Hitz de la Pochley, that's where.

Hasig writes In the final stage of the conquest, the siege of Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards amounted to less than one. What made the conquest of Mexico possible was But the assistance of tens or even hundreds of thousands of Indian allies, laborers, porters, cooks, and especially That's absolutely true. But here too I can't entirely

That before the Tlash Collins were allies and the Texcocans were allies, or any anybody else, the Spanish defeated them in battle first, or at least forced to draw. Now that doesn't mean natives were forced. On the contrary, the experience fighting. The various peoples of Mexico of hey? Think I should be friends with this guy with the boom.

I'm considering that and and so considering this, I'm again left with the opinion that without smallpox, the conquest would have had very different results for people like say the Tlash Collins. Okay, with all of this says part of me realizes this what I'm doing is nothing. So let's discount disease. We're gonna break this down mathematically for a second, and really, what other podcast tries its best to never?

a seven hour episode and then at the end of a seven-hour episode decides to let's have some quote unquote fun by breaking this down mathematically. Look, this is just quote straight up quality. Well okay, for now. Let's say we A Spanish victory inevitable over time. Let's just take the short period of time, starting in fifteen nineteen. We're not talking about what could happen anymore. We're talking about what did.

Now obviously, what Cortez did was very important. Everything Hugh Thomas says about him is true except that he is the king. Let's give him fifteen percent of the credit. But I'm also very swayed by Bernardia. So let's give them another fifteen percent of the credit. And I can't in any way, with that said, give the Tlash Collins and the others less than fifteen.

With that said, I think the weapons, and especially the dogs of the horses, maybe even more than the steel and the gunpowder, deserve a little bit of the credit too. Let's say five percent goes just to the weaponry of the Now that gives us let's leave go with Montezuma. Now I guess we could say he gets the blame, not the credit, but I think in the same as if is uh for the mix. Let's give them a little bit.

10% each. That gives us 75%. Not counting disease from the years fifteen seven fifteen nineteen to fifteen twenty one. And you might So whoever gets that last twenty-five percent, well I can assure you. That person, if it indeed is a person, is a great man in history. More specifically A great woman of history. In the late 15th century, a woman was born in Mexico to a noble family, and I can't prove But it is my belief that she was probably educated far more.

who would have been tasked with essentially nothing but weaving cotton Children. Instead, perhaps her father or a male sibling taught this woman some of what he. Topics that normally only men learned in Mexico. Young noblemen in Mexico, in fact, attended very prestigious Calmaquex where they learned, most importantly above all, how to rule.

At any rate I say that because later in her life this woman will display a remarkable amount, not level not just of intelligence, but of political savvy, that to me I think indicates education in fields. Politics. Even if I'm wrong though, she displays a remarkable Merely just to learn new languages. Her family, which only men would learn in the sixteenth century, was led by a father who angered.

And as a punishment, his daughter was set off to be married in a far off realm, in the backwater, hundreds of miles. Which was the center of culture, art, and everything that a young noblewoman like herself would have been accustomed to enjoy in life, and instead as a punishment she would live in the Yucatan, in a colony where Near where the Maya states were, which were experiencing what might be best described as a dark age.

When she met Cortez and the Spaniards to serve as interpreter and mistress, Cortez's plans included secretly starting up a colony on the coast of Veracruz to break free. Diego Velazquez and to get wealthy while doing it, but his plan certainly did not involve gathering an army of native allies, taking it to Tenochtitlan, and making himself king. But when Melina attached herself, Cortez, that

Of going to Tenech Chitlan, of conquering a capital. Before Molina, the Spaniards were a powerful poor force, practically a force of nature. But they were ignorant. Once Melina attached herself to Cortez, suddenly the expedition didn't just have an interpreter, and I mean a better interpreter than Agora. He didn't, and that was in critical uh you know knowing Nihwatl is of critical importance.

Melina was an interpreter with an impressive background in Mexica society. She was more than a translator. She was capable of navigating Cortez through a political geography. of numerous cities, kings, and provincial lords, with all the skill and cultural capital of a high ranking noble. Melina was someone who not only had the intelligence and cultural sophistication too to lead Cortez through a diplomatic maze of building.

Someone who clearly and specifically had an axe to grind against the Mechka. Who knows? Maybe if it was even the emperor himself? Melina could explain nuance and metaphor to Cortes. She could explain translations. This is what he said, but this is what he means. He was also someone who could make sure that every gesture and phrase which Cortez spoke to potential allies sounded just perfect. At the same time, she could inform Cortez when she

might be lying to him. If a delegation or Montezuma from Mexico said something to Cortes, perhaps Melinche might have responded, Well that's what he said. But he's lying, and this is the truth. Well, the more I think about it. Now, you know, I'm I'm not normal. One part of a story as a critical element. But you know, the more I think about everything I've just said, well, that adds up to about twenty

Translator of Cortez's army and the secret architect of the fall of the fall of the Meshica. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as they say. Well, until next time my friends, or if not. Okay, kidding.