Chimalpahin's Conquest: A Nahua Historian's Rewriting of Francisco Lopez de Gomara's La conquista de Mexico

By Susan Schroeder

This volume presents the story of Hernando Cortés's conquest of Mexico, as recounted by a contemporary Spanish historian and edited by Mexico's premier Nahua historian.

Francisco López de Gómara's monumental Historia de las Indias y Conquista de México was published in 1552 to instant success. Despite being banned from the Americas by Prince Philip of Spain, La conquista fell into the hands of the seventeenth-century Nahua historian Chimalpahin, who took it upon himself to make a copy of the tome. As he copied, Chimalpahin rewrote large sections of La conquista, adding information about Emperor Moctezuma and other key indigenous people who participated in those first encounters.

Chialpahin's Conquest is thus not only the first complete modern English translation of López de Gómara's La conquista, an invaluable source in itself of information about the conquest and native peoples; it also adds Chimalpahin's unique perspective of Nahua culture to what has traditionally been a very Hispanic portrayal of the conquest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Release date: Jul 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9780804775069

Book preview

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THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

Written by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón [Chimalpahin] Quauhtlehuanitzin

(f. 1)a Chapter 1. The Birth of Hernando Cortés

Hernando Cortés was born in Medellín [Extremadura] in 1485 during the reign of Fernando and Isabel, the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon.b His father was Martín Cortés de Monroy and his mother, doña Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. Both parents came from noble stock, since all four lineages—Cortés, Monroy, Pizarro, and Altamirano—are ancient and honorable. Although they owned little in the way of property, they attained much honor, as rarely happens but to those who lead a good life. Not only were they respected by their neighbors for the kindness and Christian behavior they observed in them, they themselves were pleased [LdeG: proud] that their conduct in all their affairs, [LdeG: words], and actions was honorable, for which they were held in high regard and loved by all. The mother, who was very religious, [LdeG: chaste], and charitable, became pregnant and gave birth to a son whom they named Hernando. He was sickly as a child, so his parentsc cast lots among the Twelve Apostles to see which would serve as his protector. After San Pedro, the last lot and chosen Apostle, was offered several masses and prayers, it pleased God to cure the boy. From that moment, Cortés took Jesus Christ’s glorious Apostle San Pedro as his special protector and no matter where he was he made certain to celebrate the saint’s day every year at church and at home.

When Cortés was fourteen years old, his parents sent him to Salamanca to study, where he remained for two years learning grammar in the home of Francisco Núñez de Valera, who was married to Inés de Paz, his father’s sister. He returned to Medellín because he was tired of studying or perhaps for lack of money. His parents were angry and upset (f. 1v) that he decided to do this since they wished him to pursue a career in law, [LdeG: prosperous and honorable above all the rest], because of his intelligence and ability in all areas.

He fought bitterly with his parents, displaying the loud, unruly, and arrogant attituded typical of young boys, and left home determined to see the world. Of the two paths that he saw before him, one led to Italy and the war being fought in Naples against the French by Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, who was known as the Great Captain.e The other path led to the island of Cuba, where Comendador [fray Nicolás de] Ovando was being dispatched [LdeG: to the Indies] as governor.f Ovando was a friend or acquaintance of Cortés’s father, although had Cortés gone to Naples, he would also have had friends and relatives there. One night, while Ovando prepared for his departure and readied the fleet that he was to command, Cortés was walking atop a weakly supported rear wall in order to talk to a woman when the wall collapsed beneath him, plunging him to the ground. At the noise of the falling wall and Cortés’s arms and shield, a newlywed man came to his door and found Cortés outside. Suspecting his wife, the man tried to kill Cortés, but an old woman who was his mother-in-law prevented him from doing so. Cortés was injured by his fall and also contracted a feverg that lasted a long time, so he could not leave with Governor Ovando. After he recovered he decided to leave for Italy as he had at first considered. He started out on the road to Valencia, but never made it to Italy. Instead, he wandered around, although not without suffering hardship and privation. He returned to Medellín about a year later, determined to set sail to the Indies. His parents gave him both their blessing and some money to spend on the way.

Chapter 2. Cortés’s Age When He Sailed to the Indies

Cortés was fifteen or almost eighteen years old [LdeG: nineteen years old when in the year of our Lord of 1594, he went to the Indies] and despite his age, he ventured to go [LdeG: so far by himself] to the island of Santo Domingo,h where Ovando served as governor. He managed to arrange the trip with a pilot whose name I do not know,i setting sail with the other ships that went with [LdeG: He boarded a ship belonging to] Alonso Quintero.j When he arrived at Sanlúcar de Barrameda he stayed on board until they reached [LdeG: until La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands], where they procured food and water [LdeG: that would be sufficient for such a lengthy trip]. Driven by greed, Alonso Quintero set off by himself, saying nothing to his (f. 2) companions in order to arrive sooner at Santo Domingo and sell his merchandise faster and at a higher price than theirs. But after setting sail, such foul weather came upon them that the ship’s mast broke. Forced to return to La Gomera, he begged the others (who had not yet left)k to wait for him until he fixed the mast. They then all set sail together across a great stretch of sea within sight of each other. Quintero again saw an opportunity to pull ahead of the fleet, hoping to gain speed so he could make a profit. Since the pilot Francisco Niño de Huelva did not know how to steer the ship, their arrival was late and untimely, and they could not make out where they were. The sailors were dumbfounded, and the pilot dejected and distressed. The sailors and passengers began crying, as they did not know the course [LdeG: they had taken] or what to do. Believing they would all die, they [LdeG: Since they were bickering among themselves, the commander] blamed the pilot, who in turn blamed the commander. With dwindling supplies and nothing to eat or drink, they drank only rainwater [LdeG: and all confessed]. Some cursed their fate [LdeG: and others begged for mercy, awaiting the death that some had already accepted] and their decision to sail; others feared coming ashore in the land of the Caribs, who were known to eat human flesh. Amid these tribulations they saw one day at sunset a dove alight on the mast [LdeG: yard arm, and this happened on Good Friday]. Taking this as an omen that land was near and crying with joy and comforting one another, they celebrated and gave thanks to God. The sailors steered the ship in the direction of the dove’s flight. When the bird disappeared, they were all saddened; but they never lost hope that they would soon see land. On Easter Sunday, they sighted the island of Hispaniola. One of the lookouts by the name of Cristóbal Zurcol cried out, Land! Land! a word that both comforts and delights seafarers. The pilot recognized Punta de Samaná, and in three or four days they achieved their goal to land at Santo Domingo, where the other four ships had arrived many days