Civilizations

by Laurent Binet

72. The living should not pay for their dead, or others’ dead.

  73. They are hypocrites, those princes who have secondary wives that they call favourites.

  74. The Pope is a hypocrite too, giving his bastards the best positions.

  75. The earth turns around his father, the Sun.

  76. The Sun is, naturally, at the centre of the universe.

  77. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a son of the Sun who created men.

  78. He is the younger brother or grandson of Viracocha.

  79. Our Lord Jesus Christ is to the Fifth Quarter what Manco Capac is to the kingdom of the Four Quarters.

  80. Nevertheless, between Jesus Christ and Manco Capac, precedence goes to the latter, since the sons of Manco Capac have come to our lands to fulfil the good news that Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed, and not vice versa.

  81. God did not want us to go to the kingdom beyond the seas to teach the good news.

  82. The Pope represents nobody but himself. He is not St Peter’s son.

  83. Luther was right to denounce the avarice and cupidity of the Pope.

  84. Luther was wrong to denounce the peasants who called for more justice.

  85. Luther was right to condemn the laziness and corruption of princes.

  86. Luther was wrong to condemn the supposed perversity of the people.

  87. Luther was right to see the Castel Sant’Angelo as the seat of the Babylonian whore.

  88. Luther was right to see the Antichrist in the person of the Pope but he was wrong to see the Antichrist in the person of Thomas Müntzer, whose only fault was to want a better life for poor people.

  89. Luther is a prophet of the end times.

  90. But Luther did not see the coming of the new times.

  91. The Inca embodies the new Law and the new Spirit.

  92. The princes are not representatives of the Sun on earth.

  93. The Inca is the sole legitimate representative of the Sun.

  94. The princes are the curacas of the Inca. In other words, they are his representatives in his absence.

  95. The princes draw their authority from the Inca.

  96. The laws of the Inca are the laws of the Empire.

  97. God is the other name of the Sun.

  60. The End of Luther

  Nobody ever found out who wrote the theses, although many people were suspected. Among them were Christoph Schappeler, a Swabian preacher; Ulrich Schmid, the author of the twelve articles, who was supposed to still be alive; the brothers Hans Sebald and Barthel Beham, two painters who had formerly been accused of atheism; Pilgram Marpeck, the Anabaptist; certain printers and students, some of whom had been taught by Luther himself; even Melanchthon was suspected. Had Atahualpa ordered the text to be written? Even today, there is no proof of that whatsoever.

  Naturally, Luther was furious. He took this manifesto for what it undoubtedly was, at least in part: a personal attack. As far as he was concerned, there was no longer any question of an agreement. His voice thundered throughout the university, where he took refuge. It was a massive scandal.

  But that is not all it was. John Frederick understood this, and immediately decreed a curfew and sent landsknechts to patrol the city.

  He was wasting his time. The first riots began the day after the theses appeared. The elector’s troops crossed swords with the rioters. Houses blazed. Corpses were strewn across the streets. Calls for calm from the most eminent professors had no effect. The students divided into two camps. A fire began in the university and spread to Luther’s house, which adjoined it. Luther tried to take refuge in Melanchthon’s house, but it is said he found the door locked.

  While this was happening, Atahualpa did not intervene. His army, outside the city, received the order not to move under any circumstances. He remained deaf to the elector’s pleas. The men in his personal guard did not leave the castle where they were garrisoned.

  Luther attempted to flee in a cart, hidden under a load of hay, but he was captured by a gang of peasants displaying the banner of the Bundschuh, the lace-up shoe.

  He was beaten and tortured, his eyes were gouged out, he was quartered and dismembered, and his remains were burned.

  His death, though, was not enough to satisfy the peasants’ anger. The Duchy of Saxony went up in flames, and so did the rest of Germany.

  John Frederick, Joachim-Hector of Brandenburg and the others negotiated the civil peace with Atahualpa, who was the only one in a position to deliver it. In Luther’s place, Melanchthon ratified the Treaty of Wittenberg, granting religious liberty in accordance with a duly negotiated principle: to each region, its religion. In other words, each prince would decide for his subjects, with no interference from Rome. This was not as liberal as the Seville Edict, but that was not what mattered. After being promised that they could keep certain privileges, the princes yielded to almost all of the twelve articles. John Frederick and Joachim-Hector, who effectively abandoned most of their sovereignty to the Inca, did not forget to ask for financial compensation. With Luther dead, the money arrived from Augsburg, as promised: one hundred thousand florins each. In his homeland, Atahualpa had never learned to moderate his generosity, particularly when there were political considerations at play. He paid without haggling, because his generosity was part of his strategy. In reality, it was consubstantial with his imperial dignity, on either side of the Ocean Sea.

  61. The Coronation

  ‘Sire, since God has conferred upon you the immense grace of raising you above all the kings and princes of Christianity, to a position of power previously possessed only by your predecessor Charles Quint, and before him only Charlemagne, you are on your way towards universal monarchy, allowing you to unite all of … Christianity under your leadership.’

  With these words, the Archbishop of Mainz, Albert of Brandenburg – uncle of Joachim-Hector, who was himself the Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg – welcomed Atahualpa into the temple of Aix-la-Chapelle, beneath an immense gilded copper chandelier, at the feet of the statues of St Paul with his cross and St Peter with his key (two idols popular in these parts) to formally present him with the attributes of imperial dignity.

  Atahualpa did not bat an eyelid as he listened to this plump priest with his womanly lips, soft flesh and baleful gaze acclaiming him as the saviour of the Catholic faith. Which, to be frank, seemed something of an exaggeration: not only had the Inca conquered most of the Fifth Quarter, leaving only France, England and Portugal beyond the scope of his territorial ambitions, but he had deprived Ferdinand of his Empire and driven the Catholic king back into Austria, to face Suleiman alone and without support.

  Since then, Temples of the Sun had spread all over the surface of the New World, and even the German princes – Catholics, as well as Lutherans – were starting to convert. In fact, the Elector of Brandenburg was one of them.

  Consequently, it seemed difficult to justify the idea that Atahualpa had worked for the glory of Jesus Christ, their local divinity.

  The great priest of Rome, moreover, had made it clear that he would excommunicate the Inca if he took the place intended for Ferdinand, his brother’s legitimate heir. (Excommunication was a sort of symbolic banishment from the Catholic community, something kings did not pay much attention to.)

  None of this apparently mattered to the archbishop, who had been deeply involved in the corrupt selling of indulgences, who had been among Luther’s most resolute enemies, and who had sold his vote at a high price during Charles Quint’s election. (‘I am ashamed of his shame,’ the king of Spain’s envoy had said at the time.) His entire political career showed a distinct reluctance to let scruples and promises get in the way of his ambitions. Besides, as far as Albert was concerned, the military occupation of the Rhineland by the Inca’s army had removed all alternative outcomes and moral dilemmas. His submission to the new master of Germany went without saying; and, unlike Charles, Atahualpa had not even needed to pay him. Sometimes gold repl
aces iron, and sometimes it is the other way round. For the Inca’s coronation, the priest was wearing his most beautiful red robe, and his fingers were weighed down by a cornucopia of rings set with precious multicoloured stones.

  The other electors, with the exception of Ferdinand, had come to salute their new emperor. They were all frustrated at having to renounce some of their prerogatives, but that frustration was mingled with relief at having avoided the worst. Luther was dead and rotting in hell with the Duke of Lorraine and his brother the Duke of Guise, while they were alive.

  Melanchthon, too, attended the ceremony in Aix-la-Chapelle: that surely says enough about the extraordinary work of unification, if not reconciliation, accomplished by the Quitonian adventurer.

  For a long time, the Holy Roman Empire had been a collection of divided states, with its symbolic leadership handed to the most powerful German family of the moment.

  Now things had changed in both senses: Atahualpa was neither a German prince nor an abstraction. He was the Reformer and the Protector of the Poor, and those titles, granted to him by the people, were not symbolic at all: he had earned them. While he was receiving the crown, the sceptre and the globe of Charlemagne from the hands of the jowly priest, his laws were already being applied throughout most of the Empire, and even beyond, in certain regions of eastern France and northern Switzerland, where the local authorities had been forced to apply his reforms to avoid further uprisings.

  The king of France had sent his sister, Marguerite, to represent him, alongside her son-in-law, Manco.

  The king of Portugal had delegated his brother, the infant Luis, Duke of Beja, who had, like Francis, taken part in the Barbary Coast campaign.

  The king of England’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, had been sent to Aix-la-Chapelle. (Since the first was Charles Quint’s aunt, it was not thought suitable that she should come to salute his successor, given the events that had led to his death.)

  The vizier Hassan al-Wazzan had made the voyage from Algiers.

  Lorenzino had come with Quispe Sisa, dressed in the Italian fashion, and her beauty drew admiring whispers wherever she went.

  Sitting on Charlemagne’s stone throne, before this prestigious audience, while the music from the giant flutes inside the church echoed against the centuries-old walls, Atahualpa must have been thinking about his brother Huascar. He was Huascar’s equal now, and he’d accomplished things that none of his ancestors, even the great Pachacuti, had even imagined possible.

  62. The Empire’s Ten Laws

  The first and most important specifies that nobody who is exempted has to pay the tribute, at any time or for any reason. Those exempted include the Incas of royal blood, the captain-generals and their subordinates, even the centurions and their children and grandchildren, all the curacas and their kin. Royal officers employed in minor tasks do not pay the tribute during their time in office, nor do soldiers kept for war and conquest, nor anyone under the age of twenty-five, because until that age their duty is to serve their parents. Everyone over fifty is exempt too, as are all women and girls, whether single, widowed or married; anyone who is sick, until they have recovered from their illness; the disabled, such as anyone who is blind, or has a leg or an arm missing (although the deaf and the dumb are employed in jobs that can be done without speaking or hearing).

  The second says that all Levantines not among those who have just been named are obliged to pay this tribute, except for the priests and servants of the Temples of the Sun, or chosen virgins.

  The third, that irrespective of the motive, any Levantine may pay in lieu of the tribute through his work or by fulfilling his duty or by time spent in service of the king or his State.

  According to the fourth law, nobody can be forced to work in a profession that is not his own, other than ploughing or the army, which everyone is obliged to do.

  According to the fifth law, each man must pay his tribute with what his province can supply, without going to other lands in search of what he does not have in his own, for the Inca believes it wrong to ask any subject to provide what their land does not.

  The sixth orders that all workers employed in the service of the Inca or his curacas be supplied with everything necessary for the exercise of their job; in other words, the goldsmith should be given gold, silver or copper so that he can work; the weaver, wool or cotton; the painter, colours, and so on. The worker must only provide his labour during the time that he is obliged to do so: two months, or three at the very most. Once this period is over, he is not obliged to work any longer.

  The seventh says that all workers should be provided with everything they need in terms of food and clothing, and even cures and medicines if they fall ill.

  The eighth law concerns the collection of the tributes. At a particular time, in the capital of each province, will gather the judge-receivers and the masters of accounts or court clerks who count up the tributes on their knotted cords. The knots show what work has been done by each Levantine, the jobs he has performed, the journeys he has made on the orders of the prince or his superiors, and all his other activities; all of this is deducted from the tribute that he owes. They also keep track of everything in the shops of each city.

  The ninth law states that all that remains of these tributes after the king’s expenses are met will be reserved for the common good of his subjects and distributed to public shops during times of scarcity.

  The tenth law contains a declaration of occupations to which the Levantines must dedicate themselves, both for the service of the king and for the good of their cities and states; these works are mandatory as a form of tribute, and they must be carried out collectively, for example levelling paths, rebuilding or repairing Temples of the Sun and other sanctuaries of their idolatry, or providing anything at all for temples. People are obliged to construct public buildings such as shops, the residences of judges and governors; to repair bridges; to act as messengers or chasquis; to work the earth, to crush fruit for wine, to lead cattle to pasture, to look after farms and other public assets; to keep hostels for lodging travellers, and to be there in person to provide them with all the king’s goods that they need.

  63. The Age of the Papa

  And so the Fifth Quarter entered a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity. And although it didn’t last, it is good to remember it as an episode of happiness in the history of the New World. Besides, who knows how long that harmony might have endured, had not extraordinary circumstances arisen to bring it to an end?

  Atahualpa had moved certain populations around: the poor peasants of Swabia, Alsace and the Netherlands were relocated to the most sterile regions of Spain, where he put them to work on vast irrigation works.

  The peasants of Spain were sent to the cold German countryside to cultivate papa and quinoa. Soon, both of these crops were growing throughout all the regions of the Empire and beyond.

  Colonies of Chancas were established in Saxony to watch over the Protestants who remained near Wittenberg.

  The Inca organised exchanges of food in accordance with each region’s needs: avocados and tomatoes were sent to Germany, while German and Belgian beer was sent to Spain. The black drink from Castile was exchanged for the yellow drink from Alsace.

  An accord was reached with Portugal, which yielded its territory of Brazil. In compensation, the Empire promised not to interfere in the spice trade or to block the route to the Indies via the African peninsula.

  Huascar’s envoys came regularly to salute the emperor in his brother’s name and to find out the latest news.

  Seville was the axis of the world. Lisbon prospered. The ports of the north – Hamburg, Amsterdam, Anvers – grew along with the Fuggers’ fortune.

  Temples of the Sun increased in number as local idolatries withered, although they were still tolerated: their existence was guaranteed by the Seville Edict in Spain and by the Treaty of Wittenberg in the rest of the Empire.

  An astronomer from beyond the western borders of Germany publi
shed a theory that soon spread throughout the Fifth Quarter. It held that the sun, not the earth, was the centre of the universe. This paper was printed in the language of knowledge and distributed under the title De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, which means ‘On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres’. Its success accelerated the rate of conversions. (The astronomer was invited to Seville and awarded the title of The King’s Great Astrologer.)

  However, spies sent from Rome travelled all over the Spanish countryside, inciting people to revolt in the name of their old Catholic faith. They recruited a veritable secret army, whose general was the priest Iñigo López de Loyola, whom Atahualpa had once met in Granada. The Inca took this threat seriously and ordered Chalco Chimac to remorselessly hunt down the members of this society, which went by the name of Jesuits, after the name of the nailed god whom they revered and for whom they had sworn to die.

  Atahualpa was concerned by this rebellion, but not excessively. The future would prove him right in this regard, by exposing him to far greater dangers.

  64. The Silence of Cuba

  Suddenly, the ships stopped arriving in Seville.

  At first, the change was barely perceptible: the docks were still busy, because they kept loading ships bound for Cuba. After a while, they put the delays down to storms at sea. It was a long voyage, after all. But none of the ships that left ever came back.

  The people of Seville were struck, then, by the silence of the ocean. In their hearts, they all felt a vague anxiety. To start with, they feigned indifference. But soon, the question was on everyone’s lips: ‘Where is the gold?’ Why had the gold route suddenly been cut? Every ship that went out in search and did not return intensified the unease of those on land. Gradually, the sailors started refusing to embark on a one-way voyage. The docks were deserted. Men ceased moving crates of gold, silver, gunpowder, wool, wine, coca and cohiba. The entire city grew sad on that silence.