Civilizations

by Laurent Binet

  Then a rumour arrived from Lisbon. In the middle of the Ocean Sea was an archipelago belonging to Portugal. It was said that a fleet of ships, navigated by men dressed in feathers and jaguar skins, had landed there. Later, messengers from Navarre indicated that the fleet had been sighted alongside the French coast. It seemed that there had been raids and pillages.

  An official letter from Francis I, addressed to Atahualpa, expressed astonishment at the presence of this fleet in French waters and reminded the emperor of the treaty of friendship that linked their two countries.

  Atahualpa also received a letter from Henry VIII: the mysterious fleet had entered the channel between France and England. The English artillery had, so far, managed to dissuade the foreigners from landing, but the king was puzzled by this threatening presence.

  The Inca gathered his council. Everyone was mystified. What was Huascar playing at? Why had he cut the route to Cuba? Why would he put an end to a trade that was so profitable for both parties? What did this fleet’s arrival mean? What were his intentions?

  Higuénamota could not understand why her Taíno compatriots had not tried to inform her about the situation.

  Ruminahui saw in these rumours all the signs of an imminent military invasion.

  Coya Asarpay was certain that the old hatred between the two brothers had never died, but only lain dormant, and was now erupting again.

  Chalco Chimac shared this opinion: everything suggested that the commercial arrangement was no longer enough for Huascar, and that he wanted to taste the riches of the Fifth Quarter for himself.

  But the general pointed to a more urgent problem: without supplies from Tawantinsuyu, the Empire’s treasury would soon be empty.

  Atahualpa knew this all too well, having already received a reminder letter from Augsburg, its insolence a stark warning of the fragility of his position:

  His Majesty is surely well aware of the devotion that our house has always shown in serving the house of Spain. His Majesty must also be aware that, without our aid, he would never have acceded to the imperial throne, as many of his followers could attest. Throughout this affair, we have never hesitated to take considerable risks. Indeed, it would have been less risky to prefer the house of Austria to His Majesty’s own illustrious house, and yet we would still have made excellent profits. Considering our devotion, I implore His Majesty to acknowledge the humble and faithful service that we have given him and to order that we should be paid without delay, and with the due interest, the sums that we have advanced him.

  In any case, they had to re-establish contact with Cuba and, most importantly, come to a settlement with Huascar as soon as they could.

  It was decided that Higuénamota would go to Fontainebleau, to the court of King Francis, leaving immediately and passing through Navarre, where she would see Manco and his mother-in-law, Marguerite.

  65. Letter from Higuénamota to Atahualpa

  Greetings, son of the Sun,

  First of all, you will be pleased to learn that your brother Manco, whom I had the pleasure of visiting at the court of the king of Navarre, is wonderfully well, and feels completely fulfilled by his marriage to young Jeanne, Marguerite’s daughter, which was arranged in accordance with your wisdom. Those two are inseparable, from morning until evening, when they might be seen laughing like children in the palace gardens, and even more so, I am told, from evening until morning, when the echoes of their joy can be heard throughout the city of Pau. Nobody here doubts that Jeanne will soon be pregnant.

  All the same, Marguerite is worried by the news from France because she fears a betrayal that would imperil her brother’s kingdom. She begged me to bid you prove your faithfulness by recalling those ships that are floating in French waters, and she did not believe me when I assured her that you knew nothing about their provenance or their destination. No word of consolation had any effect and I left her in tears and great distress, swearing that her friend the king of Spain would never fail her or her brother.

  France is full of wonders, and I was constantly thrilled by the landscapes through which I travelled on my way here, as if I were discovering this country for the first time. Moreover, their wine is excellent, if quite different in taste from the wine in Spain.

  King Francis greeted me at his chateau in Fontainebleau with all the honours one would expect from my rank and his gallantry. While he waited for me at the top of a staircase shaped like two arms of a stone river flowing down towards the visitor, I was treated to music from an orchestra of fifes, trumpets, oboes, flutes and violas, and then he gave a ball in my honour in a splendid wood-panelled gallery that he has had built in his royal residence.

  I must say that the people of his court are as charming as ever and it is a great pleasure to stroll in the gardens of this chateau, among women in extravagant dresses, wise men examining the sky, Italian painters and architects, and poets singing of the beauty of roses and the transience of life.

  In contrast to his sister, His Majesty, as he likes to be called, does not seem particularly alarmed by news of those ships at sea near his coastline, being as cheerful and amiable as I have always known him. However, time has treated him cruelly: he has lost much of his old vigour and now walks with a limp, and he had to apologise that he could no longer invite me to dance, he who used to dance all night. Your ambassador here informed me that the king of France has a broken vein and that he is rotting beneath his lower parts. The doctors worry that he does not have long to live. Apparently he is suffering from what people here call the ‘Spanish disease’, and what we in Spain call the ‘Lisbon disease’.

  However, apart from occasional moments when his face betrays his body’s pain and fatigue, he is determined not to let this show and conducts his country’s affairs with the same great conviction.

  On this subject, King Francis, unlike the king of England, is unwilling to make a place in his kingdom for the religion of the Sun, despite the fact that his sister is highly favourable towards it, and he persecutes all those who do not declare themselves good Christians and good Catholics.

  As for the matter at hand, I have been informed that your brother’s fleet finally landed on the coast of England – a country that is, as you are aware, at war with France – and consequently that is all we know. Without going into superfluous details, I told Francis about the probable origin of those visitors, while remaining evasive about your contentious past with Huascar. Nevertheless, I assured him that they were probably just lost ships that would return on their way to Seville as soon as the order was given in your name. For now, he seems content with this explanation.

  May the Sun watch over your shade and protect your empire.

  From Fontainebleau, 30 April 1544 of the old era,

  Thirteenth harvest of the Fifth Quarter.

  Your faithful princess, Higuénamota

  PS: I am wearing your bat-fur coat.

  66. Letter from Atahualpa to Higuénamota

  Greetings, radiant princess,

  I cannot thank you enough for the news you have sent me from France, and also for having undertaken this long journey for love of me and the Empire.

  I have some news of my own for you. It is of the greatest importance, and primarily concerns you.

  Here, a ship finally arrived from Cuba. Aboard it was – would you believe? – your cousin Hatuey, who told us about the events that led to the route from Tawantinsuyu being cut off.

  Apparently a tribe from the west arrived in Cuba. They called themselves Mexicans.

  They are fierce warriors and their intentions were hostile. They defeated my brother’s troops on the island, as well as your cousin’s. Hatuey managed to flee and took refuge – with all the Taínos who were able to follow him – on the island of Haiti, which is, I know, your original homeland. But the Mexicans pursued them there, and Hatuey had to hide in the mountains, where he lived like a wild animal with his unfortunate companions, until the day when they managed to procure a ship – and that is how they came
to Seville.

  As far as Hatuey knows, the Mexicans pursued the Incas all the way to the Panama isthmus, where a war is now raging. Huascar’s troops are fighting tooth and nail, for if those barbarous hordes cross the gully, then there will be nothing to prevent them descending upon Tawantinsuyu, and that would be the end of the Four Quarters.

  You must inform Francis of these latest developments and tell him that the fleet he saw by his coastline has nothing to do with us.

  Above all, repeat this: our friendship is such that I consider Francis’s affairs to be my own, so that any harm that is done to him I will take as a personal affront. Lastly, tell him that he must act as if in preparation for the most savage invasion he can imagine.

  From Seville, 9 May 1544 of the old era,

  Thirteenth harvest of the Fifth Quarter.

  Your devoted sovereign, Atahualpa

  67. Letter from Higuénamota to Atahualpa

  Sapa Inca, sun of Quito, greetings,

  Yesterday, the Mexicans landed in Normandy; the news reached us in the evening. A few peasants saw them first, walking along empty beaches. Then they went into a port named Havre de Grace, and now they are following a river that will lead them to Paris.

  Francis has raised an army to go and meet them. This news seems to have perked him up. Despite his pains in the derrière, as they call it here, he wanted to mount a horse and wishes to lead his army towards the visitors, and into combat if needs must. His old body is excited because he considers this an adventure that – as he repeats ad infinitum – reminds him of his dashing youth. His military chief, Anne of Montmorency, whom I used to know quite well and who was at one time all-powerful in the king’s court, is no longer beside him. A red-bearded man, Francis of Guise, seems to have taken his place. The dauphin Henri rides beside him.

  The court is abuzz and we are proceeding with preparations for the campaign amid an atmosphere of gentle intoxication and good cheer.

  On this subject, a book is in circulation at the chateau that is delighting everyone. It is by a certain Rabelais, who recounts the adventures of a giant named Gargantua. I will have to read you a few passages when I return, because it is so comical, and has a beautiful irreverence that you will, I hope, appreciate as much as I do. After all, don’t we also – we who must take care of kingdoms – have the right to relax our minds a little?

  In the meantime, I bid you pray to your father the Sun to sustain us in the task that awaits us, and to lend us assistance if by chance the visitors wage war upon us. As for me, I kiss the hands of the emperor, my dear friend, as well as those of all his children, whom I love as if they were mine.

  From Fontainebleau, 7 June 1544,

  Thirteenth harvest of the Fifth Quarter.

  Your naked princess, Higuénamota

  68. Letter from Atahualpa to Higuénamota

  Sun of the islands, very gracious princess, greetings,

  Alarming news has come from Tawantinsuyu. The Mexicans have crossed the Panama isthmus and are advancing south. My brother Huascar’s army is fighting valiantly but ceding territory. Quito is expected to be under siege before the next moon.

  My brother, Tupac Hualpa, came in person to inform me of the situation. He and his men managed to descend the river that begins in the Andes and reaches the Ocean Sea via the forest. Then they sailed along the coast until they reached the country of Brazil, formerly occupied by the Portuguese, where they were able to refit their ship and, after a long journey, come to Seville. So now there is a second route linking Tawantinsuyu to the New World, although this voyage cannot be made in reverse. I have no doubt that my brother will send other ships to keep me informed of the war and its evolutions.

  Tell Francis that the Mexicans are a fierce, bloodthirsty people, and that he must trust them no more than he would a fatal plague. My advice is to exterminate every last Mexican who has already set foot on French soil before they organise the bridgehead to an invasion that would then become inevitable.

  May the Sun protect you and all the French people.

  From Seville, 18 June 1544 of the old era,

  Thirteenth harvest of the Fifth Quarter.

  Your emperor who kisses your hands, Atahualpa

  69. Letter from Higuénamota to Atahualpa

  Greetings, Sun of the New World,

  How sweet it is to be the one to bring you some good news, and how pleasant to imagine the joy with which it will be received, knowing that I am, if not the cause, at least the messenger of that joy!

  Our fears, it turns out, were perhaps without foundation.

  A meeting took place between Francis and the Mexicans, outside a city called Rouen.

  To impress the visitors, King Francis ordered the erection of a camp so magnificent that I have never seen its like. Five hundred tents covered the plain, with, at their centre, a gigantic marquee where the meeting was to take place. That marquee and those tents were covered in gold fabric from Florence. Hunters had scoured the countryside to supply unimaginable quantities of game, in order to offer our guests a banquet of such splendour that they would never forget it. For the occasion, Francis was dressed in sparkling blue armour marked with a golden fleur-de-lys. He was accompanied by his son Henri, to whom he had entrusted the title and the mission of Governor of Normandy. Queen Eleonore and their younger son Charles, Duke of Orleans, were there too.

  The Mexicans are a strong, handsome people, without that pale, sickly complexion that the French have. The men, like those from my land and your own, do not wear beards. Their chief is a strong man, of pleasant appearance, in the prime of life and of good stature, although not so tall as the king of France, who is a giant. His name is Cuauhtémoc, and he serves an emperor called Moctezuma. Under a feather headdress, he wears his hair long in a braid. His clothes are of poor quality but his jewellery is finely worked.

  He says he serves a god called Quetzalcoatl, a word that means ‘feathered serpent’ in his language. But I also noticed that he sometimes invokes their god of rain, whom they call Tlaloc, and who is armed with a hammer just like our god of thunder Thor Illapa.

  His warriors are armed with lances and round shields, and some wear a jaguar head like a helmet, as if the warrior’s head emerged from the animal’s mouth, which gives them a frightening appearance.

  Cuauhtémoc, however, does not seem to have hostile intentions. He says he came in peace, drawn by the renown of a kingdom that crossed the seas. He asked the king of France permission to establish a trading post in this port of Havre de Grace, which is also known as Franciscopolis, in order to allow the coming and going of merchant ships between his country Mexico and France. As I write these lines, a trade treaty is close to being sealed, and should be signed without delay.

  Cuauhtémoc also showed himself extremely courteous towards Queen Eleonore, whom you know as the sister of the late Emperor Charles. He also paid his respects to me with a simplicity that was highly gracious, and assured me that his people, on the other side of the sea, will not ask more from the Taínos than a simple trading post and the right of passage, and that as soon as these agreements have been made, he will send the order to his troops to evacuate Cuba, leaving only a small garrison, and to abandon all plans to invade Haiti.

  So everything leads us to believe that there will be no war. It is good for all of us that these Mexicans seem so peaceful. Your empire is young; it needs to be consolidated through peace, not war. That is why I am certain that you will receive this news with the same satisfaction I feel as I send it.

  I leave you with kisses and these verses by a poet from this land, which goes well, I think, with our common history, which has led us to where we are today:

  How the world laughs at the world

  Therefore it is in its youth.

  From Rouen, 7 July 1544,

  Thirteenth harvest of the Fifth Quarter.

  Your old Cuban friend, Higuénamota

  70. Quipu from Huascar to Atahualpa

  Quito taken.

&nbs
p; Retreating Inca army: 38,000 men.

  Losses: 12,000 men.

  Civilian and military prisoners: 15,000.

  Enemy army heading to Tumipampa: 80,000 men.

  Human sacrifices: 2,000.

  71. Letter from Atahualpa to Higuénamota

  My very dear Higuénamota,

  I beg you to transmit this message to Francis, before returning to Spain without delay, or at least to Navarre, where you will be safe: the Mexicans have not come in peace! In truth, I wasn’t absolutely sure of it, but my fears were confirmed by the latest news from Tawantinsuyu. My brother Huascar sent me a message transcribed by his quipucamayocs. The Mexicans are a viciously warlike people who mercilessly execute their prisoners. The war at the other side of the sea is not over: it is being pursued into the lands of my ancestors. Quito has fallen and the Mexicans are advancing further south.

  I am sending a message to Monsieur de Saint-Mauris this minute, but I do not know whether his embassy will manage to speak with the king before you do. Tell him that the Mexicans are setting a trap for him. The French must strike as soon as possible to seize the initiative.

  As for you, my sweet princess, I beg you to flee at the first chance you get. I wrote to Manco to head for France with the Navarre army: he should be in Paris within ten days to reinforce the French army.

  Once again, escape and save your life, my friend! May this letter reach you without delay. I know that the French roads are not as good as ours, but I am entrusting this missive to my best chasquis with the hope that it will be in your hands within seven days.

  From Seville, 14 July 1544.

  Your servant and friend, Atahualpa

  72. Letter from Higuénamota to Atahualpa

  My prince,

  I do not know if a letter from you has already left Spain or if you were waiting to have more information before you replied to me. Without news from you, and uncertain what to do next, I remained with the king of France to witness the conclusion of the peace agreement.