by Buddy Levy
Of the histories, one must inevitably begin with William H. Prescott’s monumental The History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843; New York, 2001). Originally published in 1843, the three-volume tome was then regarded as a masterpiece, and it remains one to this day. Epic in scope and stunning in its scholarship, Prescott’s nearly one-thousand-page history was the English-speaking audience’s first foray into Mesoamerica, and his work remains the standard by which all others (Conquistador included) must ultimately be judged. His massive treatise suffers from stereotypical notions and language that are products of its age, and the tone and point of view are decidedly pro-Spanish, so it is important to employ critical circumspection (as I have tried to do) when assessing Prescott’s observations and conclusions. But in re-creating the stunning detail and sheer epic drama of the events (as he also did in his 1847 History of the Conquest of Peru), Prescott is unequaled.
In 1993 the British historian Hugh Thomas published Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés, and the Fall of Old Mexico, which is nearly as bold and comprehensive (and almost as long) as Prescott’s work. Thomas provides a thorough and vibrant modern telling, utilizing a great deal of contemporary research that was not available to Prescott. The result is a riveting account, impressive in sweep and detail. Thomas’s Conquest offers the most authoritative contemporary overview of the conquest of Mexico, and Conquistador has benefited tremendously from the historian’s impressive scholarship.
Military aspects of the conquest of Mexico are treated thoroughly by the fine scholar Ross Hassig, particularly from the standpoint of Aztec warfare: philosophy, technique, practice, weaponry, and dress. Hassig is the unrivaled expert in the field, and all of his books are highly recommended. Noteworthy are Mexico and the Spanish Conquest (Norman, Okla., 2006), Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control (Norman, Okla., 1988), and Trade, Tribute, and Transportation: The Sixteenth-Century Political Economy of the Valley of Mexico (Norman, Okla., 1985).
Books on the history of the Aztec people (also referred to as the Mexica) are numerous and varied, both in approach and in quality. The best recent overviews are: John Pohl and Charles M. Robinson III, Aztecs and Conquistadors: The Spanish Invasion and the Collapse of the Aztec Empire (London and New York, 2005); Dirk R. Van Tuerenhout, The Aztecs: New Perspectives (Santa Barbara, 2005); Michael E. Smith, The Aztecs (Malden, Mass., 2003); Richard F. Townsend, The Aztecs (London, 2003); and finally the stunning and visually amazing coffee-table art book The Aztec Empire, curated by Felipe Solis for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, 2004).
Works devoted to the enigmatic emperor Montezuma II, so inextricably connected to the fall of Mexico, are scarce. Two very good ones are Peter G. Tsouras, Montezuma: Warlord of the Aztecs (Washington, D.C., 2005); and the full-length biography by C. A. Burland, Montezuma: Lord of the Aztecs (New York, 1973).
Aztec thought and religion and the complex aspects of the Aztec spiritual realm play a significant role in the history of the conquest, and there are many fine books devoted to the subject. Of particular interest are Miguel León-Portilla, Aztec Thought and Culture (Norman, Okla., 1963); Inga Clendinnen, The Aztecs (New York, 1991); Neil Baldwin, Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God (New York, 1998); Roberta H. Markman and Peter T. Markman, The Flayed God: The Mythology of Mesoamerica (San Francisco, 1993). For a detailed and fascinating account of the practice of human sacrifice in the Aztec world, see David Carrasco, City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization (Boston, 1999). Finally, on the importance of the Templo Mayor as a religious center, see Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Life and Death in the Templo Mayor (Boulder, Colo., 1995).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Firsthand Accounts by Spanish Conquistadors and Chroniclers
Acosta, Joseph de. Historia natural y moral de las Indias. Seville, Spain, 1590; Mexico, 1962.
———. Natural and Moral History of the Indies. Edited by Jane E. Mangan. Translated by Frances López-Morillas. Durham, N.C., 2002.
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Alarcón, Hernando Ruíz de. Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions That Today Live Among the Indians Native to This New Spain, 1629. Translated and edited by J. Richard Andrews and Ross Hassig. Norman, Okla., 1984.
Alvarado, Pedro de. An Account of the Conquest of Guatemala in 1524. Edited by Sedley J. Mackie. New York, 1924.
Arber, Edward. The First Three English Books on America, 1511–1555: Being Chiefly Translations, Compilations, et cetera by Richard Eden, From the Writings, Maps, et cetera of Pietro Martire of Anghiera, Sebastian Münster, and Sebastian Cabot. Birmingham, U.K., 1971.
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez. Relación. Translated by Martin A. Favata and José B. Fernandez. Houston, Tex., 1993.
Camargo, Diego Muñoz. Historia de Tlaxcala. Mexico, 1892.
Córdoba, Francisco Hernández de. The Discovery of the Yucatán. Translated by Henry R. Wagner. Pasadena, Calif., 1942.
Cortés, Hernán. Cartas de relación de la conquista de México. Madrid, 1970.
———. Letters from Mexico. Translated by Anthony Pagden. New Haven, Conn., and London, 2001.
Díaz, Juan. Itinerario de Juan de Grijalva. In Crónicas de la Conquista. Mexico, 1950.
Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, 1517–1521. Translated by A. P. Maudslay. New York and London, 1928.
———. The Conquest of New Spain. Translated by J. M. Cohen. New York, 1963.
Duran, Fray Diego. The Aztecs: The History of the Indies of New Spain. Translated by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas. New York, 1964.
———. Book of the Gods and Rites and The Ancient Calendar. Translated and edited by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. Norman, Okla., 1971.
———. History of the Indies of New Spain. Translated by Doris Heyden. Norman, Okla., and London, 1994.
Fuentes, Patricia de, ed. The Conquistadors: First Person Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. New York, 1963.
Gómara, Francisco López de. Historia de la conquista de Mexico. 2 vols. Mexico, 1943.
———. Cortés: The Life of the Conqueror by His Secretary. Translated and edited by Lesley Byrd Simpson. Berkeley and Los Angeles, “1964.
Grijalva, Juan de. The Discovery of New Spain in 1518. Edited and translated by Henry Raup Wagner. Pasadena, Calif., 1942.
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Las Casas, Bartolomé de. History of the Indies of New Spain. Translated and edited by Andree Collard. New York, 1971.
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Sahagún, Bernardino de. The Conquest of New Spain. Translated by Howard F. Cline. Edited by S. L. Cline. Salt Lake City, 1989.
———. The War of Conquest: How It Was Waged Here in Mexico: The Aztecs’ Own Story. Rendered into modern English by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Salt Lake City, 1978.
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The Codices and Aztec Sources
Aubin Codex. Edited by Charles E. Dibble. Mexico, 1963.
Codex Borgia. Full Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript. Gisele Díaz and Alan Rogers, with introduction and commentary by Bruce E.
Byland. New York, 1993.
Codex Chimalpopoca: History and Mythology of the Aztecs. Translated from the Nahuatl by John Bierhorst. Tucson, 1992.
Codex Florentine. Also know as Bernardino de Sahugún, General History of the Things of New Spain. 13 vols. Translated by Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J. O. Anderson. Salt Lake City, 1950–82.
Codex Mendoza. Commentaries by Kurt Miller. Fribourg, 1978.
Codex Ramirez. Edited by Jose M. Vigil. Mexico, 1878.
Crónica Mexicana. Edited by Alvarado F. Tezozomoc. Mexico City, 1944.
Crónica Mexicayotl. Edited by Alvarado F. Tezozomoc. Spanish version by Adrian León. Mexico City, 1949.
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———. The Royal Stables of Cordoba. Málaga, Spain, 2001.
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———. “Understanding Aztec Human Sacrifice.” Archaeology 35:5 (1982): 38–45.
———. “Riddle of the Emperor’s Cloak.” Archaeology 46:3 (1993): 30–36.
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———. “Gardens on Swamps.” Science 174 (1971): 653–61.
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———. Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature: Quetzalcoatl, the Ritual of Condolence, Cuceb, the Night Chant. New York, 1974.
———. A Nahuatl-English Dictionary in Concordance to “Cantares Mexicanos,” with an Analytic Transcription and Grammatical Notes. Stanford, Calif., 1985.
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———. The Phoenix of the Western World: Quetzalcoatl and the Sky Religion. Norman, Okla., 1981.
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———. Magic Books from Mexico. Viking Penguin, 1953.
———. Art and Life in Ancient Mexico. Oxford, 1947.
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———. Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition. Chicago and London, 1982.
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———. The Religion of the Aztecs. Mexico City, 1937.
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———. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatán, 1517–1570. New York, 2003.
———. “‘Fierce and Unnatural Cruelty’: Cortés and the Conquest of Mexico.” In Stephen Greenblatt, New World Encounters. Berkeley, Calif., 1993.
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———. “The Productivity of Maguey Terr
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———. “Aztec Palaces.” In Palaces of the Ancient New World. Edited by Susan Toby Evans and Joanna Pillsbury. Washington, D.C., 1999.
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