Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs

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

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  ———. 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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  ———. Letters from Mexico. Translated by Anthony Pagden. New Haven, Conn., and London, 2001.

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  ———. The Conquest of New Spain. Translated by J. M. Cohen. New York, 1963.

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  ———. 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.

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  ———. Magic Books from Mexico. Viking Penguin, 1953.

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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.

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