Conquest of New Spain, The (Classics S.)

Bernal Diaz del Castillo

1 Stunning Eyewitness Account
Bernal Diaz's account of the conquest of Mexico ranks as one of the best and most readable eyewitness accounts of the adventures and misadventures of the conquistadors. Traveling with Hernando Cortez and his army, Diaz writes with the sense of amazement and horror at what they found in the land inhabited by the Aztecs and other tribes.
What is remarkable is that after so many centuries this account stands up to any modern history that recounts the same episodes , primarily because the reader is swept into the experience by Diaz in a very tangible way.
I have read this several times over the years and though I am very familiar with the events Diaz always draws me in with his first hand descriptions of what for him was such an alien world. It is a unique reading experience that allows the reader to participate in the discovery of new worlds in this manner.

2 An epic actually worth reading
Having lived in Mexico for a couple years I picked up the Conquest of New Spain as a spontanious historical interest. Boy had I missed out! I'm pretty well read, having done the rounds in fanasy, science fiction, literature, philosophy, (and having seen plenty of movies) and I've got to say nothing got me more excited than this one did. Now, I've got a bias because I lived there, but I was wide eyed and open mouthed for most of this read. It is shocking what happened during this incredible clash of cultures. I read De Las Casas and Broken Spears to make sure I wasn't one sided in my interest in this conflict and just finished reading about Cabeza de Vaca which was amazing too.
Here's to history!

3 The soldier's tale
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Governor of Santiago de Guatemala, wrote his account of the conquest of Mexico while an old man because he felt that many of the works concerning the conflict were little more than de facto hagiographies of Hernando Cortes. Considering his feelings regarding the then-published writings of Bartolome de Las Casas, it is probable that he was equally concerned with rebutting the latter's colorful account of the conquest. Diaz's account is straight-forward and without literary pretensions, presenting a pleasing contrast to the smoother narrative of Cortes' letters and the unbridled passion of Las Casas' BRIEF ACCOUNT. In other words, it makes for quite pleasurable and interesting reading!

One of the recurring themes is how the Spaniards are treated by non-Aztecans as they travel toward Mexico City. Many of the states which were more distant from Montezuma's capital were quick to side with the Spaniards in the hopes of throwing off the Mexican yoke and ending their military threat. When the Spaniards appeared to be successful and strong, their allies became more committed to them and when they were shown to be vulnerable their allies began to question the basis of loyalty to the new occupiers. Once the Spaniards gained the upper hand, numerous subject peoples, finding that the Aztecan soldiers were no longer able to rape and plunder them or take their sons & daughters to be sacrificed, began seeking the aid of the Spaniards and providing them with support. Throughout, the Tlascalans were their most powerful and consistent allies (and were quickest to adopt the faith of the apparently powerful Christian divinity).

Arriving at Cholula, a client-state of the Aztecs, the soldiers are nearly massacred and determine to make an example of the Cholulans in order to prevent similar occurrences by others who might be pressed to kill the Spaniards to please Montezuma. Here we see an account which is fairly similar to that of Cortes as provided in his letters (which is not always the case) and which differs markedly from the 2nd- or 3rd-hand account by Las Casas in his BRIEF ACCOUNT. After the leaders who attempted to get rid of the Spanish occupiers were killed (and Cortes was finally able to end the atrocities of his Tlascalan allies), Cortes forced a peace agreement on the Tlascalans and the Cholulans and the populace of the city soon returned. Briefly mentioning Las Casas' BRIEF ACCOUNT, Diaz points out that the Franciscans personally visited the area and determined that Diaz's (and Cortes') account - and not Las Casas' - was consistent with the statements of the natives.

In Mexico City, the Spaniards were treated well as Montezuma and his advisors debated what to do with the newcomers. They were allowed their own place to worship and were fed and clothed by the Mexicans. Finding themselves trapped in the city with an inceasingly hostile population (which had found that the Spaniards were vulnerable) and indications that they were in danger, they took Montezuma into custody. This combined with attempts to force the local populace to conform to less violent religious practices pushed much of the Mexican secular and religious leadership, as well as the populace, into a more hostile mode. Violence escalated, a new leader was chosen by the Aztecs & Montezuma was killed by darts and stones thrown at him and his Spanish captors. The Spaniards manage to escape the city, then return with a large number of allies from the peoples formerly subjected by Montezuma and his recent ancestors. After a violent conflict which severely damaged the once beautiful city of Mexico, the Spaniards win the day. In the process, Cortes privately has the new Aztec leader, Guatomoc tortured to give up his treasury (which Cortes wants to keep largely for himself).

This informative and fairly dispassionate account of the conquest is gritty, realistic and deliberately shows the best and the worst of the Spaniards, the Aztecs and the subjected peoples who saw the coming of the Spaniards as a means of liberation from Aztec oppression.

4 The Voyage of Hernando Cortes
This was a pretty good book. It was very informative. It may be unsuitable for younger readers, but I found it inriching.

5 The Best to Date on the Subject
The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz is perhaps the best telling of the events that followed the untimely arrival of Hernan Cortez and his band of Conquistadors in Mexico. Diaz himself was one of those conquistadors, and although his takes on what happened are not without bias, they are nevertheless very informative. When you finish reading this book you will have a near perfect understanding of what happened to the Aztec Empire in Mexico.
This book gets the highest recommendation possible.

6 Amazing History, Bland Style
I've wanted to read this book since doing, `The European Empires Overseas' course at Macquarie Uni. You could see the lecturer still got a buzz talking about pirates on the high seas and the like, and he recommended this incredible recollection of Diaz', a soldier who served with Cortes (this translation's spelling) in the early 1500s, surviving two expeditions from Cuba onto the mainland near Mexico beforehand, and the amazing one afterwards where Cortes, with a few hundred soldiers against tens of thousands of locals, manages to eventually capture (and destroy) the enormously rich and established capital.

The style of the book is, consciously, not that of an accomplished writer. Diaz actually abandoned his reminiscences, but resumed them upon reading other accounts that were more stylish but less accurate (he was actually there). There are a hundred scenes and characters in his pages that could be gloriously presented for drama, humour, nobility, tragedy, last minute relief, action, philosophical/ethical debate ... but he just notes things down in a very bland style. But since the content itself is so wild - and (pretty much) factual, you are still interested. Someone else could write (and probably has) a cracking book based on Diaz' facts, but the liberties they'd have to take would probably still leave it as less than the original.

This is not to say that Diaz doesn't have biases. However there is a naivety in his writing so that even when, for example, he may be exaggerating just how constantly pious the soldiers were in risking their own lives to oppose the local practise of human sacrifice, you are still well aware of the utter spiritual conviction of the Conquistadors. And they don't hide their lust for gold. Or even for women - somehow they see no contradiction between their Christianity and accepting or even taking local women as wives or concubines. Cortes accepts several it seems, impregnating the odd one - and this is not seen as needing any defence or apology despite him having a Spanish wife at home. There's no need to mistrust much of what he says, because he's not writing to try to appease a modern audience. Rather he's writing for his peers, people with the same convictions as himself, so he's not trying to hide attitudes that he assumes of everyone.

But this is much of the game with this text. Everyone now will bring their judgements to it. The most common one students would make today I imagine would be outright condemnation: the Spaniards were nothing more than a (slightly) more organised and resourced bunch of pirates, exploiting the innocent locals for gold, causing massive loss of life, and forcing their own absurd religious beliefs on a populace with their own highly developed religion. And in a lot of ways they would be absolutely right. Yet, for me as a Christian, I can't utterly condemn these guys who did consistently (and strategically unwisely - regarding questing for gold and militarily guaranteeing their own survival) witness to the locals. Cortes regularly risks his own safety by challenging their idolatry and practise of human sacrifice.

The latter is condemned as `we're all brothers'. Yet while there was respect shown for the Indians, they were seen as second class - the death of an Indian wasn't seen as nearly as significant as that of a Spaniard. Moreover the move was always towards the best the Indians could hope for was to end up as vassals. But there are contradictions: Diaz earlier condemns someone for contemplating the evil idea of enslaving free men - who were Indians. Yet some Indians who opposed them in battle were branded as slaves.

Were the Indians better or worse off after the invasion? Some of them benefited because Mexico was the superpower extracting a brutal tribute of women and riches - the conquistadors capitalised on those disaffected (Cortes was overjoyed when he heard that there was opposition to Montezuma). But it was hardly a simple thing of walking in, blasting off a gun, pointing to your strangely white skin, and having the locals worship you and hand over all their gold. Before they gained any local backing they had to fight against much greater numbers. Their artillery, steel and cavalry helped, of course - but it was hardly a carefully researched, resourced and executed invasion. It was actually a big mess, with courageous/greedy/rash people just grabbing at a half-chance to improve their lot.

This was the edge of the empire - pioneer country. The rule of law was pretty thin here. Cortes barely managed to get the backing to put together a small fleet, and he charged out ASAP because he knew the backing would falter at any time (it did, and the governor declared him an outlaw almost as soon as he'd left). Cortes knew he had to make good his chance so that even the king of Spain was impressed, or return to be put in chains. Thus after some very narrow victories when the sensible thing would be to count your blessings, return to base to discuss sensible approaches in the light of much new knowledge, and replenish men and resources ... Cortes torches the fleet! This way no-one CAN turn back and change alliances, they're stuck with Cortes and must be loyal to have any chance of surviving.

I'm talking virtually all plot now, but this is History much more than a novel. As a novel it's very poorly written. The thing is essentially content.

Back to the question - were the Indians better off? Well, many just exchanged one oppressor for another (that's History say many). But as a Christian, many did learn the truth and were delivered from idolatry (or, in their corrupted version of Christianity, exchanged one idol for another). The human sacrifice practice would have been greatly reduced or even halted. I suppose you'd have to read about the next couple of hundred years to know.

7 Blood and Gold
I bought this book while on vacation in Mexico. A friend of mine had told me to read it before I went there, and I now know why.

In Oaxaca, I was struck by the beautiful old churches, some dating from the 1500s, that seem to be every other block. As a Catholic, I am used to blood with my Jesus and my saints, but these churches were overwhelmed by it. Along with the red paint though, was the gilt, representing the riches that lured the Conquistadores to the New World.

Diaz's account is thorough, and detached, given the gore, the wars, and the grand and terrible horrors and majesties that he encountered as a captain for Cortes. This quest for gold becomes a war between Christian soldiers and (sometimes) peaceful cannibals, between noble savages and savage nobles, between the old world an old new world, between ways of living very differently lived.

Diaz is not a historian. He is an excellent reporter though. His report is incredible, and true.

His eyewitness accounts of the temples stacked with torsos, red to the ceilings with blood - the grandeur of Mexico City - listening to captured friends being sacrificed to the gods - Cortes' cynical manipulation of tribal conflicts - are a fascinating read.

8 Blood and Gold
I bought this book while on vacation in Oaxaca. A friend of mine had told me to read it before I went there, and I now know why.

Diaz's account is thorough, and detached, given the gore, the wars, and the grand and terrible horrors and majesties that he encountered as a captain for Cortes. This quest for gold becomes a war between Christian soldiers and (sometimes) peaceful cannibals, between noble savages and savage nobles, between the old world and this old new world, between ways of living very differently lived.

Diaz is not a historian. He is an excellent reporter. His report is incredible, and true, which makes it even more incredible.

9 Amazing and Compelling
I really enjoyed reading this book for several reasons. Generally Bernal Diaz has been criticized for his bias in writing about what happened in the conquest of New Spain. However, on closer inspection, you find that he is genuine is his feelings and attitude about the events. He is not the most eloquent writer (afterall he is a soldier, and nearly 80 when writing), but he just writes what he saw.

Anyhow, in regards to the format of this book, I think Penguin did a good job editing the sections and summarizing the sections that detracted from the story. What you are left with are the essential parts of Bernal Diaz's text, and with it, and exciting story of a small band of Conquistadors who took on a huge empire and won.

I felt that I also learned a great deal about the Aztecs themselves from this book. Bernal, when writing, was very attendant to detail, and really painted a fascinating picture of a culture entirely seperate from the Old World, but no less grand.

I definitely recommend this book. There is simply no better way to find out what happened when Spain came to the New World than from the eyes of a Conquistador who was there.

10 Bernal in the eyes of Luis Cardoza y Arag�n.....
Let me share with you one of the most beautiful reveiws of Bernal's epic, writen by the great Guatemalan writer and poet Luis Cardoza y Arag�n (from his book "Guatemala: The Lines of Her Palm", translated into English by Michelle Suderman): I started leafing through The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico at my student's desk, at night by lamplight. I skimmed summaries, the odd page, then began my reading in an orderly fashion. Tirelessly, I penetrated further and further into the enchanted forest, mesmerized by the story and by this encounter with my warrior culture, with the conquest. I was entering a distant and fascinating world. I witnessed and experienced the legendary campaign. I saw and heard it. I smelled its odor of iron, gunpowder and tired bodies. I was awed by the descriptions of Tenochtitlan, the markets and Moctezuma's court. The blood looked fresh on the steps of the pyramids. As Humboldt points out, the exhilaration of a newly discovered world is better transmitted by chroniclers than by poets. My first contact with this work was positively prodigious. Exhaustion came after reading for many hours without being able to stop. Captivated by descriptions and memories, I kept going, reading a little more, just a little more. I finally left off when the light of the new day began singing in my window. This is the most comprehensive work on the conquest of America, though it speaks only of New Spain. It contains a wealth of information, and details of all orders, that we do not find in posterior writings on related events-not even adding them together. It was written in Antigua Guatemala, where D�az del Castillo took up residence in 1545 at the age of forty-nine, and where he died in 1584 after having lived there for about thirty-nine years. He was an old man when he wrote his Discovery and Conquest, nearly half a century after the siege of Mexico Tenochtitlan and the conquest of Guatemala. Bernal D�az del Castillo's chronicle is the most important and engaging of all, the most truthful and comprehensive account of the conquest of America. He wrote it not only in his quest for truth, to refute the chronicles of Cort�s's chaplain, G�mara, and his followers, but out of a need to relive the conquest, out of the same hunger that engendered Don Quixote in Cervantes. Old wounds were opened as he wrote: he himself confesses that he slept with his arms loaded, and that in his old age, he slept fully dressed, accustomed to the exhausting days he spent in Mexico. He was twice conqueror, but the true conquest was the one he carried out seated at his desk, still wearing armor, but no longer wielding the saber.

There are very close ties between this work and the author's life. There was nothing else he could have written. His heart was spilling over with it. Chroniclers would write of the Peru campaigns, campaigns against Turkey, Flanders or Italy, of strangers fighting strangers. D�az del Castillo wrote about his life and about the land where he placed it at risk countless times. That is what makes his work unique, superior to the writings of historians for the perfect spontaneity of his testimony. He is the unknown soldier, the sweating troops bearing their arms and spoils, walking alongside the chief's mount; through him, they were given a voice, immortality. Pen in hand, he became the great adventurer, with the same fury as when he wielded his sword, with the faith that made his companions envision St James slaughtering Indians in the name of the Lord. He left us the conquest, fresh and bloody, gasping for all eternity.

11 Amazing story
Fantastic account of the trials and tribulations of Cortez and his soldiers. The determination of Cortez to succeed even in the face of defeat makes for an unforgetable story. Diaz's account makes this a hard book to set down. A must read for anyone interested in the subject

12 The most exciting book I have read!
Thrilling, awesome, gripping, vulgar, banal, legendary, disgusting, and overwhelmingly compelling. From one battle to the next - 50,000 Mexican warriors pitted against 400 Spaniards - we are revolted by the canabalism of the indigenous peoples, but drawn to their courage and valor. We feel the betrayal and the deceptions of Cortez, but are made aware of his bravery and his honest desire to end human sacrifice. In every page of this book lies the plots and the characters for a single Spielberg movie. But no movie, no adventure, no science fiction, and no goth novel can even come close to Bernal Diaz' first hand account of the initial defeat and final conquest of New Spain.

13 One of the great books.
Bernal Diaz left us a compelling eyewitness account of the Aztec conquest, written in the plain and unassuming style of an old soldier. His keen eye and attention to everyday detail makes Diaz's book a perfect companion to William Prescott's 1846 "History of the Conquest of Mexico," which has lost none of its classic brilliance.

14 Complete acount of the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish.
Review by Tom rederiksen - http://members.aol.com/spdtom/index.html - AZTEC STUDENT TEACHER RESOURCE CENTER: Diaz is an accomplished writer and I was impressed with his attention to detail as it related to the daily life and inter-personal relationships between the Conquistadors. This is a fairly long book but reads easily and anyone that enjoys a good adventure or mystery novel will find this an interesting book. As there are precious few first hand accounts from this time period, this first hand narrative is a must read for anyone getting started in the study of the Mexican conquest time period. This book was written rather late in life by the author. Supposedly, Diaz read a copy of a book by Lopez de Gomara, Chronicle of the Conquest of New Spain, and was so outraged by references to "Cortes this", and "Cortes that", that the old soldier penned this classic. Were it not for the work of Diaz, the world would not have a comprehensive record of the conquest. A must read.