The Lavish Feasts Of Montezuma

Like any other emperor or king, Montezuma II of the Aztec Empire relished any chance to throw a great banquet. When Hernán Cortés and his Spanish explorers arrived in Montezuma’s capital city of Tenochtitlan, they witnessed a few of these feasts and they later described the experience in their letters and memoirs. In particular, Cortés made note of Montezuma’s banquets in a letter to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (r. 1519-1556), and the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo (c. 1492-1580) also recounted Montezuma’s mealtime festivities in his own memoir-history, The Conquest of New Spain.

According to Hernán Cortés, Montezuma’s feasts could be an all-day affair, lasting from morning until nightfall. Around 600 prominent Aztec nobles could be expected to attend such banquets, and each noble had servants or attendants that also came along. The nobles were admitted into the interior of the palace or villa where the main feast was held, but the servants were restricted to adjacent courtyards. Both master and servant, however, would be fed from the emperor’s larder during the course of the event.

Produce and game from all over the Aztec empire was apparently showcased at the emperor’s banquets. Hernán Cortés did not dare to attempt a list of the great variety of foods he witnessed on Montezuma’s tables, but he did state that anything that was able to be hunted, fished or grown in the Aztec territory was served during the event. Bernal Díaz, for his part, did attempt to list some of the foods served at the feasts, but he restricted himself to only commenting on the variety of meat: “every day they cooked fowls, turkeys, local partridges, quail, tame and wild duck, venison, boar, marsh birds, pigeons, hares and rabbits, also many other kinds of birds and beasts native to their country, so numerous that I cannot quickly name them all” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 91).

Before meals were served, servants would reportedly bring out basins of water, so that the emperor and his guests could wash their hands. According to Hernán Cortés there were between 300 and 400 youthful waiters in charge of distributing food and drink. Bernal Díaz, in his own description of the servants, observed that almost all of Montezuma’s personal waiters were beautiful women. After hands had been washed, the food and drink were served—all presented (at least to Montezuma) on red and black pottery from the city of Cholula. At each banquet, Montezuma was reportedly served 30 personal dishes, which were heated to specific temperatures by means of coals. Bernal Díaz further alleged that Montezuma would personally drink from around 50 jugs of frothy hot chocolate brought to him during the course of one of his feasts, and that he would smoke from three tubes filled with a tobacco mixture. As for what was served to the emperor’s guests, the beleaguered kitchen staff was reportedly expected to produce a staggering 1,000 dishes of food and 2,000 jugs of chocolate, or other such drinks.

When it came time to dine, a screen was brought out to give the emperor some privacy. Only the most trusted of the emperor’s kinsmen (and the beautiful servant women) could be with the emperor behind the screen. While the emperor enjoyed his momentary solace, the rest of the guests were left in good hands—Montezuma’s feasts were livened by professional entertainers of all sorts. Singers, dancers, musicians, jesters, comedians, acrobats, stilt-walkers and side-show attractions were actively brought to live in Tenochtitlan, and the emperor had these entertainers perform during the feasts.

When the revelers were finished with their meals, servants once more brought out basins of water so that everyone could wash up. As the guests left, they likely yearned eagerly for their next invitation to one of the emperor’s feasts, which, no doubt to the horror of the kitchen staff, apparently occurred frequently.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Print depicting Montezuma II greeting Hernan Cortes, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm 
• https://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/cortesletter.html  

Montezuma II’s Apartments Of Amusing Persons

In its heyday, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) was a huge and beautiful place, featuring wide causeways, bustling markets and navigable canals. For the Aztec rulers, the city was also a land of many amusements. Montezuma II, the first Aztec emperor who had the misfortune of meeting Europeans, devoted great amounts of resources to collecting and maintaining items, creatures and people that he found entertaining. Several villas and palaces, located both in and outside of Tenochtitlan, were reportedly used to house the Aztec emperor’s collection of oddities. From birds, to snakes, or weapons and armors, the emperor had space set aside for all sorts of animate and inanimate interests—including certain kinds of humans.

Hernán Cortés, in a letter to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1520, mentioned a “palace that contained a number of men and women of monstrous size, and also dwarfs, and crooked and ill-formed persons, each of which had their separate apartments” (Second Letter to Charles V, 1520). Each apartment had its own care team, tasked with seeing to the needs of those who were housed in the building. The residents of the apartments were brought out as entertainers when Hernán Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan. The Spaniards likened the role these people played in Montezuma’s feasts as something akin to the jesters back in Europe.

In a different palace, where Montezuma kept his huge collection of birds, the Aztec emperor also housed another type of people who caught his interest—albinos. At that bird-adjacent apartment, wrote Cortés, “are men, women and children, whose faces, bodies, hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes are white from their birth” (Second Letter to Charles V, 1520). In his letter, Cortés was not explicit about the care given to these people, but the birds, alone, had a crew of reportedly over 300 Aztec keepers.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Map of Tenochtitlan, printed 1524 in Nuremberg, Germany, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1520cortes.asp (Cortes’ Second Letter) 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Montezuma-II 
• https://www.biography.com/political-figure/montezuma-ii  

The Giant Bone Hernan Cortes Saw In Tlaxcala

When Hernan Cortes landed in the vicinity of Mexico in 1519, he quickly began causing problems for the Aztecs by exploiting the precarious politics of the region. He first brought the disgruntled Totonac people into rebellion against Montezuma II and then marched inland to meet with the Tlaxcalans, bitter rivals of the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans first took Hernan Cortes to be a hostile invader and responded to his presence in their land with force. After several battles, however, Cortes was able to bring the Tlaxcalans into negotiations and formed with them an alliance that would eventually topple the Aztec Empire.

While the Spaniards were staying at Tlaxcala, the locals gave Cortes and his officers women to marry, food to eat, and an abundance of intelligence information, spanning topics such as Aztec military formations, the layout of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), and an explanation of Montezuma’s water supply system. As the Tlaxcalans were in such a sharing mood, they also treated the Spaniards to some of their local curiosities. One such display was a set of huge bones which were shown to the explorers. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a member of Hernan Cortes’ expedition, described the Spanish reaction to the huge remains or fossils:

“To show us how big these giants had been they brought us the leg-bone of one, which was very thick and the height of an ordinary-sized man, and that was a leg-bone from the hip to the knee. I measured myself against it, and it was as tall as I am, though I am of a reasonable height….We were all astonished by the sight of these bones and felt certain there must have been giants in that land. And Cortes said that we ought to send the leg-bone to Castile so that His Majesty might see it, which we did by the first agents who went there” (The Conquest of New Spain, Chapter 78).

According to Bernal Díaz, the Tlaxcalans had a folklore explanation for the gigantic bones. The native story allegedly aligned with the Spaniards’ own impression that the bones belonged to an extinct group of huge humanoids. Tlaxcalan tradition, Bernal Díaz claimed, told of an evil race of giants who lived in the region in the distant past. The ancestors of the Tlaxcalans were said to have waged war against the giants and eventually drove the creatures into extinction.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Dinosaur Exhibit in the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas, USA. [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hernan-Cortes 
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Tlaxcala-state-Mexico 
• https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/hernan-cortes  

The Unflattering Mission Of The Conquistador, Heredia

Hernán Cortés, when he explored Yucatan and the Mexico region, was dead set on destroying native temples and replacing them with Christian altars. He did, however, use the native religion to his advantage whenever it suited his goals. 16th-century Spanish writers, such as the conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, claimed that many of the natives believed the Spaniards were gods. Whether or not this debatable claim was fully accurate, Hernán Cortés and his comrades did reportedly try to associate themselves with the local pantheon of gods. This was particularly clear in an odd mission that Cortés gave to one unfortunate conquistador.

In 1519, just after the Spaniards had founded Vera Cruz, Hernán Cortés thought up an interesting scheme to boost the already sky-rocketing reputation of the conquistadors among the locals. He launched this plan when the Totonac people (Cortés’ allies who had recently rebelled against the Aztecs) asked for Spanish help against hostile warriors who were marauding around a nearby town. Cortés, indeed, agreed to aid the Totonacs, but his help came in a very odd form. He gave the chiefs a single old veteran conquistador, confidently assuring the allied chieftains that the one Spaniard had more than enough strength to demolish all of the marauders.

An aging Basque warrior by the name of Heredia was chosen for this mission. Unfortunately, his reason for selection was not very flattering. As Cortés wanted the conquistadors to be connotated with the local gods, Heredia reportedly was chosen solely because he resembled some of the idols and religious representations that the Spaniards had seen during their travels. The Spaniards, however, thought very little of the appearances of the native gods, often describing them as monstrous, hideous and ugly. Therefore, poor Heredia had the misfortune of being considered one of the ugliest men among Hernán Cortés’ expeditionary force.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a member of Cortés’ expedition and described Heredia as “an old Basque musketeer with a very ugly face covered with scars, a huge beard, and one blind eye. He was also lame in one leg” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 49). Before Heredia set off with his trusty musket, Cortes gave the gruff and tough veteran some instructions. Cortés reassured the man that he would not actually be fighting the reported marauders alone. Instead, Heredia’s true mission was to look intimidating and march with their Totonac allies to a nearby river. He was also told to continually fire his musket, so that those with him could hear the explosion of the shot, and see the flash of powder and the billowing gun smoke. Even if Heredia’s firearm did not impress the natives, Hernán Cortés was sure that the man’s appearance would leave a great impression. According to Bernal Díaz, Heredia was told directly by Cortés that “when they see your ugly face they’ll certainly take you for one of their idols” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 49).

Heredia was apparently a good sport and went along with the plan. Putting on his best impression of a god, the blind-eyed, lame-legged and well-aged warrior marched with a force of locals, firing occasional shots from his musket at nothing in particular.  Each blast, it was said, amazed the natives who were within earshot and eyesight of the man. When Heredia reached a nearby river, he began to loiter there by washing his hands in the stream and taking a drink of water. As was preplanned, a messenger from Cortés then arrived to halt the war party. In his message, Cortés claimed that, although Heredia could have done the job alone, Hernán Cortés had decided to show his dedication to the Totonac people by leading his whole army of conquistadors, in person, against the nearby marauders. According to Spanish sources, Cortés’ scheme worked and the Totonac people disseminated propaganda that claimed there was a god marching with their forces. Yet the Totonacs caught the Spaniards in a ruse of their own—when Cortés and his army reached the locations of the so-called marauders, he discovered no hostile forces, but instead found that his Totonac allies had led him to a long-hated rival city. Although some looting and pillaging occurred upon arrival, as soon as Cortés discovered the truth of the situation, he reportedly halted the assault and brokered a truce or alliance between the two enemy peoples.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (The conquistadors pray before entry to Tenochtitlan, painted by Margaret Duncan Coxhead, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hernan-Cortes
• http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm 

Montezuma II Had His Agents Literally Paint Him A Picture Of Hernán Cortés And The Spanish Expedition of 1519

After defeating the Mayan-related Tzendals of Tabasco, Mexico, in March 1519, Hernán Cortés and his fleet sailed to a port called San Juan de Ulua, located in a region that would be called Vera Cruz. San Juan de Ulua was controlled by the Aztec emperor, Montezuma II, and once Hernán Cortés entered the region, his fleet was closely watched by Aztec agents—it only took a reported half hour after the Spaniards dropped anchor before representatives of Montezuma rowed up to the Spanish fleet in canoes. Although the first Aztec diplomats were apparently of low rank, it was not long before officials of loftier positions began to arrive.

Hernán Cortés, according to his comrade Bernal Díaz del Castillo, was said to have anchored in San Juan de Ulua on a Thursday, and then he cautiously disembarked on Friday. The very next day, an Aztec leader named Cuitlalpitoc sent a large delegation to meet with Cortés. Cuitlalpitoc, said by the Spanish to have been the equivalent of a governor, did not personally visit, but the delegation he sent arrived with pageantry and gifts. They gave the Spaniards presents of food and gold, as well as some building supplies, such as lumber, axes and cloth. On Sunday, the day after the delegation’s arrival, an even greater Aztec procession marched up to San Juan de Ulua to meet with Hernán Cortés. The party was led by two men. One was the aforementioned Cuitlalpitoc and the other was Tendile (also called Teuthlille), who was of equal or greater rank than his companion. They brought more gifts for the Spaniards, including another round of food and a reported ten bales of marvelous white cloth.

Yet, besides handing out gifts, the Aztec officials were also doing a bit of intelligence gathering on behalf of Montezuma. As it was centuries before the days of spy planes and cameras, the Aztecs did the next best thing—they painted portraits. Tendile reportedly had in his party numerous painters who diligently put on canvas every aspect of the Spanish expedition. About these artists, Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote:

“It appears Tendile brought with him some of those skilled painters they have in Mexico, and that he gave them instructions to make realistic full-length portraits of Cortés and all his captains and soldiers, also to draw the ships, sails, horses, Doña Marina and Aguilar [Cortés’ translators], and even the two greyhounds. The cannon and cannon-balls, and indeed the whole of our army, were faithfully portrayed, and the drawings were taken to Montezuma.” (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 38)

After taking the detailed portraits of the Spaniards, and receiving several gifts from Cortés to be handed over to Montezuma, Tendile left San Juan de Ulua to report what he had seen to the Aztec emperor. The portrait of Hernán Cortés must have been quite accurate, for Montezuma curiously sent a Cortés look-alike to accompany Tendile on his return trip to San Juan de Ulua. Bernal Díaz made mention of this look-alike, whom the Spaniards named Quintalbor, and admitted that the man was, indeed, an impeccable impersonator of the conquistador: “On account of this resemblance we in the camp called them ‘our Cortés’ and ‘the other Cortés’ (The Conquest of New Spain, chapter 39). Yet, it was not the look-alike that caused the most excitement. Tendile also brought with him a large treasure of gold, both in unworked ore and grains, as well as exquisitely crafted golden disks and figures. Unfortunately, this made the Spaniards exponentially more curious and envious of Aztec wealth, and despite Montezuma ordering his people to cut off contact with the Spaniards, Hernán Cortés would soon show up at Montezuma’s capital city of Tenochtitlán.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Banquet scene of the Conquest of Mexico, by Miguel Gonzales (Virreinato de la Nueva España, XVII - XVIII century - Virreinato de la Nueva España), c. 17th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• https://www.ancient.eu/Montezuma/ 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Montezuma-II 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mesoamerican-civilization/images-videos/media/376698/3170 
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cortes_hernan.shtml 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hernan-Cortes 
• https://www.biography.com/explorer/hernan-cortes 
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2016/05-06/cortes-tenochtitlan/  

Canoes Vs. Conquistadors—Spanish Explorers Almost Lost Their Ship To A Fleet Of Stealthy Canoes

On April 8, 1518, Juan de Grijalva sailed from Cuba with four ships on an expedition to the Aztec shores of the Gulf of Mexico. His goals were exploration, gold, and, if possible, colonial settlement. The conquistadors fought one sizable battle at the native town of Champoton, a feisty settlement that had given Spanish adventurers trouble in the past. Yet, after that battle, the conquistadors faced virtually no violent resistance until the end of their expedition. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a Spaniard who was in the Grijalva expedition and later served with Hernán Cortés, wrote that the peaceful reception they received from the other local towns was due to the influence of the Aztec emperor, Montezuma II. The Aztec ruler allegedly encouraged his people to cooperate and trade with the Spaniards. The native population obeyed the emperor and the Spaniards successfully bartered for gold in several locations on their journey, usually exchanging worthless beads and cut glass for the native jewelry. Most impressively, the Spaniards spent six whole days near the Rio Jampa exchanging their baubles for gold.

As months passed by, the expedition began to run out of supplies. They sent one of the three ships, commanded by Pedro de Alvarado, back to Cuba in order to ask for supplies and reinforcements. With him also went any wounded Spaniards, as well as all the gold that had so far been accumulated. While the lone ship returned to Cuba, the remaining three vessels continued exploring the Mexican coast.

The peace and gold made the explorers complacent. Even though the sailors often anchored their ships near foreign cities, the lack of aggression made them comfortable enough to eventually begin neglecting lookout duty and inter-ship communication. While the expedition was still in regions firmly under Montezuma’s control, the Spaniards could get away with such behavior. Nevertheless, the explorers would soon be shocked out of their stupor.

Juan de Grijalva and his three remaining ships eventually reached the Pánuco River and anchored their ships where it met the gulf. As had become a regrettable habit, the sailors did not set up any effective lookouts and were generally inattentive in their security procedures. With these protective measures missing, the Spaniards were woefully unprepared for a threat that was silently rowing closer.

Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, they had entered hostile waters. The land around the mouth of the Pánuco River was on the periphery, or completely outside, of Montezuma’s sphere of influence. Consequently, the locals of the region had not received, or did not care to obey, the Aztec policy of appeasing the Spaniards. Instead, the locals living near the mouth of the Rio Pánuco gathered their canoes into a fleet and cast off to challenge the explorers.

Unbelievably, the stealthy fleet of natives successfully paddled to the smallest Spanish ship and began attaching ropes to the vessel. The absence of lookouts and a general lack of awareness among the Spaniards allowed the warriors in their canoes to work without any harassment from the oblivious sailors. Finally, one of the canoes paddled over to the ship’s anchor and chopped the line with an axe.

By now, the chop of the axe and the sounds of numerous oars slapping water had finally alerted the Spaniards. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, an eyewitness of the event, it was an incredibly odd sight—he estimated that he saw twenty large canoes, packed full of warriors. This imaginative native fleet was apparently trying to use their ropes and canoes to haul away the ship. While some of the warriors paddled the canoes, the remainder of the force used their bows to rain arrows down on the crew of the roped ship. Yet, unfortunately for the fleet of canoes, the sailors in the ship had by now grabbed their crossbows and muskets to return fire.

The commotion caught the attention of the other expedition ships. Eager to help their comrades, the crews from the unmolested vessels grabbed their crossbows and muskets before hopping into rowboats and set off paddling toward the fleet of canoes. With crossbow bolts and musket balls flying at the local force from both the roped ship and the oncoming rowboats, the warriors in the canoes began to take heavy losses. Now that the prospect of stealing the ship was impossible, the natives dropped their ropes and frantically paddled for safety. Unfortunately, Bernal Díaz claimed that he and his comrades were able to injure more than a third of the warriors before the canoes fell out of range. After the odd incident, the expedition gave the Rio Pánuco a nickname—the Rio de Canoas, or the River of Canoes.

The fight against the canoe fleet prompted Juan de Grijalva to began retracing his path back toward Cuba. On the return trip, the explorers faced no more attacks from the towns they encountered. Instead, the journey home was filled with trading and at least one case of theft. By the time Juan de Grijalva returned home, his expedition had obtained a treasure of gold worth an estimated 20,000 16th-century silver pesos.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Indian Canoe, painted by Albert Bierstadt  (1830–1902), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.

The Fake Gold Axes Of The Juan De Grijalva Expedition To Mexico

Juan de Grijalva (or Grijalba) set out from Cuba on April 8, 1518, with four ships and explored the Yucatan Peninsula and the Aztec shores of Mexico. He made one of the first sizable gold hauls from Mexican soil, which unfortunately made Spaniards like Harnán Cortés insatiably hungry for more. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, an eyewitness who was present on the Juan de Grijalva expedition, the explorers bartered enough beads and cut glass to accumulate a cargo of gold that was worth more than 20,000 16th-century silver pesos.

Although the Spaniards loved gold, they were also incredibly excited about a peculiar orangey-gold item that they had bought in bulk from the natives. According to Bernal Díaz, the members of the Juan de Grijalva expedition were enthralled with some ornate axes that the locals were wearing. The handles of these tools were ornately painted and the polished metal of the axe heads was a bright yellowish-orange color. In their gold-fever, the Spaniards immediately assumed that the natives were wielding pricey golden axes.

Believing that they had found veritable ingots of sharpened gold on sticks, the Spaniards began bartering their beads, cut glass, and Spanish-style shirts for the axes. By the time the expedition was heading back to Cuba, they had collected more than 600 of the shiny axe heads. The sailors reportedly stowed them away securely and did not look at the axes until they anchored in Cuba.

Unfortunately, when the sailors unveiled their prized golden axes, something was immediately amiss. While the axes had been stowed away, the once gleaming metal had become unmistakably tarnished. Instead of gold, the axes had been made of polished copper, and with the fresh layer of tarnish, the mistake was now very, very obvious. While the axes were still worth some money, the Spaniards understandably felt devastated by the discovery. When news of the axe mix-up spread through Cuba, other Spanish notables on the island teased Juan de Grijalva to no end.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Mesoamerican copper axe, c. 1300 - 1599, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and picryl.com).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juan-de-Grijalba 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bernal-Diaz-del-Castillo  

The Peaceful, But Aggressive, Reception Of Conquistadors By The Yucatan City Of Campeche

In March 1517, three ships carrying approximately a hundred Spanish fighting men sailed westward along the Yucatan Peninsula. Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba was the leader of the expedition and the chief navigator was Anton de Alaminos. In the middle of the month (around March 20), the Spaniards spotted a sizable native town called Campeche, which was located on a small bay. The explorers decided to anchor two of their trio of ships three miles out to sea, then they packed their full force of fighters into the smallest ship and loaded any stragglers onto accompanying rowboats. The Spaniards sailed this way into the bay and made landfall near a freshwater pool that was not far from the native town. They were equipped with all of their weapons and armor—the explorers had suffered an ambush by natives earlier that month and did not want to be caught off guard again.

When the Spaniards touched ground, the first thing they did was fill up their water casks in the nearby pool. While they were accomplishing the task, a delegation of about 50 well-dressed natives from the town of Campeche came out to meet with the foreigners. On this particular expedition, the Spaniards had no interpreters, so the two cultures did their best to communicate with signals and hand gestures. The natives pointed toward their town in a welcoming way, which the Spaniards took as an invitation to tour Campeche. The native delegates led the explorers (who were still well-armed) into town, and, to the credit of both peoples, peace was maintained.

Even though the occasion was peaceful, the atmosphere could not have been more tense. Bernal Díaz del Castillo was one of the Spaniards who entered the town. He was in his mid-twenties and this was his first expedition on land that was unconquered by the Spanish. Bernal Díaz would later write a history about his experiences in the so-called New Spain, including what happened when the Spaniards entered Campeche.

According to Bernal Díaz, the natives of the town were unafraid and confident. Despite the presence of the Spanish adventurers, local men and women wandered the streets as if it were any other day. Even so, the warriors of Campeche were mustered and armed with spears, bows and slings and keep an eye on the newcomers. The band of approximately one hundred Spaniards, with their swords, crossbows and muskets, could likely have defeated the town’s garrison, or at least have fought their way to safety, but the inevitable high casualties from such a battle was something this particular band of explorers wanted to avoid—the crew had already suffered at least thirteen casualties from the ambush that occurred earlier that month.

The Spaniards were ushered by their native guides and the local warriors to a temple in Campeche. From the temple came ten natives who wore long cloth garments that reached down to their feet. They had long hair that was covered in a red substance that reminded Bernal Díaz of blood. Although the Spaniards could not understand the local language, they judged from the aura of authority commanded by the ten figures that these men were leaders of the native community.

The ten leaders called for their people to bring dried reeds and other flammable materials to a position near the temple. From these supplies, pyres were formed. Using signals and gestures, the leaders of Campeche warned the Spaniards that their presence in the city would only be welcome as long as the pyres were alight—once they burned out, the warriors of Campeche would attack. After the warning was given, the pyres were lit and the ten native leaders withdrew to their temple without any further conversation.

Under the time restraint, the Spaniards did not have long to tour the town. Bernal Díaz spent his time people-watching and also took a peek into the temple. It was built from masonry, which he judged to be of fine quality. Inside, the walls were decorated with depictions of local gods and mythological creatures. There was also a symbol-covered altar that was recently stained with a disquieting substance, which Bernal Díaz believed again to be blood.

Unfortunately, even though there was still so much to see in Campeche, the pyres were beginning to burn low and the native warriors started to shout war cries. Not wanting to overstay their welcome, the Spaniards quickly withdrew from the town and marched for the coast. The explorers did not want to embark on their ships too close to Campeche, so they marched along the coast toward a large rock landmark and signaled for their ships to follow. Once safely away from the native town, the Spaniards embarked on their ships and continued their journey, without any blood being spilled.

Unfortunately for the Spaniards, the rest of their journey would not be so peaceful. Bernal Díaz estimated that by the end of the 1517 expedition, virtually all of the adventurers were injured and more than half were dead. Of course, Bernal Díaz was not among the deceased. Instead, he would survive to participate in other famous expeditions, including that of the famous conquistador, Hernán Cortés.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Conquistadors in Tenochtitlan, by Margaret Duncan Coxhead (c. 1909), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz, translated by J. M. Cohen. New York: Penguin Books, 1963.