Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve Episode two hundred and thirty eight. Who
needs Orders Anyway last time we met Hernan Cortez. So far, there really
hasn't been much to distinguish Cortes from his predecessors Cordoba or Grivala. So far,
he simply sailed along the coast, met many of the same tribes as
Grivala, fought a few minor engagements, and discovered nothing of any real consequence.
In this episode, however, Cortez is going to begin to become the
Cortes will come down through history. This is the moment when history changes,
the hinge point, when Cortes goes from being a run of the mill explorer
to the conquistador we all know. Really the first thing he needs to do
in order to get there is jettison Governor Wilasquez his orders. So long as
he remains constrained by those, Cortez can never become Cortes. Today, he
takes that momentous step and starts down the road to technosh Declan. Back in
the capital of the Mexica Empire, Montezuma, decided to appease these mysterious visitors,
whether they were gods, or not, they were to be given everything
they wanted, so long as they went away. He sent down the host
more emissaries with more and more elaborate presence. At this point, Montezuma was
clearly distressed, supposedly saying, quote, all of us will die at the
hands of the new gods, and those who survive will be their slaves and
vassals. They are the ones to reign now, and I shall become the
last ruler of this land. Even if some of our relations and descendants survive,
they will be subordinates, like tax gatherers and quote. In spite of
all this, Montezuma apparently gave a separate order. This one suggests that he
didn't know who he was dealing with. He told his agent to quote,
discover with absolute certainty, if he's one of our ancestors, a god.
If he is, greet him and give him these presents from me. If
he eats and drinks which you give him, he is surely one of our
gods, as he will be shown to be familiar with our food. Then
tell him to allow me to die. Tell him that after my death he
will be welcome to come here and take possession of his kingdom as it is
his. But let him allow me to end my days here. Then he
can return to enjoy what is his. If by chance, he does not
like the food which you have given him, and if he is desirous of
eating human flesh and would like to eat you, allow yourself to be eaten.
I assure you I will look after your wife, relations, and children.
And quote not exactly the marching orders you want to get from your boss.
So when the Mexica emissaries arrived on the coast, they asked for Cortez,
who was that day on his ship. Cortez gave worth that the emissary
should be brought to him. He dressed as much like a king as he
could. The Mexicans bowed before him and kissed the deck. They offered to
have ten slaves sacrificed for him then and there, an offer he adamantly refused.
They then made the speech Montezuma had written for him. Quote, pray
that the God will hear us, Your lieutenant, Montezuma comes to give homage
to you. He has the city of Mexico in his charge. End quote.
So far this was a pretty normal exchange for the Mexica Cortes thought it
was all beyond bizarre. The Mexicans then got to the heart of it.
They asked Cortes point blank whether it was his intention to go to technosht Clan
on his behalf. Marina, his key translator at this point, said that
it was his intention to go to Technoshticlan to see Montezuma and quote enjoy his
presence end quote, But first he had to organize his affairs on the coast.
He hoped for guidance as to the best way to get to technosoty Clan.
At this point, the Mexicans insisted on bleeding themselves, probably from their
ears or wrists. One of them offered Cortes some blood in the shape of
an eagle. Cortes got angry and gave some Mexicans some blows with the flat
of his sword. The emissaries, who were standing much too close to this
for comfort, then fell to the deck in shock. The crew picked them
up, revived them with some food and drink and wine, but Cortes continued
to bully them as best he could. This is all through interpreters, of
course, but he said to them, quote, listen, I have known
herd that you Mexica are very strong, exceedingly brave, tremendous people. It
has been said that one Mexican can pursue drive on overcome turn back even twenty
of his enemies. I wish to test you, to see how strong you
are, how powerful. He gave them leathers, shields, and steel swords,
and then continued early in the morning, at dawn, we shall fight
and try our strengths. We shall joust in pairs and see who falls.
Of course, the emissaries who had gone there to see if they were gods
or I guess to be eaten, were terrified, but they responded, quote,
this is not what your lieutenant Montezuma commanded us to do. We have
only come to salute our lord. We cannot do what you ask of us.
If we were to do such a thing, we would annoy Montezuma and
he would punish us. Cortes wasn't willing to be pushed off this point.
He wanted his little dog and pony show, so we responded, no,
it must be as I say, I wish to marvel at your prowess,
for it is known even in cass Steele clearly a lie that you are very
powerful and valiant. Now let us eat and in the morning we shall fight
with that. He allowed the Mexicans to go back to their canoes. Now,
presumably he had no intention of jousting with them. More than anything else,
this was courts testing them. Probably he just wanted to observe how they
would react to ruthlessness. But the Mexica instantly set off for shore and rode
with energy. When they reached the shore, and the Mexicans did not stop
for a moment before starting for a technosoty clan. After arriving in the capitol,
the emissaries reported to Montezuma what they had seen. Montezuma quickly called a
court council to discuss the situation. After a brief discussion, Montezuma issued his
decision. If these men's were gods, then they should be barred from the
capitol at all costs. If they were gods, then they were returning to
claim their land and Montezuma would fight them to the death. If the men
were well men, on the other hand, and they should be welcomed as
guests. It might sound odd to us, but Montezuma was ready to do
battle with gods, not men, But the council was not over. Montezuma
allowed his brother to speak. He told the emperor, quote, my advice
is not to allow into your house someone who will put you out of it.
He was not the only one to offer advice. The King of Texcoco,
who was also a nephew of Montezuma, gave this advice quote, my
advice is that if you do not admit the embassy of a great lord,
such as the King of Spain appears to be, it is a low thing.
Since princes have the duty to hear the ambassadors of others. If they
come dishonestly, you have in your court brave captains who can defend us.
End quote. Now, the Mexica workspery, instant receiving guests. They often
received foreign princes in order to demonstrate their grandeur and on occasion savagery. Vast
numbers of people came to their markets, often from remote parts. They had
tons of lodgings for visitors. This was a known thing. At the end
of the discussion, most of those presents seemed to have taken the view that
they should do everything that they can to prevent the arrival of Cortes To technoso
decan. They should declare themselves willing to do anything which the visitors wanted,
but they should insist that it was impracticable for Montezuma to meet Cortez. The
Emperor would under no circumstances go to the coast. You would be told that
the road is long and arduous and full of enemies. They also decided it
would be well if the magicians of Mexico could be assembled and ordered to be
used, and so Montezuma sent his quote wizard and soothsayers and quote to the
coast to see if they could work a spell over the Congista doors. Perhaps
there was a way to well make them I don't know. Vanish, the
Mexican governor of the province, appeared before Cortez's camp or Undmay the first You
again brought presents, cottons, feather work, but above all two large gold
and silver covered wooden disks. Though Montezuma gave the Europeans many gifts, these
two discs are the ones that stand out in all the Spanish records. If
anyone thought it was a mystery what the Europeans were after, they weren't paying
attention. The governor told Cortes that they could continue to provide gold so that
Cortes could heal his sickness. A meeting with Montezuma, however, that was
out of the question. Cortez gave the governor a set of Spanish clothing as
a present. He then pressed him on the issue of a meeting with Montezuma.
Cortes dressed it was essential because if he did not meet with Montezuma,
then he Cortes would fall into disfavor with his king. Why this was the
Mexicans problem, I'm not sure, but Cortes seemed certain it was. The
governor said he would pass along Cortes's message, though it was unlikely to make
a difference. Before going, he tried to convince the Europeans to move their
camp inland. While this would have protected them from the mosquitos on the coast,
it also would have made them easier to surround. Cortes declined. As
soon as the official was gone, Cortes was visited by about twenty Teutonic Indians
from Kempolan, some twenty miles up the coast. These Totanaks seemed taller than
those in the towns that he had previously visited. They had come, they
said, on behalf of their lord, who had maintained himself independent of Montezuma.
This was not true exactly, since though autonomous, he did pay tribute
to the Mexico. But Cortes was impressed by the Campollion's desire to distance themselves
from the paramount power of Technoshti Klan. He was positively delighted by their resertion
that many peoples who had accepted subservience to Mexico as a result of military defeat
during the last hundred years, regretted it. The vassals of the Emperor of
Mexico seemed to receive little from him, except vague promises of help in the
event of famine, But Cortes remained unsure of his next being. That said,
he found the information pleasing. He knew from history that it had been
easier for the Spanish to defeat the Moors during the Riconquista when they were divided.
Perhaps he could do the same here. But these were not the only
divisions going on. Some of Cortes's men had begun to grumble. They wanted
to go home. Some felt Cortes had already overstepped his mandate from Velasquez.
Discipline was becoming a problem. Some sailors had been seen bartering with locals for
gold, but pursue into his orders, Cortes had to be the only one
who collected gold so that the king might get his fifth. There was trouble
brewing, but before this matter came to a head, Montezuma's wizards got to
work. They reached Cortes's camp with no difficulty. Presumably there were many Indian
servants running about Mexican at Tutanac, so entry wasn't difficult. The magicians tried
all sorts of tricks, but they found that quote if the Spaniards find to
flee in their ear, they would kill it end quote. There was another
trouble quote the Spanish spent all night talking and at dawn or at their horses
again end quote. Their flesh was also just so tough that it was impossible
to know where their hearts were. The men of magic ultimately returned to Montezuma
with bad news. Quote we are not equal contenders. We are nothing in
respect of them. End quote. Soon after this, the Mexican governor appeared
once more for a third time. He told Cortez he might as well go
home. He could not see Montezuma and there was no point in trying to
do so. Cortez said he absolutely had to see Montezuma and there was no
getting around it. Angry, the governor immediately stopped the provisions the Mexica had
been making available to the Europeans. Cortes assumed this was a prelude to an
attack. He sent one hundred men armed with crossbows and arquebuses into the interior
to look for corn. Cortes had long since used up his supply of munitions.
If the men did not find a source of food, they would starve.
As these men explored, they again came across what they believed to be
evidence of human sacrifice. The repeated discovery of evidence of human sacrifice served to
permanently sour relations between Europeans and the natives of Mesoamerica. This was something new
to Europeans. They had not encountered any human sacrifice amongst the Tyanas of the
Caribbean. The practice of human sacrifice and the need to stop said practice was
often a European justification for how they treated these people. Moving forward, and
spoiler alert that is not going to be positive. But these discoveries also served
to fuel the arguments of those who wanted to return to Cuba immediately. While
this group continued to agitate and argue for a return, another group wanted to
do just the opposite. Cortes seems to have long considered the possibility of establishing
a settlement on the coast. This would have been a direct contravention of the
orders Velasquez had given him, but still in Cortes's mind, it was the
prudent thing to do, and there were others on the expedition who agreed with
him. Cortes wanted to stay, but he didn't want it to look like
it was his idea. So what he did next was very clever and likely
changed the course of history. Cortez made it known that he had agreed with
those who wanted to leave. They were running out of supplies, so they
needed to go home. What this did, though, was give his friends
the opportunity to object. Those who wanted to stay now loudly proclaimed their intention
to found a settlement, which was what Cortez wanted. They called on him
at once quote in the name of God and the King end quote to found
a colony. After all, they argued, the Mexica would probably never let
them land again. This might be their only chance. Furthermore, if some
people wanted to go home, then let them. Those who had the adventurous
spirits would remain. Cortez publicly pretended to hesitate. Privately, he was already
searching for the best place to found a colony. He very much wanted a
place that had a good port. Cortes recognized that Spanish strength lay at sea,
and wherever he built a port, it needed to be able to be
resupplied by the ocean. Cortes did not want to commit to the idea of
a settlement until he had picked out a place and then could argue just how
prosperous the site might be. While certain representatives who were loyal to Velasquez were
away, Cortes called together a meeting of the rest of the men. He
told them all that he was interested in serving the king, serving the King
more than anyone else, and in order to effectuate that, he was going
to order that they all ceased trading in gold with the natives, as they
had been doing up until then. Then, with a show of reluctance,
he agreed to found a city to be called via Rica de la Vera Cruz.
The men of the expedition would constitute its population. The name derived from
the fact that the land was rich ricca Vera Cruz. The true cross would
recall that they had landed there on Good Friday. Cortes continued, addressing as
men in sensible terms. It was obvious that the indigenous peoples of Mexico were
more civilized, more reasonable, and more intelligent that those of the Caribbean.
There was evidently much more territory than what they had seen. They should build
walls and fortifications, as the Portuguese had done in Africa. When they had
built the place, they could unload everything and send their ships back to Cuba,
the betrayed with the people of Kempolana and other places known to be hostile
to Mexico. Each member of the expedition would become a citizen the casino of
the new municipality, with the right to vote in elections for the municipal counts.
Cortes knew exactly what he was doing. He had studied Velasquez, and
this is exactly how Velasquez had founded new Cuban towns. In fact, Cortes
himself had often been the notary confirming these arrangements, but he did something original.
Having studied in Salamanca and having worked as a lawyer, he believed that
a case could be made for thinking that in the absence of a properly constituted
authority, authority would revert to the community, which would then be able to
elect its own legal representatives. And so a number of people close to Cortes
were then to be named the first magistrates and counselors of the town. There
seems to have been a vote then and there, probably determined by a show
of hands. Ultimately, all these men had titles that were identical to those
which they might have held in far away Castile. Cortes was then called upon
by the councilors, these new councilors of Villa Rica de Vila Cruz, to
show them the instructions with Velasquez had given him. He produced the paper,
and this paper showed that well Cortez had completed his mission, he had no
authority to act anymore, and therefore the town councilors, who had been elected
ten minutes earlier, declared that his mission was concluded. He therefore resigned his
offices. But of course this resignation was a charade, because immediately afterwards,
and most assuredly by prior arrangement, the town council nominated Cortes as chief Justice
Sie of Villa Rica, as well as captain of His Majesty's armies until the
king should decide other wise. Now, Cortez in his writings would always refer
to these nominations as a quote unquote election, but in reality, the men
who had just picked Cortes to lead this new settlement had themselves been hand picked.
But then again, as Bo's appearance as matters we went through the motions,
the character of the expedition now changed absolutely and decisively. He was not
merely an explorer working on behalf of Governor of Alaskaz. Once Cortez established his
own settlement and town council, you could effectively argue that there was no need
to correspond with the governor at all, because they were now outside his jurisdiction.
Cortes's enemies would later denounce all these actions as a rebellion. Cortes's argument
was different. Traditional Spanish medieval law provided that a populace could form a municipal
council, all laws could also be set aside by the demand of the good
men in the community. In Mexico, this quote ute community was the expedition
itself, in which Cortes's friends were in the majority and Velasquez his friends the
minority. Now, none of the conquisadors since the very first journey of Columbus
had considered acting as Cortes was doing right now. The only one who had
come close was Balboa, who had allowed himself to think of independence from Castile,
but he had not thought of asserting autonomy while bypassing the governors incented Domingo
and insisting on direct dependence on the crown. Moreover, he got killed by
Native Americans, rendering the whole question moot. In Cuba, Velasquez had founded
towns which developed their own identities, but he had consulted with the authorities in
Hispaniola before making his plans. Perhaps Cortes knew he was breaking the law.
Later on he was often heard to say, quote, if laws have to
be broken in order to reign, then let them be broken. End quote.
Once the council elected Cortes to his position, that did something else unusual.
They decided that once the royal fifth had been deducted from any treasure,
then Cortes would take a fifth for himself. Cortes was now effectively equivalent to
the king. This decision had a tangential impact. It was much easier to
divide up gold and silver if it was first melted down. As a result,
almost no pre Columbian gold work from Mexico remains today. Again, blame
Cortez if you are angry about that. He would later explain his system as
follows quote. So they had set up a settlement, they had no way
of maintaining themselves saved by relying on what they had taken with them. Cortez,
like Caesar, he oftentimes refers to himself in the third person. Therefore,
would take what he needed for himself and his staff, while the rest
would be valued at the right price and then distributed among the men of the
expedition. Quote. Cortes liked to think that all of this was decided by
some sort of consensus vote. In reality, the exchanges he had with the
quote men of the expedition end quote were of a very limited nature. The
rank and file and sailors were likely never consulted at all. Some of the
men would later say that Cortes had quote done what he should not have done,
but they did not talk of it for fear of being hanged endquote.
Like any self serving explanation or excuse, it's impossible to know just how true
this statement was. Cortes had decided to found Via de Rica de la Vera
Cruz, a site that would later become Vera Cruz, Mexico. To effect
this, he led himself four hundred men, the horses, and four pieces
of artillery to that place of land. In the end, he had done
it. That's the bottom line. Cortes had crossed his rubicon. He had
violated velasquez his orders in a way that no one could question. Depending on
the outcome of the years ahead, he would either be a hero or a
traitor, the line between the two often being razor. Then, the failure
of Montezuma's magicians to make the conquistadors disappear disheartened the emperor. According to one
source quote, there was weeping dejection and tearful greetings end quote. Excepting for
the moment that the Europeans were going to march on technosht Khan, Montezuma decided
he would do everything in his power to slow them down. Maybe he reasoned
if he threw enough discomfort in their path, they would turn back. He
does not seem to have considered the idea that he might send a massive military
force to just wipe them out again. They might be gods, but they
might be emissaries of some distant and powerful king. Was not willing to take
that risk yet. Montezuma stationed messengers along the road to technosh declan to bring
news of any developments, and the first news he would have gotten would have
been that Cortes had set out for Verna Cruz. I'm generally going to just
use the modern name for the city, just for simplicity, and they did
so honor, about June seventh, fifteen nineteen. The journey was about forty
miles if you could draw a straight line, which you couldn't. Still,
it should have taken Cortez about two days, and it took much much longer.
This is because Cortez stopped at the village of Campalan, the seat of
the Totanas, whose chief was an enemy of Montezuma. Cortez was still looking
for allies, and he was not disappointed. The Indians welcomed the Europeans with
gifts of turkeys and tortillas. One hundred or so came out to greet Cortes
and his men. The people there were utterly fascinated by the horses. At
first, they believed the men were some kind of centaurs, that they and
the horses were won. The mistakes went both ways, however, Cortez's men
reported back that the homes within the town were roofed entirely with silver. They
weren't. It was white paint gleaming in the sun. But I can say,
man, know, sometimes you see what you want to see. The
city of Kemplan was large, about fourteen thousand souls. All told, The
Totnox could count about two hundred thousand people within their realm and dependent kingdoms.
Cortez very much wanted to have these people on his side. The chief asked
Cortez to stay and be gladly accepted. In fact, the reception was so
warm that Cortez assumed it must be a trick and stationed men at exits as
though garrisoning a fortress. Several days passed and nothing happened. False alarm.
I guess they're just nice After several days, Cortez decided to make a formal
call on the chief to see what information he could find. The chief told
him that, disappointingly, technosoty Clan was all but impregnable. It was surrounded
by water and the bridges could be pulled up at any moment. But the
chief added two other peoples, the Tlascala and the Husuinto, hated the Mexica.
If Cortes needed allies, they were there for the taking. This seems
to have changed things within Cortes and his plans. For the first time,
he seems to have thought that perhaps conquest was a viable option. Ultimately,
Cortes and his crew spent comfortable two weeks in Keppelan. Then he moved up
the coast to what would be one day Vera Cruz and a change that would
impact the rest of the Spanish conquest. The chief at Kempalan gave the Europeans
four hundred indigenous porters. From this point on, the Spanish would always have
the benefit of such forced muscle to move their guns, ammunition, and supplies.
The benefit to speed and combat effectiveness was immense. There was already a
small town where Vera Cruz would once be. Cortez was surprised at discover his
supply ships had not yet reached the town. All the same, the expedition
was well received. Then, by honestly sheer coincidence, at almost the same
time, a Mexica delegation arrived to collect tribute. Cortes and his men were
fascinated by the appearance of these Grand Mexica bureaucrats. To the lord of the
village, though this was just business as usual. The lord went on to
arrange for the tribute collector's reception in the usual fashion, but Cortes detained him.
He suggested that he should seize the wards, tied them to polls,
and imprisoned them in a room next to his own. The lord of the
village was aghast, but facing Cortez's overwhelming military might, he did as he
was asked. Then, during the night, Cortes executed part two of his
plan. He ordered his guards to secretly release two of the stewards and bring
them to him. He then required his two translators to figure out who they
were. The stewards declared themselves shock to be treated as they had been.
Cortes told the officials that it was he who had freed them, because he
did not like to think of Montezuma's agents being mistreated. It was the people
of the village who were barbarous. He personally liked what he had heard of
Montezuma. He would be grateful if they, the two stewards, could go
and tell the Emperor that he Cortes considered Montezuma his friend. He hoped that
Montezuma would not spurn his friendship. He believed that Montezuma would be happy to
see him and become a brother of the King of Castile. Finally, he
added, he would do all he could to prevent the other collectors of tribute
from being killed. But then again, I mean, the people of the
village were just devious and barbarous. What could he what could he possibly do?
Whereupon he released the two men. He had them carried in the darkness
by sailors to a small boat up the coast just outside Tatsanach territory. From
there they returned to technosh Declan as fast as they could. When the lord
of the village awoke the next morning, he was angry, obviously, to
discover that several of his prisoners were gone. He probably would have put the
rest of them to death had Cortez not intervened. Cortez offered to imprison them
on his ships, which had now just arrived offshore. That solution was acceptable.
After some hemming and hawing, the ruler of the town agreed that he
would go into bold against Montezuma if and only if Cortes was willing to lead
their army. Cortez was only too happy to agree. Cortes was now feeling
a lot more confident. His plan was now to turn as many dependent tribes
against Montezuma as possible. As he marched to Technostclan. He reasoned that by
the time they reached the capital he would have a sizeable force. But of
course, first he needed to finish founding his new town. Bierca de la
Vercruz was formerly founded on July the twenty eighth, fifteen nineteen. Cortez is
said to have helped to dig the foundations himself. More ambassadors from Montezuma arrived
in the interim. They told Cortes that Montezuma was both ill and busy and
could not see him now. They could not say when he might be able
to see courte. They added that if Cortez still determined to make the track
to Technosodyclon, then he should travel slowly. Montezuma would send guides to help
him, but traveling too quickly, they added, would be bad for his
health. I don't think they said that with like a gangster style ominousness or
anything like, oh, don't do that, it'll be bad for your health.
The ambassadors seemed to have meant it literally. Still, the Mexica ambassadors
would have been amazed at the site before the mat Vera Cruz. This was
definitive evidence that the Europeans were determined to stay. The Mexican ambassadors quickly departed.
However, shortly thereafter, Cortez was for the first time called upon to
prove his support for the Tussanac people. A tributary town not far away declared
independence, and now it seemed likely that the Mexica were planning a punitive counterstrike.
Cortes's reaction was instant. He set off immediately for the designated town,
accompanied by most of the conquistadors and his sixteen horses. Together with a force
of Toutsanacs, the Mexica came out to meet Cortes in full battle array,
feathers, paint shields, but they appeared to have panicked at the mere sights
of the Spaniards and their horses. Interestingly, according to the sources, at
least the beards of the conquistadors seemed to have caused as much fear as the
horses. Cortes's cavalry followed the retreating Mexica and cut the bof the horses.
However, were unable to climb the rock on which the town was sent,
and so Cortes and some others dismounted. They forced open the gates of the
town with their swords, and Quartz entered, disarming the few remaining Mexicans who
remained, and handed them over to the town chief of Kempala. He stipulated
that no one should be killed, and then he withdrew Tabaca de Valla Cruz.
The speed of this victory greatly impressed the Totanax and naturally had the effect
of extending the rebellion against Mexico. It also made Cortes even more self confident,
for it suggested to him and his captains at the Mexico, despite their
fame in arms, had no special military qualities, no secret weapons, and
it seemed to them very little discipline. Cortes returned to the coast on July
the first. He was delighted to find that there was a relief force from
Cuba, a caravel bearing sixty men and several horses. Though the reinforcement was
welcome, the news which came with it was less. So this was that
in the spring a letter had reached Cuba to say that the Council of cast
Deal, meeting on the eighteenth of November, ironically, the very day that
Cortez had left, Santiago, had agreed to give the Governor, Diego Velasquez
quote, a license to seek at his own cost islands and mainland territory which
had up till now not been discovered, provided of course, that these were
outside the limits of the King of Portugal. The license spoke of land neighborhood
of Cosmomel and Yucatan. The nomination was ascouraging for Velasquez, as it was
discouraging for Cortez. Yet it gave Velasquez less than he hoped for. He
would still be hoping to be formed with the what's called Arilanto, but he
wasn't because he was not made Arilanto, he was still subject to the Supreme
Court in Santo Domingo. As a result, he couldn't go as far as
maybe he wanted. Still, Velasquez was to have numerous rights in the Yucatan.
The profits of the edition were to go to him and his heirs.
Cortes had no choice but to try to counteract these measures back in Spain.
As a result, he hand picked several men with the goal of sending them
back to cass Stile and arguing for his expedition to see if he could get
the same legitimacy that Velasquez had just achieved. Cortes would send these men home
on his flagship, and their goal was ultimately just to convince King Ferdinand.
To prove their mission, Cortes sent papers and three letters with his men.
The first letter was from the Council of Viarica describing what had been done so
far. The second was a letter from the army at Viarica. The third
was a private letter from Cortes to the King. Of the three, only
the first survives today. We know of the other two only by reference.
The surviving letter summarizes the journeys of Cordoba and Grivada in dismissive terms. The
letter also demanded at the royal court make an inquiry into the affairs of Governor
Velasquez on the grounds he had mismanaged his resources. The strategy here is obvious.
Cortes needed the king to believe him and not Velasquez. None of his
actions were going to be any good if Ferdinand did not ultimately approve them.
The letter also added human sacrifice. Aside that the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica were
much more advanced and much more sophisticated than those of the Caribbean, there were
references to human sacrifice, and these references were deliberate. Cortes and the Spanish
in general still needed to justify their conquest. Describing the horrors of the Mexican
religion was how Cortes planned to do this. I probably don't need to tell
you this, but it's going to work. The instructions Cortes gave to his
men making the return voyage were similar. He told them to stress how badly
Velasquez had mismanaged things, how he would do better, and specifically, how
he would treat the Indians better. This is, of course ironic, given
how Cortes had once rebelled against Velasquez because he Cortes wanted to expand the quasi
slavery and commienda system. The instructions also made it clear that Cortes did not
anticipate returning to Cuba. Oh and for good measure, Cortez sent the king
a good deal of treasure, worth about twenty three thousand paces at the time.
If you're saying you're going to do a better job than the person who
currently does it, I suppose it certainly doesn't hurt to send along a little
proof. Still, there are almost no historians who today believe Cortez actually handed
over to the king one hundred percent of his fifth The list of what was
sent back is pretty extensive, though, Quote item two colors of gold and
stones, one of which with the figure of a monster in the center,
has eight strings, and in them two hundred and thirty two red stones and
one hundred and sixty three green stones, And hanging from the said collar and
from the said border twenty seven golden bells, in the center of which are
four figures made of large stones set in gold, And from each of the
two in the center hang simple pendants and those at the ends have four pendants
each, and the other collar has four strings with one hundred and two red
stones and one hundred and seventy two apparently green and around two greenstones are twenty
six gold bells, and in the said collar ten large stones set in gold.
Also two other pieces of colored featherwork which were for two pieces of gold,
and which they wear on their heads as if they were shells end quote.
While all this was going on, Cortez faced his first internal plot.
Velasquez still had a lot of friends on the expedition, friends who knew exactly
what Cortez was up to. Now, they decided they were going to try
to stop him. Their plan was to try to take over one of the
ships and sail back to Cuba. From there, they would tell Velasquez what
was going on so he could intercept Cortez's messengers before they got to Spain.
Had they succeeded, history might have turned out very differently. They didn't.
Cortes found out and arrested the men. He pardoned most he needed the manpower,
but he had the two ring leaders hanged as an example. Cortez left
the gallows standing for over a year. A garish reminder of what might happen
to those who challenge him. Cortes's next action was more audacious. He ordered
the masters of nine of the twelve ships anchored off via Rica to sail them
on to the shore and break them down for their component parts. He planned
to use the lumber to build houses. Cortes's real goal here was to add
the defeatist talk of going back to Cuba. I mean, no point in
talking about it, guys, there aren't any boats. Had Cortes not done
this, it would have been much harder for him to take such a higher
percentage of the men inland, which is precisely what he planned do. Of
course, this was a huge risk for Cortez and the expedition. There was
no going back now, There was no safety net. It was conquer or
die. We know that Cortez made a speech about the same time about the
importance of the expedition. He struggled, however, to explain to his men
exactly what the expedition was going to do when it reached Technosh Declan. He
made a few vague references to taking Montezuma quote unquote dead or alive, but
that was about it. In reality, he seems to have hoped to win
Montezuma over so that he Cortez could act as the emperor's prime minister going forward.
Plan B was capturing Montezuma and just forcing him to act in Spanish interests.
Cortes realized that conquering a major empire was different from taking control of a
largely uninhabited island in the Caribbean. He needed a plan. He couldn't just
improvise his way through this, like Columbus had largely done. All of this
explains why Cortez acted so decisively when he finally did reach Technostyclan. As we're
going to see, Cortes also wanted to make sure that his flank was guarded.
He left behind his reliable friend Juan de Escalante at Vera Cruz. He
told Escalante to defend the town at all costs, but interestingly, his fear
was not the Mexica. Rather, he told Escalante to defend the town from
Velasquez. What he was worried about was a rival expedition. Primarily, this
was a race against time. Cortez had to prove that he could do the
job or, just like Cordoba and grivala you would find himself replaced next time
Cortez sets out for history and technoshity Colon. If you've enjoyed the episode,
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