Lord of Hosts

Mere Mortal

posted 09-16-06 02:09 AM CT (US) 2 / 15 is a fairy tale. The words of Moctezuma’s that we have come from Cortés … Cortés actually has Moctezuma insist to his Spanish audience that he himself is not a god, and does not pose untold wealth: “I know that [my enemies] have told you the walls of my houses are made of gold, and that the floor mats in my rooms … are likewise of gold, and that I was, and claimed to be a god; … The houses as you see are of stone and lime and clay … Then he raised his clothes and showed me his body, saying, “See that I am of flesh and blood like you and all other men.” ... There is a central explanation for Moctezuma’s decision, however. Besides attempting to turn the potential conquerors back by offering them annual tribute, the emperor apparently did try to have the Spanish killed at least twice while they were still distant; somebody certainly gave the order to attack them. Yet, when the Spaniards were nearing the city, “Moctezuma did not give orders for anyone to meet them in battle.” He could not: he knew now that the Spaniards won battles in the open field. Even if he had had time to arm every warrior in his kingdom and then surround and destroy the Spanish with sheer force of numbers, he would have been politically destroyed. The casualties would have been immense, beyond anything ever seen, and the people of the Central Valley accepted the arrogance of their Mexica neighbours in exchange for peace and the privilege of living close to power. If the Aztecs could not deliver a quick victory on the outskirts of their own capital, they were doomed; so if his army could not win quickly and easily here – and Moctezuma knew they could not – then they could not fight. At the time, Cortés and his followers did not understand the political situation well enough to grasp this fact; centuries later, posterity tends to lose sight of the realities of that world. Not so who wrote a few decades later. Said López de Gómara: “It seemed unfitting and dishonorable for him to make war upon Cortés and fight a mere handful of strangers who said they were ambassadors. Another reason was that he did not wish to stir up trouble for himself (and this was the truest reason), for it was clear that he would immediately have to face an uprising among the Otomí, the Tlaxcalans, and many others.” Said Bernal Díaz: “Moctezuma’s captains and papas also advised him that if he tried to prevent our entry we would fight him in his subject towns.” It is reasonable to assume that, while Cortés and his men were in the city gathering information about the kingdom, Moctezuma was also attempting to gather information about them. It may have been his hope that they would eventually leave of their own accord ... Whether Moctezuma was behind it or not, his people did raise a rebellion against the Spanish as soon as Cortés returned from the coast. Moctezuma himself became known for the speeches he made from the rooftops in which he asked the warriors to lay down their arms. “Let the Mexica hear: we are not their match, may they be dissuaded [from further fighting].” By then, he was in irons, and so has been seen as a coward doing his best to save his life. But it is possible that he, the warrior king who had led so many successful campaigns, preached peace in relation to the Spanish out of true conviction that his people would be destroyed if they pursued violence. In interpreting his actions, we would do well to remember that if so, he was right. Moctezuma, with his knowledge of the capabilities of both sides, was one of the few Mexica in a position to see the long durée. Camilla Townsend, ‘Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico’, American Historical Review 108/3 (2003) , p. 682, pp. 682-3. Coincidentally, I was thinking about this problem only a few days ago. The idea of Cortés as a millennial impostor has always seemed fantastic. Moctezuma was the ruler of millions, no simple savage but a rational man with a practical cast of mind, and it’s difficult to believe a king of his great experience could be so credulous. And from the evidence, it