Awestruck Conquistador Describes Alien World of Tenochtitlan (1519) // Memoir of Bernal Diaz

[Music] while preparations were going on for our march into the interior numerous consultations were held with cortes we his trustworthy adherents proposed that all the vessels should be run on shore in order at once to cut off all possibility of further mutiny this resolution was immediately adopted after the vessels had been run ashore before our eyes and we the officers and soldiers were one morning after marcel standing around cortes the discourse turned upon various military topics when he begged our attention for a few minutes as he had some proposal to make to us we already know of the campaign which was in contemplation it was of such a nature that the aid of jesus christ our lord only could bring us forth victorious from all the battles and engagements which awaited us but notwithstanding all the trust we put in god we should not ourselves be wanting in courage cortes then induced many beautiful comparisons from history and mentioned several heroic deeds of the romans we answered him one and all that we would implicitly follow his orders as the die had been cast and we with caesar when he had passed the rubicon had now no choice left the road along which we marched was eight paces in breath and if i still remember ran in a perfectly straight line to mexico notwithstanding the breadth it was much too narrow to hold the vast crowds of people who continually kept arriving from different parts to gaze upon us besides this the tops of all the temples and towers were crowded while the lake beneath was completely covered with canoes filled with indians for all were curious to catch a glimpse of us and who can wander at this as neither men like unto ourselves nor horses had ever been seen here before when we gazed upon all this splendor at once we scarcely knew what to think and we doubted whether all that we beheld was real a series of large towns stretched themselves along the banks of the lake out of which still larger ones rose magnificently above the waters innumerable crowds of canoes were plying everywhere around us at regular distances we continually passed over new bridges and before us lay the great city of mexico in all its splendor this video was sponsored by magellan tv the documentary streaming service here at voices of the past we provide you with the raw source without context and magellan is a great choice if you want to know more they have more than 3 thousand documentaries that pair well with our videos a good example to accompany this video is pocahontas and john smith which explores the truth behind the legends hidden in both the oral and written accounts which can contradict one another and whether it's 16th century america or first century rome magellan is the place to go to find out more in an entertaining way and you can now take advantage of an exclusive offer 30 percent off an annual membership that gives you an entire year for less than 3.50 a month even if you've joined magellan before and lapsed you can simply click on the link in the description to claim your discounted membership today thanks and we who were gazing upon all this passing through innumerable crowds of human beings were a mere handful of men in all 450 i may safely ask the kind reader to ponder a moment and say whether he thinks any men in the world ever ventured so bold a stroke as this when we had arrived at a place not far from the town where several small towers rose together montez zuma raised himself in his sedan and the chiefs supported him under the arms and held over his head a canopy of exceedingly great value montezuma himself according to his custom was sumptuously attired had on a species of half boot richly set with jewels and whose souls were made of solid gold no one of his sweet ever looked at him full in the face everyone in his presence stood with eyes down cast while others again occupied the road before him and spread cotton cloths on the ground that his feet might not touch the bare earth when it was announced to cortez that montezuma himself was approaching he alighted from his horse and advanced to meet him many compliments were now passed on both sides if i still remember rightly cortes wished to concede the place of honor to the monarch who however would not accept it the road before us now became less crowded and yet who would have been able to count the vast numbers of men women and children who filled the streets crowded the balconies and the canoes and the canals merely to gaze upon us indeed at the moment i am writing this everything comes as lively to my eyes as if it had happened yesterday indeed i cannot sufficiently praise jesus christ that i have been allowed to live thus long to narrate these adventures although they may not turn out as perfect as i myself could wish [Music] we allotted the apartments according to the several companies placed our cannon in an advantageous position and made such arrangements that our cavalry as well as the infantry might be ready at a moment's notice after montezuma had dined and was likewise informed that we had left table he set out from his palace in great pomp accompanied by a number of his grandes and all his relations to pay us a visit montezuma then began a very excellent discourse and first of all expressed his delight to entertain in his kingdom and city such courageous cavaliers as cortes and all of us were a couple of years ago he had received intelligence that some other officer had made his appearance at the province of champaton and a year later of a second who had been off the coast with four vessels he had long desired to see cortes and since his wishes were now fulfilled he was ready to render us any service and provide us with everything we might require he was now convinced that we were those people of whom his earliest forefathers had spoken a people that would come from the rising of the sun and conquer these countries all further doubt had vanished from his mind to which cortes answered that we should never be able to repay him for all the kindness he had shown us we indeed came from the rising of the sun and were servants and subjects of a powerful monarch called don carlos who had numerous distinguished princes among his vassals and had expressly sent us to his country to beg of him and his subjects to become converts to the christian faith for the salvation of their souls in this way a pleasant discourse was kept up between montezuma and cortes our general now issued strict commands that no one should stir from headquarters until we had gained some certain knowledge as to how matters really stood more than 300 kinds of dishes were served up for montezuma's dinner from his kitchen underneath which were placed pans of porcelain filled with fire to keep them warm 300 dishes of various kinds were served up for him alone and above a thousand for the persons in waiting we were told that the flesh of young children as a very dainty bit was also set before him sometimes by way of a relish whether there was any truth in this we could not possibly discover on account of the great variety of dishes consisting in fowls turkeys pheasants partridges quails tame and wild geese venison musk swine pigeons hares rabbits and of numerous other birds and beasts indeed it would have been no easy task to call them all by their name this i know however for certain that after cortez had reproached him for the human sacrifices and the eating of human flesh he issued orders that no dishes of that nature should again be brought to his table respecting the abominable human sacrifices of these people the following was communicated to us the breast of the unhappy victim destined to be sacrificed was ripped open with a knife made of sharp flint the throbbing heart was then torn out and immediately offered to the idol god in whose honour the sacrifice had been made after this the head arms and legs were cut off and eaten at their banquets with the exception of the head which was saved and hung to a beam appropriated for that purpose no other part of the body was eaten but the remainder was thrown to the beasts where there are also vipers and other poisonous serpents and among the latter in particular a species at the end of whose tale there was a kind of rattle we were positively told that after we had been beaten out of the city of mexico and had lost 850 of our men these horrible beasts were fed for many successive days with the bodies of our unfortunate countrymen sometimes during dinner time montezuma would have ugly indian humpback dwarfs who acted as buffoons and performed antics for his amusement at another time he would have gestures to enliven him with their witticisms montezuma took great delight in these entertainments indeed the daily expense of these dinners alone must have been very great they then presented him with three beautifully painted and gilt tubes which were filled with liquid amber and a herb cooled by the indians tobacco and the monarch took the smoke into his mouth and after he had done this a short time he fell asleep cortes now determined to view the city and visit the great market and the chief temple of witsi lapochte on our proceeding to the great temple and passing the courtyards adjoining the market we observed numbers of other merchants who dealt in gold dust as it was dug out of the mines which was exposed to sail in tubes made of the bones of large geese which had been worked to such a thin substance and was so white that the gold shone through them the value of these tubes of gold was estimated according to their length and thickness before we mounted the steps of the great temple montezuma who was sacrificing on the top to his idols sent six papas and two of his principal officers to conduct cortes up the steps there were 114 steps to the summit and as they feared that cortes would experience the same fatigue and mounting that montezuma had they were going to assist him by taking hold of his arms cordes however will not accept of their aid when we had reached the summit of the temple we walked across a platform where many large stones were lying on which those were doomed for sacrifice were stretched out near these stood a large idol in the shape of a dragon surrounded by various other abominable figures with a quantity of fresh blood lying in front of it montezuma himself stepped out of a chapel in which his cursed gods were standing and received cortes and the whole of us very courteously ascending this temple said he to our commander must certainly have fatigued you cortes however assured him through our interpreters that it was not possible for anything to tire us upon this the monarch took hold of his hand and invited him to look down and view his vast metropolis with the towns which were built in the lake and the other towns which surrounded the city indeed this infernal temple from its great height commanded a view of the whole surrounding neighborhood we observed the aqueduct which provided the whole town with sweet water the lake itself was crowded with canoes which were bringing provisions manufacturers and other merchandise to the city in all these towns the beautiful white plastered temples rose above the smaller ones like so many towers and castles in our spanish towns and this it may be imagined was a splendid sight after we had sufficiently gazed upon this magnificent picture we again turned our eyes towards the great market and beheld the vast numbers of buyers and sellers who thronged there some of our men who had been at constantinople and rome and travelled through the whole of italy said that they had never seen a marketplace of such large dimensions or which was so well regulated or so crowded with people as this one but mexico next to this temple was another one in which humans skulls and bones were piled up though both apart their numbers were endless this place had also its appropriate idols and in all these temples we found priests clad in long black mantles with hoods shaped like those worn by the dominican friars their ears were pierced and the hair of their head was long and stuck together with coagulated blood cortez and the whole of us at last grew tired of the sight of so many idols and implements used for these sacrifices and we returned to our quarters accompanied by a great number of chief personages whom montezuma had sent for that purpose [Music] our general and father almeido readily perceived that montezuma would never give his consent to our erecting across on his chief temple nor that we should build a chapel there but in three days our church was finished and a cross planted in front of our quarters as all of us officers as well as privates were men of experience full of energy and very determined who had never lost sight that the lord jesus christ had assisted us with his divine hand in all our undertakings we deputed four officers and twelve of our most trustworthy and faithful soldiers myself being among the number to cortes and represented to him how we were cooped up in this strong city as if we had been caught in a net or a cage taking all this into consideration our opinion was that we had no other resource left by which we could place our own lives in safety than by seizing the monarch's person without delay cortes in reply to their representation said do not imagine gentlemen that i either sleep so peaceably or that what you have just been stating has not caused me much anxiety but we all first to weigh well whether you think we are sufficiently strong in numbers for so bold and attempt as to take this mighty monarch prisoner in his own palace one hour was thus spent into liberating as to whether we should take him or to zoom a prisoner and the manner in which it was to be done at last we came to the resolution of seizing the monarch's person on the following day and cortes gave his full consent after we had come to the determination of seizing the person of montezuma and had been on our knees the whole night in prayer we made the necessary arrangements when mourning came for that purpose everyone received orders to be ready to march out at a moment's notice and the horses were to be kept saddled our general now sallied forth accompanied by our five chief officers after cortez had entered his apartment and the usual compliments had been passed he thus addressed montezuma i'm greatly astonished that the prince of such power who styles himself our friend should have commanded his troops which lie on the coast near tuzapan to take up arms against my spanish troops and presume to demand a certain number of men and women for the sacrifices from those townships but this is not all they have plundered those places and even killed one of my brothers and a horse how very differently we acted on our side continued cordes i had put reliance in your friendship and desired my officers in every way to comply with your wishes you on the contrary have commanded your officers the very opposite at the present moment your generals have the audacity to plot in secret to put us all to death however notwithstanding all this treachery i will refrain from making war upon you which would only end in the total destruction of this city but in order that peace may be maintained between us you must make a small sacrifice which is to follow us quietly into our quarters and take up your abode there but if you make any alarm now or call out to your attendance you are a dead man montezuma was seized with such a sudden terror at these words that he remained speechless for some time at length however he took courage and declared he had never given any orders to take up arms against us he would that instant sent for his generals and learn from them the truth of the whole matter cortes in answer to this gave him very good reasons for our having come to this determination but montezuma continually brought in stronger reasons why he should not comply he said to cortes since you repose no trust in me take my son and my daughters as hostages only do not disgrace me by demanding my person what will the grandees of my empire say if they see me taken prisoner cordes however said that his own person would be the only guarantee of our safety and that there were no other means of quieting our fears at last montezuma after a good deal of altercation made up his mind to go quietly with us his rich and splendid sedan was then brought in which he commonly used when he left his palace with his whole suite and he followed us to our quarters where we took every precaution to secure his person shortly afterwards all the mexican grandes with his nephew called upon him to inquire the reason of his imprisonment and ask him if they should commence hostilities against us but montezuma told them he wished to do himself the pleasure of passing a few days with us and that this change of abode was of his own free choice and these are the true circumstances relative to the imprisonment of montezuma he was always surrounded by the whole of his household and had all his wives with him and continued to bathe himself daily as he had been accustomed to after some time it elapsed the generals who had fought against escalante were brought in prisoners to the monarch what he told them on that occasion i do not know but he sent them to cortes to pronounce judgement on them himself our generals made no further ceremony with these mexicans but sentenced them to death and they were burnt alive in front of montezuma's palace and that no impediment might be thrown in the way while these sentences were being put to execution cortes ordered chains to be put on montezuma at first he certainly did not approve of this but in the end he quietly submitted and grew even more tractable afterwards when the executions had taken place cortes approached him with five of our officers and himself took off his chains again with the assurance that he loved him more than a brother the severe example which cortes had made of the mexican generals had its full effect the news thereof ran like wildfire throughout the whole of new spain the tribes along the coast by whom our troops of veracruz had been defeated were seized with terror and again offered their services to the garrison there sometimes also montezuma played at a certain game with cortes which the mexicans call the game of totterlock it is played with small round glossy balls which here were made of gold and are pitched at a certain mark also of the same metal five throws finished the game and the stakes were four valuable gold trinkets and jewels i still remember once when montezuma and cortes were playing at this game alvarado scoring for cortes and a distinguished chief for the monarch that alvarado continually scored one too many for cortes this was observed by montezuma who said with a pleasing smile that he was not exactly pleased when tornadio so they termed alvarado mark the game for cortes i must now beg the kind reader to pause a moment upon the heroic deeds we performed and consider their magnitude first of all we destroy all our vessels and thereby cut off all hopes of escaping from this country we then venture to march into this strong city though we were warned against it on all sides we then have the audacity to imprison the monarch of this vast empire the powerful montezuma in his own metropolis and at last we even fearlessly burn some of his generals to death in front of his own palace and throw the monarch himself in chains while this is being executed even now in my old age the heroic deeds we then accomplished come vividly to my memory but must also acknowledge that although we had our hands full we were aided by divine providence these things indeed ought to be deeply pondered on and not mentioned so briefly as i here have done [Music] you

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Length: 23min 0sec (1380 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 10 2021