Below are lists and descriptions of the Great Treasure presented to Cortes in San Juan de Ulua. This is the legendary gift presented by Tendile and includes the much mentioned gold sun-disc and silver moon-disc. The descriptions of the treasure and the place vary by writer, but most place the exchange on either Cortes’s flagship or the beach where his men were setting up camp.
Annals of Tlatelolco
Very basic narrative, tells that they met Cortes at Tecpantlayacac and gave him the listed gifts. Also that a sacrifice was performed and rebuked with punishment of death by Cortes.
Suns of yellow and of white (gold and silver)
Mirror
Golden helmet
Golden shell headcover
Head fan of plumes
Shield of shell
Quetzal-feather Aztec headdress, held in Vienna Austria.(more…)
One of the great mythologies of the Conquest of Mexico is Cortes burning, or sinking his ships in order to secure his men’s commitment to the march to Tenochtitlan and Moctezuma. The incident is cited in motivational speeches, and among historians as one of history’s greatest gambles. With dissent in the ranks and factions pushing for different goals and loyalties Cortes did seem to at least dismantle some of the ships, and possibly did sink a few.
A sword claimed to be that of Hernan Cortes, used during the Conquest of Mexico, currently sits in the Real Armeria de Madrid (royal armory) in Madrid, Spain. It is a rapier, meaning it is a long, slender sword with a decorative, protected hilt.
As Cortes moved closer to the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan, he passed through Cholula. This town of about 30,000 (de las Casas) was a sort of religious capital in the region, comparable to Mecca or Jerusalem. The people of Cholula were allied with Moctezuma and were enemies of Tlaxcala where Cortes had been received. The Spanish account paints Cortes in a desperate situation, pinned in an enemy city and reacting defensively. Other accounts, both indigenous and European, tend to call it a massacre.
The Massacre at Cholula as depicted on the Lienzo de Tlaxcala.
The Cortes Narrative
After brief negotiations that Cortes felt were short of his esteem, he marched on Cholula with 1,000 Tlaxcala warriors (Cortes, 2nd Letter). Cortes was met with much fanfare and was admitted to Cholula. According to Spanish accounts and those of the Tlaxcala storytellers, Moctezuma and the leaders of Cholula had cooked up a scheme to trap the Spanish in the city and destroy them. Cortes’s Cempoalan allies noted trenches dug, and rock piles on rooftops and they reportedly saw women and children being led out of the city. In another account La Malinche, the indigenous female translator, was approached by a Tlaxcala woman who, in an offer of sanctuary, confided in her the plot to kill the Spanish.
Convinced of the oncoming assault, Cortes called a meeting of all the men of matter in the Cholula region. Once they had gathered he explained their treachery to them and ordered a musket fired. This was the sign for the Spanish and their allies to begin the assault on the Cholulans. Cortes claims 3,000 were killed in a two-hour slaughter.
Cortes and Diaz explain it was a natural pre-emptive strike against an obviously hostile force. The Tlaxcala stories also justify their actions, including the mutilation and murder of one of their messengers before the attack. It seems a logical place for Moctezuma’s allies to make a stand if you were going to try and expel these invaders once and for all.
La Matanza de Cholula, Felix Parra, 1877.
The majority of the Tlaxcala army had waited outside the city and once the battle had begun entered Cholula. The Tlaxcala force fought through the streets toward the Spanish, who had already begun slaughtering people. For almost two days the Tlaxcala army pillaged and burned Cholula until even Cortes was taken by pity for the people of Cholula. He ordered the pillaging to end and demanded all the captives taken by the Tlaxcalans be returned.
Cortes was a cunning and brutal leader and he either anticipated the attack or simply intended to send a brutal message. And it seems to have worked as word spread far and wide of the destruction of the Cholula nobility by the invaders.
Other Accounts
Other accounts are not so clear on a sneak attack by the Cholulans and refer to it as an outright massacre. The Conquistador turned Mercedarian friar Francisco de Aguilar said the people killed were water-bearers and temames. Diego Duran also noted they were bringing supplies and highlights the incident as a dark point he must write about. The historian and early civil rights advocate Bartolome de las Casas called it a staged “massacre” and a “punishment” by Cortes to spread terror. Las Casas also said it was mostly temames, the most humble and respected worker in Mesoamerica, who made up the bulk of the victims.
The Florentine Codex describes the massacre as planned by the Spanish, but notes there was no Cholulan scheme, saying they were unarmed and were “treacherously and deceitfully slain.”
Within a few days the Spanish had moved out of Cholula toward Tenochtitlan, news of their terror well ahead of them. Cortes ordered the people of Cholula to resume their lives as before. Which they did, but forever tainted by the destruction brought by the Spanish.
Estimates from various accounts range from 2000 to 6000 victims with not a single Spanish casualty.
The Battle of Cintla, fought between Cortes’s Spanish and Maya in mid-March, 1519, is significant for several reasons. Most notably this is the first cavalry battle fought on the mainland of the Americas. It also was the first major conflict for Cortes, and a decisive victory over the Chontal Maya of Tabasco.
Cortes, after several days of fighting with local Chontal Maya, orders his horses brought ashore and dressed for the first time. The next day, which Diaz says is “Lady Day,” Cortes orders 13 cavalrymen, artillery and an infantry force to advance to a place called Cintla. Leading the main infantry was Diego de Ordaz , with between 300 and 400 men, including foot soldiers, crossbowmen and musketeers. The artillery was under the command of a man named Mesa.
Map from The Battle and Ruins of Cintla, by Daniel G. Brinton.
On the march inland they came across the Maya force ready for battle (Diaz p. 75). In full battle dress, drums blaring, arrows and stones began to come at the Spanish. Diaz says immediately almost 70 Spanish were wounded and one killed. It seems the Maya abandoned hand to hand efforts and were most interested in raining projectiles against the steel blades. But this seems to have been quite ineffective, historically.
Cortes and the cavalry were delayed in arriving, possibly as long as two hours, as Diaz notes the delay was worrisome. But soon enough Cortes arrived and flanked the Maya force from behind. At that the infantry under Diego de Ordaz charged and the Maya forces quickly fell into disarray and fled.
Casualty counts vary, but for the Spanish, it appears, two Spaniards were killed, and the wounded ranged between 20 and 70. Dead for the Chontal Maya is estimated between 200 and 800.
After the battle Cortes established a cross and a town called Santa Maria de la Victoria, which stood for a few years before being abandoned. The regional chief Tabscoob also granted 20 slave women to Cortes, one of which was the famous Malinali, or La Malinche.
Today nothing remains of the battle, the town of Cintla nor the establishment of La Victoria. Only one thorough archeological effort has been conducted, by Dr. Berendt in 1869. He reports finding mounds, stairways and Maya pottery depicting Spanish men. His findings were included in the paper linked below.
