Letters from Mexico (Yale Nota Bene)
£9.20
The Conquest of the Aztecs - Letters from Mexico is the complete collection of letters written by the Spanish Conquistador, Hernan Cortes, to the Emperor Charles V and Queen Dona Juana. These five letters (stretching from 1519 to 1525) tell the story of the conquest of the Aztecs from the perspective of the man responsible for their overthrow. They are, in the words of Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes: One of the most fascinating Machiavellian documents to come out of the Renaissance.The book is introduced by Anthony Pagden and J.H Elliott who present a few short essays on Cortes relationship to Charles V, as well as the history and veracity of the letters. These essays are interesting even by themselves as they shed a whole new light on Cortes writings. In one section they mention that Moctezoma s speech to Cortes when he first arrived at Tenochtitlan is almost certainly the work of Cortes imagination, as his speech is highly implausible. They describe how Moctezoma s speech echoes the Gospels and 16th century European legal formulae - these are certainly not the words of an Aztec. These essays make you consider the letters in a different perspective.The Five letters themselves are rather long, with their whole length reaching over 500 pages. Cortes is a much more erudite writer then Bernal Diaz, (the contemporary who followed him on his expedition) but he lacks Diaz s eye for detail and his many strange anecdotes. As I have already mentioned, Cortes writings can t be completely trustworthy as he was attempting to justify the conquest to his superiors, and therefore he twists the truth quite often. That said, the letters truly are a fascinating document.The book is also filled with modern day maps of the area, which are useful for locating Cortes path through Mexico, as well as a few maps from the 16-19th centuries. The book is pepperd with illustrations from Mexican Codices and old European books. It also contains a few interesting paintings from the era, especially the wobbly headed Charles V by Cranach the Elder on page 64. Letters from Mexico is worth purchasing for anyone who has an interest in this bloody period of history, and is invaluable to any historian who studies the Renaissance. They are the definitive edition of Cortes letters in any language, and ought to be brought by anyone who has an interest in Spanish, Mexican or Aztec history.