Source 13.3: Images of Encounter

Source 13.3A presents yet another Mesoamerican view of that epic encounter between Cortés and Moctezuma, drawn from the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, a series of paintings completed by 1560. Created by Tlaxcalan artists, who had absorbed some elements of European styles, these paintings highlighted the role of the Tlaxcalan people as valued allies of the Spanish.

Questions to consider as you examine the sources:

Source 13.3A

Moctezuma and Cortés

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Moctezuma and CortésThe Granger Collection, NYC — All rights reserved

Source 13.3B

The Massacre of the Nobles

Whatever the character of their initial meeting, the relationship of the Spanish and Aztecs soon deteriorated amid mutual suspicion. Within a week, Cortés had seized Moctezuma, holding him under a kind of house arrest in his own palaces. For reasons not entirely clear, this hostile act did not immediately trigger a violent Aztec response. Perhaps Aztec authorities were concerned for the life of their ruler, or possibly their factional divisions inhibited coordinated resistance.

But in May 1520, while Cortés was temporarily away at the coast, an incident occurred that set in motion the most violent phase of the encounter. During a religious ceremony in honor of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec patron deity of Tenochtitlán, the local Spanish commander, apparently fearing an uprising, launched a surprise attack on the unarmed participants in the celebration, killing hundreds of the leading warriors and nobles. An Aztec account from The Florentine Codex described the scene:

When the dance was loveliest and when song was linked to song, the Spaniards were seized with an urge to kill the celebrants. They all ran forward, armed as if for battle. They closed the entrances and passageways . . . then [they] rushed into the Sacred Patio to slaughter the inhabitants. . . . They attacked the man who was drumming and cut off his arms. Then they cut off his head, and it rolled across the floor. They attacked all the celebrants stabbing them, spearing them, striking them with swords. . . . Others they beheaded . . . or split their heads to pieces. . . . The blood of the warriors flowed like water and gathered into pools. . . . [T]hey invaded every room, hunting and killing.”1

Source 13.3B shows a vivid Aztec depiction of this “massacre of the nobles,” drawn from the Codex Duran, first published in 1581.

Questions to consider as you examine the sources:

Source 13.3B

The Massacre of the Nobles

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The Massacre of the NoblesThe massacre of the nobles prompted a citywide uprising against the hated Spanish, who were forced to flee Tenochtitlán on June 30, 1520, across a causeway in Lake Texcoco amid ferocious fighting. Some six hundred Spaniards and several thousand of their Tlaxcalan allies perished in the escape, many of them laden with gold they had collected in Tenochtitlán. For the Spaniards, it was La Noche Triste (the night of sorrow), while for the Aztecs it was no doubt a fitting revenge and a great triumph.Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain/Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

Notes

  1. Stuart B. Schwartz, Victors and Vanquished (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000), 164.