Cortes Second Letter to Charles V

Cortes and Moctezuma

"The extent of Moctezuma's dominions has not been ascertained, since to whatever point he despatched his messengers, even two hundred leagues from his capital, his commands were obeyed, although some of his provinces were in the midst of countries with which he was at war. But as nearly as I have been able to learn, his territories are equal in extent to Spain itself" -Recognition of Moctezuma's massive leadership -Secondary impetus to capture land of Aztecs for Spanish expansion "The emperor has another very beautiful palace, with a large court-yard, paved with handsome flags, in the style of a chess-board. There are also cages, about nine feet in height and six paces square, each of which was half covered with a roof of tiles, and the other half had over it a wooden grate, skillfully made. Every cage contained a bird of prey, of all the species found in Spain, from the kestrel to the eagle, and many unknown there." -Culture and scientific understanding/appreciation; Used Moctezuma as a hostage, figured they could leverage citizens against him

Cortes and the just war

Belief that because the Aztec's customs and culture were barbaric in the eyes of the Spanish, they had a God-given right to conquer the Aztecs in order to "save them"

Counter-Reformation

The period of Catholic resurgence initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War(1648). Initiated to preserve the power, influence and material wealth enjoyed by the Catholic Church and to present a theological and material challenge to Reformation, the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of five major elements: 1. Reactionary defense of Catholic sacramental practice 2. Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration 3. Religious orders 4. Spiritual movements 5. Political dimensions Inclusion of the Spanish Inquisition; primary goal to reach parts of the world that had been colonized and "reform" as Catholic

Cortes and Aztec idols, purifying temples, conversion

"This great city contains a large number of temples, or houses, for their idols, very handsome edifices, which are situated in the different districts and the suburbs; in the principal ones religious persons of each particular sect are constantly residing, for whose use, besides the houses containing the idols, there are other convenient habitations." -Polytheistic idolic religion -Association between educated persons and religious leaders "The priests are debarred from female society, nor is any woman permitted to enter the religious houses. They also abstain from eating certain kinds of food, more at some seasons of the year than others." -Similar to Catholicism, women are not allowed to be religious leaders "All these towers are the burial places of the nobles, and every chapel in them is dedicated to a particular idol, to which they pay their devotions." -Burial practices, mirror Catholicism -"House Idols" seem sacrosanct "The principal ones, in which the people have greatest faith and confidence, I precipitated from their pedestals, and cast them down the steps of the temple, purifying the chapels in which they had stood, as they were all polluted with human blood, shed ill the sacrifices. In the place of these I put images of Our Lady and the Saints, which excited not a little feeling in Moctezuma and the inhabitants, who at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings were known throughout the country, the people would rise against me; for they believed that their idols bestowed on them all temporal good, and if they permitted them to be ill-treated, they would be angry and without their gifts, and by this means the people would be deprived of the fruits of the earth and perish with famine." -Cortes views evidence of human sacrifice, something that seems barbaric to the Spanish imperialists -"Primitiveness of religion" gives rationale for attacking the Aztecs -Replacement of Aztec idols with Spanish Catholic imagery is evidence of counter-reformation -Cortes mandates Aztecs to not commit sacrifice under guise of "no murder" law from King; fuels a white-savior complex -Later praises Aztecs for good manners, slighting them for "barbaric culture" that would not precede such manners