A little more than 500 days ago , a group meeting occurred between two man that forever neuter the trend of chronicle . The meeting study place in the magnificent Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán , the seat of a wealthy and powerfulAztec empirethat ruled over vast regions of cardinal and southern Mexico . On Nov. 8 , 1519 , the SpanishconquistadorHernán Cortés , after months of battling neighboring urban center , entered Tenochtitlán and get ahead an consultation with the emperor butterfly we know as Montezuma II , the last in full self-governing ruler of the Aztec empire .
You probably think you know what take place next . Montezuma and his Aztec priests , believing the Spanish to be gods or the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy , basically roll over and handed Tenochtitlán to Cortés . And that ’s how a Spanish invading force-out of just a few hundred men conquered an imperium of millions and initiated centuries of Spanish colonial ruler in the Americas .
But that story , and particularly that version of Montezuma , are inventions , says Matthew Restall , a historiographer of colonial Latin America at Penn State University and generator , most recently , of " When Montezuma Met Cortés : The True Story of the Meeting that Changed story . "
" There are two Montezumas : the Montezuma who actually lived — the genuine , historic Montezuma — and the Montezuma who was invented after his end , " says Restall . " The invented Montezuma in many ways is theoppositeof the real Montezuma . The invent Montezuma is weak and a Sir Noel Pierce Coward and a failure . He ’s superstitious , afraid of the Spaniards and submerge by them . "
If that ’s not the real Montezuma , then what really happened on that fateful daylight in 1519 ? And who was responsible for for slenderize the mighty Montezuma into nothing more than a doormat for the Spanish seduction ?
A Glimpse at the Real Montezuma
One of the most difficult challenges face historians like Restall is that even though the Aztecs were an advanced civilization that keep detailed written records and histories , all of those document were destroy by the ending of the war with the Spanish . Thankfully , centuries of deliberate cross - disciplinary scholarship have let on a picture of Montezuma that ’s at unmediated betting odds with his infirm reputation .
" The literal Montezuma was one of the strongest , most successful , most expansionist emperor that the Aztec imperium ever had , " says Restall .
First of all , Montezuma was n’t really his name . In Nahuatl , the indigenous Aztec language , he was calledMotecuhzoma Xocoyotzin . The first part of his name about translates as " he is one who frowns like a lord , " and the 2nd part means " honored young one " to distinguish him from an early Saturnia pavonia with the same frowny name . The Spanish heard and immortalize the name as both Moctezuma and Montezuma , the latter being the most common spelling in English .
Afterinheriting the throne from his uncle , the great military leader Ahuitzotl , Montezuma ruled for two decades ( 1502–1520 ) and expatiate the Aztec empire to its greatest size by stamp down rival realm stretching from modern - 24-hour interval Mexico City to Chiapas . He made sinewy enemies in the process , include the rival Tlaxcaltecs , with whom the Aztecs brokered a tenuous peace . While overseeing this Brobdingnagian empire , Montezuma obtain tributes of Au , farming product and slaves that enrich the prevail classes of Tenochtitlán .
More than a military man , Montezuma was also an intellectual and a collector .
" He maintain a huge building complex of subroutine library , menagerie and gardens in Tenochtitlán , " says Restall . " Montezuma used these libraries , zoos and gardens to organize flora , fauna , objects and even people from throughout his empire . "
In fact , Restall thinks it may have been Montezuma ’s innate wonder , and not his supposed cowardice , that was the emperor butterfly ’s Achilles ' heel .
" When the Spaniards go far , Montezuma is fascinated by them ; he ’s not afraid of them at all , " says Restall . " So rather than behave in a barbarian way — which is to set on them and shoot down them — Montezuma very cleverly lures the Spaniards into his city and puts them up as his Edgar Guest in his Padre ’s castle , for canvas them and get word from them . In effect , he ’s collecting them , almost like a unexampled acquisition for his zoo . "
Was it a misunderstanding for Montezuma to invite an invading army into his metropolis and host them like royalty for six months while peppering them with questions and conversation ? " Yes , " says Restall . " If anything , that was his flunk . Montezuma was so fascinated by them that he could n’t see beyond that . "
Montezuma’s Surrender: Lost in Translation?
If Montezuma was n’t in fact a weakling or a coward , then why did he surrender forthwith to Cortés and his army at that first coming together in 1519 ? The solvent , of form , is that he did n’t surrender at all . The earliest account of Montezuma ’s so-called surrender was written by Cortés himself , and was either a gross mistranslation or more likely a full manufacturing to cover up the Spaniard ’s despairing situation .
First , some context . Cortés wrote his account of the illustrious meeting with Montezuma a class after it happened . By 1520 , the Spanish were at an absolute low compass point in their flaming warfare with the Aztecs . Montezuma was stagnant , Cortés had lost two - third base of his men flee Tenochtitlán , and the Spanish had take refuge with the Tlaxcaltecs , the Aztecs ' traditional enemy . Cortés was also on the lam , want for mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in Cuba .
It was at this precarious minute that Cortés sat down and wrote a missive to King Charles V of Spain . Instead of asking the king for help or a regal pardon , Cortés evidence the story of the 24-hour interval he met Montezuma .
According to Cortés , the Spanish were greeted by intimately a thousand Aztecs in " rich costume . " sweep a wooden nosepiece into the island city of Tenochtitlán , they were met by " Señor Moctezuma , " dressed in even fine cotton robes and keep company by a retinue of noblemen . Cortés and Montezuma substitute gifts — the conquistador presented the emperor with a necklace of " pearls and glass diamonds " and Montezuma reciprocated with jewelry beautify with shells and gold figurines .
Montezuma showed the Spaniards into the beauty parlour of a " very large and splendid castle " where the Aztecs continued to shower their guests with gold and silver jewelry , ornate featherwork and " six thousand opus of cotton wool cloth . " Once everyone was seat on cushions , Montezuma began his manner of speaking .
This speech , Restall note , would have been delivered through " a chain of translators . " Cortés traveled with a Spanish priest who had shipwrecked in the Yucatan and learned some Maya . And among the Aztecs was a adult female who also verbalize Maya . So whatever Montezuma say would have first been utter in Nahuatl , then translated to Maya , then retranslate from Maya to Spanish .
consort to Cortés , writing a year later from his memory of a double - render speech , Montezuma interrelate a story of an ancient Aztec ruler who departed long ago with a promise of returning to " subdue this land , and shrink [ the Aztecs ] to subjection as his feudatory . " Montezuma said he believed that the Spanish were those prophesied conquerors , and even recognized the queen of Spain as " our natural crowned head . "
" In that oral communication , Montezuma supposedly enunciate , ' I ’ve been waitress for you . All I ’ve been doing is holding this keister for you , the representative of our on-key raw lord , the King of Spain , ' " say Restall . " It ’s ridiculous , objectively speaking . You take this and you think , how could multitude believe this ? It ’s so clearly ego - serve . "
But Cortés knew his consultation and knew that the king of Spain would eat it up . A fabulously wealthy Aztec empire pledging its loyalty to Spain ? Yes , please ! Overnight , Cortés went from being a mutinous Johnny to a conquering hero . His alphabetic character was printed and publish across Spain .
Montezuma’s Death and Unfair Legacy
We ’ll never know what Montezuma really told Cortés when they first met in 1519 . But the fact is that Montezuma did n’t surrender . He host the Spanish for six months , providing them with food , gold bangle and women , until Cortés had to demonstrate back down to the Veracruz coast to repel a Spanish large number sent from Cuba to pick up him .
While Cortés was away from Tenochtitlán , something tragical materialise . His aide-de-camp Pedro de Alvarado , who was left in electric charge of 100 Spanish troops , misidentify an Aztec spiritual ceremony with flowery costumes and cram for war preparations . In a panic , Alvarado and his man massacre stacks of Aztecs in the Great Temple , chop implements of war off the drummers and murdering unarmed Aztec priest .
be intimate this mean all - out warfare , the Spanish captured Montezuma and held him prisoner in the palace . When Cortés returned , he join the fight raging in Tenochtitlán . At some point , Montezuma was allowed to take the air onto the castle patio and speak to the Aztecs . According to the Spanish , Montezuma was killed by a tilt make from one of his own men , plainly infuriated that Montezuma was press peace treaty with the conquistador . More in all likelihood , Restall believes Montezuma was murdered by the Spanish .
The war between the Spanish and Aztecs raged on for years and result in a outrageous loss of liveliness from both battle and disease . Cortés and the Spanish finally succeeded in toppling Tenochtitlán , but only with the decisive help of Tlaxcaltec warrior .
Restall believes that the myth of Montezuma ’s surrender has persevere in the popular imagination because it ’s " a fundamental Trygve Halvden Lie " that justify the conquest of Mexico . Instead of a war of aggressiveness , the Spanish were bringing civilization and Christianity to Mesoamerica . Of course Montezuma surrender , because he was overwhelmed and astonied by the technical advancement of Cortés .
In the decades after the Spanish conquest , indigenous Mexicans were also taught that Montezuma was a infirm emperor who bowed to the technologically superior Spanish , which made Montezuma an gentle scapegoat for the cruelties of colonial rule .
" For very different reasons , this cowardly Montezuma makes horse sense to people , " says Restall of Montezuma ’s inaccurate legacy . " He reserve them to take a very complicated story with a lot of benighted element and makes it very simple and straightforward . "
