The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)

Our next step was to march to Cimatan, in order to punish its inhabitants, who, it will be remembered, killed two Spaniards on the occasion when Francisco Martin and myself so narrowly escaped. When we were on our march thither, and had arrived at no great distance from Tapelola, we came to some large mountains, containing several dangerous passes, through which our march lay to this township; Luis Marin, therefore, sent to the caziques of this place, desiring them to clear the roads for us that our horses might pass along in greater safety. This they readily undertook to do; but even then it was with great difficulty our cavalry could pass through the defiles. From Tapelola we marched peaceably over the townships Silo, Suchiapa, and Coyumelapa, to Panguaxaya, and it was not until we approached the townships of Tecomayacatl and Ateapan, which then formed but one town, that matters began to assume a different aspect. These were the most populous townships in the province, and formed part of my commendary. As the inhabitants of themselves were very numerous, and had besides called in the assistance of their neighbours, they mustered a very considerable body of troops, and attacked us as we were crossing the deep river which flows through the midst of their town. Six Spaniards were wounded and three of our horses killed, the battle continuing very sharply for a length of time before we could reach the opposite shore and drive the enemy back, who set fire to the houses in their flight, and then escaped to the mountains. Here we rested for five days to cure our wounds, and we sent out frequent foraging parties who captured many a fine Indian female. We then forwarded a message to the inhabitants, inviting them to return to obedience, with which they instantly complied, and their wives and children were again restored to them. The secretary Godoy had indeed advised Luis Marin not to return the prisoners, but to mark them with the iron and retain them as slaves, a punishment to which all those were subject who had once acknowledged themselves vassals of our emperor, and afterwards revolted without any apparent reason. These people, Godoy maintained, had commenced hostilities with us from sheer obstinacy, and we ought at least to demand a sufficient number of slaves as a compensation for the loss of our three horses. For myself, I loudly protested against this, and said it would be unjust to punish these people who had freely submitted again to our arms. At length Godoy and myself got to high words about this matter, which ended in our drawing swords and wounding each other, when our friends interfered and brought about a reconciliation between us. Luis Marin, who was, upon the whole, a very kind-hearted man, was convinced of the justness of my observation, and ordered all the prisoners to be returned to the caziques, and so we departed from them in perfect peace.

From this place we marched towards Cimatlan and Talatupan. At the entrance of this township the Indians had constructed, on the top of a hill, a species of rampart, with loop-holes, beyond which lay a marsh of considerable extent. When we had arrived up to this outwork, the enemy suddenly showered their arrows upon us, wounding above twenty of our men and killing two horses; and if we had not made a hasty retreat our loss might have been very serious.

The Indians of this province excel as archers, and fly their arrows with so much strength that they will pierce a jacket doubly quilted with cotton.

After this momentary attack upon us, the Indians drew back to the marshes, and we remained two whole days in this place, during which time we despatched several messages to them; but as they obstinately refused to submit, and were securely posted between the swamps, where our horse could not manœuvre, nor would it have been an easy matter for the foot to have got at them, and as we ourselves were quite tired of roving about, we unanimously determined to march back to Guacasualco. We took our route through the townships of Guimango, Nacaxu, Xuica, Teotitan-Copilco, and several others, all belonging to the province of Chontalpa. We then crossed the rivers Ayagualulco, and Tonala, and we arrived safely in Guacasualco, when the owners of those horses which had been killed in this campaign were reimbursed for their loss from the gold collected in Chiapa and Chamula.

In the meantime Alonso de Grado reached Mexico, and presented himself to Cortes; who, when he learnt the real state of the case, grew excessively angry with this officer, and said to him, "It appears thus, Señor Alonso, that you cannot live in peace with any one! I must earnestly advise you to alter your bad disposition; if not, I will give you 3000 pesos, and send you off to Cuba. I cannot suffer you to go on in this manner any longer!" Alonso de Grado then humbly begged his pardon, and expressed his sorrow for what had happened, so that our general, and even Luis Marin, became reconciled to him shortly after.

I must now conclude this chapter, in order to acquaint the reader with what was going on at the imperial court in Spain respecting the bishop of Burgos.

CHAPTER CLXVII

How our agents in Spain brought certain accusations against the bishop of Burgos, and what further happened.

The reader must have seen, from what I have stated in former chapters, that the bishop of Burgos and archbishop of Rosano, Don Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, favoured Diego Velasquez in every way, and that, on the other hand, he took every opportunity of thwarting the designs of Cortes and of all of us. But now, by divine permission of the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy father Adrian36 was elected Pope in the year 1521; and as this happened at the time he was governor of Spain, our agents repaired to the town of Vittoria, where he was then residing, to kiss his holiness's feet. There arrived with them, at the same time, in Vittoria, a German gentleman of distinction named La Chau,37 who had been despatched thither by the emperor to congratulate the new Pope. As this gentleman had heard a great deal of the heroic deeds of Cortes and his troops, how we had conquered New Spain, what great and memorable services we had rendered to his majesty, and of the many thousands of Indians we had converted to Christianity, he supplicated his holiness to investigate the matter of dispute between Cortes and the bishop of Burgos. To this his holiness consented, and he immediately took the matter in hand, which he did the more earnestly, as the complaints of our agents had emboldened several other men of distinction to prefer charges of injustice and oppression against the bishop. This bishop was, upon the whole, detested, as, in his capacity of president of the council of the Indies, during the emperor's absence in Flanders, he had governed in the most arbitrary manner; notwithstanding this, it was a matter of no small difficulty for our agents to reject him as the judge in our own affairs.

Francisco de Montejo, Diego de Ordas, the licentiate Francisco Nuñez, and Martin Cortes, were purposely staying at Valladolid to wait an opportunity of preferring their charges against the bishop. In this place they found great protection and favour from several distinguished cavaliers and grandees of the court, particularly from the duke of Bejar, so that our agents were emboldened to maintain with great firmness that they could not acknowledge the bishop as judge in their affairs, for which they gave the following reasons:

Firstly. Diego Velasquez had given the bishop of Burgos a very lucrative commendary in Cuba, the gold mines of which the former worked with the inhabitants of the island, and sent the produce to Spain for the bishop. Not one of the townships of that island had Velasquez set apart for the emperor, although he was so greatly indebted to him.

Secondly. In the year 1517 one hundred and ten of us, under an officer named Cordoba, had fitted out an armament at our own expense, with which we had discovered and explored the coast of New Spain. The circumstances relative to the expedition had been so represented to his majesty by the bishop of Burgos, as if Velasquez had fitted out the armament at his own expense, and had discovered the country himself, although he had had nothing to do with it either one way or the other.

Thirdly. It was not until this expedition returned that Velasquez sent out one of his nephews, named Juan Grijalva, with a small armament to make further discoveries. Grijalva returned to Cuba with above 20,000 pesos' worth of gold, the greater part of which found its way into the pocket of the bishop, and not a fraction of it was paid into the royal treasury.

Fourthly. When Cortes, during the progress of the conquest of New Spain, despatched Montejo and Puertocarrero, cousin to the earl of Medellin, to Spain, with the sun of gold, the moon of silver, and the gold dust, with various kinds of jewels and trinkets as a present to his majesty, accompanied by despatches from Cortes and all the Conquistadores, containing a full account of our transactions in the new world, the bishop refused to give our agents an audience, and abused them in a most shameful manner, calling them traitors and the agents of a traitor, and took away from them the present we had destined for his majesty. He suppressed our despatches to the emperor, and sent his majesty an account which was the very opposite of ours, and had represented matters in such a way as though everything came from his creature Diego Velasquez. But he did not stop here; for he retained the greater part of the valuable present himself, and when Puertocarrero begged permission of the bishop to repair in person to his majesty in Flanders, he cast him into prison, where he died.

Fifthly. The bishop had forbidden the two chief harbour-masters of Seville to allow any vessels having on board troops, ammunition, or other matters for Cortes, to leave that harbour.

Sixthly. The bishop, without authority from his majesty, had wished to give the most important appointments to men who neither possessed the requisite talents nor merited to fill such offices: for instance, the government of New Spain he had conferred upon Christobal de Tapia, who could not even have been intrusted with an inferior command, and whose only claim to that office was his marriage with Doña Petronella de Fonseca, a niece of the bishop, and a near relative of Velasquez.

And lastly. The bishop lent a favorable ear to all the false statements of Velasquez's agents, while he suppressed, distorted, and garbled the true and faithful accounts which Cortes and the rest of us despatched to his majesty.

These and other complaints against the bishop, which were accompanied by undeniable proofs were properly drawn up by our agents, and with these they repaired to Saragossa, where his holiness was staying, to whom they handed over this document and challenged the bishop as an unfit person to be judge in these matters.

After his holiness had perused this representation of the case, and had convinced himself that there was very little truth with regard to the enormous expenses to which Velasquez pretended to have put himself, and that upon the whole he had only had the interest of his patron and the bishop at heart; but that Cortes, on the other hand, had had the interest of the emperor in view, his holiness not only declared that the bishop was unfit to preside as judge in the dispute between Cortes and Velasquez, but superseded him as president of the council of the Indies.

His holiness at the same time appointed Cortes governor of New Spain, and decreed that Velasquez was to be reimbursed for his expenses in fitting out the armament. His holiness also sent several papal bulls with a number of indulgences for the hospitallers and the churches of New Spain, and addressed a separate letter to Cortes, and the whole of us Conquistadores, in which his holiness admonished us to use our utmost endeavours to convert the Indians to Christianity; to abolish all human sacrifices and other abominations from the country, and to gain the friendship of the people: hereby we should merit the highest rewards from his majesty, and his holiness, as the pastor of our souls, would supplicate the Almighty in prayer to send a blessing on our endeavours in the service of Christianity. This letter was likewise accompanied by other bulls, by which absolution was granted us for all the sins we had committed during the conquest.

After this very favorable decision of his holiness, both as supreme pontiff and governor of Spain, our agents themselves wrote to his majesty, who had just arrived from Flanders,38 and inclosed certain papers which had been drawn up by his holiness respecting the subject-matter. His majesty, after making the most minute inquiries into the affair, confirmed the decision of the pope, appointed Cortes governor of New Spain, and also ordered that Velasquez should be reimbursed the expenses of the expedition. But the emperor even went further than this, and deprived Velasquez of the government of Cuba, because he had fitted out the armament under Narvaez for New Spain without his permission, and in opposition to the commands of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo, and of the Hieronymite brotherhood; also because he had refused to obey the orders of the auditor Vasquez de Aillon, and had even had the audacity to throw him into prison, though he had been expressly despatched to Cuba by order of the royal court of audience to forbid the armament leaving this island.

When the bishop of Burgos was informed of the decision to which his holiness and his majesty had come, he fell ill from excessive vexation, quitted the court and retired to his country seat at Toro. His brother, Don Antonio de Fonseca,39 lord of Coca and Alaexos, tried all in his power to get him reinstated into his late office, but all his endeavours proved fruitless with the emperor.

Thus, all in a moment, everything terminated favorably for Cortes, but the instability of good fortune soon began to show itself, for now Narvaez, Christobal de Tapia, and the soldier Cardenas brought heavy accusations against him. To all of which was added the charges preferred against our general by the pilot Umbria, whom Cortes had sentenced to have his legs cut off on the occasion when Cermenno and Escudero were hung for a conspiracy they had formed against his life.

CHAPTER CLXVIII

How Narvaez, Christobal de Tapia, the pilot Umbria, and the soldier Cardenas, bring heavy accusations against Cortes, at the instigation of the bishop of Burgos, and what judgment his majesty pronounced.

After the pope and the emperor, as I have just related, had pronounced judgment in favour of Cortes, Pamfilo de Narvaez and Christobal de Tapia arrived in Spain. They were accompanied by the soldier Cardenas and the pilot Umbria, and immediately repaired to the bishop of Burgos at Toro, and begged of him to aid in the accusations which they had determined to bring against Cortes before his majesty. As nothing could be more welcome to the bishop than this, he promised to lend them every support, and upon his advice they joined Velasquez's agents, named Bernardino Velasquez, Benito Martin, and Manuel de Rojas, and presented themselves to his majesty, before whom they preferred the following charges against Cortes:

Firstly. Diego Velasquez had sent out three several armaments for the discovery and colonization of New Spain, in which he had expended large sums of money. Of one of these expeditions he had appointed Cortes commander-in-chief, but the latter had deserted with the whole armament and had refused all further obedience to him.

Secondly. When Diego Velasquez upon this despatched Narvaez with eighteen vessels, 1300 foot, a considerable body of horse, musketeers, and crossbow-men to New Spain, Cortes not only refused to acknowledge the papers in which the president of the council of the Indies conferred the government of the country on Narvaez, but he had even attacked the latter with his troops, killed several of his officers, and then, after Narvaez had lost an eye in the battle, took him and the whole of his men prisoners.

Thirdly. When upon this the bishop of Burgos conferred the appointment of governor of New Spain upon Christobal de Tapia, and the latter repaired in person thither to enter upon the government in the name of his majesty, Cortes again refused all obedience and forced Tapia to leave the country.

Fourthly. Cortes had demanded in the name of his majesty large quantities of gold from all the townships throughout New Spain, which the inhabitants accordingly had brought him, but he had put the whole of it in his private purse.

Fifthly. Cortes had taken an equal fifth with his majesty of the booty found in Mexico, which had created great discontent among the men.

Sixthly. He had tortured Quauhtemoctzin and other caziques, in order to extort more gold from them.

Seventhly. Cortes never divided any of the gold among his troops, but kept all to himself.

Eighthly. Cortes was building himself palaces and houses with fortifications, which had the extent of whole townships; the inhabitants of the surrounding districts were compelled to labour in the construction of the edifices, and were obliged to fetch large cedar trees and enormous blocks of stone from the most distant parts.

Ninethly. He had poisoned Francisco de Garay in order that he might get possession of his vessels and of his troops.

Besides these they brought many similar charges against Cortes, so that his majesty was excessively annoyed, imagining that all they said was true, and he would not listen to any more, telling them that these accusations were quite sufficient.

During this audience, Narvaez, with his stentorian voice, was heard to express himself as follows: "Your majesty can easily imagine how matters went with me on the night that Cortes attacked and defeated me; for when his men thrust out one of my eyes, and I found my quarters all in flames, I quickly secreted the deed by which I held my appointment from your majesty, between my cuirass; but one of Cortes' officers took these papers forcibly from me, nor could I obtain possession of them again. They even spread the rumour that I had no appointment at all, but that the papers they took from me were bonds of some kind or other."

The emperor could not help laughing at what Narvaez said, but promised that he and the others should have justice done them. His majesty then appointed a commission from the gentlemen of his court and of his privy council, in whose honesty he could place the most implicit confidence to make inquiries into the several charges, and to pronounce judgment upon them. The names of the gentlemen who composed this commission were: Mercurio Catarinario,40 high chancellor of Italy; señor la Chau; the doctor de la Rocha; Hernando de Vega, who was lord of Grajales and comendador-mayor of Castile; the doctor Lorenzo Galindez de Caravajal, and the licentiate Vargas, who was treasurer-general of Castile. His majesty desired these gentlemen to make the most minute investigation respecting the dispute between Velasquez and Cortes, and also into the present charges which were preferred against the latter; and particularly recommended them to have no regard to persons, but to give their decision in conformity with strict justice. These gentlemen then assembled in the house of the high chancellor, and ordered Narvaez, with his three companions and the agents of Velasquez into their presence. In the same way they cited before them Martin Cortes, the licentiate Nuñez, Montejo, and Ordas. These latter gentlemen being made acquainted with the several charges which had been prepared against Cortes, replied to the following effect:

That with regard to the assertion, that Velasquez was the first discoverer of New Spain, and that he had expended large sums of money in the discovery, it was entirely false, as the whole merit of it was due to Cordoba, who had fitted out the armament at his own expense. Velasquez, on the contrary, in many circumstances connected with this expedition, had laid himself open to the imputation of guilt, as he had tried all in his power to induce Cordoba and his companions, for certain considerations, to land at the Guanajas islands, in order to carry away forcibly from thence a great number of the inhabitants as slaves, to work his mines in Cuba; of all of which our agents produced undeniable proofs. Neither could Velasquez, they continued, claim any merit to himself when he subsequently despatched his relative Grijalva to New Spain, as he had not commissioned him to form any settlements, but he merely desired him to carry on a trade of barter with the Indians. Nor had Velasquez put himself to any great expense on this occasion, as the greater part of the expenses in fitting out the armament had been borne by the officers and soldiers themselves, one of whom, Francisco de Montejo, now stood before the honorable commission. From this expedition Grijalva had returned to Cuba with 20,000 pesos worth of gold, of which, however, Velasquez had not paid one farthing into the royal treasury, but claimed the whole amount for himself, and sent it to the bishop of Burgos, to obtain further favours from him. In the same way he had bestowed upon the bishop great numbers of Indians to work his gold mines in Cuba, without his ever so much as thinking to set any of the townships apart for the crown. Of all this they likewise produced undeniable proofs.

If Velasquez, continued our agents, did give Cortes the chief command of the armament he afterwards fitted out, his appointment was certainly by divine ordinance, and it proved most fortunate for the emperor's interest, as every other general must have succumbed to the immense bodies of the enemy which everywhere opposed his march into the interior of the country. However, Velasquez's intention in fitting out this expedition was not to make any conquests, or form any settlements, but merely to carry on a trade of barter with the Indians; in proof of which, they could produce the original papers, containing his instructions. Cortes had remained in that country, and founded a colony there, because his troops had insisted on it, and because he himself was convinced that it would be both serviceable to God and to his majesty. Respecting all these circumstances, Cortes' troops drew up an account, which they had despatched to his majesty, with all the gold they had collected up to that moment; indeed Cortes and his men were never for a moment forgetful of the deep veneration and the dutiful obedience which they owed to their monarch. Our agents then gave a long description of the great partiality which the president of the council of the Indies had undisguisedly shown on every occasion for Velasquez; how he had taken all the gold, with our despatches, from our agents, and put half of the former into his own pocket; how he had calumniated us to his majesty, purposely omitted to mention what great services we had rendered to the crown, suppressed real facts, and altogether placed things in a false light. But this was not all; for when our agents wished to repair in person to Flanders, in order to throw themselves at his majesty's feet, and give him a faithful account of all the circumstances, the bishop cast one of those gentlemen, named Puertocarrero, a relative of the earl of Medellin, into prison, where he died. With the same hostile feeling and party spirit the bishop had issued peremptory orders that neither ammunition, troops, nor anything else destined for Cortes, should leave the port of Seville, and every obstacle was to be laid in his way to thwart his designs. He had not hesitated to term Cortes and the whole of his men a pack of traitors; and the only cause of his hatred was his own interested connexion with Velasquez, and the intended marriage of his niece with Christobal de Tapia, in consideration of which the latter was to receive the appointment of governor of New Spain.

In proof of this and other matters, our agents produced copies of letters we had written to his majesty, besides other important documents; so that Velasquez's party were unable to confute them on any point.

With respect to the armament of Narvaez, continued our agents, Velasquez had fully deserved punishment of death, as he had fitted it out against Cortes without any authority from his majesty, and against the wishes and express orders of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo, and of the Hieronymite brotherhood, whom the emperor had appointed viceroys of the West Indies. Diego Velasquez had, upon the whole, troubled himself very little about his majesty, but had always applied to the president of the council of the Indies. In his hatred he had forgotten the true interests of the crown, for which reason he had continually bred disturbances among the troops in New Spain, though it was so necessary towards the conquest of the country, and the conversion of the inhabitants, to maintain the strictest union among the men. Velasquez had gone so far in his refractory and disrespectful behaviour towards the authorities of St. Domingo, that he had ordered to be imprisoned and sent back to Cuba the licentiate Vasquez de Aillon, whom the royal court of audience had expressly despatched to New Spain to admonish Narvaez not to commence hostilities with Cortes. As Narvaez was now himself present, and had had the audacity to accuse Cortes and his troops of crimen læsæ majestatis, they must retort this charge upon him, and they demanded that punishment of death might be pronounced against him, as the moment he landed in New Spain he sent word to Motecusuma that his only object for visiting his dominions was to liberate him from prison, and to hang Cortes, with the whole of his men, as traitors. By this he had caused an insurrection throughout the whole country, which up to that moment had enjoyed perfect tranquillity. This conduct was the less excusable in him, since Cortes, immediately upon Narvaez's arrival in Vera Cruz, had written a most polite letter to him, and requested him to produce his appointment, as, if he possessed such an instrument, signed by his majesty, Cortes was ready to acknowledge his authority. To this Narvaez not only refused to reply, but had called Cortes and the whole of his men traitors, proclaimed war against them, and even declared them outlaws. Notwithstanding all this, Cortes had repeatedly offered Narvaez peace, and earnestly requested him not to create a rebellion in the country; for this was threatened by his conduct, and New Spain would certainly be lost again to the Spanish crown. Cortes had even offered to share the government of New Spain between himself and Narvaez, and to allow the latter his choice of the provinces. But even to this Narvaez had returned no answer; so that Cortes found himself compelled to pursue a more determined course, and to demand satisfaction of him for having imprisoned a royal auditor. Cortes at length proposed a personal interview with him, which Narvaez had certainly accepted, but this never took place, for his intentions were to seize Cortes during the conference. This could be proved by Duero, who now stood before the honorable commissioners, as at that time he held a command under Narvaez, and had himself warned Cortes of the latter's treacherous designs against his life.