Conquest
Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico
Published on 16. April 2013
832 pages
978-1-4391-2725-4 (ISBN)
Description
Drawing on newly discovered sources and writing with brilliance, drama, and profound historical insight, Hugh Thomas presents an engrossing narrative of one of the most significant events of Western history.
Ringing with the fury of two great empires locked in an epic battle, Conquest captures in extraordinary detail the Mexican and Spanish civilizations and offers unprecedented in-depth portraits of the legendary opponents, Montezuma and Cortés. Conquest is an essential work of history from one of our most gifted historians.
Ringing with the fury of two great empires locked in an epic battle, Conquest captures in extraordinary detail the Mexican and Spanish civilizations and offers unprecedented in-depth portraits of the legendary opponents, Montezuma and Cortés. Conquest is an essential work of history from one of our most gifted historians.
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04/1995
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Person
Hugh Thomas is the author of The Spanish Civil War, Conquest, and many other books. A former Chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies (U.K.), he was made Lord Thomas of Swinnerton in 1981. He lives in London.
Content
Contents
ILLUSTRATIONS
PREFACE
NOTES
I
ANCIENT MEXICO
1 Harmony and order
2 Palace of the white sedges
3 I see misfortune come
4 Not with love but with fear
II
SPAIN OF THE GOLDEN AGE
5 The golden years begin
6 The Pope must have been drunk
7 Better lands have never been discovered
8 What I saw was so splendid
9 A great Lord born in brocade
10 Sweating, hunger and hard work
III
TO KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE LAND
11 A gentlemanly pirate
12 The advantage of having horse and cannon
13 As much as where Solomon took the gold for the temple
14 A dragon's head for a "Florentine" glass
15 They received him with trumpets
16 If I continue, shall I win?
17 To leave none of us alive
18 This cruelty restored order
19 Another new world of great cities and towers
IV
CORTÉS AND MONTEZUMA
20 An image of Quetzalcoatl
21 Bees and spiders make works of art
22 Something must be done for the Lord
V
CORTÉS' PLANS UNDONE
23 The King, our lord, is more King than other Kings
24 A voice very deep and hoarse as if it came from a vault
25 To cut off Don Hernando's ears
26 The blood of the chieftains ran like water
27 As a song you were born, Montezuma
28 Fortune spins her wheel
VI
THE SPANISH RECOVERY
29 The sweetness of death by the obsidian knife
30 It was convenient to impose the said punishment
31 My principal intention and motive in making this war
32 They were all lords
VII
THE BATTLE FOR TENOCHTITLAN
33 Remember the bold hearts
34 A great harvest of captives
35 Such mad dogs
VIII
AFTERMATH
36 The general exodus
37 The songs and voices scarcely ceased
38 The clause in Adam's will which excludes France
39 An absolute monarch
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
APPENDICES
I The population of old Mexico
II A summary of Montezuma's tribute
III Mexican calendars
IV Spanish money c. 1520
V Cortés' ladies
GENEALOGIES
I The emperors of Mexico
II The Spanish and imperial royal families
III Cortés and his relations
IV The transformation of the Mexican royal family
V Cortés' arrival in the nobility
UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS
1 Cortés' father Martín Cortés in Medellín
2 Cortés' grandfather Diego Alfon Altamirano
3 Cortés' journey to America, 1506
4 A letter from Cortés in Mexico, 6 July 1519
5 Montezuma's concession of power, 1520
6 New evidence about the death of Catalina
7 Cortés, art and loyalty
8 Diego Velázquez's punishments
CHAPTER NOTES
SOURCES
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
PREFACE
NOTES
I
ANCIENT MEXICO
1 Harmony and order
2 Palace of the white sedges
3 I see misfortune come
4 Not with love but with fear
II
SPAIN OF THE GOLDEN AGE
5 The golden years begin
6 The Pope must have been drunk
7 Better lands have never been discovered
8 What I saw was so splendid
9 A great Lord born in brocade
10 Sweating, hunger and hard work
III
TO KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE LAND
11 A gentlemanly pirate
12 The advantage of having horse and cannon
13 As much as where Solomon took the gold for the temple
14 A dragon's head for a "Florentine" glass
15 They received him with trumpets
16 If I continue, shall I win?
17 To leave none of us alive
18 This cruelty restored order
19 Another new world of great cities and towers
IV
CORTÉS AND MONTEZUMA
20 An image of Quetzalcoatl
21 Bees and spiders make works of art
22 Something must be done for the Lord
V
CORTÉS' PLANS UNDONE
23 The King, our lord, is more King than other Kings
24 A voice very deep and hoarse as if it came from a vault
25 To cut off Don Hernando's ears
26 The blood of the chieftains ran like water
27 As a song you were born, Montezuma
28 Fortune spins her wheel
VI
THE SPANISH RECOVERY
29 The sweetness of death by the obsidian knife
30 It was convenient to impose the said punishment
31 My principal intention and motive in making this war
32 They were all lords
VII
THE BATTLE FOR TENOCHTITLAN
33 Remember the bold hearts
34 A great harvest of captives
35 Such mad dogs
VIII
AFTERMATH
36 The general exodus
37 The songs and voices scarcely ceased
38 The clause in Adam's will which excludes France
39 An absolute monarch
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
APPENDICES
I The population of old Mexico
II A summary of Montezuma's tribute
III Mexican calendars
IV Spanish money c. 1520
V Cortés' ladies
GENEALOGIES
I The emperors of Mexico
II The Spanish and imperial royal families
III Cortés and his relations
IV The transformation of the Mexican royal family
V Cortés' arrival in the nobility
UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS
1 Cortés' father Martín Cortés in Medellín
2 Cortés' grandfather Diego Alfon Altamirano
3 Cortés' journey to America, 1506
4 A letter from Cortés in Mexico, 6 July 1519
5 Montezuma's concession of power, 1520
6 New evidence about the death of Catalina
7 Cortés, art and loyalty
8 Diego Velázquez's punishments
CHAPTER NOTES
SOURCES
INDEX
