The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… Cortes therefore determined to forward all this treasure to his majesty in Spain, and commissioned a nobleman of Toledo, named Diego deSoto to be the bearer: whether Juan de Ribera, who squinted with oneeye, and had been Cortes' private secretary, accompanied this gentleman,I cannot exactly remember; but one thing I know, that verylittle reliance could be placed in his honesty. I also imagined that heplayed falsely at cards and cheated at dice; besides which he possessed many other bad qualities. I merely mention all this because hebehaved so villanously to Cortes in Spain, for he not only kept backthe money which the latter confided to his care for his father MartinCortes, [42] but he repaid kindness with ingratitude, and so far forgot all the favours which Cortes had bestowed upon him, that, instead of speaking good of our general, or even the truth, he calumniated his benefactor in every possible manner. As this Ribera was a man whopossessed considerable eloquence, and as he had been private secretary to Cortes, his aspersions were generally credited in Spain, by thebishop of Burgos in particular; and he created the more evil, as at that time Narvaez, Christobal de Tapia, and the agents of Velasquez had renewed their charges against Cortes, complaining to his majesty that he could not depend upon the honesty of the decision to whichthe commissioners had come, as Cortes had bribed them all with valuablepresents. All this created a most unfavorable change in Cortes'affairs, and he fell so greatly into his majesty's displeasure that matters, in all likelihood, would have terminated most unfavorably for him if the duke of Bejar, who was greatly attached to Cortes, had not employed his utmost endeavours for him and become his bail until he should besummoned to take his trial in due form. The duke's reason forespousing Cortes' cause so warmly was, because the preliminaries of amarriage had been settled between the latter and a niece of the duke.This lady's name was Juana de Zunniga, daughter to the earl ofAguilar Don Carlos de Arellano, and she had also a brother who wasa great favorite with the emperor. As about this time also the 80,000 pesos, with the other valuable presents arrived in Spain, accompaniedby letters from Cortes, in which he expressed to his majesty his thanksfor the great honours which his majesty had bestowed upon him, andfor the just sentence he had pronounced in his favour; the inquirieswhich were going to be instituted against him were dropped, and thestorm which was gathering over him blew over. But now again theproud inscription which he had placed on the silver field-piece createda great deal of ill-feeling towards him, and several of the dukes, marquissesand earls, who had likewise rendered great services to ouremperor, considered it amazingly presumptuous that Cortes should attempt, by this inscription, to raise his merits so far above all others. Even his greatest patrons, the admiral of Castile, the duke of Bejar,and the earl of Aguilar, greatly disapproved of this self-praise. [43] Butwhy, I ask, should they term this presumptuous in our general? Canany one mention to me another general who has accomplished so many heroic deeds as Cortes, or who has conquered for our emperor a countryof the magnitude of New Spain, or who has been the means of converting so many thousands of heathens to Christianity? Though, tobe sure, the merit and glory of all this is not due to Cortes alone, butalso to his brave companions in arms! We have equally merited forourselves grants of land and honorable escutcheons, with those brave men of former times who were so honoured by their monarchs! [Pg 220] With respect to the beautiful field-piece, we further received information that it was presented to his majesty by the comendador-mayorof Leon, Don Francisco de las Cobos, but that it was neverremoved from Seville, for it was smelted there and the value of the metal was altogether estimated at 20,000 ducats. This present, withall those which Cortes sent on former occasions to Spain, though someunfortunately never reached their place of destination, not only spreadthe fame of Cortes to all parts of the empire, but throughout the wholeof christendom, and his name was in every person's mouth. Neithermust I forget to mention, that after Martin Cortes had in vain demandedof the squinting Ribera to deliver up the money to him which had been sent by our general, he commenced an action against him;to which, however, an end was speedily put by the death of Ribera,who fell ill on a journey to the town of Cadahalso, after eating tooheartily of fat bacon. His death was so [Pg 221] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 148/282
1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… sudden that he had not eventime to confess his sins; may God have mercy on his poor soul! Amen! While all this was going on in Spain, Cortes was very busily employedin rebuilding the city of Mexico, and he strove by every possiblemeans to increase its population by holding out rewards to the inhabitants of the country to settle there. For this purpose he declared the town free from all tribute, until all the buildings should be completed, the causeways, aqueducts and bridges repaired, and the churchesand the hospitals were entirely finished both inside and out. [44] The superintendence of the latter he gave to the excellent father Olmedo, who had already brought together all the Indians who were suffering from ill health, and attended to them with the most affectionate care. But about this time there likewise arrived in Vera Cruz twelveFranciscan monks from Spain, who were accompanied by the verypious father, Martin de Valencia, whom his holiness had appointedvicar-general of New Spain. He was a native of the village of Valencia de san Juan, in the district of Campo, and we shall see in the followingchapter how this reverend father was received in Mexico. CHAPTER CLXXI. How twelve monks of the order of St. Francis, with the vicar-general and father-superior Martin de Valencia, arrive at Vera Cruz, and how they are received by Cortes. The reader will remember my mentioning in a former chapter that we begged of his imperial majesty to send to New Spain some reallygood and pious monks of the Franciscan order, that they might assistus to convert the Indians to Christianity, and preach the doctrine ofour holy faith to them, in which father Olmedo had made so good abeginning. Cortes and the whole of us Conquistadores had also on thesame occasion written to the general of the Franciscan order, who was afterwards the cardinal, brother Francisco de los Angeles, and beggedof him to send us some very pious men of his order, that we might beenabled to fulfil our promise to the Indians, whom we had so often assured that the emperor would despatch to them religious men, wholed a much more pious life than we did. This we had repeatedly told the Indians, and they always inquired of us in return if those men would possess the same good qualities as father Olmedo. To which weanswered in the affirmative. [Pg 222] It was in compliance with this, our request, that the general ofthe Franciscan order sent the twelve monks, with their superior, whoarrived in Vera Cruz. Among these religious men was also the fatherToribio Motalma, to whom the caziques and distinguished personagesof Mexico gave the name of Motolinia, [45] which signifies the poor brother, because he distributed everything he received among the Indians; so that it often happened he had nothing left to still hishunger. He was always clad in the meanest garments, went barefoot, and was continually preaching to the Indians, who became greatlyattached to him, and they revered him as a holy person. When Cortes received intelligence of the arrival of these reverendpersonages in Vera Cruz, he gave orders that they should be receivedwith the profoundest respect in every town they passed through on their road to Mexico, whether Indian or Spanish. If they halted at a distance from any habitations, huts were to be constructed for them;in every township they came to the bells were to be rung, the whole ofthe inhabitants were to go out to meet them with crosses, wax lights,and flying colours; and in order to give the Indians some notion of humility and veneration, the Spaniards were particularly instructed to fall down on their knees before them, and to kiss their hands andtheir cowls. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 149/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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