The Conquest of Mexico by a Conquistador

This is one of the definitive works on the Conquest by a conquistador (albeit written 35 years after the Conquest was over)., Even though the introduction states that "...It is indeed one of the very few books of the sixteenth century which are still readable in the twentieth, because it is written very naturally, with none of the flourishes and affectations with which most writers of the Renaissance felt necessary to establish their style..." It is not quite modern Spanish but this edition is surprisingly readable. It is interesting that Spanish has remained far less changed than English. The 16th c. sported a flowery Spanish but it was really similar as opposed to 16th c. English. Here is an example from "The Discovery...":

...As we were filling our casks with water there came along the coast towards us many squadrons of Indians clad in cotton armor reaching to the knees, and armed with bows and arrows, lances and shields, and swords like two handed broad swords, and slings and stones and carrying the feathered crests, which they are accustomed to wear. Their faces were painted black and white, and ruddled and they came in silence straight towards us, as though they came in peace, and by signs they asked whether we came from where the sun rose, and we replied that we did come from the direction of the sunrise. We were at our wits end considering the matter, and wondering what the words were which the Indians called out to us...

As soon as it was daylight we could see, coming along the coast, many more Indian warriors with their banners raised. When their squadrons were formed up they surrounded us on all sides and poured in such showers of arrows and darts and stones thrown from their slings that over eighty of us soldiers were wounded, and they attacked us hand to hand, some with lances and the others shooting arrows, and others with two-handed knife edged swords, and they brought us to a bad pass...

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Article Author: Howard Dratch

Howard writes on science, books, movies and news for Blogcritics and on his own blogs from the border of North and Central America.

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