The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz Castillo, Vol. I: (Illustrated)

(Illustrated with Active Table of Contents) The defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small band of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history. Fifty years after the event Bernal Diaz (1498-c.1580), who served under Cortes, wrote this magnificent account of the march from the coast, Montezuma's death, the massacre of the Spaniards and the eventual capture of the capital of Mexico.

Bernal Diaz del Castillo served under Cortes through the entire Mexican campaign, and his narrative is both an invaluable document and a spectacular epic. Del Castillo saw Cortes sink his own ships (to prevent desertion) as soon as they landed on Mexican soil, and watched Montezuma become a prisoner in his own palace. The immediacy of his voice reaches across the centuries to invite readers to witness for themselves the horrors and wonders of the initial, apocalyptic clash between two great civilizations.

Among the most oft-cited portions of his chronicle are those describing the Spaniards’ first sighting of the Aztec island-city of Tenochtitlán, the entry of Cortes’ army into the basin of Mexico, and the initial meeting between Cortes and Montezuma. Also frequently quoted is his remark on the mingling of religious and economic motives that propelled the Spanish conquests in Mexico and beyond.

Born in Medina del Campo (Spain), he came from a family of little wealth and he himself had received only a minimal education. He sailed to Tierra Firme in 1514 to make his fortune, but after two years found few opportunities there. Much of the native population had already been killed by epidemics and there was political unrest. So he sailed to Cuba, where he was promised a grant of Indian slaves. But that promise was never fulfilled, leading Diaz, in 1517, to join an expedition being organized by a group of about 110 fellow settlers from Tierra Firme and similarly disaffected Spaniards. They chose Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, a wealthy Cuban landowner, to lead the expedition. It was a difficult venture, and although they discovered the Yucatan coast, by the time the expedition returned to Cuba they were in disastrous shape.

Nevertheless, Diaz returned to the coast of Yucatan the following year, on an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, with the intent of exploring the newly discovered lands. Upon returning to Cuba, he enlisted in a new expedition, this one led by Hernán Cortes. In this third effort, Diaz took part in one of the legendary military campaigns of history, bringing an end to the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica. During this campaign, Diaz spoke frequently with his companions in arms about their experiences, collecting them into a coherent narration. The book that resulted from this was Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (English: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he claims to have participated, culminating in the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.

As a reward for his service, Diaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present day Antigua Guatemala. He began writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, in response to an alternative history written by Cortes' chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the Historia Verdadera ("True History"), in response to the claims made in the earlier work.

It was from his encomienda in Guatemala that Diaz (who was, by his own description, an infirm, deaf, and blind old man) brought to completion his True History. Bernal's text itself has so humble a narrative voice and breathless tone of a recent witnessing, that his writing feels closer to oral testimony.