Bernal Díaz del Castillo

From Hispanopedia
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
BornBetween October 1495 and March 1496
Medina del Campo, Crown of Castile
DiedFebruary 3, 1584 (aged 87)
Antigua Guatemala, Viceroyalty of New Spain
OccupationsConquistador, explorer and soldier
Notable workHistoria verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España
SpouseTeresa Becerra
ChildrenWith Doña Francisca:

Diego Díaz del Castillo,[1] Teresa Díaz de Padilla[1]
With Teresa Becerra:
Francisco, Inés, Clara, Mateo, Pedro, Bartolomé, María Teresa, Juan and Jerónimo

Stepdaughter:
Isabel Durán
Signature

Bernal Díaz del Castillo (Medina del Campo, 1496 – Santiago de Guatemala, February 3, 1584) was a Spanish conquistador who took part in the Conquest of Mexico and was later Regidor of Santiago de Guatemala.

Díaz del Castillo is credited with the authorship of the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, which he began to write as a record of wars; but it was later revised and expanded in response to the publication by Francisco López de Gómara, which Díaz del Castillo considered highly inaccurate, and which moreover did not acknowledge the efforts made by the common soldiers during the conquest of New Spain.

Biography

Bernal Díaz del Castillo was born between October 1495 and March 1496[2] in Medina del Campo, Castile, the son of Regidor Francisco Díaz del Castillo, nicknamed "El Galán".[3]

Although he received only an elementary education, Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo praises his "epic prose". It seems that, as a young man, he visited Salamanca and Valladolid, cities he mentions in his writings. He was very fond of novels of chivalry, and of arms. The historian and Jesuit Carmelo Sáenz de Santamaría asserts that he was "addicted to chocolate and no drinker at all".

He was about 20 years old and had no property when he traveled to America in 1514, presumably in the expedition of Pedro Arias Dávila, who had been appointed Governor of Castilla del Oro a year earlier. After taking part in some expeditions in Tierra Firme, he set sail for the recently conquered Cuba, governed by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who promised him an encomienda, although this promise was never fulfilled.

The situation of inactivity affected not only Bernal Díaz but many other Spaniards, which is why 110 of them came together and organized a private expedition in search of the lands they were not obtaining in Cuba. Pooling money from all of them, they bought three ships and appointed Francisco Hernández de Córdoba as Captain.

The expedition reached the coasts of the Yucatán Peninsula, and immediately upon arrival it was attacked by the natives at Cabo Catoche in an ambush in which two soldiers died. At the next stop, in Champotón, 57 more died. Feverish from their numerous wounds and the complete lack of water, they decided to return to Cuba by way of Florida where, once again, they were attacked.

Memorial plaque of Bernal Díaz del Castillo in his native Medina del Campo

In 1518 he enlisted in the expedition of Juan de Grijalva, whose purpose was to obtain gold by barter with the Maya Indians, and which, after having traveled along the coasts of Yucatán and Veracruz, returned to Cuba.

In 1519 he finally joined the expedition under the command of Hernán Cortés, which would culminate in the fall of México-Tenochtitlan and the conquest of the Aztec Empire and other regions of present-day Mexico. Later he would take part in various expeditions and conquests in what are today the territories of present-day Guatemala and Honduras.

After returning from the expedition to Honduras (1526), Bernal remained for several years in Mexico City, although he made frequent trips to Coatzacoalcos, where he later obtained the office of Corregidor.

As a reward for his services during the Conquest, he was granted an encomienda, something that did not satisfy Bernal, who began to make various petitions before high officials of New Spain claiming a better reward for his services. The first fruits of this were the encomiendas granted to him in Cintla and Cimatlán.[4]

In his eagerness to have his efforts in the Conquest rewarded, Bernal initiated a probanza de méritos (proof of merits) on September 7, 1539, in the city of Mexico. Among the witnesses was his former captain Luis Marín.[5]

Continuing in this effort, Díaz del Castillo made several voyages to Spain to petition for favors. On the first of them he carried with him letters written by the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and by Hernán Cortés recommending him. Nevertheless, Bernal did not manage to be heard by the Council of the Indies, although in a second attempt he succeeded in having decrees issued in his favor returning to him the encomiendas in Chiapas and Tabasco that had been taken from him while he was on the expedition in Honduras.

On his return from this first voyage, Bernal settled as a resident in Guatemala (1541 or 1542), thanks to Pedro de Alvarado, at that time Governor of that province. By this time he had already been partially rewarded, since he had received in encomienda the towns of Sacatepéquez, Joanagazapa and Mistlán, and he was already the father of two children (Teresa and Diego), had with Francisca, an Indian woman from the court of Moctezuma. It is believed that he may also have had another relationship with another Indian woman baptized as Angelina. However, he ended up marrying Teresa Becerra, daughter of the conquistador and Alcalde ordinario of Guatemala Bartolomé Becerra, and widow of Juan Durán, with whom she had already had a daughter, Isabel. Of the nine children of the marriage, Francisco would be the one in charge of making the fair copy of one of the manuscripts of the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España that has survived to the present day.[6]

The second of the voyages (1549 or 1550) he made as a consequence of the promulgation of the New Laws for the encomenderos (1542), in order to litigate again. During this stay in Spain he took part in the Junta de Valladolid, held in 1550, where the rights of the Native Americans were debated, with the opposing arguments of Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda confronting each other. From this second voyage he obtained some decrees for more encomiendas to be restored to him, and for an exchange of an encomienda in Coatzacoalcos for another in Guatemala, petitions which the Oidor López Cerrato did not attend to.[7]

He returned to Guatemala in September 1551 and was elected perpetual Regidor of the city; but since he did not manage to get the President of the Audiencia to satisfy what he claimed to have obtained in Spain, he wrote a letter to the Emperor (dated February 22, 1552) and continued his struggle for what he believed to be rights inherent in his merits as a conquistador. Thus, between 1553 and 1557 he would have begun to give a new character to a work inspired by his reading of the history of the conquest of New Spain written by Francisco López de Gómara (1555). The expansion of this work would in the long run become the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España.

On May 6, 1565, and thanks to the efforts of his son Diego, King Philip II granted Bernal his coat of arms.

In 1567 Bernal traveled to Spain again, and finally the following year he stated that he had finished making the fair copy of his work. However, it does not seem to have been sent to Spain until 1575,[6] as reported by the licentiate Pedro Villalobos, President of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, in a letter to the King dated March 29, 1575.[8] However, Bernal would keep a copy of the manuscript, which he would continue to expand and amend practically until his death.

His son Diego formed part of the administration of the Viceroy Luis de Velasco and was appointed Corregidor of the towns of Izcateupa and Atenango.

In 1570 he became involved in a lawsuit with the cleric of Tlalcozautitlán, Gaspar de Tejera, who accused him of being a rebel and a heretic, to which Diego responded by denying the accusations and branding Tejera himself as corrupt and an abuser of the Indians. Diego was acquitted in the end.[9]

Bernal Díaz del Castillo died on February 3, 1584. His remains lie in the cathedral of the city of Antigua Guatemala, marked with a commemorative slab.

Expeditions

Under the command of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba

In 1517 Bernal embarked on the expedition which, under the command of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, had been sent by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar to explore other regions of the Caribbean, and which would end up exploring the coasts of Yucatán.

On this expedition the Spaniards fought the Maya on the coasts of Catoche and Campeche, and finally, in the face of the hostility of the Maya of Potonchán, they set out on the return to Cuba, first making a stop in Florida.

Under the command of Juan de Grijalva

In 1518 Bernal embarked on the expedition that set out toward Yucatán under the command of Juan de Grijalva. The expedition first landed on the island of Cozumel; they then passed to the territory of the Yucatán Peninsula, where they had clashes with the Maya of Champotón. The expedition later passed through the Boca de Términos and then reached the Grijalva River. After this they reached Coatzacoalcos and continued as far as the Papaloapan and Banderas rivers. They then reached San Juan de Ulúa and finally, after part of the expedition had returned to Cuba, they reached the Pánuco River.

The expedition ended because Captain Grijalva had permission to barter for gold and not to settle, in view of which they set out on the return to Cuba.[10]

Under the command of Hernán Cortés

Main article: Conquest of Mexico

In the year 1519 Bernal embarked once again toward the coasts of Yucatán in the expedition commanded by Hernán Cortés, but under the direct orders of Pedro de Alvarado.

According to what is related in his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, Bernal would have been present at the major events of the Conquest of New Spain: he landed on Cozumel and then took part in the clashes against the Maya of Champotón and Potonchán. This was followed by the Battle of Centla against the Chontal Maya of Tabasco. Once in the territories of the Totonacs, he took part in the alliance with them at Cempoala and then in the break with Diego Velázquez and the founding of the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. This was followed by the battles against the Tlaxcaltecs and the alliance with the lords of Tlaxcala to confront the Aztecs. He was then present at the entry into the city of México-Tenochtitlan and at the imprisonment of Moctezuma.

Bernal was not present at the massacre of the Templo Mayor perpetrated under the orders of Pedro de Alvarado, since he had accompanied Cortés to Veracruz to subdue the troops of Pánfilo de Narváez, which had been sent by the Governor of Cuba to arrest Cortés.

Back in the city of Mexico, Bernal managed to save himself in the Battle of the Noche Triste, and took part in the subsequent Battle of Otumba. He took refuge in Tlaxcala with Cortés's army and from there took part in the various battles to subdue the surrounding towns of the Valley of Mexico. Finally, he took part in the final siege of Tenochtitlan, fighting under the orders of Pedro de Alvarado on the Tacuba front.

Once the city of México-Tenochtitlan had been taken, Bernal passed under the orders of Captain Luis Marín to conquer the Province of Coatzacoalcos, where he would receive lands and encomiendas in Maltrata, Orizaba and Ozotequipa.[11] He also took part in the conquest of the Province of Chiapas, where he would receive encomiendas in Cimatlán and Chamula.

In 1524, the expedition that Hernán Cortés led toward Las Hibueras recruited him as it passed through Coatzacoalcos. On their return from the failed expedition (1526), Bernal and the other conquistadors found that, having been given up for dead, they had been stripped of their estates and encomiendas. From this moment on, Bernal would be involved in a long process to have the lost encomiendas returned to him and to be granted others as a reward for his services during the Conquest. It would be this eagerness to prove his merits that would eventually lead him to write the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España.

Biographical documents

In addition to the various letters mentioned in the biographical section, there are the following records (sometimes doubtful) of the existence of Bernal and of his authorship of the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España.

Personal documents

From his place of birth there are no registered records bearing his name, since Medina del Campo (the place popularly attributed as his homeland) was militarily assaulted by Charles V when he suppressed a rebellion during the War of the Communities of Castile.

The existence of Bernal Díaz (his original name until 1552[12]) is attested by the marriage record of his daughter in 1544.[13]

Nine administrative documents, including a medical certificate for his unacknowledged daughter, Teresa Díaz de Padilla, are recorded in 1551.[14] His unacknowledged son, under the single name of Diego, appears in a legitimation document in 1561.[15]

Under the command of Pedrárias Dávila and Juan de Grijalva

Díaz claims to have begun his expeditions under the command of Pedro Arias de Ávila (Pedrárias Dávila) in his expedition of April 12, 1514, but there are no records of him in the crew. A Bernal Díaz arrives in Cuba later, on October 5, 1514.[16]

Another edition corrects the date in 1569, saying that Díaz met Alvarado in 1518 and Cortés in 1519. This claim does not match the stays of Cortés and Alvarado, since Alvarado arrived in Cuba in 1511 and Cortés had been alcalde in Cuba since 1514.[17] Cortés's expedition left Cuba in 1518 and did not return; Díaz claims to have accompanied Cortés from the departure from Cuba.[18]

The following year, in 1519, it is popularly believed that Díaz embarked under the command of Juan de Grijalva, to enter Maya territory and then return to Cuba. However, attendance on this expedition is considered unlikely, since in documents from 1539 Díaz does not claim his participation, not doing so until the new edition of the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España of 1569.[19] Nevertheless, a Bernal Díaz appears in Grijalva's records, but this Díaz is a priest who published his works in Latin and Italian.[20]

Veracruz document

Díaz's signature appears among those of the other members of Cortés's expedition on the founding document of the city of Veracruz of June 20, 1519.[21]

Letters to Spain

Five letters in Spain from 1552–1575 are known, including one addressed to Charles V; the last, to the Cabildo of Guatemala, in 1580.[22]

There are also records in the Probanza in favor of the daughter of Pedro de Alvarado between 1556–1569.[23] Later documents compiled and created by his descendants (with the intention of claiming inheritances) are dated 1613.[24]

Family disputes claiming his properties extended until at least 1629.[25]

Accounts of the other conquistadors

His existence does not appear in the narratives of the conquest in Cortés's Cartas de Relación (in Mexico and in Las Hibueras), nor in works by other participants in the conquest.[26][27][28][29][30] He does not appear in the compilation by José Luis Martínez, who gathered all the documents of the conquest in a work of four volumes and 1,860 pages.[31]

An inexplicable absence occurs during the Juicio de residencia (judicial review) against Cortés initiated by Charles V. There he was tried with the aim of diminishing his power in Mexico, and in two judicial sessions, in 1529 and 1535, all the participants in the conquest who had accompanied Cortés were summoned, even including 'mule drivers', by name and participation in the expedition.[32] Díaz del Castillo does not appear in either of the sessions.

Another testimony to Díaz del Castillo's non-participation in the conquest comes from Luis Marín, Alcalde ordinario of Mexico in 1539, who states that he had known Díaz only since 1522, one year after the end of the expedition.[33]

Letter of Cortés's army to the Emperor

One of the most controversial absences of Díaz from Cortés's expedition can be seen in the letter that Hernán sent to Charles V in October 1520 with the signatures of the 544 members of the expedition, stating that they chose him as Captain General of Mexico; Díaz, always being close to Cortés, does not appear among the signatures,[34] and only other members with similar given names or surnames appear, but none named Bernal Díaz or Díaz del Castillo. In his Historia Verdadera, Díaz says he did not take part because he was convalescing from fevers.[21]

Recent studies argue that Bernal Díaz took the additional toponymic surname of Cortés's majordomo, Bernaldino del Castillo, who was also Alcalde ordinario of Mexico City.[35] His surname appears without del Castillo in his marriage record.[13]

Finally, February 12, 1579, in Santiago de Guatemala, is the first moment at which Díaz (by then an old man, and at a time when it is believed that his son was pressuring him to claim the work) states that he is the author, in a letter to King Philip II,[36] whereupon his authorship became widely accepted. His wife also affirms it in another letter of 1586, with reservations, stating that he la ordenó ("arranged it") and that this work is escrita de mano ("handwritten"), not in his own hand.[37]

As Regidor of Guatemala

Elected Regidor of the city of Santiago de Guatemala by the Spanish colonial government, he attended the sessions of the Cabildo, as shown by the minutes signed by him.

Alonso de Zorita, who was Oidor of the Audiencias of New Granada, Mexico and Guatemala and traveled through the lands of the latter from the spring of 1553 to the end of April 1557, says in his Relación de la Nueva España: "Bernaldo Díaz del Castillo, a resident of Guatemala... I was a conquistador, he told me, while I was oidor... that he was writing the history of that land, and he showed me part of what he had written; I do not know whether he finished it or whether it has been published".[38]

Identity of Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Finally, there is graphological evidence that the handwriting of the original manuscripts belongs to at least 6 different copyists, and that the signatures of Bernal Díaz del Castillo were always very changeable and even illegible, with the exception of one signature used for a letter to Charles V.[39] The known portrait is also considered a copy of the portrait of Henry IV (King of France), since in the French King's original and in the portrait of Díaz del Castillo one can observe the panache blanc (French for "white plume"),[40] a white band that was a symbol of 16th-century French Protestantism.

Age of Bernal Díaz del Castillo

His age is known from his own testimony (declared three times) of February 26, 1568,[41] according to which he would then have been 84 years old when he supposedly finished the Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. However, various legal documents of the period[42][43][44] do not match his declaration upon publishing the work. Even during the probanza in favor of Alvarado's daughter, he testifies in 1557 that he had known her father for 35 years, placing their meeting after the Conquest of Mexico, in 1522.[45]

The Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España

Title page of the Historia verdadera, 1632.
Pages of the Historia verdadera, 1632.
Main article: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain

It is believed that he began writing his work titled Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España when he was over eighty-four years old, it being the only work popularly attributed to him. This book describes Spanish, Mexica, Tlaxcaltec, Maya, Tlatelolca and Texcocan figures, among others, and describes in detail the atmosphere surrounding each of the actions undertaken, from the first contacts with the inhabitants of the Americas to the military expeditions through Central America, including the battles in Tabasco and México Tenochtitlan and Cortés's journey to Las Hibueras.

Completion of the work

The work was completed in 1575 and circulated in manuscript until a copy was published posthumously in 1632; of it there are two different editions bearing the year 1632 on the title page. It is believed that only one is "genuine", although with two variant states; the second is believed to be a forgery or counterfeit edition imitating the first variant state, made at the end of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th century, although many still consider it the first edition. The edition presumed authentic bears a copperplate-engraved title page by Juan de Courbes and had two variants or states, as established by the exhaustive typobibliographical study of Carlos Fernández González.[46] One of these variants has a final chapter that the other lacks and corrects two typographical errata (in signature Ii3 and in the year of the marginal note on f. 251v), among others. The work has an epic style regarding the main events of the Conquest, from its beginning until the fall of Tenochtitlan, and other events that followed it.

Díaz del Castillo's criticisms of other works

The works of the conquistadors were banned in March 1527; their printing, sale and possession were prohibited, and the existing documents were confiscated and burned in public squares in Seville, Toledo and Granada.[47]

This was due to the popularity in Spain and Europe of the conquistadors' narratives, and to the Crown's fear that logistical information would be provided to its European rivals. Nevertheless, Bernal claimed to have had access to all of them, which would imply that they had reached him from Europe in Guatemala, all of this evading the customs barriers.

Criticism of Paulo Jovio and Gonzalo de Illescas

He also accuses the historian and biographer Paulo Jovio (an Italian prelate) of exaggerating; however, the latter's work makes no mention whatsoever of the conquest, and the prelate wrote only in Latin.[48]

He also accuses Fray Gonzalo de Illescas, doctor of theology and chronicler of the popes, of distorting information in his book Historia Pontifical; however, this book was published in Salamanca in 1573, five years after the publication by Díaz del Castillo in which he complains about Illescas's statements.[49] Literary works in the 15th and 16th centuries took decades to be printed and distributed in Europe and Spain; an edition of the Historia verdadera prepared by Alonso Remón in Europe in 1632 reached Guatemala in 1675, 43 years later.[50]

Modification of the work after the death of Díaz del Castillo

Three documents which are only cited: two manuscripts, one of them cited for the first time by Alonso de Zurita (who served as Oidor despite suffering from deafness) in 1585, which was not rediscovered until 1909,[51] and then by Antonio de Herrera in 1601;[52] and a book published in Madrid in 1632 which has the publication date erased on the frontispiece.[53] In 1882 the document appears as part of a chronicle of the history of Guatemala whose author is Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán, who was a great-great-grandson of Díaz del Castillo.[53]

Memory and culture of Díaz del Castillo

In the prologue, Díaz del Castillo warns that he is not "latino" (lettered) and has no university education. The work contains a large number of indigenous words in Taíno or Nahuatl, and indirect quotations from Julius Caesar and from the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius which undoubtedly come from reading the entertaining and popular Franciscan writer Fray Antonio de Guevara in Libro Áureo de Marco Aurelio, where, for example, 53 battles of Marcus Aurelius are spoken of, most of them fictitious, with numerous erroneous quotations being used. Cortés also knew that popular and much-reprinted work.[54] Duverger sees reflections and lessons on the essence of power that reflect the culture and personality of Cortés. The great quantity of cultural details and the highly structured and stylized form of the work make him doubt that it came from a common and nearly illiterate soldier. The common population in Spain in the 19th century had an illiteracy rate of 80%,[55] and it is estimated that in the 16th century it was 95–98%, so most of Cortés's expedition would surely have been illiterate as well. This makes it seem incongruous that Díaz del Castillo, being no letrado (unlettered), could produce such a work; Díaz del Castillo himself even states that he is "an idiota (a Hellenism which in his time designated someone who taught himself without teachers, often poorly, by reading books in the Romance vernacular) without letters".[56]

From the wise something of their knowledge always rubs off on idiots and the unlettered such as I am.

— Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España[57]

Modern criticisms of the work

William Arens, known for his numerous contributions to the spread of the anti-Spanish Black Legend, and author of the book The Man-Eating Myth (in which he also asserts that cannibalism did not exist, something that has been shown beyond any doubt to have existed, by numerous reputable sources from different countries), disparages Bernal's work in his book, writing that he never took notes and that he never learned to speak the indigenous languages.

However, as Bernal left in writing, not only did he take abundant notes over the years, but he knew the indigenous language of Cuba, and was able to describe to us entire dialogues of the natives. He also adds that the conquest was carried out with the almost constant presence of lenguas (interpreters or trujamanes) who translated the local languages.

Arens also claimed that Bernal's descriptions of the tzompantli of the Templo Mayor were lies, but what has been demonstrated by the latest architectural finds, such as the discovery in the very heart of Mexico City, where in a single Mexica tower alone more than 600 skulls were piled up,[58] is that it is Arens who appears to be either profoundly mistaken or, what would be even worse, spreading disinformation and lies in a self-serving manner against someone who can no longer defend himself from his slanders.

On the other hand, the French anthropologist Christian Duverger also brands Bernal a liar, and attributes the authorship of the work to the conqueror of Mexico himself, Hernán Cortés,[59] adducing outlandish speculations that seem rather to be the result of his lack of knowledge of the Spanish language and of history.

The Spanish academic Guillermo Serés challenges Christian Duverger's thesis and defends Bernal Díaz's authorship of the work that has always been attributed to him in the following terms:[60]

Duverger's first argument in defense of his thesis is that Bernal dated the book "in this very loyal city of Santiago de Guatemala, where the Real Audiencia resides", on February 26, 1568. The French scholar argues that "the Audiencia in those years was in Panama!". But this is not true: the Audiencia had just returned to Guatemala on January 15 of that year (it had been temporarily in Panama since 1563). A month later, on February 26, the old conquistador and current encomendero dated his writing, underlining the recent news and surely in the hope that the recovered proximity of the Audiencia would serve his interests.

On strictly documentary ground, Duverger's second argument is based on the claim that "Bernal's existence is documented for the first time in 1544". But the first data certifying it are from 1539, as recorded in the Archivo General de Indias (AGI, p. 55, no. 6, r. 2), in a probanza in which several soldiers attest to his presence.

With such errors at the base of his argument, very little credence can be given to Duverger's other speculations. Moreover, the internal evolution of the chronicle in Bernal's hands is documented with complete clarity.

Duverger maintains that the latter, if he were the author, must have begun to write "at the age of 84, which would be a prodigious case of memory". There is no such thing. The first draft of what would later become La historia verdadera... is a long letter of report addressed to the Emperor in 1552, 16 years earlier, which is complemented by two others of 1558 sent, respectively, to Philip II and to Las Casas. Since the first had no effect, in 1553 he immersed himself in the writing of a "memorial of wars", whose content and guidelines he would expand until it constituted the later Historia. The successive phases of writing can be clearly seen, since the first 18 chapters of the chronicle are very close to the memorial; the tone, style and approach only change substantially from chapter XIX onward, when he sets out to rival ("plainly and simply", because in his style "there are no embellished arguments") the Historia de la conquista de México (1552) by López de Gómara, which would also serve him as a model for dividing his own into chapters, and the Brevísima historia de la destrucción de las Indias (1555) by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, whom he contradicts in so many places. And in 1585 Alonso de Zorita already had knowledge of the work of Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

In the face of internal and external testimonies such as these about the genesis of the book, Duverger gives no positive reason in favor of the authorship of Hernán Cortés. He thus maintains that the style of the chronicle reveals that its author was steeped in Latin prose and constructions typical of Nahuatl, and that the style and culture that permeate it are unfitting for a soldier. But the Nahuatl turns of phrase in Bernal's prose, after more than 30 years of life in New Spain, are obvious. Moreover, in fact the supposed classicist culture he assigns to Bernal is reduced to a few strings of names taken, for example, from such widely circulated texts as the Coplas of Jorge Manrique/Guillermo Seres, «El verdadero autor de La historia verdadera»

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Duverger, Christian (2012). "Primera parte: capítulo 2". Crónica de la eternidad (in español). México: Taurus. ISBN 978-607-11-2131-8.
  2. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (2011). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Galaxia Gutenberg-RAE. p. 1117.
  3. ↑ https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/5899/bernal-diaz-del-castillo
  4. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1984). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Historia 16. p. 24.
  5. ↑ Ibid., p. 26.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (2011). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Galaxia Gutenberg-RAE. p. 1122.
  7. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1984). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Historia 16. p. 29.
  8. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1984). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Historia 16. p. 39.
  9. ↑ El corregidor Diego Díaz del Castillo, hijo del conquistador, ante la Santa Inquisición, Centro Virtual Cervantes
  10. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1984). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, Madrid: Historia 16, p. 8.
  11. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1984). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Historia 16. p. 22.
  12. ↑ Duverger, Christian (2012). "Segunda parte: capítulo 3". Crónica de la eternidad (in español). México: Taurus. ISBN 978-607-11-2131-8.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Barbón Rodríguez (1544). "A.1.20 Legajo 732 Exp. 9225 Fol. 64v". Recibo de dotte de Teresa Becerra (in español). Archivo General de Centro América. pp. 1055–1056.
  14. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez (1551). "393, Fol. CCI-CCXV, parte II". Archivo General de Indias (in español). Guatemala. pp. 1049–1051.
  15. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez (1561). "393, fol. XXXIX, parte II". Archivo General de Indias (in español). Madrid. p. 1064.
  16. ↑ Catálogo de pasajeros a Indias durante los siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII, compiled by the professional staff of the Archivo General de Indias. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1930, vol. 1: 1509-1533, p. 219
  17. ↑ Duverger, Christian (2001). Cortés: Sobre Cortés en Cuba (in español). París: Fayard. pp. 94–132.
  18. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "Patronato 86, núm. 6 ramo 1 parte II". Archivo general de Indias (in español). p. 1001.
  19. ↑ Wagner, Henry (1945). "Vol. 25 núm. 2". Three Studies of the Same Subject: Bernal Díaz del Castillo; The family of Bernal Díaz; NOtes on writings by and about Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Washington D.C.: The hispanic American HIstorical Review. pp. 155–211.
  20. ↑ Díaz, Juan (1988). Itinerario de la armada del Rey Católico a la isla de Yucatán, en la India, en el año 1518 (in español). Madrid: Crónicas de América: Edición de Germán Vázquez. pp. 29–57.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Tamames, Ramón (June 19, 2019). "¿Fue Hernán Cortés el autor de la Historia Verdadera, siempre atribuida a Bernal Díaz del Castillo? (II)" (in español). República.com.
  22. ↑ Sáenz de Santa María, Carmelo (1984). Historia de una historia, Bernal Díaz del Castillo (in español). Madrid: Instituto Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo. pp. 111–112.
  23. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "Patronato 86, núm. 6, ramo 1, parte II". Archivo general de Indias (in español). pp. 983–1004.
  24. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez (1613). "Patronato 55, núm. 6 ramo 2". Archivo general de Indias:Probanza de méritos y servicios de Bernal Díaz del Castillo hecha el 7 de septiembre de 1539, contenida en la probanza de Pedro del Castillo Becera (in español). pp. 815–856.
  25. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "Patronato 75, núm. 3 ramo 1(4) part. II". Archivo general de Indias: Información de los méritos y servicios del Dr. Tomás Díaz del Castillo (in español). pp. 1005–1043.
  26. ↑ Cortés, Hernán (1976). Cartas de relación (in español). México: Porrúa.
  27. ↑ de Aguilar, Francisco (1988). "núm. 40". Relación breve de la conquista de la Nueva España. La conquista de Tenohctitlan (in español). Madrid: Crónicas de América, edición de Germán Vázquez.
  28. ↑ García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1533, 1971). "Tomo I". El conquistador Anónimo. Colección de documentos para la historia de México (in español). Venecia, México: Porrúa; Ramusio: Navigationi et viaggi. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ↑ de Tapia, Andrés (1539). "Núm. 40 pp. 59-123". Relación de algunas cosas de las que acaecieron al muy ilustre señor don Hernando Cortés, marqués del Valle, desde que se determinó ir a descubrir tierra en la Tierra Firme del Mar Océano (in español). Madrid: Crónicas de América, edición de Germán Vázquez, Historia 16.
  30. ↑ Vázquez de Tapia, Bernardino (1545). "Núm. 40". Relación de méritos y servicios del Conquistador Bernardino Vázquez de Tapia (in español). Madrid: Crónicas de América, edición de Germán Vázquez, Historia 16. pp. 125–154.
  31. ↑ Martínez, José Luis (1990–1992). "4 tomos". Documentos cortesianos (in español). México: UNAM-Fondo de Cultura Económica.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  32. ↑ Martínez, José Luis (1990). Hernán Cortés: Sobre el juicio de residencia de Cortés (in español). México: UNAM Fondo de Cultura Económica. pp. 535–606.
  33. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "Patronato 86, núm. 6 ramo 1 parte II". Archivo general de Indias (in español). p. 833.
  34. ↑ Martínez, José Luis (1990–1992). "Tomo I". Documentos cortesianos: Carta del ejército de Cortés al Emperador octubre de 1520 (in español). México: UNAM-Fondo de Cultura Económica. pp. 156–163.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  35. ↑ Porras Muñoz, Guillermo (1982). El gobierno de la ciudad de México en el siglo XVI (in español). México: UNAM. pp. 242–245.
  36. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "Patronato 86, núm. 6 ramo 1 parte II". Archivo general de Indias (in español). p. 840.
  37. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "Patronato 86, núm. 6 ramo 1 parte II". Archivo general de Indias (in español). p. 1061.
  38. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1984). Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Historia 16. pp. 9-10.
  39. ↑ Duverger, Christian (2012). "Álbum de imágenes". Crónica de la eternidad (in español). México: Taurus. ISBN 978-607-11-2131-8.
  40. ↑ Nodier, Charles. Les environs de Paris (in français). París: Biblioteca Nacional de París. p. 486.
  41. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "I". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (Manuscrito Guatemala) (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 1.
  42. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "II". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (manuscrito Guatemala): Probanza de Pedro de Alvarado. Declaración de 1557 (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 985.
  43. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "II". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (manuscrito Guatemala): Probanza de Pedro de Alvarado. Interrogatorio de 1563 (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 991.
  44. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "II". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (Manuscrito Guatemala): Probanza de Pedro de Alvarado. Interrogatorio de 1563 (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 1000.
  45. ↑ Barbón Rodríguez. "parte II". Archivo general de Indias: Probanza de Pedro de Alvarado. Declaración de 1557 (in español). p. 985.
  46. ↑ Carlos Fernández González, «Análisis tipográfico de las dos primeras ediciones de la Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España de Bernal Díaz del Castillo», in Boletín de la Real Academia Española, vol. XCI, no. 304 (July–December 2011).
  47. ↑ Torre Revello, José (1991). El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en América durante la dominación española (in español). UNAM. p. 63. ISBN 968-36-1993-2.
  48. ↑ Giovio, Paolo. "Elogia veris clarorum" (in Latina). Biblioteca Nacional de España. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  49. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "CCX". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (Manuscrito Guatemala) (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 585.
  50. ↑ de Fuentes y Guzmán, Francisco Antonio (1882). "Tomo". Historia de Guatemala o Recordación florida (in español). Madrid: Biblioteca de los americanistas. p. 12.
  51. ↑ de Zorita, Alonso (1909). "Tomo IX". Historia de la Nueva España (in español). Madrid: Colección de libros y documentos referentes a la Historia de América. pp. 23–24.
  52. ↑ "Segunda Década, libro II, Cap. XVIII. Fol. 64". Bernal Díaz del Castillo natural de Medina del Campo (in español). 1517.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Duverger, Christian (2012). "Primera parte: capítulo 1". Crónica de la eternidad (in español). México: Taurus. ISBN 978-607-11-2131-8.
  54. ↑ Duverger, Christian (2012). "Segunda parte: capítulo 4". Crónica de la eternidad (in español). México: Taurus. ISBN 978-607-11-2131-8.
  55. ↑ Viñao, Antonio (2009). "La alfabetización en España: un proceso cambiante de un mundo multiforme" (PDF) (in español). Universidad de Salamanca. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  56. ↑ "From the wise something of their knowledge always rubs off on idiots and the unlettered such as I am" Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "CCXII A". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (manuscrito Guatemala) (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 590.
  57. ↑ Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1960). "CCXII A". Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (manuscrito Guatemala) (in español). México: Porrúa. p. 590.
  58. ↑ Huei Tzompantli, la gran torre mexica que apila más de 600 cráneos en el corazón de la Ciudad de México in National Geographic en Español
  59. ↑ (Periódico La Jornada) Hernán Cortés es el verdadero autor de la Historia verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España, dice el arqueólogo y antropólogo francés Christian Duverger Accessed February 5, 2013.
  60. ↑ Guillermo Serés, «El verdadero autor de La historia verdadera», in El País, February 21, 2013.
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