Biographical Notes
Hernan Cortes
Shortly after moving into Moctezuma's father's palace the Spanish started constructing a chapel and in the process discovered a series of chambers filled with gold ornaments, jewels and gold bars. They resealed the chambers and completed the chapel without acknowledging the discovery to Moctezuma. Meanwhile in Veracruz, Escalante was forced into battle with the people of Nautla. He defeated them, but was fatally wounded in the process. In Tenochtitlan the Spanish suspected Moctezuma's hand in the Nautla trouble and a number of them once again began arguing that they should retreat to the coast before being overrun by vastly superior numbers. Cortes demanded of Moctezuma that the Nautla affair be investigated and that pending the results of that investigation Moctezuma move his residence from his palace to that of the Spanish. Moctezuma complied with both demands. The Aztec leader in Nautla, Cuauhpopoca, was brought to Tenochtitlan and, when questioned, admitted that he had been behind the trouble that led to the death of Escalante and said that he had been acting on Moctezuma's orders. Following his confession, Cuauhpopca was burned to death. During the execution, Moctezuma, in full public view, was shackled with iron manacles.
After the execution of Cuauhpopca, Cortes personally removed the manacles and offered to let Moctezuma return to his own palace. He refused. Cortes now constructed three small ships and had them launched on the lake surrounding Tenochtitlan. His purpose was to provide an escape route in case the Aztec masses rose up and cut the causeways connecting the capital with the surrounding area. With Moctezuma entirely within his power, Cortes now explored far and wide in search of gold and found a huge amount of it. No one knows how much he accumulated, but it is generally believed to have been worth many millions of dollars in today's market place. The subsequent division of the vast treasure quickly generated dissension among the Spaniards as each worried that he had not received his fair share. Morale within the Spanish ranks continued to decline as word was received that Moctezuma's nephew, Cacama, King of Texcoco, across the lake from Tenochtitlan, was plotting to overthrow Moctezuma and drive the Spanish out of Tenochtitlan. Moctezuma sent a party of warriors to capture Cacama along with other Aztec lords who had plotted with him. These men (including Moctezuma's brother - Cuitalhuac, King of Ixtapalapa) were brought back to Tenochtitlan and imprisoned.
Following Cacama's imprisonment Cortes had Moctezuma summon all of the other Aztec leaders to Tenochtitlan and to explain that he had accepted the sovereignty of the Spanish King and urged all present to do likewise. Cortes next turned to the task of religious reform. Against the wishes of Moctezuma and his priests, Cortes insisted on removing images of the Aztecs' chief deity from the top of the largest temple in the capital city and replacing them with a Christian chapel. Moctezuma warned Cortes that the Aztec people were furious at his disrespect of their gods and that they would rise up and kill all of the Spaniards unless they left immediately. At that point it was learned that a fleet of eighteen ships carrying nine hundred soldiers, twelve pieces of artillery, and eighty horses had arrived at San Juan de Ulua. Panfilo de Narvaez led the expedition out of Cuba on behalf of Velazquez with orders to arrest Cortes and take over any lands that he had captured. Moctezuma began communicating directly with Narvaez and was assured that Narvaez intended to arrest Cortes and free Moctezuma. Narvaez and Cortes began communicating and Cortes learned that there was considerable disarray in the Narvaez expedition. He left a garrison under the command of Pedro de Alvarado in Tenochtitlan to guard Moctezuma and set out with seventy followers and five horses to attack Narvaez.
While en route to the coast, Cortes gathered other soldiers and was leading two hundred sixty six men when he executed a surprise attack on the Narvaez camp. Cortes lost two men in the attack. It succeeded quickly with the wounding and capture of Narvaez. Narvaez and his principal lieutenants were imprisoned in Veracruz while the bulk of his force more or less willingly joined Cortes. Cortes provided quasi legal cover for their action by asserting that Narvaez represented Governor Velazquez while he, Cortes, represented the King of Spain. This claim on Cortes part was based on letters that he had written to the Spanish monarch and sent along with his boat load of gold. Although there were some who spoke against Cortes in Madrid, King Charles V needed large amounts of gold to support his various activities and eventually gave his support to Cortes. While resting in the vicinity of San Juan de Ulua Cortes received word from Alvarado that the Spanish garrison in Tenochtitlan was under attack. Cortes immediately turned around and began marching back to the capital. Along the way he added a number of Tlaxcalan allies to his force of about 1,000 Spaniards.
Cortes arrived at Tenochtitlan on June 24, 1520, and entered a seemingly deserted Tenochtitlan without opposition. Cortes ordered Moctezuma to instruct his people to reopen the markets and resume normal life. Moctezuma replied that he was powerless to do as Cortes requested. Instead he suggested that his brother Cuitalhuac, King of Ixtapalapa, be released saying that he might be able to restore order to the city. Cortes complied. Instead of restoring order, Cuitalhuac provided new leadership for the attack on the Spanish holed up in their palace fortifications. After several days of fierce fighting Moctezuma attempted to intercede so that the Spaniards could retreat from the city. He stood atop one of the walls and pleaded with the crowd. His people listened, but rejected him as being a puppet of the Spanish. They shot arrows at him and hurled stones. One of the stones struck him in the head and the blow led to his death three days later. Cortes decided to evacuate Tenochtitlan at night and lost most of his twelve hundred fifty man command in the process. The best estimate is that about eight hundred Spanish soldiers and thousands of their Tlaxcalan allies died on the causeway leading out of the city. A day or two later they were faced with another hostile force composed of thousands of Aztec warriors on the Plain of Otumba. Cortes distinguished himself in the subsequent battle and the Spanish prevailed after the Aztec leader was killed. Following that battle, Cortes was able to lead his small force on to Tlaxcala where they were received warmly. Virtually every man in the party was wounded and all were exhausted.
