The True History of the Conquest of Mexico Written in the Year 1568 by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, One of the Conquerors, and Translated from the Original Spanish.

In 1843, two friends, one Scottish and one American, published books about Mexico which were to become essential reading for students of Mexican history. Much the better known of the two is William Hickling Prescott whose History of the Conquest of Mexico became an instant best-seller and remains to this day one of the classics of Mexican historiography. Less well-known but equally valuable to historians of nineteenth-century Mexico is Frances Calderón de la Barca's vivid account of Life in Mexico based on her experiences during the two years from 1840-1841 when she lived in the country as the wife of the first Spanish ambassador. By coincidence, Prescott and Sra. Calderón were close personal friends and regular correspondents and they gave each other much assistance in preparing their respective books for publication. Both their works were greeted with critical and public acclaim in the English-speaking world of Europe and North America but reactions in Mexico were markedly different. While Prescott's book was received with qualified enthusiasm, Life in Mexico was the subject of hostile reviews and its author much vitriolic, personal abuse.

Download Full-text

Ideología y selección lingüística en los textos históricos: Las traducciones españolas de History of the Conquest of Mexico de W. H. Prescott

Babel ◽

10.1075/babel.54.3.03dia ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 54 (3) ◽

pp. 251-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Marina Díaz Peralta ◽

Gracia Piñero Piñero ◽

María Jesus Garcia Dominguez

Keyword(s):

History Of ◽

Conquest Of Mexico

Download Full-text

The Conquistadores and the Classics

Greece and Rome ◽

10.1017/s0017383500011827 ◽

1953 ◽

Vol 22 (65) ◽

pp. 88-89

Author(s):

A. Macc. Armstrong

Keyword(s):

New Spain ◽

Classical Antiquity ◽

Julius Caesar ◽

Bernal Diaz Del Castillo ◽

Classical World ◽

The World ◽

History Of ◽

Hernan Cortes ◽

History Books

The men of the Renaissance looked to classical antiquity for models not only of literary elegance but also of conduct to imitate and outrival. Even Hernán Cortés and his companions were heartened in their struggles by the examples of the classical world, as is clear from the account of one of them, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who was not a literary man and wrote his True History of the Events of the Conquest of New Spain in protest against the conventional distortions of the professional historians.When Cortés proposed to his followers the burning of their boats, which would prevent anyone from slinking back to Cuba and secure the additional strength of the sailors but at the same time meant throwing off the authority of the Governor of Cuba, he first emphasized that his company must look for aid to God alone and then ‘drew many comparisons with the heroic deeds of the Romans’. They replied in the words of Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon,1 that the die was cast (ch. 59). The comparison with antiquity was later used against Cortés by seven fainthearts who complained that not even the Romans or Alexander of Macedon or any other famous captains whom the world had known had ventured to advance with so small an army against such vast populations. Cortés admitted this, but retorted that with God's help the history books would say far more about them than about their predecessors (ch. 69). His fondness for comparisons with the Romans was parodied when he overcame the forces of Narvaéez sent after him by the Governor, for a negro jester cried out that the Romans had never done such a feat (ch. 122).

Download Full-text