This resource was developed in 2004 as part of “The Conquest of Mexico” by Nancy Fitch.
Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. 4 vols. México: Oficina tipográfica de la Secretaría de fomento, 1904, 1905.
Díaz del Castillo, a conquistador, was with Cortés when most of the important incidents related to the conquest of Mexico took place. His account is, thus, one of the most complete from the Spanish perspective and covers the Spanish landing on the coast to Cortés’s fruitless trek over land to put down a rebellion in Honduras. This edition is, to my knowledge, the first published version of Díaz del Castillo’s final version of his manuscript.
Excerpts
Volume 1, chapters
- 29: Diaz del Castillo Describes How the Spaniards Found Geronimo de Aguilar
- 36: Spaniards Given Gifts of Women after Defeating Tabascans
- 37: Diaz del Castillo Explains the Significance of Doña Marina
- 46: Diaz del Castillo Reports on Usefulness of Doña Marina
Volume 2, chapters
- 77: Spaniards Attempt to Convert Tlaxcalans
- 78, part 1: Tlaxcalan Leaders Tell Cortés about the Mexicas and Their History
- 78, part 2: Spaniards Learn about Myth of Quetzalcoatl
- 82: Cholulans Agree to Talk to Spaniards, but Not Tlaxcalans
- 83, part 1: Cholulans and Mexicas Plot to Defeat Spaniards
- 83, part 2: Cortés Wants Cholulans to Destroy Idols
- 83, part 3: An Old Woman Warns Doña Marina of the Plot to Kill the Spaniards
- 83, part 4: Spaniards Attack Cholulans
- 84: Spaniards Send Message to Moctezuma
- 86: Spaniards Take the Blocked Road
- 88: Cortés Meets Moctezuma
- 91, part 1: Spaniards Want to Visit a Temple
- 91, part 2: Diaz del Castillo Describes Moctezuma and His Customs
- 107: Cortés and Moctezuma Clash over Religion and Other Values
- 109: Spaniards Demand Gold
- 115: Cortés Rallies His Small Army to Take Narvaez
- 122: Cortés Defeats Narvaez
- 126: Spaniards Destroy Idols and Set Fire to the Great Temple
- 127: The Death of Moctezuma
- 128, part 1: Spaniards Learn That the Tlaxcalans Continue to Support Them
- 128, part 2: La Noche Triste (The Night of Sorrows)
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