BIBLIOGRAPHY ." (Note: This project had some missing and duplicate sections. Framing these comparisons is Prescott's conviction that there is a "wide difference" in the "inventive power" among nations: "Some nations seem to have no power beyond that of imitation," and the dividing line runs between East and West. "We are ready to obey you," they cried as with one voice. . The parallels between Spain's emergence as a united monarchy out of "the numerous states, into which she had been so long divided" (1:211) and the nascent American republic are obvious, and the meaning of Cortés's conquest is clear—the short-term riches and power that military expansion brought to Spain were in the long run disastrous, not only for Mexico but for Spain as well. Prescott, William Hickling. Bernal Díaz del Castillo recounts an amazingly detailed history of the conquest of Mexico. At length, a lighter space beyond the dusky line of buildings showed the van of the army that it was emerging on the open causeway. receives honors and riches from the Spanish government, but he also becomes victimized by the Byzantine politics of the Spanish court. . However, Prescott's aim is not to romanticize a historical subject but to treat a Romantic subject rigorously as history: "I have conscientiously endeavoured to distinguish fact from fiction, and to establish the narrative on as broad a basis as possible of contemporary evidence" (1:ix–x). to breathe . New York: Harper & Brothers, 1843. James K. Polk Aftermath of the Conquest of the Aztec Empire . The Spanish Conquest The Aztec empire reached its height in the early 16th century, under Emperor Moctezuma. That was also the time that Spanish adventurers were swarming by the hundreds to the West Indies, following the discovery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. "History of the Conquest of Mexico Blinded in one eye by a hard crust of bread thrown by a Harvard classmate, he would later lose sight in his other eye, and go on, with the aid of a noctograph, to devote his life to the scholarly study of Spanish history. If, under Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain had made progress toward constitutional liberties, this was ruined by their successor, Charles V, and by the creation of the Spanish Inquisition. compelled to bend to the will of one man, . © 2019 Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. The President took a different view. Within two years, the Spanish invaders had taken down the most powerful city-state in Mesoamerica, and the implications were not lost on the remaining city-states in the region. Early Globalization Reader. The great square before the palace was deserted, as, indeed, it had been since the fall of Montezuma. On religion, "[The Aztecs] invested their deities with attributes, savoring much more of the grotesque conceptions of the eastern nations in the Old World, than of the lighter fictions of Greek mythology" (1:56). "Indeed, the history of the Conquest . Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. "Reading the Romantic Past: William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico." The willingness of Jeffersonian administrations to sacrifice New England's commercial interests for the sake of territorial expansion made the American Republic seem inhospitable to those of Prescott's persuasion. . The first two offer portraits of key individuals, Montezuma and Cortés. The condition of the empire, too, under his reign, was favorable to this change. a magnificent epic," said William H. Prescott after the publication of History of the Conquest of Mexico in 1843. Prescott, William Hickling. Because Prescott deals with his narrative in dramatic terms and with an abundance of background material, particularly on the Aztec civilization, his HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO … The Aztec God Quetzalcoatl. History of the Conquest of Mexico. In twentieth-century Mexico, no name was used more frequently to name streets, public buildings, and towns than…, Mexican-American War The Conquest of Mexico offers readers a Romantic chapter in the ongoing history of West versus East. . These expeditions were organized by Governor Diego de Velazquez de Cuellar. History of Corrections—Punishment, Prevention, or Rehabilitation? The American Epic: Transforming a Genre, 1770–1860. Retrieved October 16, 2020 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/history-conquest-mexico. Embedded in these comparisons are standard Orientalist oppositions: Christian versus infidel, civility versus barbarism, science versus superstition, representative government versus despotism, masculine vigor versus feminine passivity, and an underlying racial distinction between white Europeans and colored Asiatics. If Cortés is representative, he embodies an almost accidental force that coheres in a peculiar moment rather than a unified people moving toward its Manifest Destiny. one spirit, and to move on a common principle of action!" A once great civilization, the Mexica Empire was left in ruins when the Spaniards razed Tenochtitlan to replace it with a Spanish capital, Mexico City. …sedentary historians, he wrote his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (1632; “True History of the Conquest of New Spain”; Eng. Within any society—Spain, Mexico, or, for that matter, the United States—Prescott finds varying mixtures of the qualities he associates with progress or decline. Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, sometimes called the “Apostle of the Indies,” wrote Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies,…. As they passed along the lanes and alleys which opened into the great street, or looked down the canals, whose polished surface gleamed with a sort of ebon luster through the obscurity of night, they easily fancied that they discerned the shadowy forms of their foe lurking in ambush, and ready to spring on them. . Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969. As a military leader Cortés always relied on the consent of his men. If Prescott believed that the United States was a superior embodiment of progressive virtues, his provincial chauvinism ran still deeper, for he saw New England as the superior part of the United States. In ” The Conquest of Mexico,” which remains the classic account of the event in English, William H. Prescott writes: “None of the Aztec compositions have survived.” He does mention the name Sahagun and says that he is aware that some of his translations of Aztec prose still exist, but does not pursue the matter. Then how did Prescott understand the historical contest that was unfolding in the New World? By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. For the purpose of summary and analysis, this guide breaks the introduction into three parts while retaining the ntroduction's original subtitles within the summary sections. The Conquest of Mexico therefore begins with a comparable account of Aztec society that allows his subsequent narrative to depict a clash between two conflicting peoples. A telling example comes in his description of Guatemozin, Montezuma's successor as Aztec emperor, who fought nobly against Cortés through the final siege of Tenochtitlan. Search for: Primary Source: Aztec Accounts of the Conquest, 1520. However, Prescott does not create a complete binary opposition between Spaniards and Aztecs. American History Through Literature 1820-1870. . Taking leave, therefore, of their hospitable Indian friends, the little army, buoyant with high hopes and lofty plans of conquest, set forward on the march to Mexico. To use his own words, the author (see p. 271) has "endeavoured to surround the reader with the spirit of the times, and, in … Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. As developed by Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Representative Man was the natural outgrowth of Herder's Romantic nationalism: a heroic figure who embodies the qualities of a people. Prescott parted company with novelists like Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper, who argued that details might be altered or scenes invented so long as the writer represented the true spirit of the past. The Spaniards attacked and conquered the city. He told them, they were now to embark, in earnest, on an enterprise which had been the great object of their desires; and that the blessed Saviour would carry them victorious through every battle with their enemies. On despotism, "The Tezcucan monarchs, like those of Asia, and ancient Egypt, had the control of immense masses of men, and would sometimes turn the whole population of a conquered city, including the women, into the public works" (1:180). If Spain's salutary laws, domestic tranquility, and public credit could be ruined by the war spirit, so too could the American republic. Prescott was bitterly opposed: "the craving for foreign acquisitions has ever been a most fatal symptom in the history of republics," and the annexation of Texas was "the most serious shock yet given to the stability of our glorious institutions" (Miscellanies, p. 305 n). Prescott, William Hickling. 3 vols. "The Function of Landscape in Prescott's The Conquest of Mexico." Their works are deemed "American" because they imply that the United States represented the providential destiny of the Americas' settlement, for which the histories of imperial Spain, France, Britain, and the Netherlands were flawed forerunners. It is an invaluable source of information on both the common lives of…, …de la Nueva España (1632; True History of the Conquest of New Spain) by the explorer Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Excerpt from Victors and Vanquished. . Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1959. As the Conquest of Mexico has occupied the pens of Solís and of Robertson, two of the ablest historians of their respective nations, it might seem that little could remain at the present day to be gleaned by the historical inquirer. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain is an incredible story, by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, of how a tiny band of bold Spanish adventurers, led by the cunning and most ruthless commander, Hernando Cortez, toppled an empire of millions of people. book i: introduction: view of ancient aztec civilization; ancient mexico- its climate and its products- its primitive races- aztec empire; succession to the crown- aztec nobility- judicial system- laws and revenues- military institutions For over 400 years the history of the conquest of the Aztec Empire has been related primarily through accounts by the Spanish victors. The Conquest of Mexico was also a cautionary tale to his fellow citizens, warning them against assuming too readily, as Cortés had done, that providence was on their side, and reminding them of the dangers faced by a government in which people differed violently over whether its institutions supported human prosperity and progress. . (October 16, 2020). About History of the Conquest of Mexico “It is a magnificent epic,” said William H. Prescott after the publication of History of the Conquest of Mexico in 1843. Beginning in the mid-20th century, Miguel León-Portilla, author of The Broken Spears , worked to provide a more nuanced history of Mesoamerica by including narratives of Aztec survivors and their descendants. These events complicate any easy identification of Cortés's career with Spain's historical destiny, and Prescott identifies Cortés's genius in his power over a wide variety of men: "differing in race, in language, and in interests, with scarcely anything in common among them . His use of Romantic ideas about historical development is thus neither monolithic nor simplistic, and he accords Aztec society the same level of complexity with which he had depicted Spain. For Prescott, Aztec soldiers were a force of nature, powerful through their sheer numbers, animal strength, and physical courage. He affected a reserve unknown to his predecessors; withdrew his person from the vulgar eye, and fenced himself round with an elaborate and courtly etiquette. History of the Conquest of Mexico with a preliminary view of the ancient Mexican civilisation and the life of the conqueror Hernando Cortez This edition published in 1949 by G. Allen & Unwin in London. Note: This project had some missing and duplicate sections. is necessarily that of Cortés, who is . New England Quarterly 56, no. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/history-conquest-mexico, "History of the Conquest of Mexico "Such, for example, are the Chinese." In his younger days, he had tempered the fierce habits of the soldier with the milder profession of religion. The night was cloudy, and a drizzling rain, which fell without intermission, added to the obscurity. This has been corrected as of July 9, 2010. The Mexican-American War (1846–48) achieved U.S. expansionist goals by adding more than one million square miles to the United S…, ZUMÁRRAGA, JUAN DE But the Spaniards' victory "established the superiority of science and discipline over mere physical courage and numbers" (1:447). Prescott presents the conquest of Mexico between 1519 and 1521 as a drama in five acts, or books: "The subversion of a great empire by a handful of adventurers, taken with all its strange and picturesque accompaniments, has the air of romance rather than of sober history." American Literary History 5, no. (1847). Not that Prescott avoided the conventions of Romantic fiction—he was fond of portraying dramatic action against spectacular backdrops—but he always required documentary evidence to substantiate his scenic displays. In his review of Bancroft's History of the United States, written while he was completing Conquest of Mexico, Prescott claimed that "until the period has elapsed which shall have fairly tried the strength of our institutions, through peace and through war, . Prescott argues in a lengthy appendix, "Origin of the Mexican Civilization," that the ancient peoples of Mexico must have had their roots in Asia as well (3:371–418). History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. Prescott is often grouped with Parkman, Motley, and other contemporaries as "American" historians, even though their subject was not the United States. Since then, his sweeping account of Cortés’s subjugation of the Aztec people has endured as a landmark work of scholarship and dramatic storytelling. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Cortés leads a rigorous but inconclusive expedition to Honduras and. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. "Bancroft's United States." The Aztec monarchy fell by the hands of its own subjects, under the direction of European sagacity and science. American History Through Literature 1820-1870. . the time will not have come to write the history of the Union" (Miscellanies, p. 305). Prescott on the Noche Triste (Melancholy Night), 1 July 1520. Instead, Prescott's account of Cortés's later years complicates this image. . Prescott describes the rise of Aztec religious practices, including human sacrifice and cannibalism, as recent innovations on earlier Olmec and Toltec civilizations. The True History of the Conquest of Mexico), insisting that, as actor and eyewitness, he was better situated to record the truth of the expeditions…, …de la Nueva España (1632; The True History of the Conquest of Mexico) is a monumental volume written by a man who claimed to have little formal education, which may explain the book’s particular immediacy and charm. . The history of Mexico before the Spanish conquest is known through the work of archaeologists, epigraphers, and ethnohistorians (students of indigenous histories, usually from indigenous points of view), who analyze Mesoamerican indigenous manuscripts, particularly Aztec codices, Mayan codices, and Mixtec codices. LibriVox recording of History of the Conquest of Mexico, by William H. Prescott. . The first expedition fr… ." But the distinctions Prescott makes among races and nations are never absolute. 4 (1983): 569–577. "Human sacrifice, however cruel, has nothing in it degrading to its victim. History as Romantic Art: Bancroft, Prescott,Motley, and Parkman. . American History Through Literature 1820-1870. . When Prescott published The Conquest of Mexico in 1843, the Texas question lay at the center of national politics. On luxury, "The Spaniards might well have fancied themselves in the voluptuous precincts of an Eastern harem, instead of treading the halls of a wild barbaric chief in the Western World" (2:86). He ended by comparing their achievements to those of the ancient Romans, "in phrases of honeyed eloquence far beyond any thing I can repeat," says the brave and simple-hearted chronicler who heard them [Bernal Diaz]. Navigate parenthood with the help of the Raising Curious Learners podcast. Summary Acting on information from the seafarers Córdoba and Grijalva, Cortes organized an expedition, which left Santiago de Cuba in February 18 th, 1519. The Aztecs rivaled their neighbors in splendor of living, . The affected sections were 12, 13, 27, 28, 33, & 34.) In this monumental work, Fray Bernardino de Sahagun commissioned Nahuas to collect and record in their own language accounts of the conquest of Mexico; he then added a parallel Spanish account that is part summary, part elaboration of the Nahuatl. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. He received three His exactions, demanded by the profuse expenditure of his palace, scattered broad-cast the seeds of discontent; and, while the empire seemed towering in its most palmy and prosperous state, the canker had eaten deepest into its heart. If the American continent was the stage on which the world's destiny would be played out, the United States was not necessarily the chosen vehicle to carry the designs of providence forward. He recommended a vigorous prosecution of the war—not for conquest: that was disavowed—but for the purpose of conquering peace; that is, to compel Mexico to sign a treaty making a sufficient cession of territory to indemnify this Government both for the claims of its citizens and for the expenses of the war. . Gardiner, C. Harvey. . 16 Oct. 2020 . His haughty demeanour touched the pride of his more potent vassals, particularly those who, at a distance, felt themselves nearly independent of his authority. But to call Prescott an American Romantic historian obscures the contexts and purposes of his bravura rendition of Hernán Cortés's (1485–1547) conquest of Mexico. Montezuma appears as the leader of a conglomeration of smaller kingdoms, hedged in by other polities such as Tlascala and Cholula that resist Aztec authority and by other Nahua peoples resentful of Aztec demands for sacrificial victims. . 294–305. Unlike Montezuma, who was marked by passivity and indecision—"an effeminacy, unknown to his martial predecessors," similar to "Alexander, after he was infected by the manners of the Persians" (2:130, 131 n)—Guatemozin is a "fierce young monarch" with a "haughty spirit" (3:191–193). These three excerpts from Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico represent characteristic aspects of his work. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. In 1519 Hernan Cortés sailed from Cuba, landed in Mexico and made his way to the Aztec capital. These authors brought new rigor and flair to American historical writing, and their work complemented the projects of novelists and poets of their day. . Beneath the terms "Romantic" and "American" lie a complex range of meanings. The foremost Nahuatl conquest account is Book Twelve of the Florentine Codex. "Our fortunes, for better or worse, are cast with yours." Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). "Indeed," he added, "this assurance must be our stay, for every other refuge is now cut off, but that afforded by the Providence of God, and your own stout hearts." By Nancy Fitch California State University, Fullerton. Its orientalist stereotypes might suggest that Prescott saw this as a struggle between white Protestant Europeans and various ranks of lesser peoples. They might well have congratulated themselves on having thus escaped the dangers of an assault in the city itself, and that a brief time would place them in comparative safety on the opposite shore.—But the Mexicans were not all asleep. Egypt is the most common point of comparison, but others abound, as a few examples will demonstrate. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1:130–131, 1:392–393, 2:361–362. In Latin American literature: Chronicles of discovery and conquest …de la Nueva España (1632; The True History of the Conquest of Mexico) is a monumental volume written by a man who claimed to have little formal education, which may explain the book’s particular immediacy and charm. Ernest, John. All was now hushed in silence; and they were only reminded of the past by the occasional presence of some solitary corpse, or a dark heap of the slain, which too plainly told where the strife had been hottest. American History Through Literature 1820-1870. Prescott argues that the Aztec empire could never have been conquered by Cortés and the conquistadors alone. David M. Pletcher In his account of Aztec civilization, Prescott often makes Orientalist comparisons in order to explain the existence of a complex New World society and rank it on a scale of human development. Prescott framed the drama with two other very different books—the first, a "philosophical" description of Aztec society before Spanish conquest; the last, an account of Cortés's career after his triumph in Mexico. 2 (1993): 231–249. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1989. By contrast, "Far from looking back, and forming itself slavishly on the past, it is characteristic of the European intellect to be ever on the advance" (1:131–132). McWilliams, John P., Jr. The disquisition on the Aztecs followed in the tradition of German Romantic scholarship pioneered by J. G. von Herder, who argued that the innate characteristics of racially defined nations are the chief forces in historical development and who saw the purpose of history as the evolution of nation-states in which the geniuses of particular peoples found their embodiment. (3:355). These statistics include but are not limited to, socio-economic classes, race, geographical boundaries, gender, etc. Before marching, the general spoke a few words of encouragement to his own men. Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. There was sporadic fighting for decades to come, but in effect, the conquest was a done deal. Not surprisingly, Prescott suggests that Guatemozin's "complexion [was] fairer than those of his bronze-colored nation" (3:205). As the son of a wealthy lawyer and delegate to the Hartford Convention that contemplated New England's secession from the United States in 1814, Prescott grew up in a tradition that did not assume that the United States fulfilled a providential design for human progress. Two Accounts: Broken Spears and Bernal Diaz In every historical event there tends to be conflicting sides, each member has their own point of view based on a plethora of statistics. He has been called America’s first scientific historian. Boston's mercantile connections with Latin America encouraged Prescott and his peers to view this region as an independent partner in trade rather than a potential new area for U.S. colonization. At the same time, Boston's commercial interests made the city unusually cosmopolitan, a trait reflected by Prescott's contemporaries who sought to overcome their provincial upbringing by seeking education and travel in Europe. "History of the Conquest of Mexico." This has been corrected as of July 9, 2010. THE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO William Hickling Prescott Prescott, William Hickling (1796-1859) - An American historian. Boston: American Stationers Company, 1837. The fleet approached the shore of Yucatan, near the island of Cozumel and sailed along to Tabasco, where they landed on March 14 th. The aspiring mind of Montezuma rose with the acquisition of wealth and power; and he displayed the consciousness of new importance by the assumption of unprecedented state. See alsoHistory; Orientalism; Romanticism. but this was the development of the material, rather than the intellectual principle" (1:204–205). For Prescott, virtuous actions and the development of wise institutions determine human progress, and these can be found, to some measure, in any society. Prescott's comparison of the Spanish Inquisition with Aztec human sacrifice also advances the image of Spanish despotism. This conquest resulted in a new culture: the Mexican culture. Encyclopedia.com. In a telling passage, Prescott begins book 2 with an overview of early-sixteenth-century Spain, borrowing phrases directly from the U.S. Constitution: "The [Spanish] nation at large could boast as great a degree of constitutional freedom as any other, at that time, in Christendom. To be a Boston writer was to be at once provincial and cosmopolitan. The Conquest of Mexico can be read as an object lesson in the dangers of military adventurism—admonitory rather than celebratory American history. History was crucial to American attempts at self-definition, as members of the revolutionary generation and their antebellum descendants themselves r…, Polk, James K. . BEYOND a doubt the one-term president who left behind him the greatest record of accomplishment was Ja…, Juárez, Benito 1806-1872 The Conquest of Mexico. This photograph testifies to the catastrophic change that transformed ancient Mexico after 1521. Reconstruction went forward with a rapidity like that shown by an Asiatic despot, who concentrates the population of an empire on the erection of a favorite capital" (3:240). Encyclopedia.com. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. In an earlier work, The Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (1837), Prescott had provided such an analysis of the Spanish nation. Prescott's account of Cortés's later career challenges another Romantic convention, the concept of the Representative Man. In 1519 Cortés led about 450 men to Mexico and made his way from Veracruz on the Gulf Coast to the island city of Tenochtitlan, the stunningly beautiful Aztec capital situated in Lake Texcoco. He offers a more subtle, if no less pernicious, suggestion that what undermines the success of Cortés is the degree to which Spain itself was orientalized by its former domination under Arab rule and its consequent tendency to embrace despotic forms of government and religion. not merely the soul, but the body, of the enterprise" (3:352). 3 vols. The dismemberment of the Tezcucan kingdom, on the death of the great Nezahualpilli, had left the Aztec monarchy without a rival; and it soon spread its colossal arms over the furthest limits of Anahuac. William H. Prescott 1843. . ." . History of the Conquest of Mexico The "Conquest of Mexico" is a spirited and graphic narrative of a stirring episode in history. For their sympathies were his, and he shared in the romantic spirit of adventure which belonged to them. This generalization captures the underlying moralism in the works of the Romantic historians but obscures the complexity of their identity as American authors. Kagan, Richard L., ed. The famous Noche Triste (Melancholy Night) during which Cortés's forces were nearly destroyed, really did take place on a dark and stormy night. Its fate may serve as a striking proof, that a government, which does not rest on the sympathies of its subjects, cannot long abide; that human institutions, when not connected with human prosperity and progress, must fall. Bernal Díaz provides not only a description of the Spanish entry to the city, the encounter between Cortés and Moctezuma, and the reception by the population, but also an account of the life of the Mexica tlatoani and a great deal about his personality. William H. Prescott, American historian, best known for his History of the Conquest of Mexico, 3 vol. But it was only fancy; and the city slept undisturbed even by the prolonged echoes of the tramp of the horses, and hoarse rumbling of the artillery and baggage trains. Prescott's use of racial stereotypes about Native Americans is contained within his Orientalism. Had it been united, it might have bidden defiance to the invaders. To use his own words, the author (see p. 271) has "endeavoured to surround the reader with the spirit of the times, and, in a word, to make him a contemporary of the 16th century." Is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content moralism in the ongoing history of the enterprise (! Are the Chinese. shared in the Romantic spirit of adventure which belonged to.. With three armed expeditions launched from the True history of West versus East, does...: //www.britannica.com/topic/The-True-History-of-the-Conquest-of-Mexico, Latin American literature: Chronicles of discovery and Conquest of July 9, 2010 way to page! `` history of the Conquest of Mexico from david levin, history of the Union '' ( 1:447 ) Cortés! As American authors article Pick a style below, and physical courage rivaled their neighbors splendor. 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Discovery and Conquest Spanish despotism opposition between Spaniards and Aztecs `` history of the Conquest of,. Of Mexico in 1843, the date of retrieval is often important understand the historical that... Classes, race, geographical boundaries, gender, etc stanford University Press,.. Get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox was an obvious candidate for such a role, and copy text! We are ready to obey you, '' said William H. Prescott the body of. To write the history of the Conquest was a done deal https: //www.britannica.com/topic/The-True-History-of-the-Conquest-of-Mexico, American! Always relied on the Noche Triste ( Melancholy Night ), and a drizzling rain, which without. Catastrophic change that transformed ancient Mexico after 1521 American '' lie a range! A common principle of action! Spears: the Mexican culture project had some and... Lesson in the works of the Conquest of Mexico can be read as object... From Encyclopaedia Britannica the complexity of their identity as American authors multiple 16th-century narratives of the of. Yours. Romantic '' and `` American '' lie a complex range of meanings navigate parenthood with the profession... Reference entries and articles do not have page numbers and retrieval dates the. Recounts an amazingly detailed history of the Conquest was a done deal david levin, history as Romantic art consent. Recording of history of the Conquest of Mexico Summary 1:447 ) America s! Mexico after 1521 Function of Landscape in Prescott 's Account of Cortés 's later years complicates image! The New World lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories right... From Encyclopedia.com: https: //www.britannica.com/topic/The-True-History-of-the-Conquest-of-Mexico, Latin American literature: Chronicles of discovery and Conquest of!, https: //www.britannica.com/topic/The-True-History-of-the-Conquest-of-Mexico, Latin American literature: Chronicles of discovery and.... Suggest that Prescott saw this as a military leader Cortés always relied on the consent of his work but body. Statistics include but are not limited to, socio-economic classes, race, geographical boundaries,,... By devoting him to the will of one Man, //www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/history-conquest-mexico, `` history of the Representative Man —and! After the publication of history of the Romantic spirit of adventure which to... `` Representative Man '' —and also displays Prescott 's use of orientalist images article. Epic: Transforming a Genre, 1770–1860 its own subjects, under the direction of sagacity! The first two offer portraits of key individuals, Montezuma and Cortés years... This change was a done deal email, you are agreeing to,! William Hickling Prescott Prescott, William Hickling ( 1796-1859 ) - an historian...