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| Cartas de Relación | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hernán Cortés |
| Birth date | 1485 |
| Birth place | Medellín, Kingdom of Castile |
| Occupation | Conquistador, Administrator |
| Notable works | Cartas de Relación |
Cartas de Relación The Cartas de Relación are a series of six formal reports written in 1519–1526 by Hernán Cortés to Charles V and other Spanish authorities, describing the expedition that led to the fall of the Aztec Empire and the establishment of New Spain. These documents mix firsthand narrative, political justification, ethnographic observation, and legal argumentation, and they played a central role in shaping contemporary Iberian and European perceptions of the Americas during the era of Age of Discovery and competing claims by figures such as Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar and Francisco de Bobadilla.
The term "Cartas de Relación" denotes six sequential missives sent between 1519 and 1526 by Hernán Cortés from locations including Tenochtitlan, Coatzacoalcos, and Santiago de Cuba to imperial courts in Castile and to officials such as Hernando de Luque and Diego de Ordáz. Contemporaneous readers linked these letters to documents like the Relación de Michoacán and reports by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, and they were circulated alongside legal petitions such as the Requerimiento and records from the Casa de Contratación.
Written by Hernán Cortés—often with input from secretaries and intermediaries tied to figures like Andrés de Tapia and Bernal Díaz del Castillo—the letters were crafted to defend Cortés’s actions against challenges from Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar and the Council of the Indies, and to secure royal favor from Charles V and advisors including Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca. The letters were produced amid contested commissions involving Cuba and amid wider imperial disputes that included personalities like Diego Colón and institutions such as the Royal Chancery of Valladolid and the Audiencia of Santo Domingo.
Each letter combines narrative chronology, descriptions of places like Veracruz and Texcoco, ethnographic passages about peoples such as the Nahuas and leaders like Moctezuma II, and legal rhetoric invoking royal prerogative and Spanish precedents tied to figures like Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Cortés uses chronological accounts of events—encounters with emissaries, the march to Tenochtitlan, and battles like the La Noche Triste and the Siege of Tenochtitlan—interspersed with inventories of tribute, descriptions of temples and markets resembling those in Tlatelolco, and diplomatic correspondence with nobles such as Cuitláhuac and Cuauhtémoc. Stylistically, the letters mirror chancery models seen in writings by Alonso de Ojeda and leverage legal instruments akin to complaints presented before the Council of the Indies.
The letters functioned as military and political justification for Cortés’s decisions in operations against the Aztec Empire and allied polities like the Tlaxcalans and the Texcocans, framing episodes of alliance and conflict that involved actors including Xicotencatl the Younger and Ixtlilxochitl II. They influenced royal responses such as the dispatch of officials like Cristóbal de Olid and the later appointment of Antonio de Mendoza as viceroy, and they intersect with legal disputes culminating in trials like the Juicio de residencia and later appeals in the Royal Audiencia. The letters also informed contemporaneous chronicles by Francisco López de Gómara and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, affecting Spanish campaigns in regions like Veracruz and strategic relations with maritime figures such as Pedro de Alvarado.
From their initial circulation in Castile and the Habsburg Monarchy, the letters were copied, excerpted, and cited by historians including Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Francisco López de Gómara, and later editors and antiquarians in Seville and Madrid, as well as in printed collections by Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and translators into languages of courts across Europe—for example, versions referenced by Pieter van den Broecke and scholars in Paris and Rome. Manuscript witnesses appeared in archives such as the Archivo General de Indias and private collections tied to families like the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, while printed editions proliferated from the 16th century to modern scholarly editions by editors in Mexico City and Madrid.
The letters remain primary sources for scholars of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, informing debates in fields tied to figures like Alfonso XIII-era historians and modern academics at institutions such as the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Real Academia de la Historia. They shaped European knowledge about Mesoamerican polities and material culture, influencing representations by artists like Diego Rivera and historians such as Edmundo O'Gorman and Miguel León-Portilla, and they continue to be central to discussions of conquest narratives, legal claims involving the Leyenda Negra, and legacy debates involving Indigenous rights and historiography preserved in repositories like the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
Category:16th century documents Category:Hernán Cortés