Fernando De Alva Ixtlilxaochitl

The Native Conquistador: Alva Ixtlilxochitl’s Account of the Conquest of New Spain - Latin American Originals Fernando De Alva Ixtlilxaochitl

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; An English translation of Alva Ixtlilxochitl's Thirteenth Relation, an early seventeenth-century narrative of the conquest of Mexico from Hernan Cortes's arrival in 1519 through his expedition into Central America in 1524--Provided by publisher."Review Quotes: "Amber Brian, Bradley Benton, and Pablo GarcIa Loaeza have made an invaluable contribution to the field. We have long needed a state-of-the-art English translation of any of Alva Ixtlilxochitl's works, and these three have chosen one of the most revealing of his texts. Their thoughtful introduction and careful explanatory notes will render the text especially useful for teaching, but even scholars who are not planning to teach with the book will want to have it and read it, reminding themselves of the extraordinary richness of this colonial mestizo historian's mind."--Camilla Townsend, Rutgers UniversityReview Quotes: "This excellent translation accomplishes a 'decentering' of the conquest of Mexico. It makes available a text with an alternate indigenous view of the fall of Tenochtitlan that not only reveals the social, ethnic, and regional divisions in preconquest society but also makes clear the religious and political imperatives in the creation of the new colonial regime. No one who reads this will be able to explain the conquest any longer as a simple matter of winners and losers."--Stuart B. Schwartz, Yale UniversityReview Quotes: "Amber Brian, Bradley Benton, and Pablo Garcia Loaeza have made an invaluable contribution to the field. We have long needed a state-of-the-art English translation of any of Alva Ixtlilxochitl's works, and these three have chosen one of the most revealing of his texts. Their thoughtful introduction and careful explanatory notes will render the text especially useful for teaching, but even scholars who are not planning to teach with the book will want to have it and read it, reminding themselves of the extraordinary richness of this colonial mestizo historian's mind." --Camilla Townsend, Rutgers University"Review Quotes: Amber Brian, Bradley Benton, and Pablo Garcia Loaeza have made an invaluable contribution to the field. We have long needed a state-of-the-art English translation of any of Alva Ixtlilxochitl s works, and these three have chosen one of the most revealing of his texts. Their thoughtful introduction and careful explanatory notes will render the text especially useful for teaching, but even scholars who are not planning to teach with the book will want to have it and read it, reminding themselves of the extraordinary richness of this colonial mestizo historian s mind. Camilla Townsend, Rutgers University"Review Quotes: The conquest of Mexico once again. But this time the history of the Spanish invasion is related one hundred years after the fact and from the perspective of the inhabitants of Tetzcoco, the second-in-rank polity in the infamous Aztec Triple Alliance. Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl s Thirteenth Relation exalts his ancestors, especially King Ixtlilxochitl, for never was there a more exemplary ruler, a more devout Christian, a more stalwart enabler of the Spaniards, or another Nahua leader who participated in all the many conquests and lived to tell about it. This is ethnopatriotism at its finest, and this splendid scholarly translation into English is a welcome, invaluable contribution to the new conquest history genre. Susan Schroeder, Tulane University"Review Quotes: "The conquest of Mexico once again. But this time the history of the Spanish invasion is related one hundred years after the fact and from the perspective of the inhabitants of Tetzcoco, the second-in-rank polity in the infamous Aztec Triple Alliance. Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl's "Thirteenth Relation" exalts his ancestors, especially King Ixtlilxochitl, for never was there a more exemplary ruler, a more devout Christian, a more stalwart enabler of the Spaniards, or another Nahua leader who participated in all the many conquests and lived to tell about it. This is ethnopatriotism at its finest, and this splendid scholarly translation into English is a welcome, invaluable contribution to the new conquest history genre."--Susan Schroeder, Tulane UniversityReview Quotes: This excellent translation accomplishes a decentering of the conquest of Mexico. It makes available a text with an alternate indigenous view of the fall of Tenochtitlan that not only reveals the social, ethnic, and regional divisions in preconquest society but also makes clear the religious and political imperatives in the creation of the new colonial regime. No one who reads this will be able to explain the conquest any longer as a simple matter of winners and losers. Stuart B. Schwartz, Yale University"Publisher Marketing: For many years, scholars of the conquest worked to shift focus away from the Spanish perspective and bring attention to the often-ignored voices and viewpoints of the Indians. But recent work that highlights the Indian conquistadors has forced scholars to reexamine the simple categories of conqueror and subject and to acknowledge the seemingly contradictory roles assumed by native peoples who chose to fight alongside the Spaniards against other native groups. The Native Conquistador, a translation of the Thirteenth Relation, written by Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl in the early seventeenth century, narrates the conquest of Mexico from Hernan Cortes s arrival in 1519 through his expedition into Central America in 1524. The protagonist of the story, however, is not the Spanish conquistador but Alva Ixtlilxochitl s great-great-grandfather, the native prince Ixtlilxochitl of Tetzcoco. This account reveals the complex political dynamics that motivated Ixtlilxochitl s decisive alliance with Cortes. Moreover, the dynamic plotline propelled by the feats of Prince Ixtlilxochitl has made this account a compelling story for centuries and one that will captivate students and scholars today."

Contributor Bio:  Brian, Amber Amber Brian is Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of Iowa. Contributor Bio:  Benton, Bradley Bradley Benton is Assistant Professor of History at North Dakota State University. Contributor Bio:  Garcia Loaeza, Pablo Pablo Garcia Loaeza is Associate Professor of Spanish at West Virginia University.