I only very recently began improving my knowledge of the history of Spanish colonisation of the Caribbean and Mexico and must confess to still being quite the novice on the subject. My interest was spurred by intermittent brief references to the use of crossbows by Spanish conquistadors. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more, but I also knew that I couldn’t just dip a toe into the subject. The colonisation of Central and South America is a heavy subject and includes some of the worst genocides in human history. Even if what I was interested in was some niche facts about an old weapon, I couldn’t completely ignore that side of the history.
Matthew Restall has published many books on the Spanish in sixteenth-century America. I had previously read his Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, which is a great introduction to the subject of Spanish colonialism, and I would recommend it to anyone. That was a large part of why I was inclined to pick up When Montezuma Met Cortés, that and a Google Books search indicated that he at least mentioned crossbows a few times so I could be killing two birds with one stone.
When Montezuma Met Cortés builds on decades of previous (mostly non-European) scholarship to dramatically re-frame Cortés’ famous expedition to Tenochtitlan and his meeting with Emperor Montezuma. Rather than a crafty and ruthless Cortés outwitting a cowardly and weak Montezuma, Restall paints a picture of a group of Spaniards who are far out of their depth and an amused emperor turning them to his own devices where possible. Restall frequently reminds readers that the Aztec Empire was not brought down by a small but hardy band of Spaniards, but rather a massive army composed primarily of Mexican natives supported by a steady flow of new Spaniards. Many of Cortés’ initially companions to Tenochtitlan did not survive the year but they were soon replaced, and later narratives were more than happy to elide over the many dead Spaniards who first landed on Mexico’s shores.
When Montezuma Met Cortés is definitely a book that non-specialists can read, but it is also a book that navigates very complex terrain, so it is not always the easiest read. I definitely felt that I benefited from having read Seven Myths first, that gave me some grounding in the major players and events that would unfold. Still, if you are prepared to re-read the occasional section and have a knack for keeping a lot of information in your head you could jump into this book without any prior knowledge, and I would recommend that people should read it! This is a great book for really fundamentally changing your perspective on a historical period that is badly misrepresented in popular imagination (in the English speaking world at least).
The story of scrappy Cortés and his band of marauders endures even though it has been shown time and time again to have been self-aggrandising mythmaking started by the man himself and taken up by many other Spaniards in his wake. When Montezuma Met Cortés is another very impressive teardown of the conquistador and a fascinating reconstruction of what is more likely to have happened. You should definitely read it, but if it sounds too complicated you should at least try Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest instead.