The Conquest of Mexico, Vol. 2, Appendix Part 2

What it is

This is the second part of the appendix to volume two of Prescott's history of the conquest of Mexico, dated 1922. It collects original documents. One is advice from an Aztec mother to her daughter, translated from Sahagún's Historia de Nueva España. The appendix also describes the 1629 removal of the remains of Hernán Cortés and of his descendant Don Pedro Cortés in Mexico City.

Why it matters

Appendices like this one give readers access to documents that a historian uses as evidence. The translator notes that the advice shows a mix of simplicity and moral seriousness, which he calls the product of the twilight of civilisation. The section on the removal of the remains shows that Cortés's legacy was still being handled long after his death in 1547.

Look closer

• Who is speaking in the Aztec mother's advice, and who wrote it down and translated it?
• Why might the translator have chosen a 'most literal' translation, and how would a smoother version change the reader's view?
• What does the section on the 1629 removal of Cortés's remains suggest about how his memory was kept?