Historia de Tlaxcala

Diego Muñoz Camargo

4 ideas

1. Tlaxcala shelters Cortés after the Noche Triste

   Tlaxcala was a confederation of four lordships (Tepeticpac, Ocotelulco, Tizatlan, Quiahuiztlan) that had held out for decades against the Mexica. It first fought Cortés's army in 1519, then allied with him over the objections of the war captain Xicotencatl the Younger. In 1520, after the Spaniards were routed from Tenochtitlan in the Noche Triste, Tlaxcala took the broken survivors in instead of finishing them off, and supplied the thousands of warriors and porters without whom the 1521 siege could not have succeeded.

2. Encirclement short of conquest breeds invader allies

   The Mexica left Tlaxcala unconquered but ringed it, cutting off salt, cotton and trade. They used ritualized 'flower wars' against it as a supply of captives and combat training. This produced a polity with intact institutions, trained warriors and a generations-deep grievance. When an outside power appeared, the hegemon's managed enemy became the invader's most valuable partner.

3. Voluntary service creates a standing contract

   The chronicle argues that because Tlaxcala joined the Spaniards by choice and not by defeat, and served loyally in the conquest and later campaigns, the Crown owed it lasting privileges. These included exemption from encomienda, reduced tribute, a coat of arms, city status and self-government.

4. Read the chronicle as a brief

   A history written by an interested party to win something from a ruler shapes its facts toward that ruler's values. Muñoz Camargo was a mestizo interpreter writing for Philip II. He stresses Tlaxcala's omens, eager conversion and loyalty, casts the holdout Xicotencatl the Younger as a traitor, and makes pre-Hispanic institutions look orderly and legitimate. To read such a text, ask what petition each episode supports, and treat what it minimizes as evidence too.

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