The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2) / Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.

by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Secondly. In the year 1517 one hundred and ten of us, under an officer named Cordoba, had fitted out an armament at our own expense, with which we had discovered and explored the coast of New Spain. The circumstances relative to the expedition had been so represented to his majesty by the bishop of Burgos, as if Velasquez had fitted out the armament at his own expense, and had discovered the country himself, although he had had nothing to do with it either one way or the other.

Thirdly. It was not until this expedition returned that Velasquez sent out one of his nephews, named Juan Grijalva, with a small armament to make further discoveries. Grijalva returned to Cuba with above 20,000 pesos' worth of gold, the greater part of which found its way into the pocket of the bishop, and not a fraction of it was paid into the royal treasury.

Fourthly. When Cortes, during the progress of the conquest of New Spain, despatched Montejo and Puertocarrero, cousin to the earl of Medellin, to Spain, with the sun of gold, the moon of silver, and the gold dust, with various kinds of jewels and trinkets as a present to his majesty, accompanied by despatches from Cortes and all the Conquistadores, containing a full account of our transactions in the new world, the bishop refused to give our agents an audience, and abused them in a most shameful manner, calling them traitors and the agents of a traitor, and took away from them the present we had destined for his majesty. He suppressed our despatches to the emperor, and sent his majesty an account which was the very opposite of ours, and had represented matters in such a way as though everything came from his creature Diego Velasquez. But he did not stop here; for he retained the greater part of the valuable present himself, and when Puertocarrero begged permission of the bishop to repair in person to his majesty in Flanders, he cast him into prison, where he died.

Fifthly. The bishop had forbidden the two chief harbour-masters of Seville to allow any vessels having on board troops, ammunition, or other matters for Cortes, to leave that harbour.

Sixthly. The bishop, without authority from his majesty, had wished to give the most important appointments to men who neither possessed the requisite talents nor merited to fill such offices: for instance, the government of New Spain he had conferred upon Christobal de Tapia, who could not even have been intrusted with an inferior command, and whose only claim to that office was his marriage with Doña Petronella de Fonseca, a niece of the bishop, and a near relative of Velasquez.

And lastly. The bishop lent a favorable ear to all the false statements of Velasquez's agents, while he suppressed, distorted, and garbled the true and faithful accounts which Cortes and the rest of us despatched to his majesty.

These and other complaints against the bishop, which were accompanied by undeniable proofs were properly drawn up by our agents, and with these they repaired to Saragossa, where his holiness was staying, to whom they handed over this document and challenged the bishop as an unfit person to be judge in these matters.

After his holiness had perused this representation of the case, and had convinced himself that there was very little truth with regard to the enormous expenses to which Velasquez pretended to have put himself, and that upon the whole he had only had the interest of his patron and the bishop at heart; but that Cortes, on the other hand, had had the interest of the emperor in view, his holiness not only declared that the bishop was unfit to preside as judge in the dispute between Cortes and Velasquez, but superseded him as president of the council of the Indies.

His holiness at the same time appointed Cortes governor of New Spain, and decreed that Velasquez was to be reimbursed for his expenses in fitting out the armament. His holiness also sent several papal bulls with a number of indulgences for the hospitallers and the churches of New Spain, and addressed a separate letter to Cortes, and the whole of us Conquistadores, in which his holiness admonished us to use our utmost endeavours to convert the Indians to Christianity; to abolish all human sacrifices and other abominations from the country, and to gain the friendship of the people: hereby we should merit the highest rewards from his majesty, and his holiness, as the pastor of our souls, would supplicate the Almighty in prayer to send a blessing on our endeavours in the service of Christianity. This letter was likewise accompanied by other bulls, by which absolution was granted us for all the sins we had committed during the conquest.

After this very favorable decision of his holiness, both as supreme pontiff and governor of Spain, our agents themselves wrote to his majesty, who had just arrived from Flanders,[37] and inclosed certain papers which had been drawn up by his holiness respecting the subject-matter. His majesty, after making the most minute inquiries into the affair, confirmed the decision of the pope, appointed Cortes governor of New Spain, and also ordered that Velasquez should be reimbursed the expenses of the expedition. But the emperor even went further than this, and deprived Velasquez of the government of Cuba, because he had fitted out the armament under Narvaez for New Spain without his permission, and in opposition to the commands of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo, and of the Hieronymite brotherhood; also because he had refused to obey the orders of the auditor Vasquez de Aillon, and had even had the audacity to throw him into prison, though he had been expressly despatched to Cuba by order of the royal court of audience to forbid the armament leaving this island.