Artist, author, traveler, Renaissance Man...this was Albrecht Dürer. He was renowned, sought out by the wealthy and the crowned heads of Europe for his artistry. Recognized as a seminal artist of the early Renaissance, his trademark directly contributed to much of the fame, a stylized signature on each and every artistic creation produced, one of the first artists to recognize the importance of "branding". Equally well known as an author, his private journal describes a very special event witnessed late in his life. He embarked on a journey to the Netherlands in July of 1520. Along with his wife, they left their home in Nuremburg and headed for Brussels, in what would be his last major trip. While there he saw something so astounding that he committed it to writing, one of the few eyewitness accounts giving a glimpse into a lost empire, and the beginnings of another...
In the early 16th-century, Charles V was the European monarch on the rise. His Hapsburg lineage granted him rule over Europe’s major centers of power, from Spain to Austria, with the addition of new territory in the Americas. Charles' wealth derived in large part from these New World acquisitions, and with this wealth he was able to maneuver the Vatican into proclaiming him Holy Roman Emperor, the most powerful position a European monarch could reach...despite being neither holy, Roman...or an emperor. The king with the most gold always won, especially when the Pope was bribed for the pleasure, and Charles had an almost unlimited supply of treasure streaming in. Incidentally, another contender was England's Henry VIII. He didn't get that coveted title, most likely he couldn't afford it.
By 1518, Spain was looking towards Meso-America where the Aztec Empire lay. This would become the first of many Spanish conquests on the American continent, where only scattered islands in the Caribbean had before been taken. The Conquistador charged with exploring, and unofficially subjugating and robbing what, and whom, he discovered in the name of the King, was Hernán Cortés. He, and his band of merry Spaniards, were a small group for such a big job. Lucky for Cortés, after contact with the Spaniards many tribes allied with him against the Aztecs, foolishly thinking they would use the Spanish to come out ahead by simply pledging loyalty to the Great White Father in Valladolid.
Widely loathed, the Aztecs forced much tribute from the tribes whom they’d subjugated and brought into the sphere of influence. These “gifts” included everything from clothing, precious gems, gold, and human tribute. The deities of the Aztecs required many "flowers". Not a rose, or a daisy, or even a tulip...flowers for the Aztecs were living human hearts, to be sacrificed to the gods in a most brutal way. The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was a beautifully clean city sitting on a mostly man-made island in the middle of a large lake. Towering over the city was the great pyramid which Aztec priests would climb along with their tributes, captives, criminals, or unlucky contestants, lay the sacrifice on a stone altar, plunge an obsidian knife into the chest, reach in, yank out the still beating heart, offer it to the gods by holding it high in their hand, then kick the still twitching body down the stairs, tossing the bloody heart along with it...one right after another...
Thousands could be "de-flowered" in the course of a day, the great pyramid's stairway covered top to bottom in human blood. The insatiable lust for “flowers” allowed Cortés to take full advantage, martialing a sufficient force to take the Aztec capital using the disgruntled tribes as allies and employing their warriors. Tenochtitlan fell to Spanish steel in due time, the wealth was added to the Hapsburg treasury in due course, a Hispanic trilogy of silver and gold that would eventually encompass and include the Mayan and Incan civilizations.
The conquest was not strictly legal. Cortés was sent to simply explore the area by the governor of Spanish Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. Decisions and actions were technically supposed to be presented to Cuéllar first, with instructions issued directing Cortés’ subsequent actions. All-out conquest had not been approved. Hernán Cortés was ambitious, and the gathering of gold and souls for Church and King waited for no conquistador, so he skirted his superior in quite a clever manner. Under Spanish Law, when a town was founded in the New World, it became an entity with autonomy. It had certain rights and responsibilities, and became answerable to the Crown and its authority. Cortés effectively found a way around Cuéllar by establishing Vera Cruz and creating a council from his loyal officers, creating a new master. The Council took responsibility and was allowed to direct local actions. This allowed Cortés to control the entire conquest of Mexico with a council that was on its face independent, but in reality subservient to his wishes. Spanish law truly was a maze of regulations and officials. When Velázquez de Cuéllar realized what had happened, he was furious. Cortés had usurped his authority, to say the least. Being that the mists of legality were uncertain, Cortés needed to make his case and present his reasoning to the King, to clear up any questions or loose ends. He would either find glory, or face execution for the bold moves. A total of five letters were sent to Charles V, the last being composed September of 1526, pleading and explaining his actions, all done in the name the King, Spain and the one true Faith...God, gold, glory, etc.
Paper and ink, no matter how well written or convincing, must be backed by tangible results. Shiploads of Aztec gold and treasure accompanied some of Cortés' correspondence in an effort to sway and convince His Majesty of the righteousness of the cause, and the wisdom of Cortés' actions. After all, surly he did it all for Spain...but selflessly amassing a fortune for himself. The King’s portion was always dutifully shipped, around a fifth of the loot...about 20% of the take, along with. The amounts were stunning in scale, making Charles wealthier than any royal contemporary. The King naturally allowed Cortés to keep the glory, and Cuéllar, well...he was virtually lost to history. The third shipment, arriving in early 1520, is of great importance to our story. It was noted for its high artistry and the skilled craftsmanship of the Meso-American peoples. This shipment of treasure was to be prized over and above any pedestrian intrinsic value, put on public display for all to see, and that is where Albrecht Dürer and the Aztecs meet.
Two giant disks, one of solid gold and one of solid silver, portraying the Aztec gods of the Sun and Moon respectively, anchored the glittering exhibition. Gold jewelry, feathered cloaks and shields, household goods, and hand-painted books which came to be known as “codices”, rounded out the rich display seen in three different European cities, Seville, Valladolid and Brussels*. Multitudes gazed upon these wondrous objects, but only two written accounts of the exhibition survive. One by Peter Martyr, a contemporary historian who witnessed the exhibition in Valladolid, the other by Albrecht Dürer witnessing the display in Brussels.
So moved by the beauty of what he had seen, Dürer wrote in his journal:
27 August 1520
At Brussels is a very splendid Townhall, large and covered with beautiful carved stonework, and it has a noble, open tower….I saw the things which have been brought to the King from the new land of gold, a sun all of gold a whole fathom broad, and a moon all of silver of the same size, also two rooms full of armor of the people there, and all manner of wondrous weapons of theirs, harness and darts, very strange clothing, beds, and all kinds of wonderful objects of human use, much better worth seeing than prodigies [myths, fairy tales]. These things were all so precious that they are valued at 100,000 florins [guilders] All the days of my life I have seen nothing that rejoiced my heart so much as these things, for I saw amongst them wonderful works of art, and I marvelled at the subtle Ingenia of men in foreign lands. Indeed I cannot express all that I thought there.
Dürer witnessed a historical turning point, one of the few that we know of with such fame. Although he probably did not know it, he witnessed the vehicle that sparked the rise of modern Europe and the beginning of Native America's demise, an intersection of history cleverly disguised in one of man's most divine attributes...art. For all the talk of artistry, most of this treasure was destroyed, melted down to pay for Charles' financial need and obligations. A few item do survive, most notably a feather headdress, fan and feathered shield, along with assorted codices, but the gold, it is gone forever...save for a description of what Albrecht Dürer saw.
*The Netherlands/Belgium were part of Charles V's empire.
*****
Coe, M.D. (1989). The Royal Fifth: Earliest Notices of Maya Writing. Center for Maya Research
Dürer, A. (1971). Albrecht Dürer: Diary of His Journey to the Netherlands, 1520-1521. New York Graphic Society Ltd
Lanning, J.T. (1938). Cortes and His First Official Remission of Treasure to Charles V. Revista de Historia de América No. 2
No Author. (May, 2022). Letters from Hernán Cortés. American Historical Association. https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/the-history-of-the-americas/the-conquest-of-mexico/letters-from-hernan-cortes