Relación de Cortés

Relación de Cortés (full title Relación de algunas cosas de las que acaecieron al muy ilustre señor don Hernando Cortés, marqués del Valle) is a chronicle written in 1539 by the Spanish conquistador and chronicler Andrés de Tapia, and he was one of the closest collaborators of Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico.^[1][2]

The Relación de Cortés was written in 1539 as an account of events connected with on the conquest of Mexico, and it was intended to describe and also to praise the actions of Hernán Cortés.^[2] The text has a clearly panegyrical tone, but it also provides personal information that complements other contemporary narratives, even if not always in a balanced way.^[2] The narrative covers the initial phases of the expedition, including the landing on the Gulf coast, the pasage through Cozumel and Tabasco, the fuondation of Veracruz, and then the advance inland. Tapia describesthe meeting with Moctezuma, the use of interpreters, and the growing tensions between the Spanish forces and the indigenous authorities.^[1]

The chronicle is considered an important source as a direct testimony written by a participant in the conquest, and it provides details that complete other accounts of the same events. Tapia records, for example, the landing at Cozumel and the identification of Jerónimo de Aguilar, who later became an inteprreter for the Spaniards.^[1]

Although written in the sixteenth century, the Relación de Cortés was not published until the nineteenth century, and for a long time it circulated only indirectly through its use by later chroniclers. Modern editions have made the text available for historical research and comparison witho ther conquest narratives.^[2]

• Andrés de Tapia, “Relación de algunas cosas de las que acaecieron al muy ilustre señor don Hernando Cortés, marqués del Valle, desde que se determinó a ir a descubrir en la Tierra Firme del Mar Océano”, in Chronicles of the Conquest, introduction and notes by Agustín Yáñez, Mexico City, UNAM, 1963 (3rd ed.).