Spanish conquistadors and Aztecs between the plagues
Someone once told me that the path to truly understand Estonian culture was through its literature. I took that advice seriously. In my quest to unlock the secrets of Estonian culture, which began almost ten years ago, I came across “Between the three plagues.” I purchased the first volume of this novel but left it unread on the shelf for a few years.
“Between the three plagues” is an epic novel masterfully written by Jaan Kross (1920-2007), the most celebrated and translated author in Estonia. He was born in Tallinn and spent most of his life there during the Soviet occupation. He spent eight years in Siberian labor camps after being accused by Soviet authorities of Estonian nationalism. This novel was published in Estonia between 1970 and 1980 in four volumes. The English version was published decades later in three books, skillfully translated by Merike Lepasaar Beecher. The first book in English (“The ropewalker”) includes volumes I and II of the original text. The second book (“A people without a past”) includes volume III, and the third (“A book of falsehoods”) includes volume IV.
The novel narrates the story from childhood to the final years of the famous historical character, the chronicler Balthasar Russow (1536-1600). It is a historical novel, but not a typical one. It is a monumental work, not only depicting its main character’s life but transcending its narrative boundaries to become a sweeping historical canvas of epic proportions. The first book begins with a scene in which Balthasar, the main character, climbs a church tower in Tallinn to get a closer look at a group of tightrope walkers. This serves as a metaphor for what the book is about and gives meaning to the title. When I started reading the novel, I wondered if Indrek Hargla’s main character’s name might be based on Jaan Kross’s Balthasar. Hargla’s main character in his Apothecary Melchior series is named Melchior. According to the Bible, the three kings of the Orient who visited baby Jesus were Melchior from Persia, Gaspar from India, and Balthasar from Arabia. Hargla writes about Melchior, the apothecary/detective in 15th-century Tallinn, while Kross writes about Balthasar, a chronicler and clergyman (a real character in Estonian history) in 16th-century Estonia. I wonder if the next Estonian novelist will create a saga or a long novel of an interesting character from the 17th or even the 14th century, perhaps a lawyer or sailor, named Gaspar. Then, we would have the three wise men of Estonian literature.
Balthasar was born a peasant but received a good education. Slowly, he managed to climb the social ladder in society. Somehow, he always was in the right place at the right time. He was surrounded by enemies through the story, but he also has his allies. Later, he was involved in a peasant uprising and managed to escape the political consequences of his participation. After that, he became a priest.
The novel is truly a series of facts, historical moments, and stories that occurred during the three Black Death plagues that struck Tallinn, hence the name of the novel. Kross not only referred to the disease as a plague but also, metaphorically, to the foreign powers seeking control over Livonia (during the Livonian War times), including Russia, Poland-Lithuania, and Sweden. He might have also alluded to the Danish and German manor lords.
To read the three parts of this novel was challenging due to the author’s intricate and lengthy descriptions. His writing style is like a slow-cooked soup; it requires time for the flavors to meld and enrich the narrative. By the end, I felt satisfied of my reading. While some chapters progressed slowly, I gained insights into overlooked aspects of Estonian history and its anecdotes. For instance, there is one chapter where Balthasar has to deliver a message to Finland during the harsh winter, involving his journey across the frozen sea from Kalamaja to a location near Helsinki. It made me contemplate the fact that the sea connecting Tallinn and Helsinki remains unfrozen in present times due to maintenance ensuring ferries and cargo ships can cross. Otherwise, we might find ourselves walking to Helsinki during winter, just like Balthasar did.
Regarding romance, quite frankly, Jaan Kross is not the best at describing love scenes. At times, the scenes feel forced, lacking passion, colors, and emotions. However, it is evident that his goal was not to create a historical romantic novel.
It’s advisable to have access to history books or other sources that can be consulted in parallel. Every chapter is full of details, dates, and historical names worth investigating. Sometimes, facts are mentioned quickly as the story unfolds, but a careful reader will pay attention and perhaps be curious enough to explore further.
While I’m not well-versed in Estonian history, I approached the works of Jaan Kross to learn more about them. Almost every name of a king or politician mentioned in the book was unknown to me, so I had to investigate their histories and origins to make sense of the period and situation described by Kross. I even had a map on hand while reading. Fortunately, I found a chapter about events and characters well known to me. I found my favorite part in the second book of the English version (the third volume in Estonian).
In chapter four of the second book, the author describes the disastrous expedition to recapture Algiers in 1541, which had been under the control of the Ottoman emperor Suleiman since 1529. Kaiser Karl (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, also known as Charles I of Spain) ordered this expedition. Charles V’s domain included Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, most of Italy, and a significant portion of central and South America. His empire was known as the empire on which the sun never sets. This chapter is told from the perspective of admiral Tõnis Maidel, who recounts this story to his sons. In this chapter, the name of the famous Spanish conquistador of Mexico Hernán Cortés, the Duke of Alba, Gianettino Doria, and Ferrante I Gonzaga paraded in the text. According to Tõnis Maidel, (from whom, by the way, I couldn’t find information about in internet, so I assume this character was invented or partially invented by the writer) he was only twenty years old when he set sail under Spanish banners. He was part of the forces of the Duke of Braunschweig and later sailed in the Mediterranean on a small but fast galley called “Despejado.” In those times, North Africa, particularly Algiers, was an important sea base where pirates disrupted sea routes and attacked Italian ships of Charles V and his allies. Therefore, 65 galleys, 450 smaller ships, and 24,000 soldiers were sent to attack the Muslim city. Among those brave men was Charles V himself, Hernán Cortés, who was already 56 years old and his sons. By this time, Hernán Cortés had already conquered Mexico, lived there, had children, earned titles, money, properties, and returned to Spain. However, he could never find the gold treasure of the fallen Mexica empire that he wanted. Why would Hernán Cortés embark on another war conflict after having achieved the conquest and foundation of New Spain in Mexico? Only God knows why, but most probably, he sought glory and power once again.
On the 25th of October 1541, Charles V ordered his sea troops to return to Europe because the weather was so bad that they could not continue in Algiers. Unfortunately, the Muslims had the advantage and were waiting for the invaders to attack them. The sea troops of Charles V had to land, but the weather conditions worsened. The winds were similar to hurricanes, and extremely heavy storms made it impossible for Charles V’s men to move easily by foot.
In the end, they had to retreat, and many soldiers and ships were destroyed, killed, or taken prisoners. All of this is recounted in the first person by Tõnis Maidel, who also describes how he was captured by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire and released some years later.
“…I pose this question: … And how else could Cortés, in his time, with but seven hundred men (for he had no more in Mexico) – how else could he have laid an entire sector of the world at his Kaiser’s feet? He apparently said to the Karl (as he himself told me): “An entire sector of the world, like a green carpet, and there is still less blood on it than gold embroidery… “
In this fragment Tõnis Maidel talks about how great the Spanish Conquistador was, Hernán Cortés (with whom he supposedly spoke) for conquering Mexico with few men and how easy it was. But in reality, it was not like this as in fact, a lot of blood was spilled and it was not an easy endeavor. First, upon his arrival in Tenochtitlan in 1519, (the capital city of the Mexica Empire [1], now Mexico City) Cortés befriended the Mexica Emperor Moctezuma II. At his back, he formed alliances with the enemies of the Mexicas and convinced them to join his small force of four hundred men. Later, he convinced the Spanish soldiers under the command of General Narváez to join him (who came to Mexico to capture him by order of the governor of Cuba, his boss, Diego Velázquez, for disobeying direct orders and establishing a new city in the discovered lands instead of just bringing back to Spain the found treasures).
In the final battle against the Mexicas in July 1520, there were close to 1,300 Spanish men armed with firearms, swords, and horses, aided by around 75,000 native warriors, who were enemies of the Mexica Empire. The Mexicas did not have firearms and were not accustomed to killing; instead, they captured prisoners to be used later in their sacrificial rituals. They believed the Spanish had no chance against them; they underestimated their numbers. However, the Spanish had increased their ranks with the help of local allies just before the final battle. Cortés and his army besieged Tenochtitlan city, cutting off clean water and food supplies. To all of this, we need to add the factor of disease. The Spanish brought smallpox with them and the local people was not used to this disease at all. In times of war, with no water or food, people started to get sick and die fast. Smallpox decimated the native population during the siege. After 75 days of siege, Cortés and his men starved the population, and on August 13, 1520, his army attacked the city for the last time, ultimately winning the battle.
Here is one fragment where the character Tõnis Maidel describes how Hernán Cortés looked:
“You want to know what kind of man he was? A nobleman of Extremadura. Approaching sixty at the time. Nothing much to look at. A sparse, greying beard. Brown eyes. Yellow teeth. But I noticed one thing: whenever he looked someone in the eye for any length of time, the man eventually averted his eyes. And when he laughed his hoarse laugh, everyone laughed along with him. Not from amusement, but out of respect…Don Hernando was interested only in power.”
Then he mentions some aspects about the human sacrifices performed by the natives, according to Cortés:
“I remember talk about the awful human sacrifices of the Aztecs and about their pyramids rising from lakes of blood and how unspeakably treacherous a people they were. So treacherous that the only way to govern them was ruthlessly without mercy. And there was talk about the quantities of gold they have but how much gold he had brought back for himself or for his Kaiser he did not say.”
The Mexicas organized human sacrifices but it was something sacred for them. It was a ritual where they believed the way to satiate the thirst of their gods was through human sacrifice. This custom was not well spread among the rest of the other cultural groups in Mexico (except the Mayans, but they practiced human sacrifices less frequently than the Mexicas). It is a myth to believe that everybody in the ancient Mexico practiced human sacrifices with such frequency and barbarism. The conquest of Mexico by the Spanish sheds a harsh light on the complicated mixture of human civilization. It was precisely within the clash of unprecedented violence of the Old and New World, that each side saw barbarism in the other. How can we interpret a culture in which the murders of the Inquisition coexist with the free spirit of the Renaissance? How can we understand the refinement of the Mexicas and, at the same time, their practice of human sacrifice? Nothing is entirely white or black, things are usually gray or often, multicolored. About being treacherous: in this matter I take the side of the author. Mexicas were treacherous, but the Spanish were, too. There is no exact documental proof of this but many historians believe that it was the people of the Emperor Moctezuma II who ended up killing their own leader because he became friend with Cortés and that made them felt betrayed. Without a strong leader the Mexicas were weak. On the other hand, Mexicas were decimating the other cultural groups for long time before the Spanish arrived. They were the most powerful and hated people of their time and that is why the other Mesoamerican groups wanted to break free from them and decided to join the Spanish conquistadors, who promised them freedom, which, by the way, was never given. It was the other native groups of Mexico who gave the military advantage to the Spanish to defeat the Mexicas.
In the chronicles by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Spanish author describes that Cortés and emperor Moctezuma II respected each other; there was a certain fraternal bond between them, even till the end. He also wrote how the Spanish were absolutely mesmerized about how majestic Tenochtitlan looked like. They called it “the Venice of America”. It had avenues constructed over lakes, vast markets, temples, pyramids, constructions full of precious metals and jewels. They were surprised about how advanced and prosperous this civilization was in terms of culture, architecture and riches. All was documented by the Spanish themselves. I am not sure if Cortés would have described the Mexicas as treacherous; he respected them and saw them as a strong enemy.
[1] Aztecs are the predecessors of Mexicas. Aztecs are people who wandered for 200 years from an unknown location called Aztlan, until they finally founded the city of Tenochtitlan in the center of Mexico (today, Mexico City) in 1325. After that moment they renamed themselves as Mexicas (according to the Mendoza and Boturini codices). So, the people the Spanish conquistadors encountered in 1519 in Mexico were the Mexicas. Aztecs never called themselves Aztecs and the Spanish never called them Aztecs. This was a name given much later by historians as a generalization. Sometimes people call them Aztecs when they in fact refer to Mexicas; it is a common misconception.
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Written by Stephanie Rendón
This Book Review published in Aksolotl Literary Magazine #1, 2023, ISSN 2806-3465
All “Between the Three Plagues” volumes in English can be borrowed from Liivalaia library, check avalability:
Volume I, “The Ropevalker” in e-catalogue ESTER
