Abstract
Spanish humanist scholar Francisco López de Gómara
interpreted Hernán Cortés's conquest of Culhúa
within the framework of the classical literary tradition. In
Historia de la conquista de México (1552), López
de Gómara created his employer, Cortés, as a hero
embodying traits of the canonical classical hero, Alexander.
Convinced of the universal significance of the conquests, the
Spanish humanist employed the most eloquent and rhetorically
persuasive tools available to monumentalize his heroic Cortés
for the ages. Naturally, he turned to his knowledge of the
literature of antiquity for models of major, influential historical
narratives. His Alexander-Cortés parallel and classical
structural and rhetorical imitations indicate the revered position
of the classical tradition during the Spanish Renaissance humanism
movement. They are also conduits through which López de
Gómara challenged the opinions of his contemporaries, like
Bartolomé de las Casas, and justified conquest, subjugation,
and conversion. His text created a new battleground in the raging
literary war over memory of the conquests. His commemoration of
Cortés and sympathy for Spanish imperialism have resulted in a
polarized historiography for Historia de la conquista de
México. Responses have ranged from a ban on printing and
sale lasting nearly two centuries to William Prescott's romanticist
expansion of Cortés's glory through History of the Conquest
of Mexico. These reactions reinforce the ideological potency
afforded by López de Gómara's classically inspired text.
This examination of the Spanish humanist within his literary and
historical contexts reveals his recreation of reality through the
lens of his classical education. The Alexander-Cortés parallel
molds the Spanish conqueror into a heroic figure, a channel through
which López de Gómara immortalizes his interpretation of
history.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Gambling with the High Ground
.............................................................................1
Chapter 1: Conquest, Political Developments, and Humanism
........................................................12
Spanish Renaissance Humanism
..........................................................................................12
López de Gómara's Education (1523-1540)
...........................................................................18
Cortés and the Post-Death Scene
......................................................................................19
Chapter 2: Classical Conventions of Grand Narrative
..................................................................27
The Purpose of Writing History
..........................................................................................28
Emotional Essentialism
.....................................................................................................36
Ethnography
..................................................................................................................40
The Supernatural
............................................................................................................48
Chapter 3: Evolution of the Classical Hero and the
Alexander-Cortés Parallel
..................................55
Alexander as Archetype of the Classical Hero
.......................................................................56
The Spaniards and Their Enemies
......................................................................................64
Conqueror as Colonizer
....................................................................................................72
Portraiture of Legendary Conquerors
..................................................................................76
Chapter 4: Legacy and Reception
.........................................................................................82
Immediate Reactions
......................................................................................................83
Andrés González de Barcia and the First Resurrection of
Francisco López de Gómara (1749) .........94
The Romanticists
...........................................................................................................96
Ramón Iglesia and the Second Resurrection of Francisco
López de Gómara (1940) .....................104
Post-Quincentennial Reevaluation
....................................................................................106
Conclusion: Interpretive Allusion
..........................................................................................117
Bibliography
.....................................................................................................................121
About this Honors Thesis
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