claimed' that John, Duke of Brabant, founded their society in
1216 or 1248, and that it originally bore the name of the
Brotherhood of St. Thomas à Becket. But it could scarcely have
existed in its later form before the reign of Edward III.,
when the cloth industry began to flourish in England. The
earliest charter granted to it as an organized association
dates from the year 1407. Their powers were greatly increased
by Henry VII. The soul of this society, and perhaps its
original nucleus, was the Mercers' Company of London. …
Though the most influential Merchant Adventurers resided in
London, there were many in other English towns. … The
contrast between the old Gild Merchant and the Company of
Merchant Adventurers is striking. The one had to do wholly
with foreign trade, and its members were forbidden to exercise
a manual occupation or even to be retail shopkeepers; the
other consisted mainly of small shopkeepers and artisans. The
line of demarkation between merchants and manual craftsmen was
sharply drawn by the second half of the sixteenth century, the
term 'merchant' having already acquired its modern
signification as a dealer on an extensive scale. Besides the
Company of Merchant Adventurers trading to the Low
Countries—which during the eighteenth century was called the
Hamburg Company—various new Companies of Merchant Adventurers
trading to other lands arose in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, especially during the reigns of Elizabeth and her
immediate successors. Among them were the Russian or Muscovy
Company, the Turkey or Levant Company, the Guinea Company, the
Morocco Company, the Eastland Company, the Spanish Company,
and the East India Company, the last-mentioned being the most
powerful of them all."
C. Gross,
The Gild Merchant,
pages 148-156.
MERCHANT GUILD.
See GUILDS, MEDIÆVAL.
MERCHANT TAYLORS' SCHOOL.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES—ENGLAND.
MERCIA, The Kingdom of.
A kingdom formed at the close of the 6th century by the West
Angles, on the Welsh border, or March. The people who formed
it had acquired the name of Men of the March, from which they
came to be called Mercians, and their kingdom Mercia. In the
next century, under King Penda, its territory and its power
were greatly extended, at the expense of Northumbria.
J. R. Green,
The Making of England.
See, also, ENGLAND: A. D. 547-633.
{2154}
MERCY FOR THE REDEMPTION OF CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES, The Order of.
"For the institution of this godlike order, the Christian
world was indebted to Pope Innocent III., at the close of the
12th century. … The exertions of the order were soon crowned
with success. One third of its revenues was appropriated to
the objects of its foundation, and thousands groaning in
slavery were restored to their country. … The order … met
with so much encouragement that, in the time of Alberic, the
monk (who wrote about forty years after its institution), the
number of monastic houses amounted to 600, most of which were
situated in France, Lombardy and Spain."
S. A. Dunham,
History of Spain and Portugal,
book 3, section 3, chapter 4 (volume 4).
MERGENTHEIM, Battle of (1645).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645.
----------MERIDA: Start--------
MERIDA, Origin of.
See EMERITA AUGUSTA.
MERIDA: A. D. 712.
Siege and capture by the Arab-Moors.
See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.
----------MERIDA: End--------
MERIDIAN, Mississippi,
Sherman's Raid to.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863-1864 (DECEMBER-APRIL: TENNESSEE-MISSISSIPPI).
MERMNADÆ, The.
The third dynasty of the kings of Lydia, beginning
with Gyges and ending with Crœsus.
M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 4, chapter 17 (volume 3).
MEROË, The Kingdom of.
See ETHIOPIA.
MEROM, Battle of.
The final great victory won by Joshua in the conquest of
Canaan, over the Canaanite and Amorite kings, under Jabin,
king of Hazor, who seems to have been a kind of over-king or
chieftain among them.
Dean Stanley,
Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church,
lecture 12 (volume 1).
MEROVINGIANS, The.
See FRANKS: A. D. 448-456; and 511-752.
MERRIMAC AND MONITOR, Battle of the.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MARCH).
MERRYMOUNT.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1622-1628.
MERTÆ, The.
See BRITAIN: CELTIC TRIBES.
MERTON, Statutes of.
A body of laws enacted at a Great Council held at Merton, in
England, under Henry III., A. D. 1236, which marks an
important advance made in the development of constitutional
legislation.
G. W. Prothero,
Simon de Montfort.
MERU.
See MERV.
----------MERV: Start--------
MERV, OR MERU: A. D. 1221.
Destruction by Jingis Khan.
In the merciless march through Central Asia of the awful
Mongol horde set in motion by Jingis Khan, the great city of
Meru (modern Merv) was reached in the autumn of A. D. 1220.
This was "Meru Shahjan, i. e., Meru the king of the world, one
of the four chief cities of Khorassan, and one of the oldest
cities of the world. It had been the capital of the great
Seljuk Sultans Melikshah and Sanjar, and was very rich and
populous. It was situated on the banks of the Meri el rond,
also called the Murjab. … The siege commenced on the 25th of
February, 1221. The governor of the town … sent a venerable
imam as an envoy to the Mongol camp. He returned with such
fair promises that the governor himself repaired to the camp,
and was loaded with presents; he was asked to send for his
chief relations and friends; when these were fairly in his
power, Tulni [one of the sons of Jingis Khan] ordered them
all, including the governor, to be killed. The Mongols then
entered the town, the inhabitants were ordered to evacuate it
with their treasures; the mournful procession, we are told,
took four days to defile out. … A general and frightful
massacre ensued; only 400 artisans and a certain number of
young people were reserved as slaves. The author of the
'Jhankushai' says that the Seyid Yzz-ud-din, a man renowned
for his virtues and piety, assisted by many people, were
thirteen days in counting the corpses, which numbered
1,300,000. Ibn al Ethir says that 700,000 corpses were
counted. The town was sacked, the mausolemn of the Sultan
Sanjar was rifled and then burnt, and the walls and citadel of
Meru levelled with the ground."
H. H. Howorth,
History of the Mongols,
volume 1, page 87.
See, also, KHORASSAN: A. D. 1220-1221.
MERV, OR MERU: A. D. 1884.
Russian occupation.
See RUSSIA. A. D. 1869-1881.
----------MERV: End--------
MERWAN I., Caliph, A. D. 683-684.
Merwan II., Caliph, 744-750.
MERWING.
One of the forms given to the name of the royal family of the
Franks, established in power by Clovis, and more commonly
known as the Merovingian Family.
MÉRY, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).
MESCHIANZA,
MISCHIANZA, The.
See PHILADELPHIA: A. D. 1777-1778.
MESOPOTAMIA.
"Between the outer limits of the Syro-Arabian desert and the
foot of the great mountain-range of Kurdistan and Luristan
intervenes a territory long famous in the world's history, and
the chief site of three out of the five empires of whose
history, geography, and antiquities it is proposed to treat in
the present volumes. Known to the Jews as Aram-Naharaim, or
'Syria of the two rivers'; to the Greeks and Romans as
Mesopotamia, or 'the between-river country'; to the Arabs as
Al-Jezireh, or, 'the island,' this district has always taken
its name from the streams [the Tigris and Euphrates] which
constitute its most striking feature."
G. Rawlinson,
Five Great Monarchies: Chaldœa,
chapter 1.
MESSALINA, The infamies of.
See ROME: A. D. 47-54.
MESSANA.
See MESSENE.
MESSAPIANS, The.
See ŒNOTRIANS.
----------MESSENE: Start--------
MESSENE, in Peloponnesus: B. C. 369.
The founding of the city.
Restoration of the enslaved Messenians.
See MESSENIAN WAR, THE THIRD;
also, GREECE: B. C. 371-362.
MESSENE: B. C. 338.
Territories restored by Philip of Macedon.
See GREECE; B. C. 357-336.
MESSENE: B. C. 184.
Revolt from the Achæan League.
A faction in Messene which was hostile to the Achæan League
having gained the ascendancy, B. C. 184, declared its
secession from the League. Philopœmen, the chief of the
League, proceeded at once with a small force to reduce the
Messenians to obedience, but was taken prisoner and was foully
executed by his enemies. Bishop Thirlwall pronounced him "the
last great man whom Greece produced." The death of Philopœmen
was speedily avenged on those who caused it and Messene was
recovered to the League.
C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 65.
ALSO IN:
Plutarch,
Philopœmen.
{2155}
MESSENE (MODERN MESSINA), in Sicily.
The founding of the city.
"Zancle was originally colonised by pirates who came from Cyme
the Chalcidian city in Opicia. … Zancle was the original
name of the place, a name given by the Sicels because the site
was in shape like a sickle, for which the Sicel word is
Zanclon. These earlier settlers were afterwards driven out by
the Samians and other Ionians, who when they fled from the
Persians found their way to Sicily. Not long afterwards
Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium, drove out these Samians. He
then repeopled their city with a mixed multitude, and called
the place Messene, after his native country."
Thucydides,
History,
translated by Jowett,
book 6, section 4.
MESSENE: B. C. 396.
Destruction by the Carthaginians.
See SYRACUSE: B. C. 397-396.
MESSENE: B. C. 264.
The Mamertines.
See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.
MESSINA: A. D. 1849.
Bombardment and capture by King Ferdinand.
See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.
----------MESSENIAN WARS: Start--------
MESSENIAN WARS, The First and Second.
The Spartans were engaged in two successive wars with their
neighbors of Messenia, whose territory, adjoining their own in
the southwestern extremity of Peloponnesus, was rich,
prosperous and covetable. "It was unavoidable that the
Spartans should look down with envy from their bare rocky
ridges into the prosperous land of their neighbours and the
terraces close by, descending to the river, with their
well-cultivated plantations of oil and wine. Besides, the
Dorians who had immigrated into Messenia had, under the
influence of the native population and of a life of
comfortable ease, lost their primitive character. Messenia
seemed like a piece of Arcadia, with which it was most
intimately connected. … Hence this was no war of Dorians
against Dorians; it rather seemed to be Sparta's mission to
make good the failure of the Dorization of Messenia which had
sunk back into Pelasgic conditions of life, and to unite with
herself the remains of the Dorian people still surviving
there. In short, a variety of motives contributed to provoke a
forcible extension of Spartan military power on this
particular side."
E. Curtius,
History of Greece,
book 2, chapter 1 (volume 1).
The First Messenian War was commenced B. C. 745 and lasted
twenty years, ending in the complete subjugation of the
Messenians, who were reduced to a state of servitude like that
of the Helots of Sparta. After enduring the oppression for
thirty-nine years, the Messenians rose in revolt against their
Spartan masters, B. C. 685. The leader and great hero of this
Second Messenian War was Aristomenes, whose renown became so
great in the despairing struggle that the latter was called
among the ancients the Aristomnean War. But all the valor and
self-sacrifice of the unhappy Messenians availed nothing. They
gave up the contest, B. C. 668; large numbers of them escaped
to other lands and those who remained were reduced to a more
wretched condition than before.
C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 9.
See, also, SPARTA: B. C. 743-510.
MESSENIAN WARS: The Third.
"The whole of Laconia [E. C. 464] was shaken by an earthquake,
which opened great chasms in the ground, and rolled down huge
masses from the highest peaks of Taygetus: Sparta itself
became a heap of ruins, in which not more than five houses are
said to have been left standing. More than 20,000 persons were
believed to have been destroyed by the shock, and the flower
of the Spartan youth was overwhelmed by the fall of the
buildings in which they were exercising themselves at the
time."
C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 17.
The Helots of Sparta, especially those who were descended from
the enslaved Messenians, took advantage of the confusion
produced by the earthquake, to rise in revolt. Having secured
possession of Ithome, they fortified themselves in the town
and withstood there a siege of ten years,—sometimes called
the Third Messenian War. The Spartans invited the Athenians to
aid them in the siege, but soon grew jealous of their allies
and dismissed them with some rudeness. This was one of the
prime causes of the animosity between Athens and Sparta which
afterward flamed out in the Peloponnesian War. In the end, the
Messenians at Ithome capitulated and were allowed to quit the
country; whereupon the Athenians settled them at Naupactus, on
the Corinthian gulf, and so gained an ardent ally, in an
important situation.
Thucydides,
History,
book 1, sections 101-103.
Nearly one hundred years later (B. C. 369) when Thebes, under
Epaminondas, rose to power in Greece and Sparta was
humiliated, it was one of the measures of the Theban statesman
to found at Ithome an important city which he named Messene,
into which the long oppressed Messenians were gathered, from
slavery and from exile, and were organized in a state once
more, free and independent.
C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 39.
ALSO IN:
G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 78.
----------MESSENIAN WARS: End----------
MESSIDOR, The month,
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (OCTOBER) THE NEW REPUBLICAN CALENDAR.
MESTIZO.
MULATTO.
A half-breed person in Peru, born of a white father and an
Indian mother, is called a Mestizo. One born of a white father
and a negro mother is called a mulatto.
J. J. Von Tschudi,
Travels in Peru,
chapter 5.
METAPONTIUM.
See SIRIS.
METAURUS, Battle of the.
See PUNIC WAR, THE SECOND.
METAURUS, Defeat of the Alemanni.
See ALEMANNI: A. D. 270.
MÉTAYERS.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1789.
METEMNEH, Battle of(1885).
See EGYPT: A. D. 1884-1885.
METHODISTS:
Origin of the Religious Denomination.
"The term Methodist was a college nickname bestowed upon a
small society of students at Oxford who met together between
1729 and 1735 for the purpose of mutual improvement. They were
accustomed to communicate every week, to fast regularly on
Wednesdays and Fridays, and on most days during Lent; to read
and discuss the Bible in common, to abstain from most forms of
amusement and luxury, and to visit sick persons and prisoners
in the gaol. John Wesley, the master-spirit of this society,
and the future leader of the religious revival of the
eighteenth century, was born in 1703, and was the second
surviving son of Samuel Wesley, the Rector of Epworth, in
Lincolnshire. … The society hardly numbered more than
fifteen members, and was the object of much ridicule at the
university; but it included some men who afterwards played
considerable parts in the world.
{2156}
Among them was Charles, the younger brother of John Wesley,
whose hymns became the favourite poetry of the sect, and whose
gentler, more submissive, and more amiable character, though
less fitted than that of his brother for the great conflicts
of public life, was very useful in moderating the movement,
and in drawing converts to it by personal influence. Charles
Wesley appears to have been the first to originate the society
at Oxford; he brought Whitefield into its pale, and besides
being the most popular poet he was one of the most persuasive
preachers of the movement. There, too, was James Hervey, who
became one of the earliest links connecting Methodism with
general literature."
W. E. H. Lecky,
History of England in the 18th Century,
chapter 9 (volume 2).
METHUEN, Rout of.
The first Scotch army assembled by Robert Bruce after he had
been crowned king of Scotland, was surprised and routed by
Aymer de Valence, June 26, 1306.
C. H. Pearson,
History of England during the Early and Middle Ages,
volume 2, chapter 14.
METHUEN TREATY, The.
See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1703;
and SPAIN: A. D. 1703-1704.
METÖACS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
METŒCI.
"Resident aliens, or Metœci, are non-citizens possessed of
personal freedom, and settled in Attica. Their number, in the
flourishing periods of the State, might amount to 45,000, and
therefore was about half that of the citizens."
G. F. Schömann,
Antiquity of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 3, section 2.
METON, The year of.
"Hitherto [before the age of Pericles] the Athenians had only
had the Octaëteris, i. e., the period of eight years, of which
three were composed of thirteen months, in order thus to make
the lunar years correspond to the solar. But as eight such
solar years still amount to something short of 99 lunar
months, this cycle was insufficient for its purpose. … Meton
and his associates calculated that a more correct adjustment
might be obtained within a cycle of 6,940 days. These made up
235 months, which formed a cycle of 19 years; and this was the
so-called 'Great Year,' or 'Year of Meton.'"
E. Curtius,
History of Greece,
book 3, chapter 3 (volume 2).
METRETES, The.
See EPHAH.
METROPOLITANS.
See PRIMATES.
METROPOTAMIA, The proposed State of.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1784.
METTERNICH, The governing system of.
See HOLY ALLIANCE.
----------METZ: Start--------
METZ: Original names.
The Gallic town of Divodurum acquired later the name of
Mediomatrici, which modern tongues have changed to Metz.
C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 34, foot-note.
METZ: A. D. 451.
Destruction by the Huns.
See HUNS: A. D. 451.
METZ: A. D. 511-752.
The Austrasian capital.
See FRANKS: A. D. 511-752.
METZ: A. D. 1552-1559.
Treacherous occupation by the French.
Siege by Charles V.
Cession to France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.
METZ: A. D. 1648.
Ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
METZ: A. D. 1679-1680.
The Chamber of Reannexation.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1679-1681.
METZ: A. D. 1870.
The French army of Bazaine enclosed and besieged.
The surrender.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST), to (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).
METZ: A. D. 1871.
Cession to Germany.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (JANUARY-MAY).
----------METZ: End--------
MEXICAN PICTURE-WRITING.
See AZTEC AND MAYA PICTURE-WRITING.
----------MEXICO: Start--------
MEXICO.
Ancient: The Maya and Nahua peoples and their civilization.
"Notwithstanding evident marks of similarity in nearly all the
manifestations of the progressional spirit in aboriginal
America, in art, thought, and religion, there is much reason
for and convenience in referring all the native civilization
to two branches, the Maya and the Nahua, the former the more
ancient, the latter the more recent and wide-spread. … It is
only, however, in a very general sense that this
classification can be accepted, and then only for practical
convenience in elucidating the subject; since there are
several nations that must be ranked among our civilized
peoples, which, particularly in the matter of language, show
no Maya nor Nahua affinities. Nor is too much importance to be
attached to the names Maya and Nahua, by which I designate
these parallel civilizations. The former is adopted for the
reason that the Maya people and tongue are commonly regarded
as among the most ancient in all the Central American region,
a region where formerly flourished the civilization that left
such wonderful remains at Palenque, Uxmal, and Copan; the
latter as being an older designation than either Aztec or
Toltec, both of which stocks the race Nahua includes. The
civilization of what is now the Mexican Republic, north of
Tehuantepec, belonged to the Nahua branch, both at the time of
the conquest and throughout the historic period preceding.
Very few traces of the Maya element occur north of Chiapas,
and these are chiefly linguistic, appearing in two or three
nations dwelling along the shores of the Mexican gulf. In
published works upon the subject the Aztecs are the
representatives of the Nahua element; indeed, what is known of
the Aztecs has furnished material for nine tenths of all that
has been written on the American civilized nations in general.
The truth of the matter is that the Aztecs were only the most
powerful of a league or confederation of three nations, which
in the 16th century, from their capitals in the valley, ruled
central Mexico."
H. H. Bancroft,
Native Races of the Pacific States,
volume 2, chapter 2.
"The evidence … has pointed—with varying force, but with
great uniformity of direction—towards the Central or
Usumacinta region [Central America], not necessarily as the
original cradle of American civilization, but as the most
ancient home to which it can be traced by traditional,
monumental, and linguistic records. …
{2157}
Throughout several centuries preceding the Christian era, and
perhaps one or two centuries following, there flourished in
Central America the great Maya empire of the Chanes, Culhuas,
or Serpents, known to its foes as Xibalba, with its centre in
Chiapas at or near Palenque, and with several allied capitals
in the surrounding region. Its first establishment at a remote
period was attributed by the people to a being called Votan,
who was afterwards worshipped as a god. … From its centre in
the Usumacinta region the Votanic power was gradually extended
north-westward towards Anáhuac, where its subjects vaguely
appear in tradition as Quinames, or giants. It also penetrated
northeastward into Yucatan, where Zamná was its reputed
founder, and the Cocomes and Itzas probably its subjects. …
The Maya empire seems to have been in the height of its
prosperity when the rival Nahua power came into prominence,
perhaps two or three centuries before Christ. The origin of
the new people and of the new institutions is as deeply
shrouded in mystery as is that of their predecessors. … The
Plumed Serpent, known in different tongues as Quetzalcoatl,
Gucumatz, and Cukulcan, was the being who traditionally
founded the new order of things. The Nahua power grew up side
by side with its Xibalban predecessor, having its capital
Tulan apparently in Chiapas. Like the Maya power, it was not
confined to its original home, but was borne … towards
Anáhuac. … The struggle on the part of the Xibalbans seems
to have been that of an old effete monarchy against a young
and progressive people. Whatever its cause, the result of the
conquest was the overthrow of the Votanic monarchs at a date
which may be approximately fixed within a century before or
after the beginning of our era. From that time the ancient
empire disappears from traditional history. … Respecting the
ensuing period of Nahua greatness in Central America nothing
is recorded save that it ended in revolt, disaster, and a
general scattering of the tribes at some period probably
preceding the 5th century. The national names that appear in
connection with the closing struggles are the Toltecs,
Chichimecs, Quichés, Nonohualcas, and Tutul Xius, none of them
apparently identical with the Xibalbans. … Of the tribes
that were successively defeated and forced to seek new homes,
those that spoke the Maya dialects, although considering
themselves Nahuas, seem to have settled chiefly in the south
and east. Some of them afterwards rose to great prominence in
Guatemala and Yucatan. … The Nahua-speaking tribes as a rule
established themselves in Anáhuac and in the western and
north-western parts of Mexico. … The valley of Mexico and
the country immediately adjoining soon became the centre of
the Nahuas in Mexico."
H. H. Bancroft,
Native Races of the Pacific States,
volume 5, chapter 3.
See, also, AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MAYAS;
and AZTEC AND MAYA PICTURE-WRITING.
MEXICO: Ancient:
The Toltec empire and civilization.
Are they mythical?
"The old-time story, how the Toltecs in the 6th century
appeared on the Mexican table-land, how they were driven out
and scattered in the 11th century, how after a brief interval
the Chichimecs followed their footsteps, and how these last
were succeeded by the Aztecs who were found in
possession,—the last two, and probably the first, migrating
in immense hordes from the far north-west,—all this is
sufficiently familiar to readers of Mexican history, and is
furthermore fully set forth in the 5th volume of this work. It
is probable, however, that this account, accurate to a certain
degree, has been by many writers too literally construed;
since the once popular theory of wholesale national migrations
of American peoples within historic times, and particularly of
such migrations from the northwest, may now be regarded as
practically unfounded. The 6th century is the most remote
period to which we are carried in the annals of Anáhuac by
traditions sufficiently definite to be considered in any
proper sense as historic records. … At the opening … of
the historic times, we find the Toltecs in possession of
Anáhuac and the surrounding country. Though the civilization
was old, the name was new, derived probably, although not so
regarded by all, from Tollan, a capital city of the empire,
but afterward becoming synonymous with all that is excellent
in art and high culture. Tradition imputes to the Toltecs a
higher civilization than that found among the Aztecs, who had
degenerated with the growth of the warlike spirit, and
especially by the introduction of more cruel and sanguinary
religious rites. But this superiority, in some respects not
improbable, rests on no very strong evidence, since this
people left no relics of that artistic skill which gave them
so great traditional fame; there is, however, much reason to
ascribe the construction of the pyramids at Teotihuacan and
Cholula to the Toltec or a still earlier period. Among the
civilized peoples of the 16th century, however, and among
their descendants down to the present day, nearly every
ancient relic of architecture or sculpture is accredited to
the Toltecs, from whom all claim descent. … So confusing has
been the effect of this universal reference of all traditional
events to a Toltec source, that, while we can not doubt the
actual existence of this great empire, the details of its
history, into which the supernatural so largely enters, must
be regarded as to a great extent mythical. There are no data
for fixing accurately the bounds of the Toltec domain,
particularly in the south. There is very little, however, to
indicate that it was more extensive in this direction than
that of the Aztecs in later times, although it seems to have
extended somewhat farther northward. On the west there is some
evidence that it included the territory of Michoacan, never
subdued by the Aztecs; and it probably stretched eastward to
the Atlantic. … During the most flourishing period of its
traditional five centuries of duration, the Toltec empire was
ruled by a confederacy, similar in some respects to the
alliance of later date between Mexico, Tezcuco and Tlacopan.
The capitals were Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan, the two
former corresponding somewhat in territory with Mexico and
Tezcuco, while the latter was just beyond the limits of the
valley toward the north-west. Each of these capital cities
became in turn the leading power in the confederacy. Tollan
reached the highest eminence in culture, splendor, and fame,
and Culhuacan was the only one of the three to survive by name
the bloody convulsions by which the empire was at last
overthrown, and retain anything of her former greatness.
Long-continued civil wars, arising chiefly from dissensions
between rival religious factions, … gradually undermine the
imperial thrones. … So the kings of Tollan, Culhuacan, and
Otompan, lose, year by year, their prestige, and finally, in
the middle of the 11th century, are completely overthrown,
leaving the Mexican tableland to be ruled by new combinations
of rising powers."
H. H. Bancroft,
Native Races of the Pacific States,
volume 2, chapter 2.
{2158}
"Long before the Aztecs, a Toltec tribe called the Acolhuas,
or Culhuas, had settled in the valley of Mexico. The name is
more ancient than that of Toltec, and the Mexican civilization
might perhaps as appropriately be called Culhua as Nahua. The
name is interpreted 'crooked' from coloa, bend; also
'grandfather' from colli. Colhuacan might therefore signify
Land of Our Ancestors."
H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 4, page 23, foot-note.
"The most venerable traditions of the Maya race claimed for
them a migration from 'Tollan in Zuyva.' … This Tollan is
certainly none other than the abode of Quetzalcoatl. … The
cities which selected him as their tutelary deity were named
for that which he was supposed to have ruled over. Thus we
have Tollan and Tollantzinco ('behind Tollan') in the Valley
of Mexico, and the pyramid Cholula was called
'Tollan-Cholollan,' as well as many other Tollans and Tulas
among the Nahuatl colonies. The natives of the city of Tula
were called, from its name, Tolteca, which simply means 'those
who dwell in Tollan.' And who, let us ask, were these Toltecs?
They have hovered about the dawn of American history long
enough. To them have been attributed not only the primitive
culture of Central America and Mexico, but of lands far to the
north, and even the earthworks of the Ohio Valley. It is time
they were assigned their proper place, and that is among the
purely fabulous creations of the imagination, among the giants
and fairies, the gnomes and sylphs, and other such fancied
beings which in all ages and nations the popular mind has
loved to create. Toltec, Toltecatl, which in later days came
to mean a skilled craftsman or artificer, signifies, as I have
said, an inhabitant of Tollan—of the City of the Sun—in
other words, a Child of Light. … In some, and these I
consider the original versions of the myth, they do not
constitute a nation at all, but are merely the disciples or
servants of Quetzalcoatl. They have all the traits of beings
of supernatural powers."
D. G. Brinton,
American Hero-Myths,
chapter 3, section 3.
ALSO IN:
D. G. Brinton,
Essays of an Americanist,
pages 83-100.
A recent totally contrary view, in which the Toltecs are fully
accepted and modernized, is presented by M. Charnay.
D. Charnay,
Ancient Cities of the New World.
MEXICO: A. D. 1325-1502.
The Aztec period.
The so called empire of Montezuma.
"The new era succeeding the Toltec rule is that of the
Chichimec empire, which endured with some variations down to
the coming of Cortes. The ordinary version of the early annals
has it, that the Chichimecs, a wild tribe living far in the
north-west, learning that the fertile regions of Central
Mexico had been abandoned by the Toltecs, came down in immense
hordes to occupy the land. … The name Chichimec at the time
of the Spanish conquest, and subsequently, was used with two
significations, first, as applied to the line of kings that
reigned at Tezcuco, and second, to all the wild hunting
tribes, particularly in the broad and little-known regions of
the north. Traditionally or historically, the name has been
applied to nearly every people mentioned in the ancient
history of America. This has caused the greatest confusion
among writers on the subject, a confusion which I believe can
only be cleared up by the supposition that the name Chichimec,
like that of Toltec, never was applied as a tribal or national
designation proper to any people, while such people were
living. It seems probable that among the Nahua peoples that
occupied the country from the 6th to the 11th centuries, a few
of the leading powers appropriated to themselves the title
Toltecs, which had been at first employed by the inhabitants
of Tollan, whose artistic excellence soon rendered it a
designation of honor. To the other Nahua peoples, by whom
these leading powers were surrounded, whose institutions were
identical, but whose polish and elegance of manner were deemed
by these self-constituted aristocrats somewhat inferior, the
term Chichimecs, barbarians, etymologically 'dogs,' was
applied. After the convulsions that overthrew Tollan, and
reversed the condition of the Nahua nations, the 'dogs' in
their turn assumed an air of superiority and retained their
designation, Chichimecs, as a title of honor and nobility."
H. H. Bancroft,
Native Races of the Pacific States,
volume 2, chapter 2.
"We may suppose the 'Toltec period' in Mexican tradition to
have been simply the period when the pueblo-town of Tollan was
flourishing, and domineered most likely over neighbouring
pueblos. One might thus speak it as one would speak of the
'Theban period' in Greek history. After the 'Toltec period,'
with perhaps an intervening 'Chichimec period' of confusion,
came the 'Aztec period;' or, in other words, some time after
Tollan lost its importance, the city of Mexico came to the
front. Such, I suspect, is the slender historical residuum
underlying the legend of a 'Toltec empire.' The Codex Ramirez
assigns the year 1168 as the date of the abandonment of the
Serpent Hill by the people of Tollan. We begin to leave this
twilight of legend when we meet the Aztecs already encamped in
the Valley of Mexico. Finding the most obviously eligible
sites preoccupied, they were sagacious enough to detect the
advantages of a certain marshy spot through which the outlets
of lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, besides sundry rivulets,
flowed northward and eastward into Lake Tezcuco. Here in the
year 1325 they began to build their pueblo, which they called
Tenochtitlan,—a name whereby hangs a tale. When the Aztecs,
hard pressed by foes, took refuge among these marshes, they
came upon a sacrificial stone which they recognized as one
upon which some years before one of their priests had
immolated a captive chief. From a crevice in this stone, where
a little earth was imbedded, there grew a cactus, upon which
sat an eagle holding in its beak a serpent. A priest
ingeniously interpreted this symbolism as a prophecy of signal
and long-continued victory, and forthwith diving into the lake
he had an interview with Tlaloc, the god of waters, who told
him that upon that very spot the people were to build their
town. The place was therefore called Tenochtitlan, or 'place
of the cactus-rock,' but the name under which it afterward came
to be best known was taken from Mexitl, one of the names of
the war-god Huitzilopochtli. The device of the rock and
cactus, with the eagle and serpent, formed a tribal totem for
the Aztecs, and has been adopted as the coat-of-arms of the
present Republic of Mexico.
{2159}
The pueblo of Tenochtitlan was surrounded by salt marshes;
which by dint of dikes and causeways the Aztecs gradually
converted into a large artificial lake, and thus made their
pueblo by far the most defensible stronghold in Anahuac,—
impregnable, indeed, so far as Indian modes of attack were
concerned. The advantages of this commanding position were
slowly but surely realized. A dangerous neighbour upon the
western shore of the lake was the tribe of Tecpanecas, whose
principal pueblo was Azcaputzalco. The Aztecs succeeded in
making an alliance with these Tecpanecas, but it was upon
unfavourable terms and involved the payment of tribute to
Azcaputzalco. It gave the Aztecs, however, some time to
develop their strength. Their military organization was
gradually perfected, and in 1375 they elected their first
tlacatecuhtli, or 'chief-of-men,' whom European writers, in
the loose phraseology formerly current, called 'founder of the
Mexican empire.' The name of this official was Acamapichtli,
or 'Handful-of-Reeds.' During the eight-and-twenty years of
his chieftancy the pueblo houses in Tenochtitlan began to be
built very solidly of stone, and the irregular water-courses
flowing between them were improved into canals. Some months
after his death in 1403 his son Huitzilihuitl, or
'Humming-bird,' was chosen to succeed him. This Huitzilihuitl
was succeeded in 1414 by his brother Chimalpopoca, or 'Smoking
Shield,' under whom temporary calamity visited the Aztec town.
The alliance with Azcaputzalco was broken, and that pueblo
joined its forces to those of Tezcuco on the eastern shore of
the lake. United they attacked the Aztecs, defeated them, and
captured their chief-of-men, who died a prisoner in 1427. He
was succeeded by Izcoatzin, or 'Obsidian Snake,' an aged
chieftain who died in 1436. During these nine years a complete
change came over the scene. Quarrels arose between
Azcaputzalco and Tezcuco; the latter pueblo entered into
alliance with Tenochtitlan, and together they overwhelmed and
destroyed Azcaputzalco, and butchered most of its people. What
was left of the conquered pueblo was made a slave mart for the
Aztecs, and the remnant of the people were removed to the
neighbouring pueblo of Tlacopan, which was made tributary to
Mexico. By this great victory the Aztecs also acquired secure
control of the springs upon Chepultepec, or 'Grasshopper
Hill,' which furnished a steady supply of fresh water to their
island pueblo. The next step was the formation of a
partnership between the three pueblo towns, Tenochtitlan,
Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, for the organized and systematic
plunder of other pueblos. All the tribute or spoils extorted
was to be divided into five parts, of which two parts each
were for Tezcuco and Tenochtitlan, and one part for Tlacopan.
The Aztec chief-of-men became military commander of the
confederacy, which now' began to extend operations to a
distance. The next four chiefs-of-men were Montezuma, or
'Angry Chief,' the First, from 1436 to 1464; Axayacatl, or
'Face-in-the-Water,' from 1464 to 1477; Tizoc, or 'Wounded
Leg,' from 1477 to 1486; and Ahuizotl, or 'Water-Rat,' from
1486 to 1502. Under these chiefs the great temple of Mexico
was completed, and the aqueduct from Chepultepec was increased
in capacity until it not only supplied water for ordinary
uses, but could also be made to maintain the level of the
canals and the lake. In the driest seasons, therefore,
Tenochtitlan remained safe from attack. Forth from this
well-protected lair the Aztec warriors went on their errands
of blood. Thirty or more pueblo towns, mostly between
Tenochtitlan and the Gulf coast, scattered over an area about
the size of Massachusetts, were made tributary to the
Confederacy; and as all these communities spoke the Nahua
language, this process of conquest, if it had not been cut
short by the Spaniards, might in course of time have ended in
the formation of a primitive kind of state. This tributary
area formed but a very small portion of the country which we
call Mexico. If the reader will just look at a map of the
Republic of Mexico in a modern atlas, and observe that the
states of Queretaro, Guanaxuato, Michoacan, Guerrero, and a
good part of La Puebla, lie outside the region sometimes
absurdly styled 'Montezuma's Empire,' and surround three sides
of it, he will begin to put himself into the proper state of
mind for appreciating the history of Cortes and his
companions. Into the outlying region just mentioned, occupied
by tribes for the most part akin to the Nahuas in blood and
speech, the warriors of the Confederacy sometimes ventured,
with varying fortunes. They levied occasional tribute among
the pueblos in these regions, but hardly made any of them
regularly tributary. The longest range of their arms seems to
have been to the eastward, where they sent their tax-gatherers
along the coast into the isthmus of Tehuantepec, and came into
conflict with the warlike Mayas and Quiches. … Such was, in
general outline, what we may call the political situation in
the time of the son of Axayacatl, the second Montezuma, who
was elected chief-of-men in 1502, being then thirty-four years
of age."
J. Fiske,
The Discovery of America,
chapter 8 (volume 2).
MEXICO: A. D. 1517-1518.
First found by the Spaniards.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1517-1518.
MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (February-April).
The coming of Cortes and the Spaniards.
Some time in the latter part of the year 1517, the Spaniards
in Cuba had acquired definite knowledge of a much civilized
people who inhabited "terra firma" to the west of them, by the
return of Hernandez de Cordova from his involuntary voyage to
Yucatan (see AMERICA: A. D. 1157-1518). In the spring of 1518
the Cuban governor, Velasquez, had enlarged that knowledge by
sending an expedition under Grijalva to the Mexican coast,
and, even before Grijalva returned, he had begun preparations
for a more serious undertaking of conquest and occupation in
the rich country newly found. For the command of this second
armament he selected Hernando Cortes, one of the boldest and
most ambitious of the adventurers who had helped to subdue and
settle the island of Cuba. Before the fleet sailed, however, a
jealous distrust of his lieutenant had become excited by some
cause in the governor's mind, and he attempted to supersede
him in the command, Cortes slipped out of port, half prepared
as he was for the voyage, defied the orders of his superior,
and made his way (February, 1519) to the scene of his future
conquests, actually as a rebel against the authority which
commissioned him. "The squadron of Cortés was composed of
eleven small vessels.
{2160}
There were 110 sailors, 553 soldiers, of which 13 were armed
with muskets, and 32 with arquebuses, the others with swords
and pikes only. There were 10 little field-pieces, and 16
horses. Such were the forces with which the bold adventurer
set forth to conquer a vast empire, defended by large armies,
not without courage, according to the report of Grijalva. But
the companions of Cortes were unfamiliar with fear. Cortés
followed the same route as Grijalva. … At the Tabasco River,
which the Spanish called Rio de Grijalva, because that
explorer had discovered it, they had a fight with some natives
who resisted their approach. These natives fought bravely, but
the fire-arms, and above all the horses, which they conceived
to be of one piece with their riders, caused them extreme
terror, and the rout was complete. … The native prince,
overcome, sent gifts to the conqueror, and, without much
knowing the extent of his agreement, acknowledged himself as
vassal of the king of Spain, the most powerful monarch of the
world." Meantime, tidings of a fresh appearance of the same
strange race which had briefly visited the shores of the
empire the year before were conveyed to Montezuma, and the
king, who had sent envoys to the strangers before, but not
quickly enough to find them, resolved to do so again. "The
presents prepared for Grijalva, which had reached the shore
too late, were, alas! all ready. To these were now added the
ornaments used in the decoration of the image of Quetzalcoatl,
on days of solemnity, regarded as the most sacred among all
the possessions of the royal house of Mexico. Cortés accepted
the rôle of Quetzalcoatl and allowed himself to be decorated
with the ornaments belonging to that god without hesitation.
The populace were convinced that it was their deity really
returned to them. A feast was served to the envoys, with the
accompaniment of some European wine which they found
delicious. … During the feast native painters were busy
depicting every thing they saw to be shown to their royal
master. … Cortes sent to Montezuma a gilt helmet with the
message that he hoped to see it back again filled with gold.
… The bearer of this gift and communication, returning
swiftly to the court, reported to the monarch that the
intention of the stranger was to come at once to the capital
of the empire. Montezuma at once assembled a new council of
all his great vassals, some of whom urged the reception of
Cortés, others his immediate dismissal. The latter view
prevailed, and the monarch sent, with more presents to the
unknown invader, benevolent but peremptory commands that he
should go away immediately. … Meanwhile the Spanish camp was
feasting and reposing in huts of cane, with fresh provisions,
in great joy after the weariness of their voyage. They
accepted with enthusiasm the presents of the emperor, but the
treasures which were sent had an entirely different effect
from that hoped for by Montezuma; they only inflamed the
desire of the Spaniard to have all within his grasp, of which
this was but a specimen. It was now that the great mistake in
policy was apparent, by which the Aztec chieftain had for
years been making enemies all over the country, invading
surrounding states, and carrying off prisoners for a horrible
death by sacrifice. These welcomed the strangers and
encouraged their presence."
S. Hale,
The Story of Mexico,
chapter 13.
ALSO IN:
Bernal Diaz del Castillo,
Memoirs,
chapter 2-39 (volume 1).
J. Fiske,
The Discovery of America,
chapter 8 (volume 2).
MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (June-October).
The advance of Cortés to Tlascala.
"Meanwhile Cortés, by his craft, quieted a rising faction of
the party of Velasquez which demanded to be led back to Cuba.
He did this by seeming to acquiesce in the demand of his
followers in laying the foundations of a town and constituting
its people a municipality competent to choose a representative
of the royal authority. This done, Cortés resigned his
commission from Velasquez, and was at once invested with
supreme power by the new municipality. The scheme which
Velasquez had suspected was thus brought to fruition. Whoever
resisted the new captain was conquered by force, persuasion,
tact, or magnetism; and Cortés became as popular as he was
irresistible. At this point messengers presented themselves
from tribes not far off who were unwilling subjects of the
Aztec power. The presence of possible allies was a propitious
circumstance, and Cortés proceeded to cultivate the friendship
of these tribes. He moved his camp day by day along the shore,
inuring his men to marches, while the fleet sailed in company.
They reached a large city [Cempoalla, or Zempoalla, the site
of which has not been determined], and were regaled. Each
chief told of the tyranny of Montezuma, and the eyes of Cortés
glistened. The Spaniards went on to another town, slaves being
provided to bear their burdens. Here they found tax-gatherers
of Montezuma collecting tribute. Emboldened by Cortés' glance,
his hosts seized the Aztec emissaries and delivered them to
the Spaniards. Cortés now played a double game. He propitiated
the servants of Montezuma by secretly releasing them, and
added to his allies by enjoining every tribe he could reach to
resist the Aztec collectors of tribute. The wandering
municipality, as represented in this piratical army, at last
stopped at a harbor where a town (La Villa Rica de Vera Cruz)
sprang up, and became the base of future operations." At this
point in his movements the adventurer despatched a vessel to
Spain, with letters to the king, and with dazzling gifts of
gold and Aztec fabrics. "Now came the famous resolve of
Cortés. He would band his heterogeneous folk together—
adherents of Cortés and of Velasquez—in one common cause and
danger. So he adroitly led them to be partners in the deed
which he stealthily planned. Hulk after hulk of the apparently
worm-eaten vessels of the fleet sank in the harbor, until
there was no flotilla left upon which any could desert him.
The march to Mexico was now assured. The force with which to
accomplish this consisted of about 450 Spaniards, six or seven
light guns, fifteen horses, and a swarm of Indian slaves and
attendants. A body of the Totonacs accompanied them. Two or
three days brought them into the higher plain and its
enlivening vegetation. When they reached the dependencies of
Montezuma, they found orders had been given to extend to them
every courtesy. They soon reached the Anahuac plateau, which
reminded them not a little of Spain itself. They passed from
cacique to cacique, some of whom groaned under the yoke of the
Aztec; but not one dared do more than orders from Montezuma
dictated.
{2161}
Then the invaders approached the territory of an independent
people, those of Tlascala, who had walled their country
against neighboring enemies. A fight took place at the
frontiers, in which the Spaniards lost two horses. They forced
passes against great odds, but again lost a horse or two,—
which was a perceptible diminution of their power to terrify.
The accounts speak of immense hordes of the Tlascalans, which
historians now take with allowances, great or small. Cortés
spread what alarm he could by burning villages and capturing
the country people. His greatest obstacle soon appeared in the
compacted army of Tlascalans arrayed in his front. The
conflict which ensued was for a while doubtful. Every horse
was hurt, and 60 Spaniards were wounded; but the result was
the retreat of the Tlascalans. Divining that the Spanish power