Introduction

Despite the efforts of Motecuhzoma's envoys to keep the Spaniards from approaching Tenochtitlan, Cortes decided to march inland. The two indigenous accounts presented in this chapter the first by Sahagun's informants, the second by the mestizo Munoz Camargo-describe the arrival of the Spaniards inTlaxcala and Cholula. The account by the informants mentions the first battle between Spaniards and Indians (a group of OtomiIndians from Tecoac), after which the Tlaxcaltecas decided to receive the strangers in peace. As soon as the Spaniards arrived, the Tlaxcaltecas began to intrigue against nearby Cholula and the Aztecs.

There are two separate versions of what led the Spaniards to massacre the Indians in Cholula. According to Sahagun's informants, the massacre was inspired by the intrigues of theTlaxcaltecas, whose "souls burned with hatred for the people of Cholula." According to Munoz Camargo, the Cholultecas brought their own destruction on themselves by not surrendering to Cortes and by treacherously murdering the envoy from Tlaxcala,Patlahuatzin, who advised them to form an alliance with the Spaniards. This second version may have been invented by theTlaxcaltecas to excuse their part in the massacre; at least, there is no corroboration for it in either the Historia of Bernal Diaz del Castillo or the Cartas I de relacion of Cortes.