OCC CIV NOTES 9/8


GENERAL SPANISH/EUROPEAN HISTORY CIRCA 1492 ON
Muslims entered Iberia in 711
11th century- reconquest began (crusades)- culminates in christian conquest of seville
conquest of gibraltar in 14th century
grenada remained moorish stronghold into 15th century
Marriage of isabella and ferdinand formed "Spain"
Bastille had extnesive trade networks--- maritime tradition centered on seville--
MUCH OF COURSE ABOUT MARITME POWERS OF EUROPE

1470s, ferdinand and isabella defeat portugal
1492- they launch a crusade against Moorish stronghold of grenada
grenada- major silk production, pretext provided by grenadan attack on minor christian stronghold

10 year civil war led by nobles against ferdinand and isabella- too much power in the hands of the monarchy
monarchs were able to get lots of money from the church by launching a crusade
-monarch powers centered on the military, when holy war was launched it united church and monarchy

ottoman empire began to expand, took constantinople, made europe scared of losing overland trade routes
1480- turks captured a southern italian town, sparked a crusade
ferdinand- in response to capture of italian town he sent a fleet to italy
isabella- member of the francsican order- envisioned conquest of islam, liberation of jerusalem, conversion of the jews-- second coming of christ.
spain also directed crusades against northern africa in 1493

in late 14th, over 200,000 jews in spain, around 1391- over half of these jews converted out of fear of persecution
many of those who had 'converted' continued to practice judaism, priests preached against these people
pushing for an 'inquisition' to cull the 'heretically depraved' people who adopted christianity but did not practice
1460s- prevention of jews from building synagogues
1470s- jews must wear badges
1480s- jews must live in walled ghettos
spanish inquisition established in 1478 in seville (1481)
began to spread very quickly

by law- inquisition only applied to 'conversos'- people who werent actually christian, but in reality actually very anti-semetic

march 31, 1492- jews expelled from castille and aragon because of their 'bad influence' on actual christians
given 4 months to get the hell out- over 50,000 of them
many jews went to portugal, expelled in 1497
others went elsewhere in europe- continued to be expelled
ended up either in the netherlands or eastern europe

pope responded to this by declaring ferdinand and isabella as- 'athletes of christ'
ferdinand- new charlemagne
pressing the monarchs to reconquer northern africa

ferdinand believed that asia only was 3500 miles from the canary islands, ptolemaic science believed that circumference was much much less than it was

spanish motivation for funding columbus- religious (converting indians), fear of ottomans cutting off land routes to china and india, to beat portugal to eastern asia (they went around africa)
columbus wrote a book of revelation himself, dating beginning of the end of times with fall of grenada
-signed his letters with "christ bearer"
-called himself another messiah
-expected nobility and high office from his journeys (gold is 'most excellent')
-still, central purpose was religious, conversion of savages
-gold from his voyage was to be spent on conquest of holy places (jerusalem)

colombus's voyages undertaken out of a militant, intolerant christianity (wanted to establish a 'universal christian empire')
-funded by taxes on indulgences, etc

columbus's voyages spurred a whole lot of voyages to the americas, conquering mexico, etc
portugal conquered the coasts of brazil

CORTEZ' EXPEDITION
most difficult battle is against tlaxcaltecs (wtf?)
cortez reaches tenochtitlan, is cautiously invited in
-takes montezuma prisoner
-governor of cuba decides to recall him, cortez refuses, says he's acting as the king
-small cuban force sent out to fight him, cortez defeats them
-in his absence, his men kill a bunch of aztecs, a little war starts again inside tenochtitlan
-cortez reenters city, joins his besieged men, montezuma is killed, cortez forced to retreat to tlax-something, loses almost half his men in this retreat
-decides to lay siege to tlax-whatever, after a few months, the city falls, is captured by cortez

AZTECS-
capital- tenochtitlan- about 200,000 people (would have been the 3rd largest city in europe)
one of largest american empires
huge marketplace in the center of the city, held about 60,000 people (more people than lived in london or seville)
spanish soldiers were awestruck by the massive city, huge population, amazing buildings
aztec society was heavily heirarchical
monarchs, nobles, free commoners, serfs (worked for nobles), and slaves (some because of debt obligations)
dress and jewelery was restricted by class
highest class was the ruler (descended from the gods themselves)- lived in palace
there were royal gardens, aviaries, zoos
nobody could look at the emperor's face at all, even nobles had to sweep the ground before him as he walked
aztec society centered on warfare (death on battlefield highly valued)
warfare was extensively ritualized, outcome preordained but unknown at the beginning
to prevail by numbers alone or treachery was unthinkable
-before a war started, target cities would be sent food and weapons, to make sure they werent too weak
only hand-to-hand combat was valorized, but there were bowmen
nobles, high officials wore huge costumes
goal of each warrior was to incapacitate opponents and take them prisoner for sacrifice
tribute was also extremely important
between 10 and 20 million people in the aztec empire, hundreds of thousands of people in the army alone
warfare was undertaken for conquest, tribute, territory, and sacrifices
aztecs believed in hundreds of gods, human sacrifices were undertaken to satiate them, and to postpone the end of the world (compare to spanish desire to hasten end of the world)
aztec history was cyclical- events had already happened before, were only being repeated now
over 5000 priests were in the city to prophecize determine fortunes based on birthdays, etc
believed that quetzelcoatl (their main god) had ruled before, left towards the sun (east), but would return again

HOW DID SPANISH BEAT AZTECS
horses unknown, scared the hell out of aztecs
horses trained to rear on hind legs to scare infantrymen
even though weapons were outnumbered, they were used extremely effectively
spanish also possessed cannon- also cared the hell out of aztecs, as well as killing them en masse
aztec rulers so scared and confused by cannon that they even ordered their painters to paint it
spanish fought during seasons that aztecs did not usually fight with
spanish never equalized the battle by providing weapons
spanish lied often, makes no sense to aztec warriors who don't lie
spanish fought to kill, while aztecs fought to capture (huge disadvantage for aztecs)
spanish fought for religious reasons (to replace idolatry with monotheism)
spanish fought with desire for fame, riches, spoils (often stole wives of aztec warriors)
spanish fought in fear of the outcome if they didnt win (human sacrifice, cutting out still-beating hearts, ugh)
spanish fought with siege warfare- starved the people in the city (spanish siege warfare was extremely effective)
aztec society was heirarchical and based on precedent- couldnt adapt to new situtations quickly
montezuma decides that aztec forces will not attack until he specifically commands it
aztec attack doesnt occur until the spanish attack a religious festival


THINK ABOUT importance of allies.