Saints as Warriors: Tlaxcalteca and Cholulteca “Smack Talk” during the Siege of Cholula

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Puebla/Tlaxcala Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the “Historia de Tlaxcala,” mestizo chronicler Diego Muñoz de Camargo commemorates the first significant military endeavor between Tlaxcalan forces and the European soldiers under the command of Hernán Cortés. This study analyzes how Muñoz Camargo constructed the narrative of the siege and battle, and how he framed the Tlaxcalan victory as a cosmological event. Muñoz Camargo narrates the Tlaxcalan efforts against the Cholulteca from a Christian perspective. However, he also discusses the tutelary divinities invoked by each side. In Mesoamerican cosmology, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca faced off in violent conflicts during the era of the creation of the Five Suns. Along with Tlaloc, the rain divinity, and Tlaltecuhtli, the earth lord, they were responsible for the creations and destructions of the first four suns and were present at the creation of the fifth sun, Nahui Ollin. During Nahui Ollin, Tezcatlipoca cults rose in many altepemeh, although Cholula manifested a veneration of Quetzalcoatl. The Tlaxcalans served Mixcóatl-Camaxtli also known a Red Tezcatlipoca. In addition, the arrival of the Christians in Mesoamerican added a new divinity to military endeavors. Muñoz Camargo recorded conversations between Cholula and Tlaxcala about the power of the divinities they served.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Puebla/Tlaxcala Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36602.0