DIAZ DEL CASTILLO, ka-stely6, Ber nardo (vulgarly Bernal), one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico, and historian of that conquest: b. Medina del Campo, in Old Castile, about 1498; d. Santiago de los Caballeros, Guatemala, about 1590, leaving numerous descendants. His work, entitled (Historia Ver dadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana,' is of great value and interest. The date of his death is not known. Probably his family be longed to the minor nobility: he says, when speaking of the conquerors, ((We were for the most part hidalgos, although some were not of such clear lineage as others" ' • but he lacked the influence necessary to secure his appointment as an officer. He speaks of himself as ((having been in this country (Central America and Mexico) twice before the coming of Cortes, and the third time with him?) On the first occasion he accompanied Pedrarias Davila (q.v.) i on the second, he took part in the expeditions to Yucatan and along the coast of Mexico under C6rdoba and Grijalva (1517-18). Between 1515 and 1517 he visited Cuba; from Santiago de Cuba, on 18 Nov. 1518, he sailed with the Spanish fleet under Cortes; during the next few years he fought, it is said, in more than 100 of the battles with the Indians preceding or following the capture of the City of Mexico; and in 1523-24 he served under Pedro de Alvarado, conqueror of Guatemala and Salva dor. Alvarado established the seat of govern ment in the native (Guatemalan) town of Almolonga, afterward called Santiago de los Caballeros; and Bernal Diaz was made gover nor of this town, as a reward for his service in the field. He writes naively: ((I was held in no inconsiderable degree of estimation in my day as a soldier)); and again, •1 was twice in the hands of the enemy who were carrying me off to sacrifice, but God gave me strength to escape out of their clutches.° In 1550 he was summoned to an important council at Vallado lid, °as being the most ancient of the conquerors of New Spam.) His history was finished 26 Feb. 1568. Two licentiates who examined the work at that time, °observed that in regard to my style or language it was conformable to that in ordinary use in Old Castile, and that as such it was the more agreeable, not being embar rassed with flowering affected phrases .° The
particular merit of the history is that it gives to each of the officers and soldiers the credit which was his due, instead of ascribing the overthrow of the Aztec empire and the estab lishment of New Spain solely to the genius of Cortes. •The historians Gomara and Illescas?) Diaz writes,. °never chose to relate our heroic actions, leaving all our value and honors in the dark, where they would have remained were it not for this my true history and assigning such great merit to Cortes. Although they were right to a certain degree (in praising our leader), yet they should not have forgotten us." So desirous is he to make known the exact truth, that at the end of his manuscript he writes, "I beg the printers (senores impresores) for mercy's sake not to omit anything from or add anything to the foregoing." The original manuscript has always been kept in Guatemala, first by the author and his descendants and later by the municipality of the capital. Many editions appeared from 1632 to 1877, the chief being that in 3 volumes at Madrid in 1632, the English versions of Maurice Kcatinge (1800) and John Ingram Lockhart (1844), the German editions by Ph. J. von Rehfucs in 1838 and by Karl Ritter in 1848. Two French versions ap peared in 1877, one by D. Jourdanet, the other by Jose Maria de Heredia. In 1878 appeared two Hungarian editions, by Karoly Brozik, and by Moses Gaal. All these editions and trans lations failed to do full justice to the original and caused many adverse opinions in regard to the 'Historia Verdadera.' This was remedied, however, in 1904 when the first critical edition of the work was issued in Mexico by Genaro Garcia. Alfred Percival Maudslay published an English translation of this edition, with intro duction and notes, under the auspices of the Hakluyt Society (3 vols., London 1908). By means of these publications the work takes its proper place as one of the greatest historical records by an eyewitness of the early conquest and settlement of New Spain.