Hernán Cortés and Malintzin: the Spanish conquest of Mexico
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Who are Hernán Cortés and Malintzin?
Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name is Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. Today we are sharpening our language skills and sailing across the Atlantic to 16th century Mexico to learn all about the conquistador Hernan Cortes and his indigenous translator Malintzin. And to help us understand this pair, we have a pair of very special guests. In History Corner, she's Senior Lecturer in the History of the Americas at Nottingham Trent University. Her research focuses on early modern Spain and Mexico, specifically religion, identity and empire. It's Dr Amy Fuller. Welcome, Amy. Thanks for having me. Delighted to have you here and in Comedy Corner.
She's a stand-up comedian, actor and writer. You'll have seen her on all the TV shows, including Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, Frankie Boyle's New World Order. Perhaps you've seen her on tour or read or listened to her hilariously honest memoir, The Other Mother, I Love the Audiobook, or her podcast, WTB, which I think is short for a slightly ruder title. And you'll definitely remember her from our episode on Emma of Normandy, an absolute classic. It's Jen Brister. Welcome, Jen. Oh, Greg, it's an absolute pleasure. We had a lot of fun last time in medieval England trying to remember that everyone was called Elfgivu.
Oh my God, what a name, Elfgivu. And not only that, not having any knowledge about my own history, that is quite something. And now I'm half English and I'm half Spanish, so what I've realised is in the last episode I knew nothing about English history and today it'll be proven I know nothing about Spanish history. LAUGHTER and mexican history mexican history even less okay do you know the name cortez i feel like he's a fairly big name from history i recognized the name cortez but it wasn't and i thought i don't know who is this chap and it was after i i did a cursory google amy i hope you won't mind but i went oh that guy yeah yeah so i do unlike last time i was on the podcast where i had absolutely no knowledge at all of what was going on i would say i have three and a half percent more knowledge on this particular subject so yeah guys wait to be wowed so what do you know
This is the So What Do You Know, where I have a go at guessing what you, our lovely listener, might know about today's subject. I'm guessing you've heard the name Cortez, the Conquistador. I feel like it's a name that's in the ether. He's appeared in all kinds of TV shows and films, most notably as the big baddie in the DreamWorks animation The Road to El Dorado. But unless you are Mexican or maybe American, I suspect Melintzin, I imagine she's perhaps a lot less familiar as a name. She's the subject of several Spanish language plays, operas and books, and appears in some famous murals, one painted by Diego Rivera. In Mexico City, he was the husband of Frida Kahlo.
Oh, yes, I do know who he is. Look at me. One point already. Well done.
Now, Melintzin has also been confusedly conflated with the Mexican folk tale of the wailing woman, La Llorona.
La Llorona.
Thank you. A vengeful ghost who drowns her own children. Yeesh, you don't want that in a children's movie, do you?
Sometimes she stabs them. Well, it depends on the version. I don't think Tiffany's going to take up that story.
No, no. But was the real story of Cortez and Melintzin its own different horror story involving ghosts and stabbings, maybe? How have their reputations changed over time? And what exactly is Moctezuma's revenge? Let's find out. Today, we're doing a bit of a buy one, get one free biography. We'll start with Cortez, purely because he happened to be born first. So, Amy, who was he?
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