The Broken Spears

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The Broken Spears
Image:Brokenspears2007.jpg
2007 English edition
Author Miguel León-Portilla
Original title Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista
Country Mexico
Language Spanish
Subject(s) Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
Publisher UNAM
Publication date 1959
Published in
English
1962

The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (Spanish title: Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista) is a book by Miguel León-Portilla, translating selections of Nahuatl-language accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. It was first published in Spanish in 1959, and in English in 1962. The most recent English edition was published in 2007 (ISBN 978-0807055007).

The English-language title, "The Broken Spears", comes from a phrase in one version (BnF MS 22bis) of the Annals of Tlatelolco, xaxama[n]toc omitl. According to James Lockhart, this is a mistranslation resulting from confusion between the Nahuatl words mitl "arrow", "dart" or "spear", and omitl "bone"; the correct translation is thus "broken bones".[1]

[edit] Translations

Year Language Title Translator
1959 Spanish Visión de los vencidos: Relaciones indígenas de la conquista
(Vision of the Vanquished: Indigenous Accounts of the Conquest)
(original)
1962 English The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico Lysander Kemp
1962 German Rückkehr der Götter: Die Aufzeichnungen der Azteken über den Untergang ihres Reiches
(Return of the Gods: The Aztecs' Accounts of the Downfall of their Empire)
Renate Heuer
1965 French Le Crépuscule des Aztèques: Récits indigènes de la Conquête
(Twilight of the Aztecs: Indigenous Accounts of the Conquest)
Madeleine Folque
1967 Polish Zmierzch Azteków: Kronika Zwyciężonych: Indiańskie relacje o podboju María Sten, Jerzy Ficowski
1987 Catalan Visió dels vençuts: relacions indígenes de la conquesta
(Vision of the Vanquished: Indigenous Accounts of the Conquest)
Josep M. Murià

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lockhart, James [1993] (2004). We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, p. 313. ISBN 1-59244-681-7. 
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