Читать книгу The Secrets of Spies - Weldon Owen - Страница 32

THE AGE OF DISCOVERY

33

CORTÉS AND THE COURTESAN

The conquest of the Aztec Empire owed much to

a young Aztec woman named Malinche. She

came from a high-born Nahua family but had

been sold into slavery as a child, and was part of

a batch of female slaves gifted to the Spaniards

by a non-Aztec leader. The Spanish commander

Hernán Cortés took Malinche as his mistress.

Malinche had a gift for languages and with the

help of a Mayan-speaking priest, she soon had a

good command of Spanish. She became Cortés’

translator and provided him with intelligence.

On one occasion, she discovered that the

Cholulans, a powerful ally of the Aztecs, were

preparing to fall upon the Spanish. On hearing

this news, Cortés launched a forestalling attack

that caught the Cholulans totally by surprise.

“FROM NOW ON THEY TOOK US

FOR MAGICIANS AND SAID THAT

NO PLOT COULD BE SO SECRET

AS TO ESCAPE DISCOVERY BY US.”

A Spanish comment on the Cholulans after their defeat

Above: Cortés, with Malinche by his side, is depicted holding court in the city of

Xaltelolco in this drawing from the sixteenth-century manuscript

History of Tlaxcala

.

Above: Cardinal Richelieu

RICHELIEU’S SECRET SERVICE

During the early seventeenth century, the French monarchy

under Louis XIII faced internal threats from a powerful

nobility and external threats from the powerful Habsburgs,

whose possessions included Spain, Austria, the Netherlands,

and parts of Italy. Both of these threats were neutralized by

Louis’s formidable chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu.

Richelieu organized an effective national intelligence

service that closely monitored the activities of the French

aristocrats by intercepting their correspondence. In this

manner, Richelieu thwarted plots against the King and

re-established the power of the monarchy over the nation.

Richelieu employed secret agents to further his policy

of weakening the Habsburgs without involving France in

costly wars. In one instance, Portugal and Catalonia were

encouraged to rise up against their Spanish overlords,

thereby weakening Spain’s ability to wage war against

France. By the time of Richelieu’s death in 1642, his secret

intelligence service had helped make France the most

powerful nation in Europe.