Editing Pedro de Alvarado (section)

==Character and appearance==
[[file:Pedro de Alvarado (Tomás Povedano).jpg|thumb|200px|1906 portrait of Alvarado by [[Tomás Povedano]].]]
Pedro de Alvarado was flamboyant and charismatic,<ref>Myers 2004, pp. 19, 182.</ref> and was both a brilliant military commander<ref>Recinos 1986, pp. 205, 207.</ref> and a cruel, hardened man.<ref name="Recinos86p205"/> He is described as having "good features and bearing", and when presented with a picture of him, the Aztecs referred to him as [[Tōnatiuh]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Castillo |first1=Bernal Díaz del |title=The True History of the Conquest of New Spain |date=1908 |publisher=Hakluyt society |page=295 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZEsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA295 |language=en}} "Pedro de Alvarado was of very perfect grace both in face and person, that he looked like the Sun.... very well made and active, and of good features and bearing; and both in appearance and in speech and in everything else he was so pleasing that he always seemed to be smiling"</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Maudslay |first1=Alfred Percival |title=The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. By Bernal Diaz del Castillo, One of its Conquerors: From the Exact Copy made of the Original Manuscript. Edited and published in Mexico by Genaro García. Volume I |date=12 January 2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-01296-2 |pages=230–231 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUdnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT231 |language=en}} "...they brought with them a picture of him with his face very naturally portrayed, and from that time forth they gave him the name of Tonatio, which means the Sun or the child of the Sun, and so they called him ever after."</ref> The Aztecs gave Alvarado this name because of his blond hair, and also his infamous temper.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Restall |first1=Matthew |last2=Fernandez-Armesto |first2=Felipe |title=The Conquistadors: A Very Short Introduction |date=24 January 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-539229-6 |page=45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QO994ShG6bwC&pg=PA45 |language=en}} "Alvarado's blond hair, as well as his infamous temper, earned him the
Nahuatl nickname ''Tonatiuh'' (''Sun'', see fig. 6)"</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chipman |first1=Donald E. |title=Sword of Empire: The Spanish Conquest of the Americas from Columbus to Cortés, 1492-1529 |date=9 June 2021 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-933337-90-6 |page=123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6r4yEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT123 |language=en}}</ref> He was handsome,<ref>León Portilla 2006, p. 132.</ref> and presented an affable appearance, but was volatile and quick to anger.<ref name="Burland73p216">Burland 1973, p. 216.</ref>

He was ruthless in his dealings with the indigenous peoples he set out to conquer. Historians judge that his greed drove him to excessive cruelty,<ref name="Recinos86p205">Recinos 1986, p. 205.</ref> and his Spanish contemporaries denounced his extreme brutality during his lifetime. He was a poor governor of territories he had conquered, and restlessly sought out new adventures.<ref>Recinos 1998, p. 17.</ref>

His tactical brutality, such as the [[massacre in the Great Temple]] of [[Tenochtitlan]], often undermined  strategic considerations.<ref>Recinos 1998, p. 18.</ref> He was also accused of cruelty against fellow Spaniards.<ref>Recinos 1986, p. 206.</ref> Alvarado was little suited to govern; when he held governing positions, he did little to establish stable foundations for colonial rule. His letters show no interest in civil matters, and he only discussed exploration and war.<ref name="Recinos 86p209"/> Alvarado stubbornly resisted attempts by the Spanish Crown to establish ordered taxation in Guatemala, and refused to acknowledge such attempts. As governor of Guatemala, Alvarado has been described by W. George Lovell et al. as "an insatiable despot who recognized no authority but his own and who regarded Guatemala as little more than his personal estate."<ref name="LovellLutzSwezey84p461"/>

American historian [[William H. Prescott]] described Alvarado's character in the following terms:

{{blockquote|Alvarado was a cavalier of high family, gallant and chivalrous, and <nowiki>[Cortes']</nowiki> warm personal friend. He had talents for action, was possessed of firmness and intrepidity, while his frank and dazzling manners made the Tonatiuh an especial favourite with the Mexicans. But, underneath this showy exterior, the future conqueror of Guatemala concealed a heart rash, rapacious, and cruel. He was altogether destitute of that moderation, which, in the delicate position he occupied, was a quality of more worth than all the rest.|William H. Prescott 1922|History of the Conquest of Mexico: Book 4, Chapter 8, p. 54.}}

Spanish chronicler Antonio de Remesal commented that "Alvarado desired more to be feared than loved by his subjects, whether they were Indians or Spaniards."<ref>Recinos 1986, p. 208.</ref> In his easy recourse to violence, Alvarado was a product of his time, and Alvarado was not the only ''conquistador'' to have resorted to such actions. Hernán Cortés and [[Francisco Pizarro]] carried out deeds of similar cruelty, but have not attracted as much criticism as Alvarado.<ref name="Recinos 86p209">Recinos 1986, p. 209.</ref>