Editing Moctezuma II (section)

===Bernal Díaz del Castillo===
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[[File:Moctezuma Mendoza.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.55|Moctezuma II in the ''[[Codex Mendoza]]'']]
The firsthand account of [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo]]'s ''[[Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España|True History of the Conquest of New Spain]]'' paints a portrait of a noble leader who struggles to maintain order in his kingdom after he is taken prisoner by [[Hernán Cortés]]. In his first description of Moctezuma, Díaz del Castillo writes:

{{quote|The Great Montezuma was about forty years old, of good height, well proportioned, spare and slight, and not very dark, though of the usual Indian complexion. He did not wear his hair long but just over his ears, and he had a short black beard, well-shaped and thin. His face was rather long and cheerful, he had fine eyes, and in his appearance and manner could express geniality or, when necessary, a serious composure. He was very neat and clean and took a bath every afternoon. He had many women as his mistresses, the daughters of chieftains, but two legitimate wives who were [[Cacique]]s<ref group="N.B.">''[[Cacique]]'' is a hispanicized word of Caribbean origins, meaning "hereditary lord/chief" or "(military) leader". After first encountering the term and office in the Caribbean, conquest-era writers such as Díaz often used it to describe indigenous rulers generally.</ref> in their own right, and only some of his servants knew of it. He was quite free from sodomy. The clothes he wore one day he did not wear again till three or four days later. He had a guard of two hundred chieftains lodged in rooms beside his own, only some of whom were permitted to speak to him.{{sfn|Díaz del Castillo|1963|pp=224–225}}}}

When Moctezuma was allegedly killed by being stoned to death by his people, "Cortés and all of us captains and soldiers wept for him, and there was no one among us that knew him and had dealings with him who did not mourn him as if he were our father, which was not surprising since he was so good. It was stated that he had reigned for seventeen years, and was the best king they ever had in Mexico, and that he had personally triumphed in three wars against countries he had subjugated. I have spoken of the sorrow we all felt when we saw that Montezuma was dead. We even blamed the [[Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy|Mercedarian]] friar for not having persuaded him to become a Christian."{{sfn|Díaz del Castillo|1963|p=294}}