''Montezuma's Daughter'', first published in 1892, is a novel by the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

adventure writer

H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...

. Narrated in the first person by Thomas Wingfield, an Englishman whose adventures include having his mother murdered by his Spanish cousin Juan de Garcia, a brush with the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...

, shipwreck, and slavery. Eventually, Thomas unwillingly joins a Spanish expedition to

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

, and the novel tells a fictionalized story of the first interactions between the natives and European explorers. This includes a number of misunderstandings, prejudice on the part of the Spaniards, and ultimately open war. During the course of the story, Thomas meets and marries Otomie, the daughter of the native king and his

Otomi The Otomi (; ) are an Indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an Indigenous people of the Americas who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguistically rel ...

wife, from whom the novel takes its title, and settles into life in Mexico. The war destroys his native family, and after his nemesis, Otomie, and his five children perish, Wingfield returns to England and weds Lily Bozard, the English betrothed of his youth. While Haggard was in Mexico in 1891, doing research for the book, he received news that his only son had died, which dealt him a lasting blow and badly affected his health. Haggard later wrote that ''Montezuma's Daughter'' was the last of his best work "for the rest was repetition so far as fiction was concerned". Like many Victorian adventure novels, this one sometimes treats the natives as naïve and barbaric, but this is a flaw Haggard explicitly points out in his main character.

Characters

English

* Thomas Wingfield is the novel's half-English, half-Spanish protagonist, who embarks on a dangerous journey to find and punish his mother's murderer. * Geoffrey Wingfield is Thomas' older brother and his rival for Lily Bozard's hand in marriage. * Mary Wingfield - Thomas's younger sister, later wife of Wilfrid Bozard. * Lily Bozard is the daughter of an English squire and the lover and fiancée of Thomas Wingfield. * Wilfrid Bozard is Lily Bozard's older brother and Mary's husband.

Spaniards

* Luisa de Garcia was a Spanish noblewoman who fled to England with her lover and was the mother of Thomas, Geoffrey and Mary. * Andrés de Fonseca is the keeper of the secrets of the city of Seville, providing various services to people in difficulty. * Juan de Garcia is Luisa's cousin and ex-fiancé. * Isabella de Siguenza is a nun who was seduced and abandoned by Juan de Garcia. *

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

is a Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

, conqueror of Mexico. * Bernal Diaz is a Spanish conquistador who was a member of Hernan Cortez's expedition.

Indians

Montezuma II Moctezuma Xocoyotzin . ( – 29 June 1520), retroactively referred to in European sources as Moctezuma II, and often simply called Montezuma,Other variant spellings include Moctezuma, Motewksomah, Motecuhzomatzin, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma, Motē ...

is the emperor of the

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

s. * Otomi is the daughter of the Aztec Emperor Montezuma and a woman of the

people, the sister of Cuauhtemoc, and the wife of Thomas Wingfield. *

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler ('' tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, and the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle", an ...

is the nephew of Montezuma, and after the death of his uncle, the last emperor of the Aztecs. * Cuitlahuac is Montezuma's brother and briefly ruled Anahuac. *

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

is Cortez's mistress.

Reception

Gary Westfahl Gary Wesley Westfahl (born May 7, 1951) is an American writer and scholar of science fiction. He has written reviews for the ''Los Angeles Times'', '' The Internet Review of Science Fiction'' and Locus Online. He worked at the University of Cal ...

described ''Montezuma's Daughter'' and ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'' as "atmospheric historical romances".Westfahl, Gary., "Haggard, (Sir) H(enry) Rider" in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed.

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...

, London, St. James Press, 1996, , (p. 259).

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* *
Images and bibliographic information for various editions
of ''Montezuma's Daughter'' at SouthAfricaBooks.com 1893 British novels British adventure novels Aztecs in fiction English adventure novels Mesoamerica in fiction Novels by H. Rider Haggard Novels set in Tudor England Victorian novels Novels set in the 15th century Novels set during the Conquest of the Americas Novels set in Mexico Cultural depictions of Moctezuma II Cultural depictions of Hernán Cortés {{1890s-adventure-novel-stub