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MALINTZIN AS A CONQUISTADORA AND
WARRIOR WOMAN IN THE LIENZO DE

TLAXCALA (c. )*

C L A U D I A J. R O G E R S
The University of Sheffield

A B S T R A C T . This article foregrounds a new interpretation of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, an
indigenous-authored source depicting the Tlaxcalteca’s role in the conquest of Mexico, from 
to . It analyses this document’s unique visual portrayal of Malintzin, an indigenous
woman who acted as Hernando Cortés’s translator during the conquest, amid the battle for the
Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Challenging the traditional perception of Malintzin as a peaceful medi-
ator, the Lienzo demonstrates that its Tlaxcalan authors saw her as a powerful warrior or conquis-
tadora, who was intricately connected with violent acts of conquest. By contextualizing depictions of
Malintzin as a warrior within the wider entanglement of female figures with violence and warfare,
this article underscores indigenous perceptions of the conquest and contributes to the wider, critical
deconstruction of triumphalist, Eurocentric narratives. With a particular focus on indigenous asso-
ciations of Malintzin with the Virgin Mary, this article explores the significance ascribed to these two
figures by the Lienzo’s authors and their city.

Malintzin, Malinche, Marina: indigenous woman, cultural intermediary, con-
tested national symbol. With her story told through many voices except her

* This article’s findings were first presented as part of my doctoral thesis, ‘“The people from
heaven?”: indigenous responses to Europeans during moments of early encounter in the
Caribbean and Mesoamerica,  – c. ’ (University of Leeds, , funded by the
White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities). I thank my Ph.D. supervisors Anya Anim-
Addo and Manuel Barcia, and examiners David Abulafia and Stephen Alford, for their valuable
insights and guidance in the development of this research. Thank you, too, to the journal’s
reviewers for their valuable suggestions, and to my mentors for their ongoing support and
encouragement.

 Francis Karttunen, ‘Rethinking Malinche’, in Susan Schroeder, Stephanie Wood, and
Robert Haskett, eds., Indian women of early Mexico (Norman, OK, ), pp. –; Clara
S. Kidwell, ‘Indian women as cultural mediators’, Ethnohistory,  (), pp. –;
Camilla Townsend, Malintzin’s choices: an Indian woman in the conquest of Mexico
(Albuquerque, NM, ).

Department of History, Jessop West,  Upper Hanover Street, Sheffield, S RA, UK c.j.rogers@sheffield.
ac.uk

The Historical Journal, page  of  © The Author(s), . Published by Cambridge University
Press.
doi:./SX



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own, both imaginations and scholarly investigations have been captured by the
question of who, exactly, Malintzin was (and continues to be). Like many Nahua
pre-/early teen girls, Malintzin was drawn into the indigenous slave trade during
the Mexica’s expansion into her home region of Coatzacoalcos, from which she
was taken to the trading port of Xicallanco and sold to some Maya. Years later,
Malintzin was one of twenty indigenous women Maya rulers of Potonchan pre-
sented to Hernando Cortés in  – along with other gifts of food, gold, and
apparel – as part of an indigenous ‘diplomatic strategy’ aimed at ensuring an
amicable working relationship with the European strangers. Malintzin was
quickly baptized as ‘Doña Marina’, and – like the other nineteen women –
given as a concubine to a Castilian captain, Alonso Hernández
Puertocarrero. Upon Puertocarrero’s return to Spain, Malintzin became tied
to Cortés, later carrying his child. The Castilians recognized her intelligence
and linguistic aptitude, and for the remainder of the conquest of Mexico
Malintzin served as one of the Castilian expeditions’ principal interpreters, infor-
mants, and cultural advisers. The profoundness of Cortés and Malintzin’s con-
nection becomes increasingly evident when we consider that some indigenous
people often called them both by the same name – ‘Malintzin’.

Though often neglected or ignored in European accounts – Cortés merely
acknowledges Malintzin as ‘my interpreter, who is an Indian woman’ – this
closeness is portrayed throughout sixteenth-century, indigenous-authored pic-
torial depictions of the first encounters in Mesoamerica. Fitting with this
broader trend, the indigenous tlacuiloque, or painter-scribes, of the Lienzo de
Tlaxcala (c. ) chose recurrently to place Malintzin in the company of
Cortés, as she mediates the unfolding cultural encounters. This source’s value
for tracing mid-century, indigenous perspectives is significant, especially as
the Lienzo presents a second, particularly unique portrayal of Malintzin – one

 Camilla Townsend, Fifth sun: a new history of the Aztecs (New York, NY, ), pp. –;
Matthew Restall, When Montezuma met Cortés: the true story of the meeting that changed history
(New York, NY, ), p. ; Karttunen, ‘Rethinking Malinche’.

 Rebecca K. Jager, Malinche, Pocahontas, & Sacagawea: Indian women as cultural intermediaries
and national symbols (Norman, OK, ), p. ; Kidwell, ‘Indian women’, .

 Townsend, Fifth sun, p. ; Jager, Malinche, p. . ‘Castilian(s)’ has been used as the pre-
ferred designation for Spaniards as ‘Castilian’ was more often how the Spaniards in question
referred to themselves. Similarly, in Nahuatl alphabetic sources, Spaniards are often referred
to as caxtilteca (Castilians) and caxtillan haca (Castilian people). See James Lockhart, We
people here: Nahuatl accounts of the conquest of Mexico, I (Berkeley, CA, ), p. ; Restall,
When Montezuma met Cortés, p. .

 Stephanie Wood, Transcending conquest: Nahua views of Spanish colonial Mexico (Norman,
OK, ), p. ; Jager, Malinche, p. .

 Federico Navarrete, ‘La Malinche, la Virgen y la montaña: el juego de la identidad en los
codices tlaxcaltecas’, História,  (), pp. –, at p. ; Wood, Transcending conquest,
p. ; Gordon Brotherston, Painted books from Mexico: codices in UK collections and the world they
represent (London, ), p. .

 Hernando Cortés, ‘The second letter’, in Anthony Pagden, ed., Letters from Mexico (cartas de
relación) (New Haven, CT, ), pp. –, at p. .

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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not found in other pictorial records. Here, we find Malintzin not only negotiat-
ing between European and indigenous leaders, but amidst battles in the Aztec
capital of Tenochtitlan, sometimes even wielding a European-style shield and
sword. For the Tlaxcalan authors of this Lienzo, Malintzin’s identity was
intricately connected to conflict and violence: she was not only a peaceful
intermediary operating in non-violent spaces, as we see in so many other
pictorials, but a warrior.

Unique to the Lienzo, Malintzin-as-warrior offers a window into a more
nuanced, complex understanding of Malintzin’s perceived identity, as well as
the Tlaxcalteca’s vision of the events of conquest more broadly. In the effort
to foreground ‘lost’ indigenous accounts and stories, the growing movement
of New Conquest History is successfully returning agency to Native
Americans, and reflecting the intricacy of the multiple and diverse narratives
that constitute the history of the conquest. Understanding why the Tlaxcalan
tlacuiloque may have chosen to present Malintzin as a warrior contributes to
this wider scholarly pursuit: as a warrior, what does this version of Malintzin
symbolize or embody? What did Malintzin mean to the city of Tlaxcala and
the indigenous individuals – the real people – who authored the Lienzo?

In this article, I argue that combative representations of Malintzin demon-
strate that her role as a mediator was not always a peaceful role separated
from scenes of warfare, and one not mutually exclusive with violence – at least
for the indigenous authors of the Lienzo. Depicted holding shields and/or
swords, portrayals of Malintzin as a warrior woman strongly challenge the reduc-
tive dichotomy of ‘peacefulness, mediation, female: violence, warfare, male’ as a
framework of analysis, and give fresh insights into mid-century perceptions of
her role and identity. Importantly, this article contextualizes the authors of
the Lienzo’s depictions of Malintzin as a warrior within the wider entanglement
of female figures with violence and warfare, who reflect the possibility that one
could be both a woman and a warrior. To understand these representations of
her persons in the Lienzo, I explore their connections to the Hispanic and
Mesoamerican pasts, considering what precedents may have influenced such
portrayals of Malintzin as a warrior. In this way, I examine the tlacuiloque’s

 Gordon Brotherston, ‘How long did it take the Aztecs to realise that Cortés was not a god?’,
Mexicolore (), www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/how-long-did-it-take-the-aztecs-
to-realise-that-cortes-was-not-a-god; Jeanne Gillespie, Saints and warriors: the Lienzo de Tlaxcala
and the conquest of Tenochtitlan (Ph.D. dissertation, Arizona State University, ), pp. –.

 Matthew Restall, ‘The New Conquest History’, History Compass,  (), pp. –. See
also Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, –
(Cambridge, ); Louise M. Burkhart, The slippery earth: Nahua-Christian moral dialogue in
sixteenth-century Mexico (Tucson, AZ, ); Miguel León-Portilla, The broken spears: the Aztec
account of the conquest of Mexico (Boston, MA, ); James Lockhart, The Nahuas after the conquest:
a social and cultural history of the Indians of Central Mexico, sixteenth through eighteenth centuries
(Stanford, CA, ); Lockhart, We people here.

 Townsend, Fifth sun, p. .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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possible conceptualizations of Malintzin in both Christian and indigenous
terms. Before exploring Malintzin’s connection to warrior women found in
Mesoamerican mythohistory, we will turn first to the parallels drawn between
Malintzin and the Virgin Mary. Whilst Malintzin’s connection to the Virgin
Mary has been well established in scholarship in terms of their dominant,
shared identities as powerful female intercessors, I argue that their connection
can be strengthened by recognizing how Malintzin may have also shared in
Mary’s role as a conquistadora or conqueror in the minds of the Lienzo’s
tlacuiloque.

The article will therefore reflect on the Tlaxcalan portrayal of Malintzin-as-
warrior as a significant chapter of Malintzin’s story, which – like for so many
indigenous women – we can only learn about through voices other than her
own. Although we will never know if Malintzin really held a sword and
shield amidst the battle fray, or if, indeed, this is one of many mid-century inven-
tions of the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque, the existence of this unusual representation of
her person should not be ignored. There are multiple stories intricately inter-
twined when it comes to Malintzin’s identity, which is perceived so differently
between tlacuilo to tlacuilo, and from region to region. Through a deconstruc-
tion of the Lienzo’s Malintzin-as-warrior imagery, this article critically assesses
why the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque may have created such a unique vision of this
woman in-between, and highlights the complexity of mid-century perceptions
and representations of her role(s) in the conquest. Further, this tale of the con-
quest presents key insights into indigenous perceptions of the events that
unfolded: foregrounding the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s narrative, this article contri-
butes to the wider, critical deconstruction of triumphalist, Eurocentric narra-
tives of conquest, as sought by the revisionist New Conquest History, with the
Tlaxcalan’s Malintzin occupying such a central, formidable position as
conquistadora.

I

Like many indigenous-authored records of the conquest, the Lienzo de Tlaxcala
was produced decades after the conquest itself; it provides vital insights into
mid-century perspectives of the arrival of the European newcomers, and how
the events from  to  were perceived by their indigenous authors.
Painted in the form of writing and record-keeping used by indigenous groups

 Cecelia Klein, ‘Wild woman in colonial Mexico’, in Claire Farago, ed., Reframing the
Renaissance: visual culture in Europe and Latin America, – (New Haven, CT, ),
pp. –, at p. .

 Susan Kellogg, Weaving the past: a history of Latin America’s indigenous women from the pre-
Hispanic period to the present (Oxford, ), ch. ; Caroline Pennock, Bonds of blood: gender, life-
cycle and sacrifice in Aztec culture (Basingstoke, ); Caroline Pennock, ‘Women of discord:
female power in Aztec thought’, Historical Journal,  (), pp. –; Inga Clendinnen,
Aztecs: an interpretation (Cambridge, ), pp. –.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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of Central Mexico before the conquest, post-conquest pictorials are largely seen
as the most ‘authentic’ or ‘purest’ sources in terms of indigenous perspectives,
though must still be read critically and carefully. The Lienzo de Tlaxcala details
the history of the Tlaxcalteca’s encounter with the Castilians, as remembered –
or as desired to be remembered – in c. . Measuring  metres across by 
metres tall, this event-oriented painted cloth is composed of eighty-seven
scenes of the conquest, chronologically arranged in a grid-like pattern, begin-
ning with the formation of the Tlaxcalan rulers’ relationship with Cortés, and
highlighting the significance of their role in the conquest of Mexico.

Perhaps the most famous group of the indios amigos or Indian conquistadors,
the Tlaxcalteca produced the Lienzo de Tlaxcala – as well as its much smaller
antecedent, the Texas Fragment or Tizatlan Codex (c. ) – as evidence of
their amity with the Castilians during the conquest. It is generally understood
that the document acted as a pictorial ‘petition’ designed to support their
request for rights during the new colonial era, and, accordingly, the indigenous
tlacuiloque ‘edited’ the events of the Lienzo at various points in order to
strengthen their case. This is evident from the very beginning of the Lienzo:
the tlacuiloque chose to omit completely the Tlaxcalteca’s immediate, hostile

 Pennock, Bonds of blood, p. ; Clendinnen, Aztecs, p. ; Wood, Transcending conquest,
pp. –, ch. ; Elizabeth Hill Boone and Walter D. Mignolo, eds., Writing without words: alter-
native literacies in Mesoamerica and the Andes (Durham, NC, ); Elizabeth Hill Boone and Tom
Cummins, eds., Native traditions in the postconquest world: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, nd
through th October  (Washington, DC, ); Elizabeth Hill Boone, ‘Writing and recording
knowledge’, in Hill Boone and Mignolo, eds., Writing without words, pp. –; Elizabeth Hill
Boone, Stories in red & black: pictorial histories of the Aztecs and Mixtecs (Austin, TX, );
Donald Robertson, Mexican manuscript painting of the early colonial period: the metropolitan schools
(New Haven, CT, ); Mary Elizabeth Smith, Picture writing from ancient Southern Mexico
(Norman, OK, ); Joyce Marcus, Mesoamerican writing systems: propaganda, myth, and history
in four ancient civilizations (Princeton, NJ, ); Lockhart, The Nahuas after the conquest, p. .

 Travis Barton Kranz, ‘Sixteenth-century Tlaxcalan pictorial documents on the conquest
of Mexico’, in James Lockhart, Lisa Sousa, and Stephanie Wood, eds., Sources and methods for
the study of postconquest Mesoamerican ethnohistory (Eugene, OR, ), http://whp.uoregon.
edu/Lockhart/index.html; Travis Barton Kranz, ‘Visual persuasion: sixteenth-century
Tlaxcalan pictorials in response to the conquest of Mexico’, in Susan Schroeder, ed., The con-
quest all over again: Nahuas and Zapotecs thinking, writing, and painting Spanish colonialism
(Eastbourne, ), pp. –.

 Laura E. Matthew and Michel R. Oudijk, eds., Indian conquistadors: indigenous allies in the
conquest of Mesoamerica (Norman, OK, ); Matthew Restall, Maya conquistador (Boston,
MA, ); Florine G. L. Asselbergs, Conquered conquistadors: the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan: a
Nahua vision of the conquest of Guatemala (Boulder, CO, ). Texas Fragment (digital facsimile),
available via Mapas Project (University of Oregon, ), https://mapas.uoregon.edu/ltlax. The
original is held in the Ex-Stendahl Collection, Benson Latin American Collections, University of
Texas Libraries.

 Kranz, ‘Visual persuasion’, p. . See also Hill Boone, ‘Pictorial documents and visual
thinking in postconquest Mexico’, in Hill Boone and Cummins, eds., Native traditions in the post-
conquest world, pp. –, at pp. –; Florine G. L. Asselbergs, ‘The conquest in images:
stories of Tlaxcalteca and Quauhquecholteca conquistadors’, in Matthew and Oudijk, eds.,
Indian conquistadors, pp. –; Charles Gibson, Tlaxcala in the sixteenth century (Stanford,
CA, ), pp. –, passim.

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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reception of the Castilians, as this would not support their intended narrative of
amity. We learn of the bloody clashes on Tlaxcala’s eastern frontier in
September  from other indigenous-authored pictorials, such as the
Huamantla Roll.

Whilst the earlier Texas Fragment is extant, the Lienzo only survives through tra-
cings and a carefully coloured copy taken from the original cloth(s). These tra-
cings were developed into a facsimile of the Lienzo in  by Alfred Chavero;
unfortunately, since the facsimile’s publication, the tracings have also been lost.
The Chavero edition is usually taken as the ‘best’ source of information on, or
representation of, the sixteenth-century Lienzo, in combination with other com-
mentaries; following the careful work of other scholars, it is the Chavero edition
I have used in the following analysis. There have been excellent scholarly
efforts to regain distance to the original Lienzo, though, most recently in the
ever-growing field of digital humanities: notably, the Mesolore project – created
by Liza Bakewell and Byron Hamann – digitally recreates the Lienzo, based on
the tracings preserved in the  facsimile. Travis Barton Kranz is a
leading authority on the development of the Tlaxcalan pictorials, and, in line
with his efforts to trace how the various Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque present the con-
quest events in and from the Texas Fragment, to the Lienzo, and to the later
Descripción de la ciudad y provincial de Tlaxcala de la Nueva España by Tlaxcalan his-
torian Diego Muñuz Camargo in c. –, the following analysis identifies
points of change between the  and  manuscripts.

Departing from the Texas Fragment, the authors of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala inter-
preted Malintzin as both a mediator and a warrior, reflecting the fluidity of her
representations within a given text and, more widely, across different manu-
scripts. There are, though, certain visual strategies many different tlacuiloque
utilized to reflect Malintzin’s significance in their telling of events: indigenous
authors usually position her between the two parties, speaking on behalf of
Cortés/the Castilians and indigenous nobles, or, alternatively, to the side of or
slightly behind Cortés, sometimes mirroring him directly. Numerous tlaquiloque
emphasize the centrality of Malintzin’s role further by depicting her as equal to
or larger than Cortés and the indigenous nobles, and by constantly presenting

 Huamantla Roll or Códice de Huamantla, fragment , available via Codíces de México digital
exhibition (Instituto Nacional de Anthropología e Historia, ), www.codices.inah.gob.
mx. See also European accounts, for example Cortés, ‘The second letter’, p. .

 Gillespie, Saints and warriors, pp. –; Elizabeth Aguilera, ‘Malintzin as a visual metaphor
in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala’, Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas,  (), pp. –.

 Lienzo de Tlaxcala (digital recreation), Mesolore (Brown University), www.mesolore.org/
viewer/view//Lienzo-de-Tlaxcala; Lisa Bakewell and Byron E. Hamann, ‘Introduction to the
Lienzo de Tlaxcala’, Mesolore, www.mesolore.org/tutorials/learn//Introduction-to-the-Lienzo-
de-Tlaxcala-//History-and-Publications.

 Diego Muñuz Camargo, Descripción de la ciudad y provincial de Tlaxcala de la Nueva España
(c. –), Glasgow Hunter MS , University of Glasgow Special Collections; Barton Kranz,
‘Visual persuasion’ and ‘Sixteenth-century Tlaxcalan pictorial documents’, passim.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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http://www.codices.inah.gob.mx
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her in scenes of dialogue and negotiation, often gesturing or pointing.

Moreover, the painter-scribes often adorn Malintzin in both indigenous and
Castilian attire, with her outward appearance strongly reflecting her ‘in-
between’, intercessory identity. Accordingly, in scenes of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala,
as in the Texas Fragment, Malintzin can be quickly identified by her pink huipilli
(long blouse or shift), European-style shoes, her proximity to Cortés, and her
varying hand gestures (all indicative of an act of conversation/translation).

In addition to the dominant presentation of Malintzin as a cultural intermedi-
ary, the tlacuiloque of the Lienzo de Tlaxcala depict her amid battle scenes in
Tenochtitlan, even bearing arms. These militant portrayals are the focus of
the following analysis, which demonstrates the deeply complex nature of indi-
genous representations of her role and identity. The tlacuiloque’s recording of
the Cholula massacre (October ) is the first violent scene in which
Malintzin is present (Figure ). According to Castilian accounts – principally
that of Cortés – Malintzin supposedly uncovered a plot to kill Cortés and his
men, and it was her information that led to this bloody episode, where thou-
sands of Cholulteca were slaughtered by Tlaxcalan and Castilian forces. In
the years following the massacre, Malintzin has consequently been accused as
a traitor and informant – a negative and damaging characterization that
gained particular currency around/following the time of Mexican independ-
ence in , to which we will later return. In their portrayal of the massacre,
the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque position Malintzin to the right of the scene, larger than
the mounted Castilian conquistador below her, who tramples over dismem-
bered bodies of Cholulan citizens at the foot of the temple of Quetzalcoatl.
With her hand outstretched in a pointed gesture, this pictorial scene likewise
suggests that the Tlaxcalan authors saw her involvement in the attack as
significant.

Moving to the fourteenth scene, the tlacuiloque make Malintzin clearly iden-
tifiable in the battle fray by way of her brightly coloured huipilli, and again by
her large size, which dwarfs that of the Castilians. Positioned to the far left
within the palace walls, Malintzin’s right hand is held at the centre of her
chest in a pointed gesture – perhaps a subtler suggestion of her commanding
position than an outstretched arm. Amidst the shooting of arrows, hurling of

 See Tepetlan Codex, in Robert Wauchope, ed., Handbook of Middle American Indians, XIV
(Austin, TX, ), pp. –; Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex, ‘Book XII: the con-
quest of Mexico’ (), fo. r, scene ; fo. v, scene ; and fo. r, scene , contributed
to the World Digital Library by the Medicea Laurenziana Library, Florence, www.wdl.org/en/
item//view///.

 Stephanie Wood, ‘Contextualizing Malinche’, A Contracorriente: A Journal on Social History
and Literature in Latin America,  (), p. ; Restall, When Montezuma met Cortés, pp. –;
Townsend, Malintzin’s choices, pp. –; Jeanne Gillespie, ‘Malinche: fleshing out the founda-
tional fictions of the conquest of Mexico’, in Elizabeth Moore Willingham, ed., Laura
Esquivel’s Mexican fictions (Eastbourne, ), pp. –, at pp. –; Pilar Godayol,
‘Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator’,
Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies,  (), pp. –.

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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stones and canon fire, Mexica bodies lie dismembered and gushing blood on
the floor. Her presence amongst the allied forces continues in the following
scene and scene , where the Tlaxcalan authors paint her as the tallest of
the figures; in the latter, they again depict Malintzin with her hand raised in
an instructive, pointed gesture.

It is in scene  of the Lienzo where Malintzin’s more militant portrayal
becomes particularly remarkable. Like the preceding scenes, Malintzin – in
another ornate huipilli – is taller than the allied forces she is accompanying;
the tlacuiloque stand her to the far left, behind the forces to the left of and
below her. Rather than pointing, however, Malintzin protects herself with and
wields a European sword. Her static stance leaves ambiguity with regards to
whether she is acting in the physical defence of her person or in an attacking
capacity; however, through the possession of weapons, the tlacuiloque’s percep-
tion of Malintzin’s role in battle has recognizably progressed from one limited
to guidance and instruction to that of a more active participant. In scene ,
Malintzin is again found amongst the allied forces, and is most likely the
carrier of a European shield positioned to her left; in scene , Malintzin also
carries a European shield (Figure ). This latter scene records the beginning
of the allies’ assault on Tenochtitlan, and it is here where Malintzin’s roles as
both mediator and warrior collide for the tlacuiloque: whilst placing a shield in

Fig. . Scene , Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Homenaje á Cristóbal Colón, Lienza . Fray Angelico Chavez
History Library/New Mexico History Museum, Bourne Collection  MexH. Reproduced with
permission.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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her left hand, they present Malintzin’s right arm outstretched, her hand in a
pointed gesture. Significantly, Malintzin occupies a central position on the
causeway, situated between the leading Tlaxcalan warriors (in front of her)
and the Castilian forces (behind her). Just as the causeway on which she is
stood connects the two places, this militant representation of Malintzin concur-
rently reflects the tlacuiloque’s perception of her as a mediator, as a bridge
between cultures.

I I

A powerful intercessor; highly skilled in dialogue and mediation; and a conduit
connecting different peoples, the associated qualities of Malintzin as a woman
in-between mirror those of the Virgin Mary. When exploring the wider

Fig. . Scene , Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Homenaje á Cristóbal Colón, Lienza . Fray Angelico
Chavez History Library/New Mexico History Museum, Bourne Collection  MexH.
Reproduced with permission.

 Townsend, Malintzin’s choices, p. .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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context for the assimilation of the two female figures of Mary and Malintzin in
indigenous worldviews, the presence of the Virgin in moments of early encoun-
ter quickly becomes apparent, in both pictorial sources and European accounts.
The Huexotzinco Codex contains one of the earliest surviving images of Mary
authored by indigenous peoples: appearing on a highly ornate war banner
created by the city state or altepetl of Huexotzinco for the conquistador Nuño
Beltrán de Guzmán, this image of Mary appears in the record of the excessive
tribute demanded from the Huexotzinca by Guzmán in . Indigenous
relationships with Mary were complex, to say the least. Though Cortés
records how the indigenous ‘idols’ from the Templo Mayor were ‘taken from
their places [by Europeans] and thrown down the steps…[and Cortés] had
images of Our Lady and of other saints put there’, the indigenous authors of
the Nahuatl text and the pictorial scenes recording the conquest in the
Florentine Codex do not mention or include Mary at all. As Amy
Remensnyder, among others, suggests, it is understandable that Bernardino
de Sahagún’s Nahua informants would not have wanted to associate ‘Our
Precious Mother’ with memories of the ruin of their home, Tenochtitlan.

Elsewhere, indigenous communities often utilized images of Mary to build rela-
tionships with the Castilians, even in less amicable circumstances, further dem-
onstrating the complexity of indigenous responses to this female figure. As
scholars exploring Marian religious syncretism have highlighted, it is no coinci-
dence that Nahua devotions to different Marian cults were often established on
the sites of native deities, like that of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the autoch-
thonous goddess Tonantzin, reflecting how indigenous communities integrated
Mary into their worldviews. Perhaps her figure even offered them an anchor
in ‘the swirling madness’, to borrow from Rolena Adorno, of indigenous gods
and the Christian new.

With both Mary and Malintzin perceived to occupy an in-between space, to
act as facilitators of cross-cultural dialogue, indigenous representations of
these women follow strikingly similar pathways, and the two intercessors’ iden-
tities may have even merged in indigenous understandings. As Townsend high-
lights, at each place the Castilians paused, a priest would give an introduction to
Mary, accompanied by the ceremonious presentation of her image to the

 Amy G. Remensnyder, La conquistadora: the Virgin Mary at war and peace in the Old and New
Worlds (Oxford, ), p. .

 Cortés, ‘The second letter’, p. ; Sahagún, Florentine Codex, ‘Book XII’.
 Remensnyder, La conquistadora, pp. –. See also Louise M. Burkhart, Before Guadalupe:

the Virgin Mary in early colonial Nahuatl literature (Albany, NY, ), p. ; Linda B. Hall, Mary,
mother and warrior: the Virgin in Spain and the Americas (Austin, TX, ), p. .

 Burkhart, Before Guadalupe, p. ; Fernando Cervantes, The devil in the New World: the impact
of diabolism in New Spain (New Haven, CT, ), p. ; Catherine DiCesare, Sweeping the way:
divine transformation in the Aztec festival of Ochpaniztli (Boulder, CO, ); Hall, Mary, mother and
warrior, passim.

 Rolena Adorno, qu. in Hall, Mary, mother and warrior, p. .

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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community, but it was Malintzin who translated the priest’s words. Indeed, it
would be unsurprising if the blurriness of the early contact situation produced
confusion between Malintzin, who spoke about Mary, and Mary herself, the
subject of Malintzin’s addresses. Furthermore, Townsend suggests that indi-
genous peoples may have understood the corporeal Malintzin to be a cere-
monial god impersonator for the Virgin – clearly a very powerful deity of the
Castilians – or perceived her to act as Mary’s representative, especially consider-
ing the likeness of their reverential names.

In studying the wider context for the assimilation of Mary and Malintzin,
then, their similarities as intercessors have been relatively well established.
Returning specially to the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, Federico Navarrete proposes that
Malintzin’s identity becomes intertwined with that of the Virgin Mary through
the ways in which the tlacuiloque connect her with Christian symbols: in the
only two scenes in which she features but does not occupy a central position,
the Tlaxcalan authors replace Malintzin with a cross, in the first instance, and
with an image of the Virgin Mary in the second. Indeed, in scene , a large
crucifix is the central focus, with Malintzin – only her face, partially hidden by
a banner – found to the left. In front of the crucifix, Cortés holds the wrist of
one of the Tlaxcalan nobles, who gestures to him in speech. In scene , the tla-
cuiloque record the conversion of the four Tlaxcalan lords to Christianity
(Figure ). Here, as the lords kneel before a priest, the tlacuiloque give
Malintzin’s hand a pointed gesture, but displace her to the right of the cere-
mony, which is instead overseen by a centrally placed image of the Virgin.

For the Lienzo’s tlacuiloque, the inclusion of these Christian symbols was part of
a wider strategy to reflect their allegiance to the European newcomers, similar
to their incorporation of European symbols of political power, such as the coat
of arms and royal regalia in the main scene of the Lienzo (where the tlacuiloque
also place an image of Mary). Indeed, Kranz examines how the Tlaxcalan pic-
torials ‘changed over time to emphasize the claim that they had converted to
Christianity soon after the first encounter with the Spaniards’: whilst the
authors of the Lienzo include the crucifix in scene  of the Lienzo, it does not
appear in the equivalent scene of the older Texas Fragment, and, significantly,
there is no evidence of an early baptism of the four Tlaxcalan lords in pre-
mid-century sources. However, the Christian symbols have an important func-
tion in this document, despite their likely mid-century invention. As Navarrete

 Townsend, Malintzin’s choices, p. : ‘The reverential form of the name “María” before the
r sound was familiar would have been “Malitzin” – which, in a world where an n was often silent
at the end of a syllable, could easily have been heard in the same way as “Malintzin”.’

 Ibid., p. .
 Ibid., p. .
 Navarrete, ‘La Malinche’, pp. –. See also Barton Kranz, ‘Visual persuasion’,

pp. –.
 Navarrete, ‘La Malinche’, p. ; Remensnyder, La conquistadora, p. .
 Barton Kranz, ‘Visual persuasion’, p. ; Gillespie, Saints and warriors, pp. , .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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proposes, Malintzin is displaced only by the crucifix and image of Mary because,
for the tlacuiloque, these symbols have the capacity to fulfil an intermediary role,
too; the devotion to Christianity that is embodied in these images allows for
mutual understanding and alliance between the Tlaxcalteca and the
Castilians. For the Tlaxcalan authors, Malintzin – Doña Marina – may have
similarly represented an embodiment of their shared faith.

Indigenous associations of Malintzin with symbols of Christianity can be iden-
tified in other pictorials produced by indigenous communities more widely, too,
perhaps for similar reasons. The authors of the Mapa de San Antonio Tepetlan, for
example, position Malintzin next to Christian churches, whilst in the Codex
Coyoacán (or Manuscrito del aperreamiento, c. ) the tlacuiloque depict her
grasping rosary beads, signifying conversion, and – like the Lienzo – adorn her
in an indigenous huipilli and European shoes. In these examples, however,

Fig. . Scene , Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Homenaje á Cristóbal Colón, Lienza . Fray Angelico Chavez
History Library/New Mexico History Museum, Bourne Collection  MexH. Reproduced with
permission.

 Navarrete, ‘La Malinche’, pp. , .
 The original Mapa de San Antonio Tepetlan is held in the American Museum of Natural

History. Townsend, Malintzin’s choices, pp. –; Brotherston, Painted books, pp. –; Wood,
Transcending conquest, pp. –. Codex Coyoacán (c. ), Mexicain , Département des
Manuscrits, Bibliothéque nationale de France, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark://
btvbm/f.image. See also Lori Boornazian Diel, ‘The spectacle of death in early
colonial New Spain in the Manuscrito del aperreamiento’, Hispanic Issues on Line,  (),
pp. –.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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Malintzin still occupies a central position; the authors do not displace her with
symbols as they do in the Lienzo. The reason behind this nuance is not clearly
identifiable, but her total displacement by the Lienzo’s tlacuiloque is perhaps
linked to the Tlaxcalteca’s particularly vehement devotion to the Virgin: Mary
was later made the patron of the province, assuming the intercessory role
once occupied by Malintzin. Speaking on behalf of the Castilian and indigen-
ous groups, Malintzin’s role as cultural intermediary is certainly analogous to
that of the Virgin as an abogada, a lawyer negotiating with God for her worship-
pers. Notably, then, Malintzin’s connection to Mary formed an essential
aspect of the Tlaxcalteca’s negotiations with the Castilians in the post-conquest
world. As will now be examined, I argue that this connection is further under-
stood – and strengthened – by the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s portrayal of Malintzin
as a warrior.

I I I

In contrast to the trope of Mary as a mediator, there was a different image of
Mary in Mesoamerica’s religious spaces, too: Mary as a warrior or conquista-
dora. This martial Mary was born in medieval Iberia, where, from the eleventh
century onwards, she was as much a patron of the Reconquista or Reconquest as
St James (Santiago), Isidore of Seville, and other male military saints were.

Mary appeared prominently on battle standards, she was invoked during bat-
tlefield prayers, and her presence on the frontier was so strongly felt by those
fighting she almost became a military conqueror herself. Indeed, in 
Alonso X even founded a Marian military order, Santa María de España
(St Mary of Spain), which fought in Mary’s name ‘against the nefarious
Saracens…and for the faith’. Moreover, Mary as military leader was sum-
moned across Europe in efforts to wage war against non-Christians: even in
the small English village of Denby, there are stories that crusaders visited the
small church of St Mary on their way to the Holy Land, to pray for her aid
and protection. In Iberia, the Virgin’s presence on Christian borderlands
did not stop at the battlefield; once a region was reconquered, Mary played
an important role in the conversion of religious space. As Remensnyder has

 Navarrete, ‘La Malinche’, pp. , .
 Byron E. Hamann, ‘Object, image, cleverness: the Lienzo de Tlaxcala’, Art History,  (),

pp. –, at p. .
 Remensnyder, La conquistadora, passim.
 Amy G. Remensnyder, ‘The colonization of sacred architecture: the Virgin Mary,

mosques, and temples in medieval Spain and early sixteenth-century Mexico’, in Sharon
Farmer and Barbara H. Rosenwein, eds., Monks and nuns, saints and outcasts: religious expression
and social meaning in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, NY, ), pp. –.

 Ibid., pp. –; Remensnyder, La conquistadora, pp. –.
 Manuscript from the Order of Santa María de España (), qu. in Remensnyder, La

conquistadora, p. .
 Mark Fryar, Some chapters in the history of Denby (Denby, ), p. .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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shown, from the Christian victory at Toledo () to the Fall of Granada
(), twenty-six mosques were rededicated to the Virgin Mary, reflecting
how non-Christian sacred architecture could be usurped by the presence of
Mary’s image. Indeed, there was ‘no other holy figure to whom so many
mosques were dedicated’ than Mary, the most famous perhaps being the
conversion of the main mosque at the Alhambra Palace. In agreement with
Angus MacKay, ‘the late medieval frontier was a Mariological one’.

By the Fall of Granada, Mary’s image as la Conquistadora or the Lady
Conqueror was secure. As late fifteenth-century art reflects, the Virgin was
often depicted as protector of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic monarchs
who led the final part of the Reconquista, using her cloak to shield them from
onslaught of demonic forces and other evils. The artistic trope of Mary’s
cloak of protection was developed over the course of the sixteenth century to
shelter the leaders of the imperial enterprise in the Americas, too: as the paint-
ing The Virgin of the Navigators by Alejo Fernández (c. ) shows, Mary’s
mantle was perceived to protect conquistadors such as Christopher Columbus
and Amerigo Vespucci, as well as Spanish ships of discovery. Accordingly,
Linda Hall identifies how ‘in a real sense, [Columbus’s] mission was a continu-
ation, both spiritually and spatially, of the Spanish Reconquest of the
Peninsula’ – a notion now well established in Marian scholarship. Columbus
named the second island he reached on his first voyage ‘Santa María de la
Concepción’, whilst the ship he later lost on the reef was also named Santa
María. Both Hall and Remensnyder have examined how Cortés continued
the Reconquista tradition from Spain by rededicating indigenous temples to
Mary on his way to Tenochtitlan – and in those of Tenochtitlan itself – reflecting
how the Virgin continued to play an important role in the appropriation of
non-Christian religious space. Certainly, Mary continued to appear on the

 Remensnyder, ‘Sacred architecture’, p. ; Remensnyder, La conquistadora, pp. –.
William Christian suggests that the location of Marian shrines reflects the wider context of
the Reconquest: William Christian, Local religion in sixteenth-century Spain (Princeton, NJ,
), pp. –.

 Remensnyder, ‘Sacred architecture’, p. .
 Angus MacKay, ‘Religion, culture, and ideology on the late medieval Castilian–Granadan

frontier’, in Robert Bartlett and Angus MacKay, eds., Medieval frontier societies (Oxford, ),
pp. –, at p. .

 Remensnyder, La conquistadora, p. .
 Mary Rubin, Mother of God: a history of the Virgin Mary (London, ), p. .
 Hall, Mary, mother and warrior, p. .
 Christopher Columbus, The diario of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to America, –

, abstracted by Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, transcribed and translated into English
with notes and a concordance of the Spanish by Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr
(Norman, OK, ), ‘Monday  October ’, p. , and ‘Tuesday  December ’,
p. .

 Hall, Mary, mother and warrior, p. ; Remensnyder, ‘Sacred architecture’, p. ;
Remensnyder, La conquistadora, pp. –. For conquistadors’ personal devotion to Mary,
see Hall, Mary, mother and warrior, pp. –; Remensnyder, La conquistadora, pp. –.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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conquistadors’ battle standards in the Americas, as the indigenous-authored
Huexotzinco Codex demonstrates. Importantly, this idea that a mother could
also embody a warrior would not have been an unusual idea for Nahua
groups, for, in Mesoamerican thought, mothers in childbirth were transformed
into warriors. The battle of delivering a child highlights how notions of
motherhood and warriorhood were certainly not mutually exclusive in indigen-
ous worldviews.

Since Marian scholars have scrutinized Mary’s complex role as a mother and
mediator and simultaneously established her as a warrior, it is essential to draw
this idea of Mary’s warriorhood into scholarly considerations of the intertwine-
ment of Mary and Malintzin’s figures. Not only does this provide a more
nuanced understanding of Malintzin – especially Malintzin as portrayed by
the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque – but of Mary, too. The Lienzo de Tlaxcala’s unique
images of Malintzin as a warrior only strengthen Malintzin’s connection to
Mary, in Mary’s roles as both abogada and la Conquistadora. Considering the tla-
cuiloque’s portrayal of Malintzin as a warrior in scenes of cross-cultural conflict
alongside the understanding of Mary as la Conquistadora allows for a fresh inter-
pretation of the Tlaxcalan’s pictorial representations of Malintzin.

Returning to scene  of the Lienzo, the tlacuiloque’s depiction of Malintzin in
the Cholula massacre accordingly takes on additional meaning (Figure ). By
keeping Malintzin’s connection to Mary as la Conquistadora in the foreground,
this scene can arguably be read as one where Malintzin is overseeing the
violent conquest of the religious space of the temple of Quetzalcoatl – just as
Mary oversaw the conquest and conversion of non-Christian religious spaces.
Arguably, then, this portrayal of Malintzin by the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque is not
necessarily simply fulfilling the Castilian narrative of Malintzin-as-informant,
and instead speaks to her identity as a conquistadora. Developing Jeanne
Gillespie’s argument that the mounted conquistador below Malintzin repre-
sents Santiago Matamoros – an embodiment of the Tlaxcalan’s ‘true’
Christianity – Malintzin-as-Mary was a further means by which the tlacuiloque
could justify the conquest in Christian terms. The connection the tlacuiloque
make between Malintzin, Mary, and the Christian religion here is strengthened
by the contrasting nature of this scene to the one preceding it (scene ): the
conversion of the Tlaxcalan lords to Christianity (Figure ).

Significantly, this reading contributes to the wider deconstruction of
Malintzin’s supposed role in the massacre. Notably, historians theorize that

 Rubin, Mother of God, p. ; Amy G. Remensnyder, ‘Christian captives, Muslim maidens,
and Mary’, Speculum,  (), pp. –, at p. . The image of the Virgin appeared on
Cortés’s own standard, too: see Hall, Mary, mother and warrior, p. ; Remensnyder, La conquis-
tadora, p. .

 Pennock, Bonds of blood, pp. –, –; Clendinnen, Aztecs, ch. , pp. –; Louise
M. Burkhart, ‘Mexica women on the home front: housework and religion in Aztec Mexico’,
in Schroeder, Wood, and Haskett, eds., Indian women in early Mexico, pp. –, at p. .

 Gillespie, Saints and warriors, pp. –, .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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the massacre was ‘engineered’ by the Tlaxcalteca, both to test their new alliance
with the Castilians and to punish the Cholulteca, who had recently abandoned
their alliance with Tlaxcala for loyalty to Tenochtitlan. This theory interlinks
with the substantial effort to deconstruct and critique the post- scapegoat-
ing of Malintzin as a traitor and whore, as a symbol of domination by outsiders,
which sprung from her role in the massacre, and the conquest more broadly.
From the s onwards, revisionists have re-envisaged her as a victim, as a sur-
vivor, and as a woman with agency. ‘Blame’ for the events has been examined
from different angles (if anyone were to ‘blame’, surely it would be the
Tlaxcalan forces?), especially in terms of misogyny, and the term ‘traitor’ inter-
rogated (how could Malintzin be a traitor to the Mexican nation before it even
existed?). Alongside the Tlaxcalan’s generally ‘favourable’ portrayal of
Malintzin as a converted noblewoman, this reading of Malintzin as a conquista-
dora complicates the story of the massacre further, highlighting the interplay
of multiple narratives. Though the massacre was likely a result of complex
indigenous political affairs, the Lienzo’s mid-century telling also reveals religious
tensions, or, perhaps more accurately, how the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque may have
used religious tensions to represent a much broader truth.

The tlacuiloque’s strategy to emphasize the Tlaxcalan alliance with the
Castilians through the differentiation of themselves and their non-Christian
neighbours through religion is clear: placing the conversion scene immediately
before that of the massacre, which took place on the steps of a non-Christian
temple, is a powerful juxtaposition. Similarly, we can look to the contrast the
authors draw between the conversion scene and that directly below it. In this
scene (), the tlacuiloque position Malintzin in the battle fray, alongside a
second image of the Virgin and child, and a third of a crucifix, in the top
right of the scene (Figure ). Here, the Christian images burn within the
walls of Tenochtitlan, representing the Mexica’s refusal to welcome
Christianity. Considering Malintzin’s large size – dwarfing the figures around
her – and pointed hand gesture, her figure seems formidable in contrast to
the small, damaged image of the Virgin. In development of Navarrete’s work,
whilst the Lienzo’s authors displace Malintzin in favour of Christian symbols in
earlier scenes, I argue that scene  offers a displacement of Mary’s image by
Malintzin. Her ongoing presence in scenes of violence after this arguably
strengthens the notion that for the Tlaxcalan authors Malintzin came to
embody the Virgin, as she watches over the military efforts of the allied
forces, offering guidance and instruction. Combined with later scenes in
which she bears weapons, her role in combat in scene  convincingly

 Townsend, Malintzin’s choices, pp. –, at p. ; Restall, When Montezuma met Cortés,
pp. –.

 Wood, ‘Contextualizing Malinche’, p. .
 Ibid., p. ; Kellogg, Weaving the past, p. .
 Brotherston, Painted books, p. ; Gillespie, ‘Malinche’, p. .

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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reflects her appropriation of the Virgin’s identity of la Conquistadora, with Mary
herself burnt away.

Whilst this understanding of Malintzin as a conquistadora strengthens previous
scholarly interpretations of Malintzin’s and Mary’s connections, it also chal-
lenges structural analyses of the Lienzo, which have largely overlooked
Malintzin’s presence in violent scenes. Byron Hamann has suggested that the
Lienzo de Tlaxcala can be divided into two distinct parts, and, significantly, con-
structs this argument using Malintzin’s appearances. According to Hamann, the
first half of the Lienzo (up to and including scene ) reflects a focus on dia-
logue and intercession, whilst the second half (after scene ) is dominated
by warfare. All but two of Malinztin’s appearances are on or before scene
, and, accordingly, Hamann argues her (dominant) position as cultural inter-
mediary reflects this corresponding change from peace to violence. These two
halves are reflective of the developing contact situation: the first is characterized
by images of Malintzin – who personified Mary – and the second by that of a

Fig. . Scene , Lienzo de Tlaxcala. Homenaje á Cristóbal Colón, Lienza . Fray Angelico
Chavez History Library/New Mexico History Museum, Bourne Collection  MexH.
Reproduced with permission.

 Hamann, ‘Object, image, cleverness’, p. .
 Scene  is the first of two ‘centres’ of the Lienzo (the ‘Tlaxcalan centre’), the other being

scene  (the ‘Tenochtitlan centre’). For Hamann, scene  divides the Lienzo in terms of
gender (feminine/masculine), and scene  does so by colouration (whiter/greener and yel-
lower): Hamann, ‘Object, image, cleverness’, pp. –, at pp. –.

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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mounted conquistador leading his fellow Castilians and Tlaxcalteca into battle –
an incarnation of Santiago Matamoros. Taking this spatial analysis of the
Lienzo further, Hamann proposes that the structure is thus heavily gendered:
the first half of the Lienzo is peaceful, filled with dialogue and negotiation,
under the patronage of the Virgin – seemingly presented as the ‘feminine’
half – whilst the second half, under the patronage of Santiago, is dominated
by warfare – accordingly, the ‘masculine’ half.

This gendered analysis is unarguably fitting on a visual level; the tlacuiloque do
paint Malintzin in twenty of the first twenty-nine scenes and only twice more
after scene . Despite her continued participation in the following events,
scenes – are contrastingly dominated by the male figure of the mounted
conquistador. However, the complexity of the gendered roles of female inter-
preter and male warrior that such structural analyses present needs to be inter-
rogated, as a closer examination of the Tlaxcalan authors’ representations of
Malintzin reveal. Although the tlacuiloque present Malintzin in her main capacity
as negotiator in twelve of the twenty-three scenes in which she appears, this
article has established that her position as principle interpreter was not always
a peaceful role separated from scenes of warfare for the authors of the
Lienzo. The tlacuiloque paint her in violent battles in six of the remaining ten
scenes in which she appears, where she can be identified among the allied
forces – significantly, on some occasions, holding a European sword and/or
shield – and feature her in other scenes containing violent acts, like that of
the massacre (see Figure ).

Hamann offers a deep and insightful deconstruction of the Lienzo’s spatial
layout – much of which I am in agreement with – but the neglect of these
more militant representations of Malintzin provides an incomplete story of
Malintzin’s identity, as perceived by the creators of the Lienzo. Further, the
dichotomy of peace and mediation/violence and warfare subsequently assigned
to the Lienzo does not reveal the full depth and complexity of this pictorial more
widely, even setting aside the accompanying gendered connotations. Though
the second part of the Lienzo is essentially dominated by scenes of warfare,
depictions of violence (including battles, attacks, killings, and depictions of
dead bodies – some in pieces and/or bloodied) are present in thirteen
scenes before scene , and, moreover, in twenty-seven scenes before
scene  (Malintzin’s last appearance), albeit formatted less schematically
(see Figure ). The tlacuiloque’s portrayal of Malintzin as a conquistadora compli-
cates the overall structure of the Lienzo, then, in a way that strengthens readings
foregrounding her connection to the Virgin Mary; challenges the reductive

 Ibid., p. . See also Gillespie, Saints and warriors, p. .
 Hamann, ‘Object, image, cleverness’, p. .
 Lienzo de Tlaxcala, scenes –, , –, and .
 Ibid., scenes , , , , , and .

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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Fig. . Malintzin in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala.

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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dichotomy of ‘peacefulness, mediation, female: violence, warfare, male’ as a
framework of analysis; and supports broader deconstructions of the Tlaxcalan
tlacuiloque’s use of Christian figures and symbols to reflect their amity with the
Castilians.

Fig. . Scenes containing violence in Lienzo de Tlaxcala.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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Of course, influences closer to home, not from across the Atlantic, should
also be drawn into this new understanding of the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s
Malintzin. Significantly, whilst portrayals of Malintzin as a warrior are unique
to the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, women as warriors are found in the Mesoamerican
past and power structures more widely. Examining the duality of Malintzin
and Cortés in the Lienzo, Jeanne Gillespie argues that the authors may have con-
ceived of Cortés as the tecuhtli or lord, and Malintzin as cihuacoatl or woman-
snake – the ‘prime minister’ who negotiated and advised, but was also a
warrior. Usually a position occupied by men, the cihuacoatl would dress as/
impersonate a woman; Malintzin, in this interpretation, would wield significant
political power, and would also represent the first instance of the cihuacoatl as a
woman (rather than a female impersonator). In agreement with Gillespie, this
is one way in which the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque may have justified the success of the
conquest in indigenous terms.

There have been cases of women fighting in battles in the Mesoamerican
past, too. Toltec and Tepanec women were said to have fought alongside
male warriors in the  civil war and the  battle against the Tenochca
army, respectively, for example. Later, when Tlatelolco was attacked by
forces from Tenochtitlan in , the (losing) king of Tlatelolco sent women
and young boys into battle. Diego Durán records the incident:

A large number of women were gathered, stripped of their clothing and formed into
a squadron. They were made to attack the Aztecs who were fighting furiously. The
women, naked, with their private parts revealed and their breasts uncovered,
came upon slapping their bellies, showing their breasts and squirting milk at the
Aztecs.

There is some ambiguity between accounts recording this curious incident of
Aztec mythohistory, even within Durán’s work: the accompanying pictorial
differs notably from the textual narrative, depicting the women throwing
brooms, spindle whorls, and other domestic utensils from a rooftop.

Though such missiles may seem improvised, in Mesoamerican worldview
these items – ‘supremely feminine symbols’ – carry notable significance as

 Gillespie, Saints and warriors, pp. , . This is part of Gillespie’s broader argument that
Malinztin and Cortés may be considered as a representation of Ometeotl: pp. –.

 Ibid., p. .
 Kellogg, Weaving the past, p. ; Aguilera, ‘Malintzin as a visual metaphor’, pp. –.
 Diego Durán, The Aztecs: the history of the Indies of New Spain, trans. with notes by Fernando

Horcasitas and Doris Heyden (New York, NY, ), ch. XXXIV, p. . For a pictorial depiction
of the events, see Juan de Tovar, Tovar Codex (), fo. , held at the John Carter Brown
Library (Providence, RI), and available digitally via the World Digital Library, www.wdl.org/
en/item//#q=tovar&qla=en. The Tovar Codex is based upon Durán’s work, as well as on
correspondence Tovar had with José de Acosta.

 Cecelia Klein, ‘Fighting with femininity: gender and war in Aztec Mexico’, in Richard
Trexler, ed., Gender rhetorics: postures of dominance and submission in history (Binghamton, NY,
), pp. –, at p. .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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tools of feminine power. Importantly, women balanced both creative and
disruptive forces: it was women’s responsibility to turn unfinished materials
(e.g. fibres, foodstuffs, sexual secretions) into finished products in everyday
life, yet, as well as this creative capacity, women were ‘imbued…with the inher-
ent potential for disruption’ due to their ‘connection to chaotic energy of the
earth’. Taking up their brooms, women would defend their households
against ‘invading’ dirt or other manifestations of disorder, and in doing so
maintain the necessary balance of order and disorder – an action especially
important at times of war. With the broom in her hand, a Nahua woman
‘stood at the intersection of chaos and order’, with the broom itself both a trans-
porter of filth or tlazolli and a means for purification, as Louise Burkhart convin-
cingly demonstrates. That the broom was perceived as a weapon is reflected
clearly in the festival of Ochpaniztli, or ‘Sweeping the Roads’, where warriors
used brooms in lieu of swords in mock battles performed in the streets.

The festival celebrated Toçi or ‘Our Grandmother’, a benevolent mother
goddess, who, with spindle whorls and cotton in her hair, carried both a
shield and a broom.

Symbolizing their feminine power, the imagery of the Tlatelolcan warrior-
esses hurling brooms from the rooftop is demonstrative of women’s chaotic
potential. Notably, the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s portrayal of Malintzin-as-warrior
departs from this allegorical representation; rather than wielding the broom
or spindle whorl, Malintzin carries a sword and shield. Whilst other descriptions
of the events of  record the Tlatelolcan warrioresses as ferociously bearing
shields and obsidian-bladed clubs, Malintzin’s European-style sword markedly
contrasts with indigenous weaponry – symbolic or otherwise. A woman in-
between, Malintzin’s adoption of European weaponry strengthens her already
liminal, intercessory identity: adorned in beautiful indigenous huipilli and
cueitl (wraparound skirt) – often containing designs that mirror the
Tlaxcalan nobles’ red and white twisted headbands – as well as European-
style shoes, Malintzin’s outward appearance is a visual representation of her

 Klein, ‘Fighting with femininity’, p. .
 Pennock, ‘Women of discord’, p. ; Burkhart, ‘Mexica women on the home front’,

p. .
 Burkhart, ‘Mexica women on the home front’, pp. –.
 Ibid., pp. –.
 Klein, ‘Fighting with femininity’, p. ; Burkhart, ‘Mexica women on the home front’,

p. .
 Diego Durán, Book of the gods and rites and the ancient calendar, ed. and trans. by Fernando

Horcasitas and Doris Heyden (Mexico City, ), p. . For a pictorial depiction of Toçi, see
The book of the life of the ancient Mexicans, an anonymous Hispano-Mexican manuscript preserved
at the Biblioteca nazionale centrale, Florence, Italy, reproduced in facsimile, with introduction,
translation, and commentary by Zelia Nuttall (Berkeley, CA, ), scene , fo. . See also
DiCesare, Sweeping the way, ch. .

 Don Hernando Alvarado Tezozómoc, ‘Crónica mexicana’, as discussed in Klein, ‘Fighting
with femininity’, p. .

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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perceived in-betweenness. In agreement with Elizabeth Aguilera,
Malintzin’s dress acts as a ‘visual link’ between the Tlaxcalans and
Spaniards; the tlacuiloque offer her as a ‘visual metaphor’ for the alliance, as
a symbol of the part they played in the conquest.

At least in the Mexica context, the importance of items to identity has been
well established, with Burkhart in particular highlighting how Mexica construc-
tion of identity was ‘based not so much on intrinsic qualities as on attributes and
accoutrements’. Indeed, Nahua girls were given spindle whorls at birth whilst
boys were given darts, as it was these items that guided the children’s growth
into their appropriate gender roles. Wearing European-style shoes and
bearing European weapons, these (masculine) accoutrements surely signal a
conflict over Malintzin’s perceived identity and sense of belonging (and
perhaps, even, her gender). Does ‘Europeanizing’ her aid the tlacuiloque’s
aim to demonstrate their amity with the Castilians? Does it reflect an even stron-
ger connection to the Virgin as both an abogada and a conquistadora?

The Tlaxcalan Malintzin forges a unique representation of a woman warrior
in other ways, too. As Klein demonstrates, the mythohistorical tradition typically
painted combative women as unsuccessful, as inevitably defeated in battle.

The Lienzo departs from this, however, as Malintzin-as-warrior is on the side of
the victors, fighting alongside the Tlaxcalan and Castilian forces. Whilst the
Tlatelolcan warrioresses’ aggressiveness was perceived as ‘brazen and unfemin-
ine’, Malintzin’s portrayal fits within the alternative – yet concomitant – dis-
course that reflected ‘ideal femininity itself…characterized as brave, and as
manly’. At the same time, the Lienzo records a period of transition and instabil-
ity in the conquest of Tenochtitlan: in this sense, Malintzin’s femininity subtly
reflects that of female figures in the Mesoamerican past – ‘Women of
Discord’ – who are often portrayed as ambiguous or transitional, associated
with disorder. Though women’s transitional capacity is mirrored in their cre-
ative potential, threats to the state were nearly always personified as women.

There is a beautiful parallel to Malintzin’s portrayal in the Lienzo, here, in
which she represents a threat to Tenochtitlan yet concurrently forges the
Tlaxcalan–Castilian relationship. As in the Texas Fragment, Malintzin-as-
mediator’s most common placement in the Lienzo is a central one, between
Cortés and the indigenous nobles; in other scenes, the authors depict her to
the side of Cortés, but also behind him, and – on some occasions – alone,

 Townsend, Malintzin’s choices, p. .
 Aguilera, ‘Malintzin as a visual metaphor’, p. .
 Burkhart, ‘Mexica women on the home front’, p. .
 Pennock, Bonds of blood, pp. –.
 Klein, ‘Fighting with femininity’, p. .
 Ibid., p. .
 Ibid., p. ; Pennock, ‘Women of discord’, p. .
 Burkhart, ‘Mexica women on the home front’, p. ; Pennock, ‘Women of discord’,

p. .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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without Cortés. In all her mediatory positions in relation to Cortés/the nobles,
Malintzin’s performance of the act of interpretation is demonstrated through
the positioning of her hands. In the Lienzo, the tlacuiloque position Malintzin’s
hands across her body as well as outwards in one direction, with her right
hand pointing upwards towards her left shoulder, and her left hand lying hori-
zontally across her abdomen – a two-way gesture indicative of Malintzin’s inter-
mediary role. Her portrayal as intercessor and warrior collide in scene , the
recounting of the Noche Triste or Night of Sorrows, where the tlacuiloque
place Malintzin twice: in one of the brigantines, and also traversing the causeway
in her European shoes, carrying her European shield on her left arm and reach-
ing her right hand out, pointed in an act of interpretation or instruction
(Figure ). Walking on a causeway between different groups, Malintzin
herself comes to embody a bridge between cultures. Perhaps it is meaningful,
too, that, on that causeway, Malintzin is approaching Toçiquauhtitlan, or the
temple of the goddess Toçi – a goddess with whom Mary became intricately
tied.

Considering her role as mediator and ‘indigenous “collaborator”’, Caroline
Pennock argues that Malintzin ‘epitomizes the complexity of women’s power:
disruptive but also productive’. In agreement with Pennock, this concept of
Malintzin as an exemplar of women’s chaotic potential in Mesoamerican
thought can be strengthened by drawing upon her portrayal as a warrior in
the Lienzo: her intercessory role constructs connections, whilst her brandishing
of weapons in the battles of Tenochtitlan speaks to her potential for destruction.
With the power to create relationships and simultaneously wield weapons, the
Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s vision of Malintzin can – and should – be recognized as
a formidable force.

V

Positioned as a woman warrior and a conquistadora, the Malintzin of the Lienzo de
Tlaxcala undoubtedly complicates perceptions of this incredible woman in the
early colonial era, and contributes to the wider deconstruction of triumphalist,
Eurocentric narratives of conquest. Malintzin remains an ambiguous and con-
tested icon in Mexican consciousness to the present day, taking a place in
nationalist history post- as a symbol of domination by outsiders, but also
as one of the ‘mothers of mestizaje’; a bridge between cultures, a figure of multi-
culturalism. As Clara Kidwell highlights, stereotypes continue to dominate
contemporary understandings of Indian women as cultural mediators, such as

 Gillespie, Saints and warriors, p. .
 Pennock, ‘Women of discord’, p. .
 Wood, Transcending conquest, p. ; Brotherston, Painted books, p. ; Townsend,

Malintzin’s choices, pp. –; Karttunen, ‘Rethinking Malinche’, pp. –; Jager, Malinche, ch.
, pp. –.

 C L A U D I A J . R O G E R S

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that of the ‘hot-blooded Indian princess, a la Pocahontas’ or the Squaw.

Following Kidwell, Indian women like Malintzin ‘are not real people’ without
the deconstruction of the spectrum of stereotypes that accompany them;
moving beyond the pervasive, mythologized Indian woman, the complexity of
the intercultural contacts they so importantly mediated can be recognized.

Recognizing Malintzin as a conquistadora is a valuable contribution to this
wider deconstruction, especially considering the challenge it poses to damaging
identifications of Malintzin as a ‘traitor’.

For the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque, Malintzin was essential to their history of the
conquest: utilized as a means of conveying their position and relationship
with the Castilians, the Tlaxcalteca’s Malintzin was indispensable as a woman
in-between. Most visibly, this in-betweenness is discernible in her outward
appearance in scenes of the Lienzo: her huipilli and cueitl mirror the colours
and designs of the Tlaxcalan nobles’ headbands, whilst her European-style foot-
wear and weaponry represent both Malintzin’s association with the European
newcomers and her departure from the allegorical symbols of feminine
power of previous warrioresses. Malintzin’s in-betweenness is reflected in her
intricate fusing with the Virgin Mary, a connection likely drawn as part of the
Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s pictorial strategy to increase their powerholding position
in the Tlaxcalan–Castilian relationship – especially considering the importance
of Mary to their altepetl after the conquest. Whilst Malintzin’s connection to
Mary has already been established in terms of their dominant identities as
female intercessors, I argue their connection can be irrevocably strengthened
by exploring the Tlaxcalan tlacuiloque’s vision of Malintzin, in which she
shared and appropriated Mary’s role as a conquistadora. Though we will never
know if Malintzin really carried a sword and shield into sites of conflict and vio-
lence, it is only through considering multiple, varying narratives of Malintzin’s
story that we can reach a more nuanced understanding of indigenous tlacuilo-
que’s perceptions of her identity. Els Maeckelberghe writes that ‘it is a complete
illusion to think that you have a clearly defined figure if you just pronounce the
name “Mary”’: I would say it is also a complete illusion to think that you have a
clearly defined figure if you just pronounce the name ‘Malintzin’ (or Malinche,
or Marina).

 Kidwell, ‘Indian women’, p. .
 Ibid., p. .
 Els Maeckelberghe, qu. in Hall, Mary, mother and warrior, p. .

M A L I N T Z I N I N T H E L I E N Z O D E T L A X C A L A

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	MALINTZIN AS A CONQUISTADORA AND WARRIOR WOMAN IN THE LIENZO DE TLAXCALA (c. 1552)*
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