DBA Armies

The Tarascans and Toltec-Chichimecs of modern Mexico both fought in a similar manner emphasizing the bow, although separated geographically by the Aztecs. The Tarascans (meaning “distant relatives”, a mistaken Spanish name for people who actually called themselves “Purempecha”) lived west of the Aztecs and fought them to an expensive standoff. To the east of the Aztecs were a number of Toltec-Chichimec city states, of which the most important were Huexotzingo, Cholula and Tlaxcala (a Spanish mistake, for Texcala “crags”), which often allied against the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans provided most of Cortez’ “Spanish” army from 1518. The Spanish thought they manoeuvred “marvellously well”. They liked to envelop an enemy army’s flanks with massed archers before assaulting its centre. The “suit-wearers” (Bd) were orders such as Eagle, Jaguar and especially Coyote “knights”, in appropriate costumes and armed with maquahuitl and shield. Archers had textile armour and side arms and were sometimes stiffened by warriors with maquahuitl and protected by their shields. White cotton was rare and replaced by dingy maguey or hemp, or for rich men, a mixture. The Chinantec lived in the mountainous south. Their upper classes fought with bows and hand weapons, while the commoners used “long poles like lances” tipped with long stone cutting edges and leather or fibre shields. They were described as “marching two-by-two” with an archer between each pair of spearmen. Reference: Armies of the 16th Century Vol 2 1. Heath.