Abstract EN:

The true history of the conquest of new spain is one of the most widely read histories covering the period of the discovery and conquest of mexico; it is also one of the most important historical sources for this period; due to this fact, numerous historians have studied the historical aspects of bernal diaz's work and its value as a historical source. Our approach has been, thus; different since we mainly aimed at studying the expressive and literary quality of the text; the historia verdadera, as the original title reads, was written between 1545 (we maintain) and 1568 with the confessed aim of setting the record right and of putting down in writing for posterity the deeds and sufferings of the men that were faithful to hernan bortes all along; bernal diaz achieved his goal and convinced most of his readers of the justice of his case; by studying the rhetorical and argumentative structure of his work we have been able to interpret it as a whole and to judge in accordance with the qims set by the author for his text. Following horace's dictum, the historia verdadera convinces because it pleases.