Dear CactusJumper;
Good observations, my friend! There is only one slight flaw in them. You are observing from the 21st century, rather than the 14th thru 16th centuries. That the whole of the Society of Jesus was in fact driven by honorable intentions is not in dispute, nor can it be, for it maintains itself today as an honorable religious institution.
That there may be been some bad apples littering the ranks of the Jesuits would seem to be a logical assumption UNTIL you place your thought processes into the period in question, then things are not quite as clear as they would at first seem to be.
For one thing, not just anyone was permitted into the ranks of Roman Catholic Monasteric Orders during the Middle Ages. The monasteries of the day were almost exclusively reserved for those sons of noblity who were not to recieve a significant inheiritance from their fathers. As is well known, part of the fuedal system was that the entire estate fell into the hands of the first born male heir, or lacking one, to the eldest living male heir. The nobility raised and trained all of their sons alike as an act of insurance, as it was quite likely that the first born male heir might not live long enough to recieve his inheritance. Therefore, all of the possible heirs were raised and trained alike.
The bulk of their training was based in martial arts and to excel at combat was the primary goal of all. Once the elder noblity had passed away, the one rightful heir took his place which left the other, younger sons out in the cold, so to speak. Lacking no other place for them, they were most generally sent to the monasteries to live out their lives as priests.
Once housed in the monastery, the young man could look forward to a life of gentler, more scholarly pursuits, such as reading and writing. It was here that the young men learned about Roman Catholic doctrine and as such, they also applied their previous learnings to the task at hand. This gave rise to an extremely rigid, inflexible current which flowed through the Roman Catholic church for centuries.
And so, considering the early training they had recieved in preparation for knighthood and taking into consideration the later training they recieved as monks, it was only natural for them to think in the simplest linear terms. Combining to the two vastly different training environments their existence became rather straightforward. Live a good, clean honorable life, always worship God, slay your enemies and die a good death.
Any deep delving into the realms of philosophy, art, engineering, mathmatics and the like which was commonly taught in the univerisities of Greece and Rome had been cast aside in favor of worhipping God and waging war. This is why the period was known as the Dark Ages.
And so, now we've had the chance to examine who these men were, we can now conclude that life was for them quite brutal and that they in turn meted out justice using the same brutal measure. All infractions, no matter how slight, were punished by all manner of torture, and as a matter of course, people were many times punished for no infractions what so ever.
And so, we may now also conclude that the concept of dishonoring oneself or his religious order or his regent would have been as foreign to a monk during the Middle Ages as astrophysics. It would have been simply unimaginable to these people and lacking any deep knowledge, susperstitious beliefs became the order of the day.
With the coming of the First Crusade, many of these monks, who had been trained in warfare, embarked on pilgramages to The Holy Land, and upon arrival, they almost immediately banded into a rather odd group of warrior monks. That the warrior monks even existed at all is due to fuedal doctrines, religious beliefs, timing and circumstances. These warrior monks took their holy vows VERY seriously and would rapidly and cheerfully dispatch anyone who questioned their honor to the afterlife.
So, perhaps there were a few bad apples scattered amongst the Jesuits or the other religious orders of the era, however taking all of their circumstances into consideration, I'd state that these bad apples very precious few in number and most likely took great pangs to hide any and all illicit or illegal activities. Theft could be cause for immediate death AND excommunication. The death part didn't frighten people as much back then as it does now, however the threat of excommunication was very real and it was a very powerful weapon back then.
And now, to conclude your final statement, my friend. You stated:
"Perhaps, as a side benefit for the leaders, but what drove the men behind Cortez, Pizarro, etc. ? It is recorded that they were recruited from the riffraff, criminal, x military, adventurers, or wherever they could be found. I doubt that most were avid practitioners of religion., or would be content with a ham as a reward."
What indeed could have have been the motivational force which drove these men? Again, all one needs to do is to examine the man and the timeframe in which he lived. Therein lies our answer, my friend. Position! That must be the answer! And now, let's scrutinize these conquistadores a bit closer, shall we?
When we dive into the histories of the conquistadores, we soon find that they were all members of lower noblity who stood no chance of a decent inheiritance or a better position on the social ladder of the time. They realized this, and they also realized that the only way they might possibly rise up a rung or two on this ladder was at the point of a lance. And that's exactly what they attempted to do.
Once we have been indocturnated into the times of the people in question, we can next anticipate their actions with very perdictable results. They flocked to The New World in the vain hope that filling the coffers of the Spanish and Portuguese treasuries would entitle them to lands and power. In a few cases, a very few cases, this was true, however in most cases the conquistadores died broke and broken.
Their motivational factor was not gold or silver, it was trying to attain a higher position for themselves and their future generations. This fact is self evident in all of the colonists who proclaimed themselves as "Hidalgos".
Again, in order to understand what life was like back then, we must understand the rules and doctrines which governed their lives. Let's suppose that an ordinary man had in his possession a bag literally bursting with gold which was obtained legally. What could he do with it? The short answer would be, "Not much!" As a commoner, it would have been illegal for him to even possess the gold, whether gotten by legal means or not. Could he purchase a fine steed with it? Nope! Not even a old nag! In order for him to have been able to possess a horse, first his lord would have needed to give him permission to own one. Maybe he could have purcahsed a sprawling estate? Nope again! The only people who were permitted to own lands were the noblity as was appointed by the King or Queen. Land was not bought and sold, it was granted, and the only ones who held land grants were the noblity. Perhaps he might have given away his gold? There wouldn't have been any takers if that either. People were terrified at the thought of getting caught with gold or silver as the natural tendency of a nobleman during the time whould have been that the possessor must have stolen it. That was more than enough for a quick trial and an even quicker execution. Generally speaking, the trials lasted only about as long as it took for the nobleman to unsheath his sword or pierce the persons' flesh with his lance.
So, what could have driven these conquistadores to risk life and limb for the crowned heads of Spain and Portugal. They did it in the hopes that they would be granted favors from the Crown. This, in fact, did happen, time and again. Some of the conquistadores which did not perish in action lived to become governors and officials in the New World (never in Europe, where the real royality resided) and in the end most of them died broke and bitter.
Strictly as a matter of semantics, the conquistador was named Hernando Cortes, with an "S" and not the more modern "Z" .
Your friend;
LAMAR
