http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300090943/?tag=2022091-20
Cortés was born in 1485 in the town of Medellín, in modern-day Extremadura, Spain. His father, Martín Cortés de Monroy, born in 1449 to Rodrigo or Ruy Fernández de Monroy and his wife María Cortés, was an infantry captain of distinguished ancestry but slender means. Hernán's mother was Catalina Pizarro Altamirano.
At the age of 14, he was sent to the University of Salamanca to study Latin and make a career in law. However, he returned back two years later in 1501, due to lack of interest in studies.
Plans were made for Cortés to sail to the Americas with a family acquaintance and distant relative, Nicolás de Ovando, the newly appointed Governor of Hispaniola (currently Haiti and the Dominican Republic), but an injury he sustained while hurriedly escaping from the bedroom of a married woman from Medellín prevented him from making the journey. Instead, he spent the next year wandering the country, probably spending most of his time in Spain's southern ports of Cadiz, Palos, Sanlucar, and Seville, listening to the tales of those returning from the Indies, who told of discovery and conquest, gold, Indians, and strange unknown lands. He finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 where he became a colonist. Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen, which entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterwards, Nicolás de Ovando, still the governor, gave him an encomienda and made him a notary of the town of Azua de Compostela. His next five years seemed to help establish him in the colony; in 1506, Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba, receiving a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his efforts from the leader of the expedition. He remained in San Domingo, where Ovando had successively conferred upon him several lucrative and honourable employments, until 1511, when he accompanied Diego Velazquez in his expedition to the island, of Cuba. Juan Grijalva, lieutenant of Velazquez, had just discovered Mexico, but had not attempted to effect a settlement.
The latter hastened his preparations, and, on the 18th of November 1518, he set out from Santiago, with 10 vessels, 600 or 700 Spaniards, 18 horsemen and some pieces of cannon. Scarcely had he set sail, however, when Velazquez recalled the commission which he had granted to Cortes, and even ordered him to be put under arrest; but the attachment of the troops, by whom he was greatly beloved, enabled him to persevere in spite of the governor; and on the 4th of March 1519 he landed on the coast of Mexico. Advancing along the gulf, sometimes taking measures to conciliate the natives, and sometimes spreading terror by his arms, he took possession of the town of Tobasco. Cortes here learned that the native sovereign was called Montezuma; that he reigned over an extensive empire, which had lasted for three centuries; that thirty vassals, called caciques, obeyed him; and that his riches were immense and his power absolute. No more was necessary to inflame the ambition of the invader, who did not hesitate to undertake the conquest of this great empire, which could only be effected by combining stratagem and address with force and courage. The republic of Tlaxcala, which was hostile to Montezuma, opposed him; but he routed its army, which had resisted all the forces of the Mexican empire, dictated peace on moderate terms and converted the people into powerful auxiliaries.
Montezuma received him with great pomp, and his subjects, believing Cortes to be a descendant of the sun, prostrated themselves before him. This event undeceived the Mexicans, who had hitherto believed the Spaniardstobeimmortal, and necessarily altered the whole policy of Cortes. Struck with the greatness of the danger, surrounded by enemies, and having only a handful of soldiers, he conceived and instantly executed a most daring project. During this cruel execution Cortes entered the apartment ; of Montezuma, and caused him to be loaded with irons, in order to force him to acknowledge himself a vassal of Charles V. The unhappy prince yielded, and was restored to a semblance of liberty on presenting the fierce conqueror with 600, 000 marks of pure gold, and a prodigious quantity of precious stones. Scarcely had he reaped the fruits of his audacity, however, when he was informed of the landing of a Spanish army, under Narvaez, which had been sent by Velazquez to compel him to renounce his command. Leaving 200 men at Mexico, under the orders of his lieutenant (Alvarado), he marched against Narvaez, whom he defeated and made prisoner, and he then enlisted under his standard the Spanish soldiers who had been sent to attack him. On his return to the capital, however, he found that the Mexicans had revolted against the emperor and the Spaniards, and that dangers thickened around him.
Montezuma perished in attempting to address his revolted subjects; the latter, having chosen a new emperor, attacked the headquarters of Cortes with the utmost fury, and, in spite of the advantage of firearms, forced the Spaniards to retire, as the only means of escaping destruction. Their rear-guard, however, was cut in pieces, and they suffered severely during the retreat, which was continued during six days. Elated with their success, the Mexicans offered battle in the plain of Otumba. This was what Cortes desired, and it proved their destruction. Cortes gave the signal for battle, and, on the 7th of July 1520, gained a victory which decided the fate of Mexico. These successes were entirely owing to the genius, valour and profound but unscrupulous policy of Cortes; and the account of them which he transmitted to Spain excited the admiration of his countrymen. The extent of his conquests, and the ability he had displayed, effaced the censure which he had incurred by the irregularity of his operations; and public opinion having declared in his favour, Charles V, disregarding the pretensions of Velazquez, appointed him governor and captain-general of Mexico, at the same time conferring on him the valley of Oaxaca, which was erected (1529) into a marquisate, with a considerable revenue.
This revolt, however, was speedily subdued, and the Mexicans were everywhere forced to yield to the ascendancy of European discipline and valour. Guatemotzin, who had been recognized as emperor, and a great number of caciques, accused of having conspired against the conquerors, were publicly executed, with circumstances of great cruelty, by order of Cortes. The emperor received him with every mark of distinction, and decorated him with the order of St Iago. This division of powers became a source of continual dissension, and caused the failure of the last enterprises in which he engaged. Nevertheless, in 1536, he discovered the peninsula of Lower California, and surveyed a part of the gulf which separates it from Mexico. At length, tired of struggling with adversaries unworthy of him, whom the court took care to multiply, he returned to Europe, hoping to confound his enemies. But Charles V received him coldly.
This was his last appearance in the field, and if his advice had been followed the Spanish arms would have been saved from disgrace, and Europe delivered nearly three centuries earlier from the scourge of organized piracy. Soon afterwards he fell into neglect, and could scarcely obtain an audience. So haughty a declaration of important services ill-requited could scarcely fail to offend a monarch on whom fortune had lavished her choicest favours. The emperor finally permitted Cortés to join him and his fleet commanded by Andrea Doria at the great expedition against Algiers in the Barbary Coast in 1541, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire and was used as a base by Hayreddin Barbarossa, a famous Turkish corsair and Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman Fleet. During this unfortunate campaign, which was his last, Cortés was almost drowned in a storm that hit his fleet while he was pursuing Barbarossa. Having spent a great deal of his own money to finance expeditions, he was now heavily in debt. In February 1544 he made a claim on the royal treasury, but was ignored for the next three years. Disgusted, he decided to return to Mexico in 1547. When he reached Seville, he was stricken with dysentery. He died in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Seville province, on December 2, 1547, from a case of pleurisy at the age of 62.
Hernán Cortés is widely known as a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca. In México there are few representations of Cortés. However, many landmarks still bear his name, from the castle Palacio de Cortés in the city of Cuernavaca to some street names throughout the republic. The pass between the volcanoes Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl where Cortés took his soldiers on their march to Mexico City. It is known as the Paso de Cortés. The muralist Diego Rivera painted several representation of him but the most famous, depicts him as a powerful and ominous figure along with Malinche in a mural in the National Palace in Mexico City.
Monument in Mexico City known as "Monumento al Mestizaje".
The copy of the bust is in the "Hospital de Jesús Nazareno" while the original is in Naples, Italy, in the Villa Pignatelli.
Later, another monument, known as "Monumento al Mestizaje" by Julián Martínez y M. Maldonado (1982) was commissioned by Mexican president José López Portillo to be put in the "Zócalo" (Main square) of Coyoacan, near the place of his country house, but it had to be removed to a little known park, the Jardín Xicoténcatl, Barrio de San Diego Churubusco, to quell protests. The statue depicts Cortés, Malinche and their son Martín.
There is another statue by Sebastián Aparicio, in Cuernavaca, was in a hotel "El casino de la selva". Cortés is barely recognizable, so it sparked little interest. The hotel was closed to make a commercial center, and the statue was put out of public display by Costco the builder of the commercial center.
Velázquez was so impressed with Cortés that he secured a high political position for him in the colony. He became secretary for Governor Velázquez. Cortés was twice appointed municipal magistrate (alcalde) of Santiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with an encomienda to provide Indian labor for his mines and cattle. This new position of power also made him the new source of leadership, which opposing forces in the colony could then turn to. In 1514, Cortés led a group which demanded that more Indians be assigned to the settlers.
Quotations:
“It was so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before...”
“Furthermore, they had calculated that if 25,000 of them died for every one of us, they would finish with us first, for they were many and we were but few.”
“They no longer had nor could find any arrows, javelins or stones with which to attack us...”
“So loud was the wailing of the women and children that there was not one man among us whose heart did not bleed at the sound...”
“He travels safest in the dark night who travels lightest.”
He was remarkable for a graceful physiognomy and amiable manners.
Like Columbus, he died a wealthy but embittered man. He left his many mestizo and white children well cared for in his will, along with every one of their mothers. He requested in his will that his remains eventually be buried in Mexico.
He married twice: firstly in Cuba to Catalina Suárez Marcaida, who died at Coyoacán in 1522 without issue, and secondly in 1529 to doña Juana Ramírez de Arellano de Zúñiga, daughter of don Carlos Ramírez de Arellano, 2nd Count of Aguilar and wife the Countess doña Juana de Zúñiga.
Before he died he had the Pope remove the "natural" status of four of his children (legitimizing them in the eyes of the church), including Martin, the son he had with Doña Marina (also known as La Malinche), said to be his favourite. His daughter, Doña Catalina, however, died shortly after her father's death.
1532–1589
1511 - 1566
