Later historians have misconstrued this personal tutoring as time enrolled at the University of Salamanca. At the age of 14, he was sent to study Latin under an uncle in Salamanca. His paternal great-grandfather was Rodrigo de Monroy y Almaraz, 5th Lord of Monroy.Īccording to his biographer and chaplain, Francisco López de Gómara, Cortés was pale and sickly as a child. (His maternal grandmother, Leonor Sánchez Pizarro Altamirano, was first cousin of Pizarro's father Gonzalo Pizarro y Rodriguez.) Through his father, Hernán was related to Nicolás de Ovando, the third governor of Hispaniola. Through his mother, Hernán was second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who later conquered the Inca Empire of modern-day Peru, and not to be confused with another Francisco Pizarro, who joined Cortés to conquer the Aztecs. Hernán's mother was Catalína Pizarro Altamirano. 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. Ĭopy of a portrait of Cortés dated to the year 1525.Ĭortés was born in 1485 in the town of Medellín, then a village in the Kingdom of Castile, now a municipality of the modern-day province of Badajoz in Extremadura, Spain. He had a high chest, a well shaped back and was lean with little belly. His beard was black and sparse, as was his hair, which at the time he sported in the same way as his beard. His eyes seemed at times loving and at times grave and serious. He was of good stature and body, well proportioned and stocky, the color of his face was somewhat grey, not very cheerful, and a longer face would have suited him more. The account of the conquest of the Aztec Empire written by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, gives a detailed description of Hernán Cortés's physical appearance: All of these portraits show Cortés in the later years of his life. In addition to the illustration by the German artist Christoph Weiditz in his Trachtenbuch, there are three known portraits of Hernán Cortés which were likely made during his lifetime, though only copies of them have survived. At some point writers began using the shortened form of "Hernán" more generally. William Hickling Prescott's Conquest of Mexico (1843) also refers to him as Hernando Cortés. In 1541 Cortés returned to Spain, where he died six years later of natural causes.Ĭortés himself used the form "Hernando" or "Fernando" for his first name, as seen in the contemporary archive documents, his signature and the title of an early portrait. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of being punished for mutiny. When the governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter. His enmity with the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored.Īrriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous people against others. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, which he partly funded. For a short time, he served as alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda (the right to the labor of certain subjects). Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.īorn in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue adventure and riches in the New World. Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca ( / k ɔːr ˈ t ɛ s/ Spanish: December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the king of Castile in the early 16th century.
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