Conquest of Mexico
Page 127 (1).—According to the Spanish authorities, the cacique was sent with these presents from the Mexican sovereign, who had received previous tidings of the approach of the Spaniards. I have followed Sahagun, who obtained his intelligence directly from the natives.—Historia de la Conquista, MS., cap. 2.
Page 127 (2).—Gomara has given the per and contra of this negotiation, in which gold and jewels, of the value of fifteen or twenty thousand pesos de oro, were exchanged for glass beads, pins, scissors, and other trinkets common in an assorted cargo for savages.—Crónica, cap. 6.
Page 127 (3).—Itinerario de Capellano, MS.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.
Page 128 (1).—"A man of formidable temperament," says Herrera, citing the good bishop of Chiapa, . . ." from the point of view of his subordinates and assistants, against whom he was easily roused to anger."—Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 20.
Page 128 (2).—At least, such is the testimony of Las Casas, who knew both the parties well and had often conversed with Grijalva upon his voyage.—Historia General de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113.
Page 128 (3).—Itinerario del Capellano, MS.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113. The most circumstantial account of Grijalva's expedition is to be found in the Itinerary of his chaplain above quoted. The original is lost, but an indifferent Italian version was published at Venice, in 1522. A copy, which belonged to Ferdinand Columbus, is still extant in the library of the great church of Seville. The book had become so exceedingly rare, however, that the historiographer, Muñoz, made a transcript of it with his own hand, and from his manuscript that in my possession was taken.
Page 129 (1).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. i. Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203. I find no more precise notice of the date of his birth; except, indeed, by Pizarro y Orellana, who tells us "that Cortés came into the world the same day that that infernal beast, the false heretic Luther, entered it,—by way of compensation, no doubt, since the labours of the one to pull down the true faith were counterbalanced by those of the other to maintain and extend it!" (Varones Ilustres del Nuevo Mundo [Madrid, 1639], p. 66.) But this statement of the good cavalier, which places the birth of our hero, in 1483, looks rather more like a zeal for "the true faith", than for historic.
Page 129 (2).—Argensola, in particular, has bestowed great pains on the prosapia of the house of Cortés; which he traces up, nothing doubting, to Narnes Cortés, king of Lombardy and Tuscany.—Anales de Aragon (Zaragoza, 1630), pp. 621-625.—Also, Caro de Torres, Historia de las Ordenes Militares (Madrid, 1629), fol. 103.
Page 129 (3).—De Rebus Gestis, MS. Las Casas, who knew the father, bears stronger testimony to his poverty than to his noble birth. "An 'Esquire,'" he says of him, "whom I knew as very poor and unassuming, and yet a good Christian; an old man, and reputed to be of noble birth."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27.
Page 129 (4).—Argensola, Anales, p. 220. Las Casas and Bernal Diaz both state that he was a Bachelor of Laws at Salamanca. (Hist. de las Indias, MS., ubi supra.—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203.) The degree was given probably in later life, when the University might feel a pride in claiming him among her sons.
Page 130 (1).—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 1.
Page 130 (2).—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Gomara, Ibid.—Argensola states the cause of his detention concisely enough: "His departure was postponed, by love and fever."—Anales, p. 621.450
