The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

More documents

Recommendations

Info

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… many times been covered with wounds, and ready to sink with fatigue, yet we used to continue the conflict, and took every town and fortress that came inour way. As many cavaliers were present when Cortes uttered this, they didnot fail to acquaint his majesty with it, expressing their regret at the same time that Cortes had not sat in the council, nor did they omit to mention that the latter himself felt hurt at his having been excluded.Other cavaliers, however, openly avowed that he had been purposelyexcluded, because it was well to be foreseen he would have opposed the general opinion of the council, and have given his voice for prosecutingthe siege. After the destruction which had been caused by the tempest,they continued, advice was scarcely needed, for all that could bedone was to save the life of his majesty, and of so many distinguishedcavaliers who had accompanied him on this expedition. With the assistance of God, they concluded, the expedition against Algiers might be renewed on some future occasion: and thus it was resolved the troopsshould return to Spain. [Pg 364] After the miserable termination of this perilous expedition, Cortes grew wearied of any longer stay at court; and as old age was growingupon him, and he was beginning to feel the effects of the many hardshipsand fatigues he had endured through life, his greatest desire was to obtain permission from the emperor to return to New Spain. To all this may be added, the breaking off of the marriage which was tohave taken place between his daughter Doña Maria and Don Alvaro Perez Osorio, heir to the marquisate of Astorga, to whom Cortes had promised, as a marriage gift, above 100,000 golden ducats, besides other valuable matters. Doña Maria had expressly arrived in Sevillefrom Mexico, at her father's desire, that the marriage might be consummated,and he was consequently much hurt and annoyed when thematch was broken off. The fault, it appears, lay with the bridegroom;and certain it is this matter caused so much annoyance to Cortes that it brought on a severe fever, accompanied by dysentery. Findingthat his sickness was growing upon him, he left the town of Seville, and retired to Castilleja de la Cuesta to enjoy more repose. Here he ordered all his affairs, made his last will, and was called away from thisworld of troubles on the 2d of September, 1547, after receiving theholy sacrament and extreme unction. He was buried with every pompand magnificence in the chapel containing the sepultures of the dukesof Medina Sidonia, and he was followed to the grave by a large bodyof the clergy and a number of cavaliers. Subsequently his remainswere taken to New Spain, and interred, according to a desire expressedin his last will, either in Cojohuacan or Tezcuco, [55] I forget which. The following is what I know respecting Cortes' age. When wefirst set out with him for New Spain from Cuba, in the year 1519, we often heard him say in the course of conversation, that he was thirty-four years of age, and from this day until the day of his death twenty-eightyears had elapsed, which will bring his age to sixty-two. [56] The following were the children he left behind him born in lawful wedlock: the present marquis Don Martin; Doña Maria, who was tohave been married to Don Perez Osorio, but who afterwards marriedthe earl of Luna de Leon; Doña Juana, the wife of Don Hernando Enriquez, heir to the marquisate of Tarifa; and Doña Catalina deArellano, who died in Seville. Besides these there was another daughterof Cortes, named Doña Leonor, who was married to a wealthy gentlemanof Biscay, living in Mexico, named Juan de Toloso, who possessedlucrative silver mines. When the present marquis del Valle arrived inNew Spain, he greatly disapproved of this match. [Pg 365] Besides these children, Cortes had two sons and three daughtersborn out of wedlock. One of these sons, named Don Martin, was a comendador of Santiago, whom he had by the interpretress Doña Marina.The other son, Don Luis, was also a comendador of Santiago, whomhe had by a certain Hermosilla. Of these daughters one was namedPizarro, after her mother, an Indian woman of Cuba; the other wasborn of a Mexican woman. [57] Cortes had, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 240/282
1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… during his lifetime, richly provided for these daughters, and had bestowed lucrative townships upon them; among others, that of Chinanta. There is no doubt he also remembered them in his will, for he was a man of deep penetrationand had sufficient time in his latter days to order all his affairs ina proper manner, he would naturally not omit to fulfil anything thatmight tend to lighten his conscience. In this way, like a good Christian, he also left a fund for erecting an hospital in Mexico, and a cloister inCojohuacan, where he desired his remains might be interred; besides this, he left large sums for other pious purposes. However, in ordernot to go too much into detail I will say nothing further on this head,indeed I have forgotten many circumstances relative to his bequests. Cortes' armorial bearings and their motto bespoke his great valour, and were suitable emblems of his heroic deeds. The motto was inLatin, but as I am no Latin scholar I will not attempt to explain itsmeaning. His escutcheon bore the seven heads, chained, of monarchs whom he had conquered. These I believe, and have heard others say,represent the monarchs Motecusuma of Mexico, Cacamatzin of Tezcuco,Cuitlahuatzin of Iztapalapan; the kings of Tlacupa and Cojohuacan, and a powerful cazique of the province of Tulapa, near Matlaltzinco, who was nephew to Motecusuma, and the nearest heir to the throne of Mexico. The last was Quauhtemoctzin, who fought the terrible battleswith us during the siege of Mexico. I must now say a few words with respect to Cortes' outward person.He was of good stature, his limbs well proportioned and strongly knittogether, but his complexion was rather of an ash-coloured grey, nor wasthere much cheerfulness in his look; and if his countenance had been somewhat larger it would have been more handsome. His eyes, generally speaking, had a remarkably sweet expression, but he couldalso look very grave. The hair of his beard, like that of his head, was black, but not very thick. His chest was well developed, his shoulders broad, his legs were rather bowed, but his ankles and feetwere well proportioned. He had very little embonpoint, and wasrather lean. He was a capital horseman, remarkably expert in all martialexercises, both as a foot and cavalry soldier; but what was morethan this he was uncommonly courageous and never shrunk back from any danger. In his younger days, while living at Hispaniola, he had frequent adventures about women, and often fought with the most expert swordsmen for the possession of some fair one, and alwayscarried off the palm of victory. On one of these occasions he waswounded beneath the underlip, the scar of which was visible through his beard. His bearing, his gait, his conversation, his behaviour during dinner-time, and the taste he showed in his dress, all bespoke the cavalierof distinction and good breeding. He always dressed accordingto the fashion of the day; wore very little silk, satins, or expensivedamasks; but the whole of his garments were plain and very neat.He never bedizened himself with heavy gold chains, but always had the same one, which was of exquisite workmanship, and had attached to it a kind of trinket, having on one side the image of the blessed virgin,holding her heavenly Son in her arms; on the other that of St. Johnthe Baptist, with a Latin inscription. On one of his fingers he worea valuable ring set with a most splendid diamond. To his velvet capwas fastened a medal, with a bust in relief and some name, but I haveforgotten what it was, as latterly he used to wear nothing but clothcaps, without any medal. The style in which he lived was that of a person of high distinction.At the head of his household stood two maestresalas and two mayor-domos;he had many pages to wait upon him, and everything wasserved up in gold and silver. He always made a good dinner, and drank about a pint of wine diluted with water. He also took suppers;but all his dishes were plain, excepting on particular occasions, when, indeed, no expense was spared. He was always affable to us officersand his companions in arms, particularly to those who joined him in the first instance at Cuba. He was a good Latin scholar, and whenever he was in conversation with men of learning he always spoke thatlanguage; indeed, I have heard say, he was a bachelor of laws. Hewas also fond of poetry, and composed several pretty pieces himself,and wrote good prose. His manner of speaking was calm and his sentences were [Pg 366] [Pg 367] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 241/282
Page 1 and 2:
1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenb
Page 3 and 4:
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190: 1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenb
Page 239: 1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenb
show all

The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?