Hernan Cortés
For this new voyage Velásquez sought a commander of quite supermundane
qualities — one astute and valiant enough to achieve rare deeds and at the
same time subservient enough to give all the honors and emoluments to
Velasquez. The Governor, profiting by Grijalva's labors, had already on
the 13th of November secured for himself the adelantadoship of all that
"he had discovered" in the West or "might thereafter discover" there, and
his solicitude to make just the right choice of a commander was intense.
Then, as not seldom in human affairs, stepped in Fate —ironical, mocking
Fate. To Diego Velasquez, tremulous with apprehension lest he choose
wrongly for himself, Fate dictated the selection of Hernan Cortés!
It has been said that the rise of Cortés was due to the third voyage
of Columbus; and the statement is true in that his rise was part of the
movement following upon Columbus's pearl discoveries — a movement which,
through Nicuesa and Ojeda, begat
Balboa; and, through
Balboa, begat Pedrarias; and, through
Pedrarias, those activities in Cuba which resulted in the
expeditions of
Córdoba and Grijalva. Apropos of Columbus, in this connection, regret
at times has found voice that it was not he who conquered Mexico rather
than Cortés. There, it is said, he would have found fulfillment of his
dream of gold, if not of spicery, in measure far more complete than in
Asia and India, for in the fifteenth century the Cathay of Marco Polo, as
also Polo's Cipangu, were vanished things. But to each his task. The
Mexican conquest called for traits at least one of which, ruthlessness,
Columbus did not possess. It called, that is to say, for the traits which
were peculiarly Spanish, and it called for all of them — for ruthlessness,
for pride, for devoutness, and for romanticism. These traits, combined and
coordinated in a unique manner, belonged to Cortés.
Hernan Cortés was born in Medellin, in Extremadura, in 1485. His
parents were — as who in those days in Spain was not? — of noble descent
though poor. As he was delicate in health, he was destined for the law. At
fourteen he entered the
University of
Salamanca, where he remained two years, acquiring a smattering of
Latin and some ease in rhetoric. On leaving the university he looked about
him. He might join the banner of the Great Captain, Córdoba, as had been
the frustrated purpose of so many of the followers of Pedrarias, or he
might go to the Indies. The Indies were his choice, and thither in 1504 he
took passage.
This was the period just subsequent to the coming of Nicolás de
Ovando to Espanola as Governor, and Cortés after some hesitation was
induced by Ovando to become a planter. In 1510 he would have joined
Nicuesa on his Veragua (Castilla del Oro) expedition, but was prevented by
an abscess under the right knee. In 1511 Diego Velásquez, who admired his
intelligence, took him to Cuba as business adviser or private secretary.
Cortés was young and famed for his amorous gallantries. According to
reports not altogether illuminating, his " affairs " in Cuba involved him
in discord with Velásquez. Catalina Suárez was the name of one of his
inamoratas, and her he married. By 1518 Velásquez, despite differences,
had appointed him alcalde at Santiago de Cuba. Cortés was now
thirty-three. He was of medium stature, compact and muscular, and had dark
eyes, good features, a short beard, and legs a trifle bowed. Outwardly he
was frank and vivacious, but inwardly he was calculating and
self-contained.
Since 1516 in Espanola, Diego Columbus, as Admiral and Governor, had
been under the supervisory authority of three monks, known as the
Jeronimite Fathers, who had been sent to the Indies at the instance of Las
Casas to temper somewhat with mercy the dealings of Spaniards with the
natives, and it was necessary to obtain from them sanction for enterprises
such as that for which Velásquez had selected Cortés. Velásquez obtained
the requisite sanction and, on the 23d of October, before Grijalva's own
return from the west, he issued instructions authorizing (as in Grijalva's
case) exploration but not colonization.
Cortés was now energy itself. He mortgaged his estate; he secured a
large contribution from Velásquez; he stuck a plume in his bonnet; he
hoisted a banner; he issued proclamations. By these means and by enacting
throughout a jovial role, he gathered out of Cuba and Jamaica eleven
vessels, 508 soldiers, and 109 seamen by February 10, 1519. But there were
difficulties, and the gravest of these was a distrust of Cortés which was
more and more perceptibly defining itself in the mind of the Governor.
Like the chorus in the drama of antiquity, the fool or jester of early
modern drama performed a work of prognosis. He forecast the issue. Such a
fool Diego Columbus had about him, officially, in the person of a
sharp-witted dwarf named Francisquillo. This oracle, unlike the fool in
Lear, did not say openly to his master: "Thou had'st little wit in thy
bald crown when thou gav'st thy golden one away, " but he said what was
equivalent to it. To Velásquez — as one day, along with Cortés, he
surveyed the harbor of Santiago alive with the preparation of Cortés's
fleet — Francisquillo, who was capering about, exclaimed: "Have a care,
Diego, Diego, lest this Estremaduran captain of yours make off with the
fleet!" Herein, it is said, the distrust on the part of Velásquez took its
rise.
Cortés did not slink from Santiago with his ships in the night. He
left openly in the daytime after embracing the Governor, but he was
nevertheless closely watched. Indeed Velásquez's distrust of him continued
to grow, for he made frantic efforts to supersede him at Trinidad and to
stop him and apprehend him at San Cristóbal.
In his train Cortés took a notable band of Spanish gentlemen — ten
stanch captains each in command of a company, with himself in command of
the eleventh. The arms carried were thirty-two crossbows, thirteen
firelocks, and an outfit of swords and spears, the whole reënforced by
artillery in the form of ten bronzed guns — breechloaders! — and four
falconets. But above and beyond all else were sixteen noble horses, about
which more anon. The general rendezvous was Cape San Antonio, the most
westerly point of Cuba, whence on the 18th of February the expedition —all
save Pedro de Alvarado's ship, which was driven aside by tempest — set its
prows for Cozumel.
Back to: The Spanish Conquerors
