CORTS, HERNN, MARQUS DEL VALLE DE OAXACA

born 1485, Medelln, near Mrida, Extremadura, Castile died Dec. 2, 1547, Castilleja de la Cuesta, near Seville Corts also spelled Cortz Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire (151921) and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. Corts was the son of Martn Corts de Monroy and of Doa Catalina Pizarro Altamarinonames of ancient lineage. They had little wealth, but much honour, according to Corts' secretary, Francisco Lpez de Gmara, who tells how, at the age of 14, the young Hernn was sent to study at Salamanca, in west-central Spain, because he was very intelligent and clever in everything he did. Gmara went on to describe him as ruthless, haughty, mischievous, and quarrelsome, a source of trouble to his parents. Certainly he was much given to women, frustrated by provincial life, and excited by stories of the Indies Columbus had just discovered. He set out for the east coast port of Valencia with the idea of serving in the Italian wars, but instead he wandered idly about for nearly a year. Clearly Spain's southern ports, with ships coming in full of the wealth and colour of the Indies, proved a greater attraction. He finally sailed for the island of Hispaniola (now Santo Domingo) in 1504. He was then 19. Additional reading The best academic source remains William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, 3 vol. (1843, with many later reprints), a work so thorough that no scholar or traveler has since been able to fault him other than in very minor details. Of the modern studies, Salvador de Madariaga, Hernn Cortz, Conqueror of Mexico (1941, reissued 1979), is the most scholarly and most readable. Two accounts for the general reader are Jon Manchip White, Corts and the Downfall of the Aztec Empire: A Study in a Conflict of Cultures (1971, reissued 1989); and William Weber Johnson, Corts (1975, reprinted 1987).