rtes must be satisfied with the rich marquisate he had
conferred upon him, for he had now also to think of those with whose
assistance Cortes had accomplished his undertakings, and who certainly
deserved a reward for their exertions.

From this moment Cortes began gradually to fall in his majesty's favour.
Some ascribed this to the president of the council of the Indies,
cardinal de Siguenza, who had, in a consultation with his majesty,
declared himself against conferring the appointment of governor on
Cortes. Others ascribed it to the comendador-mayor of Leon and his wife
Dona Maria de Mendoza, who felt piqued at the manner in which Cortes had
latterly neglected them. However this may have been, I cannot say; but
his majesty adhered to his first determination, and refused to grant
Cortes his request. The emperor at this time was about to embark at
Barcelona for Flanders, being accompanied by a great number of
distinguished personages, and the three patrons of Cortes persevered in
their endeavours to obtain the appointment in question for him, until at
length his majesty forbade the earl of Nassau to speak another word
about it, remarking to him at the same time that the marquisate he had
conferred upon Cortes produced a larger annual income than he (the earl)
obtained from his whole territory of Nassau.

We will now wish his majesty a good voyage, and say a few words
respecting Cortes' marriage with Dona Juana de Zunniga. The banquets
which took place on this occasion were of the most sumptuous nature, and
the presents which Cortes made his bride, as I have been informed by
persons who saw them, were so expensive and magnificent, that nothing in
Spain had ever before been seen like them. Even the empress Isabella, it
is said, expressed a wish, from the descriptions which had been given
her of these presents by the jewellers, to possess similar ones, and
that she had accepted with indifference several precious stones which
Cortes had presented to her, because they were not equal in beauty and
value to those he had given to his wife.

Cortes, upon the whole, experienced a great deal of vexation during his
stay in Spain. Above all, it is said, the empress changed her previous
favorable sentiments with regard to Cortes, when she learnt his
ungrateful conduct towards the comendador-mayor of Leon, his wife Dona
Maria, and the cardinal de Siguenza; and that he had kept back jewels of
much greater value than he had presented