Note XII‑7 — Chapter XII · ALVARADO'S LAST EXPEDITION. 1537-1541.
Reading edition
No greater proof could exist of the high favor in which Alvarado stood at court than the arrangement of this second marriage. The lady being the sister of his former wife, a special dispensation of the pope was required to legalize the marriage; and through the influence of Cobos and the power of the emperor a bull was granted. Such an authorization was rarely obtained. Oviedo, iii. 214-15; Alvarado, Carta, in Arévalo, Col. Doc. Antig., 179; Gavarrete, Copias de Doc., MS., 43-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 269; Torquemada, i. 323. Remesal, who is in error as to the date of this marriage, has this remark respecting the dispensation. 'Licencia que se dà raras vezes.... Y entonces parecio mayor liberalidad del Sumo Pontifice, por auer sido el primer matrimonio consumado.' Hist. Chyapa, 17. See also Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 155.