Note 145 — Chapter I

[Cortés availed himself of the same opportunity by which the royal fifth was despatched, to send costly or curious presents to numerous individuals and churches in Spain. For this fact I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. George Sumner, who, when in Spain, made a visit to the archives of Simancas, from which he has furnished me with some interesting particulars for the period on which I am engaged. In a file endorsed Papeles de Cortés he met with a list, without date, but evidently belonging to the year 1522, of the gold, plumage, and ornaments sent by Cortés to the different persons and institutions in Spain. “The policy of Cortés and his clear-sightedness,” Mr. Sumner justly remarks, “are well shown by this. Not a church, not a shrine of any fame, throughout Spain, has been forgotten. To Santa Mariá del Antigua in Sevilla, a rich offering of gold and of plumage; to Santa María del Pilar in Zaragoza, the same; another again to San Jago de Compostella; and one to the Cartuja of Seville, in which the bones of Columbus were then lying. There are plumages and gold for every place of importance. Then the bishops and men of power are not forgotten; for to them also are rich presents sent. In a time when there were no gazettes to trumpet one’s fame, what surer way to notoriety than this? What surer way, in Spain, for gaining that security which Cortés so much needed?”]