He came of an ancient and
respectable family; and historians have gratified the national
vanity by tracing it up to the Lombard kings, whose descendants
crossed the Pyrenees, and established themselves in Aragon under the
Gothic monarchy. This royal genealogy was not found out till Cortes
had acquired a name which would confer distinction on any descent,
however noble. His father, Martin Cortes de Monroy, was a captain of
infantry, in moderate circumstances, but a man of unblemished
honour; and both he and his wife, Dona Catalina Pizarro Altamirano,
appear to have been much regarded for their excellent qualities.
In his infancy Cortes is said to have had a feeble constitution,
which strengthened as he grew older. At fourteen, he was sent to
Salamanca, as his father, who conceived great hopes from his quick and
showy parts, proposed to educate him for the law, a profession which
held out better inducements to the young aspirant than any other.
The son, however, did not conform to these views. He showed little
fondness for books, and after loitering away two years at college,
returned home, to the great chagrin of his parents. Yet his time had
not been wholly misspent, since he had laid up a little store of
Latin, and learned to write good prose, and even verses "of some
estimation, considering"- as an old writer quaintly remarks- "Cortes
as the author." He now passed his days in the idle, unprofitable
manner of one who, too wilful to be guided by others, proposes no
object to himself.
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