Martín Cortés, 2nd Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca

For other people named Martín Cortés (disambiguation)|Martín Cortés, see Martín Cortés (disambiguation).

Don Martín Cortés y Zúñiga, 2nd Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (1532–1589) was the son and designated heir of Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés by his second wife, Doña Juana de Zúñiga. Don Martín shared his name with an elder half-brother, whose mother was Doña Marina.

Biography

Don Martín Cortés y Zǘñiga was born in Cuernavaca, Morelos, in the then-viceroyalty of New Spain, now Mexico. He had an older half-brother with the same name (Martín Cortés (el Mestizo), 1523-1568), son of Hernán Cortés y La Malinche, nicknamed "El Mestizo". Illegitimate by birth, Martín lacked the noble title of don, which his younger, legitimate half-brother held. Don Martín also had three sisters, Doña María Cortés y Zúñiga, Doña Catalina Cortés y Zúñiga, and Doña Juana Cortés y Zúñiga. In this article Don Martín Cortés Zúñiga is referred to as "Don Martín" while any reference to his brother will be suffixed "el Mestizo".

Don Martín and his brother Don Luis traveled with their father to Spain in 1540, to serve King Charles I of Spain, and later his successor Philip II of Spain. He participated in the Battle of St. Quentin in 1557, and in the Netherlands campaign.

During his residence in Spain, he married his cousin, Doña Ana Ramírez de Arellano, daughter of the Count of Aguilar, Don Pedro Ramírez de Arellano. He maintained close ties with the aristocracy and intelligentsia of the moment, such as the writer Francisco López de Gómara, whom he sponsored to write the biography of his father Hernán Cortés.

Don Martín, with brother Don Luis and half brother Martín el Mestizo, returned to a friendly welcome in the viceroyalty of New Spain in 1563. At the time, during a period of disturbances in the city of Mexico City, Don Martín, the second Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, was considered the richest person in New Spain, with many encomiendas in various parts of New Spain, as well as the entailed estate as Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca. In López de Gómara's dedication of his biography of Cortés to its sponsor Don Martín, he says to the young Marquis in admonition, "in the first instance you have wealth; in the second, fame, for honor and riches go hand in hand. At the same time your inheritance obligates you to emulate the deeds of your father, Hernán Cortés, and to spend well what he left you." Martín Cortés acquired the "bad habit," that habit acquired in "los Países Bajos" (present day Netherlands), of toasting. Toasting offended the perception of manners in Nueva España.

Don Martín led a movement along with some encomenderos, fighting to prevent the abolition of ecomiendas mandated by the New Laws of 1542, and greater autonomy for the new world. On the death of the Viceroy don Luís de Velasco in 1564, don Martín was named Captain General by the Mexico City Council with hints of independence for the viceroyalty. In 1565 there was a push to crown don Martín king of New Spain. On 16 July 1566, the failure of these subversives lead to the arrest of the leaders, including don Martín, his brothers, and the rich and influential Alonso de Ávila, nephew of the conquistador of the same name. The conspirators were sentenced to death, but on arrival of the new viceroy don Gastón de Peralta on 15 November 1567, the Cortés brothers were spared. Most of the other conspirators, including Alonso de Avila, were executed by public beheading.

Don Martín was given leave in April of 1567 to travel to Spain to plead their case before the King. He served time in Algeria, along with his brother Don Luis. Martin was pardoned in 1574, his properties returned to him, and was allowed to leave Algeria but not return to New Spain. His brother Luis, who had also served time in Algeria was allowed to return to New Spain.

Don Martín Cortés died in Madrid, Spain, 13 August 1589.

A codex held by the Latin American Library at Tulane University, the "Atatepec Land Claim [Petition to recover a tract of land from the marques]," describes litigation against don Martín Cortés.