Hernán Cortés.
Dowry agreement for Montezuma’s daughter, June 27, 1526.
Copied from a Spanish manuscript, [Valladolid], ca. 1750.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (61)
Descendents of Moctezuma
Hernán Cortés believed that a marriage between the eldest daughter of Moctezuma, called “Doña Isabel,” and Spaniard Alonso Grado would benefit New Spain by bringing conqueror and conquered together as a new people. In this document, Cortés uses Moctezuma’s support during the conquest of Mexico to justify a substantial dowry containing lands, several ranches, and the labor of the Indians who lived there. Unhappily, Grado died the next year. Cortés then married Doña Isabel to another conquistador, with whom she had two children. Following her second husband’s death, she married again and gave birth to five more children, continuing the Moctezuma line for many centuries.