Cortés was given the title of "Marquesado del Valle de Oaxaca". He had sent an expedition to the area in 1521 and some of the soldiers created a new settlement called "Guajaca". Cortes however wanted power over the entire region and ejected them. In 1526 he was suspended from his governorship by Ponce de Leon and returned to Spain to petition Charles V who granted him the title in 1529. This "was one of the very few seignorial hereditary domains created in the Indies" and gave him "full civil and criminal jurisdiction over his 23.000 vassals...... Although the crown had granted the title and privileges, the royal authorities made continual efforts to prevent the Marquesado from fully acquiring the political and juridical power required in the classic feudal model" (Wiki). Thus his enemies had already re-established the town as "Antequera" and Cortés was unable to maintain control over it when it was granted a city charter in 1531 leaving him, as Marquis, only in control of the surrounding lands and native towns. This "impeded the city’s growth in two important ways: it severely restricted the number of towns available for distribution in encomienda to city vecinos, and it limited the amount of land available for municipal commons and pasture". Although his main house was in Cuernavaca, there is one named "Case de Cortes" in the native town of Cuilapan (between Oaxaca and Monte Alban and originally included in the nomination but dismissed by ICOMOS as "unnecessarily redundant"!). There is also a "Casa de Cortes" in Oaxaca itself - but this is an 18th C mansion, although it is referred to in the AB evaluation - "The important religious monuments (..........), the superb patrician town houses (the home of Cortes) and whole streets lined with other dwellings combine to create a harmonious cityscape". See
See
colonialmexico.blogspot.com
