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SELECTED ITEMS FROM NARRATIVES OF THE CAREER OF HERNANDO DE SOTO IN THE CONQUEST OF FLORIDA Translated by Buckingham Smith for the Bradford Club New York, r866 [3.15.156.140] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 19:36 GMT) CONVEYANCE OF DOWER BY THE WIDOW OF PEDRA.RIAS DAVILA TO HERNANDO DE SOTO, IN CONSIDERATION OF THE ESPOUSAL OF HER DAUGHTER. Be it known to all who shall see this writing, that I, Dona Ysabel de Bobadilla, wife that was of Pedrarias de Avila, deceased,-be he in gloryGovernor tha~ was of Tierra Firme, my lord and husband, declare, that inasmuch as, by the assistance of Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, espousals of marriage are concerted and contracted, by words of assent, between Dona Ysabel de Bobadilla, my legitimate daughter and of said Pedrarias, with you, Senor Captain Fernando de Soto, being at this Court of their Majesties, native and resident of the City of Badajoz, by these presents, henceforth I promise and obligate myself to give you, and do henceforth give in dower and marriage with the said Dona Ysabel de Bobadilla, my daughter, for her and for her goods of dower, that you may keep and marry her with the consent and in the peace of the Holy Mother Church of Rome, that is to say, all the cattle with their young which the said Governor, my lord and husband, established and left at Panama, in Tierra Firme, with all the cottage, the slaves who tend the cattle, the stud of horses with them in the fields, and every thing else that to said round cottage and stock is in all or in any wise belonging, with the increase of slaves, and whatever else is thereto pertinent, which the said Pedrarias de Avila, by a clause made of his will between living, in pure and perfect gift irrevocable in favour of said Dona Ysabel de Bobadilla, my daughter, that she thereby might the better and more honorably marry, as more fully may be found in the clause referred to of said will, which I deem here inserted and incorporated with the same force and vigour it would have were it written out word for word; of the which I, for what therein belongs to me and appertains, or that can appertain , by reason of any right of dower, paraphernalia, and goods, acquired during the matrimony existing between me and the said Pedrarias Davila, my lord and husband, as well in whatever other manner, I consent publicly, and approve consent to the aforementioned donative made by Pedro Arias, and do so by good, lasting, and genuine signature, for this and in all time of the world, for evermore ... Done at Valladolid, the 14th day of November, of the year 1536. One of the witnesses to this release was Juan de Aitasco. The document exists in full in the Archivo de Indias. LETTER OF HERNANDO DE SOTO RESPECTING CONCESSIONS HE DESIRES SHALL BE OBTAINED FOR HIM AT COURT.! + VERY MAGNIFICENT SIR: That which Your Worship is to favour me in is as follows: Inasmuch as His Majesty has not ceded to Francisco Pizarro more than two hundred and seventy-five leagues by Royal grant, of the six hundred that the said Governor Pizarro holds from Santiago, whence begins his government , to the mines of Callao, which divide his territory from that of Don Diego de Almagro, as will appear by an agreement made between them, must be taken off from the beginning of his government to the town of San Miguel, an extent may be of one hundred leagues, which region, from said town of Panama, supposing now His Majesty should be pleased to grant it to me in government, is the most sterile and unprofitable of that country, although I am of opinion that by way of Quito there is good opening into the interior, whereby to serve His Majesty in the Provinces through which I came. Your Worship, not being able to get what I have set forth, will try then for the government of Guatemala, with permission to make discovery in the South Sea, and for the title of Adelantado, with concession from His Majesty of the tenth part of whatever I may at my own cost discover in the sea, and conquer, with patent, and to my successors. What Your Worship will send to the Senor Comendador, to be negotiated with His Majesty, is as follows: The mantle of Santiago for Fernan Pon~e de...

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