Catalina Pizarro Altamirano

(c. 1465–1530)

BIRTH

c. 1465

PLACE

Trujillo, Extremadura, Crown of Castile

DEATH

1530

PLACE

near Texcoco, New Spain (now Mexico)

FAMILY

MOTHER

Hernán Cortés

(1485-1547)

HUSBAND

Martín Cortés de Monroy

(birth date unknown)

HOMES

RELIGIOUS VIEWS

RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED

DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED

MEMBERSHIPS

AWARDS

Catalina Pizarro Altamirano was the mother of Hernán Cortés and wife of Martín Cortés de Monroy. Surviving family correspondence has been edited and published by the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

EARLY LIFE

Sources associate Catalina with the Pizarro and Altamirano families of Extremadura, without securing her birth or death dates.

CAREER

DEATH

Catalina accompanied her son Hernán Cortés back to New Spain in 1530. She fell ill and died near Texcoco that year. The Spanish archival authority record says food shortages and hardship during a dispute with the first Audiencia aggravated her illness. She was buried at the Franciscan monastery in Texcoco.