Did Hernán Cortés Murder His First Wife?

Within two months of arriving in New Spain, Catalina Suárez Marcaida, first wife of the conquistador Hernán Cortés, was dead. Did she meet with foul play?

A statue of Catalina Suárez Marcaida, wife of Hernán Cortés, in Seville.
A statue of Catalina Suárez Marcaida from 1575 in Seville. Suárez died under mysterious circumstances less than a year into her marriage to Hernán Cortés, governor of New Spain. Wikimedia Commons.

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