Less than a quarter of a century after these memorable visits, the place
had become so peopled with new settlers that it was elevated to the
dignity of a city, and, in 1527, was created a bishopric. A year later,
Narvaez set forth hence on his memorable expedition for the conquest of
Florida, whence "he never more returned." Later in the same year
Hernando de Sotto arrived, accompanied by over a thousand armed men, to
assume the command of the entire island. He brought with him his wife,
Doña Isabella de Bobadilla, a lady who was famous for her beauty and
her virtues. During his celebrated expeditions into the Americas, he
left her here, in the responsible position of Governess of the island.
She was the only woman who ever ruled in Cuba. Her sway was beneficent
and mild, but the chroniclers relate that when months and even years
passed without her receiving any letters from her husband, she "pined
and languished, and fell into a lethargic state, so that her life was
despaired of." Whether Doña Isabella Bobadilla died in Cuba or returned
to Spain, I have never been able to ascertain. There is no mention of
her having been buried in the Cathedral here, where Velasquez was
certainly entombed, for in 1810 his body was found by some workmen in a
stone coffin, at a distance of about twenty feet below the soil.
The rest of the history of the town is a repetition of that of Havana, a
series of sieges by pirates and buccaneers. In 1662 it was attacked by
Lord Windsor, and bombarded by a squadron of fifteen vessels. The
English landed, destroyed the Morro Fort, blew up the Cathedral, and
otherwise behaved themselves more like Pagans than Christians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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