Beatrice de Bobadilla (La Cazadora)

Beatriz de Bobadilla (* between 1457 and 1465 in Medina del Campo , Spain ; † November 1504 ) was mistress of the Canary Islands of La Gomera and El Hierro, which belong to Spain .

People named Beatriz de Bobadilla

There were at least three people in the family who had the first name Beatriz:

1. Beatrice de Bobadilla, Marquesa de Moya (1440-1511). She was lady in waiting and confidante of Queen Isabella I (Castile) . She was the cousin of Juan de Bobadilla, the father of
2. Beatrice de Bobadilla (La Cazadora)
3. Another person named Beatriz de Bobadilla was a niece of Beatriz de Bobadilla (Marquesa de Moya). In 1496 she was in the entourage of the then Infanta Johanna, later Queen Johanna (the madwoman) .

Origin and time at the court of Castile

Beatriz de Bobadilla was the daughter of Leonor Alvarez de Vadillo and Juan de Bobadilla, the king's court hunter. Her father's office (hunter, Spanish = Cazador) led to the nickname La Cazadora to distinguish her from her relative Beatriz de Bobadilla, the Marquesa de Moya. Members of her family had served the Crown of Castile for generations. She herself probably became a maid in 1479 in the entourage of Queen Isabella I (Castile). Due to her age and civil status, she could not yet be, like her relatives of the same name, Beatriz de Bobadilla, Marquesa de Moya, the Queen's Lady of Honor. She was said to have had various liaisons, especially with King Ferdinand . Most of the claims, however, were made after her death. Reliable sources for this do not appear to be available.

Hernán Peraza

Hernán Peraza was the second son of Diego de Herrera and Inés Peraza de las Casas , heiress of rule over the islands of Lanzarote , Fuerteventura , La Gomera and El Hierro, with the right to conquer all the Canary Islands and on behalf of the Crown of Castile to dominate. His parents gave Hernán Peraza control of the island of La Gomera in 1478. When the former governor of the island of Gran Canaria , Juan Rejón , appeared on the island of La Gomera , despite an instruction from the Catholic Kings to all potential conquerors of the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife not to enter the islands under the rule of the Peraza family, he was killed after an argument by Hernán Peraza or by his people. After hearing the complaint of Juan Rejon's widow, Elvira de Sotomayor, the court sent an examining magistrate to La Gomera. This had Hernán Peraza brought to the royal court on the mainland. There are no court records on the case that the Catholic Monarchs seem to have decided themselves. Hernán Peraza was acquitted, subject to conditions, because the guilt did not appear obvious, because the widow of the victim had forgiven him and because many important people (especially those of his relatives) stood up for him. Conditions for the acquittal were that Hernan Peraza should return to Gomera and take part in the conquest of Gran Canaria with a number of his own soldiers until the end. Hernan Peraza had previously participated with his people in the conquest of Gran Canaria and, for example, personally led the attack on Tirajana .

Some historians attach great importance to another edition: he should marry Beatriz de Bobadilla. A marriage was arranged between the accused and Beatrice de Bobadilla under the auspices of the Queen. Various historians believe that the Queen requested this wedding because she suspected the danger or even the real existence of an affair between Beatriz de Bobadilla and King Ferdinand. As usual in such cases, the parents or relatives of the bride and groom organized the wedding. However, as was customary when a person from her court married, the queen provided them with material support, in this case 500,000 maravedí . In addition, the Queen gave the bride the Mairenilla estate on the high plateau of Seville . It is believed that these donations were also due to the influence of the advisor and friend of Queen Beatriz de Bobadilla, the Marquesa de Moya, the aforementioned relatives of Beatriz de Bobadilla (La Cazadora).

At the beginning of 1483 the married couple went to Lanzarote to introduce the bride to the groom's parents. From there, Hernán Peraza returned to Gomera in order to take part in the further conquest of the island with 80 people on Gran Canaria. Hernán Peraza's father, Diego de Herrera, also sent 150 men and twelve horses from Lanzarote to take part in the fighting under the command of his son. However, since the conquest of the island was already largely complete that year, the troops were hardly deployed, so that Hernán Peraza was able to return to La Gomera in 1483.

The canary islands

The Crown of Castile had withdrawn the right of the Peraza family to conquer and rule all of the Canary Islands. For this loss of rights, which affected the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma and Tenerife, the Crown of Castile paid compensation in 1483. After the death of Diego de Herrera, Inés de Peraza transferred on June 28, 1485 the right to rule over El Hierro to her second son Hernán Peraza after the right to rule over La Gomera. (The first son, Pedro, was disinherited after being convicted of the murder of his wife, Antonia de Ribera). Hernán Peraza now ruled the two western Canary Islands and his mother continued to rule the two eastern Canary Islands.

It is believed that Beatrice de Bobadilla gave birth to a daughter, Inés, in 1484 and a son, Guillen, in 1488.

As early as 1477 there were repeated complaints at the court of Castile about the treatment of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands, commonly known as Guanches , by the rulers of the House of Peraza. Thereupon the queen made it clear that in principle no baptized Canarian who professed Christianity could be sold as a slave. Hernán Peraza apparently often violated this prohibition on the grounds that these people, sold as slaves, were rebels who did not adhere to Christian values ​​and had rebelled against the crown. In 1484 a royal decree reminded the residents of La Gomera once again that they were obliged to obey their rightful masters. As a prelude to a planned uprising, Hernán Peraza was killed on November 20, 1488 while visiting his lover, a woman who was a native of the island. Beatriz de Bobadilla took refuge with her children in the Torre del Conde and asked the governor of Gran Canaria, Pedro de Vera , for help. He found that the residents of the local principalities of Orone and Anaga were responsible for the death of Hernán Peraza. He killed a large part of the population or dragged them off as slaves.

A royal decree of March 4, 1489 set Beatriz de Bobadilla after the death of her husband Hernán Peraza as guardian of her children to the mistress of La Gomera and El Hierro. As such, she ruled until her death in 1504 when her son was 16 years old.

Christoph Columbus

Beatriz de Bobadilla is also said to have had an affair with Columbus. On his first trip to the west, Columbus wanted to start from the westernmost point of the known world, the island of El Hierro. Since the infrastructure of El Hierro was not particularly developed, La Gomera, the next island that was still in the sphere of influence of Queen Isabella, urged itself to make necessary changes and repairs to the ships and to take water and food on board. Beatriz de Bobadilla was probably not on the island at that time, but on the way to Spain. On his second voyage, Columbus stayed on Gomera for six days in order to take in seeds and domestic animals in addition to the usual food and water. A fellow traveler reports about the stay that the mistress of the island, Beatriz de Bobadilla (La Cazadora), arranged a brilliant reception for Columbus. When Columbus docked on La Gomera on his third voyage, Alonso Fernández de Lugo was in San Sebastián de La Gomera in preparation for his wedding to Beatriz de Bobadilla. An amorous adventure for the bride seems rather unlikely.

Alonso Fernández de Lugo

In 1498 Beatriz de Bobadilla married Alonso Fernández de Lugo , who at that time had been appointed governor of the islands of La Palma and Tenerife for life by Isabella I. The wedding is not viewed by historians as a real love marriage, as both partners were very different. The real reasons could have been power, money and social position. Beatriz de Bobadilla hoped that the marriage would provide support in her dispute against the family of her deceased husband.

After his first failed attempt to conquer Tenerife, Beatriz de Bobadilla had supported Alonso Fernández de Lugo in 1495 at the request of the Queen in his plan to finance a new force to conquer the island. The Queen pointed out at the time that she should act in this way, not to do Alonso Fernández de Lugo a favor, but to participate in the distribution of the profits.

After her second marriage until her last trip to Spain in 1502, Beatriz de Bobadilla lived in San Cristóbal de La Laguna in her husband's house. She handed over government affairs on La Gomera to Judge Hernán Muñoz. Apparently she hardly participated in the public life of La Laguna. Alonso Fernández de Lugo appointed her as his deputy on various occasions, including when he set out on a campaign to the African coast.

Since the death of Beatriz de Bobadilla's first husband, Hernán Peraza, Inés de Peraza, the heiress of the rule over the Canary Islands, the mother-in-law of Beatriz de Bobadilla, tried to transfer the rulership rights over La Gomera and El Hierro and the property on them Reverse islands to her son in order to prevent Beatriz de Bobadilla from having them as her children's representative. Even after Inés de Peraza's death in Seville in March 1503, the clashes in courts continued on the mainland. As an alternative to reversing the rights, Inés de Peraza also demanded that Beatriz de Bobadilla be legally represented for her grandchildren. To justify this demand, Inés de Peraza tried to shake confidence in Beatriz de Bobadilla's seriousness. The bad reputation that Beatriz de Bobadilla had in public after her death and still has today is attributed to these measures. In 1503 Beatrice de Bobadilla appeared before the royal court to represent her children's claims personally.

Beatriz de Bobadilla died in Medina del Campo in November 1504. Her son Guillen de Peraza de Ayala Herrera y Bobadilla took over the rule of the two westernmost Canary Islands after her death as the first Count of La Gomera and Lord of El Hierro.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cioranescu, page 198
2. ^ Cioranescu, p. 29
3. ^ Cioranescu, page 42
4. ↑ z. B. Beneharo de Anaga: A La cruel y ninfómana Beatriz de Bobadilla . Nueva Gráfica, La Laguna 1989, ISBN 84-404-2925-8 , pp. 132 (Spanish).
5. ↑ Cioranescu, page 74
6. ^ Cioranescu, page 72
7. ↑ António Rumeu de Armas: Los amoríos de Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla. (No longer available online.) Anuarios de Estudios Atlánticos ;, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; Retrieved August 28, 2014 (Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ ^{a b} Cioranescu, page 76
9. ↑ António Rumeu de Armas: Los amoríos de Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla. (No longer available online.) Anuarios de Estudios Atlánticos ;, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; Retrieved August 28, 2014 (Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ^ Cioranescu, page 82
11. ^ Cioranescu, page 77
12. ↑ More details on the subject of Antonio Rumeu de Armas: La politica indigenista de Isabel La Catolica . Instituto Isabel la Catolica, Valladolid 1969, p. 487 (Spanish).
13. ↑ ^{a b} Cioranescu, page 95
14. ^ Cioranescu, page 91
15. ↑ Cioranescu, page 96
16. ↑ ^{a b} Cioranescu, page 123
17. ^ Cioranescu, p. 126
18. ^ Cioranescu, page 147
19. ^ Cioranescu, page 75
20. ^ Cioranescu, page 150
21. ^ Cioranescu, page 167

literature

• Alejandro Cioranescu: Una amiga de Cristóbal Colón, Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla . Confederación de Cajas de Ahorros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1989, ISBN 84-505-8354-3 , p. 235 (Spanish).
• Elías Serra Rafols: Alonso Fernández de Lugo, primer colonizador español . Ediciones Idea, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2005, ISBN 84-96505-96-0 , p. 109 (Spanish).

Web links

• António Rumeu de Armas: Los amoríos de doña Beatriz de Bobadilla. Anuarios de Estudios Atlánticos, accessed August 28, 2014 (Spanish).