Beatriz de Bobadilla (1440–1511) was a Castillian noble,

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

, and

confidant The confidant ( or ; feminine: confidante, same pronunciation) is a character in a story whom a protagonist confides in and trusts. Confidants may be other principal characters, characters who command trust by virtue of their position such as ...

of Queen

Isabella I of Castile Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon ...

. She was the childhood friend of Isabella and remained at her court as her

adviser An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs catego ...

throughout her reign, once being subjected to an

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

attempt when mistaken for the queen. For their service to the crown, in 1480 Bobadilla and her husband were granted the and, in 1489, the lordship of Chinchón.

Life

Beatriz de Bobadilla was born in 1440 to Mosén Pedro de Bobadilla and Beatriz de Corral. Her father was

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

of , where Isabel de Trastámara, future Queen regnant of Castile, grew up and was schooled. The two girls became close; as Beatriz was a decade older than Isabella, the former filled the role of an older sibling for Isabella. They would be lifelong friends. According to apocrypha, during the short-lived betrothal of Isabella to

Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco (1423–1466), was Master of the Order of Calatrava (1445–1466), 1st Lord of Ureña and Osuna, and an important political figure at the court of Henry IV of Castile. He was the younger brother of Juan Pacheco and ...

, many years Isabella's senior and infamously lecherous, Bobadilla is said to have threatened to kill Girón to preserve Isabella's health and happiness. Bobadilla participated in Henry IV's attempts to keep Isabella and

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...

separate.

Juan Pacheco Juan Pacheco, 1st Duke of Escalona (1419 – 1 October 1474), better known as Juan Pacheco, Marquess of Villena, was a Castilian noble of Portuguese descent who rose to power in the last years of the reign of Juan II of Castile and came to ...

convinced Isabella's ladies-in-waiting that the marriage was perilous, as it could deliver Castile into the hands of Ferdinand's father, King

John II John II may refer to: People * John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499) * John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672) * John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302) * John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318) * John II Komnenos (1087–114 ...

Family

The

Bobadilla family The Bobadilla family was one of the wealthiest and most influential families within the Kingdom of Spain, particularly during the Age of Discovery. Overview The family had a long history of service and ties to the crown of Castile. They were membe ...

was one with a long history of service to the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...

. Bobadilla's niece was

Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ulloa-Ossorio (Medina del Campo, 1462 – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1504) was the daughter of Juan de Bobadilla and named after her cousin Beatriz de Bobadilla. Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio was married to the ruler o ...

, Governess of

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...

, who was known as "the Huntress" for her amorous exploits at the Castilian court. Other prominent relatives include Francisco Fernández de Bobadilla and

Isabel de Bobadilla Isabel de Bobadilla, or Inés de Bobadilla (c. 1505–1554) was the first female governor of Cuba from 1539–1543. Background Isabel was born to a family closely associated with the exploration and conquest of the Americas. She was the third ...

Citations

References

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Life

Family

Citations

References

Further reading