Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st Duke of the Infantado

Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Figueroa, 1st Duke of the Infantado, or Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Suarez de Figueroa (Guadalajara, Castile, 25 September 1417 – Manzanares el Real, Spain, 25 January 1479) was a Spanish noble.

Portrait of the 1st duke of l'Infantado, since 1470, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Suarez de Figueroa, (1417 - 1479).

Biography

He was the eldest son of the well known literary man of the 15th century, Íñigo López de Mendoza y Lasso de la Vega, (1398–1458), 1st marquis of Santillana since 1447. He became 2nd marquis of Santillana when his father died in 1458.

The title Duke of the Infantado was awarded to him by the Catholic Monarchs, Fernando II de Aragon and Isabel I of Castile, on 22 July 1475.

This was one of the most important duchies in Spain : around 1535, it was associated to the personal lives of some 90,000 vassal families, perhaps about 3-4% of the people from the whole Peninsular kingdoms constituting by then the actual country described as Spain. At that time, that was an enormous number of people. American conquerors, European and American regions Viceroys, on areas adding up to several hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, cities and estensive territorial areas names, bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church stem out and settled in many places originating for some 300 years, from this powerful family.

Construction of the New Castle of Manzanares el Real
The castle of Manzanares el Real

The old castle of Manzanares el Real was the residence of a part of the Mendoza family since the end of the 14th century. The old castle of Manzanares el Real belonged to one the 1st Duke's aunts, a powerful and ruthless (elder) step sister of his father Íñigo, a duchess named Aldonza de Mendoza(circa 1380–1435). Her mother was a member of the troublesome Royal bastards of the middle of the 14th century, the ubiquitous Enriquez family. When Aldonza died in 1435 the nephew, Íñigo, a Lasso de la Vega by his mother, and father of this 1st Duke, insisted over and over again to King Juan II of Castile, on becoming a count of what is now Manzanares el Real.

In the last third of the 15th century, the House of Mendoza decided to build a new palatial castle, larger and more luxurious, more fitting for the economic and political influence achieved by this family. Diego started the works on the New Castle of Manzanares el Real in 1475, but it was his elder son who finished the works after his death. The castle is used now as a fancy place near Madrid for glamorous weddings, social events, banquets and so on.

Marriage and children

Diego Hurtado married firstly Brianda de Luna y Mendoza. They had:

He remarried with Isabel de Noronha, and had:

  • Ana de Mendoza, married Juan Pérez de Cabrera, 2. marqués de Moya
  • Beatriz de Mendoza, married Diego de Castilla, 3. señor de Gor

Political background of this Mendoza's family branch
Coat of arms of the House of Mendoza.

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza had several cadet brothers and sisters, another 9 or so, using different names which didn't impact future genealogists:

  • Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Suárez de Figueroa, Duque del Infantadon a.k.a. Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1. duque of l'Infantado, (1417–1479), in English Wikipedia. Notice that the 2nd duke, the 4th and the 5th, grandson of the 4th because his father, who would have been the 5th, died before the 4th were called Iñigo Lópes de Mendoza, while the 3rd, the assumed to be 5th but who died before the 4th, and the 6th were all called Diego Hurtado de Mendoza at the least, within successive generations.
  • Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st count of Tendilla, second son, the title being awarded by king Henry IV of Castilein 1465. While his oldest brother, later a duke, was named as Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, his grandfather name, this second kid of the 1st marquis of Santillana was registered as Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, the same than his father and other earlier ancestors. However, his inheritor, was also named Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza.

The first count was considered Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza y Suarez de Figueroa, while the 2nd count of Tendilla would be described as Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza y Quiñones as his mother came from the Leon kingdom "Quiñones" family.

  • Pedro Lasso de Mendoza, señor del valle de Lozoya. Here, Lasso was used to honor the memory of the "Lasso de la Vega" the mother's Cantabrian family. They were not people with outstanding political or military power records.
  • Mencía de Mendoza, wife of Pedro Fernández de Velasco, count of Haro, a.k.a.Pedro Fernández de Velasco y Manrique de Lara. She did not used either the "Hurtado de " or the "Lópes de" particles in her name, but it is interesting she described herself as a "Mendoza" rather than a "Lasso de la Vega" or as "Suárez de Figueroa" female, because of her grandmother or her mother, as many noble females used to do before the mid 15th-century times in Castile.
  • Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza y Figueroa, count of la Coruña. Title by king Henry IV of Castile, dated 28 April 1469. Notice, that here "Suarez de", from his mother's family name, is grafted before the "Mendoza", leaving "Figueroa" as the second part of his mother's name, something rather unusual until then. Apparently, this title was awarded again by king Charles I of Spain, a.k.a. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to Rodrigo Pacheco.

In 1969, General Francisco Franco, recognized this title for aristocratic lady Marta Cotoner y Martos, married to motor car manufacturer Valeriano Barreiros, 2nd son of self-made motor industry man Eduardo Barreiros y Nespereira. This self-autarchy Spanish cars factory was bought later by the American Chrysler Corporation, while the Barreiros family, an industrial group from Galicia, NW of Spain, where the General came from, were given the status of a protected multiservices company, dealing mainly on Diesel motors manufacturing, trade, agricultural commodities, export, import, cinema and Television business. These industrial ventures related to Spanish Fascism do not seem to arouse today the morbidity of other political events at the time.

  • Pedro González de Mendoza, (May 3, 1428 – January 11, 1495) was a most notorious Spanish cardinal and statesman. Three of his male children, born out of wedlock while he was already a Catholic bishop were "legitimized", as a token of generosity towards the "three beautiful sins of our cardinal" by the ruling Queen Isabel I of Castile, a.k.a. "The Catholic", deceased 1504, half sister of king Henry IV of Castile, who had died December 1474.
  • Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, señor de Colmenar, El Cardoso y El Vado. Notice the name "Hurtado de Mendoza" is used here again as in the case of the first son. Possibly an illegitimate child.
  • María de Mendoza, wife of Pero Afán de Ribera, Conde de los Molares.
  • Leonor de la Vega y Mendoza, wife of Gastón de la Cerda Sarmiento, count of Medinaceli. She was named for her grandmother Leonor (Lasso) de la Vega, almost a medieval reminiscence in contrast to her other sisters.
  • Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza, señor de Tamajón. Here again another "Hurtado de Mendoza" as his grandfather, the frequently unfaithful father of the 1st marquis of Santillana, who died while visiting one of his lovers, from the "Ayala" family in Toledo in the company of his bossy daughter from his first marriage, the later duchess Aldonza de Mendoza, for ever fighting with her younger half brother the first marquis and Poet, Iñigo.
Preceded by
Duke of the Infantado
1475–1479		 Succeeded by
Íñigo López de Mendoza y Luna

Some sources

Santillana, M. de, Obras completas, edición, introducción y notas de Gómez Moreno, Á., y Kerkhof, M. P.A.M., Planeta, Autores Hispanos, 1988. ISBN 84-320-3977-2.

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