Why even the saints could not stand the one-eyed princess Ana de Mendoza

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The life of this woman was so filled with events that in the following centuries she repeatedly became the heroine of love dramas, plays, operas and, later, serials. A representative of the highest Spanish nobility and a mother of ten children should have led a quiet and measured existence, but this was only until the death of her husband, and then Ana's fate suddenly ceased to be boring.

House de Mendoza was in the 16th century one of the noblest families in Spain. Ana's ancestors were all-powerful cardinals, generals, viceroys of the Spanish provinces and grandees. The future princess Eboli was born in June 1540 at the city's castle of Sifuentes. The reasons why the young heiress of enormous wealth lost her eye is not exactly known. There is a legend that this happened during a fencing lesson, because the ladies in those days were not at all such muslin young ladies as in later centuries. Although many who knew Anu later believed that she wears the bandage for the sake of originality or even to hide her squint. One way or another, but in the old portraits of Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda, Princess Eboli is always easily recognizable.

Despite such a serious physical defect, the girl was considered a real beauty. At the age of 13, her parents have already agreed on her marriage. True, this option for a sovereign family could be considered not just unsuccessful, but even shameful - the groom, by birth and wealth, was not even a candle to the radiant Mendoza. However, there was one reason why 36-year-old Ruya Gomez de Silva did get the princess's hand. The matchmaker in this matter was the prince himself and the heir to the throne, the future Philip II. The groom was his favorite, secretary, confidant and just a friend. In addition to his patronage, the prince promised the newlyweds a huge lifetime annual payment of 6 thousand ducats, so the girl was actually "sold" very dearly, so that even a noble family was satisfied.

The marriage took place a couple of years later, although the groom could not attend the ceremony, it was considered quite normal then. Ruya de Silva was very busy at that time - in England he married his king. He was able to reach his young wife only after a couple of years, so the young princess had time to think about life and fall in love with her lawful spouse in absentia. Despite the huge age difference and such a peculiar beginning, this marriage turned out to be very successful.

The young people bought themselves a whole city in the province of Guadalajara and started rebuilding the old palace. Ana gave birth to ten children in sixteen years of family life (probably, despite the injury, she was in excellent health). True, she did not delve into the affairs of management. When, after the death of her husband, it turned out that the family, and with it the whole city, was in huge debts, it was an unpleasant surprise. A 33-year-old widow with children in her arms, pregnant with her last child, found herself in an extremely difficult situation.

I must say that the couple were distinguished by their religiosity, for many years they provided patronage to the monastic orders and founded several monasteries of the Franciscans and Carmelites. They even added a small monastery to their palace and invited Teresa of Avila, who was known as the founder of the direction of barefoot Carmelites, to this future spiritual center of the city. This amazing woman, by the way, was canonized after her death and numbered among the Teachers of the Church. She is also remembered as a courageous reformer and the first Spanish writer.

It was to Teresa of Avila that Ana de Mendoza "fled" when she realized that worldly vanity meant only huge financial problems for her. True, she did it in her own way. The noble Spanish woman went to the monastery, which she herself had once founded, magnificently and with pomp. She walked the streets of the city with a dance procession, thus notifying everyone of the decision to leave the world. True, she planned to live outside the walls of the monastery as she was used to, and Teresa of Avila very soon became convinced of this.

Bringing her maids with her, the princess immediately declared that in this world she obeyed only one person - her late husband, and the abbess went mad if she thought that she would obey her. Numerous visitors, noisy dinners and the habit of talking to everyone, regardless of the monastic rules, soon made life in the monastery impossible. The city council at this time also suffered without leadership and turned to the king with requests to return the princess to the affairs of the province. Philip II even tried to order Ana to leave the monastery, but she replied that she would stay here until the end of her days.

Convinced that it is not so easy to get rid of the former patroness, Teresa of Avila acted wisely. One fine night, she simply moved her entire monastery away from the impossible "nun", leaving the princess alone with her servants. Of course, proud Ana was furious. To annoy the offender, she tried to incite the Inquisition on her - she sent for research a manuscript biography of Teresa, so that the holy fathers delve into the description of the visions and revelations of the future saint. Two Dominican monks honestly conducted such an investigation, but they did not even find a hint of heresy in the manuscript.

In 1577, Philip II still managed to force the obstinate princess to return to the court and to the affairs of government. True, this did not lead to any good. In Madrid, the woman became closely acquainted with the new secretary of the king, Antonio Perez. Around this connection, there are still a lot of juicy rumors hovering around - supposedly, the young courtier was the illegitimate son of her ex-husband, or, perhaps, that Ana herself became the secret favorite of the king. Historical documents have not survived about possible behind-the-scenes intrigues, but one thing is known for sure: the princess was involved in a murder, which today would be called political, and was taken into custody.

For more than ten years then the woman was kept in captivity in her own castle, and in very strict conditions. She died at 51, refusing to let a doctor see her. The version that such a cruel sentence was a punishment for a love betrayal to the king himself is described in several memoirs as a generally accepted fact.

Later, a lot was written about Ana de Mendoza: she became one of the heroines of the drama Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller and the opera by Verdi based on her. In the middle of the XX century, the novel “That Lady” was written with the play and film of the same name, today the amount of written and shot about Princess Eboli has increased, but, oddly enough, almost none of the works created can claim at least some kind of historical accuracy … Over the years, the image of the wayward one-eyed beauty is more and more overgrown with speculation, rumors and legends.

Old portraits of the Spanish nobility often hide miserable lives behind rich clothes. So, for example, the fate of the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain, the most famous Spanish girl in six portraits of Velazquez, was sad.