Mencía de Mendoza y Fonseca was born on 30 November 1508 as the daughter of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar y Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Cenete and María de Fonseca y Toledo. She was probably born at Jadraque Castle and baptised at the nearby Our Lady of Castrejón.
Her early years were spent at the fortress of Ayora, where she was joined by two younger sisters named Maria and Catherine. It was likely a happy childhood and her parents’ marriage had been a love match. Her mother died sometime in 1522 and her father died after a four-day fever on 22 February 1523.1 Her parents were buried together at the Holy Trinity convent in Valencia and Mencia was given permission by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to erect a grand mausoleum there.
Mencía and her sisters were declared their father’s heirs on 3 June 1523, which made Mencia the new Marchioness of Cenete. Charles also had the right to decide her marriage and he did not wait for very long. Already on 20 March 1523, Henry III, Count of Nassau, wrote to his brother Willia that the Emperor had suggested her to him. He wrote, “She is a rich heiress, 15 or 16 years old, and I am told, rather pretty.”2 William was delighted and told him to marry Mencía. Henry was 41 years old and had been married twice before.
After some financial negotiations, Mencía and Henry were officially betrothed on 27 June 1524 in the presence of the Emperor, and his sister Eleanor. The wedding ceremony took place on 30 June and Mencía became the stepmother of Henry’s son from his second marriage, René of Châlon. This marriage between a Dutch and Spanish noble was an attempt from Charles to mix the nobility, an experiment that turned out to be not quite as successful as hoped. And despite her wealth, Henry took offence to Mencía’s father, who had been born the illegitimate son of Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza.
Mencía had fallen pregnant rather quickly but the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage after three months, as was reported on 15 November 1524. Apparently, she had overexerted herself during a game with her ladies. She would suffer at least one more miscarriage and she gave birth to a boy after a pregnancy of seven months. The boy lived for just two hours and was baptised during this time.
In February 1526, Mencía was in the company of Germaine of Foix, the widow of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, and they travelled with the Emperor’s sister Leonor to the French border as Leonor was to wed the French King. In the end, the wedding was postponed and would not take place until 1530.
On 24 June 1526, Henry and Mencía departed for the castle of Lacalahorra in Cenete, although she clearly returned to the Spanish court often, as she was present for the baptism of the future King Philip II in 1527. Her first trip to the Low Countries would take place in 1530 where she would initially stay in their palace in Brussels as the castle in Breda was being turned into a more comfortable place to live.
In 1533, Mencía accompanied Henry and her stepson to the principality of Orange, where René was received as the Prince of Orange. They then travelled to France for a meeting with King Francis I of France and Eleanor before travelling back to Spain. Mencía spent Christmas of 1533 at the Palace of Barcelona. When the Spanish court fled Valladolid because of the plague, Mencía and Henry were likely part of the royal household. By August 1534, Henry was back in the Low Countries and Mencía followed him in the summer of 1535. In March 1534, Mencia had been present at the wedding of her sister Maria to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. Breda was now their main residence as the castle had been carefully renovated.
Mencía would live in Breda until 1539 and she mostly devoted those four years to studying. She eventually learned to read Latin and Greek, and she also enjoyed literature and philosophy. Her husband was on hand to explain Dutch sayings and paintings and she became quite the collector of art. On 13 September 1538, Mencía was widowed when Henry died at the age of 55. Mencía was soon involved in a battle for his inheritance with René. Henry had made René his universal heir and had left Mencía with just some furniture and things he had given her during their marriage.
It was Mencía’s wish to return to Spain and she did so in October 1539 in the company of one of Henry’s illegitimate sons who had been born in 1531. Just as she returned to her homeland, the Emperor had decided on a new marriage for her. The new groom was the son of the Marquess of Mondéjar but Mencía was not happy. In the end, this marriage came to nothing.
Mencía’s sister Catherine, who had been married to the Marquess of Berlanga, had died in December 1526 without having had any children. Her sister Maria, whose wedding she had attended, had given birth to eight sons and five daughters, and they were reunited upon Mencía’s return to Spain.
By 16 July 1540, it was clear that Mencía would marry Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, the son of the dethroned King Frederick of Naples and his second wife, Isabella del Balzo. He was also the widower of Germaine of Foix, who had died in 1536. Ferdinand was the viceroy of Valencia. Nevertheless, it would take another six months for the wedding to take place. It was to be a happy marriage, but it also remained childless.
During her second marriage, she made plans to found some kind of college, but this never materialised. She continued to focus on her own studies and became quite renowned. She was also a patron of the arts. Mencía was widowed for the second time when Ferdinand died on 26 October 1550. Mencia herself died four years later on 4 January 1554. She had asked to be buried with her parents and this wish was carried out. Her sister Maria succeeded to the title of Marchioness of Cenete and the title exists to this day.
This lady was well travelled. She had little control over her life. I hope her life was comfortable.