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dwellordream · 4 years ago

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“…Inés Vanegas was only one of Catherine’s ladies at court who came to England and stayed. María de Salinas was the daughter of Martín de Salinas, a noble courtier to king Fernando, and Josefa Gonzales de Salas and, some suggest, perhaps related to the royal family. María was part of Catherine’s entourage from Spain but the details from 1501 to 1509 are not well known except that she attended Catherine at her coronation. Her family’s wealth and prestige made her an asset to Catherine’s court and she remained one of the queen’s closest and most loyal friends. Their friendship is well documented in the Tudor historical record, which include letters, payments and gifts, and reports of life at court from the Spanish ambassadors.

María was a very appealing bride, marrying William, eleventh lord Willoughby of Eresby, a baron and the largest landowner in Lincolnshire, on 5 June 1516 at Greenwich, probably in the chapel of the Observant Friars (Franciscans) where Catherine and Henry had married. By all accounts, María de Salinas moved fluidly from the Spanish court to the English. Her ease with the English customs and culture and family connections on the continent had important practical benefits. Her relative, Juan Adursa, a Castilian merchant in Flanders, worked with Juan Manuel, former advisor to Catherine’s brother-in-law, Archduke Philip of Burgundy, giving Catherine access to information about her sister, Juana.

Eustace Chapuys, the resident Spanish ambassador and a man privy to the secret, and not-so-secret activities at court, reports that the: few Spaniards who are still in her household prefer to be friends of the English, and neglect their duties as subjects of the King of Spain. The worst influence on the Queen is exercised by Doña María de Salinas, whom she loves more than any other mortal. Doña María has a relation of the name of Juan Adursa, who is a merchant in Flanders, and a friend of Juan Manuel. He hopes, through the protection of Juan Manuel, to be made treasurer of the Prince of Castile. By means of Juan Adursa and Doña María de Salinas, Juan Manuel is able to dictate to the Queen of England how she must behave. The consequence is that he can never make use, in his negotiations, of the influence which the Queen has in England, nor can he obtain through her the smallest advantage in any other respect.

The word “love” in the later Middle Ages can mean many things depending on context –courtly love, friendship, love of God, lord-vassal relationships, an apprentice for a master– and it could be shorthand for friendly affection. But Chapuys is clearly suggesting that the love has political implications, which further complicates an understanding of the significance of the relations of Catherine and her servants. But later events suggest a deep personal bond. María de Salinas had been forced to leave queen Catherine’s service in 1532 due to the politics of the divorce proceedings and Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, but she remained part of Catherine’s life. She defied Henry’s orders –never a wise thing to do even under the best of circumstances– and continued to correspond with the cast-off queen and sent her news of her daughter, Mary Tudor.

She and Charles Brandon, the king’s brother-in-law and close friend who was sent by Henry on numerous missions, had to impress upon Catherine the reality of her new marital state. In April 1533 Brandon had to tell her that she was no longer queen, and in December 1533 he was ordered to disband some of her servants and move her to the unhealthy home at Somersham. Catherine, defiant, locked herself in her room. María de Salinas told Chapuys that Catherine only relented when Charles admitted how he wished something dreadful would have happened on the road that would have made it impossible for him to carry out his duty to Henry. These are the actions of someone who is more than just a servant.

The depth of this relationship continued to the end. In 1535, when Catherina was seriously ill, María was denied permission to visit the former queen but once again, she defied Henry and traveled to Kimbolton Castle anyway. She was with Catherina when she died on January 7, 1536 and was the second mourner at Catherine’s funeral in February. Catherina had an equally close friendship with another Spanish noblewoman who served in her court. María de Rojas, daughter of Francesco de Rojas, count of Salinas, was one of Catherine’s closest and most intimate of the ladies at court, first in Spain and later in London. She appeared in queen Isabel’s household accounts in 1501 when she was paid 27,000 maravedís and received clothing in payment for service in 1500.

Her relationship with Catherina was as close as that of María de Salinas, a fact known best through her testimony in 1530 before the papal court concerning the divorce. She was asked to give a deposition concerning the consummation of the marriage between Catherina and Prince Arthur, who had died in April 1502, just a few months after their wedding. María de Rojas stated that to comfort the young widow, she had slept in bed with Catherina for the first few days after Arthur’s death: The same questions to be put to the wife of Juan Cuero once waiting maid to the said queen of England, and who is supposed to reside nowadays at Madrid; also to María de Rojas, wife of Don Álvaro de Mendoça, who used to sleep in the same bed with Her Most Serene Highness the Queen, after the death of prince Arthur, her first husband.

This is a remarkable glimpse into Catherina and into the sort of intimacy of life at court that was crucial to Catherina’s transition first from Spain to England and then from bride to widow. María de Rojas’s social rank and closeness to Catherina made her a desirable potential bride, first for the son of the earl of Derby, and later, the son of Elvira Manuel. Neither marriage took place and she returned to Spain around 1504 as señora de Santa Cruz de Campero where she married Álvaro de Mendoza y Guzman, son of Juan Hurtado de Mendoza and his second wife Leonor de Guzmán. It is possible that Maria de Rojas and María de Salinas were related and that when María de Rojas left England to marry, María de Salinas replaced her.

The intensely political life at court was not always conducive to such loyalty and devotion, and was often fraught with dangers. This is best exemplified by the relationship of Catherina and Elvira Manuel, guarda de las damas for Catherina, from 1499 to 1500, and her camarera mayor (chief household officer) from 1500 until 1507. Elvira Manuel de Villena Suárez de Figueroa was the daughter of Juan Manuel de Villena Fonseca, señor de Belmonte de Campos, and Aldonza Suárez de Figueroa. She married Manrique Manuel, Catherina’s chief mayordomo, and together the couple formed a key part of Catherina’s household in England.

Elvira made her first appearance in Catherina’s household in 1501, as Catherina prepared to move to England and on 10 March 1501 she received a payment of 100,000 maravedís: en cuenta de 216,666 marvedís de ovo de aver de su rraçcion e quitaçcion e ayuda de costa de vn año e ocho meses, en que seruio los años pasados de noventa e nueve e quinientos años, por el cargo de la guarda de sus damas. Their son, Iñigo, also came to England, as the master of Catherina’s pages. Elvira kept close contact with her brother, Juan Manuel, who was a servant of Philip of Burgundy.

In December 1505, Elvira was accused of promoting Philip’s interests at the expense of those of king Fernando, Catalina’s father, and Elvira was told to leave England. She departed on the pretext of visiting a doctor in Flanders about a disease that had already caused her to lose one of her eyes, but she knew that she would not be permitted to return. She had alienated not only king Henry but also Catherina. Elvira spent the rest of the life among Spanish exiles in Flanders.”

- Theresa M. Earenfight, “RAISING INFANTA CATALINA DE ARAGÓN TO BE CATHERINE, QUEEN OF ENGLAND.”

#katherine of aragon #maria de salinas #maria de rojas #elvira manuel #spanish #history #tudor #renaissance #ladies in waiting #theresa m earenfight

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