Category Archives: Spain

Dukes of Medina Sidonia: Virtual kings of Andalusia

One of the wealthiest and most powerful aristocratic families in Spain are the dukes of Medina Sidonia. With their base in the Andalusian seaport town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, huge estates across the south of Spain, and the oldest extant dukedom in the Kingdom, they dominate much of Spanish history from the fifteenth century toContinue reading “Dukes of Medina Sidonia: Virtual kings of Andalusia”

Ponce de León and the Dukes of Arcos: Andalusian Lords and the First Floridian

Most American schoolchildren have heard of Ponce de Leon, when learning about the early Spanish explorers of the New World—after Cortes and Pizarro heading to Mexico and Peru, most can recall that Ponce de Leon went north in 1513 and discovered a new land he named La Florida, ‘the land of flowers’. I admit, IContinue reading “Ponce de León and the Dukes of Arcos: Andalusian Lords and the First Floridian”

The Duke of Terceira and the House that Manuel built

In the middle of the Atlantic lies a small green island, known as Terceira, as the ‘third’ island to be discovered in the Azores archipelago by Portuguese navigators in the mid-15th century. At over a thousand miles off the coast of the mainland, Terceira would not normally be thought of as a likely seat forContinue reading “The Duke of Terceira and the House that Manuel built”

Dukes of Alburquerque: Royal Favourites and Colonial Governors

Once upon a time there was a Spanish outpost built in the far northern reaches of New Spain, in the Rio Grande Valley of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. Its founders named it after the Viceroy based in far-off Mexico City, the 10th Duke of Alburquerque. Some years later, the increasingly AnglophoneContinue reading “Dukes of Alburquerque: Royal Favourites and Colonial Governors”

The House of Lancaster in Portugal: Dukes of Aveiro and Abrantes

Lancaster is a very English place name, and the name used by dynastic historians for one side of the epic struggle for the English throne known as the Wars of the Roses. Curiously, as ‘Lencastre’ it is also a surname used by one of the few Portuguese noble families to hold ducal rank. Aveiro wasContinue reading “The House of Lancaster in Portugal: Dukes of Aveiro and Abrantes“

Lerma, Olivares and Haro: los Validos

Spain’s ‘Golden Century’ was dominated politically by powerful men known as validos, a combination of prime minister and personal servant, the closest confidant and advisor to the king. The reigns of Philip III and Philip IV were monopolised by three men, Lerma, Olivares and the latter’s nephew Haro. The first was created Duke of LermaContinue reading “Lerma, Olivares and Haro: los Validos”