Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra. The network of clients of the Marquises of Mondéjar in Granada (16th and 17th centuries)

Conversos, Power and the Intermediate Groups in Golden Age Spain Edited by Enrique Soria Mesa and Luis Salas Almela based on significant mobility has been established as a new historiographical paradigm. This newly discovered system, a large part of Spain – including Andalusia – into a first-rate economic power. slowly tried to move upwards in the social ladder, a movement developed by resorting to long-term family strategies that created dynasties of officials that ranged from middle municipal positions ( In addition, in all these groups a very significant presence of Jewish converts – conversos – was noted, and it was these roles that the descendants of Jews found settled professional status, thus achieving not only socioeconomic success but also definitive assimilation, despite the repressive effects of the Inquisition and the racist blood purity statutes. Therefore, the power and status in many cities of Castile for the majority of Jews and conversos, followed by a slow recovery in the 16th and 17th centuries using a variety of means (such as minor institutional positions, like jurors in the city councils; professional associations – merchant guilds, for instance; or some noteworthy professions – doctors, notaries or prominent servants nobility, Jewish converts and genealogy in Spain. He has supervised 20 doctoral theses and is author of books such as (2014), T (2015), and T (2016). studied Early Modern History in the Universidad Complutense of Madrid (Spain). After publishing his first book in 2002, he joined the European University Institute (Italy), where he obtained his PhD in History and Civilization (2006) Sidonia (published as , Madrid, 2008). He continued his research at the Centro de História de Além-Mar, in Lisbon (Portugal) and the Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos (CSIC, Seville). Since 2012 he has held a position at the University of Córdoba where he was appointed Professor in 2021. Conversos, Power and the Intermediate Groups in Golden Age Spain Edited by Enrique Soria Mesa and Luis Salas Almela Archaeopress Archaeopress Publishing Ltd First and Second Floors 13-14 Market Square Bicester OX26 6AD www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978-1-80327-971-8 ISBN 978-1-80327-972-5 (e-Pdf) © the individual authors and Archaeopress 2025 Cover: Heraldic images on Juan Sigler de Espinoa’s chapel grille, sixteenth century. Source: Clara Sánchez Merino. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com i Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables ....................................................................................................iii Introduction ............................................................................................................................v Enrique Soria Mesa and Luis Salas Almela The Shifting Profiles of Privilege: Exemption, Status, and Social Categorization in Seville in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries ......................... 1 José Manuel Triano Milán Judeoconversos, intermediate groups and social ascent in Golden Age Spain: the foundes of the University of Baeza ............................................23 Enrique Soria Mesa Hidden and reviled patricians?: Commercial mesocracy in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries southern Castile.................................................................................44 Rafael M. Girón Pascual “Merchants at the Consulado of the Indies (1535-55): Origins, association, and privilege” .....................................................................................................................................85 Luis Salas Almela Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra. The network of clients of the Marquises of Mondéjar in Granada (16th and 17th centuries) .........................................................112 José María García Ríos “Images of power and the justification of orthodoxy: Early modern private chapels in the Córdoba Cathedral” ............................................147 Clara Sánchez Merino ii Middle-class burials in early modern Córdoba: Patrimony, advance, and memory ......................................................................................................................................169 Gonzalo J. Herreros Moya Chapters by José Manuel Triano Milán, Luis Salas Almela, Clara Sánchez Merino and Gonzalo Herreros Moya are translated by Prof. Ruth MacKay and chapters by Enrique Soria Mesa, Rafael Girón Pascual and José María García Ríos translated by Dr. David Govantes-Edwards. iii José Manuel Triano Milán: The Shifting Profiles of Privilege: Exemption, Status, and Social Categorization in Seville in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries Table 1. Seville city council members and their financial posts (1368-1414) ............................... 18 Enrique Soria Mesa: Judeoconversos, intermediate groups and social ascent in Golden Age Spain: the foundes of the University of Baeza Figure 1 ....................................................................................................................................................30 Figure 2 ....................................................................................................................................................38 Rafael M. Girón Pascual: Hidden and reviled patricians?: Commercial mesocracy in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries southern Castile Figure 1. Merchants as a key piece in the production of cloth .......................................................57 Figure 2. The Cordoban network of Álvaro Gómez, merchant in Gibraltar (1550-1580) ............58 Figure 3. The commercial network of the Granada-based Juan Álvarez Dávila and the merchants with America in Seville ........................................................................................64 Figure 4: Alonso de Valer’s guarantors for the post of collector of royal rents in Granada (1576)..................................................................................................................................73 Map 1. The Córdoba-Gibraltar route and its connections with Tangiers and Ceuta ...................59 Table 1. Merchants in Córdoba in the late 16th century .................................................................56 Table 2. The largest contributors to the cloth rents in Córdoba (1581) ........................................57 Table 3. Some merchants with America in Juan Escalante de Mendoza’s fleet (1596)................60 Table 4. Some silk merchants in Granada based on the 1563-1565 lawsuit ..................................62 Table 5. Cloth merchants in Granada 1563-1600 ...............................................................................63 Table 6. Some dynasties of Cordoban merchants and jurados that never gained veinticuatrías ....................................................................................................................................66 Table 7. Some Sevillian veinticuatros whose wealth derived from trade (16th-17th centuries) ......................................................................................................................70 Table 8. Some merchants that followed the position of jurado with that of veinticuatro in Granada (16th-17th centuries) ...........................................................................75 Luis Salas Almela: “Merchants at the Consulado of the Indies (1535-55): Origins, association, and privilege” Table 1. Merchants who signed collective powers of attorney, 1536-55 .....................................103 Table 2. Membership in the Consulado de Sevilla, 1543-67 ...........................................................109 List of Figures and Tables iv José María García Ríos: Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra. The network of clients of the Marquises of Mondéjar in Granada (16th and 17th centuries) Figure 1. Family tree 1. Kinship relations around the captaincy of artillery and munitions in the Alhambra (16th-17th centuries) ...................................................................135 Figure 2. Ejecutoria de hidalguía of the Luz family (Cuenca branch)..............................................140 Table 1. The Luz Family and the Artillery Captaincy of the Alhambra (1500–1623) �������������������� 133 Clara Sánchez Merino: “Images of power and the justification of orthodoxy: Early modern private chapels in the Córdoba Cathedral” Figure 1. Central retablo of the Holy Spirit chapel, Cordoba Cathedral, 1569-74 ......................152 Figure 2. Photograph showing how the retablo would look with both canvases, the Baptism of Christ and the Crucifixion, in the Holy Spirit chapel ....................................153 Figure 3. Upper frescoes, north wall of the chapel: Issiah and King David, by Pablo de Céspedes, 1577-82 .....................................................................................................154 Figure 4. Frescoes on the upper level of the chapel’s right side: Moses, by Pablo de Céspedes, 1577-82 .....................................................................................................154 Figure 5. Heraldic images on Juan Sigler de Espinoa’s chapel grille, sixteenth century ..........161 Figure 6. Central retablo, chapel of Saint John the Baptist ...........................................................163 Gonzalo J. Herreros Moya: Middle-class burials in early modern Córdoba: Patrimony, advance, and memory Table 1. Middle-class management of noble estates ............................................................................. 173 Table 2. Middle-class acquisition of tombs in Cordoba (17th-18th centuries) ............................. 177 Table 3. Middle-class hermanos mayors in confraternties in Cordoba .......................................... 186 Conversos, Power and the Intermediate Groups in Spain (Archaeopress 2025): 112–146 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra. The network of clients of the Marquises of Mondéjar in Granada (16th and 17th centuries)1 José María García Ríos Universidad de Sevilla2 This1 work aims to examine some2 of the extensive patronage network that crystallised around the Counts of Tendilla in 16thand 17th-century Granada. The topic is relevant for the study of the Early Modern Age because the counts, and offshoot of the famous House of Mendoza, led one of the most powerful and well-known lineages in the Iberian Peninsula and were the most prominent family to settle in Granada after the city’s conquest by Castile. They were soon afterwards awarded the Marquisate of Mondéjar, the general captaincy of the Kingdom, and the governorship of the fortress of the Alhambra,3 titles which they held for most of the 16th century. In addition to presenting some of the family’s leading members, I shall try to develop an interpretive model to establish the importance of the family sagas of servants, clients, and associates that gravitated around the Marquises of Mondéjar. I shall finish with a curious case study, which illustrates the role acquired by many of these associates as local political brokers under the umbrella of protection afforded by their patrons, as procurators, clerks, juries, and even as caballeros veinticuatro. In addition to their positions in the city’s institutions, they are also found holding offices in the local Church, the Chancellery, and the Inquisition. This is significant, because most of the counts’ clients had unconventional ethnicreligious backgrounds; many of them belonged to Jewish families turned Christian in the late 15th century. This circumstance did not put a stop to their aspirations only because their patrons protected them from the Inquisition and helped them dodge the limitations imposed by Purity of Blood Laws on public careers and honours. Needless 1 Work undertaken within the framework of R&D Research Project La mesocracia en la Andalucía de los siglos XVI y XVII� Poder, familia y patrimonio [PID2019-109168GB-100], funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. 2 Juan de la Cierva. Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación, financiado por MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 y por el FSE+.” 3 For the sake of clarity, is worth pointing out that the Counts of Tendilla, which were awarded the Marquisate of Mondéjar in the early 16th century, were a branch of the House of Mendoza. Both titles will be used interchangeably in this text. lords of the Alhambra 119 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra ties between the Granada Venegas and the Álvarez Zapata, always within the sphere of patronage of the counts of Tendilla. Local oligarchies were one step below these illustrious linages. Despite the middling background of some of them, all these families eventually gained at least hidalgo status, the descendants of squires and military officers arrived in Granada in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. They were awarded generous royal grants and, normally, no longer had any ties with their regions of origin. This group includes families such as the Paz, deputy alcaides of Santa Fe (Granada); the Pérez de Herrasti, juries and later caballeros veinticuatro in Granada and selfstyled lords of Domingo Pérez;29 the Hurtado de Mendoza, distant relatives of the Mondéjar through the branch of Mendívil, and for a long time alcaides of the fortress of Bibataubín (Granada);30 the Trillo, a long dynasty of alcaides straddling Granada and southern Córdoba;31 the Ovalle de Ronda, later to become the wealthy lords of the town of Arriate (Málaga);32 the Valenzuela, alcaldes mayores of the Alhambra; the Ribera, an extensive dynasty of bureaucrats and secretaries in the counts’ service; the Bracamonte, which were extremely well positioned in the Royal Chancellery and had solid connections with the cities of Guadix and Baza;33 the Peralta; the Arias Mansilla; the Dávila Ponce de León; and, finally, the Luz, about which more below. All of these families, and many others, participated actively in the multilayered power play that Golden Age Granada was to become. Links with the Crown, the Morisco community, the Royal Chancellery, the Archdiocese, the council and, naturally, the Alcaides of la Alhambra, of whom they were clients, crossed and intercrossed in an ever-thicker mesh. Nearly all of them ended up with highly-coveted positions in the city council, more often than not on the Mondéjar’s recomendación. Over time, these lineages climbed to join the ranks of the high aristocracy (even as jurisdictional lords), the military orders, and the Inquisition. Granted, the Crown was never particularly thrifty with these honours, but it seems very likely that 29 For the origin and evolution of the Pérez de Herrastis see Soria Mesa, “La familia Pérez de Herrasti”, 383-404. 30 This appointment dates back to early 1510. Cfr.: Meneses García, Correspondencia del Conde de Tendilla (1508-1513), vol. II, 463. 31 Because of their numerous links to Jewish families, the Trillo’s struggled to prove their ‘purity of blood’ for virtually the whole Early Modern Age. 32 Enrique Soria Mesa, La venta de señoríos en el reino de Granada bajo los Austrias (Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1995), 110. 33 Their Jewish ancestors were convicted and burnt by the Inquisition. They also served another major aristocratic house, the Enríquez de Baza, and earlier still the Marquis of Villena. For more details see José María García Ríos, “La omnipresencia del poder señorial en una ciudad de realengo. Los señores del Estado y de Baza y su extensa nómina de criados (1489-1530)”, Tiempos Modernos� Revista electrónica de Historia Moderna, 45/12 (2022), 278-306 and La presencia judeoconversa en la ciudad de Baza� Análisis socioeconómico y patrimonial de una élite de poder (ss� XVI-XVII) (doctoral dissertation, Córdoba: Universidad de Córdoba, 2022), 164-166, 214-216 y 348-349. 120 José María García Ríos the Mendozas played some role or other in these particular acts of generosity. We shall return to this interesting honour market later, as we try to establish just how dependent they were from the señores de la Alhambra� Finally, far below, there was a voluminous and extremely heterogeneous group, made up of the rest of the squires that arrived in the city with the Christian host: dozens of newly-converted families, businessmen, rent collectors, merchants, and craftsmen under the protection of the Mendozas; as well as those directly in the House’s payroll: butlers, treasurers, servants, physicians, daymen, cooks, maids, etc. The long shadow of the señores de la Alhambra: power strategies It is necessary to underline that Íñigo López de Mendoza hoarded the leading positions in the city’s government institutions – which he controlled – for his most trusted men. Using his intimate connection with the Castilian monarchs, he cast a heavy shadow over Granada’s council. But not only this, the influence of the Tendillas even allowed them to control the matrimonial policy of some of their clients, which only strengthened their power further. Let us see some of the strategies deployed by the señores de la Alhambra� The counts’ “recomendaciones” as a reward for loyalty The count not only controlled the council at all levels, but constantly interfered with their deliberations. This is, to say the least, peculiar, because Castilian law strictly banned council members to be on the pay (acostamiento) of any lord. This ban was of application in all realengo councils and aimed to prevent councils from falling under the control of the aristocracy and neglecting their public duties. As such, in theory, the Mendoza’s clients must refrain from participating in municipal decision-making. It is interesting to note that, on 10 September 1492, the Catholic Monarchs issued a decree forbidding “councillors, alcaldes, merinos, juries, council clerks, and city treasurers to live with any prelate or knight, publicly or secretly”.34 However, this ban was ignored in early 16th-century Granada, like in many other Castilian regions. The inefficacy of these bans is illustrated by the councils of Cuenca and Guadalajara, whose officials were in acostamiento with the Mendozas;35 the council of Segovia, 34 Alicia Inés Montero Málaga, “Capital relacional y capital social en el acceso de la alta nobleza al gobierno municipal burgalés a principios del siglo XVI: la provisión de la alcaldía mayor a Francisco de Brizuela”, En la España Medieval, 41 (2018), 237. 35 For the cabildo of Cuenca and its relationship with the Hurtado de Mendoza see: José Antonio Jara Fuente, “La nobilización de un concejo en el siglo XV: Cuenca y los Hurtado de Mendoza”, in Isabel Montes Romero-Camacho, Manuel González Jiménez, et alii, eds La Península Ibérica en la era de los descubrimientos (1391-1492): Actas de las III Jornadas Hispano-Portuguesas de Historia Medieval, vol. II (Sevilla: Junta de Andalucía, 1997), 1025-1034 and Concejo, poder y élites� La clase dominante en Cuenca en el siglo XV (Madrid: CSIC, 2000). Also, María Concepción Quintanilla Raso, “Política ciudadana y jerarquización del poder. Bandos y parcialidades en Cuenca”, En la España Medieval, 20 (1997), 121 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra many of whose councillors were under the authority of the Marquises of Moya;36 the pressure posed by the council of Logroño to stop aristocratic interference;37 the urban council of Burgos, which was completely dominated by the House of Velasco;38 the large number of caballeros veinticuatro in Córdoba in the pay of the Fernández de Córdobas;39 and, finally, the shadow cast by the houses of Medina Sidonia and Arcos over the local councils of Seville and Jerez de la Frontera.40 Even in middling cities, like Baza, controlled by the Enríquez family, there was a substantial degree of seigniorial interventionism in local government.41 Granada was not to stay aloof of the Castilian nobility’s attempts to impose their control over municipal power. This is hardly surprising, therefore, that for most of the 1500s, especially during the first half of the century, most council members in Granada were directly related to or were clients of the Marquises of Mondéjar. The count’s letters are peppered with requests — “recommendations”, rather — to the Crown, royal secretaries, and other powerful court officials, for various privileges and, especially, public positions for his associates in the city councils of Granada and other towns and cities in the kingdom. For instance, in late August 1508, Íñigo appealed to Gonzalo del Campo, one of his contacts in the Castilian court, for a regimiento in the town of Alhama for his client Juan de Peralta: My special friend. Juan de Peralta is on his way to the Court to negotiate a regimiento in Alhama for himself, as you will know. I implore you to help him and direct him, because this is of great consequence to me, and it would be reasonable for His Highness to grant me a couple of regimientos in that city, like he did with the comendador mayor of Calatrava, because much of my property is situated there.42 219-250. For Guadalajara see Lorenzo Cadarso and Gómez Urdáñez, “Los enfrentamientos entre el patriciado urbano”, 130. 36 María Asenjo González, Segovia: la ciudad y su tierra a fines del Medievo (Segovia: Diputación Provincial de Segovia, 1996). 37 Máximo Diago Hernando, “La participación de la nobleza en el gobierno de las ciudades europeas bajomedievales. Análisis comparativo”, Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 37/2 (2007), 781-822. 38 Montero Málaga, “Capital relacional y capital social”, 227-256. 39 The seigniorial regime in Córdoba has been paid a good deal of scholarly attention. See, among others, Margarita Cabrera Sánchez, Nobleza, oligarquía y poder en Córdoba al final de la Edad Media (Córdoba: Obra Social y Cultural de Cajasur, 1998) and Enrique Soria Mesa, El cambio inmóvil: transformaciones y permanencias de una élite de poder (Córdoba, ss� XVI-XIX) (Córdoba: Ediciones de la Posada, 2000). 40 For aristocratic meddling in these two major Andalusian cities see Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada, “Los señoríos medievales en el ámbito de Cádiz y Jerez de la Frontera”, En la España medieval, 2 (1982), 543-572 and Guzmán� La casa ducal de Medina Sidonia en Sevilla y su reino� 1282-1521 (Madrid: Dykinson, 2015), and more recently Enrique José Ruiz Pilares, “El servicio a la nobleza señorial como vía de promoción social: los señores de El Puerto y los caballeros jerezanos (1480-1520)”, Revista de Historia de El Puerto, 61 (2018), 9-29. 41 As recently pointed out by García Ríos, “La omnipresencia del poder señorial”, 278-306. 42 Meneses García, Correspondencia del Conde de Tendilla (1508-1513), vol. I, 398-399. 122 José María García Ríos Everything seems to have gone according to plan, because a few days later Tendilla informed licenciado Zapata in the regiduría that his former servant had been appointed: Juan de Peralta, vezino of Alhama, because the King, Our Lord, and the Queen, our Mistress, may God be with them, sent them there with a regimiento, for which I appealed. I entreat you, sir, to deal with this as though he was my son, because he is deserving, as he was mine for a long time, and forfeited my wages for this, and he is more worthy for who he is than all the rest that are there. And I, sir, will be most grateful.43 Íñigo used virtually the same words to address the comendador mayor of Calatrava in a letter dated 22 February 1513, to report a replacement in the position of caballero veinticuatro: “Juan de Baeça, on my recommendation, has surrendered his position of veintiquatría or regimiento to his first-born son, Juan de Contreras, son-in-law of your alcaide Maldonado, a good man, and this was done by me secretly because they wanted him to give the post to another of his sons.”44 In this way, in the first half of the 16th century, the Marquises of Mondéjar mobilised their economic (offices and resources) and relational (prestige, influence, and power) capital to reward their most loyal servants. The exchange was mutually beneficial: their clients found a launching pad to thrive (socially, economically, and politically) while the Mendozas accrued levers to surreptitiously control local politics in Granada. In theory, this should have been beyond the reach of the aristocracy, but they managed to by-pass the rules with the aid of their wide patronage network. Kinship ties between clients, relatives, and associates Matrimonial ties were another of the power strategies successfully mobilised by the Tendillas. Íñigo López de Mendoza could well be described as a matchmaker. His letters are peppered with references to this. One of his primary concerns were to strengthen his clients’ bonds of kinship. This is not only reflected in his letters, but also in other documents such as genealogical treatises, wills, dowries, and matrimonial contracts. For instance, a letter dated to 1509, in which the First Marquis of Mondéjar addresses the licenciado Zapata, reveals the patronage network that gravitated around the Mendozas: “I have been told of the death of a regidor of Alhama, my servant and husband of a woman who was governess of my daughter-in-law”;45 in another letter, dated to 5 August 1509, to the Marquis of Denia, Bernardo de Rojas y Sandoval, he reported a wedding that he had fixed for one of his clients: 43 Ibíd., 398. 44 Ibíd., vol. II, 190. 45 Meneses García, Correspondencia del Conde de Tendilla (1508-1513), vol. I, 627. 123 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra Sir, a few days ago I fixed the wedding of a daughter of the adelantado of Caçorla with a son of Juan Álvarez Çapata, he a good lad and she an honest woman who was lost and forgotten in her stepmother’s household, and I wanted to help her. Doña Juana de Valencia gave her 250,000 maravedíes and she had her father’s assets in Guadix, which could be worth 500,000 maravedíes, plus a hundred that her sister left in her will, and I also gave her a little, so they can provide for themselves. His Highness has good servants in them.46 Even the alcaides of the Alhambra became pawns in this strategy, as illustrated by their multiple matrimonial links with one of the most powerful families of the Kingdom of Granada, the Bobadillas, a middling family whose connections at court had turned into one of the key pieces for the control of the territory of the former Nasrid Kingdom. A few years ago, professors Peinado Santaella and Soria Mesa published an in-depth study about the personality, wealth, and power of Francisco de Bobadilla and his heirs,47 so I shall not go into that here, but it is worth dwelling for a moment on the matrimonial links that drew increasingly close ties between both houses. Antonio de Bobadilla, son of the above noted Francisco and corregidor in Malaga and Vélez-Málaga in 1518, married Beatriz de Figueroa, sister of Elvira Carrillo, wife of Captain Bernardino de Mendoza, second son of the Count of Tendilla.48 Both women were blood nieces of the Gran Capitán’s widow. After Antonio’s first wife died, the Marquis of Mondéjar fixed his wedding with Magdalena de Padilla, daughter of the Adelantado Mayor de Castilla and niece of his own wife. In a letter to Ferdinand the Catholic dated to 30 May 1513, Íñigo López de Mendoza explained the match in these terms: Seeing that Antonio de Bobadilla serves Your Highness and that I have always used his services […] I worked to fix this match with my children’s first cousin and close relative of the Comendador Mayor of Calatrava and Pedro López de Padilla, his brother, my children’s fathers-in-law. Because the service they have rendered Your Highness are known by everyone.49 The family links did not stop there. A generation later, María de Padilla, daughter of Antonio, married Gutierre López de Padilla, member of the other family, while her brother, Juan de Padilla, the famous comunero executed in Villalar, married María Pacheco, daughter of the First Marquis of Mondéjar. This is unsurprising, because Pedro de Bobadilla, her brother, was acting Captain General of the Kingdom of Granada for a long time in the absence of the señores de la Alhambra. 46 Ibíd., vol. II, 693. 47 Peinado Santaella and Soria Mesa, “Crianza real y clientelismo nobiliario”, 129-160. 48 Francisco Fernández Bethencourt, Historia genealógica y heráldica de la Monarquía española, tomo IX (Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Jaime Ratés, 1912), 279-281. 49 Meneses García, Correspondencia del Conde de Tendilla (1508-1513), vol. II, 349. 124 José María García Ríos The leaders of the family continued trying to control the marriages of their clients during the whole of the 16th century, and there is a clear (and uncandid) trend to marry some of them into rich and powerful families of converts, such as the Santarén, the Dávila Ponce de León, and the de la Fuente Vergara, to mention only the most outstanding. With these matches, they brought their clients ever closer together and wove a complex and dense mesh of patronage. A peculiar case study: the lineage of Luz By now, the crucial role played by the Tendillas in the configuration of early Christian Granada should be clear enough. They participated in the conquest of the city, played their part in repopulation processes, controlled most government institutions, and, needless to say, created a thick patronage network that spanned virtually the whole kingdom. This situation lasted at least until 1568, when the War of the Alpujarras and the expulsion of the Moriscos brought about substantial changes in the counts’ position. The history of the Marquises of Mondéjar after these events is much less well known. Compared with what went on before, few works have addressed the period that begins in 1571, and those that exist are very limited in scope, although we do know that from that moment onwards things got harder for the Mendozas, who even temporarily lost the alcaidía of the Alhambra.50 However, importantly for the issue at hand, these powerful aristocrats kept their local sphere of influence in rein for much longer than hitherto believed, and remained a decisive factor in local government throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Let us close this work with the peculiar story of the Luz family, who, despite having the trust of the Tendillas, never managed to cross the line that separated privilege and honours from the middling social status in which they were stuck for virtually the whole of the Early Modern Age. We shall examine the evolution of this lineage in the longue durée, from the immediate aftermath of the Castilian conquest to the mid-17th century. Who were the Luz and what role did they play in the Kingdom of Granada? Cuenca: origins and inquisitorial enquiries The Luz family came from Cuenca’s hinterland. Branches of this family are attested in the towns of Moya, Alarcón, Castillo de Garcimuñoz, Villalgordo del Marquesado, and Villarejo de Fuentes, where they worked for the Marquises of Villena, in the mid15th century.51 Numerous specialists have pointed out that this region was a hotbed 50 See Erika Spivakovsky, “Un episodio de la guerra contra los moriscos. La pérdida del gobierno de la Alhambra por el quinto conde de Tendilla (1569)”, Hispania, 118 (1971), 399-431 and Jiménez Estrella, “La alcaidía de la Alhambra”, 23-51. 51 Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Granada (hereafter, ARChG), 5089-293. 125 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra of converted Jews and a prime target for the Inquisition in the late 1400s.52 This is unsurprising because converts often sought the protection of sympathetic aristocrats, including the almighty Pacheco family.53 In this context, we must frame the figure of Juan Fernández de Luz, son of Juan Herraiz de Luz, native of Moya and eminent observer of the Mosaic law. He was the first member of the family to settle in the town of Castillo de Garcimuñoz, where he held the positions of alcalde, justicia and regidor with the support of the Marquises of Villena. He married Catalina Fernández (or Fernández de Luz) and had five children: Diego, Alonso, Álvaro, Rodrigo, and Inés de Luz. After the untimely death of his first wife, he married María Álvarez, with whom she had another daughter: María de Luz. Thus far, there is nothing particularly of note: a New Christian who, like many others, made the most of his opportunities to thrived in the service of a high aristocrat. However, we must keep in mind the marked antisemitism of late 15th-century Castilian society, and the jealousy and envy that his position and those of his heirs must have bred in his neighbours.54 This was more than enough to put this lineage in a collision course with the Inquisition, which fell upon some of the family’s members with particular zeal. For instance, on 7 December 1491 the Inquisition of Cuenca opened a process against the reputation and memory of Juan Fernández de Luz —dead for 42 years—, accusing him of heresy and apostasy. He was charged with saying Jewish prayers, “celebrating the Sabbath while chanting ‘Moses asked the Lord for the law’, and saying ‘rabbi’ and other things”, and clandestinely keeping the Sukkot, popularly known the “Festival of Booths”, which commemorates the people of Israel’s desert exodus.55 And not only this. A large number of witnesses declared that he fasted on the Yom Kippur with great diligence “and so much devotion that one day some cloth of his began to burn and so was his determination not to dishonour the day that he left them burn, as a great follower of Moses’s law”. Other witnesses claimed that Fernández de Luz “cut the legs of lambs and took the flesh out, ate lamb stew, and wore tafelines, from which he took a piece of paper which he read facing the wall, making gestures like a Jew”.56 52 See Dimas Pérez Ramírez, Catálogo del Archivo de la Inquisición de Cuenca (Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Española, 1982); Carlos Carrete Parrondo, El judaísmo español y la Inquisición (Madrid: MAFRE, 1992) and Yolanda Moreno Koch, “La comunidad judaizante de Castillo de Garcimuñoz: 1498-1492”, Sefarad, XXXVII (1977), 351-371. 53 See Enrique Soria Mesa, “Judeoconversos y criados señoriales en la Castilla de los siglos XV-XVII”, Tiempos Modernos� Revista electrónica de Historia Moderna, 45/12 (2022), 254-277. 54 Archivo General de Simancas (hereafter, AGS), Registro General del Sello (hereafter, RGS), 17 August 1488. 55 See Rafael Vicent, La fiesta judía de las cabañas (Sukkot)� Interpretaciones midrásicas en la Biblia y en el judaísmo antiguo (Estella: Editorial Verbo Divino, 1995). 56 Archivo Diocesano de Cuenca (hereafter ADC), leg. 4, exp. 73. Vid.: Pérez Ramírez, Catálogo del Archivo de la Inquisición� 126 José María García Ríos In his will, dated to 1449, he asked to be buried in the church of Saint Mary of Villalgordo del Marquesado or in the monastery of Saint Agustin in Castillo de Garcimuñoz, leaving the final decision to his executors. Whichever it was, Vincent Parello’s research strongly suggests that his bones were exhumed and burnt post mortem�57 This cast a terrible stain on the deceased memory, leaving the fate of his descendants, manchado by the anathema edict issued by the inquisitors, in grave danger. In the Ancien Régime, a blemish on the ancestors’ honour severely hampered the prospects of their progeny. Even more interesting was the process open against Violante González, Alonso de Luz’s wife, who was sentenced to burnt to death for judaizante. Like her father-inlaw, she was dead by the time the Cuenca tribunal passed the ruling; she was buried inside the chapel of Saint Catherine, at the monastery of Saint Agustin, in the town of Castillo de Garcimuñoz.58 In her case, the enquiries undertaken by the bachiller Hernán Sánchez del Fresno, the inquisitorial prosecutor, led to seven witnesses to speak against the woman’s memory. On 25 March 1490, Hernán Sánchez del Fresno indicted her formally, accusing her of betraying the oath of baptism (conversion) and of clandestinely practicing the Jewish religion, which, from the dogmatic point of view, turned her into a heretic. The wording of the accusation eloquently expresses her alleged transgressions: I accuse Violante González, former vezina of the town of Villa del Castillo, in this diocese [of Cuenca], and late wife of Alonso de Luz, and I say that living this life under the name of Christian, and in possession of the freedoms and exemptions that become all Christians, she was an apostate and a heretic, keeping the law of Moses, its rituals and ceremonies, like a Jew, in the following ways: she ate no pork fat, which is forbidden by Moses’s law; she threw the first morsels into the fire in remembrance of what the priests were ordered to do in the Old Testament, and because now the priests cannot, the sacrifice is performed by those who follow their laws; and even if she was baptised, she kept the Saturdays until sunset, beginning celebrations on Friday nights, and on the sun setting on Saturday when Sunday began, she ordered her maids to begin work, which is forbidden by our holy faith, and in this way she broke, and caused to break, the holiness of Sundays. She ate neither hare nor rabbit, although she lay at the table, seemingly in order to follow Moses’s law, and she shrouded the dead like a Jew […] for which actions, 57 Vincent Parello, “Los Castillos ante el tribunal de la Inquisición de Cuenca (siglos XV-XVII)”, Les Cahier de Framespa� Nouveaux champs de l’histoire sociale, 18 (2015), https://journals.openedition.org/ framespa/3220 y “Une famille converse au service du marquis de Villena: les Castillo de Cuenca (XVeXVIIe siècles)”, Bulletin Hispanique, 102/1 (2000), 15-36. 58 For the location of her tomb see José María González Muñoz, Señorío de Villena: la muy noble villa de Castillo de Garci Muñoz y su monasterio de San Agustín (fundado por Don Juan Manuel en 1326) (Garcimuñoz: Queimada, 1998) and Parello, “Une famille converse”, 16. 127 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra rites, and ceremonies said Violante was an apostate and a heretic, and incurred in excommunication and confiscation of her property, because she ended her days as an apostate and a heretic, persevering in her crimes and errors […] and for this, reverend fathers, I request that her bones are declared those of an excommunicated apostate and heretic, and be taken from wherever they are and publicly burnt to publicly declare her heinous crimes and errors.59 Almost immediately afterwards, Violante’s son (from her first marriage), Hernando del Castillo,60 who was at the time alcaide of the fortress of Alarcón with the support of the Marquis of Villena, his patron, followed the legal counsel of bachiller Juan Pérez del Águila and went on the attack, submitting an affidavit, dated to 9 August 1491, in favour of his mother’s memory. This affidavit declared that the inquisitor’s witnesses were old people, whose testimony was based on “hearsay”. He also claimed that most of them were “vile, foolish, conspiratorial, and contrary”. As such, he argued that the prosecutor’s case had no legs to stand on. Castillo totally rejected the idea of his mother as a life-long judaizante, arguing that she did not work on Saturday or any other day of the week, and that, if she kept a Saturday, she did so to honour the Virgin or some other saint. Similarly, he claimed that, if she threw meat into the fire, it was to see if it was well cooked and dressed; that if she ever shrouded a corpse, she did it according to the Christian rite and not like the Jews; and if she did not eat rabbit or hare, it was for reasons of taste or habit. In fact, he presented his mother as a model of virtues and orthodoxy, claiming that she was famous in her district “for being a good Catholic and Christian”. In support of his arguments, he declared that she had taken all the sacraments that the Church mandates; that she went to mass every Sunday and listened to the sermon devoutly; that she gave many alms to the poor; that she confessed and received communion every year; that she made her servants take confession; that she fasted during Lent; and that before her death she confessed all her sins to the parish priest in Saint John, with much contrition. Finally, he recalled that, even if she had committed any sin against the Catholic faith, her parents had purchased a crusade bull granted by Pope Callixtus III to Henry IV to fund the war in Granada on 14 April 1456, which absolved her from all her sins. For Hernando del Castillo, the process was not grounded on dogmatic issues, because he was persuaded that the witnesses that had accused his mother had done so not moved by religious zeal, but because they were jealous of his position as alcaide of the fortress of Alarcón, a highly-coveted posts among the clients of the Marquis of 59 ADC, Inquisición, leg. 5, exp. 118. Recast in the work of Parello, “Los Castillos ante el tribunal”. 60 The crossing of data from different sources revealed that Hernando del Castillo was the issue of Violante González’s first marriage, with the Jew Diego del Castillo, alcaide of the fortress of Alarcón. This is interesting, for most previous works did not manage to completely establish the identity of this character. 128 José María García Ríos Villena.61 Therefore, the accusation for heresy had been orchestrated by his rivals to undermine his position. Fernando del Castillo y del Arzobispo, Violante González’s nephew and the alcaide’s cousin,62 also argued that the witnesses’ depositions aimed to harm Hernando del Castillo and his family. He pointed out that Martín Fernández de Requena, Constanza de la Poveda, and Juana Martínez de Mena were declared enemies of his lineage; that they had spoken because they were “of the party of Juan de Valencia, lord of Piqueras, who abandoned Inés del Castillo, daughter of the alcaide of Alarcón, after promising to marry her”;63 and that, since this incident, both families had been at loggerheads.64 Another witness in the process was María de Luz, daughter of the late alcaide Juan Fernández de Luz and María Álvarez, his second wife. The affidavit submitted by Hernando del Castillo recused his step-sister’s deposition, because she was his enemy since his step-father, Alonso de Luz, left him (and not her) an estate in his will. At the time, she had “openly” swore “to do him some harm if she could”.65 Despite all his efforts, the alcaide of Alarcón failed to restore “the good fame of her mother and reject the ruling against her”. The sentenced was not removed, and the court of appeal ruled in favour of the prosecutor, declaring Violante González guilty of apostasy and heresy. She was sentenced to death with “excommunication and confiscation of her property”; the court ordered “her bones and body to be exhumed wherever they are and publicly burnt”.66 Violante González’s remains were exhumed from the monastery of Saint Agustin, taken to the tribunal, and burnt in the Auto de Fe held on 21 December 1491 near the Plaza Mayor of Cuenca. According to Pérez Ramírez, this was one of the Inquisition’s most heavily attended displays in this city, including several general inquisitors and a wide array of religious and municipal authorities.67 If all of this was not humiliating enough, the Inquisition decreed the confiscation of Violante’s assets, which became public property, and declared her descendants – to the second generation on the father’s side and to the first on the mother’s – unfit for ecclesiastical prebends and public office. They were also forbidden from making any sumptuary display, such as riding horses, carrying weapons, and wearing silk and 61 In addition to this post, the Marquis of Villena rewarded Hernando del Castillo with a demesne in Perona, to which he added soon afterwards the villages of Altarejo and La Losa. See Parello, “Los Castillos ante el tribunal”. 62 His son, Francisco del Castillo, was accused of giving the inquisitors in Cuenca false information about his blood status in late 1533, pretending to be the descendant of an English knight and a scion of the house of Valdeborones. Cfr.: Parello, “Los Castillos ante el tribunal”. 63 Parello, “Une famille converse”, 16-17. 64 ADC, Inquisición, leg. 5, exp. 118. 65 Ídem. 66 Ídem. 67 Pérez Ramírez, Catálogo del Archivo de la Inquisición. 135 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra Figure 1. Family tree 1. Kinship relations around the captaincy of artillery and munitions in the Alhambra (16th-17th centuries) (simplified). Source: various documents (APG, ARChG, AHN, AGS, AGI and RAH). Author’s own. 136 José María García Ríos of Juan Porcel de Salablanca and María de Luz y Sanabria;101 and the aforementioned Hernando de Vivar. These were the last. The following family tree illustrates the marriage links of this captaincy around the Luz family. In 1623, the king directly appointed Fernando Porcel de Peralta as captain of the artillery of the Alhambra,102 ending with the Luz’s monopoly of this honorific, but highly prestigious, post, which had theretofore been used to reward a “century of utmost loyalty and service” to the counts. ‘Interrupted’ promotion Despite their closeness to their masters, the Luz family failed to reap a particularly rich reward from their services, at least compared with other of the counts’ house’s clients. This is interesting, especially considering that the influence of the Tendillas did not stop of the Alhambra, but stretched to the last corners of the city, not to mention the family’s important court connections. As such, the fate of some of their clients can be surprising. Needless to say, the Marquises of Mondéjar spared no effort to find spots for their servants in the city’s urban council, which they expected to result in more advantages for the family further down the line. Controlling the council was tantamount to controlling the city and, by extension, the kingdom. For instance, in 1516, after presenting his respects and swearing loyalty to the new king, Luis Hurtado de Mendoza used his time at court to ingratiate himself with the new unknown Flemish counsellors, as a way to retain his authority in his own sphere of influence. The strategy seems to have paid off, because on 15 May the king appointed his secretary Juan de Luz as jury. We know, in any case, that this particular transaction was only the tip of the iceberg; the marquis left little to chance. Luz filled the spot of another of his clients, Lázaro Hernández de Peralta, alférez of the company attached to the general captaincy, which, in exchange for his resignation, was elevated to the position of caballero veinticuatro in the council.103 Barely a month later, Juan de Luz presented himself before the local authorities with the Emperor-signed appointment to occupy Peralta’s place.104 It is assumed, based on the silence of the council proceedings about this, that this appointment caused no major issues; the other councillors were surely aware of the close links between Luz and the señores de la Alhambra� In other words, opposing the appointment was the same as opposing Tendilla. 101 APG, G-376, Rodrigo Dávila, 2 July 1603, s.f. 102 APAG, leg. 291, pieza 35. 103 Jiménez Estrella, Poder, ejército y gobierno, 339. 104 José Antonio López Nevot, La organización institucional del municipio de Granada durante el siglo XVI (Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1994), 207. 137 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra However, this position in the council formally meant leaving the counts’ service. As previously noted, public officials were technically forbidden from serving a major aristocratic lord. In practice, however, the Mendoza-Luz relationship did not change at all after Luz and Juan de Añasco, alcalde of the Alhambra, presented their formal resignation to the counts’ acostamiento and business on 9 August 1516.105 The records held at the archive of Simancas reveal that the former secretary of the Mendozas kept his post as jury until 9 December 1535, when he was replaced by his son Gonzalo de Luz,106 who was formally accepted by the council early in the following year. Gonzalo chaired several committees in the council, especially owing to his revenuecollecting skills. There is no room to examine this interesting aspect of his activity more in-depth, but it can at least be pointed out that in November 1556 he was appointed, alongside García de Pisa, Juan Sánchez Obregón, and Diego de Castro, to manage Granada council’s assets.107 At no point did he cease to work for the Mendozas, however. For instance, on 1 February 1561, jury Gonzalo de Luz collected a bond for 33,000 maravedíes a year that Mondéjar had deposited with the royal chapel in Granada.108 By crossing evidence from different sources, it is known that Gonzalo de Luz married the Granada-born Juana Fernández in the mid-16th century.109 She also came from a convert family, for which reason it is not surprising that their descendants tried to conceal the heretical and low-class origin of their ancestor.110 With her marriage, however, she became “Doña” Juana Fernández de Córdoba,111 using a “Doña” that she had never used before and adding the patronymic “de Córdoba”, which not only sounded better but made her look like she belonged to the nobility. This was a common practice among Spanish converts.112 105 Archivo Municipal de Granada, Actas Capitulares, 9 August 1516, fols. 43r-43v. 106 AGS, RGS, 9 de diciembre de 1535. Nothing to do, therefore, with the approaches held by Lopez Nevot, La organización institucional, 191-192 o Luz Carretero, “El linaje de Luz”, 200. 107 Rosario Jiménez Vela, Índices de los Libros del Cabildo del Archivo Municipal de Granada� 1518/1566 (Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1985-1988), 295. 108 APG, G-123, Melchor de Alcocer, 1 February 1561, fols. 104r-104v. 109 APG, G-99, Juan de Padilla Ruiz, 1557, fol. 385v. 110 The jury Gonzalo de Luz and Juana Fernández begot María de Luz, who was dumb; Constanza de Luz; Catalina de Luz, who was dumb; Isabel de Sanabria, later wife of Jerónimo de Carvajal; and Gaspar de Luz, dumb. Cfr.: APG, G-196, Juan de Padilla, 10 June 1575, fols. 220r-220v and APG, G-607, Luis González, 16301631, fols. 1383r-1383v. 111 Among other documents, see APG, G-196, Juan de Padilla, 10 June 1575, fols. 220r-220v and ACG, expedientes matrimoniales, leg. 1620-D. 112 See in general Enrique Soria Mesa, “Tomando nombres ajenos. La usurpación de apellidos como estrategia de ascenso social en el seno de la élite granadina durante la edad moderna”, in Enrique Soria Mesa, Juan Jesús Bravo Caro and José Miguel Delgado Barrado, eds Las élites en la Edad Moderna: la monarquía hispánica, volumen 1: Nuevas perspectivas (Córdoba: Universidad de Córdoba, 2009), 9-16 and “En los límites de la herencia inmaterial. La usurpación de apellidos en la España Moderna como estrategia de ascenso social”, in José Ignacio Fortea Pérez, Juan Eloy Gelabert González, Roberto López Vela and Elena 138 José María García Ríos As noted, this jury always made his public duties compatible with the service of his powerful patrons. Probably for this reason, on 20 September 1564, in order to avoid scandal, he was forced to ask Philip II for permission to “serve a lance” to the alcaide of the Alhambra’s companies. In this way, in addition to getting a better salary, he tried to formalise what everyone in Granada new. Although at first his wish was granted, the city’s representative rapidly reacted filing a lawsuit with the Royal Council, leading Luz to renounce the grace. According to the ruling, municipal and military posts were incompatible since 1526.113 At this point, Gonzalo de Luz ceases featuring in public posts, which is fairly significant. Immediately afterwards, between 1565 and 1567, he appears as treasurer of the royal chapel of Granada, and the priests endorsed all his ledgers as “good, sound, and true”.114 This new position, although less prestigious, allowed him to continue enjoying his master’s acostamiento� It would seem that council membership was less profitable than working for the patronage network of the alcaides of the Alhambra� His relatives fared worse. None of his close relatives managed positions of any note, even locally, and remained in the middle-rank of power throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The only note of colour was provided by licenciado Luis de Luz, son of the secretary Juan de Luz and María Álvarez de Jerez, who left for Spanish America in 1566,115 reaching the position of regidor perpetuo in Arequipa, Peru. His brother Alonso de Luz was appointed chaplain in the church of Saint Mary of the Alhambra.116 The one that stood out the most was perhaps Dr Juan de Luz, son of Francisco Núñez de Armijo and Beatriz de Luz, who served for some years in Flanders as auditor of the light cavalry and in Naples and Sicily as judge in the Gran Corte della Vicaría. His early death, however, deprived him from reaping greater honours in His Majesty’s service.117 Beyond the military and the administration, there is little more to be said, other than the above noted Captain Diego de Luz, who, after serving his masters and causing the odd scandal, ended up as Felipe IV’s chamber aid in the early 17th century, and soon after as commissar of the Spanish infantry.118 Postigo Castellanos, eds Monarquías en conflicto� Linajes y noblezas en la articulación de Monarquía Hispánica (Santander: Fundación Española de Historia Moderna y Universidad de Cantabria, 2020), 261-297. See also more recently José María García Ríos, “Una cuestión de fraude y supervivencia. La manipulación genealógica desarrollada por las familias de origen judeoconversos en la ciudad de Baza (siglos XVIXVII)”, Studia Histórica, Historia Moderna, 44/2 (2022), 301-338. 113 José Antonio López Nevot, La organización institucional, 205. 114 AHNOB, Luque, C. 66, D. 25. Also, but partially, Lorenzo Luis Padilla Mellado, “Anexión a la Capilla Real de Granada de las dos terceras partes de las rentas y frutos de las abadías de Alcalá la Real y Jerez de la Frontera y de los priorazgos de Aracena y Puerto de Santa María”, in Francisco Toro Ceballos, ed. Carolus� Homenaje a Friedrich Edelmayer (Alcalá la Real: Ayuntamiento de Alcalá la Real, 2017), 261-274. 115 AGI, Contratación, leg. 3/1, fol. 339v. 116 Luz Carretero, “El linaje de Luz”, 203. 117 AGS, CC, leg. 966, pieza 63. 118 APG, G-405, Pedro Serrano de la Rubia, 1606, fols. 1070r-1070v. 139 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra Why did over a century of service to the counts not lead to even the most modest social promotion? Why did the Luz family fail to cross the line separating the world of honours from the middle ranks of society? The answer to these questions is extremely complex, and several interrelated interpretations may be offered. First, the Jewish blood of their ancestors and the Inquisition’s persecution were a substantial handicap. The weight of social stigma and fear of the humiliation of having all doors to the military orders and the Holy Office closed for one’s origins are not difficult to imagine. For this reason, it may have been more socially profitable to remain in the second tier of society than trying to climb, which meant exposing one’s origins publicly to ‘purity of blood’ enquiries. The economic compensations they received from the Mendozas did not help either, even if, sometimes, these fell so short that had to be ‘topped up’ from the coffers of the military companies commanded by the marquises. These financial shortcomings prevented them from investing in urban assets, agricultural land, or bonds.119 Naturally, the possibility to create a mayorazgo, one of the main levers for social promotion in Habsburg Spain, to unify their assets was well beyond the Luz’s possibilities. Another reason behind their social stagnation was their flawed matrimonial strategy. This is intimately connected with the two previous factors, which drove them to link only with families that were as tainted by the stain of heresy as they were. This is illustrated by their alliance with the Álvarez de Jerez, the López Arias (or Darias), the Zambranas, the Vélez Carrascos, or the de la Fuente Vergaras,120 all of which were universally regarded as New Christians. Tio this, we must add the random biological factor. The small number of male heirs was problematic. By the late 16th century, the Luz family barely had any males left, closing down any chance of social promotion a couple of generations later. Finally, there is one reason that may look less categorical than the previous ones, but which also played its part in arresting the progress of the lineage: their belief that their fate was indissolubly linked to that of the counts. So much so that, sometimes, it appears that they thought that their promotion possibilities were best served by stoically sticking to the counts, in the belief that the opportunity would eventually crystallise. This allowed them to survive for a while, but, in perspective, it only turned the members of the family into puppets, pawns to be moved across the board of local politics. 119 The family’s few assets included the farmstead of Íllora and a house-shop in Plaza de Bibarrambla, on the Viveros side, next door to Captain Francisco de Trillo’s and the heirs of Alonso Mesía’s tanneries. Cfr.: APG, G-376, Rodrigo Dávila, 2 July 1603, s.f. 120 For links with the Vélez Carrasco, the Zambrana, and the de la Fuente Vergara see Enrique Soria Mesa, “Ascenso social y legitimación en la Granada Moderna: la Real Maestranza de Caballería”, in Inés Gómez González and Miguel Luis López-Guadalupe Muñoz, eds La movilidad social en la España del Antiguo Régimen (Granada: Comares, 2007), 179-189. 140 José María García Ríos Figure 2. Ejecutoria de hidalguía of the Luz family (Cuenca branch). Source: ARChG, Sección Hidalguías, 5089-293 and 5150-11. 141 Over a century of “utmost loyalty and service” to the lords of the Alhambra All of these, seemingly disconnected, factors, converged to interdict the Luz family’s promotion avenues. After the fall of the Mendozas, their possibilities for promotion simply vanished altogether. It can be concluded that, after over a century of service to the counts, their position was not so different from that which they had when they arrived in the Kingdom of Granada. A sensu contrario, the branch of the Luz that remained in Cuenca —which we will recall was the region the family came from— appears to have fared better. They were ultimately granted the rank of hidalgos, after arguing their case in the Sala de los Hijosdalgo of the Royal Chancellery. The process went on for more than 36 years (from 1543 to 1579)121 because of the rulings against their ancestors, but in the end, it gave them renewed social projection and a new public image: they were granted the ‘purity of blood’ and nobility which, as we know, they were not entitled to. Concluding remarks This work has tried to examine the microcosmos that revolved around the Granadabased Mendozas and their patronage network. Hopefully, it is now clear that the Marquises of Mondéjar’s shadow, embodied by their numerous clients and dependants, was a good deal longer than hitherto believed. In fact, during the opening decades of the 16th century, these aristocrats by-passed all legal restrictions to cast their influence over virtually every institution in the realengo of Granada (supervision over nearby repopulation projects, control of military fortresses, local government, land hoarding, artistic-religious sponsorship). They were a not unsubstantial threat to the future of the city of Granada and its institutions. As a rule, patronage was a mutually beneficial dynamic. For many of their clients, being in the sphere of influence of the Tendillas brought about a significant increase in income and greater chances to scale in the social ladder. The alcaides of the Alhambra, needless to say, also benefited from these transactions, as they tightened their grip over their network and gave them tools to directly interfere in local government bodies. However, the example posed by the Luz family demonstrates that diligence, loyalty, and closeness to their masters not always resulted in new social horizons for the clients. Almost without exception, the members of this family had to make do with operating in the middle ranks of the network woven by the señores de la Alhambra, an illustration of how twisted and capricious the ways of social promotion in early modern Granada could be. 121 Among other documents: ARChG, 5089-293 and 5150-11. 142 José María García Ríos Printed sources, treatises and bibliography Arco y Molinero, Ángel del. Glorias de la nobleza española: reseña histórica acerca de los caballeros principales que concurrieron a la conquista de Granada… Tarragona: Est. Tip. de F. Arís e Hijo, 1899. 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