Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda y de Silva Cifuentes, Princess of Eboli, Duchess of Pastrana (in full, es,

Doña Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia ...

Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda ), (29 June 1540 – 2 February 1592) was a Spanish

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

, ''

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

'' 2nd Princess of Mélito, 2nd Duchess of Francavilla and 3rd Countess of Aliano.

Early years

She was daughter of

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y de la Cerda Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y de la Cerda, 1st Duke of Francavilla (November 3, 1489, Madrid – March 19, 1578, Toledo) was a Spanish nobleman. He became viceroy of Aragon in 1553 or 1554 – 1564, Chairman of the Council of Italy in 1558, and vice ...

(d.1578), Duke of Francavilla and Prince of Melito,

Viceroy of Aragon This is a list of viceroys (or lieutenants) of the Kingdom of Aragon. *Alonso de Aragón, bishop of Zaragoza 1517-1520 *Juan de Lanuza y Torrellas 1520-1535 *Beltrán de la Cueva, 3rd Duke of Alburquerque 1535-1539 *Pedro Manrique de Luna y de Ur ...

and

Maria Catalina de Silva y Andrade, Countess de Cifuentes (d.1576).

Marriage

Ana, Princess of Melito and Duchess of Pastrana, married

Rui Gomes da Silva, 1st Prince of Éboli Rui or RUI may refer to: Names * Rui (surname) (芮), a Chinese surname * Rui (given name), a given name Places * Rui (state) (芮), a Chinese state during the Zhou Dynasty * Rui (village), a census town in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, Ind ...

when she was 13 years old (1553), by recommendation of the regent of Spain, the future King Philip II. Her husband was a chief councillor and favorite of Philip's and Prince of Éboli from 1559. She may have been blind in one eye. The Princess of Éboli was considered very attractive. She was an energetic person, and prominent in court life. One of her friends was the queen, Isabel de Valois. Ana, Princess of Éboli, had ten children by her marriage: *Diego (c.1558–1563) *Ana de Silva y Mendoza (1560–1610) married 1572 to

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 36.6% of all known bearers of the surname ''Alonso'' were residents of Spain (frequency 1:222), 26.1% of Mexico (1:83 ...

*Rodrigo de Silva y Mendoza (1562–1596), 2nd duke of Pastrana *Pedro de Silva y Mendoza (c. 1563) *Diego de Silva y Mendoza (1564–1630), 1st marquis of Alenquer *Ruy de Silva y Mendoza (1565–), 1st marquis of La Eliseda * Fernando de Silva y Mendoza, later Pedro González de Mendoza (1570–1639) *Maria de Mendoza y Maria de Silva (c. 1570) *Juan de Silva y Mendoza

Affair with Philip II

It is possible that Ana was the mistress of

Philip II, King of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, K ...

Later intrigue

After her husband's death in 1573, she spent three years in a convent, but returned to public life in 1576, forming an alliance at Court with the King's undersecretary of state, Antonio Pérez (1540–1615). They were accused of betraying state secrets which led to her arrest in 1579. Ana died 13 years later in prison on 2 February 1592.

Appearances in fiction

There is a character called Princess Eboli based on Ana in

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

's play ''Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'', and

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's opera ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...

''. She is also the subject of Kate O'Brien's novel ''That Lady'', and the 1955 film adaptation of O'Brien's novel, ''

That Lady ''That Lady'' is a 1955 British-Spanish historical romantic drama film directed by Terence Young and produced by Sy Bartlett and Ray Kinnoch. It stars Olivia de Havilland, Gilbert Roland, and Paul Scofield. The film is based on a 1946 hist ...

'', starring

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...

as Ana. ''La Tuerta'', a stage play charting the life of Ana de Mendoza, was performed at Bedlam Theatre as part of The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2008.

Julia Ormond Julia Karin Ormond (born 4 January 1965) is an English actress. She rose to prominence by appearing in ''The Baby of Mâcon'' (1993), '' Legends of the Fall'' (1994), ''First Knight'' (1995), ''Sabrina'' (1995), '' Smilla's Sense of Snow'' (199 ...

played her in '' La Conjura de El Escorial'' (2008) and

Belén Rueda María Belén Rueda García-Porrero (born 16 March 1965) is a Spanish actress. She became popular in Spain for her performances in the Globomedia-produced television series '' Periodistas'' (1998–2002) and, most notably, ''Los Serrano'' (2003� ...

in the TV film ''

La princesa de Éboli ''La princesa de Éboli'' () is a two-part Spanish period drama television miniseries about the woman of the same name. Directed by Belén Macías and starring Belén Rueda, Hugo Silva and Eduard Fernández, it originally aired in October 2010 ...

'' (2010). In 2018, the episode "The Princess Problem" of the children's television series ''Arthur'' had Lydia introduce D.W. to her as an example of a disabled princess, saying she was blinded in a childhood sword fight.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza, Ana De 1540 births 1592 deaths Ana Spanish duchesses Spanish countesses 16th-century Spanish people People from the Province of Guadalajara Spanish princesses Spanish Roman Catholics Spanish ladies-in-waiting