Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ulloa-Ossorio (

Medina del Campo Medina del Campo is a town and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Part of the Province of Valladolid, it is the centre of a farming area. History Medina del Campo grew in importance thanks to its fairs ...

, 1462 –

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auton ...

, 1504) was the daughter of Juan de Bobadilla and named after his cousin

Beatriz de Bobadilla Beatriz de Bobadilla (1440–1511) was a Spanish noble and courtier. She is known as the confidant of Queen Isabella I of Castile. She was the childhood friend of Isabella, and remained at her court as her adviser throughout her reign, once bein ...

. Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio was married to ruler of the

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...

and

El Hierro El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...

islands, Lord Hernán Peraza the Younger and after his death she succeeded him as ruler.

Background

Beatriz was born in Medina del Campo to the powerful and wealthy

Bobadilla family The Bobadilla family was one of the wealthiest and most influential families within the Kingdom of Spain, particularly during the Age of Discovery. Overview The family had a long history of service and ties to the crown of Castile. They were memb ...

with close ties to the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accessi ...

. Her father, Juan de Bobadilla, held numerous roles including alderman for Medina del Campo, governor of Madrid, and chief huntsman for the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

. As a result of this last role, Beatriz became known as "La Cazadora" – The Huntress. The name was also a reference to her attractiveness and her rumored high-profile relationships with King Fernando and

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

. As a result of the former, Queen Isabella arranged for her to marry Hernán (also known as Fernán) Peraza, Lord of La Gomera and El Hierro, in 1482.

Conquest of the Canary Islands

During the Spanish

Conquest of the Canary Islands The conquest of the Canary Islands by the Crown of Castille took place between 1402 and 1496 and described as the first instance of European settler colonialism in Africa. It can be divided into two periods: the Conquista señorial, carried out ...

the island of La Gomera was not taken in battle but was incorporated into the Peraza-Herrera fiefdom through an agreement between Hernán Peraza the Elder and some of the insular aboriginal groups who accepted the rule of the Castilian. However, there were a number of uprisings by the

Guanches The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa. It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only nativ ...

aboriginals due to outrages committed by the rulers on the native Gomeros. The last of these, in 1488, resulted in the death of his son and Beatriz's husband, Hernán Peraza the Younger. Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio then had to seek the assistance of Pedro de Vera, conqueror of Gran Canaria, in order to snuff out the rebellion. The subsequent repression caused the death of two hundred rebels and many others were sold into slavery in the Spanish markets. Beatriz then took her deceased husband's place as Lord of La Gomera and El Hierro, ruling for over ten years until their son, Guillén Peraza de Ayala, was old enough to rule himself.

Columbus

made La Gomera his last port of call before crossing the Atlantic in 1492 with his three ships. He stopped here to replenish his crew's food and water supplies, intending to stay only four days. Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio, the Countess of La Gomera and widow of Hernán Peraza the Younger, offered him vital support in preparations of the fleet and he ended up staying one month. When he finally sailed, she gave him cuttings of sugarcane, which became the first to reach the New World. Columbus would visit her a further two times, in 1493 and 1498.

Children

Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio had two children,

Guillén Peraza de Ayala Guillén Peraza de Ayala y Rojas (1488-1565) was a Spanish nobleman and ruler of La Gomera and El Hierro in the Canary Islands. Biography Guillén Peraza was born in 1488 in Seville as a member of the Peraza family that was influential in the ...

and Inés de Herrera. Guillén succeeded her as ruler of the islands and was made a Count by Queen

Juana of Castile Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...

/Emperor

Carlos V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infant ...

References

{{Authority control Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands Spanish women