Ana de Mendonça (1460-1542) was a maid of the Queen regnant of Castile,

Joanna la Beltraneja Joanna ''la Beltraneja'' (21 February 1462 – 12 April 1530) was a claimant to the throne of Castile, and Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Afonso V, her uncle. Birth and parentage King Henry IV of Castile married Joan of Portugal, da ...

, and a mistress of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

John II of Portugal John II ( pt, João II; ; 3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince ( pt, o Príncipe Perfeito, link=no), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishi ...

, who was also Master of the Order of Saint James 1470-1492. They had one son, Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra and Master of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword. He married D. Isabel Colón's sister-in-law. Ana de Mendonça's father was a knight of Saint James named Nuno Furtado de Mendonça, (

Bartolomeu Perestrelo Bartolomeu Perestrello (, in Italian ''Bartolomeo Perestrello''), 1st Capitão Donatário, Lord and Governor of the Island of Porto Santo ( 1395 – 1457) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer that is claimed to have discovered and populated P ...

's brother-in-law) married to Leonor da Silva. Ana de Mendonça's grandfather was Afonso Furtado de Mendonça "anadél-mor de Besteiros" (leader of the archers) a post that was then inherited by Ana de Mendonça's uncle, Duarte Furtado de Mendonça. Ana de Mendonça, niece of

, took over the post of "Comendadeira" (Mother Superior) in the All Saints Monastery belonging to the Order of Saint James of the Sword on July 8, 1508, a position she held until her death in 1542. The previous Comendadeira had been her aunt, Violante Nogueira, Bartolomeu Perestrelo's sister-in-law, the former nanny of King Duarte's children, and aunt of Izeu Perestrelo, Filipa Moniz's half-sister. Ana de Mendonça was direct cousin of Izeu Perestrelo (Captainess of

Graciosa Graciosa Island () (literally "graceful" or "enchanting" in Portuguese) is referred to as the ''White Island'', the northernmost of the Central Group of islands in the Azores. The ovular Portuguese island has an area of , a length of and a width ...

Island) married to King John II's Royal Guard, Pedro Correia da Cunha, Captain of

Island.Prof. Luis Adão da Fonseca, D. João II, Temas e Debates, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendonca, Ana De Portuguese royalty 1460 births 1542 deaths Mistresses of Portuguese royalty 15th-century Portuguese people 16th-century Portuguese people 15th-century Portuguese women 16th-century Portuguese women People from Moita