Ana de Mendonça (c. 1460-1542) was a maid of a claimant of Castile,
Joanna la Beltraneja
Joanna of Castile, known as ''la Beltraneja'' (28 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.
Early life
King Henry IV of Castile married Joan o ...
, and a mistress of
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
John II of Portugal
John II (; ; 3 May 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince (), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for reestablishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigo ...
, 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'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
Bartolomeu Perestrelo, took over the post of "Comendadeira" (Mother Superior) in the All Saints Monastery belonging to the
Order of Saint James of the Sword on 8 July 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 Island) married to King John II's Royal Guard,
Pedro Correia da Cunha, Captain of
Graciosa Island.
[Prof. Luis Adão da Fonseca, D. João II, Temas e Debates, 2007.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendonca, Ana De
1460s 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