Inés Peraza de las Casas (

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, c. 1424 - Seville, 1503) was the territorial lady of the

Lordship of the Canary Islands The Lordship of the Canary Islands was a late medieval Lordship of the Crown of Castile that originally included all the islands of the Atlantic archipelago of the Canary Islands. It was created in 1402 by King Henry III of Castile in favor of the ...

, which she inherited from her father Hernán Peraza the Elder and her late brother Guillén Peraza. As the first monarch since the islands were unified by her father, Inés titled herself “Queen of the Canary Islands,” which she continued to do until the assignment to the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

to the islands of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

and

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

in 1477.

Early life

She was born approximately 1424 in

to Hernán Peraza the Elder and his wife, Inés de las Casas (for whom she was named), lords of the Canary Islands. Her father's family was influential in Seville as lords and mayors while her mother's ancestry is of French origin. While her father and brother built a consolidated lordship in the islands, Inés remained in Seville for her early life. She was under the tutelage of the

Duke of Medina Sidonia Duke of Medina Sidonia () is a peerage grandee title of Spain in Medina-Sidonia, holding the oldest extant dukedom in the kingdom, first awarded by King John I of Castile in 1380. His father, Henry II of Castile (c.1334-1379), had an illegiti ...

, Don Juan de Guzmán, through 1447. In the next year, 1448, she married her husband, Diego García de Herrera.

Lordship of the Canary Islands

In 1445, Inés's father, Hernán Peraza the Elder, exchanged her late mother's olive estate in Huévar, with her (mother's) uncle, Guillén de las Casas, for the rights that he had over the lordship of the islands of

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

and

, which Guillén had inherited from his father Alfonso. This was added to the territory Hernán Peraza had already acquired from the Count of Niebla

Enrique de Guzmán Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk ( ...

in 1430 —

El Hierro El Hierro (), nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the farthest south and west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a population of 11,659 (2023). ...

and

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...

. Following the death of her father in 1452, as well as the earlier death of his first-born son Guillén on

(circa 1447/1448), Inés remained the sole heir to the lordship of the islands.

Lordship lawsuits

Inés and her husband, Diego de Herrera, had to fight with the Crown of Castile as well as the Kingdom of Portugal for their rights over the islands. Lanzarote had previously been leased by Guillén de las Casas, uncle of Inés Peraza's mother, to Maciot de Bethencourt, relative of the conqueror Jean de Bethencourt in 1432. He, in turn, sold it to

Henry the Navigator Princy Henry of Portugal, Duke of Viseu ( Portuguese: ''Infante Dom Henrique''; 4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (), was a Portuguese prince and a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese ...

of Portugal in 1448, however the islanders revolted against Portuguese power, leaving island disputed and considered "kidnapped" by King Juan II. The year 1454 was significant as the Peraza-Herrera's received from King

Enrique IV of Castile Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), nicknamed the Impotent, was King of Castile and León and the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles bec ...

the return of the island of Lanzarote to their lordship by way of a court order confirming their ownership. That same year they successfully removed

from the part of La Gomera that his vassals occupied. In 1468 Enrique IV was also forced to revoke his concession of the conquest of the unsubmissive islands he had made in favor of several Portuguese nobles in 1464. Later the

had granted Inés and her husband the establishment of a

majorat ''Majorat'' () is a French term for an arrangement giving the right of succession to a specific parcel of property associated with a title of nobility to a single heir, based on male primogeniture. A majorat ( fideicommis) would be inherited by ...

of the islands in 1476, which was later confirmed to their son Hernán Peraza the Younger in 1486.

Participation in the conquest of Tenerife

Inés Peraza participated directly in the conquest of the island of

, assisting the royal order to the conquering captain

Alonso Fernández de Lugo Alonso Fernández de Lugo (; died 1525) was a Spanish conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496) for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the Canary Islan ...

in 1495 with extensive supplies. This aid had been requested by Alonso de Lugo for his second entry into Tenerife, after his army had been defeated by the

Guanches The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

in the "Acentejo massacre" the previous year. Afterwards, as a guarantee, Inés held the children of Lugo Fernando and

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meanin ...

as hostages for the substantial debt that amounted to 600,000

maravedí The ''maravedí'' () or ''maravedi'' (), deriving from the Almoravid dinar (), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries, and the name of different Iberian accounting units between the 11t ...

Canary Islands Lordship Division

Uprising in Lanzarote

In 1476 the inhabitants of Lanzarote revolted against the stately power of the Herrera-Perazas. The people of Lanzarote asked to be vassals of the Catholic Monarchs before the excesses of Inés Peraza and her husband, going to court to file complaints and other documents. The lords of the Canary Islands then began to persecute the rebels, exiling or executing them, until the Kings sent Esteban Pérez de Cabitos, the investigating judge, to Lanzarote to collect information on the lords' rights to the islands.

Assignment of the rights of conquest of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife

In October 1477, Inés and her husband renounced their rights to the islands that had not yet been conquered, transferring them to the Catholic Monarchs in exchange for financial compensation and the title of Count of La Gomera.

Further Lordship Division

With the sale to the Catholic Monarchs, the lordship of the Peraza-Herrera was reduced to the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro. However, increased division begins in 1474 as a result of the distribution between their children as they came of age. Pedro, the eldest son, received the island of El Hierro on the occasion of his marriage, and in 1478 Hernán Peraza the Younger (named after her

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

) received La Gomera. In 1482, in the face of Pedro's attempts against the life of his parents, as well as for provoking revolts in the family domain, he was disinherited by Inés, who then favored the second-born Hernán The Younger, giving him control of El Hierro as well. Following Hernán The Younger's death in La Gomera in 1488, further internal struggles ensued in the family against his ambitious widow

Beatriz de Bobadilla Beatriz de Bobadilla (1440–1511) was a Castillian noble, courtier, and confidant The confidant ( or ; feminine: confidante, same pronunciation) is a character in a story whom a protagonist confides in and trusts. Confidants may be other ...

(known as “The Huntress”) for control of the islands. Bobadilla would successfully retain ownership of her husband's lands and emerge as ruler of La Gomera and El Hierro. Bobadilla was succeeded by her son, Guillén Peraza de Ayala, who was elevated from a lord to a count. In 1502, Inés divided Lanzarote and Fuerteventura into twelfth parts among her other children: Sancho de Herrera, María de Ayala and Constanza Sarmiento - five for Sancho, four for María and three for Constanza. She died at the beginning of the following year in her birthplace of Sevilla. As a result of her tumultuous reign, Inés was the last head of the unified

seigneury A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal system, feudal title in Ancien Régime, France before the French Revolution, Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owne ...

, though the Peraza family would remain a prominent force in the governing and shaping of the Canary Islands.

Marriage and Progeny

Inés Peraza married Diego García de Herrera y Ayala in Seville in 1448. Herrera was a "Vassal of Her Majesty" and a Thirteenth Knight of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...

. They had five children: * Pedro García de Herrera (c. 1449-1532), first Lord of El Hierro, later disinherited by his parents. * Hernán Peraza the Younger (c. 1450-1488), first lord of La Gomera and El Hierro. Married to Beatriz de Bobadilla and Ulloa. * Sancho de Herrera the Elder (c. 1452-1534), first lord of Lanzarote. Married to Violante de Cervantes. * Constanza Sarmiento, first lady of Fuerteventura. Married to Pedro Fernández de Saavedra. * María de Ayala, who married Diego de Silva y Meneses, first count of Portalegre since 1496.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peraza, Inés 15th-century births 1420s births 1503 deaths People from Seville Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands 15th-century queens regnant