Mayor Guillén de Guzmán (1205–1262) was a member of one of the most aristocratic families in the court of King

Ferdinand III of Castile Ferdinand III (; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. Through his ...

. Her parents were

Guillén Pérez de Guzmán Guillén Pérez de Guzmán (Wiktionary:circa, ca. 1180–1233), a member of the House of Guzmán, one of the most aristocratic of the Kingdom of Castile, was the maternal grandfather of Queen Beatrice of Castile (1242–1303), Beatrice of Castile, ...

and María González Girón, daughter of Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón and his first wife Sancha Rodríguez, and sister of Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán, Castile's first

adelantado ''Adelantado'' (, , ; meaning 'advanced') was a title held by some Spain, Spanish nobles in service of their respective kings during the Middle Ages. It was later used as a military title held by some Spanish ''conquistadores'' of the 15th, 16th a ...

and father of

Alonso Pérez de Guzmán Alonso Pérez de Guzmán (1256–1309), known as ''Guzmán el Bueno'' ("Guzmán the Good"), was a Spanish nobleman and hero of Spain during the Middle Ages, medieval period. Guzmán is the progenitor of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, the oldes ...

Biographical sketch

Her name is registered in contemporary chronicles and documents as the lover of prince Alfonso de Castilla, future king

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...

, son of

and Beatriz de Suabia. In 1255, Alfonso gave her lands in La Alcarria which included Cifuentes, Viana de Mondéjar,

Palazuelos Palazuelos may refer to: People *Palazuelos (surname) Places

*Palazuelos, Guadalajara, village in Guadalajara, Spain *Palazuelos de Muñó, municipality in Burgos, Castile and León, Spain *Palazuelos de Eresma, village in Segovia, Castile and ...

, Salmerón, Vadesliras and Alcocer. With the collaboration of King Alfonso, she founded the Monastery of Santa Clara de Alcocer in an unpopulated village called San Miguel del Monte within the jurisdiction of Alcocer. The foundational charter dated September 22, 1260 was confirmed by her brothers Pedro and Nuño Rodríguez de Guzmán.

Issue

From her relationship with Infante Alfonso she had one daughter: * Beatrice (1242–1303), the sole beneficiary of her mother's estates, married

Afonso III of Portugal Afonso IIIrare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin). (; 5 May 121016 February 1279), ca ...

and was the mother of Denis I of Portugal. On December 31, 1244, Alfonso with the consent of his father, donated the village of

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

to his daughter Beatrice, most probably born around that date, which would seem to indicate that the relationship was stable and accepted.

Death and burial

She died in early 1262 in Alcocer and was buried in the monastery of the

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Or ...

that she had founded at San Miguel del Monte. Years later, on July 24, 1276, King Alfonso executed an agreement with Juan González who made a walnut-wood sepulchre with a

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

image of Mayor. The parchment document was auctioned at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

in 2009.Auctioned parchment at Christie's
/ref> The convent, as well as her sepulcher were moved to Alcocer years later. Her body, which remained intact until the beginning of the 20th-century, disappeared in 1936 along with a polychromed sculpture considered among the best funerary art from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * 1205 births 1262 deaths 13th-century Castilian nobility 13th-century Spanish women {{spain-bio-stub