Catalina de Medrano

Catalina de Medrano y Bravo de Lagunas Cienfuegos (October 31, 1479 – Atienza, December 2, 1541) was a noblewoman from the important Medrano family in the Kingdom of Castile. Catalina de Medrano was a Lady in the court of Queen Isabel I of Castile and the sister of Luisa de Medrano, famous professor at the University of Salamanca. Catalina and her husband took charge of resuming the construction of the convent and chapel of San Francisco in Atienza, where her mother had already been buried in 1531. Catalina, together with her husband, Hernando de Rojas y Sandoval, participated in the custody, or care, of Queen Juana I in Tordesillas. She is not to be confused with Catalina de Medrano, wife of the maritime explorer Sebastián Cabot.

Family
Catalina de Medrano Bravo de Lagunas Cienfuegos was born into high nobility, her father was the ricohombre Don Diego López de Medrano y Salvadores, lord of San Gregorio in Almarza and a direct descendant of the Navarrese regent and ricohombre Juan Martínez de Medrano. The Medrano family in Castile were known as the lords of Almarza, along with Fuenmayor and Agoncillo. Catalina lived in the castle of San Gregorio, a fortified house in Almarza built by her father Don Diego in 1461. Don Diego López belongs to the prestigious Medrano family; perpetual lords of Iguzquiza (in the merindad of Estella) and one of the most ancient lineages from the Kingdom of Navarre. The Medrano family had a branch in La Rioja, they became vassals of the Kings of Castile during the dispute with the Kings of Navarre over La Rioja in 1076.

Catalina's mother Dona Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas came from Berlanga de Duero and Atienza in the Kingdom of Castile and was the daughter of Don Garci Bravo de Lagunas, Alcaide of Atienza and Sigüenza, and his wife Catalina Núñez de Cienfuegos. Luisa's mother Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas was the great-great-granddaughter of Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno (progenitor of the Dukes of Medina-Sidonia). Catalina's mother was also the first cousin of the comuneros captain of Segovia, Don Juan Bravo de Lagunas y Mendoza. Catalina's parents married in 1476. Nine children were born from the marriage, including Catalina de Medrano on October 31, 1479. Catalina's father Don Diego López de Medrano (on his mother and grandmother's side) also belonged to the Salvadores lineage (including Barnuevo and Chancellor), members of the Twelve Lineages of Soria and therefore received royal privileges in Soria.

Catalina's sister was the famous Salamanca professor, poet and philosopher Luisa de Medrano, the first female to hold a university seat in all of Europe in the early 16th century. Her sister Luisa was educated alongside siblings of the royal family, and benefited from living in the climate of tolerance and advancement for women that Isabella I actively cultivated in her court, called by their contemporaries "puellae doctae" (learned girls). The family trees of Diego Lopez de Medrano and Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas also contain the relationship of the birth of their children through the will of Doña Magdalena Bravo, dictated in 1531 in Atienza, and buried at her death in the convent of San Francisco, Together with her husband, the Lord of San Gregorio.

Marriage
Catalina de Medrano married Hernando de Rojas Sandoval, commander of Huélamo in the Order of Santiago, brother of Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas, II Marquis of Denia, count of Lerma, great seneschal of Sicily, mayordomo of Kings Fernando the Catholic and Juana la Loca and a direct ancestor of Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, V Marquis of Dénia, 1st Duke of Lerma, a close relative of Tomas Fernandez de Medrano through his wife Isabel Ibáñez de Sandoval and their children Dona Maria and Don Juan Fernandez de Medrano y Sandoval.

Lady of Queen Isabel I of Castile (1497–1504)
Catalina de Medrano was a lady in the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile. Catalina is considered a person of high culture for her time, she began to serve Isabella of Castile in 1497, remaining with her until the death of the Queen herself, receiving 27,000 maravedís per year for her services (a total of 189,000 maravedís).

Custody of Queen Juana I of Castile (1509)
Catalina de Medrano, together with her husband, Hernando de Sandoval y Rojas, participated in the custody, or care, of Queen Juana I in Tordesillas.

Catalina de Medrano's role in overseeing Queen Juana I in Tordesillas was necessitated by the tumultuous circumstances surrounding Juana's life. Juana, also known as Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad), inherited the throne of Castile in 1504 following her mother's death, but her reign was marred by her mental instability. Juana's struggles with mental health, likely exacerbated by personal tragedies and political pressures, raised concerns about her ability to govern effectively.

Consequently, her father Ferdinand II and later her son Charles I took charge of the government, effectively ruling on her behalf. In 1509, Juana was confined to the Royal Palace of Tordesillas for the remainder of her life, placed under the guardianship of her father and later her son, alongside trusted individuals like Catalina de Medrano and her husband Hernando de Rojas y Sandoval.

Franciscan Chapels in Atienza
The National Historical Archive in Spain holds a document referring to the completion of the construction of a conventual temple, which began in the 14th century and was still unfinished in the 16th century. The friars in Atienza lived in precarious conditions until the end of the 14th century, when the lady of the town, at that time Doña Catalina de Lancaster, wife of King Enrique III of Trastamara, built a new conventual building at her own expense, and also undertook the construction of a new church, which, in any case, was left unfinished. In the early 16th century, Doña Catalina de Medrano Bravo Lagunas and Don Hernando de Rojas Sandoval emerged as the benefactors, financing the construction of two transept chapels dedicated to the Immaculate Conception (on the Gospel side) and to saints Sebastian, Fabian, and Roque (on the Epistle side). Shortly thereafter, the couple funded the establishment of a new chapel in the transept devoted to Saint Anthony.

This endeavor involved commissioning chasubles and a vestment, contributing tapestries, an altar frontal, sheets, a chalice, and wine jugs. Catalina de Medrano and her husband orchestrated the installation of an ornate wrought-iron gate at the chapel's entrance and commissioned the carving of two recumbent statues, presumably designed to house their remains eternally in white alabaster material within the confines of the Saint Anthony chapel. The existence of these funerary statues remains uncertain, although strong indications suggest their creation. During the zenith of the 14th and 15th centuries, the town of Atienza thrived as a significant hub for communication and commerce. At the heart of this locale stood a Franciscan friary established in the mid-13th century. Demonstrating a commendable initiative to enhance the religious edifice of San Francisco in Atienza, Doña Catalina de Medrano, in 1507, instigated the construction of a main entrance, the restructuring of the choir, and numerous other intricate embellishments, marking a noteworthy chapter in the history of the friary.

Her brother, Don Garcí Bravo de Medrano, assumed the patronage of the newly renovated temple's main chapel. That was the pinnacle moment of the Franciscan monastery. Shortly before, in 1507, while Regent of Castile was Friar Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros, Catalina de Medrano's convent was declared a Royal Convent of Atienza, and its Guardian or Superior was appointed as Dean Regidor of the town, with two votes in the Councils, a designated person to replace him in the council position whenever he deemed it appropriate, and some other preeminences that demonstrated the high power that the friars had in the government of the high town of Atienza.

Noteworthy visits from Spanish monarchs, including Philip II in 1592, Philip III, and Philip IV in 1660, as well as Philip V in 1706, attest to the monastery's prominence. However, the zenith of the monastery waned drastically on the night of January 7, 1811, when Napoleonic forces ravaged the residence of the religious and the temple, leading to the near-total destruction of this cultural and religious heritage. It was during this calamitous event that the artistic treasures bequeathed to posterity by Catalina de Medrano were tragically lost.

Medrano and Bravo de Lagunas lineage in Atienza
Catalina de Medrano's maternal grandfather, Garcí Bravo de Lagunas, migrated from Soria (or Sigüenza) to establish residence in Atienza. Garcí was the brother of the bishop Juan Ortega Bravo de Lagunas and Gonzalo Bravo de Lagunas. When Garcí Bravo assumed responsibility for the Alcaidia of Atienza Castle, his relocation was not solitary; he brought his entire family, including his wife, children, and sons-in-law. Among those accompanying him were his daughter Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas and her husband, Diego López de Medrano, along with at least three sons and two daughters—Diego, Garci, Luis, Catalina, and Isabel. Subsequently, in Atienza, the marriage bore at least four additional children.

At the onset of Queen Isabella the Catholic's rule in Castile, Atienza, like the rest of the kingdom, faced the choice between loyalty to the reigning king and the prospect of allegiance to the prospective queen, Isabella. In the Castilian War of Succession, Catalina's maternal grandfather, Garci Bravo de Lagunas, played a pivotal role in securing the city of Sigüenza for Queen Doña Isabel. Engaging in a noteworthy act during the conflict, Garci Bravo de Lagunas and his relative Pedro de Almazán courageously scaled Sigüenza Castle, capturing Bishop Diego López of Madrid, a supporter of the Beltraneja, thereby aiding the cause of Queen Isabella I.

Pedro de Almazán facilitated the ascent of Garci Bravo's men, securing the castle and town, aligning it with the sovereignty of Queen Isabella I. Consequently, the descendants of Garci Bravo wielded considerable influence in the town. Following the city's restoration to the Catholic Monarchs, Garci Bravo de Lagunas assumed the role of Alcaide, maintaining a prominent position in Atienza.

In that year, during the siege of the city, he made a military testament in the royal style, which was later legally recorded on May 31, 1570, by Juan Sánchez Canales, a notary in Toledo. Through this disposition, he established a trust for a third and a fifth of his assets and the perpetual alcaidía (wardenship) of Atienza in Garci Bravo de Medrano, his grandson, the second son of his daughter Magdalena and Diego López de Medrano. This marked the origin of the Bravo estate in Atienza.

Catalina's father Don Diego López de Medrano and her maternal grandfather, Garcí Bravo, died in the Queen's service at the Siege of Málaga in 1487. The Chronicle of the Catholic Monarchs by Don Juan M. Carriazo confirmed the news that Garci Bravo de Lagunas and Diego López de Medrano had died in battle. Mosén Diego de Valera writes about this battle:

"And the Christians had received very great damage at the beginning and more than fifty of them were killed and others wounded. Among them, three principal men were killed: Garci Bravo, governor of Atienza; Diego de Medrano, his son-in-law; and Gabriel de Sotomayor, brave knights of noble lineage." Juan Bravo's wife Catalina Núñez de Cienfuegos, on the occasion of the death of her husband and son-in-law in that action, received a heartfelt letter of condolences and gratitude from the Catholic Monarchs on June 7, 1487.

Siblings

 * Diego López de Medrano, heir to the paternal estate, and to the fortress of San Gregorio, near Soria. He was born on July 30, 1477.
 * Garcí Bravo de Medrano, heir to the maternal estate, was born on November 20, 1478.
 * Francisco de Medrano, born on May 15, 1481, the date of his death unknown.
 * María Bravo de Medrano, born on May 9, 1492, a nun in Soria, according to the will of her sister Catalina.
 * Leonor de Medrano, the other nun sister, was born on June 14, 1483.
 * Luis de Medrano, rector of the University of Salamanca around 1511–12, born on November 9, 1485, and died before 1527.
 * Isabel Bravo de Medrano, born on January 6, 1487, and died after 1531.

Will of testament and death
Catalina de Medrano wrote her will in Atienza on January 18, 1541. Catalina de Medrano died without children, in Atienza, on December 2, 1541, being buried in the convent of San Francisco, together with her father, Diego López de Medrano, the Lord of San Gregorio, as well as her mother Dona Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas in 1531.