Pedro Velaz de Medrano

Pedro Vélaz de Medrano y Manso de Zúñiga, II Lord of Tabuérniga (Santo Domingo de la Calzada, La Rioja 28 July 1603 – Coimbra, c. 1659) was the captain general of the Armada de Barlovento and custodian of the Fleet of New Spain, governor of the Tercio of Álava, governor of five galleons from Naples, sailor and prominent Spanish noble during the reign of Felipe IV.

Don Pedro Vélaz de Medrano is famous for having captained a French corsair flotilla in the Caribbean with the intention of capturing the Spanish treasure fleet for King Louis XIV of France. He married María de Altamirano y Ponce de León. His son Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano, Governor of the strategic city of Nieuwpoort became the I Marquis of Tabuerniga, granted by King Carlos II of Spain in 1682.

Ancestry
Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano y Manso de Zúñiga was the son of the noble Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Mendoza and Dona María Magdalena Manso de Zúñiga y Solá, I lady of Tabuérniga. His father Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Mendoza was a knight in the order of Santiago and the son of Don Juan Velaz de Medrano, and a lady from the Mendoza family. Don Pedro Velaz was a member of the prestigious Medrano family, ricohombres and perpetual lords of Iguzquiza; one of the most ancient lineages from the Kingdom of Navarre. The Medrano family also had a strong presence in La Rioja and Guadalajara, uniting with the house of Bravo de Lagunas in Atienza. Pedro's father Antonio Velaz de Medrano served as a soldier in Naples and Sicily and would later become magistrate in the towns of Malaga (1609–12) and Cuenca-Huete (1612–14).

Pedro's father is a relative of Tomás Fernández de Medrano, lord of Valdeosera and Secretary of State and War for the Dukes of Savoy; and Captain Don Diego de Medrano, who participated in the Conquest of the Azores, commanding 12 Spanish Galleys and led them to the island of Terceira; later Don Diego de Medrano commanded 4 Galleys each with 50 guns in the Spanish Armada Invasion of 1588.

Don Pedro's mother Maria Magdalena was the daughter of Juan Manso de Zúñíga y Medrano and Magdalena de Sola. Maria was a member of the powerful Manso de Zúñiga clan, a Riojan family originally from the town of Canillas de Río Tuerto to which the then bishop of Calahorra-La Calzada belonged. Don Pedro Vélaz de Medrano was the nephew of: Pedro Manso de Zúñiga, President of the Council of Castile and Patriarch of the West Indies, Martín Manso de Zúñiga, bishop of Oviedo and Osma, and Francisco Manso de Zúñiga y Solá, judge of the Council of the Indies, bishop, archbishop, the Vizcount of Negueruela and later given the title Count of Hervías by Philip IV of Spain, dated 26 May 1651.

Don Pedro Vélaz de Medrano's maternal grandfather Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano, nicknamed “El Joven or El Mozo”, was the lord of the towns of Canillas, Cañas and Santorcaz, progenitor of the Counts of Hervías.

Don Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano was born in 1540, son of Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Arcos Belandia and Beatriz Martínez de Medrano, a descendant of Juan Martínez de Medrano. Don Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano won a royal charter of hidalguía on 5 April 1582. He served the king in the armies of Santander and El Ferrol. Juan's brother Pedro Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano was the bishop of Calahorra and the archdeacon of Bilbao.

Rise in Ranks and Wars
Don Pedro Vélaz de Medrano entered the direct service of King Felipe III as a royal page in 1615. He remained there until his entry into the Carrera de Indias in 1623. This was a common departure for pages of the sovereign back then. In 1623, he left the House of Pages and joined the Army of the Strait of Gibraltar. In it, he participated in a minor action at Cape San Vicente. His seafaring skills caught the attention of Don Fadrique de Toledo, Captain General of the Navy of the Atlantic Ocean and of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Portugal, who enlisted him in the journey to Brazil that recovered Bahia from the Dutch in 1625.

For two decades, Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano took part in the recovery of Bahia (Brazil), from the Dutch, and fought on the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and wherever his services were required. In 1629, still under his command, he participated in the actions of the islands of San Cristóbal and Nieves. His promotions continued in the 1630s: sergeant major and governor of the Alava Tercio, governor of five galleons of the Naples Navy, and squadron admiral. In 1631, however, he excused himself from participating in the expedition that attempted to recover Pernambuco because he was ill. In 1638 Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano came to the aid of Fuenterrabía commanding his Tercio from Alava in the Franco-Spanish War. In 1639 Don Pedro Vélaz de Medrano participated in the Battle of the Downs (1639) commanding the ship Orfeo, which pitted Spain and Holland against the English coast of Kent, in the so-called 'Eighty Years' War'. Orfeo fought for the Kingdom of Naples under the command of Medrano. Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano's 44-gun ship was lost on the Goodwin Sands, Kent, on 31 October 1639.

The defeat had the aggravating circumstance of Medrano taken prisoner in France. Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano was prisoner of the French in Paris after running his ship aground on the Gallic shores, but Medrano was freed in 1640.

Combined with the repulse of a similar-sized expedition against Dutch Brazil in January 1640, this marked the end of attempts to challenge Dutch maritime supremacy and an acceptance by the Spanish court that the war could not be won. The Dutch, English, and French were quick to take advantage by seizing some small Spanish island possessions in the Caribbean. After his release in 1640, he held the position of captain general of the Armada de Barlovento and custodian of the Fleet of New Spain In 1644.

Captain General of the Barlovento Armada and Custody of the New Spain Fleet
In 1635 the King of Spain created the Armada de Barlovento. In 1635, the Spanish crown decided to consolidate its naval power and safeguard its ocean trade between Spain and the Spanish territories overseas. This was done in order to counter the English and French corsairs who preyed on the Spanish treasure fleet. In 1644, Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano was appointed Captain General of the Armada de Barlovento and was in charge of the custody of the New Spain Fleet (Spanish treasure fleet) that successfully entered the port of Veracruz on July 17, 1644.

The Armada de Barlovento (Windward Fleet) was a military formation that consisted of 50 ships created by the Spanish Empire to protect its overseas American territories from attacks from its European enemies, as well as attacks from pirates and privateers. Upon his return to the Iberian Peninsula, in 1645, Pedro Velaz de Medrano requested the monarch to grant a marquisate and other grants as a reward for his services.

However, the crisis in which the monarchy was plunged after the uprising of Catalonia and Portugal prevented large expenditures and did not obtain satisfaction to his demands. Two years later he left for Portugal.

Betrayal of the Spanish Crown
After receiving several refusals in his requests for grants and appointments, Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano decided to go to Portugal in 1648, practically at the same time as the discovery of the Duke of Híjar's conspiracy. In Lisbon, Pedro Velaz de Medrano offered his services to the rebels, ensuring that he could take over the New Spain Fleet, or the city of Cartagena de Indias. The news aroused deep concern in Madrid.

It was feared that Pedro might try to raise the kingdom of Navarre, or that he would travel to America and conquer Santo Domingo or even Peru with the help of the Portuguese and English.

However, the Portuguese rebels were not prepared to launch such strong orders. Faced with the hesitations of the Portuguese, Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano decided to offer his services to the main enemy of the Spanish crown: the Kingdom of France.

Allegiance to the French Crown and Raids in the Caribbean
In the Kingdom of France his projects found the welcome he was looking for. Tired of the Portuguese procrastination, Pedro Velaz de Medrano offered himself as a corsair to King Louis XIV of France, which sent him to the Caribbean in command of three ships. Commanding a first squadron of three ships, he appeared on the Cuban coasts and made some prey in 1650. In 1651, Pedro Velaz de Medrano commanded five warships against Philip IV for France to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet in the Caribbean.

He punished the Cuban coasts and allied himself with the French corsair Ponthezière. In July 1651, Medrano and Ponthezière attacked the port of La Guaira but was repulsed. Between the two, they gathered 12 ships for their pirate raids, including against the port of La Guaira, in Venezuela, where they were defeated. The Spanish fleets wintered that year and waited for Medrano's reinforcements to leave the following year, without Pedro Velaz de Medrano having enough strength to face them. The failure of his corsair expeditions to the Caribbean must have alienated the confidence of the French king in 1656. The treaty of Utrecht effectively put an end to the French corsair raids in the Caribbean, the guerre de course, as the French called it, took a huge toll on the Spanish treasure fleet's efforts to ship the gold and silver from Peru to Santo Domingo and Havana and then on to Spain.
 * On 18 March 1651, Philip IV of Spain sent a letter to the Viceroy of New Spain, notifying him of the departure of Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano with five warships (from France) to waylay the Spanish ships travelling from Vera Cruz to Havana; and instructing the Viceroy to take the necessary precautions.

Marriage and Issue
Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano y Manso de Zuniga married María de Altamirano y Ponce de León and together they had a son named Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano (Labastida, 1637- Spa , 1683) a prominent nobleman and military officer in the reign of Charles II, who served as governor of the strategic city and municipality of Nieuwpoort in Flanders. He married a Lady from the house of Hurtado de Mendoza.

Antonio Vélaz de Medrano y Altamirano
His son Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano was the first Marquis of Tabuérniga, a title granted by King Charles II in 1682. His son Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano is also known for having carried out a curious diplomatic initiative when negotiating with the United Provinces of the Netherlands the cession of the island of Tobago to his person, as prince. In 1644, after his father's appointment as captain general of the Armada de Barlovento, and while still a child, he went to the Indies with his family, settling in the viceroyalty of New Spain. There they were arrested and taken into custody in the city of Atlixco after news of his father's desertion to the Portuguese side, and was released in 1650.

The Franco-Dutch War began on 6 April 1672 and the Governor and Marquess Antonio Vélaz de Medrano played a prominent role in preventing the fall of his strategic city of Nieuwpoort in Flanders to the French. Don Antonio Vélaz de Medrano had to face the hostilities of the French on the front line. To prevent them from taking over the square, he took, among other measures, the decision to break the dikes that protected the area around the town, flooding it. Although this damaged the economy of the region, it hindered the French advance and prevented the foreseeable fall of the square.

Descendants
Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano is the great-grandfather of Jaime Velaz de Medrano, III Marquis of Tabuérniga, an important soldier, noble courtier, and prominent conspirator during the reign of Philip V and Isabel de Farnesio. Don Jaime Vélaz de Medrano had a son and heir, Fernando Velaz de Medrano Bracamonte y Dávila, IV Marquis of Tabuérniga.

Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano is also the direct ancestor of José E. Romero, Philippine foreign minister, later first ambassador of the Philippines to the Court of St. James's in the UK.

Jose E. Romero's maternal grandmother was a great-granddaughter of Don Fernando Velaz de Medrano Bracamonte y Dávila, IV Marquis of Tabuérniga, 15th Marquis of Cañete, 6th Marquis of Fuente el Sol, 8th Marquis of Navamorcuende, Grandee of Spain, 15th Lord of Montalbo, and Knight of the Order of Malta who was exiled to the Philippines in 1781. Through his maternal grandmother, Romero was a descendant of Alfonso XI of Castile through four of his sons: Peter of Castile, the twins Henry II of Castile and Fadrique Alfonso, 1st Lord of Haro, and Sancho Alfonso, 1st Count of Albuquerque. Through Peter of Castile's mother Maria of Portugal, he was also a descendant of Afonso IV of Portugal.

Death
He died around 1659, already retired from active military life, leading a hermit life and under the name of Pedro de Jesús, in an undetermined convent in the region of Coimbra, Portugal. His son Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano, I Marquis of Tabuerniga, would succeed him.

Marquisate of Tabuerniga (1682)
His son Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano was given the Marquisate of Tabuerniga in 1682, granted by King Charles II. The institution of this mayorazgo in 1602 by Bishop Pedro Manso de Zúñiga, is at the origin of the creation of the title of Marquis of Tabuérniga in 1682 by King Carlos II. The mayorazgo was created as a dowry for María Magdalena Manso de Zúñiga when she married Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano and comprised an amount slightly higher than 10,000 ducats, destined to the purchase of juros and estates at the discretion of the newlyweds, on the condition that they be linked. This amount was increased in 1612 by the bishop himself by another 2,000 ducats. The current remains of the Mayorazgo of Tabuerniga is known as the "Moorish House", abandoned in the 18th century. Today, only the "Casa del Moro" remains exposed from that village, which supposedly was a kind of "customs" or "fielato". The income from the mayorazgo de Tabuérniga (founded in 1602) came mainly from the village of Tabuerniga itself. That is, where the "Moor's House" is located. In some places it is also written as "Casa de la Marquesa" instead of "Casa del Moro". Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano received the most income in Tabuerniga and he built a residence for himself and his family there. Certain aspects of this location give it a certain singularity with respect to the majority of fortifications in the region. It is located at the bottom of a valley, sheltered from the north winds and close to a spring, which allowed the detachment better living conditions. In addition, there are documents that indicate that there were also non-military inhabitants, something unusual in this type of garrison. The remains of the house-tower of the Tabuérniga mayorazgo, of which Velaz de Medrano and Manso de Zúñiga was the owner, are still preserved near Labastida. Currently, all that remains of the old deserted area is Medrano's two-story tower with a beautiful ornamental finish on its back, from which its origin in the 16th or 17th centuries can be deduced.