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It's fun to find a potential family link back to historical figures, whose portraits you can view or whose deeds you can read in books, but in Spain and Latin America the drive to prove one's noble ancestry has unsettling origins. Between the Spanish Inquisition's persecutions and Latin America's rigid racial castas, one's station in life during the Spanish colonial era was set at birth, if not beforehand by the irreversible actions of one's ancestors. People needed to present "old Christian" genealogies as a way to explain their worth, and if people had older Christian lineages either by genetic chance or falsified documents, so much the better.
FamilySearch's Full-Text Search, an innovative AI-powered search engine, led me to an 18th-century Mexican genealogy which could prove that a gateway ancestor of mine brought his diluted Spanish and French royal blood to Santander Department, Colombia. I don't want to make a fuss over it, because as I noted in my other blog, inherited "nobility" is a ludicrous notion. Pedigree collapse also ensures that almost everyone on Earth descends from their local monarchs and/or historical figures, even if the links are not documented. Royal descent isn't special, but this is an interesting third installment in my series praising FamilySearch's Full-Text Search (following my first and second articles).
My journey through this speculative history began with my 7th-great-grandparents, Nicolás de la Parra and Gabriela de Rueda, whose names I knew previously from their daughter's 1768 baptismal record in Barichara, Colombia. Entering "Nicolás de la Parra" into Full-Text Search, I instantly found the 1777 will of his father-in-law, Francisco de Rueda Rosales. In this thorough will, 8th-great-grandfather Francisco named his parents, his two wives and their parents, and his children and all of their spouses. This helped me go back two generations, to Francisco's first wife, Margarita Sarmiento, and her parents, my 9th-great-grandparents Alonso Sarmiento and Francisca Gómez de Orozco. I'm not aware of a primary source verifying Francisca's parents, so you have to take the Genealogías de Santa Fe de Bogotá at face value that that they were Adrián Gómez de Orozco y Gorraiz and María Gómez Romano y Sarmiento.
For what it's worth, the other children of Francisco de Rueda Rosales and Margarita Sarmiento y Gómez de Orozco were:
- Rosa María de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married Manuel Ortíz Tello
- María Luisa de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married Tomás Plata
- Josefa de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married Tomas Lamo
- Francisca Javiera de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married Pedro Noriega
- Isabel de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married Bartolome Ferreira
- Alberto de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married María Manuela de la Parra
- Fernando de Rueda y Sarmiento, who married Manuela Ortíz
It's also important to know that Francisco de Rueda Rosales owned multiple enslaved people, who are listed in his will and were distributed among his heirs. That's the reality behind these fanciful airs of royalty.
Anyway, my 10th-great-grandfather Adrián's family is mentioned in Juan Flórez de Ocáriz's Las genealogías del Nuevo Reino de Granada (1674-1676). This snobby notary and genealogist of Bogotá wanted to make sure that local mestizos did not forget their family ties to the conquistadors and Spain, as he also downplayed most of their Indigenous ancestry. I'm also not aware of many extant primary sources that can verify Flórez de Ocáriz, so you have to frequently believe him at his word.
Flórez de Ocáriz on the family of "Adrián de Orozco Gorrayz"
The first volume of Flórez de Ocáriz's Genealogías mentions "Adrián de Orozco Gorrayz," the son of Pedro Gómez de Orozco and Ana Gorraiz (p.417). Amazingly, Ana Gorraiz's baptismal record from 1619 in Vélez still survives, and her parents are listed as Adrián de Gorraiz and Clara de Deza, which matches what Flórez de Ocáriz wrote. He also listed Ana's grandparents as Luis de Gorraiz and Francisca de Ugarte, natives of Gorraiz, Valle de Egüés in Navarra, just a few miles east of Pamplona (p.415). Since Flórez de Ocáriz does not say the Gorraiz family was noble or hidalgos, one might assume that the story ends with 13th-great-grandparents Luis and Francisca.
Through FamilySearch's FamilyTree, I learned that Adrián is also mentioned in a genealogy drawn up in 1734 by José Lázaro Camacho Orozco y Gorraiz, an infantry captain in Vélez. This genealogy is written after Flórez de Ocáriz, so it's not a primary source, but José Lázaro Camacho had multiple witnesses testify that his mother was Juana de Orozco Gorraes Beamonte, the daughter of Capitán Don Pedro Gómez de Orozco and "Doña Anna de Gorraiz Beamonte," and the granddaughter of "Capitán Don Adrián de Gorraiz Beamonte, natural del Reino de Navarra, en el lugar de Gorraiz y de Dona Clara de Deza." (page 737, recto and verso) Again, Adrián de Gorraiz came from the town of Gorraiz, and had the extra surname "Beamonte."
I searched "Luis de Gorraiz" in Google Books, and Revista Hidalguía clarified that "Beamonte" is actually "Beaumont," and this family was local gentry. Luis de Gorraiz Beaumont was the lord of the Palace of Gorraiz, who married in 1553 Ana Francisca de Huarte (pretty close to "Ugarte"), the owner of the Casa de Olóriz. "Huarte" is the town next to Gorraiz. Only one child of Luis and Ana Francisca is mentioned, their heir Lanzarote de Gorraiz Beaumont. Luis's parents are listed as Lanzarote de Gorraiz and Ana de Beaumont.
Could Adrián have been a younger child of Luis and Ana Francisca who came to Colombia because primogeniture cut off his chances of inheritance? I view it as really plausible. Revista Hidalguía says the elder Lanzarote had a brother Adrián who became a "captain in the Indies" (with no citation), but I don't think this could be the same Adrián who was a father in 1619. The author was likely confused as to who was Adrián's brother. (Update: See below how I found a published genealogy that agrees that Adrián was the son of Luis and Ana Francisca.)
Giving Flórez de Ocáriz the benefit of the doubt, that Adrián de Gorraiz is the son of Luis and Ana Francisca, I looked for "Ana de Beaumont" in Full-Text Search and found instantaneous, jaw-dropping results. A Gorraiz family tree and a brief genealogy were created in Mexico City in 1739 for the Mariscal de Castilla, José Pedro de Arellano Luna Gorraez Beaumont y Navarra. Luis de Gorraiz and Francisca de Ugarte are close to the base of the tree! I can't verify whether this genealogy is "correct," but it seems to be the same family that Juan Flórez de Ocáriz and José Lázaro Camacho referenced, so I will spell it out for the rest of this article.
Gorraiz family tree and the Beaumont and Gorraiz family history. Click to enlarge.
The Mariscal de Castilla, who was an important Spanish military leader, was not just researching his family as a hobby. This was part of a sheaf of notarized Mexican genealogies that proved the "worthiness" of the descendants to be at the apex of the Spanish colonial pecking order. The Mariscal descended from many other Mariscales, dating back to the late 1300s! It brings to mind my horrid probable ancestor Lázaro María de Herrera Leiva y Cornelis, whose 1787 petition to work in the Spanish Inquisition {shudder} had to prove that his entire family, stretching back to his great-grandparents, was "Old Christian" [Catholic], without the "taint or stain" of any other religions or nonwhite ancestry.
The biggest surprise is that the Beaumont family claimed descent from St. Louis IX, king of France! This canonized, self-proclaimed defender of Christianity, who led the catastrophic Seventh and Eighth Crusades, made life hell for the medieval French Jewish forebears of my Mom's Ashkenazi Jewish family. Louis IX took to heart Pope Innocent III's demand from 1215 that Jews should wear a badge, to prevent social and sexual intercourse between Jews and Gentiles. So 700 years before the Nazis, the king forced French Jews to wear a yellow badge.
Louis IX also staged a bizarre court trial in 1240 accusing the Talmud of blasphemy, resulting in a mass burning in 1242 of all known copies of the Talmud in France. As Haaretz editor David B. Green writes: "One estimate is that the 24 wagonloads included up to 10,000 volumes of Hebrew manuscripts, a startling number when one considers that the printing press did not yet exist, so that all copies of a work had to be written out by hand."
In a case of historical periods rhyming, one of Louis IX's direct descendants is Nazi Luftwaffe Commander Hermann Göring.
Assuming I am correct about my gateway ancestor, the rabid anti-Semite Louis IX would be my supposed 22nd-great-grandfather. Other supposed 22nd-great-grandchildren of this French piece of work include King Charles III of Great Britain AND his own sons, Princes William and Harry (through Princess Diana), Sarah Ferguson the Duchess of York, Presidents Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, authors Ray Bradbury and Harper Lee, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, actors Katharine Hepburn and William H. Macy, and civil rights activist Angela Davis. It's an odd grab bag of "family," showing how contemplating humanity's common ancestry can lead you to weird places.
What would my cousins Chuck and Angela talk about at the family reunion?
Louis IX's great-grandfather was King Henry II of England, my supposed 25th-great-grandfather. Another 25th-great-grandchild of Henry II is Beyoncé. How's THAT for royalty?
Beyoncé?!? My cousin headlines Coachella.
Turning back to the 1739 genealogy, it gives a line of descent for the Beaumont family from Louis IX that mostly matches the historical record preserved by the Foundation for Medieveal Genealogy, which I assume has more resources and expertise than I could ever give towards verification. Rather than give a laborious word-for-word translation of the 1739 genealogy, I will summarize, annotate, and gently correct:
23th-great-grandparents: King Louis VIII of France (1187-1216) married Blanche of Castile (1188-1252), the daughter of King "Alfonso Nono" [sic, Alfonso VIII] of Spain (1155-1214). They had a son:
22nd-great-grandfather: "Louis the Saint, King of France" (1214-1270), who had a son:
21st-great-grandfather: King Philippe III of France (1245-1285). The French royal line proceeded with his son, King Philippe IV (1268-1314), but he had a younger son:
20th-great-grandfather: Louis, Count of Évreux (1276-1319), referred to in the genealogy as "Luís, Conde de Brenes, Margan, Angulema y Longa Vila." The genealogy does not mention Louis's wife, Marguerite d'Artois (1285-1311), but she was the maternal granddaughter of Beatrix, Duchess of Brittany (1242-1275), who was in turn the daughter of King Henry III of England (1207-1272). King Henry was in turn the son of arrogant King John I of Magna Carta fame and the grandson of my supposed 25th-great-grandparents, King Henry II of England and famed Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204). Louis, Count of Évreux had a son:
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's seat at "The Dinner Party" installation by artist Judy Chicago, on display at the Brooklyn Museum (source)
19th-great-grandfather: King Philippe III of Navarra (1306-1343), who married Queen Jeanne II of Navarra (1312-1349). The genealogy says "Phelipe el Noble Conde de Brus," married his "niece," but Queen Jeanne was his first cousin. King Philippe died of an arrow wound he received at the siege of Algeciras, and then poor Queen Jeanne died of the Black Death! And another first cousin of Philippe and Jeanne is King Edward III of England. Philippe and Jeanne had a son:
18th-great-grandfather: "Prince Louis" (1341-1376), who was an orphan by age 8, inherited the county of Beaumont-le-Roger in Normandy from his father, which is why his descendants came to be called "Beaumont." Originally, Beaumont-le-Roger belonged to the unrelated English House of Beaumont, which descended from Robert de Beaumont, an infantry leader for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Louis married Joanna, Duchess of Durazzo (1344-1387) in Lombardy.
Much like how King Edward III has a legion of descendants, genealogist Iñaki Garrido Yerobi has found that Prince Luis de Navarra is the ancestor of 67% of Spanish titled nobility. You can see the proof in this enormous family tree by Garrido.
The 1739 genealogy correctly notes Louis's marriage, but skips over the fact that the Beaumont family line continues with Louis's illegitimate son, whose mother was María de Lizarazu (daughter of a squire, García Martínez de Lizarazu):
17th-great-grandfather: Carlos de Beaumont (1361-1432) was appointed the lieutenant of the Kingdom of Navarra in 1379 by his uncle, King Carlos II. The historian Jean de Jaurgain wrote in his Beaumont family history that King Henry V of England (who fancied himself the ruler of France) granted Carlos land in three parishes of southwest France in 1415. Historians Elena Woodacre and Eloísa Ramírez Vaquero elaborate further on Carlos de Beaumont's diplomatic career as a "star ambassador," including his lead in the negotiations for the English turnover of Cherbourg, France to the Navarrese in 1394, and his time spent in the English court between 1390 to 1409. (I do not pretend to understand the complicated politics of The Hundred Years' War.)
Carlos came from one of the most powerful families of Navarra: he was the nephew of Queen María of Aragón (wife of King Pedro IV) and Queen Blanche of France (wife of King Philippe VI). His first cousins included King Carlos III of Navarra (more on him below), and Queen Joan of England (c.1368-1437), the wife of King Henry IV, who became so wealthy that her stepson, King Henry V, placed her under house arrest for suspected treason (and rumors of witchcraft) so he could plunder her income for several years.
The 1739 genealogy says Carlos "married into the royal house of England," but that could be a mistaken memory of Carlos's great-great-great-grandmother Beatrix, the English princess discussed above, or his cousin Joan becoming an English queen. Given that this genealogy was written over 300 years after Carlos's death, some mistakes are understandable. In reality, Carlos married Anne de Curton, the lady of Curton and Guiche, in 1407 and among their children was:
16th-great-grandfather: Luis I de Beaumont (1412-1462), who married Jeanne de Navarra (c.1419-1456). The 1739 genealogy incorrectly says Luis married Leonor de Aragón, the illegitimate daughter of the king of Aragón, but she was the wife of his son, Luis II. Luis I's actual wife, Jeanne de Navarra, was also a royal bastard: the illegitimate daughter of King Carlos III of Navarra (1361-1425) and his mistress, María Miguel de Esparza.
Jaurgain writes that because Luis and Jeanne were second cousins (descended from King Philippe III and Queen Jeanne II of Navarra), they needed a dispensation from Pope Martin V in order to marry in 1424. In honor of the wedding, King Carlos named Jeanne the Countess of Lerín and appointed Luis to military leadership as the alférez (later condestable) of Navarra. Jaurgain also includes the repulsive details that Jeanne was married at age 5, and their marriage was consummated seven years later. Luis and his father attended the coronation of King Juan II of Aragón and Navarra in 1429.
When Juan II denied his son Carlos IV the right to succeed as king of Navarra, Luis fought on behalf of Carlos IV in the Navarrese Civil War (1451-1455). Carlos IV and Luis were defeated at the Battle of Aybar on October 23, 1451 and taken prisoner. A deal was reached in 1453 to release Carlos IV in exchange for jailing some of his supporters. Luis, whose son Luis II was also among the jailed supporters, lost a lot of his land and titles and was not freed until 1460, several years after his wife's death. Luis tried to reignite the civil war, but Carlos IV died in 1461 and Luis died the following year in Madrid.
18th-century woodcut of the Battle of Aibar (1451)
The 1739 genealogy echoes that Luis I de Beaumont founded the "House of the Counts of Larin, condestables of Navarra." Luis and Jeanne were the parents of:
15th-great-grandfather: Tibaut de Beaumont (born c.1450?; fl.1530), who married Graciana de Andueza. Here's where things get murky: The 1739 genealogy refers to "Tribnaut de Beaumont" as the son of Luis I de Beaumont, and Jaurgain agrees that "Thibaut de Beaumont" was the 6th son of Luis I and Jeanne de Navarra. But the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy does not list Tibaut as a son of Luis I, which probably sinks this whole gateway ancestor theory. Again, I'm just presenting the claims of the 1739 genealogy, which says the Holy Roman Emperor Carlos V rewarded Tibaut's service with a real cédula (royal certificate) granting "different rewards" and that Tibaut was also appointed to the Cortés Generales (Parliaments) of 1522 and 1528. Tibaut is described as the "second brother" of the condestable Luis de Beaumont, or Luis II.
Jaurgain writes that Tibaut "took part in the conquest of Navarre by Fernando the Catholic [in] 1512, and received, as a reward for his services, the rents in kind and in money of the Araquil valley; he is listed as having attended the Cortés of Navarre in 1524, 1525 and 1526 and having received 200 livres, on a roll of December 31, 1526."
There definitely was a historical Tibaut de Beaumont, but it's unclear where he fits in the family. Spain's Archivo General de Simancas digitized a request from "Tibaut de Beaumont, governor of some valleys in Navarra," for a salary of 50,000 maravedís. Another source quotes a document from the Archivo General de Simanca: "Don Tibante de Beaumont, on June 25, [1521], wrote to Secretary Castañeda begging him to take an interest in what he requested from the Governors, that he be granted the property of some who had been rebels in his neighborhood." The "rebels" were the French-supporting Navarrese who wanted to end Spanish rule.
Returning to the 1739 genealogy, Tibaut and his wife Graciana de Andueza had two sons, Felipe and Carlos de Beaumont, who died in the Spanish war over Flanders, which ended in 1529. So their daughter, Ana de Beaumont, became their heir.
Tibaut's aforementioned brother, Luis II de Beaumont (1430-1508) [Wikipedia page], was the 2nd Count of Lerín and condestable of Navarra. In 1451, after his father was held prisoner, young Luis II led troops on behalf of Carlos IV of Navarra, but then he was jailed in 1453 as part of the prison swap that freed Carlos IV. Luis I and Luis II were finally released in 1460, and in 1463 the supporters of Carlos IV got all their confiscated land and titles back, as part of an arbitration settled by Louis XI, the "Spider King" of France.
Luis II helped Navarra recapture the city of Viana from the Castilians in 1467, and as a reward King Juan II of Aragón and Navarra allowed Luis to marry his illegitimate daughter, Leonor de Aragón, in 1468. It's astounding to think that Leonor was the half-sister of King Fernando II of Aragón (1451-1516), famed anti-Semitic "Catholic King" of Spain, who along with his wife Queen Isabel I of Castilla y León expelled their kingdom's Jews in 1492.
The Alhambra Decree (1492), with which King Fernando and Queen Isabel expelled all Jews from Spain (source)
It's also strange to think that Luis had a father-in-law who previously held him captive, but then Navarra had been enduring Game of Thrones-style conflict for over a century. Luis and his faction (the "Beaumontese") were behind the murders of the Marshal of Navarra in 1471 and two of his three sons in 1479 and 1481. Jaurgain adds that, during more civil strife in 1494, "Louis de Beaumont ravaged... the territory of Tudela; he starved its inhabitants to such an extent that, without the help of the neighboring towns of Corella and Cascante, they would have died of hunger."
As a septuagenarian, Luis II finally met his downfall: "In December 1506, an army of 10,000 men led by Cesare Borgia and John III of Navarre besieged Louis in the Castle at Viana in Navarre, as he was an ally of Ferdinand II of Aragon. The castle was held by Louis de Beaumont and Cesare was killed during the battle. In 1507 Louis was charged with treason, dispossessed and sentenced to death, but he escaped to Aragon where he died in 1508 at Aranda." (Wikipedia) Fernando II conquered most of Navarra a few years later.
The tomb of Cesare Borgia, who died in 1507 while trying to defeat Louis de Beaumont in battle.
Tibaut's (probable) younger sister, Anna de Beaumont (died 1518), was the governess of Emperor Carlos V and a lady-in-waiting of Queen Juana "la Loca" of Spain. As "Grand Mistress of the Imperial Household," Anna cared for Juana's family in Flanders from 1496-1517, including Carlos and three future queens: Queen Eleanor of Portugal and France, Queen Isabella of Denmark-Norway, and Queen Mary of Hungary-Bohemia. Anna also had a front-row seat to the royal intrigue that led to the imprisonment of Queen Juana "la Loca" in 1509, which lasted until her death in 1555. Update: The genealogist Iñaki Garrido Yerobi wrote that Anna is the granddaughter of Luis I de Beaumont and the daughter of Tibaut's brother, Carlos de Beaumont y Navarra (died before 1513). So Anna would be Tibaut's niece. I lack the primary sources to draw my own conclusions.
Turning back to Tibaut's daughter, Ana de Beaumont, she became the daughter-in-law of Miguel de Gorraiz, who "served the Catholic King [Fernando II]," held the titles of Lord of Gorraiz and capitán perpetuo of the Valle de Egüés and the town of Villava (almost two miles west of Gorraiz), and was appointed to the Cortés General. Miguel married Catalina de Santa Esteban / Santesteban, and that brings us to:
14th-great-grandparents: Lanzarote de Gorraiz and Ana de Beaumont. Lanzarote supposedly received a real cédula from Emperor Carlos V in 1521 granting him the same privileges as his father. In all, four real cédulas, supposedly issued in 1521, 1522, 1542, and 1563, discuss the services and numerous honors earned by Miguel de Gorraiz and his family.
13th-great-grandparents: Luis de Gorraiz Beaumont and Francisca de Ugarte, Lady of the Palace of Ugart [Huarte]. They married in Oyasun [Oiartzun in Basque Country?]. Luis supposedly received a real cédula from King Felipe II in 1568 granting him the same privileges as his father. Francisca de Ugarte (spelled the same way as in Flórez de Ocáriz) was the daughter of Captain Tristan de Varte [Uarte / Huarte] and Ana Liñan.
Luis de Gorraiz and Francisca de Ugarte had the aforementioned son, Lanzarote de Gorraiz y Beaumont, who received his own real cédula in 1579. This younger Lanzarote's great-great-great-grandson was the Mariscal, José Pedro de Arellano Luna Gorraez Beaumont y Navarra, who commissioned this genealogy in the first place. If Flórez de Ocáriz is to be believed, an obscure younger son of Luis and Francisca, Adrián de Gorraiz, sailed to Colombia, where his numerous descendants still live over 400 years later.
That's how my Jewish self could, if I wanted to, claim family links to two of history's most anti-Semitic monarchs. It reflects the larger Latino and Latin American condition of descending from European, Indigenous, and African ancestors who frequently fought to the death and whose power struggles still remain unresolved. Fortunately, we Latinos are a much greater whole than the sum of our parts.
* * * *
UPDATE, March 6, 2025: I found a published genealogy on the Beaumont family by a Basque historian, Iñaki Garrido Yerobi! It seems to verify this entire Beaumont family discussed above.
This cover shows the seal of Carlos de Beaumont, Alférez of Navarra.
Garrido Yerobi confirms (p.277) that my supposed 15th-great-grandfather Thibaut de Beaumont y Navarra was the son of the condestable Luis I de Beaumont and Juana de Navarra (daughter of King Carlos III of Navarra), and the brother of Luis II de Beaumont. Thibaut (a.k.a. Tibaut or Teobaldo de Beaumont) apparently wrote his last will and testament in the palace of Gorraiz in 1530. He and Graciana de Andueza had three children:
1. Carlos de Beaumont y Navarra, "Gentleman of the Chamber of Emperor Carlos V and Horse Groom of the Dowager Queen of Portugal and France [Eleanor of Austria, who was widowed in 1521 and 1547]," who died unmarried.
2. Felipe de Beaumont y Navarra, an infantry captain in Italy and Germany, who died in those wars without issue.
3. Ana de Beaumont y Navarra, who married Lanzarot de Gorráiz. In 1521, Lanzarot and his father, Miguel de Gorráiz, fought in the Battle of Noáin, which was a decisive Spanish victory against the French over control of Navarra. This was the same battle that wounded a local nobleman, who during his recovery had a spiritual awakening and eventually became St. Ignatius of Loyola!
Lanzarot de Gorráiz had more earthly rewards from the battle, receiving 9,000 maravedís from Emperor Carlos V, with which he built a castle that has now become a wedding destination for the town of Gorriaz. Garrido Yerobi wrote that Lanzarot participated in the Cortes Generales of Navarra in 1551 and died during the "war of Catalonia," but it's unclear what that means.
After the palace was built, my supposed 14th-great-grandparents Lanzarot de Gorráiz and Ana de Beaumont y Navarra wed, and their children included:
1. Luis Gorráiz de Beaumont, whose family continues below.
2. Catalina Gorráiz de Beaumont, who married Francés de Arbizu.
My supposed 13th-great-grandparents Luis Gorráiz de Beaumont and Ana Francisca de Huarte, married in 1553 and had three children, according to Garrido Yerobi (p.278):
1. Lanzarot Gorráiz de Beaumont, the lord of the palace of Gorráiz, who was a local militia commander by 1568 and died c.1591-1596.
2. Adrián Gorráiz de Beaumont, my supposed 12th-great-grandfather, "who died as a captain in the Indies." This would be the same man whose daughter, my 11th-great-grandmother Ana de Gorraiz, was baptized in 1619 in Vélez, Colombia.
3. Amador Gorráiz de Beaumont (born c.1563 in Tafalla, Navarra), a military captain who fought in Italy and Flanders and was stationed at Corella, Navarra in 1587.
I assume Amador was too young to have served in Flanders under the fearsome Duke of Alba, but funny enough, the duke's grandson was to be a Beaumont. Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Beaumont, 5th Duke of Alba, was the son of Brianda de Beaumont y Navarra, 5th Countess of Lerín and the great-granddaughter of Luis II de Beaumont. Antonio's 5th-great-granddaughter was the famed 13th Duchess of Alba (and 14th Countess of Lerín!) who entranced Goya and may have inspired his lusty "Naked Maja," which is one of the first Western paintings to depict female pubic hair. What better way to remember that nobles are just as hairy, smelly, scratchy, and moist as the rest of us?
"The Duchess of Alba Combing Her Hair" (1796), a wonderfully intimate drawing by Francisco Goya
Questions? Comments? Please email me at ruedafingerhut (at) gmail.com.
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