MR. BERNARDINO PIMENTEL, I MARQUIS OF TÁVARA AND LORD OF VILLAFÁFILA

AN APPROACH TO THE CHARACTER THROUGH HIS WILL

In September 1541 Don Carlos, Emperor of Germany, together with Doña Juana, his mother, Kings of Castile and Aragon, granted the title of Marquis of Távara to Don Bernardino Pimentel in consideration of his merits and the services he had rendered to the monarchy [1] , that same year acquires from the crown the lordship of Villafáfila, which belonged to the Order of Santiago [2]

This character from Zamora lacks a biographical study that allows us to know in detail his family life and his political, economic and stately activities. In January 2001, the magazine Historia 16 dedicated a biographical profile to him by Villafafileño professor Don Manuel de la Granja, which mainly reviews his actions at Court and his monetary services to the king [3] .

The purpose of this communication is to publish his will [4] , granted in the town of Villafáfila, on July 17, 1569, as a small contribution to a better understanding of this Zamoran nobleman.

APPROACH OF THE CHARACTER

 Don Bernardino Pimentel unites in his person two of the most influential noble lineages in the kingdom of Castile during the 15th century, the Pimentels and the Enríquezes. His father, Don Pedro Pimentel, was the son of Don Alonso Pimentel, third Count of Benavente, and Countess Doña María de Quiñones, Lady of Alija. As the second son of a noble house, he did not inherit the paternal assets linked by the legal figure of entailment and his family had to find an accommodation for him, arranging a suitable marriage for him.

Since the end of the 14th century, a noble state had been established in Zamora lands by the descendants of Gómez Pérez de Valderrábano and Juana de Cifuentes, Lady of Almanza (León). In the mid-fifteenth century it had fallen to Diego de Almanza, who owned the towns and lands of Alcañices, Távara, Ayoó de Vidriales, Villavellid, in addition to the parent plot of Almanza. As he lacked legitimate male offspring, he negotiated the marriage of his daughters with the two most powerful families in Zamora, which took place after his death, which occurred in the town of Alcañices in 1465. The eldest, Francisca de Almanza, married Mr. Pedro Pimentel, contributing to the marriage the lordship of the towns of Almanza, Távara and Alcañices. The little girl, Constanza de Almanza, married Don Juan Enríquez de Guzmán, son of the Count of Alba,[5] .

The death of Doña Francisca in Távara in 1467 from childbirth, and that of her son a few days later in Rabanales, triggered a particular war between the Pimentels and the Enríquezes, for the possession of these villas, framed in the episodes of the war that At that time, it was happening in Castile among the noble factions, some supporters of Enrique IV and others who supported Prince Alfonso and later Princess Isabel.

During the months that the conflict lasted, there were episodes such as the burning and looting of the stately palace of Távara by the Enríquez family, who acted from the castle of Castrotorafe, or the burning of the feudal tower of Ayoó de Vídriales by the men of Mr. Pedro from the castle of Alija, or the destruction of the water mills of Misleo, or the occupation of the town of Villafáfila by the Count of Benavente, usurping it from the commander of Castrotorafe. Finally, in October 1468, Don Pedro Pimentel and Don Juan Enríquez met in the monastery of Montamarta through the mediation of the Admiral, head of the Enríquez family and the Countess of Benavente, in the absence of his son, Count Rodrigo, and they signed their peace agreements. individuals, by which Don Pedro renounces Alcañices in favor of Don Juan and Doña Constanza,[6] . The kinship dispensations granted by Pope Sixtus IV for this marriage arrive in 1473 [7] .

Several daughters and a single son were born from this marriage: Don Bernardino Pimentel y Enríquez, who would obtain the title of Marquis of Távara by King Carlos I in 1541.

He must have been born around 1485, because in 1482, when his father made his will to go to the Granada War, he had not yet been born [8] , and in 1487 Don Pedro and Doña Inés made a deed of Mayorazgo in favor of their son from the towns of Távara, of which Don Pedro received confirmation from the Catholic Monarchs that year [9] , from Alija, which came from the inheritance of Doña María de Quiñones, and from other assets [10] .

Don Bernardino's place of birth is doubtful. He could have been born in Távara, where the palace-houses in the plaza may have been rebuilt. It is possible that he was born in Valladolid, where Don Pedro was alderman and merino mayor in 1489, and a neighbor for several years before. Nor can it be ruled out that he was born in Villafáfila in the house that Don Pedro had bought in the town in 1475 in the Plaza Mayor [11] , since in this town they founded the mayorazgo in 1487, an act that used to be close to the birth of the son. There are several testimonies from neighbors who remember the family living, first in the fortress and then in these houses, and Don Bernardino going to school with other children from the town [12].. If his early childhood was spent in Villafáfila, his youth was spent in Valladolid where the family spent more and more time since the end of the fifteenth century, alternating stays in Távara or Benavente.

When his father died in this town in 1504, the young Pimentel did not reach the age of 20 and had to take charge of his father's estates and a long lawsuit that Juan Enríquez and Costanza de Valladolid had brought before the Royal Chancery of Valladolid. Almanza, claiming Távara and Almanza [13] , with much of his fortune hanging in the air. The young don Bernardino resides in Valladolid with his mother, and in the Castilian town he holds the position of alderman previously held by his father. In 1506, he married Doña Constanza Bazán, daughter of Don Pedro Álvarez Osorio, Count of Lemos [14] , for which he obtained kinship dispensations from Pope Julius II in May [15] .

In June of that year, when Felipe el Hermoso arrived in La Coruña, Don Bernardino went to kiss his hands and put himself at his service, but without breaking up with King Fernando, his mother's cousin, because during the Catholic's stay in Villafáfila, while the terms of the Agreement between the two sovereigns had just been negotiated, Don Fernando stayed in the house that Doña Inés Enríquez had in the town [16] .

Both sovereigns intercede in favor of Don Bernardino in the aforementioned lawsuit in the Royal Chancery, Don Felipe in August 1506 asking to be assigned new deadlines, and Don Fernando in 1509 intervenes directly, ordering that the Ldo. Barrientos understands the lawsuit with the auditors of the Royal Chancery and asking the court to meet all the rooms, surely to try to get a more favorable sentence than the one expected. In March 1510, by final judgment of the high court, they confirmed the possession of Távara, but the town of Almanza was withdrawn. [17] .

This family link with King Ferdinand continues with his grandson Carlos I, so when the young king arrived in Valladolid for the first time in 1518, he went to pose in the houses that Don Bernardino had in Valladolid. These houses had been acquired by purchase from the Marquis of Astorga in 1508 and in them he built a palace that currently serves as the seat of the Diputación de Valladolid:

 “ On Tuesday... while the King was... in a block of D. Bernardino Pimentel's house where SA was posing...” .

The fact that they were close to the church of San Pablo, where the Cortes met, allowed the king to be close to the procurators, attending the sessions when he deemed it appropriate or receiving the procurators in his chamber:

“In the room said (of D. Bernardino Pimentel) SM... the attorneys who gave service 200 stories in 4 years answered him, and the King asked them to go in 3 years.... And together in the same way the Sunday 14 the attorneys gave the service of the 200 tales of mrs. in the three years that SM… had asked them.” . Acts of the Courts of Valladolid in 1518 [18] .

Later, in 1527, the Empress Isabel gave birth to her son, the future Philip II, in these houses, being taken out of one of their windows to be baptized in San Pablo.

During the conflict of the Communities Don Bernardino Pimentel maintained an active role in the community of Valladolid, of which he was alderman. In October 1520, when it seemed that the moderates were imposing themselves in this Castilian town, he was appointed attorney for the town to represent it in the Tordesillas Board, but a month later the radicals prevailed in the community of Valladolid and appointed other attorneys. In January 1521 he was the representative of the royal side in the negotiations with the comuneros [19] .

Good relations with the royal house brought him honorary and pecuniary benefits. Thus, from 1517 he was senior accountant of the Order of Santiago. In 1529 Carlos I grants him 600 gold ducats a year in the tenths that are deducted for his majesty from the knights of the Order of Santiago [20] and that same year, together with his mother, Queen Juana, grants Don Bernardino and his wife of the possession and guard of the royal house of Abrojo [21] .

In the year 1538, they obtain royal power to establish a mayorazgo over their property in favor of their son Pedro [22] Like any nobleman of his influence and fortune, Don Bernardino seeks an exaltation of his person and family, for this reason he seeks the granting of a noble title that obtained from the emperor in September 1541, that of Marquis of Távara.

That same year he expanded his estates by purchasing the Royal Treasury of the lordship of Villafáfila, Revellinos and San Agustín, which he claimed from 1538 [23] .

In 1545 don Bernardino Pimentel is appointed by Carlos I Mayordomo of the House of the Infantas doña María and doña Juana, of which the infante don Carlos, son of Prince Felipe, was also a part, initially without the assistance of the marquise, to the that he was not allowed to join it until 1548. He exercised this position with good administration until the infantas married, and among others he received congratulations from the King of Portugal John III. The emperor and his son Felipe II had his confidence to advise them on political and military matters and he was a member of two of the most important advisory bodies of the government of the Hispanic monarchy, the Councils of State and War. .[24] .

In addition to his courtly activities, the preserved documentation allows us to know his relations with the church, including the highest Roman instances. Apart from the kinship dispensation bulls to celebrate their marriage, in 1511 Pope Julius II granted certain indulgences through Cardinal Leonardo de la Rovere that Bernardino Pimentel and his wife had begged him for [25] and in the years following the war of the communities maintains correspondence with Pope Adriano IV, who had been regent of Castile, and a brief and two autograph letters [26] as well as correspondence with Cardinal Francisco Armellini Médicis [27] are preserved .

He also resorted to Rome in the years 1537 and 1538 to found a convent in his town of Távara and to be able to move there the remains of his father and relatives, who were in the monastery of Montamarta, as a result of the move of the Hieronymite monks from this monastery to the city of Zamora [28] .

These relations with the hierarchies of the church had provided him with the office of general apostolic collector as early as 1522, when he took charge of the patrimonial and beneficial assets of the bishop of Palencia Pedro Ruíz de la Mota at his death [29].

There are also numerous lawsuits that he had to face in defense of his assets and manors, from the one he inherited from his father over the town of Távara, to the long lawsuit brought by the residents of Villafáfila in 1543 to deal with the stately abuses and that created so much resentment in the Marquis of Távara against his new vassals [30] .

Without intending to make an exhaustive list, it held lawsuits with the Sahagún monastery over the jurisdiction of the town of Almanza (León) in the early years of the 16th century [31] ; in 1526 with his vassals from Távara for breaking the Sierro, and in 1551 with neighbors from Távara, Pozuelo and Faramontanos for hunting for which they are sentenced “ to 600 mrs. and the coasts and for hanging the dogs ”, and for cutting firewood in the mountains [32] . In 1532 he maintains a lawsuit with the Marquis of Villafranca over the jurisdiction of the place Pobladura del Valle [33] . That same year he with the neighbors of that place about the construction of a bridge on the Órbigo river [34] .

The lawsuits maintained due to differences in terms with the places of Genestacio [35] , with Brime de Urz [36] and with Moratones [37] are also preserved .

With the monks of Moreruela he maintained a long lawsuit between 1528 and 1537 for the operation of a boat to pass travelers and merchandise on the Esla river near Quintos [38] .

Of his family life I have scarcely delved into his study. His mother, Doña Inés Enríquez de Guzmán, died in 1530, leaving him the usufruct of Távara and his land, which she had enjoyed since Don Pedro's death. Don Bernardino had two sons who reached adulthood, Don Pedro Pimentel, who inherited the old mayorazgo founded by his grandfather, and the new one founded in his favor by his parents in 1541 on Villafáfila, the garden and house of Valladolid, the relic of the headdress of the Virgin and other goods [39] , married to Doña Leonor de Toledo, and Doña Inés Pimentel, married to the Marquis of Villafranca. His wife, Doña Constanza, died before him and was buried in Távara, as she had arranged in her will granted in 1548 [40] .

Shortly before his death, Don Bernardino contracted a second marriage with Doña Juana de Toledo, since a bull from Pius V dated February 1568 to the Bishop of Astorga on dispensation of kinship between Don Bernardino Pimentel, Marquis of Távara, and Juana de Toledo [41] , and a letter of brotherhood of the Order of San Francisco dated June 1569, in favor of Bernardino Pimentel, and Juana de Toledo, Marquises of Távara, and Leonor de Toledo, wife of don Pedro Pimentel, son of the marquis [42] .

No mention of this marriage is made in the will, either because Doña Juana had died shortly before the Marquis, or more likely because the will, since it is a closed document, would have been written before this marriage. .

In July 1569, the Marquis being ill, he went to his town of Távara, probably from Valladolid, but they had to stop at Villafáfila, possibly because his condition prevented the continuation of the trip. In the house-palace that he had in this town on the 17th of that month, he grants by his closed will, before the notary public Miguel de Carrascosa, who had served him faithfully since he had bought the town, a deed that he had already prepared in advance, acting as witnesses his servants and the bailiff of the town.

Two days later he was already present and Villafáfila had been moved by his son and heir, Don Pedro Pimentel, who proceeded to carry out the legal formalities before the mayor of the town for the opening and reading of the will.

CONTENT OF THE WILL

The testament consists of a preamble affirming his Christian faith and his fidelity to the Church of Rome, expressing his wish to be buried in the monastery of Santa María de Jesús in the town of Távara, together with the remains of his wife, Doña Constanza and of his sister [43]. He ordered that his burial and obsequies be celebrated in the most austere liturgical ceremonies possible, following the example of those carried out by his deceased parents, without calling more clerics than those present in the convent. He leaves orders, that, in case of dying far from Távara, that his body not be opened for transportation, that, if it has to be done in difficult times, he be provisionally buried in a Franciscan monastery if there is one in the place or in the parish, without any pomp, until you can proceed with the transfer.

He orders that two thousand five hundred masses be said for his soul, and those of his ancestors, distributed in the convents and monasteries where his ancestors are buried.

In the convent of Tábara 400 masses for him, his parents and his wife, 150 in the monastery of San Francisco and 100 in that of Santo Domingo de Benavente for his ancestors the Pimentels, in the monastery of San Francisco de Villafranca del Bierzo 100 masses for the ancestors of his wife, daughter of the Count of Lemos and 50 in the monastery of Cabeza de Alba, in El Bierzo, near Corullón, for his mother-in-law María de Bazán y Quiñones; 100 in the monastery of San Francisco de Zamora and 50 in that of Santo Domingo in the same city by the Enríquez family, ancestors of his mother, 50 also in the town of Alcañices, linked to don Diego and doña Francisca de Almanza, his father's first wife, of those who had remained by executor.

“ He also ordered 150 masses to be celebrated in the Prado de Valladolid monastery for his wife and sister; another 100 masses in San Francisco de Valladolid, an order to which he was closely linked, and of which he had the status of brother, due to the state of the church; 100 more in the church of San Pablo in Valladolid in memory of Pope Adrian IV, with whom he had been closely linked during the period of his regency; 50 in the parish of San Martín de Villafáfila, where he died, for the souls in purgatory, and 100 more in the monastery of Tábara for the souls of his deceased servants.

In addition, in the chapter on masses for his soul, it includes the celebration of a religious service celebrated by all the clergymen who were in the town that died, for which the clergymen of the ecclesiastical chapter of Villafáfila would surely perform a trade; and an office for the dead in the Prado monastery in Valladolid, just like the one that is held on those occasions for the friars who die there. In this monastery, outside the walls of Valladolid, the Marquis had some rooms with a gallery that led to the main chapel, and in his will he sent everything that those rooms contained inside doors for the service of the friars.

Likewise, in the chapter on pious works for his salvation, he leaves commanded, apart from three ducats for the general ones that his heir wants, that the penitential nuns of Valladolid be given 33 ducats to pray for him. 10,000 mrs. So that they say 100 masses and pray for his wife, and for himself. He orders that 20,000 mrs be given to the girls of the Valladolid doctrine, even though he had already given her the usual alms throughout the year”.

He ordered 66 loads of wheat to be distributed among the poorest of the town and land of Tábara, and 33 loads among the poor of Alija and their land and those of Pobladura del Valle. He excluded his poor vassals from Villafáfila from these charities because of the trouble they had caused him to suffer during the years in which he was moved by so many lawsuits 23 . However, he ordered that 33 poor people, including men and women from the place where he died, be fed and dressed in a cape or skirt, a shirt and some shoes, and it was the only way that the poor of Villafáfila were able to obtain some charity benefit of Don Bernardino.

He leaves indications to his heir about various foundations that he had made in the town of Tábara. Regarding the convent of Sª Mª de Jesús, which at that time was run by the Hieronymite friars, before the Jesuits and later the Dominicans, it provides that they continue to pay the 250,000 mrs. yearly as it has capitulated and settled in writing with the friars. He had also founded a school of San Pedro and San Pablo in the town of Tavares, with an annual endowment of as many maravedís, of which they order 25,000 ms to be set aside each year to give to the doctor who resides in the town. Finally, he orders that a hospital for the poor be completed and that it be equipped with at least two beds and kitchen utensils.

Lastly, there is a series of provisions in which he names his two sons as heirs, Mr. Pedro Pimentel, whom he confirms in the entailment that Doña Constanza and he had founded in his favor years before, excluding his daughter in succession. Doña Inés, Marchioness consort of Villafranca del Bierzo, wife of Don Fadrique de Toledo, third Marquis, who died without issue in 1569. She adds as related assets the house, orchard and riverbank that Don Bernardino had bought from Rafael Archiloli, Florentine, neighbor from Valladolid. Her daughter had been given in dowry and marriage on the occasion of her wedding more than six million maravedís and other things that were capitulated in the marriage contract, in addition they had later given her 2,000 ducats and jewels worth more than a thousand . Despite believing that he has complied with her, it provides that if she becomes a widow she can live the rest of her life in the houses of Valladolid, bordering the monastery of Concepción, and leaves her everything that could have corresponded to the deceased Doña Constanza from her father, Pedro Álvarez Osorio, Count of Lemos , as had been arranged with the Marquis of Villafranca to resolve a lawsuit that was pending, although he leaves his son instructed to defend the interests of his sister's dowry. He commissions his son to negotiate a good office with the emperor for his servant Juan Zorrilla, as the Marquis had already managed, sending him 50 ducats, and another 20 ducats for a certain Gámez, a servant he trusted. and leaves everything that could have corresponded to the deceased Doña Constanza from her father, Pedro Álvarez Osorio, Count of Lemos, as had been arranged with the Marquis of Villafranca to resolve a lawsuit that was pending, although she leaves her son instructed to to defend the interests of her sister's dowry. He commissions his son to negotiate a good office with the emperor for his servant Juan Zorrilla, as the Marquis had already managed, sending him 50 ducats, and another 20 ducats for a certain Gámez, a servant he trusted. and leaves everything that could have corresponded to the deceased Doña Constanza from her father, Pedro Álvarez Osorio, Count of Lemos, as had been arranged with the Marquis of Villafranca to resolve a lawsuit that was pending, although she leaves her son instructed to to defend the interests of her sister's dowry. He commissions his son to negotiate a good office with the emperor for his servant Juan Zorrilla, as the Marquis had already managed, sending him 50 ducats, and another 20 ducats for a certain Gámez, a servant he trusted.

For the best fulfillment of his testamentary mandates, he leaves Don Alonso López de Tejeda as executors and testamentaries, who was Lord of Segoyuela and Tejeda in Salamanca, possibly a friend of Don Bernardino, since he accompanied him in his last moments; to the prior of the college of San Pablo in Valladolid, to a Fonseca whose name he does not specify, because he would be well known, and to his son, Mr. Pedro Pimentel, as heir and effective testamentary agent to resolve any doubts that arose. Likewise, he leaves the Count of Benavente as the main head, as merely honorary, in recognition of the family's prevalence as the main branch of the Pimentel family.

DOCUMENTARY APPENDIX

National Historical Archive. Nobility Section. Osuna. Leg. 2152, Doc. 2 (partial)

and by the signing of the said deed it seems that what was contained therein had been granted by the said Marquis, Your Honor, by his testament, last and last will, and so that it can be seen what he left commanded and ordered in it so that his request may be fulfilled. bounty and testament, ask to order the said deed to be opened, and open and fast they will give and deliver the original of it, leaving in my possession a third of it so that the effect of the said testament is fulfilled, and about it it asks for compliance with justice and testimony. Mr. Aº Texeda and Mr. Esteban and Fracº de Valderrábano, standing in the said town, being present as witnesses. and in order to see what he left commanded and ordered in it so that his will and testament be fulfilled, he asks that the said deed be opened, and open and fast they give and deliver the original of it, leaving in my possession a third of it so that the effetto of said testament is fulfilled, and close to it, it asks for compliance with fairness and testimony. Mr. Aº Texeda and Mr. Esteban and Fracº de Valderrábano, standing in the said town, being present as witnesses. and in order to see what he left commanded and ordered in it so that his will and testament be fulfilled, he asks that the said deed be opened, and open and fast they give and deliver the original of it, leaving in my possession a third of it so that the effetto of said testament is fulfilled, and close to it, it asks for compliance with fairness and testimony. Mr. Aº Texeda and Mr. Esteban and Fracº de Valderrábano, standing in the said town, being present as witnesses.

The said Mr. Correjidor said that he had heard him and that he was ready to do justice, and doing so, ordered the witnesses to appear before him that by signing the said will deed they had been found present at the granting of it and in it they had signed their names, so that thus they appear, the investigation that is required by law in the opening of such deeds is made and what is most necessary is proven. Witness the sayings.

Fearing God and their consciences, they would well and faithfully tell the truth of what was asked of them and they knew, and that if they did so, God Our Lord would help them in this world in bodies and in the other in souls, where more than last, where, not doing the opposite, it was demanded more at length, like bad xpisanos who knowingly perjured, swearing the holy name of God in vain to force and confusion, of which he said home one by himself, yes I swear and Amen. Being present by witnesses Luis de Barrio, Pedro de Barrio and Juan de Castro and other residents of said town. Before me, Carrascosa scribe. like bad xpisanos who knowingly perjured, swearing the holy name of God in vain to force and confusion, of which he said home one by himself, yes I swear and amen. Being present by witnesses Luis de Barrio, Pedro de Barrio and Juan de Castro and other residents of said town. Before me, Carrascosa scribe. like bad xpisanos who knowingly perjured, swearing the holy name of God in vain to force and confusion, of which he said home one by himself, yes I swear and amen. Being present by witnesses Luis de Barrio, Pedro de Barrio and Juan de Castro and other residents of said town. Before me, Carrascosa scribe.

qua what he granted and granted by his will and if not by his codecilion and but by his last and last will or in that way that by right would best take place, which said testament said that it was the same closed one that was shown to him because he knows the signature of his wife because he was present when he signed it and he also knows the signature of this witness who, at the request of his wife, made it when the signatures of the other witnesses who at the time signed the signing of said testament were granted and likewise, and because This knows that the said will is the same that the said Mr. Marquis granted, being sick in bed with the evil that is currently deceased and that this is the truth because of the oath he made, and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Mark of Montoya. Before me, Carrascosa. which said testament said that it was the same closed one that was shown to him because he knows the signature of his wife because he was present when he signed it and he also knows the signature of this witness who, at the request of his wife, made it when the signatures were granted and himself of the other witnesses who at that time signed the signing of the said will and because they know that the said will is the same one that the said Mr. Marquis granted, being ill in bed with the evil that is currently deceased and that this is the truth by the oath he took, and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Mark of Montoya. Before me, Carrascosa. which said testament said that it was the same closed one that was shown to him because he knows the signature of his wife because he was present when he signed it and he also knows the signature of this witness who, at the request of his wife, made it when the signatures were granted and himself of the other witnesses who at that time signed the signing of the said will and because they know that the said will is the same one that the said Mr. Marquis granted, being ill in bed with the evil that is currently deceased and that this is the truth by the oath he took, and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Mark of Montoya. Before me, Carrascosa.

that it is the same deed that was presented to him by the said correjidor and that he knows it because he was present at all of it and because he knows the signature of his sª Yltrmª that he made at the time he granted it and gave it as a witness and the others who were present at the granting and signed their names at the request of said Mr. Marquis, and because he knows this and it is the truth from the oath he took, he signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Peter Hernandez. Before me, Carrascosa.

Last and last will and he signed it in his name and at his request it was signed by this witness and the others named in the signing of said will, and he knows why he did not sign his wife in the execution of said deed, which is the same that it was shown to him and he knows the signature of this witness and of the others who at that time, at his request, made it because he was present at all of it, and that this is the truth because of the oath he made and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Santiago Perez. Before me Cararscosa, scribe. and that this is the truth because of the oath that he made and signed in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Santiago Perez. Before me Cararscosa, scribe. and that this is the truth because of the oath that he made and signed in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Santiago Perez. Before me Cararscosa, scribe.

The said Ruy Díez de Urueña, aforesaid witness, having sworn an oath in the form of a life of law and being asked about the thenor of said request and having seen the closed will that was shown to him that had been granted by the Yltrmº Mr. Marquis Don Bernaldino Pimyntel said that he knows I know that the said Mr. Marquis granted said testament that this witness was present at the time and season that his sª granted it and signed his name, which is the same that was shown to him because he knows the signature that his sª made on it and this witness knows his own and biosigns the other witnesses who are signed in it at the time of execution of the said will and that he knows it because he was present at all of it, and it bioansied to happen and this is the truth by the oath that he did and signed it with his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Rui Diez de Urueña.

before me the said scribe and before other witnesses contained therein and who signed their names therein said and declared that what was contained in the said deed that was signed and closed was granted and granted by his will and cobdiçilio and last and last will and that it he knows why he wanted to pass it and he was present for it and he knows that the said Mr. Marquis who is the grantor had it signed in his name and also this witness and the other witnesses who were present had been found at his request, which is the same deed that it was shown to him because he knows her signatures and biosigned his wife on it and that this is the truth because of the oath he took and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Frank of Valderrábano. that it is the same deed that was shown to him because he knows her signatures and biosigns his wife on it and that this is the truth because of the oath he made and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Frank of Valderrábano. that it is the same deed that was shown to him because he knows her signatures and biosigns his wife on it and that this is the truth because of the oath he made and signed it in his name. The Bachelor Bocalan. Frank of Valderrábano.

The Bachelor Bocalan. Alonso Sanchez. Before me Carrascosa scribe.

The said Alonso de Mercado, bailiff of this town, the aforementioned witness, having sworn an oath in the form of a life of law and being asked about the thenor and form of said petition, and being shown the closed and sealed deed that was mentioned, said who knows and bio at the time contained and declared in the said deed that was thus shown to him, saw how the Yltrmº Mr. Marquis Don Bernaldino, being sick in bed from the evil that died, said and declared that what was contained in the said deed that was shown granted and granted by his will and by his cobdiçilio, last and last will and that he knows it because he was present to it and so it happened and bio signed the said order to his wife, which is the same one that was shown to him and that this is the truth because of the oath he made and signed it in his name. Alonso of Market.

and interposed and interposed his authority and judicial decree that weighs and makes faith in court and out of it. Being present by witnesses: Antonio de Barrio and Pedro de Barrio, neighbors of this town, and Baras and Montoya, servants of his wife, and he signed it in his name, the Licensing Bocalan. Before me Carrascosa scribe.

The thenor of which said original will is as follows:

Will

In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are three persons and one true God, in whose faith and faith I was born and lived and protest to die, believing, having and confessing implicitly and explicitly all that he has, I believe and confesses the Holy Church of Rome, by the merit of which I trust to participate in the fruit of the redemption of my God, made man, who for my sins died on the cross, giving his innocent life to resurrect my soul from the death of the guilt and the ugliness with which I tarnished the beauty of his image in my soul, he washed them with the purity of his blood, which for his immense charity he took in the clean entrails of his blessed mother, whom I ask, out of reverence for such a son, be with the Holy Apostles my advocate and direct my death to the glory of God, to live eternal life.I order my body to be buried in the monastery of Nra Señora Sancta María de Jesús in the town of Tábara, in the arch on the right hand side, where the Marquise, my wife, and Mrs. María Pimentel, my sister, are. whose souls God have in his glory.

And I order that in my burial no more than four achas be lit, as per my ss. Fathers, may they be in glory, it was commanded that it be done for them, and the same be done in the gifts, that no more than the said four achas burn, to which gifts I command that no more friars of any order of the brothers be called. that at the time they are in the said house and monastery, neither call clerics nor seculars to come to them, and in this way I want and it is my will that it be my end of the year.

Another did command that a thousand and five hundred masses be said to me in this way:

four hundred in the said house and monastery of Nra Sª de Jesús de Tábara for my ss. fathers, may they be in glory, and for us; and one hundred in the monastery of Sant Frcº in the town of Villafranca for the gentlemen who are buried there and for us; and fifty in the town of Alcañiçes for the gentlemen who are buried there and for us; and fifty in the monastery of Cabeça de Alva for my wife the countess, my mother-in-law and for us; and one hundred and fifty in the monastery of Sant Frcº de Benavente for the gentlemen who are buried there and for us; and one hundred in the monastery of Sant Frcº de Zamora for the gentlemen who are buried in the chapel of Sancta Caterina and for us; and fifty in the monastery of Santo Domingo de Zamora for the people to whom we go in some capacity and for us; and one hundred in the monastery of Santo Domingo de Benanvente for those who are there and for us; and one hundred in San Pablo de Valladolid for the good memory of Pope Adriano and for us; and fifty in the parish where I died for the souls in purgatory and for us; and one hundred in Sant Frcº de Valladolid for the state of the church and for us; and one hundred in the aforementioned monastery of the Vª de Tábara for the people who have died in our house; and one hundred and fifty in the monastery of Nra Sª de Prado de Valladolid for me and for the marchioness, my wife, and for Mrs. María, my sister, whose souls may God have his glory, with whom the said millenniums are fulfilled and five hundred masses. and fifty in the parish where I died for the souls in purgatory and for us; and one hundred in Sant Frcº de Valladolid for the state of the church and for us; and one hundred in the aforementioned monastery of the Vª de Tábara for the people who have died in our house; and one hundred and fifty in the monastery of Nra Sª de Prado de Valladolid for me and for the marchioness, my wife, and for Mrs. María, my sister, whose souls may God have his glory, with whom the said millenniums are fulfilled and five hundred masses. and fifty in the parish where I died for the souls in purgatory and for us; and one hundred in Sant Frcº de Valladolid for the state of the church and for us; and one hundred in the aforementioned monastery of the Vª de Tábara for the people who have died in our house; and one hundred and fifty in the monastery of Nra Sª de Prado de Valladolid for me and for the marchioness, my wife, and for Mrs. María, my sister, whose souls may God have his glory, with whom the said millenniums are fulfilled and five hundred masses.

Another did send thirty-three ducats to the nuns of the penance of the Vª de Valladolid so that they pray to God for me. It is understood that as much as I give them some alms every year, even if it seems to be given all or part of it in the year that God is pleased to take me, they give them the said thirty-three ducats, even if I died on the last day of the year and were given all alms that year.

And I order that by the same order the girls of the doctrine of the town of Valladolid be given the year in which God was pleased to take me, even if it was the last day of the year and he had given them the alms of the twenty thousand mrs that they received. I am accustomed to giving out of devotion every year, that they be given all twenty thousand more whole, even though as I say they had received all or part of them as said.

And I send to the pious works three ducats as it seems to my heir, with which I separate the said pious commands from my assets and property.

Another did order that among my vassals of Alixa and his land and Pobladura del Valle, thirty-three loads of wheat be distributed among the poorest people.

Yten commanded that sixty-six loads of wheat be given as alms to the poor of my town of Távara and of its land to the poorest people.

And I have ordered that the hospital that is started in the said town of Tábara be finished, in which there will always be at least two beds, that each one of them have a mattress, sheets and pillows and blankets and some things necessary to serve the said hospital, such as wooden plates and bowls and some kitchen vessels, whichever is in accordance with the will and perish of my heir.

Another if I send the minimum friars of the monastery of Sant Roque in the town of Valladolid ten thousand more in alms, so that they say a hundred masses for those who are in sin and pray to God for me and for the marchioness, my wife, that it be in glory.

And I order that on the day I die they give thirty-three poor people, each one, a cape and a shirt and some shoes, in the place where I died, in which number there are women, even if it is half the number, a little more or less, and in this the most needy should always be preferred, and to the women, instead of cloaks, give skirts with sleeves of said cloth, and also give them shirts and shoes like the others.

Yten, in addition to the one hundred and fifty masses that in the chapter of the thousand and five hundred I have ordered that they be said to me in the monastery of Nra Sª de Prado in Valladolid, I ask the father prior of said monastery out of charity to make us an office as it is done for a friar who dies in the said house, for a whole year, by the same order as is done with his end of the year, and for the work of this that my testamentaries give in alms to the said house and monastery what at said father prior, whatever it may be, and it seems to my testamentaries.

Another if I send to the said house and monastery of Nra Sª de Prado everything that I have in my room of the said monastery, inside the doors, as well as clothes and books like everything else, of whatever quality, of what We had no use, so for me, as for those who were with me. I say everything that will be found inside the doors, as it has been said, in my room and gallery that goes out to the main chapel, as well as what will be found in the outside chambers of those who were with me, and in the kitchen and all the pieces of the doors inside.

And I order that on the day of my death or on the next day, if that is not the case, all the clerics and religious in the town where I died celebrate for me, and on the day they bury me they feed the poor that in the last chapter ordered to dress.

Another if I order that if I die thirty leagues from Valladolid or more, that they do not open my body to take it to the said town of Tábara, and that if the weather is difficult to walk with the body, they deposit me in the monastery of San Francº or of another order, if there is no such order in the said place where I die, and if there is no monastery, I command that the deposit be made in the parish where I die, and that this deposit be made without ponpa and without accompanying orders or orders. brotherhoods, unless it is as plain as possible, only with the cross and clerics of the church, and on my tunba don't put silk or brocade cloth in any way, but mourning cloth.

Yyen commanded that my heir comply with everything that I have capitulated, settled and arranged with the prior, friars and convent of the monastery that I founded and made in happiness my town of Tábara, named above, which is now of the order of the S ^orSant Jerónimo, according to and by the order that I have made the said chapters by the deeds that passed on it, giving the said friars, prior and convent two hundred and fifty thousand mrs in each year, with the rest that seems for the said writings that I have written about it; and the same thing that is fulfilled with the college of S. Pedro and Sant Pablo, which I also built and founded in the said my town of Tábara, giving to the said college another two hundred and fifty thousand mrs, which will be spent on him and do the other things as my heir knows, that I and he have communicated.

And I say and declare that I and the Marquise my wife, may it be in glory, ordered and instituted an entailment by virtue of the royal faculty, which for this we had, in Don Pedro Pimentel, our son, and in his descendants, according to what else It largely seems from the writing of the said estate to which I refer, approving, as I hereby approve, the said estate in everything and for everything, as and according to it is contained, I want and it is my will that it be fulfilled and kept, according to and as in it is ordered and arranged.

And I say and declare that at the time that I and the said Marchioness, my wife, may it be in glory, we married the Marchioness of Villafranca, a legitimate daughter, with ^Sr.Marquis of Villafranca, we gave her in dowry and marriage six hundred thousand and other things, as we agreed and she capitulated between us, and other than what we thus promised her in dowry, we gave her as an increase in dowry and for paraphronal assets close to I donated a thousand ducats, and after we got married we gave her gold jewelry and stones and other things that are not valued, which amounted to over a thousand ducats. And since with all of the above, the said Marchioness, my daughter, is sufficiently paid and satisfied and devoted to everything that may belong to her in my succession and that of the said Marchioness, my wife, may she be in glory, especially having, as we had, and I have, the said royal faculty, by virtue of which we were not obliged to leave him more than competent food, I want and it is my will that if the said ^SisterMarquis of Villafranca, whom our Lord God ^protects , will die before the said Marquise, my daughter, may the said Marquise, my daughter, live and have the room and use of the houses that I have in the town of Valladolid, border of the monastery of the Conçeptión, wanting to live and inhabit them, for all the days of her life, and after her life that the said my houses be free, their property and usufruct of the said my heir and his successors, and when the said my daughter will not inhabit by her own person the said houses may be inhabited or leased by the said my heir as his own assets that are his estate and bond, as I have had and possessed them and my predecessors had and possessed them.

And I say and declare that everything that I have given to the Marquise, my daughter, both in dowry and paraphronal goods, as in any other way, is understood to be given to her for sale and payment of what I am obliged to give her in any way. way; and the same is understood in terms of the contained order of suso. And if it is necessary, I institute her as heir in all of this, and using said royal power, I want and it is my will that the said Marchioness, my daughter, not be able to ask for anything else by way of food, nor by supplement of legitimate, nor in any other way, more than and beyond what has been said; which everything is understood in the same way that what is given is for the property of the Marquise, my wife, and mine, because she thus mandates in her will that it be.

And so I institute and leave as my universal heirs Don Pedro Pimentel and the said Doña Inés Pimentel, Marchioness of Villafranca, my legitimate children. It is convenient to know: to the said Marchioness, my daughter, in what I and the Marchioness, my wife, may she be in glory, her mother, we gave her as a dowry and for rent and payment of her legitimate, and of what she received. she could belong after several lives in any way, at the time that we married her to the said Sor ^Marquis of Villafranca, her husband, and likewise in the said two thousand ducats and gold and silver jewels and other things that we later gave her, and in what I gave and in what is to be given for the agreement that was made between us on the right that the said Marquise, my wife, had to the goods that the said Sister owned ^.Marquis of Villafranca, who belonged to the Count of Lemos, Don Pº Alvarez Osorio, his father and my lord, about whom a lawsuit was pending. I want everything above mentioned and the rest that I have given and commanded to be understood as having been given and commanded for the sale and fulfillment of the full payment of the legitimate and inheritance that in my assets and in those of the said Marquise, my wife , could and can belong to her after my days, also telling in her what, as it is said, I gave her in marriage with the said ^SisterMarquis of Villafranca, her husband. With which assets, using the said royal power that the emperor and king, my lord, may glory be to you, I have, together with the said Marchioness, my wife, may glory be to you, to institute and make the mayorazgo that I have said, I separate and exclude the said Marchioness of Villafranca, my daughter, from the succession and inheritance of all my property and everything that could belong to her, insofar as the said dowry property and the others that I have given and sent to her together with the said Marquise, my wife, are sufficient goods to endow and feed the said Marquise, my daughter, and with them I consider her sufficiently endowed and fed, which is understood, leaving in her strength and vigor the appeals and substitutions and everything else contained in the foundation and mayorazgo that I and the said Marquise, May it be in glory, we did and we have done, which is mentioned above. And in all my other assets, estates, furniture and any others that belong to me or may belong to me in any way or by any title whatsoever, so that I can see, carry and enjoy them, as my heir, I institute for my universal heir to the said Don Pedro Pimentel, my son.

And I say that as far as what concerns the concert that in the chapter before this mention is made, the particularities that have been and are not declared in it and what is most to be understood about it, I command and it is my will that the said Don Pedro Pimentel, my son, since he is instructed and well informed of everything that there is and must be done, can declare and do what he thinks best that suits him for the security of the dowry that was indicated in it to the said Marchioness of Villafranca, my daughter, the declaration and order made by the said don Pedro, my son, together with a lawyer of science and conscience, that in this discharge mine and his.

And I say and declare and I want and command that of the two hundred and fifty thousand mrs. that are to be given and are indicated to the said college that I made and founded, as stated above, twenty-five thousand mrs are to be given to the doctor who must reside in the said town of Tábara in each year, perpetually, and in everything else it is fulfilled and kept as said, according to the scripturas and capitulaçiones that I have and leave on it.

Orto yes I want and command that the said Don Pedro Pimentel, my son and universal heir, pay all the bequests and legacies that I have and leave in this my will and in everything else that I was obliged to give or pay, which is fulfill and pay a fifth of my assets and haçienda.

And I command and want and it is my will that some houses that I have and have in the town of Valladolid, outside the walls, with a garden and its riverside, that I had and bought from the heirs of Rafael Archioli, Florentine, in which the said Rafael lived, be it to the said Don Pedro Pimentel, my son, for related assets and even in the entailment that I and the said Marquise, my wife, may it be in glory, made, founded and instituted in the said Don Pedro Pimentel, nro son , with the same links, substitutions and appeals, and with the same forces and clauses that we instituted the said estate, that hereby, using the said faculty and royal license that I have for this, I make the bond and foundation of the estate of the said house and orchard with everything belonging to the said Don Pedro Pimentel, my son,in the same way and manner that I founded and made the said mayorazgo, to which I refer in everything.

And I leave for my testamentaries and executors of this my testament to said Don Pedro Piementel, my son, and to S. Don Alonso Lopéz de Texeda, and to the R ^do Padre Frey Antonio de Sancto Domingo, rector who is in the college of Sant Pablo of Valladolid, already ______ of Fonseca, and by my head chief and principal executor of this my will to the Illmº S ^orDon Antonio Alfonso Pimentel, Count of Benavente; To whom, said my testamentaries, I want and it is my will that they not run, to fulfill this my will, the term of law, but that notwithstanding said term, at any time they can fulfill what is for me in this my testament sent, and I give them all my fulfilled power, according to what I have and have, to execute and fulfill this my testament, and so that by their own authority they can enter and take from my assets and from the best of them everything that seems to them to be convenient. and it is necessary to fulfill it, and what they take, they can sell it in pu ^caauction or outside of it, without summoning or calling my heirs or any of them, and doing and ordering everything that is convenient and necessary, for the fulfillment of this my will and everything contained in it.

Another if I order that, if before my death and after granting this my will, something of what is contained in it is found fulfilled, that what thus seems to be fulfilled, it is not my will that it be fulfilled again, because I have the purpose of doing some things of what is contained in it in my life, if God is served, give it to me.

And I order Juan Zorrilla, my servant, to negotiate and work with the said Don Pedro, my son, to see him that office that is requested from His Majesty for him, and not being able to see it, I beg and order him to try to see him another office that suits him, and I command that they be forgiven him and I hereby forgive him and remove all and any amounts that have been made in the accounts that have been taken or will be taken, for all the time he has served me, and that give him fifty ducats in money, for the good services he has always done me.

And I order that _____ Gámez, my servant, be paid everything that I seem to owe him of his salary and others, I order him to give twenty ducats in money for the good services I have received.

And by this my will that I presently make and order, revoke and annul all and any wills and codicils made by me or made, even if they have any derogatory clauses, with any firmness or ministries of words in them or in any of them contained, the which hereby expressly revoked, as if from verb to verbum they were express, because my intention and will is that this my testament and last will be valid and not any other, not harming in any way the mayorazgo, that together with the said Marquise, my wife, may it be in glory, I made, founded and ordered the above mention, what do I mean.

And likewise, because I have experience of the doubts and concerns that result from the wills wanting to prove this and that in this my will, there is no doubt that it cannot be declared without question, I command that, if any or some doubts arise at any time of the clauses of this my will or of any of them, that what the said Don Pedro, my son, declares with any of the testamentaries appointed by me, that is valid and is done and is brought to due execution, no more nor less that his own self clarified it, and that no secular or ecclesiastical judge be treated about it, more than what the aforementioned did and declared.

And I order that if any servant of mine or another person or persons come to my heir or testamentaries saying that I am in charge of them, either for reasons of service, or in any other way, something, that it be found out with the said such creditors , and what is justly due to them, that is paid to them.

And so I say that I read and approve this my will with all the formalities that are required by law, which have been expressed here, which is written on these six sheets of paper and one flat sheet, plus these five lines with their lines and rubrics.

And the testate did say daughter, and the writing between the lines said wife, and the testate did say that it was not worth it.

I the Marquis of Tábara

In the town of Villafáfila, on the seventeenth day of the month of July, one thousand five hundred and fifty-nine years, before me, Miguel de Cararscosa, notary for the Royal Majesty and of the number of the said town and its land, the very Illustrious Mr. Bernardino Pimentel, Marquis of Tábara, made a sample and presentation of this deed closed and sealed with the seal of his illustrious arms, and said and confessed that what was contained in the said scriptura and what it seemed, he granted and granted for his testament and by his cobdeçilio and by his last and last will, and he signed it in his name, being present by witnesses: Alonso Sánchez and Rui Díaz de Ureña, and Alonso de Mercado, and Pedro Fernández, and Marcos de Montoya, and Frcº de Valderrábanos, and Santiago Pérez, servants of his lordship, shelves in the said town,and at the request of your lordship they signed it with their names.

I the Marquis of Tábara.

Wax seal.

Witness signatures.

And I Miguel de Cararscosa, aforementioned scribe, to what was said was present the granting of his Sª Yllustrmª, to which I give faith that I know, I overwrote, and in testimony of truth I made this my sign here. Miguel de Carrascosa.

And I the said Miguel de Carrascosa, aforementioned public notary, to what is said and of me present mention is made, I went, and at the request of his Lord and Illustrysyma of the said Mr. Pedro Pimentel, Marquis of Tábara, and of the order of the said Mr. corrº, what happened before me was drawn up cleanly and the said original testament that your Most Honored Lady of the Marquis Don Bernaldino Pimentel, Marquis of Tábara, my lord, originally granted before me hangs here, and I left the treasury of it in my possession, corrected and agreed with the original, according to the order of the said Mr. Corrº, all of which, one and the other, is written on these twelve sheets of full paper, without this one in which my sign goes, therefore in testimony of truth I made my sign here. Miguel de Carrascosa” [44] .

Author :

Elijah Rodriguez Rodriguez.

Don Bernardino Pimentel, first Marquis of Tábara. An approach to the character through his testament.

Center for Benaventanos Studies "Ledo del Pozo" Brigecio 16 Journal of Studies 2006, Pgs. 55 to 66.

https://ledodelpozo.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/P%C3%A1ginas-55-66-Brigecio-Revista-de-Estudios-16-2006.pdf

villafafila.net

http://villafafila.net/testament/testament.htm

Photography:

Elijah Rodriguez Rodriguez.

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

Transcription and Assembly:

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

All text, photographs, transcription and montage, their rights belong to their authors, any type of use is prohibited without authorization.