Lechos de rosas y de espinas: Juana Pernestán (1556-1631) María Luisa de Aragón (1585–1623) y Don Quijote (II: 1615)

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to explain the rancor between Cervantes and the Dukes of Villahermosa María Luisa de Aragón and Carlos de Borja (El Quijote, vol. II, capítulos 30-50). Her mother was the Bohemian noblewoman Juana Pernestán who in 1581 journeyed to Spain with Maximillian the Second's widow the Empress María (1528-1603). When in Spain Lady Juana married don Francisco the sixth Duke of Villahermosa. Don Francisco later died at the hands of Philip II because of his involvement in the Antonio Pérez affair. Initially this incident caused don Francisco's family to suffer considerable social humiliation and economic loss from which the family eventually recovered. There was one likely means by which the Dukes de Villahermosa could recover their lofty status and demonstrate their loyalty to the crown. That was by commissioning Lope de Vega to write two genealogical plays to glorify the family's past. These plays have disappeared. In my study I suggest that Cervantes would have liked to have received this commission. But it was not to be. This rejection would have been one of the reasons to seek revenge against the Dukes de Villahermosa in Quijote. The Duke of Villahermosa and Cervantes were members of several academies. In such an environment controversy and disagreement often resulted in bitter hatred. There probably were other grievances as well.