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Maldonada (”La Maldonada”), María

Active 1530/ca

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Person Born Died Gender Person ID
María Maldonada (”La Maldonada”) F P1217

Instrument(s) Professional group Social status Social sphere Why is the person listed?
vihuela clavicordio Servant (domestic) Servant Court - noble Owned a vihuela

Years active Place active Century Region
1530/ca Guadalajara 16cent/1/early Castilla
Biographical information

Daughter of Antonio de Proaño, aguador (water carrier) of the Palace of the Dukes of the Infantado in Guadalajara. She was in the service of the 3rd Duke, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza as a maid to his daughter, The Duke fell madly in love with her in 1529-1531. The Duke married her in 1530.

According to Mazuela-Anguita, the duke was “Fascinated by the musical skills of María Maldonada (known as La Maldonada), [so] he hired her for the service of his daughter, replacing another servant musician in her employ. The duke then appears to have fallen in love with La Maldonada, showered her with gifts, including musical instruments (vihuelas, a small clavichord and a harpsichord), and a book of polyphony; he married her a few months before he died, regardless of his children’s disapproval (Pecha Historia: fol. 214r–v; Layna Serrano 1942, 3: 117–18; Freund Schwartz 2001a: 374–75).” (mazuela2016, 571).

Related persons
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was her lover




Bibliography
Ref Author Item Pages
mazuela2016 Mazuela-Anguita, Ascensión. “Lost Voices: Women and Music at the Time of the Catholic Monarchs”. Companion to music in the age of the Catholic monarchs, ed. Tess Knighton. Boston; Leiden: Brill, 2016. 549-578. 571
schwartz2001 Schwartz, Roberta Freund. “En busca de liberalidad: music and musicians in the courts of the Spanish nobility, 1470-1640.” Diss. University of Illinois, 2001. 374-375
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