BIOGRAPHICAL TRACES OF "MY LADY" FROM THE WRITTEN CULTURE: MENCÍA DE VELASCO (†1523)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to recapitulate and present historical information about Mencía de Velasco. The documents preserved by the lineage allow us to analyze the profile of a high nobility literate lady who lived without marrying or professing ecclesiastical vows. Her last dispositions –foundations of hospitals and convents, wills and post mortem inventories– provide a great deal of information regarding her books and papers, library and archive, two spaces included at the end of her life in the monastery of Santa Clara de Medina de Pomar and managed by her servant Diego de Isla.