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- BIOGRAPHY
Mencia was born in Guadalajara in 1421, the eldest daughter of Iñigo López de Mendoza, 1.marqués de Santillana, and Doña Catalina Suárez de Figueroa, señora de Torija, She was educated with her brothers and close relatives in the cultured atmosphere of their house, with a love of the arts and literature.
As part of the military-political alliances established by her father, she was married in 1436 to Pedro Fernández de Velasco, 2.conde de Haro, who would be constable of Castile from 1473, the son of Pedro Fernández de Velasco, 1.conde de Haro, and Beatriz Manrique de Lara. The future constable belonged to the nobility loyal to the Mendoza family, led after the death of the marquis by his son Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, cardinal-archbishop of Toledo.
Mencia's father left her 22,000 gold florins in his will. She and Pedro had seven or eight children of whom two sons and three daughters would have progeny. Her first years of marriage were devoted to childbearing. She then took over the almost continual administration of his enormous estates, as he was absent for long periods during the reigns of Enrique IV 'the Impotent', king of Castile and León, and of his sister Isabella 'the Catholic' and her husband Fernando, king of Aragón. The savings she made were directed to the construction in Burgos of the Casa del Cordón, the chapel of the Annunciation and the Constable's Chapel in the cathedral and the Casda de la Vega, built near Gamonal. According to tradition she said to her husband: 'You now have a palace to live in, a villa to play in, and a chapel in which to pray and be buried'.
The Casa del Cordón that replaced the old palace of the Velascos was the work of Juan de Colonia. Mencia decorated it with an excellent collection of flamenco carpets. She personally negotiated with the city hall for the construction of the famous Chapel of the Constable in the cathedral. Her architect was Simón de Colona, and Gil de Siloé created the altars. In her patronage, Mencia supported the Franciscan reforms started in the Salceda (Guadalajara), and arranged the construction of the tomb of the Franciscan San Pedro Regalado (at La Aguilera).
After the death of her husband, Mencia took legal action against her older son over the usufruct of her husband's inheritance and the maintenance of her status, but with little success. She argued that her husband had obtained the position of Constable thanks to the Mendoza family (to which her son responded that it was because of the service given by the Velascos to the monarchy), and that she therefore had a right for life to the status her husband had held.
Mencia died in Burgos in 1500. In her will she left instructions for masses and funeral services to be held for her, among other places in San Francisco de Guadalajara, Bartolomé de Lupiana and La Salceda. Her tomb next to her husband in the Burgos Cathedral was built in Carrara marble by Juan de Lugano, commissioned by her grandson the fourth constable.
Mencia was particularly close to her half-sister Leonor de Mendoza, the illegitimate daughter of her father, who was appointed as abbess of Las Huelgas in Burgos, thanks to the mediation of Mencia's brother Cardinal Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza.
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