[21] In the sixteenth century Sevillian society underwent a profound transformation. New social and economic values were created and old ones discarded as a result of the city's new position as chief port for the Indies. Traditional beliefs emphasizing virtue and valor as the basis for nobility fell into disuse. An acquisitive society was emerging, and a spirit of gain overwhelmed the city. Greed for money and dissatisfaction with social and economic status became the common affliction of all Sevillians. The riches from the New World seemed to cast a spell over the whole town, especially at the arrival of the fleet when they were "carried in ox carts through the streets from the Guadalquivir to the Casa de Contratación." ⁽²⁾ To the famous pícaro Guzmán de Alfarache Seville was the city where "silver ran as freely as did copper in other parts." ⁽³⁾

[22]Nobles

If Sevillian life was characterized by materialism and covetousness, no group reflected this more than the local nobility. Like their counterparts in the rest of Spain, they had made warfare, politics, religion, and traditional farming their principal activities for centuries. Since trade, was associated with social stigma, it was left to outsiders and foreigners. In the sixteenth century the opening of the New World and the conversion of their city into a thriving business center forced the Sevillian nobility to revise their ideas and patterns of life. Padre Tomás de Mercado, scrupulous observer of Sevillian life, carefully noted these changes. He wrote that "the discovery of the Indies had presented such wonderful opportunities to acquire great wealth that the nobility of Seville had been lured into trade when they saw what great profits could be made." ⁽⁴⁾

The conversion of the nobility to commerce further increased the incursions of merchants into its ranks. The Sevillian nobility had never been a closed caste; there had always been movement between the upper ranks of the merchant class and the lower echelons of the nobility through marriage and ennoblement. It was not unusual, especially in the fifteenth century, for wealthy mercantile families, many of converso origin, to intermarry with families of noble lineage, even with those of the high nobility. In the sixteenth century marriages between the scions of the oldest noble families and the daughters of merchants became a normal occurrence. Even the nobility who did not invest [23] in trade were often forced by necessity or greed, "to marry into merchant families," and "the power of gold made nobles out of commoners." ⁽⁵⁾

The penury of the royal treasury also contributed to the ennoblement of rich merchants in Seville as elsewhere in Spain during this period. The sale of rights of hidalguía was a profitable source of income at a time when royal financial demands were great. Throughout the century the Seville city council complained to the king about this practice, but seemingly to no avail. Finally, in 1582, a timely subsidy of 50,000 ducats secured a royal promise not to sell any more hidalguías in Seville or its district. ⁽⁶⁾

Like the hidalguías municipal posts formerly reserved to the nobility were also offered on the market to the highest bidder. The positions of veinticuatro (alderman) and jurado (common councilman) were freely bought and sold, and by the last quarter of the century the average price for an aldermanship was 7,000 ducats. Merchants solicited city posts not only for their inherent social prestige, but also for their obvious economic advantages. At least this was the opinion of a majority of the city council in 1598 when they claimed that most of those who tried to purchase municipal positions were merchants who wanted to use them to further their business interests. ⁽⁷⁾ The Seville city council may have had a the reputation of being one of the most aristocratic in Spain because of the requirement of nobility for [24] councilmen as well as aldermen, but the fact remains that most of the men who served on it were ennobled merchants, many of whom were of converso origin.

Once a merchant purchased a title of nobility and a seat on the municipal council he was considered the legal equal of the traditional nobility. The title of "Don" was placed before his name and the qualification of "merchant" eliminated after it. The ennobled merchants, or new nobility, then took their places beside the old nobility, and through intermarriage and bonds of interest both groups merged to form, by the end of the century, a compact social class -- the city's new ruling elite. Yet the fusion of the old and new nobility did not destroy the existent current of social prejudice toward the new hidalgos. The literature of the period expresses unequivocally discriminatory feelings in this regard. The old nobility made only one organized attempt to discriminate against the parvenus. In 1573 a few members of the first families of the city petitioned the king to allow them to form a religious confraternity restricted to nobles. When the city council learned of this action, it immediately sent a statement to the monarch opposing it. The reason for this intervention is clear. The council members believed that "the objective of such a confraternity is not good will, nor religious or pious acts, but rather to give the said brothers the power to make and break hidalgos as it would cause disgrace among those who would not be accepted as members, and only those who would be received would be considered truly noble while those who would not want to join would be suspect." ⁽⁸⁾ Needless to [25] say, the Sevillian nobility never succeeded in establishing a confraternity.

Undoubtedly, conditions in Seville greatly stimulated the steady ennoblement of wealthy merchants, but this also occurred in other parts of western Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. More significant is that in Seville nobles traded and that despite the prevailing Castillan idea that trade and nobility were incompatible, it does not appear that the Sevillians felt that their mercantile activities dishonored them in any way. ⁽⁹⁾ Domínguez Ortiz has argued that Sevillians were influenced in this regard by the flexible attitude of the many foreigners, especially Genoese and Flemings, resident in Seville during the sixteenth century. ⁽¹⁰⁾ While it is undoubtedly true that the Sevillians had the example of these foreigners before their eyes, the mercantile background of many noble families must have also helped to shape their mentality. In the fifteenth century some Sevillian hidalgo families of commercial origin were heavily involved in the administration of rents and the farming of taxes and a few also continued to invest in trade of one kind or another. Neither of these practices was regarded as detrimental to their hidalguía. In the sixteenth century even the great magnates did not feel that investment in trade as long as it was wholesale and on a large-scale basis compromised their status in any way. ⁽¹¹⁾ And the attitudes of these noble entrepreneurs were definitely [26] capitalistic, and became even more so as their ranks were increasingly infiltrated by ennobled merchants. ⁽¹²⁾

While aristocratic prejudice did not prevent the old nobility from acting like "real capitalists," the ennobled traders in turn were not entirely converted to the aristocratic way of life. Certainly these parvenus invested in land and juros, established mayorazgos for their heirs, and tried to follow the traditional aristocratic patterns, but the special position of their city -- the opportunities for quick wealth through trade -- influenced them to continue to trade and to encourage their sons to do so. It was not unusual for the younger sons of the new nobility to go to America as agents for their fathers. In 1557, for example, Bartolomé de Jerez, son of the Councilman Alonso Hernández de Jerez, traveled to Tierra Firme to serve as his father's factor there. A year later, Pedro Vélez left for the Indies with merchandise belonging to his father, Councilman García de Contreras. Moreover, the new nobility often permitted their daughters to marry wealthy merchants and cooperated in commercial ventures with their plebeian sons-in-law. Councilman Francisco Ruiz married his daughter to merchant Fernando Pérez, his associate in several ventures. Don Francisco himself married into the old nobility so that the Ruiz family represented a true fusion of the old and new groups. ⁽¹³⁾

Even before the widespread entrance of merchants into its ranks, the nobility was not a homogeneous class. At the top were the grandees and the títulos who monopolized all [27] titles such as duke, marquis, and count. Below these were the caballeros and hidalgos, who were members of the secondary or lower nobility. The terms hidalgos and caballeros, used in a generic sense to denote noble lineage, were employed indiscriminately during this period. Although this latter category covered most of the first families of Seville, the great lords were also well represented. At the end of the sixteenth century, according to Argote de Molina, there were fifteen titled noblemen in the city, foremost among whom were the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, Arcos, and Alcalá. ⁽¹⁴⁾ These aristocrats were distinguished basically by their possession of vast landed estates and their extensive wealth. The chronicler Lucio Marineo Sículo gives the following figures for the annual revenues of the magnates of Seville during the early years of the reign of Charles V: ⁽¹⁵⁾
 

Title	Annual income (ducats)
Duke of Medina Sidonia	55,000
Duke of Béjar	40,000
Duke of Arcos	25,000
Marquis of Ayamonte	30,000
Marquis of Tarifa	30,000
Marquis del Valle	60,000
Count of Gelves	10,000

Although their revenues were derived principally from their rural holdings, the great lords spent little time on their estates, whose management they left to paid administrators [28] and overseers. Country homes served mainly as temporary refuges from the heat of summer or from the ravages of a plague. During most of the year they resided in the city where they passed their time cultivating an elaborate way of life symbolic of their class. This involved spending huge sums on costly dress, ornate home decoration, lavish food, and maintaining large entourages of servants. Liberality was above all the mark of the great nobleman.

In the late fifteenth and first decades of the sixteenth centuries much of the wealth of the magnates went into the construction of magnificent palaces, every one of which, in the opinion of the chronicler Luis de Peraza, could have housed royalty. One of the most unusual of these ducal residences was the Casa de Pilatos, begun in the last years of the fifteenth century and completed in 1533 by Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, Duke of Alcalá and first Marquis of Tarifa. Inspired by his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he styled it after what was claimed to be the house of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. It was a masterpiece of azulejos and fine stucco work and was filled with objets d'art that the first duke of Alcalá, don Perafín de Ribera, had sent from Rome. ⁽¹⁶⁾

The life of the great lords also included active patronage of the arts. The titled families vied with each other for the patronage and friendship of distinguished talented persons. From 1559 until 1581 the palace of don Alvaro Colón y Portugal, Count of Gelves and great-grandson of Christopher Columbus, was the favorite meeting place for the Sevillian school of poetry led by Fernando de Herrera, [29] called "el divino." It was here that Herrera fell in love with Doña Leonor de Milán, Countess of Gelves, to whom most of his amorous poems are directed. Not only were these aristocrats patrons of literati and painters, but some of them were writers, painters, and connoisseurs of books in their own right. The first Marquis of Tarifa was a humanist and collector of antiquities; the Duke of Alcalá (1584-1637) devoted his spare time to collecting books, painting, and studying Latin works. ⁽¹⁷⁾

Besides engaging in intellectual endeavors and patronizing culture, the Sevillian magnates were deeply involved in municipal politics. They, in effect, controlled the city government through monopolization of some of the most important municipal offices, such as the positions of chief constable, chief magistrate (there were four of these officials), chief clerk of the city council, standard bearer, and governor of the royal Alcázar. The Duke of Alcalá, for example, controlled six municipal posts, in addition to the office of chief constable, worth some 375,000 maravedís. ⁽¹⁸⁾ But the predominance of the great lords had unfortunate results for the Sevillian government, for the aristocrats, divided among themselves and jealous of each other's power, drew the municipality into their factional struggles. In the fifteenth [30] century Seville had been torn by feuds among the great houses, especially between the two principal factions, the Ponces and Guzmanes. By the opening years of the sixteenth century, the Guzmanes (House of Medina Sidonia) had seemingly triumphed over their rivals, the Ponces. (House of Arcos), and their victory enabled them to tighten their control over the city government. During these years the Guzmanes with the support of King Ferdinand the Catholic (to whom they were related through marriage) and later Charles V were the real masters of Seville. ⁽¹⁹⁾

Regardless of their wealth, power, and preeminence in society, very little is known about the great noble houses in the sixteenth century. Aside from an abundant collection of eulogistic genealogical accounts, detailed studies of the Sevillian noble houses are practically nonexistent. The main reason is that most of the material for such a study is still in private homes and family archives. Some utilization has been made of documents available in national and municipal archives, but this information -- mainly scattered financial records, correspondence with the government, and evidence given in lawsuits -- can only supplement the rich deposits to be found in the family archives. ⁽²⁰⁾ Fortunately, one aspect of the life of the Sevillian magnates is amply revealed in the Sevillian Protocols -- their participation in the transatlantic trade, an activity that clearly set them apart from their Castilian counterparts.

[31] As a rule the principal investment of the magnates in the New World trade was the ownership of vessels engaged in the carrera de Indias. As lords of other Andalusian ports like Cadiz and San Lucar de Barrameda, they had been shipowners in their own right for centuries. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries great lords like the Duke of Medina Sidonia had provided ships for expeditions which aimed at both trade and privateering against Moorish shipping and the coastal towns of Granada and North Africa. ⁽²¹⁾ Given this tradition it is not difficult to understand their involvement in the sixteenth century in the carrera de Indias, but other factors also favored their participation. Actually, the cost of outfitting and maintaining these ships was so large that it would have been difficult for any individual, unless he was a member of the upper nobility, to undertake it alone. Vessels were either owned outright by a great lord or the ownership was shared by several persons of lesser status and wealth. A typical division would be among three individuals: two capitalists, either members of the lower nobility or merchants, and a shipmaster.

It appears that the magnates would have liked to monopolize Sevillian shipping through their control over the vessels engaged in the transatlantic trade. At least this is what was attempted by Don Alvaro de Bazán, who was the first to use his own large galleons for the transport of merchandise and treasure to the New World. He invented a new type of galleon and copied from the Genoese and Venetians the galleas or galeaza, for which he obtained an exclusive [32] building concession in February 1550. These new vessels were given the monopoly of carrying the king's treasure from the Indies, might load whatever articles private merchants chose to entrust to them, and were subject to the ordinary rules governing the American trade. In addition, Bazán was named captain general of the Indies trade for fifteen years.

There was much opposition to these terms from the Seville Merchant's Guild or Consulado and also in the Council of the Indies, but the contract was confirmed, and Bazán's patent as captain general was issued on August 1, 1550. One year later, however, a group of Sevillian shippers petitioned the Consulado to sue Don Alvaro on their behalf, claiming that he "was attempting to have his own ships of heavy tonnage chartered for the carrera de Indias to the detriment of the other lighter vessels." Eventually, the Consulado appealed to the crown to "restore free navigation with the Indies for all ships although of lesser tonnage than those owned by the said Alvaro de Bazán." ⁽²²⁾

Besides their control over the vessels in the carrera de Indias the great lords also invested in the wholesale trade of both merchandise and slaves. One of the best examples of entrepreneurship among the members of the upper nobility is the Ponce family. Luis Ponce de León, Lord of Villagarcia and Rota and a cousin of the discoverer of Florida, sent goods to the Indies and maintained factors there from [33] the first decade of the century. One of his agents on the island of Hispaniola was Juan Armero, who in 1518 admitted that he had fraudulently withheld from Luis Ponce de León 7,000 pesos that he had brought to Seville in two trips from the Indies where he was serving along with Fernando de la Torre as a factor of that nobleman. And there was even a rare example of female enterprise for Luis Ponce's wife, Doña Francisca Ponce de León, operated the vessels San Telmo and San Cristóbal in her own name. ⁽²³⁾ Another family member, the Duke of Arcos, Rodrigo Ponce de León, owned several vessels plying the seas between Seville and the New World, while at mid-century his relative Fernando Ponce de León invested in the slave trade and sent large quantities of merchandise to America. ⁽²⁴⁾

Like the magnates, the lower nobility was also deeply involved in the trade between Seville and America, but their investment was more varied. Whereas the participation of the titled noblemen was carefully confined to the wholesale trade and ship ownership, the lower nobility were engaged in the same transactions as the nonnoble merchants, and only their names distinguish them from the latter. They invested in sea loans, gave sales credit, owned ships, participated in the Afro-American slave trade, went to America to sell their goods, maintained overseas factors, and invested in such New World enterprises as cattle raising, sugar production, [34] and pearl fishing. Their preoccupation with mercantile activities is not surprising considering the background of most of these hidalgo families. It is a well-known fact that very few of the ancient aristocratic families still existed in Seville in the sixteenth century. The majority of the families that claimed hidalgo status in this period were of commercial and, in many instances, converso descent. The stigma of their origin was carefully hidden under cleverly constructed genealogical tables that could prove the existence of aristocratic ancestors for the most unlikely families. One of the best examples of a leading hidalgo family with a forged ancestral tree was the Alcázar, who produced several generations of traders, churchmen, government officials, and writers, including the famous poet Baltasar del Alcázar, called the "Sevillian Martial." ⁽²⁵⁾ The story of the Alcázars is not just the case history of one successful family, but rather of a whole group of families of commercial and converso descent who were closely allied through marriage and mercantile interests. That all of these elite families shared the same background is most revealing of the character of Sevillian society during this period.

The Alcázars placed their forebears among the original first families of Seville. They claimed to have descended from a certain Pedro Martínez del Alcázar, nephew of the Master of Uclés, who received land in the repartimiento of Seville made by Alfonso X of Castile. Pedro de! Alcázar, the leading member of the family at the opening of the sixteenth century and the grandfather of the poet Baltasar del [35] Alcázar, was then a lineal descendant of that noble knight Pedro Martínez del Alcázar. At least this was the ancestry that a family member, the chronicler Diego Ortiz de Zúñiga, fabricated for them in his Discurso genealógico de los Ortizes de Sevilla (Cadiz, 1670). Ortiz de Zúñiga's work was apparently a response to certain charges that had been made against the family in the seventeenth century. On two occasions -- in 1627 and 1639 -- when members of the family tried to qualify for entrance into the Order of Calatrava, testimony in both inquiries branded the Alcázars as commoners and conversos. ⁽²⁶⁾

That these accusations against the Alcázars had a firm basis in reality can be seen from the career of Pedro del Alcázar, the first member of the family to gain prominence. Alcázar served as alderman (veinticuatro) on the city council and farmed both the custom duties (almojarifazgo) and the ecclesiastical revenues of Seville for many years. ⁽²⁷⁾ He owed his positions to his money and his connections with the House of Medina Sidonia. In the fifteenth century, as has been noted, wealth was the door to advancement for families of commercial and converso origin. It brought them the favor of the high nobility, who became dependent on them for loans and who in some cases intermarried with them. In Seville the House of Medina Sidonia especially solicited and received the support of the New Christians in their struggles with the Ponces and ultimately became [36] their chief protectors. In 1465, for example, when the Sevillian masses rose up against the conversos and tried to kill them and seize their property, the Duke of Medina Sidonia and his followers armed themselves and drove off the attackers. By the opening years of the sixteenth century the alliance between the New Christians and the House of Medina Sidonia had worked to their mutual advantage. The Guzmanes controlled the city, and conversos like Pedro del Alcázar occupied important positions in the municipal government. ⁽²⁸⁾ As for Alcázar's role as a tax farmer, this profession was as traditional among the conversos as it had been among their ancestors, the Jews. ⁽²⁹⁾ Significantly, it also was a favored occupation in the Alcázar family; several of Pedro's descendants farmed the municipal taxes during the sixteenth century.

This same Pedro del Alcázar participated in the Sevillian compositions -- those complicated financial transactions between King Ferdinand and the New Christians during the first decade of the sixteenth century. In return for large contributions to the royal treasury the king made over to those penanced and condemned by the Inquisition, or their heirs, all confiscated property that had been seized from [37] them up to that date. They also received the privilege of going to and trading with the Indies, forbidden to all reconciliados. ⁽³⁰⁾ This modus vivendi lasted only a few years for the coming of Charles V to the Spanish throne brought a change in policy. The Hapsburgs found other ways to replenish the royal purse, and the exemptions and privileges given to the conversos were soon repealed.

Pedro del Alcázar contributed 800 ducats (one of the largest sums) to the composition of 1510, and he had previously paid 7,000 ducats; in fact, there is evidence that he was one of the leading promoters of the plan. According to C. Guillén, "it almost seemed as if the receivor of the Inquisition, Pedro de Villasís, drew up an agreement for such a composition with several prominent New Christians and then obtained royal approval for it." ⁽³¹⁾ In any case, Alcázar was one of the three New Christians eventually empowered by the officials of the Inquisition to collect the sums owed by the others.

According to Ortiz de Zúñiga, Pedro del Alcázar married his aunt Beatriz Suárez and their union produced several children, but of these children he names only Francisco, the eldest, and Luis, the father of the poet Baltasar del Alcázar. A third brother, Captain Hernán Suárez, has emerged from the studies of Giménez Fernández. He appears to have been an influential man in Seville, a close collaborator and frequent business associate of Francisco del Alcázar. We have also found traces of a Leonor del [38] Alcázar who may have been one of the forgotten daughters of Pedro del Alcázar. Since she was married to a certain Alonso Alemán, who bore a well-known converso name, we can understand why Ortiz de Zúñiga did not include her in his account. ⁽³²⁾

Francisco del Alcázar (d. 1546), the first-born son of Pedro and his wife Beatriz Suárez, occupies an especially important position in the development of my thesis as to the converso origin of the Alcázars. Francisco del Alcázar held a succession of official positions during his lifetime -- jurado (common councilman) as early as 1504, then veinticuatro (alderman), treasurer of the Mint, and alcalde mayor (chief magistrate) of Seville. Although it has been assumed that the villa of Palma and the fortress of Alpizar were part of his inheritance, the documents clearly indicate that he purchased them in 1519 from an impecunious Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer of America, for the enormous sum of 11,700,000 maravedís, of which he paid 7,500,000 maravedís immediately. His economic activities were many and varied; they supplied him with the capital that enabled him to assume a commanding position in Sevillian affairs. He was active in the transatlantic trade, farmed the customs (almojarifazgo) of Seville, and was involved in the grain trade. [39] His participation in the trade with the New World was both capitalistic and commercial. He invested in some sea loans, but was more active in shipping merchandise to the Indies. He maintained a number of factors in the New World as early as the first decade of the sixteenth century to take charge of his business there. In 1508 he was part owner of the San Salvador, a vessel engaged in the carrera de Indias. ⁽³³⁾

Above all, Francisco del Alcázar is a good example of a successful converso in the first half of the sixteenth century -- prosperous from his investments, politically secure through his municipal posts and the protection of the dominant Guzmán faction (Duke of Medina Sidonia). As such he was the object of combined hatred both on the part of the masses who especially opposed his exportation of wheat from Seville, which caused prices to rise to exorbitant rates, and of a few hidalgos of Old Christian origin who were jealous of his wealth and power. The business transactions of Francisco del Alcázar and his converso associates were among the basic causes for the uprising of Juan de Figueroa in Seville during the revolt of the Comuneros in 1520-1521. The objective of Figueroa and his fellow conspirators (the younger sons of several families allied to the Ponces) was to [40] destroy the economic power of the conversos and to oust them from the city government. The anti-converso forces ultimately failed because of the armed intervention of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who rallied most of the Sevillian nobility to his side. ⁽³⁴⁾

Francisco del Alcázar was involved in still other converso affairs. During the early years of the reign of Charles V, Spanish popular opinion favored some reform in the judicial procedure of the Inquisition. This shift in public sentiment coincided with a converso plan to reduce the powers of the Inquisition and to bring about its ultimate dissolution. From at least 1518 several conversos had been conducting secret negotiations in Rome to achieve these ends, and Francisco del Alcázar lent both moral and financial support to their cause. In 1519 the conversos successfully obtained from Pope Leo X three papal briefs limiting the authority of the Inquisition, but Charles V prevented their publication in Spain, and the Inquisition ignored them. Finally during the revolt of the Comuneros, the conversos, in a last desperate attempt to destroy the Inquisition, tried to persuade the Comunero leader Juan de Padilla to accept the papal briefs, but he "refused to consider their request without expressing his opinion for or against them." ⁽³⁵⁾ Therefore all the efforts of Francisco del Alcázar and his [41] converso friends were in vain, and their failure meant the disappearance of the last organized opposition to the Inquisition in sixteenth-century Spain.

Gímenez Fernández has suggested the possibility that Francisco del Alcázar's wife, Leonor de Prado, was related to Dr. Juan de Prado, prosecuting attorney for both the Royal Council and the Council of the Indies, whose father was burned by the Inquisition as a judaizante (Judaizer). The documents do not indicate that this relationship existed, but they do reveal the activities of the wealthy converso Prado family of Seville. Originally neighbors of the Alcázars in the district of Santa Cruz (the ancient judería of Seville), the Prados were also their friends and business associates. Notable members of this family in the first half of the sixteenth century were Luis de Prado and his brother Alonso. Luis served as jurado and also held the position of lieutenant treasurer of the Mint under Francisco del Alcázar. ⁽³⁶⁾ All members of the Prado family invested in the transatlantic trade. In 1525, for example, the councilman Luis and his nephew Gómez de Prado supplied the funds to outfit and dispatch 24 per cent of the ships that left Seville for the Indies. Most of these sea loans were granted for the dispatch of merchandise rather than for the provisioning of ships.

By the middle of the century, the Prados were involved in the Afro-American slave trade, an activity that enriched many Sevillian elite families in the sixteenth century. In 1551 Luis and Melchor de Prado formed a partnership with a Sevillian merchant, Juan de Villagrán, for the trade of [42] merchandise and slaves to the Indies. The total capital of this compañía equaled 12,000 ducats, Luis de Prado contributing 3,584. The remainder was divided between the other two parties. Under the provisions of the contract, Juan de Villagrán was "to accompany the investment to New Spain and to sell it there." He was to share equally with the others in the division of the profits. ⁽³⁷⁾

Like the Prados, Luis del Alcázar, father of the poet Baltasar del Alcázar, also participated in the trade with the New World and served as jurado on the city council. Whereas Francisco's marriage to Leonor de Prado joined the Alcázars to the wealthy Prado family, Luis also contracted a favorable marriage to Leonor de León Garabito. The background of the León Garabito family is not clear, but there is considerable evidence that they were also conversos. In the first place, Ortiz de Zúñiga, who was so concerned about the origin of all families related to his own, remained silent as to their ancestry. Another contemporary source, Francisco Pacheco, on the other hand, referred to the poet's mother as Leonor de León, omitting the Garabito entirely, and in fact she seldom used her full name. ⁽³⁸⁾ It was standard practice among the conversos to obscure their original names, suppressing one or the other and in some cases abandoning them completely and assuming others. Since several members of the family were called Díaz de León Garabito and others Díaz de León, it would appear that the correct family name was Díaz de León Garabito. The surname Garabito (Garavito) is unusual, but the conversos[42] were well known for their rather strange names such as Gavilán, Bicha (animal names), or objects related to the market place like Garabato and Garabito. Moreover, their marriage alliances suggest possible converso origin. They intermarried with the Alcázars twice, for both the poet's mother and wife were members of that family. The León Garabito also married into other converso families, such as the Caballero and Cabrera. ⁽³⁹⁾

Although Luis del Alcázar was apparently not as rich or successful as his brother Francisco, he made up for these deficiencies by producing a family of eleven children. All of these children, with the exception of three daughters who became nuns, contracted marriages that joined the Alcázars to several of the most important New Christian families of Seville. A study of these marriages reveals the constant intermarriage practiced by the conversos in the second half of the sixteenth century and the close relationship between the Alcázars and other members of the Sevillian elite.

The matrimonial alliances of four of these children can be traced: Licentiate Gonzalo Suárez de León, Jerónima de León, Melchor, and Luisa del Alcázar. Licentiate Suárez de León, who bore the family maternal names, married Andrea Ponce, the daughter of Pedro Caballero. Pedro and his more famous brothers, Diego and Alonso, were among the most active participants in the trade between Spain and the New World in the sixteenth century. Pedro remained [44] in Seville where he specialized in the shipment to America of wine and other staples, while Alonso and Diego went to the New World in 1517. After a few years there, during which the brothers were involved in many enterprises, including the trade in Indian slaves, they returned home with a fortune of 3,000,000 maravedís. From this time until their deaths they dedicated themselves to all aspects of the transatlantic trade, especially the shipment of slaves to America. In addition, Diego held several important posts both in Seville and America, such as accountant (contador) of the island of Hispaniola and factor of the Casa de Contratación in Seville. He eventually obtained the honorary title of Mariscal (Marshal) of Hispaniola (1536) and two veinticuatrías on the Seville city council, one of which cost him a million maravedís. In a flurry of wealth and ostentation he built one of the most elaborate tombs in the Seville Cathedral and commissioned the artist Pedro de Campaña to do a portrait of the family for it. This magnificent painting depicting the brothers, Diego and Alonso, their wives, and children, completed in 1560, still hangs over what is popularly called the "tomb of the Marshal," one of the most impressive in the Seville Cathedral. ⁽⁴⁰⁾

The Caballero brothers originated from San Lucar de Barrameda and were related to a certain Diego Caballero de la Rosa, secretary of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, whose parents had been reconciled by the Inquisition as judaizantes. Even Ortiz de Zúñiga had difficulty devising a noble ancestry for such an obviously suspect family. According [45] to the chronicler, the Caballeros were of Portuguese origin, descendants of a noble knight, Alonso González de Meneses, who as a caballero of the Order of Santiago was popularly called "el caballero." This nickname eventually replaced his own family name and his children continued to use it. To cover any trace of suspicion resulting from his explanation, Ortiz de Zúñiga made certain to add that the change to the Caballero name was accidental, that is, it was adopted for "far different reasons than that which caused other families in Spain to change their names." ⁽⁴¹⁾ Alonso González Caballero went to study in Andalusia in the 1480's and ultimately settled in San Lucar de Barrameda, where he met Andrea Guillén. They produced Pedro, Alonso, and Diego, all of whom took up residence in Seville during the first years of the sixteenth century.

Another member of the Caballero family, Leonor Caballero, probably a sister of the three brothers, married Rodrigo de Illescas, an important Sevillian trader. The Illescas were a large mercantile family with representatives both in Seville and America. Besides Rodrigo other prominent members of the family were Alonso, prior of the Consulado (Seville Merchants Guild) and farmer of the customs of Seville, and his son Alvaro, who was sent to Peru in 1543 to represent the family interests there. He was joined in 1555 by two of Rodrigo's sons, Pedro Caballero de Illescas and Diego de Illescas. After a few years in the New World Pedro returned to Seville where he obtained a seat on the municipal council and married the daughter of his father's partner, the wealthy Luis Sánchez Dalvo. Another [46] son, Alvaro Caballero de Illescas, served on the city council and administered the customs in the 1590's. ⁽⁴²⁾

The converso background of the Illescas can be deduced from Ortiz de Zúñiga's description of them. Rodrigo de Illescas' father, a veinticuatro of Seville, left the city in the 1480's and settled in Gibraltar under the control of the Count of Niebla. His move coincides with the establishment of the Inquisition in Seville and the subsequent exodus of the conversos from that city to the lands of neighboring aristocrats in the hope that feudal jurisdiction would protect them from the Holy Office. On his mother's side, Rodrigo was related to the Marquis of Cadiz, Rodrigo Ponce de León, whose affection for the conversos had resulted in matrimonial alliances with them in the female line. ⁽⁴³⁾

The marriage of Rodrigo de Illescas and Leonor Caballero united two prominent converso families and created a new one, the Caballero de Illescas. Leonor's brothers, Diego and Alonso, married two sisters, daughters of Pedro Díaz de León Garabito and Francisca Cabrera; the result was another new family, the Caballero de Cabrera. Their niece Andrea Ponce, daughter of Pedro Caballero, married Licentiate [47] Suárez de León of the Alcázars. These marriages brought about an interrelationship among the following converso families that made up the Sevillian elite: the Alcázar, Prado, Caballero, León Garabito, Cabrera, Illescas, Caballero de Illescas, Caballero de Cabrera, and Sánchez Dalvo. It might also be noted that the chronicler Diego Ortiz de Zúñiga was married to Ana María Caballero de Cabrera, a descendant of the Caballero brothers, and that the Caballero de Cabrera were also related through marriage to the well-known converso family of Deza, whose most famous member was Fray Diego de Deza, Archbishop of Seville from 1505 to 1523.

In contrast to Licentiate Suárez de León, about whom we know very little except for his marriage alliance, there exists considerable information about the life of his brother Melchor del Alcázar. The artist Francisco Pacheco, who especially admired Melchor del Alcázar for his "administrative abilities, generosity and excellence of character," included a detailed description of his accomplishments along with his portrait in the Libro de retratos. ⁽⁴⁴⁾ Following the family tradition he held several important posts in the Sevillian government. He served as veinticuatro treasurer of the Mint, and lieutenant governor of the Royal Alcázar, and administered the almojarifazgo Melchor's marriage to Ana de la Sal is one of the best examples of the calculated marriage policy followed by the Alcázars and another proof of their converso origin. There was actually a double marriage between the Alcázar and Sal families because Melchor's sister Luisa married Ana's brother Diego de la Sal.

[48] The Sal like the Alcázars were accused of being conversos in the seventeenth century. These charges came to light during an investigation into the qualifications of the poet Juan de Jáuregui for membership in the Order of Calatrava. ⁽⁴⁵⁾ Jáuregui was related to the Sal through his mother, who was the daughter of Lucas de la Sal, whose brother and sister had both married Alcázars. There was, however, some confusion among the witnesses at the inquiry as to the exact relationship of Jáuregui to the Alcázars, and several of them believed that Melchor del Alcázar rather than Lucas de la Sal was Jáuregui's grandfather. One of the witnesses, Cardinal Zapata, held this opinion and also claimed that both the Alcázar and Sal families were conversos and that there was evidence in church records to support this conclusion. Another witness, Juan Antonio de Zapata, choirmaster of the Cathedral, went even further in his denunciation of the Alcázars. He stated that "there existed in the Cathedral of Seville a sanbenito belonging to a member of the Alcázar family whose first name was Melchor or Baltazar and who was either the grandfather or great-grandfather of Jáuregui." ⁽⁴⁶⁾

As the investigation proceeded, it gradually became clear that Lucas de la Sal rather than Melchor del Alcázar was Jáuregui's grandfather and that unlike his sister and brother [49] he did not marry into the Alcázar family. Therefore Juan de Jáuregui was only remotely related to the Alcázars -- a grandnephew through marriage -- but he was still a direct descendant of the Sal through his mother. Juan Antonio de Zapata held the same opinion about the Sal as he did about the Alcázars, "neither of whom had a good reputation in Seville as to 'limpieza.'" ⁽⁴⁷⁾ The majority of the witnesses, however, tried to purify the Sal at the expense of the Alcázars, and the final consensus of opinion was that the Sal line emanating from Lucas de la Sal was free from intermixture with the suspect Alcázars and that the charges against the Sal were invalid.

The Sal family background is documented. The Sevillian branch of the Sal descended from Pedro González de la Sal and his wife María de Amaya, natives of Vejer de la Frontera (Cadiz) who moved to Seville in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Pedro González de la Sal became a denizen of his adopted city and also served as jurado around the year 1472. ⁽⁴⁸⁾ The names of two of his sons, Diego and Fernando, appear frequently in the Sevillian Protocols. Both were active participants in the trade with the New World, like most members of the family. A nephew of Pedro González de la Sal, Juan de la Sal, married Isabel Hurtado, and their children Ana and Diego married into the Alcázar family. Several members of the Sal [50] served in the New World as agents for their relatives, including Diego, husband of Luisa del Alcázar, who in 1554 went to Tierra Firme as factor for his brother Lucas. ⁽⁴⁹⁾

The Sal followed the converso practice of intermarrying with families of similar background, such as the Hurtado and the Gutiérrez. Although the origin of the Hurtado was not questioned in the pruebas of 1627 (the Juan de Jáuregui inquiry), accusations against them came to light in a subsequent investigation in 1642 for Jáuregui's nephew Miguel de Jáuregui y Guzmán. On this occasion the mother of the poet Jáuregui was accused of being a descendant of a person who was burned in effigy by the Inquisition, and even though it was not clear who this individual was, there was some indication that he belonged to the wealthy merchant Hurtado family. Gómez Hurtado (brother of the Isabel married to Juan de la Sal) was one of the most successful Sevillian converso merchants during the first half of the sixteenth century. At his death he left a large fortune that was distributed among his nephews and nieces, one of whom was Lucas de la Sal, Jáuregui's maternal grandfather. ⁽⁵⁰⁾

The Gutiérrez are another case in point. Merchant Pedro Gutiérrez (husband of Beatriz de la Sal) and his brother Ruy Díaz de Segura, whose profession of trapero (old-clothes dealer) was traditional among the conversos and their ancestors, were among the richest Sevillian businessmen at mid-century. Ruy Díaz de Segura owned three ships [51] engaged in the carrera de Indias: the caravel Santa María del Cabo, the Santa María de la Regla in association with his cousin Pedro de Medina, and the Santa María de la Consolación. In 1525 he was one of the three converso merchants who tried to purchase the farm of the almojarifazgo of Santo Domingo. His brother Pedro Gutiérrez served as his factor in Santo Domingo during the years 1524 to 1527. Upon his return to Seville he devoted himself to the Afro-American slave trade, often in association with Lucas de la Sal. ⁽⁵¹⁾

Returning again to the Alcázars, Jerónima de León, another sister of the poet Baltasar del Alcázar, also married into a suspect family. Her husband Pedro de Ribera was the son of Licentiate Luis Sánchez de Ribera and María de Palma, natives of Cordova. Pedro appears in the Sevillian Protocols along with his brother Diego as an investor in the trade with the Indies. In 1546 he leased the property of Almuedana from the Countess of Gelves, mother of that same Count of Gelves who employed the poet Baltasar del Alcázar as his financial administrator. ⁽⁵²⁾

The union of Jerónima de León and Pedro de Ribera is just another example of intermarriage among the New Christian families and once again reveals the converso origin of the Alcázars. Three generations of Alcázars were linked through marriage to a large group of families of similar [52] background whose wealth was derived from trade. These families constituted the governing, mercantile, and intellectual elite of Seville during this period.

1. Parts of this chapter appeared in the Business History Review, XXXIX (1965), 439-465, and the Kentucky Romance Quarterly, XIV (1967), 349-365, and are reprinted by permission of the publishers.

2. Morgado, Historia, p. 166.

3. Mateo Alemán, Guzmán de Alfarache, in Angel Valbuena Prat, La novela picaresca española (Madrid, 1956), p. 551.

4. Mercado, Tratos y contratos, p. A2.

5. Ibid., p. A2.

6. Montoto de Sedas, Sevilla en el imperio, siglo XVI (Seville, 1938), p. 60.

7. AMS, Actas capitulares, siglo XVI, cabildo de 8 de april de 1598.

8. Marqués de Tablante, Anales de la Plaza de Toros de Sevilla, as quoted in Montono de Sedas, Sevilla, pp. 187-190.

9. Cristóbal Suárez de Figueroa, El pasagero, ed. F. Rodríguez Marín (Madrid, 1913), p. 201.

10. Domínguez Ortiz, Orto y Ocaso, p. 51.

11. Joseph de Veitia Linaje, Norte de la Contratación de las indias Occidentales (Seville: I.F. de Blas, 1672), pp. 115-116.

12. Pike, Enterprise and Adventure, p. 7.

13. CPI, III, nos. 3348 (Vélez); 1844 (Jerez); APS, Cazalla (XV), 27 July 1551, Libro II, fol. 897; ibid., 10 June, Libro 1, fol. 655v.

14. Argote de Molina, "Aparato de historia," p. 166.

15. Lucio Marineo Sículo, Obra de las cosas memorables de España (Alcalá de Henares, 1539), fol. 24-25v.

16. Luis de Peraza, "Historia de la imperial ciudad de Sevilla," quoted in Montoto de Sedas, Sevilla, pp. 225, 227.

17. For information about the Duke of Alcalá, see J. González Moreno, Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, Duque de Alcalá (Seville, 1968). The relations between Herrera and the Counts of Gelves are described in F. Rodriguez Marín, "El divino Herrera y la Condesa de Gelves," in Miscelánea de Andalucía (Madrid, 1927), pp. 155- 202.

18. BNM, MS. 18225, "Relación de los mrs. que el duque de Alcalá mi señor tiene de renta este año de 1618 en esta ciudad de Sevilla y su arzobispado." The Alcázar of Seville was built by Pedro I of Castile (1350-1369) as a royal residence.

19. Ferdinand's natural granddaughter, Ana of Aragon, was married to the Duke of Medina Sidonia. For a modern interpretation of these struggles, see M. Giménez Fernández, Bartolomé de las Casas, II (Madrid, 1960), 942-946.

20. For comments on the lamentable state of research on the great noble houses, see Domínguez Ortiz, La sociedad española, p. 262.

21. Richard Konetzke, "Entrepreneurial Activities of Spanish and Portuguese Noblemen in Medieval Times," Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, VI (1953-1954), 116, 117.

22. C. Fernández Duro, Armada española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y León (Madrid, 1895), I, 327, 440; APS, Cazalla (XV), 1 June 1551, Libro I, fol. 506; ibid., 9 June, fol. 649; C. Haring, Trade and Navigation between Spain and the Indies in the Time of the Hapsburgs (Cambridge, Mass., 1918), p. 264.

23. About the San Telmo, see APS, García (EX), 28 Feb. 1508, Libro I, fol. Principio del legajo; about the San Cristóbal, H. and P. Chaunu, Seville et l'Atlantique, 1504 a 1650, I (Paris, 1955), for the year 1508. About Juan Armero, see APS, López (X), 22 Oct. 1518, fol. Registro de Indias, núm. 19.

24. APS, Portes (X), 28 Oct. 1550, Libro III, fol. Primer tercio del legajo; ibid., Castellanos (V), 8 Oct. 1525, Libro III, fol. 592.

25. Baltasar del Alcázar (1530-1606) was the author of epigrammatic and materialistic verse in the style of the classical writers Anacreon and Martial.

26. The accusations of 1627 have been published by J. Jordán de Urries y Azara, Bibliografía y estudio crítico de Jáuregui (Madrid, 1899); for those of 1639 see AHN, Ordenes militares, Pruebas de Calatrava, no. 71. Excerpts from this inquiry are in Baltasar del Alcázar, Poesías, ed. F. Rodríguez Marfn (Madrid, 1910).

27. Alcázar, Poesías, p. xi.

28. The role of the conversos in the Sevillian city government and their alliance with the House of Medina Sidonia is discussed in F. Márquez Villanueva, "Conversos y cargos concejiles en el siglo XVI," Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, LXIII (1957), 503-540. The episode of 1465 is described in Juan de Mata Carriazo, Los anales de Garci-Sánchez, jurado de Sevilla, in Anales de la Universidad Hispalense, XV (1953), 52.

29. For a discussion of the favorite professions of the conversos, see Chapter II and A. Domínguez Ortiz, "Los conversos de origen judío después de la expulsión," Estudios de hisioria social de España, ed. C. Viñas Mey, III (Madrid, 1955), 361-371.

30. Charles H. Lea, History of the Inquisition of Spain, II (New York, 1906), 357.

31. Claudio Guillén, "Un Padrón de conversos sevillanos (1510)," Bulletin Hispanique, LXV (1963), 56, 89.

32. Diego Ortiz de Zúñiga, Discurso genealógico de los Ortizes de Sevilla (Cadiz, 1670), p. 152V; RGS, X, nos. 591, 3245: "Pedro del Alcázar y su mujer Beatriz Suárez, vecinos de Sevilla, por ser reconciliados." Leonor is a female name frequently used in the Alcázar family. An Alemán took part in the converso conspiracy of 1480 and was burnt by the Inquisition. Another example is the novelist Mateo Alemán, whose father, Dr. Hernando Alemán, was a surgeon. For Captain Hernán Suárez, see Giménez Fernández, Bartolomé de las Casas, II, 953.

33. APS, Vallecillo (XV), 3 Nov. 1508, Libro II, fol. Segundo tercio del legajo; freighting contract, ibid., 11 May, Libro único, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo; sales credit, Valledillo (XV), 6 Nov., Libro II, fol. Tercer tercio del legajo. For the purchase of Palma and Alpizar, see APS, López (X), 7 Nov. 1519, Libro II, fol. 19, as quoted in J. Hernández Díaz and A. Muro Orejón, El testamento de don Hernando Colón (Seville, 1941), p. 26, and regarding the grain trade, see Giménez Fernández, Bartolomé de las Casas, II, 252-253.

34. This revolt is described in A. Benítez de Lugo, ed., Discurso de la Comunidad de Sevilla (Seville, 1881); see also Giménez Fernández, Bartolomé de las Casas, II, 951-971.

35. José Maravall, Las Comunidades de Castilla (Madrid, 1963), p. 233; Fidel Fita, "Los judaizantes españoles en los cinco primeros años (1516-1520) del reinado de Carlos I," Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, XXXIII (1898), 310, 315-317; APS, Castellanos (XV), 25 Feb. 1518, Libro I, fol, 1710.

36. CDI, 1st ser., XLII, 539. Giménez Fernández, Bartolomé de las Casas, II, 953; Alcázar, Poesías, p. viii.

37. APS, Franco (XV), 9 March 1551, Libro I, fol. 1136.

38. Francisco Pacheco, Libro de descripción de verdaderos retratos, de ilustres y memorables varones (Seville, 1599), p. 62v.

39. Pedro Díaz de León Garabito married Francisca Cabrera; their daughters married into the Caballero family. For a discussion of converso names, see F. Márquez Villanueva, Investigaciones sobre Juan Alvarez Gato (Madrid, 1960), p. 47.

40. Giménez Fernández, Bartolomé de las Casas, II, 1122-1124. Another brother, Fernando, died at a young age in Santo Domingo in 1529.

41. Ortiz de Zúñiga, Discurso genealógico, p. 166.

42. APS, Godoy (III), 31 July 1590, Libro E, fol. 756v; Pedro Caballero de Illescas, ibid.; Díaz (XV), 26 Feb. 1577, Libro I, fol. 417, CPI, III, no. 300; Alonso de Illescas, Cazalla (XV), 7 Aug. 1549, Libro II, fol. 352v; Alvaro de Illescas, Franco (XV), 30 Oct. 1550, Libro II, fol. 332; Rodrigo de Illescas, Cazalla (XV), a Sept. 1538, Libro II, fol. 642v. For additional information on the Illescas and Sánchez Dalvo families, see G. Lohmann Villena, Les Espinosa, une famille d'hommes d'affaires en Espagne et aux indes a l'époque de la colonisation (Paris, 1968), pp. 241-243.

43. Ortiz de Zúñiga, Discurso genealógico, p. 168; H. Sancho, "Los conversos y la Inquisición primitiva en Jerez de la Frontera," Archivo Ibero-Americano, IV (1944), 600.

44. Pacheco, Verdaderos retralos, pp. 70-71v; Ortiz de Zúñiga, Discurso genealógico. 153.

45. Juan de Jáuregui y Aguilar (1583-1641) was born in Seville and studied in Rome during his youth. Around 1610 he returned to Spain with a reputation as both a painter and poet. He was a friend of Cervantes, whose portrait he painted, and also of Lope de Vega. The testimony in the Jáuregui investigation has been published by Jordán de Urries y Azara, Estudio crítico de Jáuregui, pp. 111-121.

46. Ibid., pp. 112, 113.

47. Ibid., p. 114. Jáuregui's uncle (his mother's brother), Juan de la Sal, Bishop of Bona, was also popularly considered a converso.

48. Ibid., p. 3; CPI, I, no. 1513. According to Ortiz de Zúñiga, the Sal family was of French origin, but he said the same thing about the Alcázars, and he described the Caballeros as being of Portuguese descent. A convenient way to disguise the ancestry of a family was to give it a foreign origin.

49. CPI, III, no. 2164; another brother Hernando, APS, Cazalla (XV), 18 Aug. 1551, Libro II, fol. 1090v.

50. APS, León (XX), 1 June 1595, Libro II, fol, 370, as quoted in F. Rodríguez Marín, Nuevos datos para las biografías de cien escritores de los siglos XVI y XVI1 (Madrid, 1923), p. 408; Jordán de Urríes y Azara, Estudio crítico de Jáuregui, pp. 3, 112.

51. APS, Cazalla (XV), 28 June 1544, Libro II, fol. 127; CPI, III, no. 4252; Ruy Díaz de Segura, APS, Barrera (I), 19 April 1525, Libro I, fol. 622v; owner of the Santa María de la Consolación, ibid., Castellanos (V), 27 Feb. 1524, Libro I, fol. 169; Santa María de la Regla, 7 Nov. 1524, Libro II, fol. 389.

52. Ibid., Cazalla (XV), 5 Feb. 1546, Libro I, fol. 341; Franco (XV), 5 Oct. 1550, Libro II, fol. 306.