Since yesterday, I have been a fervent admirer of Beatriz de Bobadilla, of the Bobadillas of all life, as presented by Santiago Díaz in his novel Los nueve reinos (Alfaguara), set in the conquest of the Canary Islands by of the Catholic Kings.
Apparently, Beatriz de Bobadilla was what one would call a woman with character, what today we could define as “empowered” without disrespect.
Since the history of Spain was written by learned men, those with a crumb of bread between their beards, we know little about this figure, who stands out for his beauty – a textbook objectification – and not for his character indomitable
Our heroine began serving at the palace at 16, around the 15th century, where she participated in orgies, perhaps to socialize and make friends (television didn’t arrive in Spain until 1956).
Ferdinand II of Aragon hired her as an external advisor – lover, according to the bad tongues–, which explains that Isabel – Catholic but not blessed – forced her to marry the governor of the island of La Gomera, the bachelor farthest from the kingdom, to whom it was fitting to put sense.
The Canary climate, the balsamic beauty of its orography and motherhood did not calm Beatriz to the desired extent. On the contrary: he ordered the killing of the inhabitants of the place that became Flemish, about 500. When he discovered that the husband and governor had an affair with another woman, he chose to charge him even though she was not faithful to him either .
Then appeared Christopher Columbus, the intrepid navigator, with whom he even corresponded, for this reason the Genoese ordered a scale of the three caravels on the way from the Indies to… la Gomera (unnecessary scale except for their emotional and sexual stability). A Castí already said it: like this, like this, history is written like this.
Christopher was the first to go to America for tobacco, and Beatriz accepted marriage with the conquistador Alonso Fernández de Lugo – good people, the Fernández de Lugo –, who went down in history with the nickname of El Adelantado . Why are we attracted to women who don’t suit us?