Enrique Pérez de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Niebla

Contents

Enrique Pérez de Guzmán y de Castilla, 2nd Count of Niebla (in full, Spanish: Enrique Pérez de Guzmán y de Castilla, segundo conde de Niebla, señor de Sanlúcar de Barrameda) (20 February 1391 – 31 August 1436)[1][2] was a Spanish nobleman and military figure of the Reconquista. He drowned while attempting the Seventh Siege of Gibraltar.

Biography

He was the son of Juan Alonso de Guzmán and of Beatriz de Castilla y Ponce de León, Lady of Niebla (died 1409), an illegitimate daughter of Henry II of Castile and of Beatriz Ponce de León.

In 1418, he bought the Lordship of the Canary Islands from its conqueror Jean de Béthencourt.[3]

In 1430, he transferred ownership of the Canary islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote to Hernan Peraza the Elder, who had the rights to the remaining, not yet conquered islands. This move helped Peraza to unify all islands the Lordship of the Canary Islands and strengthen the Peraza family's footing during the islands' conquest.[4]

The count drowned while besieging Gibraltar on 31 August 1436. This was the Seventh Siege of Gibraltar then the isthmus was under the control of the Spanish Moors.

Marriage and children

On 4 March 1405 he married Teresa Suárez de Figueroa y Orozco, Lady of Escamilla and Santa Olalla, daughter of Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, Master of the Military Order of Santiago, and of Maria de Orozco. They had :

  • Juan Alonso de Guzmán (c. 1405–1468), his successor and 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia
  • María Teresa de Guzmán (1414-?), married Enrique Enríquez de Mendoza, 1st Count of Alba de Liste.

He married a second time in 1421 or 1422 to Yolande of Aragon, illegitimate daughter of Martin I of Sicily. This marriage produced no issue and was annulled.

He did have two children with Isabel de Mosquera, daughter of Arias de Mosquera y Moscoso, and probably married her in 1428.

  • Alonso de Guzmán, 1st lord of the town of Torralba, married Catalina de Saavedra, daughter of Gonzalo Arias de Saavedra, 1st lord of Zahara and marshal of Castile
  • Fadrique de Guzmán (d. ca. 1489), clergyman.

He also had two illegimate children :

  • Beatriz de Guzmán, married Diego Enríquez de Noroña, illegitimate son of Alfonso Enríquez, Count of Gijón and Noreña
  • Enrique de Guzmán, a clergyman.[5]

References

  1. 1.Joseph F. O'Callaghan, The Last Crusade in the West: Castile and the Conquest of Granada (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014) p.80 ("He stormed the beach at low tide on 31 August 1436, but as the tide came in he withdrew to his ships and died trying to save some of his men from drowning.")
  2. 2."La 'Muy casta duena de manos crueles': Juan de Mena y los Guzmanes andaluces", by Juan Luis Carriazo Rubio", in Juan de Mena de letrado a poeta, Cristina Moya García, ed. (Tamesis, 2015) p.34 ISBN 9781855662605 ("Sobre el segundo conde de Niebla nos dice que 'fue sue muerte en 31 de agosto, año 1436, y en este dia se haze anivercario con much solemnidad por su anima en su monasterio de San Isidro del Campo.'" "About the second Count of Niebla, he tells us that 'his death was on August 31, 1436, and on this day a very solemn anniversary is celebrated for his soul in his monastery of San Isidro del Campo.'"
  3. 3.Proyecto Tarha
  4. 4."Historia de la conquista de las siete islas de Gran Canaria :: Memoria Digital de Canarias - Textos". Archived from the original on 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  5. 5.Ladero Quesada, Miguel Ángel (2012). "Don Enrique de Guzmán, el "buen conde de Niebla" (1375-1436)". En la España medieval (35). Madrid: Universidad Complutense: Servicio de Publicaciones y Departamento de Historia Medieval: 215-216. ISSN 0214-3038. Retrieved 2026-07-26.