Beatriz de Bobadilla

Beatriz de Bobadilla was born in 1440 to Mosén Pedro de Bobadilla and Beatriz de Corral.[1] Her father was castellan of Arévalo Castle, where Isabel de Trastámara, future Queen regnant of Castile, grew up and was schooled. The two girls became close; as Beatriz was a decade older than Isabella, the former filled the role of an older sibling for Isabella. They would be lifelong friends.[2]

According to apocrypha, during the short-lived betrothal of Isabella to Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco, many years Isabella's senior and infamously lecherous, Bobadilla is said to have threatened to kill Girón to preserve Isabella's health and happiness.[3]

Bobadilla participated in Henry IV's attempts to keep Isabella and Ferdinand II of Aragon separate. Juan Pacheco convinced Isabella's ladies-in-waiting that the marriage was perilous, as it could deliver Castile into the hands of Ferdinand's father, King John II.[4]

The Bobadilla family was one with a long history of service to the Crown of Castile.[2]

Bobadilla's niece was Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio, Governess of La Gomera, who was known as "the Huntress" for her amorous exploits at the Castilian court.[5] Other prominent relatives include Francisco Fernández de Bobadilla and Isabel de Bobadilla.

• Salvador Miguel, Nicasio. Isabel la Católica: educación, mecenazgo y entorno literario. Alcalá de Henares; Centro de Estudios Cervantinos, 2008, p. 104.