The loyal María de Valenzuela

Portrait of a Lady, possibly Infanta Catalina Micaela of Spain (1567-1597). Wikimedia Commons

This is not a portrait of María de Valenzuela, wife of Pánfilo de Narváez. If there is no portrait of her anywhere, there should be. Surely, no wife was more loyal to her husband and protective of his interests, but to no avail. His blind ambition finally made her a widow. His friend, the New World historian Oviedo, had something to say about that.

When he [Narváez] had conquered and pacified Cuba, he lived prosperously on the island, having good possessions; and even afterward, when he got out of the prison and talons of Cortés, he found his wife, María de Valenzuela, then waiting upon him for some years, with the honor and reputation of Penelope; but instead of tangling and untangling for any doubts or fears that her husband would not return; when informed of the capture and misfortunes of her Ulysses, she set about to improve and husband his estate as the means of his relief. In this state did Narváez find matters on returning to his house; for besides what he had left, and beyond the increase of his property, the wife had laid up for him thirteen or fourteen thousand dollars in gold dust, which she obtained from the washing by the labor of his slaves and Indians. These facts he told me himself in Toledo, in the year 1525, the Imperial Majesty of Charles at the time being there. (Translation by Buckingham Smith, 1851)

For that time and place in the New World, María must have been an exceptionally determined and competent woman, given all the practical demands of running a large estate in a frontier, male-dominated society. Narváez recognized her talents and gave her power of attorney to handle his affairs during the years he was absent in Spain and Mexico. There must be more records about this remarkable woman yet to be discovered in the Spanish Archives. I hope that will include her portrait.