Duque de Sessa

The Spanish - Italian nobilty title of Duque de Sessa was awarded in 1507 to:

1. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Herrera, (Montilla, Córdoba, September 1453 - Granada, Spain, December 1515) by King Fernando II of Aragon, "El Catolico".

The first and 3rd Dukes and the 2nd and 4th Duchesses named "Fernández de Cordoba", (1507 to 1597)

2. The 2nd, (Elvira, Gonzalo´s daughter, married 1520, died 1524), and 4th Dukedoms (Francisca Maria, Elvira´s daughter, Naples, Italy, August, 1521 - Duchess since 1578 on the death of her brother - Baena, Cordoba, June 1597), would be held by women, while the

3. 3rd was for Elvira´s son, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba y Fernandez de Cordoba, ( Cartagena, July 1520 - tutorised Duke after August 1526 - married in Valladolid 30 November 1538 - Odón, near Madrid, 1578) a brother of Francisca Maria, the 3rd Duchess between 1578 and 1597.

He was Governor of Milano, Italy, from 1558 to 1560.

He was invested as 1st Duque de Baena by King Felipe II de España on 19 September 1566, being a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1555, and a "Gobernador General", Governor General of Milano, Italy, from 1554 to 1560.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobernaci%C3%B3n_del_Estado_de_Mil%C3%A1n

He was very close friend of Juan Latino, (Baena, prov. of Córdoba, Spain, 1518 - Granada, 1596), also known as Juan de Sessa, the first black professor of Latin in the whole world, at the University of Granada. He was very well known as a Latinist, probably staying with him, (Don Gonzalo), in Milano, Italy, and marrying and having children a rather distinguished white woman from Granada tax inspections accountants related with Italy.

His wife, known as María Sarmiento de Mendoza was really the sister of powerful new socialite Diego de los Cobos y Hurtado de Mendoza, (circa 1523 - 1575), 1st Marqués de Camarasa, (18 February 1543 by King Carlos I de España, who was later also a Grandee of Spain through King Felipe IV de España on 10th May 1640 and who should not be confounded with his cousin and Bishop of Jaen between 1560 and 1565, also mamed as Diego de los Cobos in the Spanish Wikipedia.

Both siblings were the children of famously rich Imperial Exchequer Officer Francisco de los Cobos y Molina, (circa 1475 - Ubeda, Spain, 10th May 1547).

http://www.territorioscuola.com/wikipedia/es.wikipedia.php?title=Francisco_de_los_Cobos_y_Molina

Señor de Sabiote, Ximena, Torres de Albanchez, Villeza and Recena, in province of Jaen, Adelantado Mayor de Cazorla, Comendador Mayor de León and "Trece" of the military Order of Santiago who married in October 1522, Diego de los Cobos sister, named usually as María de Mendoza y Pimentel, 7 Condesa de Rivadavia, Adelantada mayor del Reino de Galicia, daughter of Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, "Conde Consorte" de Rivadavia and of María Sarmiento, 3 Condesa de Rivadavia.

Maria and Diego, daughter and son of powerful Francisco de los Cobos, are named however usually as "de Mendoza y Sarmiento" and "De Los Cobos" respectively because it was not uncommon for females and eccleasiastics at the time to be known by the family names of grand mothers for instance, hence, her use of the name Maria Sarmiento, or Maria de Mendoza Sarmiento instead of Maria de los Cobos y Mendoza as her socially climbing brother.

There was no issue from the marriage of the 3r Duke of Sessa Gonzalo with the capricious and great money spender female known as Maria Sarmiento, either.

4. Francisca Maria, Elvira´s daughter, Gonzalo´s Jr. sister, (Naples, Italy, August, 1521 - married 1542 - a widower since February 1559 - Duchess of Sessa since 1578 on the death of her brother Gonzalo Jr. - Baena, Cordoba, June 1597). She had married in 1542 the person described as Álvaro de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, 4 marqués de Gibraleón, 6 conde de Belalcázar, deceased on 24th February 1559.

It must be stressed however that, actually, her husband Don Alvaro, a cadet son, had changed his family name taking first his mother Theresa family name, "Zúñiga" y de Guzmán, (circa 1500 - mother of no less than 10 kids - Duchess of Béjar since 1531 on the death of her father Alvaro - deceased 25 November 1565), because she was as an inheritor of the 2nd Duke of Béjar Alvaro de Zúñiga, 2 Marquésa de Ayamonte, 3rd Duquesa de Bejar, 4th Condesa de Bañares and 2nd Marquesa de Gibraleón, between other titles, while her husband, Francisco , (deceased 1544), a "Sotomayor", was "only", 5th Conde de Belalcázar and vizconde de la Puebla de Alcocer.

The eldest brother of Don Alvaro, main inheritor of the Béjar Dukedom, the 4th Duque de Béjar was known, too, as Francisco Lopez de Zúñiga y Sotomayor (4th Duke of Bejar since 1544 - 1591), his eldest son being, Francisco Diego Lopez de Zúñiga, (5t Duke of Bejar since 1591 - 1601), his eldest grand son and 6 Duke of Bejar being called Alfonso Diego López de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, (6th Duke in 1601 - 1609), an important acquitance of famous literate Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, (29 September 1547 – 23 April 1616), married to Juana Hurtado de Mendoza y Enríquez .

The marriage between the 4 Duchess of Sessa and the person known as "Francisco de Zúñiga Sotomayor", cadet son of the 3rd Duchess of Bejar Theresa, who had inverted the order of his family names because of the higher status of his mother, had no issue however.

Therefore we should consider as 5 Duke since 1597 the so called Antonio Fernandez de Córdoba, but we have to bear in mind that he was named so, because of :

The grafting of the name "Fernandez de Cordoba" with the 5th Duke Antonio, and its use till the 11th Duchess, (1597 to 1768)

5. The 5th Duke of Sessa , Antonio I, (Bellpuig, Barcelona, December 1550 - 4th Duke of Soma, on dying his brother Luis, 3rd Duque de Soma without issue - married 19 June 1578 - 5th Duke of Sessa since 1597 - Valladolid, January 1606), 3rd Duque de Baena also, took the original "Fernandez de Cordoba" family name from his mother Beatriz Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Córdoba, a sister of the 3r Duke Gonzalo Jr. and of the 4th Duchess Francisca María rather than his father name (the 2nd Duque de Soma, a Fernando Folch de Cardona y Requesens, (Naples, Italy, ¿? - September 1571) as a memory sake to his glorious great grand father, Viceroy of Naples, Don Gonzalo, "El Gran Capitán), deceased in Granada in 1515.

6.The 6 Duke was the oldest male from the offspring, Luis Fernánde de Córdoba y Aragón,(Baena, 1582 - Madrid, 14 November 1642), the eldest son of the woman then known as Juana de Aragón. He was a protector of some very well known writers, such as famous scoundrel theatrical writer and finally a priest, Felix Lope de Vega y Carpio, (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635).

Actually, this woman who married the 5th Duke of Sessa Antonio, aforementioned, and known as Juana de Aragón, mother of the 6th Duke Luis, was using her mother name, too, being known at the time as Juana de Aragón Folch de Cardona, (circa 1530 - Barcelona, 16 August 1608) the important wife of another "Fernández de Córdoba, named below, being the inheriting 4th Duchess on her own right as 4th Duque de Segorbe.

We see here again the matrilineal names used by females and ecclesiastics in medieval Spain, sometimes adopted by significant male succesors, too, if the mother social category was above that one of her husband.

This kind of things can be good traps to unaware or careless easy "reductionists" and/or ignorant genealogists, in so far as Spanish and Portuguese women in medieval families were also (as they are today everywhere) very important persons used, between orher things, to insure peace and fidelity between powerful extended family lobbies gravitating around the existing and apparently "manly" power.

Really speaking, the Juana de Aragón, who was the wife of the the 5th Duke of Sessa Antonio, mother of the 6th Duke of Sessa Luis, was one of the daughters of the so called Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Córdoba "El Africano", (Oran, Algeria, 1524 -Arbeca, 27 September 1601) and of the 4th Duchess of Segorbe Juana de Aragón y Folch de Cardona, (circa 1530 - August 1608), mentioned above.

Notice, that the Juana who married the 5th Duque de Sessa, Antonio, the mother of Luis, the 6th Duke, in spite of describing herself as "Aragón" as her mother Juana, the 4th Duchess of Segorbe, had one sister for instance, who decided describing herself differently, with only a shortened "Ana de Córdoba y Aragón" and who became the wife in 1573 of the 6th Duque de Albuquerque, Beltran de la Cueva y de Castilla, deceased 13 March 1612.

The 6th Duke, Luis, married an only girl-inheritor daughter, namely, Mariana de Rojas y Enríquez, 3rd Marchioness of Pozas.

They got 3 children, Antonio, 7th Duke of Sessa and Francisca, both using for their first family name the "Fernández de Córdoba", who married people from the Spanish - Portuguese noble family "Pimentel" while the third, a girl, sister of Antonio and Francica decided to be known by her mother name as Juana de Rojas y Cordoba, the 5th Marchioness of Pozas, who married her uncle, named Francisco de Cordoba and later the person known as Lopo Hurtado de Mendoza y Moscoso Osorio, 4 Marqués de Almazan.

7.There was then issue with a first male, the 7th Duque de Sessa, described in documents as as Antonio Fernández de Córdoba y de Rojas or Antonio II Fernández de Córdoba y de Rojas, 7th Duque de Sessa, Duque de Soma, Duque de Baena, deceased ....who married Teresa Pimentel, deceased 30 August 1689.

One daughter of this couple was known by some genealogists at the time as Mariana Fernández de Córdoba Cardona y Aragón and she appears to have married the person known at the time as Luis Ignacio Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa (1623-1665, aged 42), 6 Marqués de Priego, 6 Duque de Feria since 1645 till his death in 1665.

Really speaking, the 6th Duke of Feria mother name was "Enriquez de Ribera" the "Figueroa" being his grandmother family name but neither Luis Ignacio, neither his brother and successor as 7th Duke of Feria, Luis Francisco Mauricio, (1650 - 1690, aged 40), neither the 8 Duke of Feria, Manuel, son of the 7hh Duke of Feria, married to a daughter of the 8th Duque de Medinaceli, neither his brother Nicolás María, 9th Duke of Feria, deceased in 1739, seem to have used only the second name, "Figueroa", associated to the 5th Duke of Feria, Alfonso Fernandéz de Córdoba y Figueroa (1588- 5th Duke of Feria 1634 - 1645) without using the subsequent female names as customary in Spain for a period of some 94 years, a most curious genealogical feature amongst the Hispanic Families Cultures.

8. The succesion in the Ducado de Sessa was however for the male described as Francisco Fernández de Córdoba y Pimentel, (born before 1689 - ????), who married 3 times.

** The first with Isabel Luisa Fernández de Córdoba y Enriquez de Ribera, (after 1610 - ????), the first male son and inheritor, the

9.9th Duke of Sessa, being called however Félix Fernández de Cordoba y Cardona, 9 Duque de Sessa, who married twice.

** The second marriage of the 8th Duke was with Ana Maria Pimentel y Fernández de Córdoba, (1639 - 1676), from the Marques de Tavara family. Successions on this line went on the Marquesado de Tavara and Condado de Villada.

** The third marriage of the 8th Duke was with Maria Andrea de Guzmán y Dávila Osorio, from the Marquisses of Ayamonte. Daughter of Francisco and Maria Andrea, the third wife, was Teresa Manuela who would marry within the family, namely with the 10 Duque de Sessa, her nephew,

10. the 10th Duke named Francisco Javier Fernández de Córdoba y Folch de Cardona . One of the females, from the 10th Duke named Buenaventura Francisca would be

11. 11th Duchesse Buenaventura Francisca and thus, on marrying, will contribute to the "loss" of the Fernández de Córdoba name on her death in 1768.

The change of the family name through the descendency of the 11th Duchess: the "Osorio de Moscoso" family name, (1768 - 1980)

Let us make some precissions on the husband of the 11th Duchess of Sessa Buenaventura Francisca Fernández de Córdoba, related to the female Marchioness, the 13th Marqués de Astorga, Marqués de Leganés and Marqués de Ayamonte and the male side of Conde de Altamira, Marqués de Almazán, Conde de Monteagudo de Mendoza families:

A) Doña Ana-Nicolasa de Guzmán Osorio Davila y Manrique de Zuñiga, was a notable heiress, XIII Marqués de Astorga, from the family of Marqués de Leganés too, and from Marqués de Ayamonte, married in 1707 and died in 1762.

She married on 13th February 1707 with:

B) Antonio Gaspar Osorio de Moscoso y Aragon, Conde de Altamira, Marques de Almazán, Conde de Monteagudo de Mendoza y Conde de Lodosa.

She is buried after 1762 in the "Basílica de Atocha" in Madrid. They got as an eldest son:

Ventura Osorio de Moscoso y Guzman, (deceased 1746), got his mother titles of :

XIV Marqués de Astorga, title given to one "Osorio" ancestor by King Enrique IV of Castile before 1473. The name Osorio was not quite precise, fluctuating widely for several centuries in the Spanish Nobility names from Galicia and Asturias regions. Never before, any Osorio has married or interacted, family wise, with any Spanish or Foreign Dukes and/or Duchesses.

Marqués de Leganés. A title awarded by King Felipe IV of Spain to the person named Diego Mesía Felípez de Guzmán, Duque de Sanlúcar, (????, 1590 - Badajoz, 1655), Viceroy of Milano, Italy, (1635-1640), Head of the Spanish Army in Italy, (1638-1639), Viceroy of Cataluña, (1645-1648), involved in the fights against French and Autonomist Catalans protected by the French.
Marqués de Villamanrique. A title given by King Felipe II of Spain in 1575 to the person described as Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga, (circa 1545- 1590), 7th Viceroy of México, (deceased 1590), a cadet son of the Francisco de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, 4th Duque de Béjar, (1544 - 1591), mentioned thereto.

Marqués de Ayamonte. A title given by King Carlos I de España in 1521 to Francisco de Zúñiga y Guzmán, a son of the I Conde de Ayamonte, Pedro de Zúñiga y Manrique, title given by Queen Isabel I of Castile in 1475. On marrying powerful heiress Doña Ventura-Francisca Fernández de Córdoba Folch de Cardona, he became also the Consort Count, Viscount or Duke of no less than Conde de Cabra, Vizconde de Iznájar, Duque de Sessa and Duque de Baena. Another three or 4 Italian - Spanish Dukedoms were usually "stored" within his wife papers as well without using them much for nearly anything.

The change of the family name through the 19th Duchess, the 20th (Spanish), (1920 - 1974), and the 21th (Mexican) Dukes named "Baron", (1980 - ).