[1602]. Carta de doña Teresa de Saavedra y Zúñiga, condesa de Villalonso, para don Luis de Castilla.

Letter from Teresa de Saavedra y Zúñiga, countess of Villalonso, to Luis de Castilla.

The countess of Villalonso writes to Luis de Castilla insisting for him to help her as an intermediary with Bartolomé de Cartagena. She points out her delicate situation (her recent widowhood), and she assures her intension to pay the debt.

In 1623 Juan de Cartagena, Bartolomé de Cartagena´s son, appealed to the Council of Castile against Teresa de Saavedra y Zúñiga, countess of Villalonso, for non-payment of a debt of 7000 ducats plus the interests. The aforementioned debt was contracted in 1599 to enhance the dowry of the Counts´ daughter. In 1603, Teresa de Saavedra renegotiated the clauses in order to postpone the payments. However, the financial obligation contracted by Villalonso was never fully satisfied and therefore Juan de Cartagena, as Bartolomé de Cartagena´s heir, brought the case to Court. Teresa´s defence was based on two core issues: her being a woman, which invalidated her to handle economic matters; and the fact she depended on her husband. She alleged she had no choice but to contract her husband´s economic responsibilities. Given the defendant and her creditors attempts to delegitimize Juan de Cartagena´s arguments, he presented several documents proving Teresa de Saavedra´s active role in asking for the loan to Bartolomé de Cartagena. First of all, several letters written by Cartagena, Teresa and Luis de Castilla were presented. These letters showed the agreement they made and despite the fact that there was sufficient notarial certification to prove Teresa´s awareness of her obligations, the plaintiff continued presenting written testimonies and almost a hundred letters of over two decades of correspondence between the countess and Bartolomé de Cartagena were attached to the proceeding documentation. In the aforementioned letters, economic and family matters were discussed, together with the news from the courts of Felipe II and Felipe III. The proceeding is incomplete and there is almost no information about the process or the sentence; however, we know that Teresa de Saavedra identified the letters.