1607. Carta de Juan de Valdés, secretario, a doña María de Cárdenas, hija de la Duquesa de Nájera.

Private letter from Juan de Valdés, secretary, to doña María de Cárdenas, daughter of the duchess of Nájera.

The author informs the recipient about several issues, on behalf of his master, Don Hurtado. He tells her mainly about all the efforts carried out by her mother, the duchess of Nájera, in order to prevent her marriage.

In 1607, Don Juan Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, heir of the Marquis of Cañete, arranged for a future marriage with his cousin María de Cárdenas, eldest daughter of the Duke of Maqueda and Nájera. The mother of the lady, who opposed this commitment, under the presumable wish that her daughter would be a nun, delivered her in the Convent of the Conception, in the town of Torrijos. Don Hurtado, with the help of his servants and always in contact with doña María, tried to get her out of the convent. To prove this crime, the prosecution presented two letters. One of them was written by Gil de Luján, and the other by Juan de Valdés.