1800. Carta de doña María Antonia Godoy, condesa de Valdelagrana, para su marido don Mariano de los Ríos Fernández de Córdoba, conde de Gavia la Grande.

Letter from María Antonia de Godoy, countess of Valdelagrana to her husband Mariano de los Ríos Fernández de Córdoba, count of Gavia la Grande.

María Antonia de Godoy writes to his husband to notify him she received his letter through the proxy and she is fully aware of the Royal Orders for the conjugal reunion. She informs him about her acquiescence answer to the monarch regarding these orders. However, owing to her poor health and the void management of her husband, she was delaying her departure as long as possible in order to recover. She anticipated that the change of climate was not going to be beneficial for herself.

In this trial two different aspects converge. In 1808, the count of Gavia la Grande, Mariano de los Ríos Fernández de Córdoba, presented a brief to the King to ask for a return of his rent in order to defray the expenses arisen from his health conditions. These health problems demanded from him to take baths. Besides, he also asked for a four-year moratorium for the payment of his loans during which he would not be bother by his creditors. This situation of economic failure had been dragging on since 1786, when the crown intervened the entailed estates of Gavia la Grande. In addition, there was marital discord between the count of Gavia la Grande and his wife Antonia María de Godoy, countess of Valdelagrana. And despite the countess´ tries to achieve marital gathering in 1787 by calling on the King, she did not get the desirable outcome. This situation repeated again in 1790 and, a few years later, in 1793. Furthermore, on his coming of age (25 years old), the firstborn son of the Counts of Gavia la Grande y Valdelagrana, Diego de los Ríos Godoy, made a request for the crown to allow him to administrate the intervened rent. A few years later some malicious rumours towards his son and wife’s conduct were spread by the count of Gavia la Grande, provably motivated by the aforementioned fact. These rumours had to be proven by the Corregidor of Cordoba, who did not succeed in doing so. In 1800, the houses of Gavia la Grande and Valdelagrana were facing a situation of economic emergency, therefore, the count of Gavia la Grande tried to reconcile with his wife. It was the moment to put behind the marital discord, not really to achieve a conjugal understanding, but to alleviate the financial problems of the two houses. This is the context in which these eleven letters, with the exception of one, are exchanged between the count of Gavia la Grande and the countess of Valdelagrana throughout the years 1800 and 1801. In the letters can be glimpsed the conjugal and family problems, as well as the reasonable attempts to restore cohabitation.