A Brief Biography of Antonio Mira de Amescua

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ANTONIO MIRA DE AMESCUA Kahl C. Gregg, University of Arizona To date, very little is known about the life and personality of Antonio Mira de Amescua save what can be gleaned from a few extant documents and from references to him by his contemporaries .' There exists no complete, up-to-date, biographical resumé that collects and critically evaluates what information is currently available. The following discussion of the life of Mira de Amescua is an attempt to remedy somewhat this lack. Antonio Mira, "hombre pequeño y gotoso,"3 moved from Baza to Guadix and married Luisa de Amescua. Antonio and Luisa had three children: Melchor, Isabel, and Maria. For some unknown reason Melchor chose to reverse his surnames, calling himself Melchor de Amescua y Mira. Antonio Mira and his wife died around 1570. Melchor became a person of considerable importance in Guadix. "Fué muy dado a fiestas caballerescas, como juegos de Genealogical Table2 Juan de ------- Mariana Páez MIRA de SOTOMAYOR Antonio ------- Luisa de MIRA I AMESCUA Francisco · Francisca de HEREDIA de MORALES IsabelMaría Melchor de dedeAMESCUA AMESCUA AMESCUA Y MIRA - BeatrizAntonio de TORRESCristóbal Y HEREDIAFrancisca Antonio MIRA DE AMESCUA One of the victorious soldiers who participated in the division of spoils following the conquest of Baza by Fernando and Isabel in 1489 was a nobleman , servant of the monarchs, named Juan de Mira. As a reward for his participation in the siege he received title to lands in both Guadix and Baza, choosing to settle in the latter with his wife, Mariana Páez de Sotomayor. Their son, birthdate unknown, was Antonio Mira. cañas y sortija; pero hombre de bastante autoridad para ejercer los cargos de regidor, alcalde de aguas, de la Santa Hermandad y alcalde ordinario muchas veces" (Cotarelo, p. 8; his scource not cited. ) His home was in the principal parish of Guadix, that of the Sagrario. In the nearby parish of San Miguel, outside the walls of Guadix, lived Doctor Matías Figueras and his wife, Con14 stanza Vázquez del Oso. Probably in 1568, although the exact date is unknown , Beatriz de Torres y Heredia ("joven de buen cuerpo, blanca y fresca")4 came from Berja to live with her uncle-in-law and aunt, Matías and Constanza. Beatriz' father, Captain Francisco de Heredia, was killed by the moriscos on Christmas Eve, 1567, during their uprising in Berja (as a part of the Alpujarras rebellion). The fate of her mother, Francisca de Morales , is unknown. Beatriz sister, Francisca , later married a gentleman in Almería, while her brothers entered the military: Antonio was a captain of infantry in Madeira in 1631, and Cristobal was a sergeant-major in the Canary Islands (date unknown). Melchor de Amescua y Mira never married. He did, however, meet Beatriz and "ambos a dos libres y solteros, los quales tuvieron trato y comunicación mucho tiempo, durante la qual hubieron y procrearon por su hijo natural al dicho don Antonio" ( Sanz, p. 557; quoting Cardader). While Mira de Amescua 's exact date of birth is unknown various conjectures would place it as sometime between 1570 and 1577, most probably 1574 or 1575.5 Shortly after his birth Antonio Mira de Amescua was brought to his father's house. It is quite possible, therefore, that Antonio was baptized in the perish of San Miguel where his mother lived and presumably where he was born, rather than in the Sagrario parish. Not to be overlooked , in view of his illegitimacy, is the remoter possibility (not known to have been investigated) that baptism might have been in another nearby parish. Such testimony as is available indicates that Antonio Mira de Amescua was brought up by his father and two aunts, Isabel and Maria de Amescua. Curiously, except for occasional visits his mother seems to have played little part in Mira's upbringing. Despite the fact that Melchor and Beatriz apparently intended to marry each other they never did so before Melchor's death (sometime between 1601 and 1605). There are but a few, scattered, bits of information known about Mira's early life. He began his studies in Guadix and, on January 30, 1593...