ABSTRACT
Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda was born in June 1540 in the town of Cifuentes center of the estates of the family of her mother, Catalina de Silva, daughter of Fernando de Silva, IV Count of Cifuentes, and Catalina de Andrade y Ziga. Ana was born therefore into two of the richest, most powerful and cultured families of sixteenth-century Spain: the Silvas and the Mendozas. Ana's father, then Viceroy of Aragon and Duke of Francavila, handed over his daughter and his estates in the Kingdom of Naples, together with the title of Count of Mlito, to Ruy Gmez de Silva and his descendents. The young Ana wrote to Ruy Gmez that her father behaved in such a way as to have Princess Juana and Queen Leonor, of their own doing, and aware of the goings-on, order Porras not to allow the count to enter her room at forbidden hours.
