Duke of Villahermosa Count of Ribagorza
What was the noble title of Martín de Gurrea y Aragón after Aug 1573?
Martín de Gurrea y Aragón Martín de Gurrea y Aragóna ( 17 May 1525 - 25 April 1581 ) was a Spanish nobleman from a royal line descended from John II of Aragons son Alfonso . He was born and died in Pedrola . He was also notable as a collector and patron of the arts , commissioning artists such as Pablo Esquert . He inherited the title of Count of Ribagorza on his fathers death in 1550 . He also became 4th Duke of Villahermosa in 1558 when the 3rd Duke ( Fernando Sanseverino de Aragón , prince of Salerno ) forfeited the title for supporting the King of France in Italy against the King of Spain . Family . The Dukedom of Villahermosa was created by John II of Aragon to recognise the military achievements of his illegitimate son by Leonor de Escobar , Alonso. : He was also made Count of Ribagorza . Alonso had an illegitimate son called John ( 1457-1528 ) , who was recognised by John II as his grandson to reward his mother María Junquers , who had governed and defended Ribagorza in the counts absence . John was Count of Ribagorza , viceroy of Aragon and then viceroy of Naples ( 1507-1509 , in place of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba ) , but he did not inherit the duchy of Villahermosa , which passed to the legitimate son Alfonso de Aragón . John married the rich María López de Gurrea , through whom he gained possession of Luna and Pedrola . After the marriage Johns descendants placed the surname Gurrea before that of Aragon . The couple had Alonso Felipe de Gurrea y Aragón ( 1487-1550 ) , 3rd Count of Ribagorza , who married Isabel de Cardona y Enríquez de Quiñones , from the powerful Catalan Cardona family . After he was widowed , he remarried to Ana de Sarmiento de Ulloa y Castilla , wealthy descendant of the marshals of Castille and holder of the state salt concessions - with her he had Martín de Gurrea y Aragón . Life . Martín spent his early life in Pedrola , before being sent to Santiago de Compostela to be educated by his mothers brother cardinal Pedro Gómez Sarmiento , who educated him in Italian , Latin , ancient Greek and Hebrew . He then moved on to the court , where he served as minstrel to empress Isabel of Portugal and then page of the future Philip II of Spain as well as becoming friends with cardinal Granvelle . He also became friends with Philip , who he accompanied to England to marry Mary I and to Brussels in 1555 to witness Charles Vs abdication of his rule over the Low Countries . He divided his time between court and his estates at Pedrola . In 1557 , Martín distinguished himself in the battle of St Quentin , gaining him royal favour . His personal fortune enabled him to pay for some of the political and diplomatic posts which followed , though he had to leave court to govern his possessions in Aragon after his wifes death in 1560 . Martín remarried around 1542 to Luisa de Borja y Aragón , from the family of the Dukes of Gandía and great-granddaughter of the Borgia pope Alexander VI . Luisa died after having eight children : Juan , Fernando , Ana , Martín , Francisco , María , Inés and Juana ( who died in infancy ) . All the children received a careful education , with Martín and Francisco even going to the University of Salamanca , which was unusual for major noblemen of the time . The duke married a third time after her death , to María Pérez de Pomar in 1566 , with whom he had one child , Juliana . He also had two illegitimate daughters , María and Gabriela . Rebellion in the County of Ribagorza faced a delicate situation muddied his relations with the court . On 6 June 1554 a court in Zamora took rights , rents and castles of the County out of Martíns hands and placed them directly back in royal control Martín then took his case to the Justiciar of Aragon . On 6 May 1565 he passed the County of Ribagorza to his eldest son Juan de Gurrea y Aragón , who he also betrothed to Luisa Pacheco Cabrera , daughter to the Count of Villena and Duke of Escalona . However , the wedding was delayed until 1569 by the lawsuit to regain control of the County , which eventually proved successful on 18 May 1567 . However , the crown had allowed the County to be misgoverned in the meantime and the damage proved irreversible . Years after Martíns death , the line of the Counts of Ribagorza died out and the territory passed back under direct royal rule . In 1571 his eldest son John was accused of murdering his wife . He escaped to Italy , but was captured and publicly executed there in 1573 at Torrejón de Velasco . This meant Martín re-assumed responsibility for the County of Ribagorza , meaning his courtly aspirations increasingly took a back seat Martíns final years were marked by the loss of several other loved ones - Philip IIs sister Joanna of Austria ( who Martín had known as a child ) , Diego de Arnedo ( bishop of Huesca ) , John of Austria and Martíns own mother . In 1579 his friend the royal secretary Antonio Pérez was arrested . With these setbacks , Martín became more and more religiously devout , finally dying in 1581 . The Duchy of Villahermosa , County of Ribagorza and his other titles were inherited by his son Fernando , who had married Juana de Pernstein y Manrique de Lara , lady-in-waiting to Maria of Austria . Patronage and cultural life . Thanks to his education , position and travels , Martín formed part of the humanist and artistic circles of his era . His tutor cardinal Sarmiento taught him to love classical antiquity . He became a good friend of cardinal Granvelle , who he met at court early in his life as well as in Flanders and Aragon . Granvelle introduced him to artistic circles in Flanders and there he met painters such as Roland de Mois , who worked for the duke . He also shared his passion for coin-collecting with Antonio Agustín . He also joined the circle of the major Aragonese art-patron don Hernando de Aragón , archbishop of Zaragoza , regent of Aragón and ( like the Duke ) a grandson of Ferdinand the Catholic . He was also a friend of church humanists like Diego de Arnedo and Pedro Cerbuna . Martin also gathered a large art collection . Highlights included the set of portraits of the House of Villahermosa by Roland de Mois and the portrait of Martín himself by the royal portraitist Antonio Moro . He was also given a painting entitled The Rape of Europa by its artist Titian . The collection also included works by Michelangelo , Hieronymus Bosch , Peter Brueghel the Elder and others . He left his collection to Pedrola and to the Monastery of Veruela , for which he felt a special affection . His collection of coins and medals was one of the first such collections in Spain and he wrote on them in his work Discursos sobre medallas y antigüedades . Marriages and issue . In 1542 married Luisa de Borja y Aragón , with whom he had - Juan de Gurrea y Aragón , 5th Count of Ribagorza . - Fernando de Gurrea y Aragón , 5th Duke of Villahermosa . - Francisco de Gurrea y Aragón , 6th Duke of Villahermosa . - Martín de Gurrea y Aragón , baron of Entenza and Capella . - Ana de Gurrea y Aragón , married Felipe Galcerán de Castro de So y Pinós , 10th Viscount of Ebol - María de Gurrea y Aragón , became a nun . - Inés de Gurrea y Aragón , became a nun . - Juana de Gurrea y Aragón , died in infancy . After his wifes death in 1560 , he remarried to María Pérez de Pomar , with whom he had one child Juliana , who married Juan de Aragón , lord of Ballobar and Las Casetas . Martín de Gurrea also had two illegitimate children , María and Gabriela .