The Palace of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia overlooks the small town of Sanlucar de Barrameda and the Guadalquivir River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was from here that, on May 30, 1498, Christopher Columbus set sail for his third voyage to America. If the stones of this old palace cannot reveal their secrets, its owner Doña Isabel Alvarez de Toledo allows – thanks to her secrets and her archives – a vertiginous step back in time.

Introduction to the palace

The Palace of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia overlooks the small town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and the Guadalquivir River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It was from Sanlúcar that, on May 30, 1498, Christopher Columbus sailed for his third voyage to America. From here too that Fernand de Magellan embarked in September 1519, seeking the western route to reach the Moluccas. If the stones of this old palace could speak, we could listen to an astonishing tale of adventures. Backing onto the Nuestra Señora de la O church, in the upper part of Sanlúcar, the large white facade of the palace gives only a sober glimpse of the interior riches of the house. I give my business card to a lady company, who introduces me, a few moments later,

The descendant of a very old dynasty

For almost seven centuries, the palace has been passed down from generation to generation to its current owner: Doña Isabel Alvarez de Toledo, Duchess of Medina Sidonia, descendant of one of the oldest dynasties in Spain and Europe. In 1955, this woman of character inherited the palace of Sanlúcar and its archives.

For his family, it all started in the 13th century. In 1297, King Fernando IV conceded the villa of Solucar with his castillo (castle) to his vassal Alonso Perez de Guzman. This one, nicknamed Guzman El Bueno, hero of the Reconquista of southern Andalusia, became famous by sacrificing his son, prisoner of the Moors, rather than yielding his castle of Tarifa (it still exists today). In the 15th century, his descendants, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, controlled much of south-western Andalusia. They notably governed the county of Niebla, which was included in an immense territory, composed of strategic ports, dozens of villages, farms and large estates distributed between Huelva and Medina Sidonia (city located in the hinterland of Cadiz). Generations followed each other. It was also a Duke of Medina Sidonia who led in 1588 the Invisible Armada against the English. The fate of these “land and sea lords” is closely linked to the history of their palace in Sanlúcar. In the basement, I notice Moorish and white arcades evoking a place of Muslim prayer. For the Duchess of Medina Sidonia, there is no doubt: “My grandfather Guzman el Bueno must have been a Muslim who was hiding his confession, because I discovered, on the first floor of the palace where I live, a secret mosque with the niche imam, ”she said in flawless French.

In the Ambassadors’ lounge (salon de los Embajadores) of 1640, large paintings adorn the walls and sofas await distinguished visitors. Here, a robust 15th century German chest with three keys. There, tapestries from Flanders. In a corner, a 16th century piece of furniture carved by an Indian formerly employed by the family. “This is not surprising,” continues the duchess, because, in Sanlúcar, lived free Indians and slaves from America on the caravels of the conquistadors. In the Hall of Columns (living room of the Columnas) of 1524, one of the most beautiful rooms in the palace, four tall marble columns end with capitals carved from exotic wood. They wear Aztec motifs, inspired by those of the palace of Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor who lived in Mexico, and who was imprisoned by Hernan Cortès. Hadn’t the conquistador of Mexico entrusted the education of his daughters to the Duke of Medina Sidonia whom he knew well?

The fighter of Palomares

Although her family is among the most powerful in the country, the Duchess never joined the ranks of political conservatism. Under the Franco regime, she was an ardent anti-Francoist. While fighting for truth and freedom, she remained faithful to the rebellious and pugnacious spirit of her family. In 1966, it was spent without counting in favor of the inhabitants of Palomares, a small Andalusian village victim of plutonium bombs dropped by accident by American bombers. Armed with her diplomatic passport (a privilege enjoyed by the Great of Spain), she went there to see the material and human damage of this ecological disaster. Having organized an illegal demonstration to protest against the silence and inertia of the Spanish government, she was arrested and sentenced to eight months in prison. In prison, the “red duchess” – that is how she was nicknamed – wrote her diary. Finding no publisher in Spain, she turned to an American publisher, Harper & Row, who published it.

The Red Duchess Exiled to France

After her stay in Franco’s jails, she went into exile in France, and lived there for six years, staying between Paris and Hasparren (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The angels of writing got the better of the demons of solitude. She testified to her political commitment, publishing two books: La Grève (Hachette editions, Le Livre de Poche, 1970) and La Base (Bernard Grasset editions, 1971). La Grève is a realistic novel, which denounces the practices of caciques in Andalusia by Franco. The Base tells of the clash between traditional Andalusian culture and the modern world which exports American military bases to the world. They have not been translated into Spanish.

The most important private archives in Spain

Returning to Spain at the end of the dictatorship, she found her palace in Sanlúcar. Now she is dedicated to the Medina Sidonia Foundation, the objective of which is to maintain the prestigious family heritage. Within it, the most important private archives in Spain are kept, nearly two million documents distributed in 6,314 bundles. The duchess took them out of a storage unit in Madrid to transport them to Sanlúcar in a large truck. After months of drying, we had to classify and index these mountains of documents, a titanic job! Tireless and passionate, the duchess wanted to peel all the bundles from her archives one by one. What is it exactly? These documents relate to history of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and their possessions, but also on other branches of the nobility, such as the Fajardo, the Osorio-Toledo, the Aragon-Moncada. One can discover their books of account (the domains and the rents of the lords), administrative and legal registers, land and professional contracts, wills, books of charges, concessions, dignities, and also ecclesiastical documents in Latin. There are also very old maps such as maps in Arabic from the 16th and 17th centuries. land and professional contracts, wills, books of charges, concessions, dignities, and also ecclesiastical documents in Latin. There are also very old maps such as maps in Arabic from the 16th and 17th centuries. land and professional contracts, wills, books of charges, concessions, dignities, and also ecclesiastical documents in Latin. There are also very old maps such as maps in Arabic from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In addition, these archives faithfully restore the memory and daily life of the villages in the region. Thanks to her know-how in paleography acquired from her grandfather, Doña Isabel manages to decipher any ancient text: a dream for this self-taught historian. With insatiable curiosity, she has unearthed documents that call into question the official history of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

America discovered before Columbus.

“Europe traded with America long before the sailor Rodrigo de Triana, a member of Columbus’ crew, saw the coasts of the New World on October 12, 1492,” she said. Christopher Columbus would have headed for America along a route previously taken by Arab-Andalusian navigators, Moroccans and African Muslims, who already traded with the ports of Brazil, Venezuela and the Lesser Antilles. “I have documents proving that the Almoravid dynasty was not established only in North Africa and Andalusia, but that it had extended its power over other regions, which are currently Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela ”
To support her thesis, the Duchess brings historical evidence from her private archives. The Dukes of Medina Sidonia used to be responsible for recording all maritime movements from Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Does a document prior to 1492 not mention between Morocco and Guinea gold mines and rivers that caravels can go up? However, for the Duchess, this is a historical confusion.
“What the Ancients took for Africa was actually America. I went there. In North West Africa, there are not enough large rivers and gold on the coasts, for this to be credible. All descriptions actually lead to Brazil. Another proof: a document from 1463 which talks about the discovery of land and fisheries between Cabo de Aguer and Cap Bojador, in the south of Morocco. “These lands were already discovered well before this date”. Again, it is, according to Doña Isabel, the coast of South America and not North Africa. Another advanced proof: the presence in Europe of products from the Americas well before 1492. Maize, for example, appears in a text from 1456.

To this argument, the duchess adds the proof by the cards, and in particular that of Juan de la Cosa. Juan de la Cosa was a Galician patron who rented the flagship, the Santa Maria, to Columbus. In 1499, de la Cosa embarked with Amerigo Vespucci to recognize the coasts of Venezuela. And in 1500, the following year, he drew this map which clearly shows the contours of the Gulf of Mexico and those of the Florida peninsula, when these parts of the continent were not officially discovered. Strange.

Finally, what to think of this gesture by Charles V, who in 1536, on the pretext of updating the maritime maps of his kingdom, ordered that they be destroyed?

A petite and petite woman, Doña Isabel is a very tall lady, in thought and in action. Through her persevering search for truth, beyond illusions and appearances, she represents the very essence of the quixotic spirit. As Juvenal said: Rara avis in terris Hispaniensis. A rare bird in the land of Spain!

Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia died on Friday March 7, 2008 in her palace in San Lucar de Barrameda (Andalusia) at the age of 72. Before falling into eternity, the one who was nicknamed the Red Duchess addressed a final nod to all the self-righteous. The Spanish law of 2005 authorizing homosexual marriage, Doña Isabel married Liliana Dahlmann, her secretary and friend for 20 years, on her deathbed, just before dying … It was the last provocation of a nonconformist personality in Spain, who all his life fought for justice and freedom.
Address of Doña Isabel Alvarez de Toledo: Duquesa de Medina Sidonia, Palacio de Medina Sidonia, Plazza Condes de Niebla, n 1, Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cadiz), Spain.

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