Pedro Velaz de Medrano y Manso de Zúñiga (Santo Domingo de la Calzada, La Rioja July 28, 1603 – Coimbra, c. 1659) II Lord of Tabuerniga, was the captain general of the Armada de Barlovento and custodian of the Fleet of New Spain, governor of the Tercio of Álava, governor of five galleons from Naples, sailor and prominent Spanish noble during the reign of Felipe IV. He is famous for having captained a French corsair flotilla in the Caribbean with the intention of capturing the Spanish treasure fleet for King Louis XIV of France. He married María de Altamirano y Ponce de León. His son Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Altamirano, Governor of the strategic city of Nieuwpoort became the I Marquis of Tabuerniga, granted by King Carlos II of Spain in 1682.
Ancestry
Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano y Manso de Zúñiga was the son of the noble Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Mendoza and Dona María Magdalena Manso de Zúñiga y Solá, I lady of Tabuérniga. His father Don Antonio Velaz de Medrano y Mendoza was a knight in the order of Santiago and the son of Don Juan Velaz de Medrano, and a lady from the Mendoza family. Don Pedro Velaz was a member of the prestigious Medrano family, ricohombres and perpetual lords of Iguzquiza; one of the most ancient lineages from the Kingdom of Navarre. The Medrano family also had a strong presence in La Rioja and Guadalajara, uniting with the house of Bravo de Lagunas in Atienza. Pedro's father Antonio Velaz de Medrano served as a soldier in Naples and Sicily and would later become magistrate in the towns of Malaga (1609-12) and Cuenca-Huete (1612-14). Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano is also related to Captain Don Diego de Medrano, he participated in the Conquest of the Azores, commanding 12 Spanish Galleys and led them to the island of Terceira; later Don Diego de Medrano commanded 4 Galleys each with 50 guns in the Spanish Armada Invasion of 1588.
Don Pedro's mother Maria Magdalena was the daughter of Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Sola and Ambrosia de Salcedo y Vallejo, married in Soria. She was a member of the powerful Manso de Zúñiga clan, a Riojan family originally from the town of Canillas de Río Tuerto to which the then bishop of Calahorra-La Calzada, Pedro, and his other nephews belonged: Pedro Manso, President of the Council of Castile and Patriarch of the West Indies, Martín Manso de Zúñiga, bishop of Oviedo and Osma, and Francisco Manso de Zúñiga y Solá, judge of the Council of the Indies, and future first count of Hervías. Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano's maternal uncle Francisco Manso de Zúñiga y Sola was the Vizcount of Negueruela and later given the title Count of Hervías by Philip IV of Spain, dated May 26, 1651.
Don Pedro's mother Maria Magdalena was also the paternal granddaughter of Don Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano, nicknamed “El Joven or El Mozo”, lord of the towns of Canillas, Cañas and Santorcaz, progenitor of the Counts of Hervías, and therefore also related to the house of Medrano. Don Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano was born in 1540, son of Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Arcos Belandia and Beatriz Martínez de Medrano. Don Juan Manso de Zúñiga y Medrano won a royal charter of hidalguía on April 5, 1582. He served the king in the armies of Santander and El Ferrol. Juan Manso de Zuniga y Medrano married Magdalena de Sola.
Rise in Ranks and Wars
Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano entered the direct service of King Felipe III as a royal page in 1615. He remained there until his entry into the Carrera de Indias in 1623. This was a common departure for pages of the sovereign back then. In 1623, he left the House of Pages and joined the Army of the Strait of Gibraltar. In it, he participated in a minor action at Cape San Vicente. His seafaring skills caught the attention of Don Fadrique de Toledo, Captain General of the Navy of the Atlantic Ocean and of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Portugal, who enlisted him in the journey to Brazil that recovered Bahia from the Dutch in 1625. For two decades, Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano took part in the recovery of Bahia (Brazil), from the Dutch, and fought on the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and wherever his services were required. In 1629, still under his command, he participated in the actions of the islands of San Cristóbal and Nieves. His promotions continued in the 1630s: sergeant major and governor of the Alava Tercio, governor of five galleons of the Naples Navy, and squadron admiral. In 1631, however, he excused himself from participating in the expedition that attempted to recover Pernambuco because he was ill. In 1638 Don Pedro Velaz de Medrano came to the aid of Fuenterrabía commanding his Tercio from Alava.