Juana Dantisca (1527 – 1601), nieślubna córka polskiego dyplomaty, matka hiszpańskich humanistów, teologów i mniszek
Juana Dantisca (1527—1601), Illegitimate Daughter of Polish Diplomat, Mother of Spanish Humanists, Theologians, and Nuns

Summary/Abstract: The life of Juana Dantisca (1527–1601), the daughter of the Polish diplomat and humanist Ioannes Dantiscus (Jan Dantyszek), later bishop of Chełmno (Kulm) and Warmia (Ermland), and his Spanish lover Isabel Delgada, serves as an example of the atypical fate of an illegitimate child. Initially supported by her father and even a source of pride to him, Juana was ultimately abandoned by him. Nevertheless, she received a thorough upbringing and education at the expense of Diego Gracian de Alderete, a Spanish humanist and courtier, whom she later married, and with whom she had numerous children who belonged to the Spanish secular and ecclesiastical elites. Talented descendants of the Gracian‑Dantisco family held prestigious ositions in the court of the Spanish monarchs until the early eighteenth century. Juana herself maintained a close friendship with St. Teresa of Avila, and one of her sons, Jeronimo Gracian‑Dantisco, became Teresa’s confessor and collaborator, as well as the first provincial of the Discalced Carmelites in Spain.

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