Fernán Pérez de Guzmán was the third lord of Batres, a villa (small town) situated slightly to the southwest of Madrid, between Navalcarnero and Illescas. The son of Pedro Suárez de Guzmán and Elvira de Ayala, he belonged to a family related to some of the most prominent personalities in late-medieval Spain. His uncle, Pero López de Ayala, an historian, translator, and poet, was chancellor of Castile. Pérez de Guzmán was, in turn, the uncle of Íñigo López de Mendoza, Marqués de Santillana, one of the most powerful noblemen of his day and one of the finest poets in fifteenth-century Spain. Other relatives included the lyric and dramatic poet Gómez Manrique and his nephew Jorge Manrique, best known for his Coplas a la muerte...