María Pacheco



María Pacheco (about 1496, Granada - 1531, Oporto) was a 16th-century Spanish woman of the House of Mendoza. She was the daughter of Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones and Francisca Pacheco.

When her husband, the chief comunero Juan López de Padilla, fell in the battle of Villalar in 1521, she took command in his name and successfully lead the defence of the city of Toledo against the royalist forces until the arrangement of a peaceful surrender of the city six months later.

Pacheco managed to escape to Portugal, where she lived till her death, in March 1531. She was buried in Oporto Cathedral.