L'Encobert - Origin Stories

Origin Stories

According to one account, The Hidden was raised in Gibraltar by a shepherd, hidden by Archbishop Cisneros for the country's own good and unaware of his true nature as a great noble of some kind. In a divine vision, his true nature was revealed to him by the prophets Elijah and Enoch, and he was directed to restore Spain from its current fallen state.

The exact nature of his royal claim also has several tellings. In one version, he was Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand of Aragon and his second wife Germaine of Foix who died at birth; this would make him the true ruler of Aragon (if not Castile). For this to be correct, however, The Hidden would have been 12 years old when he joined the revolt, as Prince Juan was born and died in 1509. Slightly more plausible was the claim that he was the (officially) stillborn child of John of Castile and Margaret of Austria. John was another child of Ferdinand and Isabella's, and furthermore older than his sister Joanna and male, which would have made The Hidden Charles I's cousin and the true successor to the throne, as Charles descended from Joanna's claim. In an alternate version from Martín Viciana, it was the disliked Cardinal Mendoza (the Viceroy's father) who had hidden the prince away for evil reasons, rather than the popular Archbishop Cisneros performing the deed for noble ones.

According to a story circulated by Miquel Garcia, who bore little love for The Hidden, he was actually a Jewish trickster born in Castile. The Hidden, along with the other Jews of Spain, were exiled, and he came to live in Oran in North Africa. There he served a rich and possibly also Jewish merchant named Juan Bilbao, who had accompanied him to Oran. The Hidden then seduced both his master's wife and daughter. He may have also converted to Christianity as well, but treacherously and only for the purpose of getting closer to Bilbao's wife. Bilbao proceeded to serve the governor of Oran for a time, where The Hidden astonished him with his villainy. The Hidden was arrested, and whipped publicly. He left Oran for Valencia then, taking on a new identity and living as a hermit for a time before seeing his chance to raise more trouble by unifying the rebellion and pushing it onward. Very few of the contemporary accounts have any reference to him being a Jew or converso, however. This account also has some temporal issues, as most sources agree that The Hidden was youngish (from 20–25 years old). The Jews were exiled in 1492, 30 years prior to The Hidden's entry to Valencia, so for this account to be true either The Hidden wore his years very well, or he stayed in Castile for longer than he legally was allowed.