Gastón de la Cerda, 3rd Duke of Medinaceli

Who was Gastón de la Cerda, 3rd Duke of Medinaceli?

Gastón de la Cerda, 3rd Duke of Medinaceli, Grandee of Spain, was a Spanish nobleman.

He was the second son of Don Juan de la Cerda, 2nd Duke of Medinaceli, by first wife Mencía Manuel de Portugal. As a young man he became a monk in the Order of St. Jerome. In 1536 after the death of his elder brother Luis without issue he became the heir to the family titles, so he sought a Papal dispensation in order to marry and fulfill his family obligations. On 4 March 1540 he married María Sarmiento de la Cerda, a marriage that was eventually nulled on 30 August 1544, without issue.