María Pacheco

María López de Mendoza y Pacheco (c. 1496–1531) was a Castilian revolutionary who led the Revolt of the Comuneros in the Kingdom of Toledo.

Born into the House of Mendoza in the Kingdom of Granada, she was given a classical education and oversaw management of the palace of Alhambra. Her father, Íñigo López de Mendoza, a proponent of religious tolerance and secular authority against the Spanish Inquisition, arranged her to be married to Juan López de Padilla, an hidalgo from the Kingdom of Toledo. There she took over management of the Padilla estate, while her husband campaigned for the rights of the petty nobility against the foreign rule of Carlos I.

Following the outbreak of the Revolt of the Comuneros in 1520, she attempted to get her brother elected as the Archbishop of Toledo, but was blocked by another faction of the comuneros. After the comunero defeat at the Battle of Villalar, her husband was executed and she subsequently took command of the revolt in Toledo. She drew popular support for the cause and oversaw the reinforcement of the city's defences, ultimately resulting in negotiations ending with the royalists granting Toledo generous concessions. When the royalists reneged on the agreed terms, Toledo revolted again. As royalists called for Pacheco's head, she fled the city in disguise. She went into exile in Portugal, where she died.

She was denounced for insanity and witchcraft by contemporary Castilian chroniclers, while the Castilian state demolished her headquarters and salted the earth, leaving behind a monument to the defeat of the comuneros. In the modern period, her legacy has been reinterpreted, depicting her as an early advocate of social equality and human rights.