Luisa de Medrano y Bravo de Lagunas y Cienfuegos (Atienza 9 August 1484 – 1527) was a Basque-Castilian poet, philosopher, professor, and scholar from the Kingdom of Castile. By 1508, she is widely believed to have become the first female professor in Europe, teaching Latin at the University of Salamanca. Luisa de Medrano was among the Renaissance women celebrated by their contemporaries as puellae doctae ('learned girls'). The Hall of Cloisters at the Higher Schools of the University of Salamanca is named 'Lucía de Medrano' in her honor, and in 2015, the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government established the 'Luisa de Medrano' International Award for Gender Equality. On 9 August 2022 Google celebrated Luisa's 538th birthday.

Luisa de Medrano was born on 9 August 1484 in Atienza. She was the daughter of Diego López de Medrano y Vergara, a ricohombre (rich-man) and Lord of San Gregorio and Cañaveruelas in the Kingdom of Castile, as well as a member of His Majesty's Council, and Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas. Her father belonged to the Soria branch of the illustrious Medrano family from Navarre, one of the oldest and most noble lineages in the Kingdom of Castile. Luisa de Medrano came from a family of Castilian high nobility who were protected by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Castile.

The House of Medrano was one of the most powerful in the Sierra de Cameros [es] and in Soria. Their livestock, which included 15,000 sheep, grazed in those lands, and hundreds of times they walked to the pastures of Extremadura or the royal valley of Alcudia, in La Mancha. Her father Diego López de Medrano y Vergara and mother Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas married in 1476. Nine children were born from the marriage, including Luisa de Medrano on 9 August 1484 in Atienza. The history of Diego López de Medrano and Magdalena Bravo's children is traced through Magdalena's will, dictated in Atienza on December 1, 1527, and preserved in the Archive of the Dukes of Villahermosa. This document reveals that at least three of their children went to Salamanca. By that time, Luisa had already died, as had her brother Luis, who served as the rector of the University of Salamanca.

Luisa was the legitimate sister of:

When she was only three years old, Luisa's maternal grandfather Garcí Bravo de Lagunas and her father Diego López de Medrano y Vergara died in the Queen's service at the Siege of Málaga in 1487. The Chronicle of the Catholic Monarchs by Juan M. Carriazo confirmed the news that Garcí Bravo de Lagunas and Diego López de Medrano had died in battle. Juan Bravo's wife Catalina Núñez de Cienfuegos, on the occasion of the death of her husband and son-in-law in that action, received a heartfelt letter of condolences and gratitude from the Catholic Monarchs on June 7, 1487.

Catalina de Medrano y Bravo de Lagunas, her sister, became an important benefactor in Atienza following her time at court, sponsoring the construction of the chapel at the San Francisco convent to serve as a family mausoleum. Meanwhile, her great–uncles from the Bravo de Lagunas family created a funerary chapel in the Collegiate Church of Berlanga de Duero.

Luisa de Medrano's maternal grandfather, Garcí Bravo de Lagunas, migrated from Soria (or Sigüenza) to Atienza, bringing his family, including his daughter Magdalena Bravo de Lagunas and her husband, Diego López de Medrano. Their union produced at least nine children, including Luisa.

In 1570, Garcí Bravo de Lagunas' military testament, legally recorded in Toledo, established a trust over a portion of his assets and granted the perpetual wardenship of Atienza Castle to his grandson Garcí Bravo de Medrano, marking the foundation of the Bravo estate in Atienza.