It was granted along with the Marquessate of Terranova to Pedro Maza de Lizana on 23 December 1614 by king Philip III.

He descended from the male line of the Ladrón de Vilanova (or Pallás) family, Viscounts of Chelva and Counts of Sinarcas, but his father adopted the last name Maza de Lizana, of which he had no ancestry, as a testamentary condition of Brianda Maza y Carroz, a distant relative of him, who designated him as the universal heir of her vast assets.

As the 12th Duke died childless, the dukedom became vacant for 2 years until it was rehabilitated in 1884 by Alfonso XII in favour of the 12th Duke's niece, María Cristina Fernanda Brunetti y Gayoso de los Cobos, 18th Countess of Belalcázar and sister of the Duke of Arcos.

The name of the title makes reference to the Sardinian municipality of Mandas, and most likely to the nearby town of Villanova (Villanueva), both belonging to the province of South Sardinia.

Although the second part of the denomination also seems to allude to one of the first holder's maternal surnames, it also might borrow it from the eponymous town in Benagéber, which was the manor of the Ladrón de Pallás family, Lords of Benagéber and Counts of Sinarcas.