Colonial Peru: History Takes a Dramatic Turn

It is impenetrable to realize that diachronic accounts such as these could be so interest and actu every(preno(prenominal)inal)y reeks of scandals that could match any modern daytime pocket opera house could muster on television. The relationships, union, litigation and the free rein argon intensely strewn as each turn of events heat up. Noting old court of virtue records and letter narrating the carriage of Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, we become witnesses to his unwitting hymeneals to two women transformed into the main(prenominal) dapple of Alexandra and Noble Cooks book comfortably cartel and lawful Ignorance (1991).In the novel type historical account, the story begins as Noguerol receives a letter one day from his devil sisters, who ar nuns in a Benedictine convent.Doa Yns and Doa Ynsa Francisca, nuns in the Benedictine convent of San Pedro de las codas, had corresponded occasion t out(a) ensembley with their brother who resided in Peru. But the mail was r eluctant and undependable. This quantify they wrote to tell Francisco that his wife, Doa Beatriz de Villasur, had died, and to repri gentlemand him for neglecting his induce family. They desired, in a higher place every else, his legislate (p. 7).Apparently, his two sisters schemed to convince their brother to go buttocks home, recounting him that his wife, Doa Beatriz de Villasur had died. Rather than going home, Noguerol took a oerbold wife, Doa Catalina de Vergara, in a grand ceremony among knights and deal of more than potency and quality. But when the happy couple did return to Spain, they were greeted with a royal stag litigation non wholly was Noguerols inaugural wife was shut up alive, fagot Philip II wanted him arrested for bigamy.This sparked the beginning of a complicated wakeless drama in the sixteenth ampere- sanction Latin America that trailed exclusively the carriage to the Vatican, where Pope Paul IV decreed that Noguerol could keep his flake wi fe. As the story unfolds, the readers are treated to a dose of tiff lawyers and familiar intrigueincluding a lengthy debate over whether Noguerol low had animal(prenominal) intercourse with frontmost wife or spot wife.We could buzz off come out of the closet from the book or so colonial Perus adherence to mating customs, such as the placement of part by the wifes family. Francisco Noguerols first jointure demonstrates the importance of the percentage and is an example of the logical marriage that was rearing during those times. In the story, we get down knowing that as a unripened man in Spain, Noguerol agreed in a marriage arranged by his mother against his will. To witThe marriage between Francisco and Beatriz had been arranged by their families. It was a business transaction between a wealthy merchandiser and little affluent gentry, where personal wishes of the youthfulness people about to be linked were not considered relevant. Doa Costanza, a widow woman of sole(prenominal) quaternion years, go downd a modest annuity on the young couple, unless her sons allure lay in his status.The Noguerols descended from a notable family in Galicia and could clear be categorized as hidalgos. Cristval de Santander was a merchant who could fall in to endow his young lady with an enticing sum in order to puff a save with a higher social standing. The parents had negotiated a inversely square(p) deal, and their tikeren could only dutifully accept the monetary value.Francisco had protested Beatriz had remained silent. They were betrothed, and the reluctant coach perfumed his draw with the delectable lot. On 21 December 1530 Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, who must guide been about twenty years old, ac effledged to have received from Cristval de Santander my father-in-law 30,000 maravedis for the dowry and marriage that you have promised me, and that you have agreed to give with Doa Beatriz de Villasur, your daughter and my spouse. On 29 January 1532 Francisco accepted some other 1,000 reales of silver that are worth 34,000 maravedis, that I receive as partial payment of the dowry, (p. 43).After receiving a square(p) dowry, Noguerol left for America, where he played a role in the Peruvian civil war and amassed a intelligent-sized fortune. Noguerols second marriage was by his own choice and especially his wifes choice, but it further demonstrates the importance of spot for marriage. In his second marriage, Francisco received another large sum of cashDoa Catalina de Vergara had agreed to marry Francisco Noguerol with the condition that he would puzzle her grit to Spain and even extracted an oath to that effect from her suitor. On the fifth day of October of 1549, the groom signed a receipt for all the goods Doa Catalina was carry as dowry, worth some 3,105,000 maravedis (p. 25).Before he was slapped with a bigamy suit, Noguerol did not know that his first wife is still alive. He married again in Peru some(pr enominal) years after he received earn from his two sisters, who were nuns in Spain. They erroneously informed him that his first wife had died. though uncomplete spouse was in any way coerced into this marriage, twain were close to subscribe a marriage partner with sufficient property to manufacture an resplendent match. But, it turns out the wives were the ones who gave large sums of money to the man they chose to marry.As soon as she learned that her husband had remarried. Dona Beatriz de Villasur initiated the dramatic bigamy suit after Noguerol began concluding his personal business in Peru and had send a substantial amount of money to be invested in Spain, thitherby alerting her and her relatives to his present prosperity.The suit was first litigated in advance the Council of the Indies earlier to Noguerols arrival in Spain. When he returned, he went to the ecclesiastical court to have his first marriage annulled. The suits and countersuits lasted several years and i ncluded a coherent period in which Noguerol was imprisoned and not permitted to live with his second wife. The Council of the Indies at long last command in favor of Dona Beatriz, declaring Noguerol a bigamist. He was fined and exiled from several Spanish cities for several years, but he was not ordered to return to his first wife.During that time, records such as administrative documents, the proceedings of the judiciary, and the minutes of both Andean and Spanish cabildos (town councils)were also useful, especially when analyzed document by document specifically to compare Andean and Spanish views. Punishments for bigamy could be as effectual and could even cost the life of the offender. One person, Don Juan, cacique of Collique, offered interred treasure to the Spanish official who wanted him hanged for bigamy. He successfully tricked the Spanish, at least for a short while, by sending another muliebrity in the place of his favorite mistress to the home of a good Christia n woman for religious instruction (Ramirez, 1996).During the two and a half(prenominal)(prenominal) centuries in which the Peruvian Inquisition functioned (from 1570 to 1820), some forty autos da f were held. In these ceremonies, the maximum punishments relajacin (delivery to secular authorities) or demise were compel as was forced reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Of the three kibibyte persons in all likelihood tried during the entire history of the Lima tribunal, only 48 were condemned. to edit at the stake.The classic and always useful Historia del tribunal de la Inquisicin de Lima first published by Jos Toribio Medina in 1887 contains a statistical summary of crimes harked most often in the Inquisition records. head word the list is bigamy (20 percent of the cases) practicing the Jewish faith (17 percent) witchcraft (12 percent) heresy (10 percent) and allure by clergymen (7 percent) (see Medina 1956, 2406-7). The leading position of bigamy can be explained b y the striking distance, the lengthy separations, and the difficulties in communicating that made the natural area a likely setting for the proliferation of marital ties (Hampe-Martinez, 1996).Paulino Castaeda Delgado and Pilar Hernndez Aparicio (1985) explored the development of bigamy trials over the two and a half centuries of the Lima tribunal. They pointed out considerations of a sanctioned record in the treatment of marriage and polygamy by the Catholic Church, in a higher place all during the Counter-Reformation.These authors demonstrated that double marriages were more common in the Indies than in Spain, a phenomenon readily explained by the distance, lengthy stays, and difficulty in communicating from the New World. Like the witchcraft trials, the number of bigamy cases increased progressively in the judicial power of the Lima Inquisition. Between 1700 and 1820, these two misdeeds represented almost half of all cases tried.In Good corporate trust and open Ignorance, Doa Catalina, who is the second wife, desire the needed favorable ecclesiastical ruling for Francisco. Thus, the couple appealed to the pontificate and they were indue a overblown plan. The Pope and the Salamanca apostolic judge control in favor of Noguerol and Dona Catalina, returning them to married life together. Regarding marriage, Church law was more powerful than civil law.The authors found documentation for money sent much(prenominal) later to a member of the Roman curia, which suggests that the favorable apostolic drawing may have been influenced by a venal underling. When Francisco Noguerol died, Doa Beatriz again sued Doa Catalina for the return of her dowry and half the joint earnings. The ecclesiastical court reversed their judgment and ruled in her favor. Rather than continue the litigation that might endanger her grandsons inheritance, Dona Catalina offered to settle out of court and paid Dona Beatriz an amount much larger than the professional dowry.In the book, the legal position of women in Spanish colonial confederation had been featured. These were naturalised by codes written in the thirteenth blow (the Siete Partidas ) and the early sixteenth century (the Leyes de Toro ) and was reinforced by a corporate view of society that equated the authority of the paterfamilias in the nuclear family with that of the king in the monarchical state. In the globe sphere, women could not vote, become lawyers or judges, or view as public office (Arrom, 1985).Married women needed the permission of their husbands to engage in umteen transactions, including purchasing or disposing of property, lending or borrowing money, and forming business partnerships. In terms of inheritance under Spanish law, daughters and sons inherited equal shares of their parents property, and a widow generally received half of the couples community property on the wipeout of her husband. Any dowry a woman brought to a marriage legally reverted to her when her h usband died or if the marriage was legally dissolved. Until that time, however, the husband could get by the dowry and could keep any interest that it earned (Zulawski, 1990).In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, we could draw out the rule before that in the exit of bursting charge of their own children, womens rights were limited. Only the father could give consent for a child to marry, and a widow became her own childs legal guardian only if her husband had not named anyone else in his will.For their work, Cook and Cook have twist a praiseworthily picture of marriage, relationships, litigation and the status of women in 16th century Spain and Peru. Packing it with lots of historical accounts and careful presentation of arguments, we could reckon both sides of the story as seen in the documents themselves and resisting the temptation to speculate without convert evidence. However, there have been parts that felt short. Like the analysis of the Papal brief that countered the r uling of the Council of the Indies when they favored Noguerol. But, all in all, the work is commendable because the out of the blue(predicate) decision make the readers forget that we are reading historical accounts, which are usually boring. The writing style is exciting as it unimpeachably intrigues it its readers to acculturation the story till the end. plant life CitedArrom, S.A. The Women of Mexico City, 1790-1857, Stanford, Calif. Stanford University Press 1985, p. 77.Castaeda, P.H. and Aparicio, P.H. The crimes of bigamy in the Inquisition of Lima, Missionalia Hispanica, Madrid, vol. 42, no. 24174, 1985.Cook, A. P. and Cook, N.D. Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance A Case of Transatlantic Bigamy. Duke University Press, 1991Hampe-Martinez, T. new Works on the Inquisition and Peruvian Colonial Society, 1570-1820, Latin American investigate Review, vol. 31, 1996Ramrez, S.E. The World Upside down Cross-Cultural Contact and negate in Sixteenth-Century Peru, Stanford University , 1996 Zulawski, A. Social Differentiation, Gender, and Ethnicity Urban Indian Women in Colonial Bolivia, 1640-1725, Latin American Research Review, vol. 25, no. 2, 1990Colonial Peru History Takes a Dramatic actIt is hard to realize that historical accounts such as these could be so intriguing and actually reeks of scandals that could match any modern day soap opera could muster on television. The relationships, marriage, litigation and the drama are intensely strewn as each turn of events heat up. Noting old court records and letters narrating the life of Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, we become witnesses to his unwitting marriage to two women transformed into the main plot of Alexandra and Noble Cooks book Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance (1991).In the novel type historical account, the story begins as Noguerol receives a letter one day from his two sisters, who are nuns in a Benedictine convent.Doa Yns and Doa Ynsa Francisca, nuns in the Benedictine convent of San Pedro de las D ueas, had corresponded occasionally with their brother who resided in Peru. But the mail was slow and undependable. This time they wrote to tell Francisco that his wife, Doa Beatriz de Villasur, had died, and to reprimand him for neglecting his own family. They desired, above all else, his return (p. 7).Apparently, his two sisters schemed to convince their brother to go back home, telling him that his wife, Doa Beatriz de Villasur had died. Rather than going home, Noguerol took a new wife, Doa Catalina de Vergara, in a grand ceremony among knights and people of much authority and quality. But when the happy couple did return to Spain, they were greeted with a royal litigation not only was Noguerols first wife was still alive, King Philip II wanted him arrested for bigamy. This sparked the beginning of a complicated legal drama in the 16th century Latin America that trailed all the way to the Vatican, where Pope Paul IV decreed that Noguerol could keep his second wife. As the story u nfolds, the readers are treated to a dose of bickering lawyers and sexual intrigueincluding a lengthy debate over whether Noguerol first had carnal intercourse with first wife or second wife.We could draw out from the book about colonial Perus adherence to marriage customs, such as the endowment of dowry by the wifes family. Francisco Noguerols first marriage demonstrates the importance of the dowry and is an example of the arranged marriage that was rampant during those times. In the story, we have learned that as a young man in Spain, Noguerol agreed in a marriage arranged by his mother against his will. To witThe marriage between Francisco and Beatriz had been arranged by their families. It was a business transaction between a wealthy merchant and less affluent gentry, where personal wishes of the young people about to be linked were not considered relevant. Doa Costanza, a widow of only four years, settled a modest annuity on the young couple, but her sons allure lay in his stat us. The Noguerols descended from a notable family in Galicia and could clearly be categorized as hidalgos. Cristval de Santander was a merchant who could afford to endow his daughter with an enticing sum in order to attract a husband with a higher social standing.The parents had negotiated a mutually satisfying deal, and their children could only dutifully accept the terms. Francisco had protested Beatriz had remained silent. They were betrothed, and the reluctant groom sweetened his fate with the delectable dowry. On 21 December 1530 Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, who must have been about twenty years old, acknowledged to have received from Cristval de Santander my father-in-law 30,000 maravedis for the dowry and marriage that you have promised me, and that you have agreed to give with Doa Beatriz de Villasur, your daughter and my spouse. On 29 January 1532 Francisco accepted another 1,000 reales of silver that are worth 34,000 maravedis, that I receive as partial payment of the dowr y, (p. 43).After receiving a substantial dowry, Noguerol left for America, where he played a role in the Peruvian civil war and amassed a good-sized fortune. Noguerols second marriage was by his own choice and especially his wifes choice, but it further demonstrates the importance of property for marriage. In his second marriage, Francisco received another large sum of moneyDoa Catalina de Vergara had agreed to marry Francisco Noguerol with the condition that he would take her back to Spain and even extracted an oath to that effect from her suitor. On the fifth day of October of 1549, the groom signed a receipt for all the goods Doa Catalina was bringing as dowry, worth some 3,105,000 maravedis (p. 25).Before he was slapped with a bigamy suit, Noguerol did not know that his first wife is still alive. He married again in Peru several years after he received letters from his two sisters, who were nuns in Spain. They erroneously informed him that his first wife had died. Though neither spouse was in any way coerced into this marriage, both were careful to choose a marriage partner with sufficient property to constitute an excellent match. But, it turns out the wives were the ones who gave large sums of money to the man they chose to marry.As soon as she learned that her husband had remarried. Dona Beatriz de Villasur initiated the dramatic bigamy suit after Noguerol began concluding his affairs in Peru and had sent a substantial amount of money to be invested in Spain, thereby alerting her and her relatives to his present prosperity. The suit was first litigated before the Council of the Indies prior to Noguerols arrival in Spain. When he returned, he went to the ecclesiastical court to have his first marriage annulled. The suits and countersuits lasted several years and included a long period in which Noguerol was imprisoned and not permitted to live with his second wife. The Council of the Indies finally ruled in favor of Dona Beatriz, declaring Noguerol a biga mist. He was fined and exiled from several Spanish cities for several years, but he was not ordered to return to his first wife.During that time, records such as administrative documents, the proceedings of the judiciary, and the minutes of both Andean and Spanish cabildos (town councils)were also useful, especially when analyzed document by document specifically to compare Andean and Spanish views. Punishments for bigamy could be as heavy and could even cost the life of the offender. One person, Don Juan, cacique of Collique, offered buried treasure to the Spanish official who wanted him hanged for bigamy. He successfully tricked the Spanish, at least for a short while, by sending another woman in the place of his favorite mistress to the home of a good Christian woman for religious instruction (Ramirez, 1996).During the two and a half centuries in which the Peruvian Inquisition functioned (from 1570 to 1820), some forty autos da f were held. In these ceremonies, the maximum punish ments relajacin (delivery to secular authorities) or death were enforced as was forced reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Of the three thousand persons probably tried during the entire history of the Lima tribunal, only 48 were condemned. to burn at the stake.The classic and always useful Historia del tribunal de la Inquisicin de Lima first published by Jos Toribio Medina in 1887 contains a statistical summary of crimes listed most often in the Inquisition records. Heading the list is bigamy (20 percent of the cases) practicing the Jewish faith (17 percent) witchcraft (12 percent) heresy (10 percent) and solicitation by clergymen (7 percent) (see Medina 1956, 2406-7). The leading position of bigamy can be explained by the great distance, the lengthy separations, and the difficulties in communicating that made the New World a likely setting for the proliferation of marital ties (Hampe-Martinez, 1996).Paulino Castaeda Delgado and Pilar Hernndez Aparicio (1985) explored the dev elopment of bigamy trials over the two and a half centuries of the Lima tribunal. They pointed out considerations of a canonical nature in the treatment of marriage and polygamy by the Catholic Church, above all during the Counter-Reformation. These authors demonstrated that double marriages were more common in the Indies than in Spain, a phenomenon readily explained by the distance, lengthy stays, and difficulty in communicating from the New World. Like the witchcraft trials, the number of bigamy cases increased progressively in the jurisdiction of the Lima Inquisition. Between 1700 and 1820, these two misdeeds represented almost half of all cases tried.In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, Doa Catalina, who is the second wife, sought the needed favorable ecclesiastical ruling for Francisco. Thus, the couple appealed to the Papacy and they were endowed a Papal brief. The Pope and the Salamanca apostolic judge ruled in favor of Noguerol and Dona Catalina, returning them to married l ife together. Regarding marriage, Church law was more powerful than civil law.The authors found documentation for money sent much later to a member of the Roman curia, which suggests that the favorable Papal brief may have been influenced by a venal underling. When Francisco Noguerol died, Doa Beatriz again sued Doa Catalina for the return of her dowry and half the joint earnings. The ecclesiastical court reversed their judgment and ruled in her favor. Rather than continue the litigation that might endanger her grandsons inheritance, Dona Catalina offered to settle out of court and paid Dona Beatriz an amount much larger than the original dowry.In the book, the legal position of women in Spanish colonial society had been featured. These were established by codes written in the thirteenth century (the Siete Partidas ) and the early sixteenth century (the Leyes de Toro ) and was reinforced by a corporate view of society that equated the authority of the paterfamilias in the nuclear fa mily with that of the king in the monarchical state. In the public sphere, women could not vote, become lawyers or judges, or hold public office (Arrom, 1985).Married women needed the permission of their husbands to engage in many transactions, including buying or disposing of property, lending or borrowing money, and forming business partnerships. In terms of inheritance under Spanish law, daughters and sons inherited equal shares of their parents property, and a widow generally received half of the couples community property on the death of her husband. Any dowry a woman brought to a marriage legally reverted to her when her husband died or if the marriage was legally dissolved. Until that time, however, the husband could administer the dowry and could keep any interest that it earned (Zulawski, 1990).In Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, we could draw out the rule before that in the matter of guardianship of their own children, womens rights were limited. Only the father could gi ve consent for a child to marry, and a widow became her own childs legal guardian only if her husband had not named anyone else in his will.For their work, Cook and Cook have woven a commendable picture of marriage, relationships, litigation and the status of women in 16th century Spain and Peru. Packing it with lots of historical accounts and careful presentation of arguments, we could visualize both sides of the story as seen in the documents themselves and resisting the temptation to speculate without convincing evidence. However, there have been parts that felt short. Like the analysis of the Papal brief that countered the ruling of the Council of the Indies when they favored Noguerol. But, all in all, the work is commendable because the unexpected decision make the readers forget that we are reading historical accounts, which are usually boring. The writing style is exciting as it definitely intrigues it its readers to finish the story till the end.Works CitedArrom, S.A. The Wo men of Mexico City, 1790-1857, Stanford, Calif. Stanford University Press 1985, p. 77.Castaeda, P.H. and Aparicio, P.H. The crimes of bigamy in the Inquisition of Lima, Missionalia Hispanica, Madrid, vol. 42, no. 24174, 1985.Cook, A. P. and Cook, N.D. Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance A Case of Transatlantic Bigamy. Duke University Press, 1991Hampe-Martinez, T. Recent Works on the Inquisition and Peruvian Colonial Society, 1570-1820, Latin American Research Review, vol. 31, 1996Ramrez, S.E. The World Upside down Cross-Cultural Contact and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Peru, Stanford University, 1996 Zulawski, A. Social Differentiation, Gender, and Ethnicity Urban Indian Women in Colonial