The Sword & the Veil

The world into which Doña Catalina de Erauso was born, near the end of the sixteenth century, was one in which women were severely restricted and controlled by a male-dominated society. This came about after the success of the reconquista and the expulsion of the Jews, as the Spanish power structure (i.e., the Church and the Crown) focused its attention on the complete integration of the populace into the "One True Faith" of the Catholic Church. This required the catechization of the mostly un-educated masses as well as the systematic rooting out of apostates and false converts. This was attempted through the institution of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, a body that achieved an infamous reputation for the cruelty of its methods and the barbarity of its punishments.

To a Church hierarchy that was overwhelmingly misogynist in its thinking, women presented a special problem in the effort to establish absolute control over Spanish society. Unlike the Jews and the moriscos, they could not be expelled. The Church responded to this perceived threat by strengthening the existing institutions of enclosure for women (e.g., marriage and convents) as well as by creating additional ones in the form of licensed brothels, Magdalen Houses, and women's prisons.

Transvestism has been regarded as a psycho-sexual phenomenon only since relatively recent times. Even more recently has cross-dressing come to be regarded as a conscious and deliberate life-style. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe female cross-dressing carried no such cachet but there were a number of occasions and circumstances when it was acceptable and even customary for women to dress as men.⁽¹⁾ These included traveling and concealment from invading troops.

The dramatic stage was a common venue for the characterization of female transvestites in the theatre of Golden-Age Spain, although real-life examples were few there, likely because Spanish society was, in many ways, the most repressive in Europe. The sexual motives real-life women might have derived from cross-dressing are not easily determined as very few references to homosexuality among women in Counter-Reformation Spain exist.

The story of Catalina de Erauso presents a truly exceptional case. Erauso was one of the few women of Counter-Reformation Spain to effectively escape the enclosing and confining strictures imposed on women by the Church and Crown. Her autobiography may be read as a daring and sincere confession of a sexual misfit acting in a rigidly controlled totalitarian society that was so shocked by her revelations that it transcended its own stubborn propensity for intolerance and exalted her as a hero--if only because such a reaction was much easier to achieve for her contemporaries than a true understanding of her character. The main reason that this is so is due to the phallocentric view of sexuality that pervaded the misogynist Church authorities and male society in general in the Spain of that period: i.e., that there could be no sex without a penis. Therefore, Erauso's attraction to women was viewed as simply part and parcel of her masquerade, justifiable in order to achieve her real and respected goal of defending the interests of the Spanish Empire as a soldier.⁽²⁾

This attitude blinded all but a very few sophisticates (such as Lope de Vega) and made it possible for Erauso to win the approbation of the most influential and powerful men of her time--including king and pope, for her daring feats of arms, her hazardous adventures, and her indomitable spirit. After her successful trip to Rome, not even the dreaded Holy Office could touch La Monja Alférez.

WORKS CITED AND CONSULTED

Berruezo, José. Catalina de Erauso - La Monja Alférez. San Sebastián: Gráficas Izarra. 1975

Brown, Judith, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1986.

Cruz, Anne J. and Perry, Mary Elizabeth, eds. Culture and Control in Counter-Reformation Spain. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1992.

Dekker, Rudolf M. and van de Pol, Lotte. The Tradition of Female Transvestism in Early Modern Europe. London: The MacMillan Press Ltd. 1989.

Erdman, David V. "The Case for Internal Evidence (6): The Signature of Style." Bulletin of the New York Public Library. LXIII. February, 1959.

Ferrer, Joaquín María de. Historia de la Monja Alférez (Doña catalina de Erauso). Madrid: Tipo Renovación. 1918.

Fitzmaurice-Kelly, James. The Nun Ensign, Translated from the Spanish with introduction and notes by James Fitzmaurice Kelly ... Also La Monja Alférez, a play in the original Spanish by J.P. de Montalván. London: T. Fisher Unwin. 1908.

Giles, Mary E., ed. Women in the Inquisition-Spain and the New World. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1999.

Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths, Vols. I - II. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1955.

Heiberg, Marianne. The Making of the Basque Nation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1989.

Kamen, Henry. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1985.

Knapp, Bettina L. Women in Myth. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1997.

McKendrick, Malveena. Women and Society in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age: A Study of the 'Muger varonil'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1974.

Ministerio de Cultura, Archivo General de Indias, Contratación, 5408, No. 41.

Obregón, Luis Gonzáles. Leyendas de las calles de México. Mexico: Aguilar. 1976.

Pedrick, Daniel Harvey, trans. The Sword and the Veil - The Autobiography of doña Catalina de Erauso. (Originally entitled La Historia de la Monja Alférez, translated from the Spanish.) Unpublished. 1986.

Riva Palacio, Vicente. Méjico através de los Siglos. Mexico: Porrúa S.A. 1946

Rogers, Katherine M. The Troublesome Helpmate--A History Of Misogyny in Literature. Seattle: University of Seattle Press. 1966.

Saint-Saëns, Alain, ed. Religion, Body and Gender in Early Modern Spain. San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press. 1991.

Simpson, Lesley Bird. Many Mexicos. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1966.

Stepto, Michele and Gabriel, trans. Lieutenant Nun - Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World - Catalina de Erauso. Boston: Beacon Press. 1996.

Suárez-Galbrán Guerra, Eugenio ed., Antología del teatro del Siglo de Oro. Madrid: Editorial Orígenes, 1989.

Tellechea I., J. Ignacio. Doña Cataliña de Erauso - La Monja Alférez. San Sebastián: Gráficas ESET, 1992.

Valle-Arizpe, Artemio. Amores y picardías - Leyendas, tradiciones, y sucedidos del México Virreinal. Mexico: 1933.

Velasco, Sherry. The Lieutenant Nun - Transgenderism, Lesbian Desire, and Catalina de Erauso. Austin: University of Texas Press. 2001.

Whitmont, Edward C. The Return of the Goddess. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company. 1982.

The Holy Bible - Containing the Old and New Testaments - in the King James Version. New York: Thomas Nelson Inc. 1976.

Internet Sites:

CT table - http://history.hanover.edu/early/trent.htm

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Council of Trent - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15030c.htm

Velasco: The Lieutenant Nun - http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/vellie.html

Appendix A

Historical Timeline of Verifiable Data Re: Catalina de Erauso

1592 - The baptism of Catalina de Erauso is recorded on February 10 in the ledger of the parochial church of San Vicente Martír in San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa. The parents are listed as El Capitán Don Miguel de Erauso and Doña María Pérez de Gallárraga y Arce.

1605 - Catalina de Erauso is recorded in the account book of the Dominican convent of San Sebastián el Antiguo.⁽³⁾

1608 - Catalina de Erauso is again recorded in the account book of the Dominican convent of San Sebastián el Antiguo as having been present until March 1607, after which time she seems to have mysteriously disappeared.⁽⁴⁾ At this time Erauso would have been fifteen years old. This is the likely date of the beginning of her adventure.⁽⁵⁾

1608 - Catalina de Erauso is mentioned in the affidavit of Capitán Don Francisco Pérez de Navarrete (sworn December 17, 1624) as having been observed serving as a soldier under Capitán Guillén de Casanova in the fort of Arauco, Kingdom of Chile.⁽⁶⁾

1626 - La Monja Alférez is interviewed by Pietro della Valle in Rome.⁽⁷⁾

- La Monja Alférez has her portrait painted by Crescentio in Rome (original lost).

1629 - On September 26, in San Sebastián, El Alférez doña Catalina de Erauso signs a waiver of her claim to any further inheritance from the estate of her parents in favor of her sister Mariana.

1630 - El Capitán Don Domingo de Urbiru, the chief bailiff of the Contratación de Sevilla notes in his journal (citing a list of passengers) that La Monja Alférez embarked to New Spain in 1630 in the fleet commanded by El Capitán Don Miguel de Echazarreta and had traveled to the Indies as a cabin boy under the same commander some years earlier ("en años pasados".)⁽⁸⁾

- La Monja Alférez has her portrait painted by the Sevillian artist Pacheco, the son-in-law of Velásquez. This dated and signed oil portrait currently rests in San Sebastián in the collection of the La Caixa Trust.

1645 - A testimonial given on October 10, 1693, in the Capuchin monastery of Seville, by Fr. Nicomedes de Rentería, to Fr. Diego de Sevilla, states that: "that in the year 1645, before he became a religious, he served with the galleons of General don Pedro de Ursua, and several times in Veracruz saw and encountered The Nun Ensign, doña Catalina de Erauso--who there and then was called don Antonio de Erauso--and that she had a string of mules in which she, along with some negroes, carried clothing to various places. Thereby and therewith she transported the clothing that she carried to Mexico and she was regarded there as very valiant and capable individual. She went about in male clothing and carried a sword and dagger decorated in silver; she seemed then about fifty years of age, husky, olive complexion, with a few little hairs for a moustache."⁽⁹⁾

Appendix B

Petition of Catalina de Erauso

Catalina de Erauso made at least three petitions to King Phillip IV between 1626 and 1630.⁽¹⁰⁾ The first was to ask for compensation for her years of military service in America and was accompanied by an impressive array of personal testimonials in the form of sworn affidavits as well as live witnesses. A draft of a petition that currently rests in the Archive of the Indies also asks for compensation for losses and suffering when captured and prosecuted as a spy in France. Erauso presented her petition in the court at Madrid very soon after the fiasco in France, which had left her nearly penniless. The later petitions requested royal permission to travel to New Spain and were granted in the form of a cédula. Permission to return to the Americas was asked for in the draft petition presented here but was not mentioned in the version that was submitted and which resulted in the award of a pension.⁽¹¹⁾ All three of Erauso's petitions to the crown were successful. I have thought it useful to render this draft in translation as it provides a reasonably credible summation of her adventures.

March, 1626.

Lord:

The Ensign doña Catalina de Erauso, resident and native of the village of San Sebastián, province of Guipúzcoa, states: that during the last nineteen years, fifteen have been employed in the service of Your Majesty in the wars in the Kingdom of Chile and in the Indian lands of Peru, having traveled to those parts in male clothing for a particular inclination that she had to bear arms in defense of the Catholic Faith and to be of service to Your Majesty, by which [guise], in the said Kingdom of Chile, in all the time she was there, she might be taken for a man, until some years afterward, in the kingdoms of Peru, she was discovered to be a woman (forced by an event that would be out of place to recount here); and, being in the company of Ensign Miguel de Erauso, her legitimate brother, in the Kingdom of Chile, never revealing herself to him, although she knew him to be such a brother. And this she did in order to remain un-discovered, denying the ties of blood. And in all the time she served in war, and in the company of field master don Diego de Sarabia, she showed exemplary valor in sustaining the discomforts of the military like the strongest of men (by which in every move she was taken for one), and for her acts came to merit Your Majesty's Ensign [battlefield promotion to rank of Ensign] serving as ensign of the infantry company of Captain Gonzalo Rodríguez, under the name she gave herself, Alonso Díaz Ramírez de Guzmán. And in the said period she was singled out for exceptional stoutness and valor, receiving wounds, particularly in the battle of Purén; and having been promoted officially to a half-pay ensign, transferred to the company of Captain Guillén de Casanova, commander of the fort of Arauco, and was selected from there, by reason of valor and soldierly bearing, to campaign against the enemy. As all of this and more is confirmed by the certifications and sworn statements of don Luis de Céspedes, Governor and Captain General of Paraguay (who was in the infantry in Chile), of don Juan Cortés de Monroy, Governor and Captain General of Veraguas (who was also in the infantry in Chile), and by don Francisco Pérez de Navarrete, all three of whom (and other gentlemen who were their officers and field-masters) are present today in court, and know her very well for having seen her serve Your Majesty, and know her to have served as temporary captain in the said Kingdom of Chile and in that of Peru. And furthermore, that the foregoing does not end there, for having arrived in these realms of Spain in the past year of 1624 she tried, in the year 1625, to travel to Rome to kiss the feet of His Holiness (it being a Holy Year) and, traveling through the Kingdom of France, encountered a troop of French Cavalry in Piamonte. And, as she traveled on horseback with a servant and other Spanish pilgrims who accompanied her, they arrested her (as she stood out among the others in their pilgrim costume, and calling herself Ensign Antonio de Erauso). And immediately they seized her and took her for a spy of Your Majesty, and said as much; and after having ransacked her of two hundred doubloons that she carried for her expenses, they cast her in prison where she remained fourteen days shackled in chains. And, for having heard some things she responded to with reverence about your Majesty, they abused her in word and deed; and if they realized that she was a woman, or confirmed her as a spy, they would surely have taken her life. Afterwards they released her but would not allow her to continue on to Rome, and so, has returned to this court, with this particular information (with three eyewitnesses, and without others who heard about it). For this, therefore, and as well for the services of Captain Miguel de Erauso her father, and the said Ensign Miguel de Erauso and Francisco de Erauso (who served in the armada of Lima with don Rodrigo de Mendoza), and Domingo de Erauso, (who went with the armada that sailed against Brazil, and upon returning from there was one of those who perished in the "flagship of the four Villages" which was burned), and that all three were her brothers, she asks that it may please Your Majesty to order her services and long journeys and valiant deeds be rewarded, showing in that your greatness, as well as that which is manifestly deserved for the singularity and prodigiousness which comes to your attention, keeping in mind that she is the daughter of noble and loyal parents, leading citizens of the village of San Sebastián; and more, for the security and rare purity with which she has lived and lives, the testimony of which can be taken here and now; for which she might receive mercy of that which may be given, a pension of seventy pesos of twenty-two quilates per month, in the city of Cartegena de las Indias, and an allowance of costs to allow her to go there, in which she will obtain that which Your Majesty and your highness foresee.

Appendix C

La Monja Alférez Reconstructed--

FREAKS OF NATURE

A One Act Play

by Daniel Harvey Pedrick

- CAST -

Catalina/Antonio de Erauso - A Basque woman in her late thirties, a male impersonator who goes by the name of Antonio.

Lope de Vega Carpio - A debonair gentleman his late sixties, a very famous playwright, a notorious womanizer, and now, a priest.

Count Duke of Olivares - A large, imperious grandee in his fifties, a wealthy and powerful advisor to King Philip IV, a patron of the arts, a bon vivant.

Juan Perez de Montalván - Lope's young disciple.

Bernardino de Guzmán - A book publisher from Seville.

Doña Clara - The fifteen-year old daughter of the Duke of Bolarque.

Doña Sol - The seventeen-year old daughter of the Duke of Bolarque.

Waiter/Servant - A young man in livery.

Guests/Others

SCENE 1

Madrid, Spain, A.D. 1626

The action takes place in the patio of a grand house belonging to the Count Duke of Olivares. In the middle of the stage is a fountain. Arched porticoes line the perimeter with a number of large, potted plants adjacent to the columns. On stage left is a small table piled high with new books. Beyond the table and under the porticoes are two doors leading offstage.

Catalina/Antonio de Erauso is about to arrive at a special reception and book-signing arranged by her publisher, Bernardino de Guzmán, and hosted by the Count Duke of Olivares. Minor royals, military officers, clerics, literary luminaries, wives, hangers-on, etc., are in attendance. They are chatting with each other and about to greet Catalina/Antonio as the Lion of the Season. By turns, singly and in small groups, the guests then approach Catalina/Antonio with a fresh copy of her new book for her to sign. This she does with polite small talk.

Catalina/Antonio is dressed as a typical caballero with a silver mounted Toledo sword belt and rapier around her waist. Although she is dressed completely in male attire, she does not swagger; her stance, her gait, and her gestures are vaguely suggestive of her true sex.

GUESTS (Conversing in an upbeat, party mood, tinkling glasses, laughter)

GUZMAN (Seated at book table, selling books to guests.)

WAITER (Serving GUESTS with glasses of sherry.

Enter OLIVARES AND ERAUSO

OLIVARES Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please! Quiet please! Please! (Pause.) Allow me to present our guest of honour... Antonio de Erauso, La Monja Alférez.

GUESTS (Fall silent, stare at ERAUSO.)

ERAUSO (Steps forward, gazes at GUESTS for a moment, bows gallantly.)

GUESTS (Break out in polite applause, crowd around ERAUSO, some holding out newly purchased books for her to sign. They thank her audibly.)

ERAUSO (Signing books with polite small talk.)

OLIVARES (Chatting with GUESTS.)

SERVANT (Approaches OLIVARES and whispers in his ear.)

OLIVARES (Startled) Lope is here? (Rubs his hands together in anticipation.) Splendid! Splendid! For once the great Lope de Vega's not going to be the centre of attention. We're in for some fun now. Show him in. No, wait! I'll do it myself. (Walks

quickly offstage.)

Exit OLIVARES

Enter OLIVARES, LOPE, and MONTALVAN

OLIVARES (Leading the elderly but spry LOPE by the hand, plunges into the tight circle of admiring GUESTS around ERAUSO.

MONTALVAN (Follows LOPE like a spaniel.)

OLIVARES (To LOPE) Now remember, don Lope, address my guest of honour as don Antonio, not doña Catalina. I don't want this affair to turn into a brawl.

(To OTHERS) Make way, everyone! I have a very important introduction to make to don Antonio!

OTHERS (Doffing hats, pulling back to make room, breaking into applause.) Hurrah! Lope!

OLIVARES Señor Antonio de Erauso, allow me to present my distinguished friend, Señor Lope de Vega Carpio.

ERAUSO & LOPE (Bow stiffly to each other.)

OTHERS (More applause and shouts.)

LOPE Don Antonio, what a welcome pleasure this is! I shall write a play about you!

ERAUSO (Drily) Take care that I don't hand you another lawsuit!

OTHERS (Raucous laughter.)

LOPE (Smiles good-naturedly as laughter dies down.) I should be more worried that you might challenge me to a duel if it were not to your liking!

ERAUSO (Smiles) Why? I would hardly be the first to do that, either.

OTHERS (More laughter) Oh! Ho!

LOPE (Taking ERAUSO'S arm) No, you certainly would not. But don't worry. My play could only express my complete admiration for you. (Leads ERAUSO away from the OTHERS to the opposite side of the fountain from the book table.) After all, you have done more to turn this society on its ear than all my plays put together. (Lights focus on the pair.)

OTHERS (Socializing with each other, buying books from GUZMAN at his table, and occasionally approaching ERAUSO with book and pen

for her to sign.)

ERAUSO (A sad smile.) Nonsense, don Lope. I have simply had some extraordinary luck. The Pope could have burned me, after all. Instead he absolved me and granted me dispensation. I'm not sure why. Certainly not because he understands me. No one really does that.

LOPE Don't be so sure. Our Holy Father knows quality well enough when he sees it.

MONTALVAN (Obsequiously.) I'll say! He just awarded Lope the Cross of St. John. Did you know?

LOPE (Modestly raises his hand to silence MONTALVAN.) As for understanding you my dear, uh, chap... Well, I must do so myself if I am to do you justice with my pen. But I must admit I am surprised to see you here tonight.

MONTALVAN (Annoyed.) Yes, I thought this was supposed to be a party for you, don Lope!

LOPE (Raising his hand again.) Juanito, please. (Takes the impetuous MONTALVAN aside.) Just be quiet will you?

MONTALVAN But you said this was our big chance to ask the Count Duke for a grant!

LOPE And it may be yet, if you don't make such a scene that we're thrown out!

MONTALVAN And if El Cid there hasn't beat you to it! (Gestures towards ERAUSO.)

LOPE Quiet, or she'll slice you to ribbons! (Pushing him away.) Go! Mix with the others. And keep your ears open and your mouth shut!

MONTALVAN (With a withering sneer for ERAUSO, begins mingling and gossiping with GUESTS.)

LOPE (Turns back to ERAUSO. ) Your book is certainly the talk of the town, don Antonio. And really--I've only glanced at it--but it seems to shed no light on what it is that drives you to be what... who you are. That's the part that interests me.

ERAUSO I was not inclined to discuss that when I was writing it down for the first time, don Lope. I learned a long time ago that the answer to such a question can be worth one's life. (Shrugs.) Now, since I saw the Pope, it's no longer such a problem.

LOPE All right, but how did you discover for the first time the danger of being too frank?

ERAUSO I was just a tiny girl of four years. My mother asked me if I would like to be a nun, like my Aunt Ana. I said, "But I'm going to be a soldier, like my brother Miguel." She was mortified. She took me to the convent the very next day.

LOPE For good?

ERAUSO It was my home for the next eleven years. My mother's sister was the prioress, you see. They wanted to make a Dominican nun out of me, they thought I was such a tom-boy.

LOPE Were you indeed?

ERAUSO (Slightly exasperated) Of course, don Lope. There has always been a side of me that is... highly impatient and rambunctious--passionate.

LOPE (Strokes his moustaches) Yes, yes, go on.

ERAUSO Anyway, I escaped just before I was to take my final vows. I grabbed the keys and bolted in the middle of the night. I hid out in the forest while I cut my hair and made breeches and a jerkin of my habit. (Laughs) I was the best-dressed young man in San Sebastian when I finally came out.

LOPE Then What did you do?

ERAUSO I walked all the way to Vitoria. No sooner did I get there when some kids started pestering me. I threw stones at them and hurt one pretty badly. Next thing I knew I was in jail for assault.

LOPE And still no one knew you were... a girl?

ERAUSO I was determined not to tell a soul until they put the noose around my neck. But they never did. The brat got better and they let me go.

LOPE By the saints! However did you manage in jail?

ERAUSO As soon as I went in, the meanest fellow in the place came up to me and threatened me with a piece of glass. I figured I was dead anyway so I just hit him as hard as I could. He was so surprised... he just stood there holding his nose so I hit him again a couple of times and he fell over. Suddenly I owned the place. The others couldn't do enough for me. I had discovered the key to success: strike, don't speak.

LOPE Incredible! You know, I also found myself in jail as a youth.

ERAUSO Really? What for?

LOPE A friend and I decided to leave school and make our way to the Indies. We walked all the way from Madrid to Segovia, where we bought a horse. We were running low on money so I tried to pawn this gold chain I had. The pawnbroker thought we had stolen it and called the police. We sat in jail for several days waiting for the magistrate. What misery! I hated it.

ERAUSO And then?

LOPE The judge had known my father. He sent us back to Madrid under guard with a warning to continue our studies. That was my first and last attempt to reach the Indies. (They both laugh.) It was not, I regret to say, my last visit to the jailhouse.

GUEST (Approaches LOPE with book and quill.)

ERAUSO (Autographs book.)

MONTALVAN (Approaches LOPE and takes him aside.) She's done it! She petitioned the Count Duke for an audience with the King! He's agreed to give her eight hundred a year--for life!

LOPE (Distraught. ) God in heaven! (Recovering.) Good work, Juanito. Go see what else you can find out. Hopefully there's still something left for us. (Pushes him back toward GUESTS. )

WAITER Approaches the pair and offers glasses of sherry. Each takes a glass and raises it in salute.)

ERAUSO To your good health, don Lope.

LOPE A long life, don Antonio. (They quaff their glasses.)

WAITER (Turns to leave.)

ERAUSO (Detains WAITER, takes another glass from the tray, and polishes it off.

LOPE (Watches ERAUSO with interest.)

WAITER (Offers another glass to LOPE who takes it. Bows and leaves.)

LOPE (Downs his glass like ERAUSO.) But you made it to the Indies, don Antonio, and still no one penetrated your disguise?

ERAUSO For the most part, no. At least, not until the end when I confessed everything to the Bishop of Guamanga. It was either that or be hanged.

LOPE An easy choice to make, I should think.

ERAUSO Yes, and no. I lost my freedom. I found myself once again in a convent wearing a nun's habit. They didn't know what else to do with me. Finally they called for me to be sent back here where the matter could be decided once and for all. But as soon as I left that convent I was back in breeches and boots; and that's how I appeared before His Holiness in Rome just a short time ago. Fortunately for me he liked what he saw.

LOPE And now that your masquerade is ended, what will you do?

ERAUSO (Annoyed by the question, his hand instinctively moves to the handle of his sword.) What the devil do you mean, 'masquerade'?

LOPE I mean... so the Pope gave you leave to continue dressing as Antonio, and we all respect you for your daring... but surely, everyone knows your true history by now. Who is there left to fool?

ERAUSO (Disgusted, shakes his head.) "I would understand you myself," you said, but you are no different than any of the others. A playwright! I should have known. You're the one who lives in a land of make-believe, don Lope, not me. Yes, my masque has been removed, but I'm the same person I always was. It's you who has some kind of a problem with who--or, as you say, what I am.

LOPE What ever can you mean? When you say you are the same person you always were, do you mean that you are the devout and serious Basque female headed for the life of a religious? Or do you mean the conquistador of your book, beating the bushes of the Indies for El Dorado? It has to be one or the other, doesn't it?

ERAUSO (Sighs.) Look. This is not one of your shadow plays about dim-witted damsels and lascivious lords. I am a real person. I was born, I grew up, I faced each problem as it came along. I had to become a male person in order to survive. And in spite of a few bad moments it has worked out rather well. So, to answer your question, I intend to continue to live my life as... as a man of strength... a man of action.

LOPE (Clapping.) Bravo! Bravo! You are truly incorrigible, I can see. No wonder the Pope and his cardinals wouldn't take you down. You're one of them.

ERAUSO Perhaps. As for the book, I will admit that Guzmán has given it his own touch in many places. I don't complain too much, though, because he pays me well. Still, as much of it is true as is false.

LOPE Ahh! So your character is, to some degree, contrived.

ERAUSO The book is a glorified representation of some of my exploits and adventures. It is not a window to my soul, as you have noted.

LOPE But in truth you are a woman. I don't need a window on your soul to know that. That's the whole underlying reason for your fame.

ERAUSO Yes, I suppose it is. But my life is more than a masquerade. That is what I wish you to know, don Lope. I am not just play-acting at being a man. As I said, there is a part of me that has always been... impatient and rambunctious--like most men are! But I remain well aware that I am not a man--and glad of it, I might add. (Pause.) It is simply that my masculine aspect, if you will, is the part I have chosen to show to the world. And if I were to stop showing it tomorrow, that's when I would lose my hard won freedom.

LOPE Hmmm. ( Pause. ) Alright, don Antonio, you showed this masculine side, this "impatient and rambunctious" alter ego to the world--and aside from the fact that I still don't understand how in Heaven's name you were able to conceal your true sex from those you came in contact with--what about love? Did you not long for it?

ERAUSO Of course, don Lope. And I still do.

LOPE Well then, how did you...

GUZMAN (Approaches with two young women in tow. They carry a copy of Erauso's book, and a quill.) Excuse me, gentlemen. May I present doña Clara and doña Sol, the daughters of the Duke of Bolarque?

LOPE & ERAUSO (They bow, ERAUSO much more gallantly than LOPE.

DOÑA CLARA (Ignoring LOPE.) We intend to read your book as soon as possible, Señor. But first, will you sign it for us?

ERAUSO It will be a pleasure, my doves, to serve such winsome ladies as yourselves. (Winks at LOPE and signs the book with a flourish.) There you are!

DOÑA CLARA & DOÑA SOL (Curtsey.) Thank you, Señor!

DOÑA CLARA (Grabs ERAUSO'S hand and kisses it.)

DOÑA SOL (Swats her sister and shrieks.)

DOÑA CLARA & DOÑA SOL (Run away, giggling)

ERAUSO (Ogles the girls lasciviously.)

LOPE (Astonished) Well, I never! I suppose you are going to ask Bolarque for the hand of one of them.

ERAUSO I'd be much happier just to meet them behind the cathedral.

LOPE (Incredulous.) Are you going to tell me that you actually make love to women?

ERAUSO Of course, don Lope. Don't you?

LOPE (Exasperated.) Certainly! But...

ERAUSO Even though you are a priest and a Familiar of the Holy Office besides?

LOPE (Speechless.) Well, I... I...

ERAUSO So you are not exactly what you seem either, then.

LOPE My dear don Antonio, as adults we learn to accept a certain... incongruity to life's realities. But what you are implying goes too far. (Pause.) I can't help but believe that there is much of the actor in you, and you are performing for my benefit.

ERAUSO I'll take that as a compliment, coming as it does from the Great Dramaturge. Anyway, it is probably just as well that a Familiar of the Holy Office like yourself should think so, for my sake. Of course I suppose I am rather proof against burning, with the Pope's blessing so fresh upon my crown.

LOPE I should not wish to see you burn in any case, don Antonio, unless you were to start writing bad poetry about me, like some others I could name. I simply want to know how you reconcile your allegedly male heart with your admittedly female body.

ERAUSO Alright. Well... it was the hardest when no one knew anything about me. They just accepted me as a young man. I met many young ladies who were eager and willing. I would carry them along up to a point, then I had to flee.

LOPE That sounds terribly frustrating.

ERAUSO It was, but it was exciting too. Often I had to fight over these girls, which was half the fun, let me tell you. (He rattles his sword.) Finally I met a young mestiza in Chile. Her parents were dead and although she had a bit of money, I had no rivals for her, which seemed strange. She was very sweet. (Sotto voce) One night she begged me to stay and make love to her. At first I made ready to bolt again, but there was something about her that gave me pause. Then I decided, what the hell, why not? I got her all worked up into a frenzy of passion, then I told her the truth, point blank. (Pause.) I expected her to start screaming. But to my utter amazement, she didn't seem all that surprised--and she certainly didn't mind! Everything went really well after that. For the first time in my life I felt like a whole person. We became inseparable.

LOPE Good Lord! (Grimacing.) I still don't see how you...you...

ERAUSO For God's sake, don Lope, I thought you had a fertile imagination? I swear, you men can think of only one thing when you think of love, namely, that ridiculous part of you that you revere as though it had a life of its own. There are so many more possibilities that men don't even know exist.

LOPE (Aghast.) This is outrageous! Lesbia in the Indies!

ERAUSO Shut up, and hear me out. You wanted to know, so I'm telling you. I never expected that a man of your reputation would react to these revelations like some yokel from Trujillo. Maybe Góngora and the others are right.

LOPE Góngora? Don't tell me he's going to show up here tonight!

ERAUSO I couldn't say. But Olivares was telling us about your ongoing duels with your literary rivals. I finally asked, "Why doesn't he use his position with the Holy Office to rid himself of some of them?

LOPE What did he say to that?

ERAUSO He replied, "Because Lope portrays their characters in his plays, and therein inflicts whatever tortures and humiliations he wishes upon them."

LOPE (Sighs.) It's true. I wouldn't condemn my worst enemies to those devils in the Inquisition. I'll vanquish my rivals with wit or not at all! What else did Olivares tell you?

ERAUSO Well, he appreciates your prodigious talent and believes you have no equal--certainly when it comes to the writing of popular plays. But, frankly, he said you have become a corrupt old reprobate of uncertain means and that you have dedicated several of your literary creations to him and to his wife as of late in an attempt to win his patronage.

LOPE (Winces.) Damn! (Pause.) It seems that we both place a high value on His Excellency's favour, don Antonio. I heard about how he helped you with that matter of a royal pension. Eight hundred a year! Not Bad. I only hope I can do as well.

ERAUSO Well, Olivares certainly has the King's ear. Even so, I had to present the most compelling proofs of my military service--testimonials, notarized affidavits, even witnesses. Then I had to settle for the rate of a half-pay ensign even though I served as a captain for six months. Of course I never would have seen a single maravedi if the Pope had not come down on my side. These courtiers are all such tightwads! He said one more thing, by the way--

LOPE Shhh! Here comes His Lordship now!

OLIVARES (Approaches with WAITER in tow who carries a tray with cups of hot chocolate.) Gentlemen! I am glad to see you two getting on so well! Refresh yourselves, please. This chocolate is from my own estates in Mexico.

ERAUSO (Taking a cup.) It is there I would soon go myself, my Lord.

OLIVARES Excellent, don Antonio! I will recommend you to the Viceroy. (Pause.) The stuff is good, is it not? I've applied for an exclusive license to market it here.

LOPE (Takes a cup and sips it.) It is positively delicious, your Lordship. And what a clever idea! I am sure that with Your Lordship's astute guidance the venture cannot fail to be a great success.

OLIVARES How kind of you to say so, don Lope.

LOPE & ERAUSO (Bow politely.)

OLIVARES & WAITER (Leave.)

LOPE (To ERAUSO) I don't know where he would put any more money. It is rumoured that the King himself owes him more than he can ever repay. (Pause.) Yes, don Antonio, I admit I'm looking for a patron. You see, it's a tough business I'm in. It doesn't matter what you've done before--and God knows I've done a lot--you've got to keep producing, or perish. I sometimes wish I had not become a priest. I could use another wealthy wife, these days.

ERAUSO I'm afraid it's too late for you, don Lope. That was the whole question that kept my own case in doubt for so long. It had to be determined that I was never a professed religious. Otherwise I would not have been so easily forgiven.

LOPE (Sighs.) Yes. That much is the same for man or woman.

ERAUSO It's about the only thing that is.

LOPE (Annoyed by the remark.) Well I dare say, don Antonio, you seem to have the best of both worlds at present.

ERAUSO Thanks to the Grand Design. But tell me. I seem to have struck a tender nerve when I mentioned Góngora. Do his jibes still sting you?

LOPE Góngora? That bald-headed lunatic! He suffers from a demented, obsessive love for himself and a fixation with birds. Do you know, he represents our Saviour as a pelican and himself as the Swan of Córdoba? A Swan! Can you believe it? A Gander is more like it. He belongs in the madhouse.

ERAUSO But Olivares thinks he is a great poet, maybe the best in Spain today.

LOPE Ugh! (Lowering his voice) Alright, he is rather good in some ways, but hardly the greatest. He is certainly the most difficult, the most obscure. But what is the good of that if no one can understand what the devil he's talking about? Who is his art for, anyway?

ERAUSO (Shrugs.)

LOPE Listen. I've written hundreds of plays and comedies. I've written epic poems, ballads, sonnets, novels, you name it. And I've earned plenty of praise and a living besides. Góngora gained a lot of his attention when he wrote a few lines ridiculing my family crest. Why? Because he envies my prodigious talent, my popular acclaim, my beautiful women.

ERAUSO Oh! Tell me more!

LOPE Of course, I cater to the popular taste! Why shouldn't I? The people love me for it. They fill my belly and warm my winters with their applause. That's art as art should be, not some obscurantist nonsense that only the cleverest of people can decipher. Among which I am not, apparently. I've been reading this "new poetry" for years now and I can't make hide or hair of it.

ERAUSO You may be right, don Lope. I haven't read Góngora myself. I prefer more traditional and exciting fare. But do tell me more about your beautiful women.

LOPE Ahh! Well, I'm pretty well an old man now...

ERAUSO Not to say a priest.

LOPE That only prevents me from marrying. I only mention women to show how they are part and parcel of my genius. You see, the same creative force that drives the pen in my hand drives me to their comforting embrace. I give men what they want with my plays. I give women what they want, too: my love. All I need is Eve's apple, a bundle of quills, and a bottle of ink. Alas, that's the way God made me.

ERAUSO Are you saying you could not write without the love of women?

LOPE Hmmph! Let's just say I couldn't imagine trying.

ERAUSO But don Lope, your affairs have been tumultuous, as often as not ending up in the law courts for all to see. You have been banished, imprisoned, attacked. It would seem that your romantic liaisons have provided more in the way of distraction than inspiration.

LOPE You're looking only at the down side of it. I have fathered many beautiful children, some of whom God was pleased to take from me. Others serve Him in convent and monastery. No, it was worth it, believe me. (Pause.) Listen. Don't you ever feel like taking that sword belt off and fulfilling the biological destiny that was meant for you?

ERAUSO (Aside) Here we go again. (To LOPE) No, I don't, because my destiny is to bear arms for the glory of God and King, not to bear children for some unsufferable lout who can't even bend over to put on his own shoes. (Mocking tone.) "Alas, that's the way " God made ME ," don Lope.

LOPE And as long as you keep saying that, you know you are safe. Incredible! Who would have thought it? (Pause.) Don Antonio, you say you are glad not to be a man, and yet you have tried harder to achieve and maintain your manly status than any fellow I have ever met. Explain that to me, if you can.

ERAUSO Well, I don't try as hard as I used to. I don't have to anymore, thanks to His Holiness. But to answer your question, it is simple: men are never satisfied with what they achieve. If they win silver, then it's gold they want. The most beautiful woman in the world becomes less so the moment they possess her. Even a king's crown loses its brilliance, and he bridles to conquer another's domain. Women, on the other hand, want only to see their men satisfied and have things stay on an even keel. That way, they can pursue their own interests without distraction.

LOPE But I can think of many exceptions to your rule, yourself not the least of them!

ERAUSO True, there are always exceptions and I certainly am one. But what you say about your women and your creative urge shows that you are not. The general rule holds sway. In most cases the caprices of men bring endless grief to themselves and to those around them. I can think of no better parable that attests to it than the episode in Cervantes' tale--

LOPE Cervantes! May the saints preserve me from that... that mountebank! If there ever was one person I should have liked to condemn to the quemadero it was he!

ERAUSO (Ignoring him.) ..."The Man who was Too Curious for his Own Good."

LOPE (Getting furious.) He stole that! He stole all of that stuff!

ERAUSO From you?

LOPE From somebody. What does it matter? He was a highway robber among plagiarists! That man didn't have a creative bone in his body. In the time it took him to write that nonsense, I wrote and sold over three hundred plays. I can't believe this. All the attention he got for one stupid book!

ERAUSO Two books.

LOPE The second was even worse.

ERAUSO Some say you wrote that one.

LOPE You refer to the false edition of the second part. I have no idea who wrote it, but Cervantes shouldn't have complained. He needed all the help he could get.

ERAUSO You must admit, Don Quixote is funny.

LOPE No it isn't. It's boring and idiotic.

ERAUSO I was about to say, my favorite episode is "The Man who was Too Curious for his Own Good."

LOPE Spare me, please!

ERAUSO (Ignoring him.) In that episode I am reminded of why I am glad I am not a man. Two very handsome young lads are inseparable friends. They come of age. One marries a beautiful maiden and the two friends must live apart. But the husband asks his friend to make a pass at his wife while he is away. Just to see what will happen, he says. To test her loyalty. The friend is appalled but finally allows himself to be cajoled into trying it. At first the wife refuses him. The husband returns and urges his friend to keep on trying. Finally she consents to lay with him. Before long, the new lovers are plotting against the husband and they all descend into a web of intrigue and murder.

LOPE (Groans) He stole it, I tell you. That tale is as old as the hills.

ERAUSO It is clear that what the husband really wanted was to retain his first love, his boyhood friend. But the intrigue he caused created an impossible situation for the others that could only end in chaos.

LOPE Well, your interpretation of it is certainly novel--not surprising, really. But why does it remind you that you are glad you are not a man?

ERAUSO Because it shows how men's eternal dis-satisfaction and risk-taking undermine whatever tranquillity life may offer. The husband character brought disaster down on all their heads because he couldn't be honest with himself or the others about what he really wanted. His friend eventually became his enemy in order to justify his behaviour with the wife. The wife, like most women, as I said before, simply wanted tranquillity, so in the end she chose to cast her lot with the man who seemed the most stable. She was pure and innocent until she was drawn into the mess those two men made.

LOPE Very well, then. Let us suppose that it was two women and one man. How might it have come out differently?

ERAUSO Let's put it this way, don Lope: if it had been as you say there would likely have been no tale to tell. Most women have enough sense to keep their mouths shut.

LOPE And what if you had been one of the women?

ERAUSO That's no good. I am an exception to the rule. Remember?

LOPE (Shaking his head.) I am afraid any play I write about you will have to wait. I am no closer to understanding you now than I was before we met.

ERAUSO As I told you, no one does.

MONTALVAN I do! Let me write the play about her, don Lope!

ERAUSO (Draws her sword and menaces MONTALVAN.) About who, you little guttersnipe?

MONTALVAN Eeeek! (Hides behind LOPE.)

LOPE (Pushes MONTALVAN away, annoyed.) So, what will you do now, don Antonio?

MONTALVAN (Scurries away to join other GUESTS who are now departing.

ERAUSO (Replacing her sword.) I'm going back to the Indies, to Mexico, perhaps. There is a place where a person can be what they are--unlike here, where everyone pretends that they are something they are not, conveniently ignoring the fact that they are starving to death. I will be a merchant and carry my goods with my own mule train. As long as I can take care of myself and handle my sword, no one will dare to treat me with disrespect. There I can have what I've always wanted: the freedom to be myself!

LOPE (Gives ERAUSO a long look, then looks away.) If what you say is true, then I envy you.

ERAUSO (Takes his arm.) Come to the Indies, don Lope! It's a great place! You could be the founder of the theatre of the New World.

LOPE No, no. It is too late, don Antonio. My tomb is already waiting for me, here in Madrid.

ERAUSO So, leave it for someone else's bones to fill. Your greatest accomplishments may yet lie before you.

LOPE (Shakes his head negatively.) I hardly think so.

GUZMAN (Approaches ERAUSO and LOPE and bows politely.) Gentlemen. Don Antonio, we must be away. We have more business to attend to.

ERAUSO (Sighs and bows politely to LOPE.) Good-bye, don Lope.

LOPE Wait! What were you about to tell me when Olivares came?

ERAUSO Oh, yes. He told me that your rival Cervantes once called you a freak of nature. As fellow renegades, then, Olivares thinks you and I should be great friends.

LOPE (Agitated.) Damn the impertinence of the fellow! I wish the Count Duke were not so blasted important to my plans! And damn Cervantes, too! All that fuss over one book! (Turns and looks long at ERAUSO.)

ERAUSO (Gazing back at LOPE with an amused smile.)

LOPE Freaks of nature, eh? (Long pause. Paces back and forth, in deep thought.) I don't know. I must say, there is something I like about the cut of your jib, don Antonio, even if I can't really understand what kind of a wind fills your sails. You took on the entire Holy Roman Empire singlehanded until you had it at your feet. Who could not fail to admire that? (Pause.) Whatever Olivares means, he is right about this: we should be great friends. (Extends his hand to ERAUSO. )

ERAUSO (Clasps LOPE's hand.) And so we shall. The best of luck to you, don Lope. I shall never forget you or this day.

ERAUSO & LOPE (Embrace as men.)

LOPE (As they begin to part, LOPE gives ERAUSO a tender peck on the cheek.)

ERAUSO (Pushes LOPE away with annoyance.) Cut that out, will you! (Rubs her cheek with the back of her hand.)

LOPE (Grins.)

GUZMAN (Tugging at ERAUSO's sleeve.) Let's go!

ALL (exit, chatting among themselves. Lights fade slowly to darkness.)

Curtain

Footnotes

1. Male cross-dressing was virtually unknown in Europe during this period except among actors on the stage where, with the unlikely exception of Spain, the custom of female actors was prohibited.

2. This misapprehension continued long after the era of Erauso. But Ferrer, in this footnote referring to the most explicit sexual encounter described in his edition of Erauso's autobiography, comes a bit closer to the heart of the matter: It is not, as will be seen further on, the last time this singular woman has the inclination to woo maidens, perhaps because she came to entertain the false hope that she was a man, or perhaps because she made use of this trick to further conceal from people her true sex. (See Ferrer, 20, footnote1, my translation. The incident appears on page 51 of the present work.)

3. Tellechea, 57.

4. Ibid., 318.

5. Ibid., 75, footnote (3).

6. Ferrer, 127-129.

7. See page 27.

8. Ferrer, 111-112.

9. Ibid., 112-113, My translation. The Capuchins are a branch of the Franciscan Order.

10. These petitions are filed in the Archive of the Indies in Seville where I was able to examine and obtain copies of them in 1993. A photocopy of the one translated here follows. Its lack of a royal stamp and general messiness suggest that it was an early draft.

11. Good legal counsel might well have advised against putting too much on the royal plate at one time.