The Lives of Women

Lisa Vollendorf

Description

Recovering voices long relegated to silence, The Lives of Women deciphers the responses of women to the culture of control in seventeenth-century Spain. In this new history of Inquisitional Spain, Lisa Vollendorf incorporates convent texts, Inquisition cases, biographies, and women's literature to reveal a previously unrecognized boom in women's writing between 1580 and 1700.

During this period, more women wrote for the public book market and participated in literary culture than ever before. In addition, the rise in convents and female education contributed to a marked increase in texts produced by and about women in religious orders. Vollendorf argues that, in conjunction with Inquisition and legal documents, this wealth of writing offers unprecedented access to women's perspectives on life in early modern Spain, and that those perspectives encompass diverse ethnic backgrounds and class differences. Many of the documents touch on issues of sex and intimacy; others provide new ways of understanding religious practice in the period. Perhaps most important, these writings give a richly textured view of how women reacted to the dominant culture's attempts to define, limit, and contain femininity. Vollendorf shows that the texts reflect a shared preoccupation with redefining gender and creating legitimate spaces for women.

As The Lives of Women vividly illustrates, hundreds, if not thousands, of women's stories await rediscovery in archives. The book provides a roadmap for understanding the experiences and concerns of wives, widows, sisters, and daughters who lived in a key moment in the development of the Spanish nation and the Hispanic world. At its core, The Lives of Women argues for a reconceptualization of history, one that will rely on the experiences of women and minorities as much as on the words and actions of kings and conquistadors.

Sujets

• Women's Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• History of Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780826591920
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Lisa Vollendorf is Associate Professor of Spanish at California State University, Long Beach. Author ofReclaiming the Body: María de Zayas’s Early Modern Feminism and editor ofRecovering Spain’s Feminist Traditionand ofLiteratura y feminismo en España: siglos XV–XXI,she has won fellowships from the Newberry Library, UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, and the Huntington Library.

Front cover illustration:Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (-),Two Women at a Window, oil on canvas. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection. Image ©  Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Design:Dariel Mayer

He long-silent voices of women in the age of the Spanish Inquisition

“At once accessible and most obviously a scholarly endeavor, e Lives of Womenwill appeal to many audiences.” —Stacey Schlau, West Chester University

“. . . destined to become a milestone in the field of Golden Age Studies. . . . Drawing from an extensive array of primary and secondary sources . . . Vollendorf clearly makes the case for a new model of study within the field of Golden Age Studies.” —Reyes Coll-Tellechea, University of Massachusetts, Boston

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESS Nashville, Tennessee 37235 www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com

Nuns, noblewomen, witches, and writers—all had a voice in early modern Spain, yet their words have been relegated to silence for centu- ries.he Lives of Womenrecovers the experi- ences of women from all walks of life who lived and even thrived in the controlling culture of Inquisitional Spain.

Among the voices are those of . . .

Eleno/a de Céspedes (c. 545 or 546–?): Born a morisca slave girl and named after her master, Céspedes married, gave birth, and developed a protrusion that eventually led to her transformation from woman to man. Tried by the Inquisition in the s, Céspedes was sentenced to ten years of service in a hospital and was forced to live as a woman.

Zebriana de Escobar (b. 600s):Witness in the sorcery trial of María Romero in , Escobar was a widow who was beaten by her domestic partner. She testified to the Inquisition that she paid Romero for remedies to stop the violence.

Oliva Sabuco (567–?):Philosopher and humanist with an orientation toward science, Sabuco is the author or co-author of theNueva Filosofía de la Naturaleza del Hombre().

Constanza Ossorio (c. 565–637):Cistercian nun whose posthumously publishedHuerta del celestial esposo() advises nuns and monks on proper Christian behavior.

ISBN 0-8265-1481-2 ™xHSKIMGy514813z

VOLLENDORF TheLives ofWomen The Lives of Women A ew istorY o ïnquisitiona ŚPain A ew istorY o ïnquisitiona ŚPain

VANDERBILT

Lisa VoendorF

HISPANIC STUDIES / WOMEN’S STUDIES

Recovering voices long relegated to silence, e Lives of Womendeciphers the responses of women to the culture of control in sev- enteenth-century Spain. In this new history of Inquisitional Spain, Lisa Vollendorf in- corporates convent texts, Inquisition cases, biographies, and women’s literature to reveal a previously unrecognized boom in women’s writing between  and .  During this period, more women wrote for the public book market and participated in literary culture than ever before. In addi- tion, the rise in convents and female educa- tion contributed to a marked increase in texts produced by and about women in religious orders. Vollendorf argues that, in conjunc- tion with Inquisition and legal documents, this wealth of writing offers unprecedented access to women’s perspectives on life in early modern Spain, and that those perspectives encompass diverse ethnic backgrounds and class differences. Many of the documents touch on issues of sex and intimacy; others provide new ways of understanding religious practice in the period. Perhaps most impor- tant, these writings give a richly textured view of how women reacted to the dominant culture’s attempts to define, limit, and con- tain femininity. Vollendorf shows that the texts reflect a shared preoccupation with redefining gender and creating legitimate spaces for women.  Ase Lives of Womenvividly illustrates, hundreds, if not thousands, of women’s sto- ries await rediscovery in archives. e book provides a roadmap for understanding the experiences and concerns of wives, widows, sisters, and daughters who lived in a key moment in the development of the Spanish nation and the Hispanic world. At its core, e Lives of Womenargues for a reconcep- tualization of history, one that will rely on the experiences of women and minorities as much as on the words and actions of kings and conquistadors.

he Lives of Women A New History of Inquisitional Spain

The Lives of Women

A New Hiŝtory of Inquiŝitional Spain

Lisa Vollendorf

Vanderbilt University Press 

©  Vanderbilt University Press All rigts reserved First Edition 

his book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in te United States of America

Publication of tis book as been supported by a generous subsidy from te Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vollendorf, Lisa.  he lives of women : a new istory of Inquisitional Spain / Lisa Vollendorf.—st ed., .  p. cm.  Includes bibliograpical references and index.  --- (clot : alk. paper) . Women—Spain—History. . Women—Spain—Social conditions. . Women autors, Spanis. . Feminism—Spain— History. . Inquisition—Spain. I. Title. .  .’’—dc  

In onor of Mary Elizabet Perry, an exemplary scolar and friend

1

2

3

4

CONTENTS

  

  Defining Gender he Inquisition

“I am a mananda woman”: Eleno/a de Céspedes Faces te Inquisition Bernarda Manuel: Defending Femininity to te Holy Office

  Imagining Gender Women and heir Readers

Women in Fiction: María de Zayas and Mariana de Carvajal Women Onstage: Angela de Azevedo, María de Zayas, and Ana Caro

ix xi 1

1

3

5

7

1

2

7

4

viii

5

6

7

8

he Liveŝ o Women

  Women’s Worlds Convent Culture

Nuns as Writers: he Cloister and Beyond Nuns as Moters: Biology and Spirituality

  Women’s Networks Leadersip and Community

Single Women: he Price of Independence Toward a History of Women’s Education

       

93

118

147

169

187 193 195 201 239 257

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

esearc support for tis book was provided by many sources, in- cluding postdoctoral fellowsips from te Monticello College Foun- doct R oral Fellowsip from UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial  dation at te Newberry Library and an Amanson-Getty Post- Library and te Center for Seventeent and Eigteent Century Studies. Wayne State University gave me several researc leaves, wic allowed me to finis te book. Numerous grants from te university’s general researc funds and te Humanities Center provided funding for arcival researc during tree summers in Madrid. In , an Andrew W. Mellon grant at te Huntington Library afforded me te opportunity to consult Inquisition cases at tat institution, and a researc grant from te Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture, Education, and Sports and United States Universities funded a trip to Spanis arcives.  Arcivists in te United States and in Spain gave of teir time and knowledge to elp bring te project to completion. he following people guided my researc: Jon Aubry and Jon Powell, of te Newberry Library; Jennifer Scaffner and Bruce Witeman, of UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; and te librarians and reader services personnel at te Huntington Library. In Spain, te fine staff at te Biblioteca Nacional and at te Arcivo Histórico Nacional, particularly Pilar Bravo Lledó and José Luis Clares, and at te Biblioteca Nacional assisted me in my researc. Finally, te Humanities Center at Wayne State University and te Asoci- ación de Escritoras de España y las Américas (–) provided invalu- able scolarly support.  he editors at teArizona Journal for Hispanic Cultural Studiesand te University Press of Florida generously gave permission to reprint revised versions of “he Future of Early Modern Women’s Studies: he Case of Same-Sex Friendsip and Desire in Zayas and Carvajal” (Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies  []: –) and of “Desire Unbound: Women’s heater of Spain’s Golden Age,” in Joan Cammarata, ed.,Women’s Discourse in Early Modern SpainPress of Florida, ). Bar- (University

ix