Catalina de Erauso

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Catalina de Erauso, also known as La Monja Alférez (English The Nun Lieutenant) (1595, San Sebastián, Spain—1650, Cuetlaxtla, New Spain), was a semilegendary personality of Spain and Spanish America in the first half of the seventeenth century.

She was a Basque woman, daughter and sister of soldiers from the city of San Sebastian, Spain. She was expected to become a nun but abandoned the nunnery after a beating at the age of fifteen, just before she was to take her vows. She dressed herself as a man and left on a long journey from San Sebastian to Valladolid. From there she visited Bilbao, where she enrolled on a ship with the assistance of other Basques. She reached Spanish America and enlisted as a soldier under the name Alonso Díaz Ramírez. She served under several captains, suspposedly including her own brother, who never recognized her.

She served in Chile in the wars with the Araucano Indians. In the service she gained a reputation as a courageous soldier, gambler, and fighter. This eventful military career culminated in her promotion to lieutenant, which title, combined with her early days in the nunnery, led to her becoming known as The Lieutenant Nun (La Monja Alférez).

Perhaps above all she was a habitual duelist, responsible for the deaths of dozens of men. According to her autobiography, these included her own brother, whom she inadvertedly killed in a late night altercation. She claims to have recognized him only when she heard his death cries in the dark.

She also participated in commerce, always for Basque businessmen. She killed many men in different walks of life, some of them soldiers, bureaucrats, or officers of the Spanish crown. To escape she took refuge many times in churches, taking sanctuary, which at that time was sacred; soldiers couldn't enter into sanctuary in pursuit of anyone. Furthermore, her Basque heritage kept her employed, even with such a lengthy criminal record.

After one fight in which she killed a man, she was sentenced to death. To escape execution, she revealed her gender to Bishop Fray Agustin de Carvajal, who allowed her to escape punishment and return to Spain. This she did in 1624, dressed as a nun.

She again left Spain, this time for New Spain, where she became a mule driver on the road from Veracruz. In New Spain she used the name Antonio de Erauso. She eventually achieved such a level of fame that she was granted a special dispensation by Pope Urban VIII to wear men's clothing. She died in Cuetlaxtla in 1650.

She may have been a hermaphrodite. An alleged autobiography exists, the earliest manuscript of which dates from 1794. The 1838 edition of this book is available on-line. Her life was also the theme of various novels and of a study by Dr. Nicolás León. A movie starring Esperanza Roy was released in Spain on June 4, 1987.