ARTICULO ORIGINAL
Área: Ciencias Sociales; Disciplina: Historia; Tema: Historia Social
Idioma: Inglés; Escritura: Individual
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47133/respy26002301art05
BIBLID: 0251-2483 (2023-1), 156-184
The “mujeres enamoradas”: Prostitution,
Amancebamiento and Marriage in
Sixteenth-Century Rio de la Plata
a
Las "mujeres enamoradas": Prostitución,
amancebamiento y matrimonio en el
siglo XVI en el Río de la Plata
Guillaume Candela
Universidad de Leeds, Escuela de Historia, Leeds, Reino Unido
Contacto: G.C.Candela@leeds.ac.uk
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6624-4583
Abstract: This article studies the role of the mujeres enamoradas, a
category of prostitute during the Spanish conquest of the Rio de la Plata. A
long judicial process found in the National Archives of Paraguay describes
the attitude of the Spanish elites and their control over Spanish whores. This
essay shows how these women were powerful agents in this region and
aims to understand the daily life of these invisible actors and women in
conquest era society. It examines the complex network between Spanish
women and different colonial subjects to understand women’s spaces of
power in early colonial Rio de la Plata.
Keywords: prostitution; women; marriage; sex; power; Rio de la Plata;
conquest.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
Resumen: Este artículo estudia el papel de las «mujeres enamoradas»
en la conquista del Río de la Plata. Un largo proceso judicial encontrado en
el Archivo Nacional de Asunción describe la actitud de las élites españolas
y su control sobre las mujeres y en particular las mujeres prostitutas
españolas. Este ensayo muestra cómo estas mujeres fueron agentes
poderosos en esta región y pretende comprender la vida cotidiana de estos
actores invisibles en la sociedad de la era de la conquista. Este trabajo
examina la red compleja entre las mujeres españolas y los diferentes temas
coloniales para entender los espacios de poder de las mujeres en el periodo
colonial temprano del Río de la Plata.
Palabras clave: prostitución; mujeres; matrimonio; sexo, poder; Río de la
Plata; conquista.
Articulo enviado: 5/4/2023
Articulo aceptado: 12/6/2023
Conflictos de Interés: Ninguno que declarar.
157
Este es un artículo publicado en acceso abierto bajo una Licencia
Creative Commons - Atribución 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0).
Citación Recomendada: Candela, G. (2023). The “mujeres enamoradas”:
Prostitution, Amancebamiento and Marriage in Sixteenth-Century Rio de la
Plata. Revista Estudios Paraguayos, Vol. 41 (1), 156-184.
https://doi.org/10.47133/respy26002301art05
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Introduction
The Spanish colony settlement in the Rio de la Plata region was
marked and transformed by the presence of women from different
origins and roles, including noble Spanish women, poor Spanish
women, Indigenous women, African and Afrodescent women 1. Luisa
de Torres and Ana de Ribera were among the poor and working
Spanish women who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of
opportunities in the New World. Luisa de Torres, also known as La
Torres, joined the Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca's expedition in 1540
and settled in the Island of Santa Catalina in 1541 with the
Spaniards. Ana de Ribera certainly took away from Spain with the
Pedro de Mendoza’s expedition in 1535 and help settling the two
main cities of the Rio de la Plata: Buenos Aires in 1536 and
Asuncion of Paraguay in 1541. In the documentation, Luisa de
Torres was targeted by Spanish authorities as a mujer enamorada.
In 1543, Spanish conquistador Sebastian de Valdivieso mentioned
the tragic death of Luisa de Torres, who drowned when the galley
she joined to go from Santa Catalina Island to Asuncion sank in the
Parana River. Valdivieso requested to have back a blanket, a bed
sheet, two shirts, two pillows, two handkerchiefs, and two shirwal
trousers that were found in her possession 2. These were probably
part of Luisa de Torres' salary for services performed for Sebastian
de Valdivieso on the island. However, Valdivieso himself did not
confess that he gave these items to Luisa in exchange for sexual
services, but rather explained that Luisa had helped him when he
was sick. In the same year, December 1543, Ana de Ribera started
a trial against Luis Ramirez for stealing some textiles from her house
in Asuncion3. All testimonies in the trial mentioned that Luis Ramirez
had taken back with violence a mattress that he had given to her for
her buenos servicios. Although Ana was not identified in this case
1
I thank Dr. Hannah Abrahamson for heir insight on previous versions of
this article.
2 Carta de Sebastian de Valdivieso contra los bienes de Luisa de Torres.
Asunción 8 de enero de 1543. Archivo Nacional de Asunción, Sección
Nueva Encuadernación (hereafter cited as ANA, SNE), N°307. Folios 106v.
3 Proceso criminal Ana de Ribera contra Luis Ramirez. Asunción 29 de
diciembre de 1543. ANA, SNE, N°307. Folios 116r.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
as a mujer enamorada by the Spanish justice, she was identified as
such in another document. Luis Ramirez confessed that he had
given the mattress to Ana to be cleaned and stated that it was not a
gift neither a salary. The activities of mujeres enamoradas in colonial
Latin America were related with sexual services but also connected
with washerwoman activities such as cleaning cloth, pillows, and
mattresses for Spaniards4.
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Exploring and analyzing the role of women in Latin America during
the installation of Spanish society remains a methodological and
historiographical challenge for many scholars. Indeed, perhaps the
greatest obstacle for historians in initiating a study on women
through the Conquest is the lack of primary sources. The absence
or scarcity of documents written by and about women in the
sixteenth century is undoubtedly the biggest difficulty that
academics must deal with. However, women’ agency in the
development of colonial societies in Latin America, especially
Spanish women, is an existing line of research that has offered many
novel results. Since the end of the twentieth century, pioneering
works linked women to spirituality and the Church5. More recently,
research projects have emerged studying women as highly relevant
elements directly linked to other colonial institutions such as the
encomienda.6 A correlated topic appears as a transversal axis in all
4
This fascinating connection would have to be explored in a future project.
Burns, Colonial Habits - Convents and the Spiritual Economy of Cuzco,
Peru; Van Deusen, Between the Sacred and the Worldly - The Institutional
and Cultural Practice of Recogimiento in Colonial Lima; Benassy-Berling,
Sor Juana Inès de La Cruz - Une Femme de Lettres Exceptionnelle,
Mexique XVIIe Siècle; Delgado, Laywomen and the Making of Colonial
Catholicism in New Spain, 1630–1790; Myscofski, Amazons, Wives, Nuns,
and Witches: Women and the Catholic Church in Colonial Brazil, 15001822.
6 Few, Women Who Live Evil Lives: Gender, Religion, and the Politics of
Power in Colonial Guatemala; Vieira Powers, Women in the Crucible of
Conquest - The Gendered Genesis of Spanish American Society, 15001600; Jefferson and Lokken, Daily Life in Colonial Latin America; Socolow,
The Women of Colonial Latin America; Almorza Hidalgo, “No se hace
pueblo sin ellas”: mujeres españolas en el virreinato de Perú : emigración y
movilidad social (siglos XVI-XVII); Pérez Miguel, «Mujeres ricas y libres» Mujer y poder : Inés Muñoz y las encomenderas en el Perú (s. XVI).
5
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Guillaume Candela
this historiographical production: women and the colonial
representation of their sexuality in the Early Modern period. Some
publications had a great impact highlighting the role of sex to
understand the portrayal of women in Europe and Latin America
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.7 The outputs
revolving around the study of prostitution both in Europe and in Latin
America can be apprehended separately.8
However, historiographically the Rio de la Plata region has been
overlooked; if we compare the study of New Spain, Peru and Brazil
which have received the majority of scholarly attention on sexuality.9
The profound imbalances in the treatment of Spanish American
territories have an impact on historical production about women’s
agency in the construction of early colonial Rio de la Plata society.
To fill this gap, this paper studies the relationship between Spanish
or mixed-race women and sexuality in the conquest society of Rio
de la Plata, focusing on the context of prostitution. First, the agency
of women mediated by sexuality in this early colonial society will be
pondered, in relation to fear and the Spanish representation of
honor. Then, the study will focus on sex and power agencies to
understand the realities of some women searching their way up the
socio-economic scale through the sex trade. The world of
Lavrin, “Sexuality in colonial Mexico: A church dilemma”; Lavrin, Sexuality
in Colonial Spanish America; Loetz, A New Approach to the History of
Violence: “Sexual Assault” and “Sexual Abuse” in Europe, 1500-1850;
Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide.
8 García Herrero, “El mundo de la prostitución en las ciudades
bajomedievales”; López Beltrán, “Hacia la marginalidad de las mujeres en
el reino de Granada (1487-1540)”; Moreno Mengíbar and Vázquez García,
“Poderes y prostitución en España (siglos xiv-xvii). El caso de Sevilla»”; Von
Germeten, Profit and Passion: Transactional Sex in Colonial Mexico; Drinot,
The Sexual Question – A History of Prostitution in Peru, 1850s-1950s;
Page, Prostitution and Subjectivity in Late Medieval Germany.
9 Maura, “Adelantadas, virreinas y aventureras en los primeros años de la
conquista de América”; Langa Pizarro, “Mujeres en la expedición de Pedro
de Mendoza”; Langa Pizarro, Mujeres de armas tomar. De la aparente
sumisión a la conquista paraguaya y rioplatense; Monte de López Moreira,
“Mujeres de la Conquista del Paraguay”; Monte de López Moreira, “Mujeres
de la Colonia.”Añón and Gosselin, “Women ‘Cronistas’ in Colonial Latin
America.” Soto Vera, Duarte Sckell, and Taboada Gómez, Más que
gloriosas.
7
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
prostitution in early colonial Rio de la Plata will also be outlined.
Finally, through the examination of a criminal case dating from 1542,
a portrayal of the mujeres enamoradas, will be drawn as archetypal
figures of entre deux, women who developed defense mechanisms
to survive and somehow impose illegitimate power in the eyes of
conquest era society. Lopez Beltran defines these mujeres
enamoradas as follows:
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¿Quiénes eran las mujeres enamoradas? En opinión de las
autoridades concejiles, las mujeres enamoradas no eran iguales que
las putas “que ganavan por las tavernas e bodegones e otras
partes”. Es decir, eran mujeres establecidas en la ciudad, bien como
vecinas o como moradoras, diferenciándose de las mujeres de la
mancebía, que eran “estantes” y desconocidas, cuya vida
transcurría de ciudad en ciudad, y de prostíbulo en prostíbulo,
frecuentando malas compañías y, en más de un caso, huidas de la
justicia de otros lugares por deudoras. En consecuencia, las
“mujeres enamoradas”, pese a dedicarse a la prostitución, no
carecían de una cierta estima en el vecindario, sobre todo si se tiene
en cuenta que su clientela se nutría de hombres casados, a los que
les estaba prohibido entrar en las tabernas y mesones de la ciudad.
[…] A las “mujeres enamoradas”, dueñas de su sexualidad y de su
trabajo, se oponían las mujeres de la mancebía, que carecían de
libertad laboral y de cuyo trabajo se beneficiaban rufianes y
arrendatarios de la mancebía.10
To carry out this essay, I analyze an extensive corpus of documents
collected during my examination of several European and Latin
American repositories. From documentary corpus and bibliographic
material, the article aims to grasp realities of the daily life of Spanish
or mixed-race women in sixteenth-century Rio de la Plata.11 This
article is dialoguing with a historiographical stream that seeks to
analyze women actors as active colonial subjects. This research
also responds to a current need to outline the power of women in
10 López Beltrán, “Hacia la marginalidad de las mujeres en el reino de
Granada (1487-1540),” 100–101.
11 This work studies mainly the agency of Spanish women and mestizo. For
a study focusing on indigenous women in the province of Río de la Plata
and Paraguay during the sixteenth-century, see: Candela, “Las mujeres
indígenas en la conquista del Paraguay entre 1541 y 1575.”.
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the early colonial society in Latin America. It also contributes to
extend spatial limits of women’s agency integrating the Rio de
la Plata to the study of this matter.
Sex, Fear and Honor: Women’s Agency in Early
Colonial Rio de la Plata
Van Deusen is one of the first scholars to highlight the social
condition of women in both Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru during
the sixteenth century, presenting the harsh reality lived by many girls
and women:
A partir de 1530 en España, y particularmente en Andalucía, muchas
mujeres y niñas fueron abandonadas por el éxodo en masa de
maridos […] que decidieron ir a las Indias. Muchas tuvieron que
sostenerse económicamente […] Algunas mujeres vivían en
congregaciones informales en casas privadas; otras, en edificios
colindantes con iglesias, en la forma de emparedamientos. Otras
bajaron a las calles, aumentando la prostitución en forma notable.
Otro tipo de recogimiento, llamado galeras, fue establecido con el
fin de controlar ese “elemento marginal” de la sociedad. Entre 1530
y 1570 un número creciente de mujeres escogió vivir en beaterios.
El camino de la aventura atrajo a otras mujeres más valientes, que
se encaminaron hacia las Indias.12
As Van Deusen depicted, the greatest concerns of women
regardless of their social class was surviving in a world wholly
shaped by the presence or absence of a male subject. Fathers and
husbands were perceived as primary guardians and advocates of
wife's and daughter's honor, and any other women dependents.13
Bianca Premo highlighted in her book, patriarchs were expected to
Van Deusen, “Los primeros recogimientos para doncellas mestizas en
Lima y Cusco, 1550-1580,” 257.
13 Socolow, The Women of Colonial Latin America, 8. Socolow, 8; Premo,
Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority, and Legal Minority in Colonial
Lima, 70–79.
12
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
care for more than female dependents; Males subject have to
provide for male children, servants and slaves as well 14.
In Rio de la Plata, and more precisely in the provincial capital
Asuncion, several testimonies confirm the dangerous and fragile
position experienced not only by women but also by their families.
Many women, depending on their social rank, were constantly torn
between respecting social codes and legal norms or trespassing
conventions within a society where all cards are redistributed.
Documents produced along the sixteenth century from Asuncion,
make us to understand that many of Spanish and mixed-race
women try to reach the ultimate goal: contracting a marriage that
can increase the family’s wealth or even stabilize their situation.
A letter from Isabel de Guevara to the Queen Juana of Austria
written in 1556 describes a peculiar situation in Rio de la Plata:
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A esta probinçia del rrio de la plata con el primer governador della
Don Pedro de Mendoça avemos venydo çiertas mugeres entres las
quales a querido my ventura que fuese yo la una y como la armada
llegase al puerto de Buenos Ayres con 1500 hombres y les faltase
el bastimento fue tamaña la hambre que acabo de 3 meses murieron
los 1000 [...] sino fuera por ellas todos fueran acabados y sino fuera
por la honra de los hombres muchas mas cosas escriviera con
berdad y los diera a hellos por testigos esta rrelaçion bien creo que
la escribiran a Vuestra Alteza mas largamente y por eso sesare.15
The letter refers to the major expedition led by the first adelantado
Pedro de Mendoza, which entered the estuary of the Rio de la Plata
in 1536. After having suffered several human losses in the first
Buenos Aires, it was decided to move the provincial capital from
Buenos Aires to Asuncion in 1541. Of the entire Spanish contingent,
14 Premo, Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority, and Legal Minority
in Colonial Lima.
15 Carta de doña Isabel de Guevara a la reina Juana de Austria en que trata
de los trabajos de las mujeres en favor de los hombres y suplica se de
repartimiento a su marido Pedro de Esquivel, Asunción 2 de julio de 1556.
Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, Colección de documentos de Indias, 24,
N°18.
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more than 1000 people died in these first years of conquest, so more
than 75% of the members of the expedition.
These words of Isabel de Guevara are truly exceptional insofar as
she openly declares to the Queen that men and women roles were
exchanged, and she defines herself as the guardian of men honor,
refusing to depict the greatest difficulties suffered by male figures.
This quote comes to ponders the rigidity of norms in contexts such
as the military conquest of Latin American lands during the first
moments of colonization, assigning the lead to women in the
conquest of this territory. However, Guevara's letter is an
exceptional example and is not representative of the norm observed
in other documents.16 Most of the evidence portray a situation of
fragility towards relationships between men and women in society.
As Socolow points out, women have been perceived through the
sixteenth century as weak and easily corrupted and oscillate in a
binary position between good and evil. And the Rio de la Plata is no
exception to the rule. For example, Pedro de Jara in a letter written
in 1560 describes his daughters as “muchachas de poco saber” that
“no dezian ni respondian sino lo que les preguntavan”.17 Luisa
Rodrigues' testimony portrays women's perception of themselves:
“Luisa Rodrigues dixo que por ser muger e no tiene ynteligencia de
negoçios queria e quyere de su parte y en nonbre de los dichos sus
hijos nonbrar e poner un tesorero contador y que nonbrava e nonbro
a Fernan Sanchez carpintero.”18 Testimonies like Luisa Rodrigues
In order to expand the analysis of Guevara’s letter, see : Tieffemberg,
“Isabel de Guevara o La Construcción Del Yo Femenino”; Marrero Fente,
“De Retórica y Derechos: Estrategias de Reclamación En La Carta de
Isabel de Guevara”; Quispe Agnoli, “Discursos Coloniales Escritos y
Agencias Femeninas: La ‘Carta a La Princesa Juana’ de Isabel de
Guevara.”; El Jaber, Un País Malsano : La Conquista Del Espacio En Las
Crónicas Del Río de La Plata : Siglos XVI y XVII; Añón and Gosselin,
“Women ‘Cronistas’ in Colonial Latin America.”
17 Pedro de Jara pide la condena de Pedro Gallego y Francisco Farel por
haber raptado a sus hijas y violarlas. Asunción 12 de agosto de 1560. ANA,
SNE, N°302. Folios 7v.
18 Testamento de Polo Griego. Asunción 13 de junio de 1552. Archivo
Nacional de Asunción, Sección Historia (hereafter cited as ANA, SH),
Volumen 11, N°6. Folios 38r.
16
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
often act to reinforce the norms implemented in this society and can
be analyzed as a prescriptive legal formula.
Through their few appearances, Spanish and mixed-race women
are usually considered as people of poco saber, as shown in these
examples. Even though women are victims in criminal proceedings,
their gender alone is enough to disqualify them:
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Digo que por la declaración de Ana Martynez muger de Cristoval de
Velastigui aver paresçer ser menor de veinte años [...] atento que el
poder que tiene dado es contra derecho por dos rraçones e la una
por la menuridad la otra ninguna muger casada no puede otorgar
poder sin licencia de su magestad [...] verdaderamente se presume
y da a entender las mujeres en algunas cosas ser variables y
antojadisas lo [...] por todo derecho estan retratados los dichos de
las mujeres [...] las mujeres sienpre hacen la voluntad de sus
maridos e ansi la dicha Maria Rrasquin holgaria de haçer plaçer al
dicho su marido en jurar contra el dicho Carballo vuelve a enemistad
que con el dicho su marido tenia e tiene el dicho Carvallo.19
This quote highlights the fragility of Ana Martinez who is a legal
minor and under 25 years old, in front of the judicial apparatus of this
colonial Rio de la Plata society. The defensors of the conquistador
Domingo Carvallo, accused in this process of having attempted to
rape Ana Martinez, build their defense strategy around the
disqualification of the victim’s testimony because she is a married
woman and a minor. As a married woman, Ana Martinez cannot
directly press charges against Carvallo and must resort to a legal
tutor to represent herself in court. Other attacks try to recuse
women’s words in general, pointing out in the end that women’s
statements are inconstant or false.
The case of Ana Martinez highlights the constant danger for women
to see their efforts in maintaining her social position and controlling
the representation of her honor reduce to nothing. Unfortunately,
crimes like Carvallo's were not uncommon. In her book, Vieira
19 Proceso criminal contra Domingo Carvallo por haber querido violar a Ana
Martínez mujer de Cristobal Belastegui. En el pago de Itacumbu 1 de
septiembre de 1583. Archivo Nacional de Asunción, Sección Civil y Judicial
(hereafter cited as ANA, SCJ), Volumen 1676, N°6. Folios 11v.- 49r.
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Powers describes rape as representative of the early conquistador
mentality.20 Indeed, in this military context of the conquest,
assaulting a woman is also regarded as an action of colonization
despite the existence of legal norms regulating sexual relationships
between men and women, whether Spanish or mixed-race.21
Fortunately, Ana Martinez was saved by the intervention of her
servants and members of her family. Her mother-in-law, a Guarani
woman named just Barbara was particularly helpful, as shown in the
trial report: “[Barbara] le dezia al dicho Caraballo: "dexa my nuera
que tu tambien tienes muger española como es my nuera”.22
Barbara’s intervention reveals a very close relationship between
mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. This record is an example of a
constant: in documents involving a female victim, it is not uncommon
that other women emerge in their surroundings.
Women’s Networks, Honor, and Marriage
As evidenced by Almorza Hidalgo, Spanish women from different
social categories did not hesitate to create networks and alliances
to avoid relying on tutelary relationships with husbands, fathers, and
other male figures.23 These women’s networks were established in
Peru and all around the Indies. In Latin America and Rio de la Plata,
gendered constraints within colonial society of these women
increased the need for Spanish and mixed-race women to gather
together and thus develop real protective structures.
20
As Vieira Powers points out, Indigenous women was undoubtedly the
most vulnerable to this sexual violence perpetrated by these men Vieira
Powers, Women in the Crucible of Conquest - The Gendered Genesis of
Spanish American Society, 1500-1600, 93..
21 Few, Women Who Live Evil Lives: Gender, Religion, and the Politics of
Power in Colonial Guatemala, 44–45.
22 Proceso criminal contra Domingo Carvallo por haber querido violar a Ana
Martínez mujer de Cristobal Belastegui. En el pago de Itacumbu 1 de
septiembre de 1583. ANA, SCJ, Volumen 1676, N°6. Folios 21v.
23 Almorza Hidalgo, “No se hace pueblo sin ellas”: mujeres españolas en el
virreinato de Perú : emigración y movilidad social (siglos XVI-XVII), 259–
305.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
Colonial documentation reveals the existence of such networks
through legal records in which groups of women sued men to punish
them for their illicit conduct that could tarnish and damage the
respectability of the whole group.
The first collective lawsuit is instructed in the city of Asuncion in 1580
by several Spanish women, asking for the punishment of Juan
de Villamayor, Juan Garcia de Alamo and Gonzalo Sanches who
sang some coplas to dishonor women attending the wedding of
Catalina de la Cueva. 24 Gonzalo Sanches, the official drummer, in
his testimony confess the coplas :
Las coplas dezian heran estas : Rio del Paraguay la flor de estas
tierras armanse bantallas de lindas donzellas u fulana fulana que es
muger galana [...] llebaran por capitana que dende sus ventanas
regen sus vanderas y a la otra fulana que es de bu[en] [...] a ella
llebaremos por leal sargento para dar yntento a sus compañeras.
[Folios 2v.] Otra copla dezia otra fulana llevar la cruz por montes y
valles dando a ellas y rogando al buen Jesus buelvales a sus
tierras.25
167
The complainants are all women of higher rank, and some are even
related to each other as Magdalena de Frias and her daughter
Mariana de Frias. One of these woman declared that if her husband
would be there, these mens would not have sing these coplas.
Another example of women's honor defence during the absence of
their husbands. This trial proved a success for these women as the
singers and musicians (guittarist and drummer) were sentenced to
one month of exile on the river.
The second example is a legal case dealing with another attack on
the honor of women. The conquistador Cristobal de Arzamendia
was accused of having deceived several women of the same family
24
Auto cabeza de proceso criminal para la averiguación de unos mozos
que cantaron unos versos infamatorios contra personas honradas.
Asunción, 26 de noviembre de 1580. ANA, SCJ, Volumen 1676, N°1, Folios
1r.-2v.
25 Idem, Folios 2r.-2v.
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with false marriage proposals.26 He was also accused of taking
advantage of them by accepting gifts and sleeping with them to seal
the promise of marriage. This record shows how the institution of
marriage is not a slight issue but a pillar of Spanish society. 27 Also,
this case highlights the importance of verbal marriage agreements.
This document indicates the high priority in the political agenda of
the Spanish justice to sentence this behavior with great rigor.
Arzamendia was sentenced to death by garrote in 1567:
Visto el presente proçeso criminal que por parte de la justicia real
contra todo y trato contra el dicho Cristoval de Arçamendia y los
delitos por el cometidor prinçipalmente las cautelas y manos que con
el sacramento del matrimonyo y palabras del a tenydo para engañar
y burlar a las mugeres que poco saben y lo demas que verse y mirar
se devya a que me refiero es. Fallo que el dicho Cristoval de
Arçamendia essiva y mereçedor de muerte por lo que por su
espontanea confision tiene confesado. En consequençia de lo qual
que le devo de condenar y condeno a que sea arrimado a un palo
de la casa donde agora esta e con una querda a la garganta le sea
dado un garrote hasta tanto que naturalmente muera.28
This verdict was rare enough to be noted. Judicial sources of the
sixteenth century report very few executions, despite dealing with
several serious crimes.
When it comes to defending honor, the voice of a women group
seems to carry more weight than one person. These cases could
highlight the determination of the conquest society to protect some
Spanish or mixed-race women, mainly from the higher society.
However, most Spanish women did not belong to the aristocracy and
faced numerous challenges: poverty, widowhood, violence...What
happened when these women were alone in this world?
26
Proceso criminal a Cristobal de Arzamendia para engañar a las mujeres.
Asunción, noviembre de 1567. ANA, SNE, volumen 298, Folios 84r.-84v.
27 Few also points out that the main feature of the marriage is to control
women Few, Women Who Live Evil Lives: Gender, Religion, and the Politics
of Power in Colonial Guatemala, 44–45..
28 Proceso criminal para engañar a las mujeres. Asunción noviembre de
1567. ANA, SNE, Volumen 298, Folios 84r. - 84v.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
169
A will dated in 1552 is giving us some insights.29 Nine women are
mentioned, forming an interesting web: La Martinez, la Arunz, Ana
de Araujo, Isabel Gonzalez housed orphan girls at their house,
daughters of deceased conquistadors. The document did not offer
much information about name and age of these girls, but only their
father's names: Alonso Muñoz, Bastian Alfonso, and Sebastian
Alonso. We can assume that these little girls were all mixed-race
orphans, since the names of Indigenous mothers are absent in
documents relating to the official recognition of descendant. Two of
these four women appear without first names. What is the reason
for this lack of personal identification? Did it mean anything to these
sixteenth-century women living in the city of Asuncion? If we refer to
Vieira Powers, we can find some keys to understand both the loss
of the first name and the reception of the orphan girls.30 As she
mentioned, the orphans, as the poorest and most vulnerable women
in this society, are often forced into prostitution to survive. The lack
of the first name for "La Martinez" and "La Arunz" may indicate a
person living on the margins of society, not truly considered
honorable. Thus, this document can possibly refer to orphan girls
joining the prostitution network. Nonetheless, as in other parts of
Colonial Latin America, this record is marked by women solidarity
that strives to protect themselves, from parentless girls to widowed
women.
However, as Martha Few notes, historians need to qualify these
testimonies of protection and defense of women in colonial Latin
America society.31 In fact, women were mostly regarded as
subordinate agents within a society deeply marked by patriarchy and
suffered all kinds of physical and moral violence such as systematic
control of their sexuality.
29
Testamento de Polo Griego. Asunción 13 de junio de 1552. ANA, SH,
Volumen 11, N°6. Folios 42r.-51r.
30 Vieira Powers, Women in the Crucible of Conquest - The Gendered
Genesis of Spanish American Society, 1500-1600, 136.
31 Few, Women Who Live Evil Lives: Gender, Religion, and the Politics of
Power in Colonial Guatemala, 44–45.
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Amancebamiento and Prostitution in SixteenthCentury Rio de la Plata
As we saw, the honor, power, and social status of women in colonial
Latin America are linked to sexual control by men. However, the
Spanish Crown did not encourage the first colonizers to travel with
their wives and daughters. Nevertheless, women were not forbidden
to travel and take part in the Conquest, as Isabel de Guevara argues
in her letter. Among these women boarded for the Rio de la Plata,
some of them were accused of having illegitimate relationships with
Spaniards and committing adultery, in a search to escape the yoke
of colonial rules.
Many women who appear without a baptism name can be related to
the world of prostitution, a world not so marginal in this Conquest
society.32 Several documents attest to the presence of a sex trade
since the installation of the colony in the Rio de la Plata, the earliest
reference dating from 1542. Other records relate to the emergence
of an early consolidation of prostitution in this Latin American region.
A letter33 produced in 1559 relates the transatlantic journey of the
Governor Jaime Rasquin, newly appointed by the King Philip II of
Spain. In this archive, we can estimate the relationship between
prostitution and power. Indeed, Jaime Rasquin, as many governors
before him, did not hesitate to leave the metropolis with Spanish
prostitutes to cross the Atlantic Ocean. According to this letter, sex
workers came from different places in Spain or came back to Latin
America: Galicia, Seville, and Rio de la Plata. However, this
testimony tends to qualify the presumed precarious situation of
these women. On the boat returning to America, Jaime Rasquin
throws the bishop's nephews out of his chamber and replaces them
with the three women. Therefore, they escape from the violence of
32
Von Germeten, Profit and Passion: Transactional Sex in Colonial Mexico,
25–26.
33 Verdadera relación de lo que sucedió al gobernador Jaime Rasquin en el
viaje que intentó para el Río de la Plata en el año de 1559 años hecha por
Alonso Gomez de Santoyo alférez del maestre de Campo don Juan de
Villandranda. Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla, Patronato (hereafter cited
as AGI, Patronato), 29, R. 12.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
171
other men, and share the governor's table and the comfort of his
cabin/quarters. Likewise, these women that we could regard as the
most vulnerable of this society could reach positions privileged
situation in the colonial Latin American society. This is even more
striking for this Indigenous woman, one of the lowest colonial casta
categories of the time. In 1553, the Spanish conquistador, Juan
Rodriguez Escobar sent a letter to the Cabildo of Asuncion asking
for closing a street next to his house. One of the powerfull argument
he used in his petition was that Indigenous women were performing
deshonestidades. My hypothesis here is that some Spaniards
organized the prostitution of Indigenous women in the city of
Asuncion and maybe settled a public house or a tavern in this
specific street which was considered also as dangerous and filthy 34.
These documents are confirming that Spaniards organized and
settled prostitution networks in the first phase of the Spanish
colonization of the Rio de la Plata, Island of Santa Catalina and the
city of Asuncion, where Indigenous, Spanish, and mixed-race
women were targeted to perform this role.
Between 1564 and 1576, a judicial information involving the acting
governor Felipe de Caceres gives us insights into the world of
prostitution.35 Caceres is accused of embezzling the tithe to gamble,
buy Indigenous servants, and pay prostitutes. Where Rasquin is
practicing the exchange of services, the Caceres case clearly
illustrates a world of prostitution based on a monetary exchange.
34
« Juan Rodriguez de Escobar conquistador en esta provincia dize que el
con lyçençya de la justicia e de comun consentimiento de sus vezinos
comarcanos serro una callejuela que esta junto a su casa a cabsa que por
pasar dos arroyos por ella e tener malos pasos e peligrosas por noche e de
dia […] es provechoso serrarse que estar abyerta por los peligrosos pasos
e por las ynmondiçias e cosas y edyoneas que en ella se echaban y por las
deshonestidades que alli pasavan con yndias en prejuizio de munchas
personas. Tengan por bien de aprovar la dicha lyçençia que por la justicia
me fue dada e se haga merced de la dicha calleja» Carta de Juan
Rodríguez de Escobar sobre el cierre de una calle junto a su casa.
Asunción, 27 de noviembre de 1553 – 21 de marzo de 1555. ANA, SNE,
volumen 308, Folio 13r.
35 Información sobre Felipe de Cáceres. Asunción entre 1564 y 1576.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla, Audiencia de Charcas (hereafter cited
as AGI, Charcas), leg. 33.
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However, the three women protected by Rasquin are described as
"putas", but the women paid by Caceres are called enamoradas,
implying different categories among prostitutes. If both Rasquin and
Caceres are criticized for their behavior, prostitution cannot
necessarily be perceived as a sin by the sixteenth century society
36. Caceres is also accused of "amancebamiento", i.e., concubinage.
This allegation opens a related issue of the sex and power
relationship.
Doña Maria de Lujan: an Example of a Transgressive
Woman
One Spanish woman surfaces in the documentation as an
exceptional sample to appreciate the agency of women colonial
subjects and above all to apprehend the strong link between sex and
power in the Rio de la Plata during the sixteenth century.37 Doña
Maria de Lujan was a remarkable example of a transgressive
woman, appearing in several documents written in 1542, 1563,
1571, 1573, and 1575.
Maria de Lujan emerges very early in the documentation of the Rio
de la Plata. In 1542, just one year after the creation of the council in
Asuncion, she appears in a criminal case as "la Luxan". 38 In this
document, her rank in this colonial society is indicated by the fact
36
Von Germeten, Profit and Passion: Transactional Sex in Colonial Mexico,
21–22.
37 As many historians who attempt to reconstruct personal trajectories of
women in the Early Modern period, we can point out that this task reveals
to be very arduous. Some recent studies showed that, despite the difficulty
this research may represent, results are extremely important to understand
the agency of Spanish, mixed-race, indigenous and Afro-descendant
women, see Almorza Hidalgo, “No se hace pueblo sin ellas”: mujeres
españolas en el virreinato de Perú : emigración y movilidad social (siglos
XVI-XVII); Pérez Miguel, «Mujeres ricas y libres» - Mujer y poder : Inés
Muñoz y las encomenderas en el Perú (s. XVI)..
38 Causa criminal que siguió Juan Pavón debido a un acto de Álvar Núñez
Cabeza de Vaca, en la Asunción 1542, contra Francisco López. Asunción,
14 septiembre de 1542. Archivo Nacional de Asunción, Archivo Histórico de
la República de Paraguay (hereafter cited as ANA, AHRP), 1, 1, 32. Folios
2v.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
that she can sell a garment to Francisco Lopez, the lieutenant of the
governor. In these times of extreme precarity, it is necessary to
emphasize on the high social position of Lujan, possessing so much
that she can easily share her dresses. However, her name does not
bear any distinguishing marks, as the Doña, proof of a higher social
category. Instead, the absence of her first name reminds us of the
women housing orphans mentioned in Polo Griego's will in 1563.
Interestingly, she is also named is this document, but this time as
"Doña Maria de Lujan", in debt to the Griego family for a carpentry
work at her house.39
173
Lujan appears again in a letter40 written by Bishop de la Torre in
1573. In this missive from the bishop, Maria is identified as a woman
who owns several Indigenous women deported, as legal slaves
basing on the Just War Spanish legal theory, from different regions
to Asuncion. Lujan is the only woman mentioned in this letter and is
thus presented as an actor of the foreground conquest. The fact that
Doña Maria de Lujan could house several Indigenous women in her
home also rings the bell of the possible existence of a prostitution
network, concerning Spanish, mixed-race and Indigenous women.
Ultimately, Maria de Lujan is mentioned in one of the most important
trials in Asuncion during the sixteenth century: an open struggle
between the first bishop of Rio de la Plata, Pedro Fernandez de
la Torre, and the Lieutenant Governor Felipe de Caceres. To sum
up the episode, the responsible of the Church arrested Felipe
de Caceres on Sunday Mass with weapons hidden in the cathedral
and jailed the interim provincial ruler. Caceres is quickly released,
and criminal proceedings are initiated against the bishop and all the
people who helped him. During this trial41, Maria is accused of
having an illegitimate relationship with one of the main sheriffs of the
bishop: Diego de la Torre. Diego is using his sexual relationship with
39
Testamento de Polo Griego. Asunción 13 de junio de 1552. ANA, SH,
Volumen 11, N°6. Folios 42r.-51r.
40 Carta del obispo fray Pedro Fernández de la Torre. Asunción 23 de abril
de 1573. ANA, SNE, Volumen 307, N°76. Folio 37v.
41 Información sumaria contra Alonso de Segovia por conspirar contra
Diego de la Torre. Asunción 15 de noviembre de 1571. ANA, SCJ, Volumen
1435, N°4. Folio 36r.
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Maria as his alibi, revealing that he was sleeping with her by the time
of the attack. Maria de Lujan appears as a woman “amancebada”
maintaining illegitimate sexual relations with a figure of power close
to the bishop. A list of disclaimers dated 1575 follows the record. In
this list of transactions made during the year 1575, two of them
concern trade between Diego de la Torre and Doña Maria de Lujan,
which opens the possibility of paid sex. 42
Through her name, her contacts and her behavior, Doña Maria de
Lujan could easily be linked to the world of prostitution. However,
she is never categorized as puta or mujer enamorada maybe
because her high social position. Since her arrival in the New Word,
she seems to be maintaining a high standard of living, possessing
garments, a house, and a contingent of Indigenous servants.
Nevertheless, she is never depending on a tutelar male figure and
openly received her lovers at her home without ever being
prosecuted. The case of Lujan draws a parallel sex market to the
world of controlled prostitution organized around brothels and
headed by pimps 43. The case of Maria de Lujan reveals that
prostitution can also be a private matter. However, the line between
private and public practice of prostitution is not impermeable, and a
category of sex workers oscillates between these two worlds: the
mujeres enamoradas.
The mujeres enamoradas,
Figures of an entre deux
Archetypal
Woman
In her work, Beltran successfully reaches the challenge of grasping
this nebulous world of the mujeres enamoradas in Spain, and more
particularly in sixteenth-century Andalusia44. In Rio de la Plata, we
can observe a clear typology of the mujeres enamoradas, women
who somehow seem to escape both social norms and religious
42 Lista de las cosas como de lienzo como de hierro y clavos que se han
puesto en la cámara y de otras cosas y de lo que se ha gastado. Asunción
3 de diciembre de 1575. ANA, Sección Historia, Volumen 44, N°1, folio 54r.
43 López Beltrán, “Hacia la marginalidad de las mujeres en el reino de
Granada (1487-1540),” 100.
44 López Beltrán, 100–101.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
codes to find an economic stability, a sexual freedom, and above all,
a promotion to a higher socioeconomic status in the society. In
Golden Age Spain, obsessed with identifying people by categories
based on the social, ethnic, cultural, and religious aspect, there is
an obvious separation between the prostitutes who labor and must
live in the mancebías, entire quarters of the Spanish cities dedicated
to the sex trade, and the mujeres enamoradas who can live among
the vecinos and could even beneficiate of a certain social esteem.
Therefore, we understand this category of women meretrices was
the most accepted by the Spanish society, and therefore by the
colonial societies settled in America.
In our study area, the mujeres enamoradas appear for the first time
in two documents dated 1542 and 1544. However, their presence in
the region goes back much earlier. In fact, several testimonies
suggest that they accompanied the first expeditions to the Rio de la
Plata.
175
First, the judicial trial of 1544 refers to events that took place
between 1536 and 1541 in the fort of Buenos Aires. The priest Luis
de Miranda and other churchmen were accused of having sexual
relations with mujeres enamoradas. One witness even said that the
priest was caught dancing naked with these women:
oyo dezir publicamente en el Puerto de Buenos Ayres venyendo
este testigo de la Ysla de Santa Catalyna que el dicho Luys de
Myranda y otros clerigos estando baillando de noche en una casa
con çiertas mugeres enamoradas atapo la puerta con un manteo
porque no se pudiesen ver por entre las puertas e le cortaron por de
fuera de la puerta çierta parte del manteo.45
The presence of mujeres enamoradas is thus attested in the very
first moments of the installation of a colony on the Rio de la Plata.
Two Spanish expeditions took place between 1536 and 1541: the
one led by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536 and the one led by Alvar
Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541. The first expedition, one of the most
45 Información sobre los conciertos que tenían hechos para soltar al
gobernador Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. Asunción 30 agosto 1544.
Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla, Justicia (hereafter cited as AGI, Justicia)
1131, Pieza 4. Folios 250r.
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important of the sixteenth century with more than 1,500 people, led
to the foundation of Buenos Aires in 1536. It is therefore likely that
several mujeres enamoradas accompanied the eleven ships that
sailed to the Rio de la Plata and took up residence in Buenos Aires
in 1536.
The judicial trial of 1542, which we will study deeply later, refers to
events that occurred in 1541 on the Island of Santa Catalina.
Francisco Lopez, lieutenant of the governor, is accused of living in
concubinage with Beatriz Hernandez, a mujer enamorada then
present on the island. The protagonists of this judicial case
accompanied the expedition of Cabeza de Vaca, which left Spain in
1540. Some testimonies even affirm that Hernandez embarked for
the Rio de la Plata on the same ship of Francisco Lopez from the
Canary Islands or Cape Verde.
The presence of mujeres enamoradas in major and earliest
expeditions whose mission was to establish new colonies on South
America testifies the importance of their role since the settlement of
Conquest society. In addition, the study of the trial of Francisco
Lopez allows us to draw an unexpected portrait of these women of
the shadows.
The mujeres enamoradas during the Government of
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca
This criminal case of 1542 was intended to condemn a major
protagonist of the period, the conquistador Francisco Lopez,
considered as the second of the expedition of Cabeza de Vaca to
the Rio de la Plata46. Across the trial, the objective set by the accuser
Juan Pavon de Badajoz is to prove the guilt of Francisco Lopez
concerning public sins: the concealment and confiscation of women
sex workers for society. Throughout this record, the testimonies
describe the relationships maintained by Lopez with these women.
This criminal case also questions the effects of Lopez’s behavior on
46 Through the analysis of the testimonies, we managed to recreate part of
the world of prostitution and the field of action of the mujeres enamoradas
in the aforementioned years, between 1541 and 1542.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
society, demonstrating the existence of a reproduction scheme, or a
pattern in the condemnable practices by other members of his
household: a brother-in-law named Lope Ramos and his servant
Julian Lopez. Six mujeres enamoradas are mentioned in the
document: Beatriz Hernandez, La Torres, Mari Lopez, Francisca
de Gamboa, Ana de Ribera and Juana de Salazar. This extensive
judicial record produces the most accurate and descriptive portrait
of prostitution in early colonial Rio de la Plata.
177
First, this document informs us about the type of relationship
maintained between these different women. A certain form of
solidarity seems to have been established between them in the Rio
de la Plata. For example, we learn that Francisca de Gamboa played
the matchmaker between Ana de Ribera and Lope Ramos, the
brother-in-law of the main accused. It is therefore possible to see a
certain mutual aid between the women of this group, and Francisca
de Gamboa do not hesitate to use her influence with the lieutenant
to offer a situation to some of her peers. This solidarity also asserts
itself when these women are in turmoil. On the Island of Santa
Catalina, Cabeza de Vaca ordered the placement of Beatriz
Hernandez at Doña Ana's house to prevent her from living openly in
concubinage with Francisco Lopez. Similarly, after being threatened
by Lopez and Lope Ramos in Asuncion, Juana de Salazar took
refuge in the house of Ines de Villafranca. However, the reception of
the mujeres enamoradas does not always seem disinterested. In
fact, Doña Ana, in exchange for her protection, took advantage of
Beatriz Hernandez's position and received food and servants from
Lopez. The social practice of mujeres enamoradas also benefits
women outside this category.
This sex trade was undoubtedly a business for other actors of the
early colonial Rio de la Plata society. Maria de Lujan took advantage
of the relationship between Beatriz Hernandez and Francisco Lopez
to sell one of her clothes to the lieutenant. Considering the rarity of
these objects in the area, it is very likely that the amount of this
transaction was very high. Is it possible that Lujan and Hernandez
have arranged beneficial financial transactions ? It may well be that
a practice of women solidarity or sorority is in place between the
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mujeres enamoradas and other women who gravitate around them
without being defined as agents of prostitution.
This image of sisterhood must be qualified, however, by the
existence of antagonistic behaviors. Indeed, the document
highlights a fierce spirit of competition between the mujeres
enamoradas. On the Island of Santa Catalina, La Torres is
established as the concubine of Lope Ramos, both living in the
house that Francisco Lopez, himself accompanied by Beatriz
Hernandez. If we consider to the situation seen before, we could
easily imagine a solidary relationship between the two women, just
like Francisca de Gamboa and Ana de Ribera in Asuncion. However,
this is not the case. It turns out that La Torres does not hesitate to
have sexual relations with Francisco Lopez and tries to oust Beatriz
Hernandez as Lopez' concubine. A competition rages between
these women to reach the most influential and profitable situation.
This trade of domestic sex is also fed by intermediaries. In Asuncion,
Francisco de Guadalupe and Ana Gomez are identified as the
alcahuetes of Francisca de Gamboa. These intermediaries play a
fundamental role in the development of the private practice of
prostitution, ensuring clients for the mujeres enamoradas 47.
These different examples attest to the presence of a solid and
developed prostitution network since the first moments of the Rio de
la Plata Conquest. Both internal and external agents participated in
the growth of these practices, involving representatives of the crown
up to the highest ranks.
The participation of the most powerful men of the time had a definite
influence on the development of the domestic sex trade. The
frequentation of these elite men allowed the mujeres enamoradas to
acquire certain privileges. In Santa Catalina, La Torres owns a
house donated by Lope Ramos. In Santa Catalina, as in Asuncion,
Francisco Lopez used his influence to expel landlords from their
homes and to offer them to his concubines. It was not uncommon
for these women to obtain servants and private guards as a reward
47
Vieira Powers, Women in the Crucible of Conquest - The Gendered
Genesis of Spanish American Society, 1500-1600, 137.
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The “mujeres enamoradas”
for their services. Clothing is also a very popular means of payment.
This payment can be done in different ways: the mujeres
enamoradas can directly receive a dress or pieces of fabric to make
their own clothes. Those who obtain a coveted position with the
governor's lieutenant can obtain a lot of jewelry as payment. We can
definitely assume that mujeres enamoradas were more financially
stable and wealthier than others married women.
179
In the Rio de la Plata, the existence of networks and practices of
prostitution that seem to be well established suggest that these
women may have been directly transported from Spain to America
as mujeres enamoradas. Can we know more about the origin of
these women? Two cases can give us some information about their
lives before crossing the Atlantic. One witness describes the
situation of Beatriz Hernandez before her journey. Before being
invited by Lopez to join the expedition, she is described as desnuda,
i.e. devoid of any sign of wealth or mark of power. The case of Juana
de Salazar seems equally explicit. On several occasions, she is
described as a Doña puta sucia: she publicly insults the lieutenant,
shouts in the street, and goes as far as hitting Francisco Lopez.
These clues lead us to situate these women in a popular
environment before their arrival in the Rio de la Plata. It is also
probable that these women could have practiced prostitution in
public houses of Spain like the mancebias. Like many passengers
before them, the journey to America was certainly a way to seek to
improve their condition.
It is easy to imagine that the public display of a man like the second
of the province with a woman like Beatriz Hernandez could have
been a shock for the colonial society of the time. This is, in fact, the
core of the accusation. Francisco Lopez is charged of
amacebamiento publico, living in concubinage with different mujeres
enamoradas since the crossing of the Atlantic to Asuncion. Beatriz
Hernandez and Francisca de Gamboa share completely the life of
the lieutenant. All testimonies agree to define that these women
officially reside in Lopez's house, sleep in his bed, and eat at his
table. Some even state that they act in public as a married couple
and publicly demonstrate their mutual affection by kissing in the
street. These women are substitutes for Lopez's wife, staid in Spain
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with their children. Beatriz Hernandez is even caught doing the
lieutenant's laundry, thus fully occupying a place of housewife.
This public display is accompanied by obvious ostentation and the
trial presents us with an untenable situation for colonial society. We
have seen that these women accumulate various objects, including
dresses and jewelry. The latter, social markers per excellence, allow
these prostitutes to be transformed into noble and honorable
women. Vieira Powers points out in her study that several royal
decrees were issued defining the obligation for prostitutes to be
identified at first glance by the rest of society by wearing distinctive
clothing 48. The situation in the Rio de la Plata creates confusion
between colonial and social categories, and it becomes impossible
to distinguish a noble woman from a prostitute in the streets of
Asuncion.
This exceptional document from 1542 presents us with the terrains
of possibility for women identified as mujeres enamoradas. The
clandestine exercise of their profession that defined them in Spain
was no longer appropriate in the Rio de la Plata. The displacement
in America redraws this colonial category. The distance from the
metropolitan control allows these Spanish women to expose
themself. The close relationship between these women and men of
power allows them to be agents of their social repositioning in the
colonial hierarchy.
Final Considerations
In the Rio de la Plata, the mujeres enamoradas seem to escape the
Spanish definition of their category. Some of them even managed to
overturn the existing order. Francisca de Gamboa, concubine of
Lopez in Asuncion, not only receive the gifts of the lieutenant. She
cultivates their relationship by giving Lopez gifts herself: a bed, a
pillow, a blanket, and a sow. With this gesture, Francisca imposes
herself in Lopez's home by occupying and redesigning the
lieutenant's private space. Thus, by restructuring the bedroom, she
tends to take the ascendancy over Lopez and reverses the power
48
Vieira Powers, 140–41.
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relationship between client and prostitute. Moreover, a witness
affirms that Gamboa, like Lopez, is already married and has left her
husband in Spain. The figure of Maria de Lujan also participates in
this scrambling of tracks. While everything suggests that this woman
received payment for sex and managed prostitutes, she is never
described as a mujer enamorada. Both cases of Francisca and
Maria complicate the definition of this social category by placing
these women of the margins at the center of the colonial society,
agents of their social ascension, in search of a better life in the
Indies.
181
In the context of historical studies on colonial Latin America, the
document relating to the trial of Francisco Lopez remains an
exceptional witness. The literature dealing with prostitution in the
early days of the Conquest notes the scarcity of primary sources
informing on the subject. However, there are records that indicate
the presence of an organized prostitution system (brothels and
public houses) as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century in
the Caribbean and in New Spain 49. Nevertheless, none of these
works testify to the presence of mujeres enamoradas in the
documentary corpus concerning these spaces. The documents
produced in the Rio de la Plata, then, seem to be the only ones to
have recorded the transfer of this Spanish category to the New
World as well as the redefinition of these contours. The illustration
of the agency of mujeres enamoradas or generally women
prostitutes invites us to a new reading of the colonial society in Latin
America. Too often forgotten or not considered as actors in the
Conquest, these women managed to occupy an important space of
power using transgressive practices. Other research lines, dealing
with the lowest socioeconomic categories, remain open to
apprehend the complexity of the colonial world in the Rio de la Plata.
49
Von Germeten, Profit and Passion: Transactional Sex in Colonial Mexico,
25–26.
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Guillaume Candela
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Estudios Paraguayos - Vol. XLI, Nº 1 – Junio 2023
www.estudiosparaguayos.org
Guillaume Candela
Sobre el autor:
Guillaume Candela: profesor de Historia de América Latina Colonial en
la Universidad de Leeds, Reino Unido. Ha enseñado en varias
universidades en Francia, Paraguay, USA y en el Reino Unido. Desde
2012, ha producido varios artículos sobre Historia de los pueblos
indígenas, Historia sobre mujeres e Historia social en el Paraguay
colonial.
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Guillaume Candela