In Search of Lieutenant Nun:

Catalina de Erauso’s Journey to Self-Definition

Robert Koch

History 6939: Imperial Spain

April 2016
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 1

Catalina de Erauso was born in 1585 to a Basque noble family who deposited her in a convent

when she was four.1 Unlike many women of her era, she embarked on a voyage of self-definition

that would propel her beyond the limits of the dominant culture of seventeenth-century Spain and

to “where the world ends,” colonial Peru.2 Catalina assumed the role of a male and succeeded in

so many ways for so long, fooling so many. Her story also lived in the novedades (bits of news

and rumors, often indistinguishable) common in the contemporary Iberian world.3 Her

adventures were even made into a play one year after she sent her autobiographical manuscript to

Madrid for publication in 1625.4 Her memoirs are a swashbuckling tale set in the Spanish Empire

during the Age of Conquest. They are also rich in material for those seeking insight into identity,

gender roles, and crossing gender divides. Her memoirs have been especially well-considered by

authors writing about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues.5

Catalina’s story shows that she learned from the culture around her, from which also she

sought acceptance. She had had little direct exposure to the culture she had entered into so this

process would not have taken place overnight. First as a teenager and then as a man, she used the

lessons she learned to identify herself both to others and to herself. She accepted the seventeenth-

century Spanish Empire’s gendered and racialized hierarchy and represented herself in the terms

in which she understood it. Clothing was critical because it “made the man” and hid biological

1
Catalina de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun: Memoirs of a Basque Transvestite in the New World (Boston, Massachusetts:
Beacon Press, 1997), 3.
2
Noel B. Salazar, “Imagining Mobility at the ‘End of the World’,” History & Anthropology Vol. 24, Issue 2 (June
2013): 235.
3
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 67; Ruth MacKay, The Baker Who Pretended to be King of Portugal (Chicago,
Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 134; Christopher Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,”
Revista de Estudios Hispanicos Vol. 46, Issue 3 (October 2012): 529; Francois Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in Early
Modern Spain and Portugal: Inquisitors, Doctors and the Transgression of Gender Norms (Leiden, Netherlands:
BRILL, 2012), 3; Sherry M. Velasco, The Lieutenant Nun: Transgenderism, Lesbian Desire & Catalina de Erauso
(Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2000), 113-165.
4
Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 529.
5
Edward Behrend-Martinez, “Making Sense of the History of Sex and Gender in Early Modern Spain” History
Compass Vol. 7, Issue 5, (September 2009): 1306: Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in Early Modern Spain and Portugal,
3; Velasco, The Lieutenant Nun, 113-165.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 2

traits that differentiated her from other men. However, there was more to being perceived as a

male than assumed genitalia – behavior was critical. Insecurities pushed her to exaggerate

learned gender and racial behaviors as she strove to gain acceptance from others and

simultaneously herself. Catalina’s understanding of what correct behavior was also grew more

defined and complex as she traveled.

The behavioral patterns in her memoirs are indicative of Catalina’s understanding of

Spanish masculinity and desire to be accepted in these terms. Throughout the course of her life

she meets with “performance success.” A “performance success” is to be understood as when her

audience (the public she was exposed to in any given moment) accepted the behaviors that she

performed. She consistently succeeded in performances, but success must have been a fleeting

feeling because she regularly sought new audiences to validate her through her wide-ranging

journeys (see Figure 1). She did not have to prove her racial heritage, it was readily apparent,

though she did display behaviors she felt were appropriate to it. Catalina strove for, achieved,

and finally lived the rest of her life as a virile, pureblood, male Spaniard.

Analyzing the life of someone who lived well outside of the norm centuries after the fact

is harrowing. An explanation of the analytical tools to be employed can help mitigate such

concerns. Ideas related to male and female gender roles, the concept of honor as it was

understood, how honor related to gender, and the social hierarchy in the Early Modern Spanish

Empire are important to Catalina’s story. Her gender ideas first developed during the early stages

of her life after her escape from the convent. Her story became more complicated as gender

considerations intertwined with new racial circumstances in the New World.

 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 3

Authors writing about Catalina focus on four major topics. Many differ on whether

Catalina should be addressed as a he or she.6 This essay will use her birth sex for expediency’s

sake without taking a formal stance. Secondly, is her account factual? Historians have used

archival research to show that her story contains several erroneous statements in regards to

names, times, and places.7 Professors of Spanish Studies Sonia Pérez Villanueva and Christopher

Kark argue that factual accuracy is not required in autobiographical works (unless the intent is to

analyze it for exact facts).8 Autobiographies are windows to the storyteller’s perspective and

much meaning can be gleaned from examining the symbols emphasized in such works. The third

question is whether Catalina dictated this story herself in 1625, as reported?9 Most authors agree

that she dictated the story, though literary critic James Pancrazio and gender theorist Matthew

Goldmark stop short of this claim.10 Finally, what is certain is that Catalina existed. She can be

found in church and royal records as a known transvestite.11

Catalina’s transvestism immediately brings up the topic of gender in the Early Modern

Spanish Empire. Susan Kingsley Kent, Julie Hardwick, and Anthropologist Francois Soyer make

the simple argument that Early Modern Iberian culture was strongly patriarchal and relegated

women to lesser positions.12 Kent calls this a continuation of existing patterns where learned men

6
Sonia Pérez Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries: Authority, Knowledge, and Experience in the Autobiography Vida
y Sucesos de la Monja Alférez.” Auto/Biography Studies Vol. 28, Issue 2 (2013): 296.
7
James J. Pancrazio, “Transvested Autobiography: Apocrypha and the Monja Alférez,” Bulletin of Hispanic
Studies.Vol. 78, Issue 4 (October 2001): 458; Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 529.
8
Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries.” 298; Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 529-530.
9
Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries,” 297; Matthew Goldmark, “Reading Habits: Catalina de Erauso and the
Subjects of Early Modern Spanish Gender and Sexuality,” Colonial Latin American Review Vol. 24, Issue 2 (June
2015): 215.
10
Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries,” 309; Pancrazio, "Transvested Autobiography," 456-458; Kark, “Latent
Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 529; Goldmark, “Reading Habits,” 215.
11
Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries,” 299; Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 529.
12
Susan Kingsley Kent, “Gender Rules: Laws and Politics,” in A Companion to Gender History, ed. Teresa A.
Meade & Merry E. Wiesner (Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley, 2004), 87; Julie Hardwick, “Did Gender Have a
Renaissance? Exclusions and Traditions in Early Modern Western Europe,” in A Companion to Gender History, ed.
Teresa A. Meade & Merry E. Wiesner (Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley, 2004), 347; Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in
Early Modern Spain and Portugal, 17.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 4

had long monopolized the writing of law. These men prioritized legislation to regulate female

marital, sexual, and reproductive practices.13 Women were seen as potentially damaging to their

men’s social status and kept in controlled settings such as their homes or convents – places men

controlled. Keeping women under watch helped ensure they fulfilled expectations to be “modest,

humble, obedient, pious, temperate, patient, silent, and above all, chaste.”14

Merry Wiesner agrees but adds that during the Renaissance the accepted gender roles for

women began to be challenged.15 A woman’s life was typically defined relative to her

relationship with man/men, making marriage supremely important. Many families (including

Catalina’s) opted to deposit their daughters into convents to safeguard honor as it was cheaper

than providing a dowry.16 Wiesner indicates that the single-sheet prints common in the day was

where debates about women’s roles were depicted, especially in homes and public houses.17

Single-sheet prints figure importantly into Catalina’s story. Scott Taylor agrees that a woman’s

perceived sexuality was of paramount importance. He concludes that the moralists of the day

agreed that enclosure - keeping women in private spheres that men controlled - was required to

protect a woman’s honor.18

As these works make clear, gender roles had important intersections with the concept of

honor. Anthropologist J.G. Peristiany’s compilation, Honour and Shame, is a fundamental work

on the topic of honor in Mediterranean culture. He framed the concepts of honor and shame as

13
Kent, “Gender Rules,” 87, 92.
14
Ibid., 92-94.
15
Merry Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge
University Press, 2008), 12-13,18.
16
Ibid., 75, 81.
17
Ibid., 29.
18
Scott K. Taylor, Honor and Violence in Golden Age Spain (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press,
2008), 162-163.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 5

the bipolar ends of the spectrum used to judge social conduct.19 Honor was desirable because it

translated into superiority in the social hierarchy. That people constantly worried about their

honor and shame was reflected in the social interactions where each person was an actor

signaling their position in the hierarchy. He also said that honor was insecure and had to be

constantly asserted and defended.20

Anthropologist Julian Pitt-Rivers’ article “Honour and Social Status” marks the

beginning of the idea that honor was tied to performance. He argued that honor signified how a

person was seen by his society and how that person saw themself. People forced others to notice

them through behaviors intended to show how they themselves wanted to be seen, especially the

aspects of themselves they liked most. The acts that people frequently repeated were the most

representative. The reception others gave such acts was of critical importance to the recognition

and acceptance of social standing.21 For men, honor was represented through masculinity,

honesty (especially financial), loyalty, concern for reputation, and the sexual reputation of their

women. Shame came as a result of shyness, restraint, timidity, and accepting humiliation.22 The

importance of honor led to the development and use of a “code of honor.” The final step in this

code was dueling to achieve satisfaction against perceived slights.23

Taylor agrees with Pancrazio, who says tavern behavior (buying and taking drinks) and

gambling were “public competitions” where masculinity performances occurred (Catalina

routinely engaged in these actions).24 He adds that actions taken in relation to honor indicated

how men viewed themselves, their place in the community, and their judgment of proper

19
J.G. Peristiany, introduction to Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society (Chicago, Illinois: The
University of Chicago Press, 1966), 9-10.
20
Ibid., 9-11.
21
Julian Pitt-Rivers, “Honour and Social Status,” in Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society
(Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1966), 21-22.
22
Ibid., 44.
23
Ibid., 28-30.
24
Taylor, Honor and Violence, 111-112; Pancrazio, "Transvested Autobiography," 463-464.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 6

conduct.25 “Insults, gestures, symbols such as hats and mustaches, and violence” were other

options men used but nothing was as important as the duel.26 However, Taylor argues that Pitt-

Rivers’ “code of honor” is too rigid. Using historical examples where actors deviated from the

“code,” he reveals that men followed a situational guideline that he dubbed the “rhetoric of

honor.”27 This allows for agency and makes behavior representative of character and beliefs.

How else was masculinity performed and perceived? Soyer and Professor of Spanish

Shifra Armon suggest that because Spain was the first European empire after the medieval period

Spaniards strove to identify what being Spaniard meant.28 Armon’s analysis of contemporary

literature suggests that secular conduct talked of rewards for proper behavior for men:

admiration, favorable marriage alliances, and social ascent.29 Anthropologist Verena Stolcke

adds that men gained social standing via heroic deeds and maintained them by protecting their

honor.30 Along with the mentioned signifiers, Wiesner says men were expected to display

loyalty, honesty, integrity, stamina, wisdom, duty, and good craftsmanship.31 Being honorable

and masculine, as these terms were understood, translated into prosperity.

In the Spanish Empire prosperity was largely related to one’s position in the existing

social hierarchy. Kent argues that most people believed in a “great chain of being.”32 This pattern

was reflected in that royal governments were considered to be “divinely ordered” under God.33

John Elliott adds that the acceptance of hierarchy was based in the centuries-long tradition of the

25
Taylor, Honor and Violence, 21.
26
Ibid., 18, 153, 227.
27
Ibid., 9.
28
Shifra Armon, Masculine Virtue in Early Modern Spain (Farnham, United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.,
2015), 8; Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in Early Modern Spain and Portugal, 21.
29
Armon, Masculine Virtue in Early Modern Spain, 4-5
30
Verena Stolcke, “A New World Engendered: The Making of the Iberian Transatlantic Empires” in Women and
Gender in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 381.
31
Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 48, 291.
32
Kent, “Gender Rules,” 91.
33
John Huxtable Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America, 1492-1830 (New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press. 2006), 153.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 7

“ordered family” under male leadership.34 In this setting, men almost always controlled women

but men with power also controlled other men.35 Europeans hoped to ‘be worth more’ (valer

más), which meant acquiring wealth, social status, and honor, per Old World cultural

understandings.36 Pertinent to Catalina’s colonial experiences, Elliott and Karen Vieira Powers

argue that the conquest and settlement of the New World created frequent tensions related to the

“traditional image of the ordered society.”37 Elliott adds that little evidence suggests that Spanish

immigrants cared for egalitarianism. “Status – not its abolition – was the aspiration of Spanish

settlers in the Indies.”38

To summarize the relevant arguments, Old World ideas profoundly impacted the New

World’s forming culture as the indigenous were supplanted.39 Women lacked opportunity due to

traditional power relationships where men kept women, and also other men, in a rigid hierarchy.

The authors agree that masculinity was both performed and critical to one’s social positions.

Men used specific behaviors to show others the position they felt they deserved. Honor was of

particular importance to social progress and could be gained or lost. This threat was countered

through defensive actions in the rhetoric of honor designed to protect honor, climaxing in the

duel if necessary. Catalina was no exception to these prevailing ideas. In fact, she epitomized

many behavioral expectations while living completely outside the norm.

Catalina in Spain

34
Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World, 153.
35
Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 291-292.
36
Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World, 154.
37
Ibid., 154; Karen Vieira Powers, “Conquering Discourses of "Sexual Conquest": Of Women, Language, and
Mestizaje.” Colonial Latin American Review Vol. 11, Issue 1 (June 2002): 8.
38
Ibid., 154-155.
39
Ibid., xiii; Stolcke, “A New World Engendered,” 373; Peter T. Bradley, Habsburg Peru (Liverpool, United
Kingdom: Liverpool University Press, 1999), 90-93.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 8

Catalina was born to a noble family in 1585. They deposited her into a convent when she was

four, typical of the enclosure of women.40 Due to her segregation she would have had limited

firsthand exposure to the roles expected of men. What kind of examples would have made their

way into the convent? Stories might have come from a number of sources but were second hand

at best. Perhaps a tale would come from a local archbishop via the prioress (her aunt), or news

would come to her or a friend in a letter.41 To penetrate into the controlled environment of a

convent these tales were literally remarkable in the purest sense of the term and not necessarily

representative of general society. Catalina’s ideas of Spanish masculinity were tainted by

caricaturized images of behaviors from the select stories and novedades that penetrated her

enclosed world.

Catalina escaped the convent at the age of fifteen after tricking her aunt to attain the keys

that enabled her flight. She took refuge in a nearby wood, where she spent three days cutting and

sewing her nun’s habit into male clothing.42 It probably did not take three days to cut and sew

such an outfit. Three days is rife with symbolic religious undertones. The significance of her

transformation was material and spiritual, the latter a reflection of Jesus Christ’s return from the

dead after three days per the Christian Bible. She covered the biological aspects of herself which

suggested she was female and adopted the culturally accepted clothing of men. At this point

Catalina had completed the first and most obvious step toward being perceived as a male – the

visual. However, sight alone was not enough. Behavior was required to support the visual

presentation. Other than to escape enclosure, what would have inspired Catalina to behave as a

male?

40
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 3; Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries,” 303; Taylor, Honor and Violence, 4; Wiesner,
Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 18.
41
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 3.
42
Ibid., 3.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 9

Many authors on gender in Early Modern Spain note that men had a wider range of

possible paths in the day’s hierarchical order.43 This is especially true in comparison to a woman

deposited into a convent well before she could have made a conscious choice to devote herself to

the church. Catalina instead chose to increase her options in life and to do so willingly acted

masculine, which nestles in with the idea that gender requires social performance.44 Catalina’s

sexuality aside (and unresolved), she had to act as a man lest she face a few undesirable

outcomes. She could have lived through life impoverished (the fate of many women without

male support), turned to prostitution or thievery, or returned to the cloisters.45 Moreover, as a

man she also had a greater opportunity for prosperity (and she was eventually prosperous) in

addition to having more control over her life.

Masculine and free, Catalina would have keenly observed other men to confirm or deny

her ideas regarding behavior. That she sought acceptance as a man would have also influenced

her perception and understanding of these behaviors. She may have missed certain nuances and

exaggerated the importance of others. She learned, internalized, and then externalized social

behaviors with vigor and the stakes for her performances were high. Catalina’s amplification of

certain behaviors serves to verify the structure of the hierarchical society that historians have

claimed existed in the Spanish Empire centuries ago.

Now in society, Catalina distanced herself from her hometown. Perhaps she did this for

fear of being discovered while learning the roles she would perform. She also needed audiences

43
Velasco, The Lieutenant Nun, 35; Kent, “Gender Rules,” 94; Stolcke, “A New World Engendered,” 387; Wiesner,
Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 18.
44
Armon, Masculine Virtue in Early Modern Spain, 5; Pancrazio, "Transvested Autobiography," 463-464; Anita K.
Stoll and Dawn L. Smith, introduction to Gender, Identity, and Representation in Spain's Golden Age (Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 2000), 12-13.
45
Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 33, 44; Villanueva, “Crossing Boundaries,” 297; Kent,
“Gender Rules,” 91, 92; Stolcke, “A New World Engendered,” 373, 387. Catalina was sent to a convent after she
revealed her birth sex to avoid punishment for her various crimes later in her story, the subsequent verification of
her virginity was enough to permit her to carry on as a free male. de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 65-67.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 10

to validate her. She walked to Vitoria, carefully observing behaviors in the small doses afforded

by transient encounters on the road. When she arrived a theologian took her in and gave her male

clothing. The kindly theologian was her uncle, though neither did he recognize her nor she him.

This failure to recognize family is not as strange as it may seem. There is some possibility that he

had seen Catalina as Catalina in the convent. This seems unlikely because she did not realize that

he was related until she learned his name. A notable element of this encounter is that he gave her

men’s clothing.46 Her ensemble was probably rather shabby looking, having been crafted in the

wood with rudimentary tools. This gift of male clothing was more than a gift of the visual props

she needed for performance. It also meant that she was taken for a man beyond her outfit and

was symbolic of not having been called out as anything other than male.

Catalina already knew that clothing was important due to the gender identity it broadcast

to the public.47 Clothing was called hábitos in this period, a term with clear links to the English

word “habits” in reference to patterns of living.48 Goldmark and Hardwick point out that clothing

was tied to “behavior, bearing, and social standing” because the relative cleanliness, style, and

materials were all indicators of calidad (understood as social standing) and limpieza (both

symbolic and literal cleanliness).49 The translator of Catalina’s memoirs, English professor

Michele Stepto, says that when Catalina discussed her new clothing she referred to herself as

male, one of only two topics where Catalina described herself with gender stability (fighting

being the other).50 However, as clothing was only a visual component of masculinity it did not

completely free Catalina. The pattern of receiving male validation through gifts of male clothing

cannot be understated. This occurred twice more during her early years in Spain and several
46
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 4-5.
47
Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in Early Modern Spain and Portugal, 22.
48
Goldmark, “Reading Habits,” 216.
49
Ibid., 216; Hardwick, “Did Gender Have a Renaissance?,” 352.
50
Michele Stepto, trans., in the introduction to Lieutenant Nun, by Catalina de Erauso (Boston, Massachusetts:
Beacon Press, 1997), xlvi; Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 528.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 11

times throughout her memoirs. In all cases, she listed the gifted clothing before other items.51

That Catalina lists clothing before currency indicates the importance she placed on male clothing

and the meaning she took from receiving such gifts from others – her audiences. The people who

gave her clothing did so after having interacted with Catalina, not based on sight alone. They

approved of her gender performance; she had success. Throughout her story this pattern of men’s

clothing validating her performances returns again and again.

Clothing alone was not enough to make the man. As the relevant authors contend,

accepting the established social hierarchy of the day was part of the expectations not just on

women but also on men. Though she escaped the roles forced upon her in the convent she still

found herself in a hierarchical relationship - a leading man was validating her.52 This was

exemplified when her theologian uncle tried to force her into formal education. She refused and

he lashed out in violence over her rejection of his assumed dominant position. As a result, she

fled - once again seeking autonomy.53 She had lived her youth forced to do things she did not

necessarily want to do. To her, men’s clothing now meant she was masculine and therefore free,

though free actually only meant freer.

The acceptance of her gender appropriate behavior provided Catalina with the feeling of

performance success. It also gave her validation that she deserved the freedom she sought

because she had not failed in her assumed role. If she did not already know, she had learned that

social relations were still based in hierarchy even for men. She may not have fully grasped the

pervasiveness of the social hierarchy during her previous life in the convent. Her flight from the

convent and time in Vitoria marked the beginning of two patterns in Catalina’s life - a desire to

live freely as a man and fleeing when that freedom was endangered. One of the threats to her

51
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 5-7.
52
Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 291-292.
53
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 5.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 12

freedom she felt lived inside her as she worried she might be discovered for a woman. However,

in this case where she was so freshly experiencing her new life social hierarchy was the threat.

She had not left the convent and turned her entire life upside down to take but a tiny step up the

social ladder. She wanted more in life, as her memoirs make clear. It is important to note, as she

would have, that her freedom had been infringed but it was not due to performance failure. She

had successfully performed the role of a man in close quarters over an extended period.

Catalina’s flight from Vitoria also afforded her the opportunity to perform in front of new

audiences. After escapades in various locations she returned to her home city of San Sebastian

and gleefully described how she lived there as a “well-dressed young bachelor.” She was so

successful in her performance that her own mother failed to recognize her at a church service,

though they stood next to each other for hours. After these successful performances, even

passing the test of hometown familiarity, Catalina set sail for the New World in 1603 at the age

of eighteen. Aboard the ship she passed another identity test. She worked as a ship’s boy on a

galleon captained by her uncle Captain Estaban Eguiño, who also failed to recognize her.54 Men,

even own mother, accepted Catalina’s masculine presence, which meant they accepted her

performance enough not to question her biological sex. This happened despite having potentially

feminine facial features, which neither clothing nor performance could hide. Having such

experiences would have reinforced her confidence in her abilities moving forward, and move

forward she did.

Catalina did not express her motivation for going to the New World. According to

Stolcke and anthropologist Noel Salazar, Europeans typically journeyed across the Atlantic in

search of prosperity.55 Elliott argues that emigrants carried “cultural baggage” with them that

54
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 7.
55
Stolcke, “A New World Engendered,” 372; Salazar, “Imagining Mobility at the ‘End of the World’,” 236.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 13

they used to gain a sense of familiarity in the societies taking shape in the New World.56 The

Catholic Church also played an important role in the newly forming societies.57 Given these

transatlantic cultural links, what did Catalina imagine would await her in the New World?

Catalina was learning through her experiences in society. This was not limited to direct

learning of behaviors, but included the learning of ideas related to the importance of masculinity

and other social aspects. Every ship returning with gold, silver, slaves, or other items would have

also been laden with stories, both true and false. Catalina’s days in the port city of San Sebastian

would have featured numerous sailors who also performed to prove their perceived worth and

masculinity while telling their tales. Such novedades from the New World would have informed

her that brave and honorable men righteously engaged in conquest and domination. She formed a

preconceived image of the unknown lands that were informed by external stimuli.

Race would have been a major topic in such conversations related to conquest and

domination, but graphic depictions of the New World were also influential. During Catalina’s

several years of relative freedom in Spain such images would have informed the shaping of her

preconceived ideas of how the New World was and acted as a filter to her experiences upon

arrival there. Single-sheet prints were proliferated because they did not require a literate audience

(though Catalina was literate).58 Included in this essay are examples of such prints. The first six

prints (Figures 2-7) show how differently the indigenous were depicted. The portrayed illness

and foreign religious practices would have created concern. Such images may have even made

indigenous people seem scary, despite the existence other, more positive images. The next six

prints (Figures 8-13) are examples of Spanish domination over the indigenous. They begin with

56
Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World, xiii.
57
Stolcke, “A New World Engendered,” 372.
58
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 3; Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 147.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 14

victory over the Incan rulers and conclude with examples of the mass punishment the Spaniards

inflicted upon the conquered.

The shaping society across the Atlantic was a rich environment for Catalina’s self-

definition. As she pondered crossing the Atlantic her need to perform to maintain her freedom

would have led her to scrutinize the tales, the people who told them, and the images coming from

the New World. During this process she gained new racial understandings while searching for

signs of what were considered proper behaviors. She probably took comfort in seeing that many

signs of masculinity were similar in the New World and that she would be of a higher racial

position than the indigenous.59 Catalina held onto her learned behaviors and her certain notions

became particularly exaggerated in the New World. Catalina learned what was being done and

believed that these acts were proper for the station she desired – that of a prosperous, virile,

pureblood Spaniard.

Catalina, Gender, and Race in the New Word

The journey to the New World was also where Catalina transitioned from (ship’s) boy, a young

man’s job, to a fully grown man – with notions of success on her mind. She must have harbored

doubts because she knew she could not fully emulate masculinity as she understood it.60 She

could not grow a beard, engage in “traditional” male-female sexual relations, and would have

had to hide her private parts.61 Catalina, like other men, had to rely on outward behavior to prove

her masculinity, more so because some of her traits were not necessarily masculine.

Masculinity performances took place in public and no stage was greater than the

gambling table. Taylor argues that gambling had the highest stakes in regards to masculinity

59
Bradley, Habsburg Peru, 24-25.
60
Taylor, Honor and Violence, 153.
61
Ibid., 153; Soyer, Ambiguous Gender in Early Modern Spain and Portugal, 22.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 15

performance and honor because it involved potential material loss, loss of prestige through

failure and ridicule, challenges to one’s honesty via accusations of cheating, and a loss of credit.

After all, a true man honorably safeguarded his property, among other things. The worst of all

was the risk of not being included in future games due to failures to live up to masculine

standards.62 Sitting at the table, Catalina’s youthful face could earn masculine credit even if she

was losing.

Catalina knew from traveler’s tales before she sat at her first game that in the New World

she might have to defend her honor and prove her manhood through violence. Gambling

squabbles often resulted in duels and the stakes were even higher for Catalina than for the

average man. For her, gambling was the ultimate stage - where she could gain the most credit

and prove her masculinity through victory, paying her debts at the table, and defending her

honor. Given the importance of this stage, it is understandable why she consistently followed the

fast track to violence in Taylor’s “rhetoric of honor.” Catalina killed about a dozen men through

gambling-related duels.63 She never expressed why she always won the duels and there was no

mention of her having been trained to fight.64 Pitt-Rivers said that the outcome of duels was seen

as an indication of God’s will. The winner won due to their just cause rather than skill.65 This

means Catalina’s reports of consistent wining can be considered symbolic even if not true. That

she continued to seek out gambling events even after she had killed several men tells us that she

was addicted to gambling. This addiction provided her with audiences, her true addiction.

In front of new audiences Catalina had opportunities to display her honor, sometimes

through responding to direct challenges. The more people she proved her masculine honor to the

62
Taylor, Honor and Violence, 141.
63
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun.
64
Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 532.
65
Pitt-Rivers, “Honour and Social Status,” 29.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 16

more secure she could feel that her freedom would not be compromised. Catalina had to perform

and led observers to accept her masculinity through the rhetoric of honor.66 She used the rhetoric

of honor to identify how she viewed herself and how others should treat her.67 Honor was

important to men, but Catalina routinely chose the extreme rhetorical road. She resorted to the

fullest extent of violence in every case where she felt her honor, so important to masculinity, had

been slighted. After much gambling and several duels no one suspected she was anything other

than a man, including herself.

During these fights Catalina described herself in masculine terms. Kark and Stepto agree

that his was another area where Catalina showed gender stability (along with clothing).68 Stepto

suggests Catalina’s use of gender reflects how she assigned words positive regard, generally

words that represent the masculine behaviors and traits to which Catalina aspired.69 However,

Spanish professor Sherry Marie Velasco says the original manuscript would probably have been

written in the largely genderless Basque language.70 Considering that when Catalina originally

submitted her manuscript for publication in Madrid it was likely in Castilian this claim is

dubious. What is important is that in each case Catalina had been gambling and felt that she had

been insulted. These incidents fit Pitt-Rivers’ and Taylor’s argument that violence was a tool to

defend one’s honor.71 Catalina’s confidence in her performance was reinforced by her successful

recourse to the rhetoric of honor and her victories.

With this confidence, Catalina began expanding her definition of herself by including

racial identifiers. She began referring to herself a Basque, Spaniard, or European. She zoomed or

widened her lens of racial identification as best suited her situation and intentions. More
66
Taylor, Honor and Violence, 151.
67
Ibid., 21.
68
Stepto, introduction, xlvi; Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 528.
69
Stepto, introduction, xlvi.
70
Velasco, The Lieutenant Nun, 7.
71
Pitt-Rivers, “Honour and Social Status,” 28-29; Taylor, Honor and Violence, 7.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 17

important than which racial term she felt most representative is their mere presence in her mind.

She frequently used these identifiers to separate herself from the indigenous and mestizos she

encountered in the New World. Racial identifiers were important in the Old World but in the

New World the worth Catalina felt from her limpieza de sangre (“cleanliness of blood”, the

Iberian concept of racial purity) became a way she differentiated herself from others and thus

further defined herself.

Catalina had numerous encounters with indigenous people in the New World and she

regarded them coldly, as almost inhuman. This is understandable given some of the images she

may have seen (Figures 2-13) and her cultural background. Stolcke mentions that Iberian men

believed that indigenous were like children who shared the feminine flaw of being dependent on

masculine protection and guidance.72 This is better understood as a rationalization for extending

gender-based power structures onto the indigenous in order to control them. Such an attitude was

consistent with the print images Catalina had seen, the stories she had heard, and her experiences

in the New World. Her first notable encounter with the indigenous came while she was serving

as a military officer. She was a conquistador, an honorable and masculine position in her society.

The indigenous were not like her and her colleagues - hardy Spanish men. Never mind that she

was mounted and the indigenous fought on foot to their severe disadvantage. Catalina herself

claimed she “took a few arrows” in her first battle. In this battle she allegedly sliced through

indigenous warriors with her sword as though they were soft butter to her hot knife of manhood

(phallic symbolism and pun intended). Her acts of physical bravery and dominance led to the

capture of an indigenous leader, whom she mercilessly strung from a tree after his surrender.73

72
Stolcke, “A New World Engendered,” 378.
73
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 20-21.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 18

Catalina’s ideas of bravery and ferocity toward the indigenous did not originate in a

vacuum. Between the tales she had heard before her exposure to indigenous people in this war-

time setting and her time in the military she had witnessed many examples of how Spanish men

behaved. Racialized ideas from stories she had heard and the prints she had seen were reinforced

while traveling in the context of an army that routinely destroyed indigenous livelihood as they

sought to subjugate unruly portions of modern day Chile.74 She was living the images of Spanish

domination that she had seen and thus consciously contributing to the self-definition she sought.

Catalina later journeyed through the Andes and had encounters with indigenous in and

around Potosí. Here her regard for the indigenous seemed lower than it did for her “black slaves”

who fought “bravely” beside her.75 The encomienda system (where Spanish leaders received

forced tribute from the indigenous population) related to the silver mines in the Potosí region

was harsh, an epicenter of colonial exploitation.76 This treatment would have also informed her

opinions about the indigenous. Her social learning continued as she came across new lessons that

informed, denied, and reinforced the ideas forming in her mind. In Potosí, Catalina took a job as

a rancher and managed “12,000 llamas & 80 Indians.”77 Listing the indigenous not only with but

after the livestock was another example of her feelings of racial superiority. As Elliot suggests

was common to Europeans in the New World, Catalina’s mission was clearly status, not the

abolition of it.78

Catalina took a slightly more moderate approach to mestizos, perhaps due to their racial

hybridity. The primary example took place in the Tucumán region of today’s Argentina, a remote

outpost of the empire. Getting there had required a harrowing trek through the Andes. During
74
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 20-21; Powers, “Sexual Conquest,” 15.
75
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 58.
76
John Huxtable Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716 (London, United Kingdom: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.,
1963), 174; Bradley, Habsburg Peru, 69-70.
77
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 30-31.
78
Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World, 155.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 19

this symbolic journey her male companions died from exhaustion but she continued until she

arrived at a farm in the countryside.79 Here, the owner, a “half-breed woman,” sheltered and

nurtured the exhausted but not broken Catalina back to health.80 Catalina made sure to mention

that the mestiza gave her “a decent cloth suit” while she was tended to as befitting her station.81

Catalina noted that the mestiza was excited at the prospect of having a European man

around to marry her daughter. Catalina emphasized what a great prize she must have seemed as a

man of “pure blood.”82 Catalina explained her refusal to marry the mestiza in racial terms rather

than in ways consistent with her inability to consummate in the traditional heterosexual

manner.83 Such sentiment was in line with findings related to prevalent Iberian attitudes,

especially about male purity and mixed heritage in women.84 While this emphasis could have

been a rationalization Catalina used to reduce the impact of knowing she could not perform

masculine sexual duties it was also learned. In this episode Catalina exaggerated her masculinity

and added ideas related to her heritage to clearly position herself above the mestiza. These

concepts displayed that her understanding of circumstances was filtered by her belief in the

hierarchy that society held.

In the Tucumán episode Catalina achieved the masculine identity pinnacle as she

understood it and yearned for - she was a desired, pure, Spanish male. Though Catalina had no

intention of actually marrying the mestiza, nor any of the women she flirted with throughout her

adventures, she repeatedly manipulated these situations to her benefit. She knew that she could

not consummate in the expected manner but winning female affection and maintaining their

desire was important to her masculine identification. Her feeling of importance was further
79
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 27-28.
80
Ibid., 28; Powers, “Sexual Conquest,” 15, 19.
81
Ibid., 28.
82
Ibid., 28; Powers, “Sexual Conquest,” 15; Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 534.
83
Kark, “Latent Selfhood and the Problems of Genre,” 534.
84
Powers, “Sexual Conquest,” 15.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 20

enhanced by other villagers in the fringe zone scurrying to win Catalina’s favor so that she might

marry their daughters, a regular competition for resources.85

Catalina responded to achieving her sought after dominant position by misleading and

manipulating everyone she could for as long as she could. Per her recollection, they usually gave

her clothes and money (listed in that order, each type of clothing described separately).86 They

also gave her validation. The hierarchy she accepted was not her construct of course. She had

learned it as so many had. Her racial ideas were crucial to her understanding of what it meant to

be a real Spanish man. Her behavioral patterns showed as much, ironically at the expense of

others. She knew she had to assume the dominant role to be free as learned in Spain’s

hierarchical order, ideas she magnified and expanded in the New World.

Conclusions

Wiesner posits that gender studies often assign disproportionate attention to the experiences of

dominant groups within a society.87 Catalina’s story covered as much conceptual territory as it

did geography, especially in regards to gender roles in the Early Modern Spanish Empire. As

such, Catalina’s story provides an excellent opportunity to avoid the overgeneralization problem.

Stereotypes can certainly be problematic, but her story is that of person actively considering and

behaving in relation to her understanding of social norms. Behaviors (including masculinity) are

often socially learned. After Catalina’s escape from her convent, she learned how to be

masculine through social contexts. These lessons helped her protect her freedom. Because she

was looking to emulate male gender performances, she often acted in ways that were

stereotypical to Spanish men of her day.

85
de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun, 29.
86
Ibid., 29.
87
Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 8.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 21

In multiple situations Catalina’s performances were validated. This included passing as a

man to family members and even her mother. Throughout her time in Spain, repeated success in

one place pushed her to relocate, to seek new audiences, and eventually to the New World. Like

many who crossed the Atlantic she carried certain ideas with her, especially ideas related to

Spanish masculinity. Catalina reinforced learned behaviors in the New World, emphasizing the

receipt of male clothing, gambling to excess, and dueling. The former validated her performance,

while the latter two were critical to gaining and maintaining the honor required to define her

social position. Through these public events, Catalina purposely drew attention to herself and the

masculinity she questioned.

Gambling became the essential element of how Catalina proved her masculinity and this

is where her performances became most exaggerated. Her insecurities were strong, constantly

alerting her to the possibility of discovery. This fear would have caused her to speculate as to the

fate she might suffer if discovered. Inquisition stories etched into her mind from her time in the

convent provided her with serious motivation to perform convincingly. Seeking satisfaction for

perceived slights on her sense of honor she engaged in duels and symbolically won them all.

Though her masculinity and honor remained intact she continued seeking new audiences and

further validation of her performances. She reinforced her masculinity and bolstered her

confidence while simultaneously making her self-image more complex and complete.

Gender remained the dominant issue throughout her life but racial ideas allowed her to

expand her self-definition in the New World. As she sought to identify herself she identified how

others were different. Catalina first expressed attitudes of racial superiority while she was in the

military seeking to further prove her masculinity. She regaled readers with stories of how she

fought bravely against indigenous and even captured an indigenous chief, who she brutally
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 22

murdered. This was a testament to her feelings of superiority and a conscious acting out of the

ideas of masculinity through domination and control that she had learned from Spanish men. The

pinnacle of her success in the New World came when she figured herself to be the most eligible

bachelor in remote Tucumán. She explained her sentiment on the basis of being a pure European

man in a region where this identity was as rarer than gold.

Catalina successfully performed this role throughout her story. While she did she

frequently moved around in the New World (see Figure X), as she had in Spain. She sought new

adventures and new opportunities. Traveling afforded Catalina many chances to identify herself

and to fool new, validating audiences. Catalina had an idea of what it meant to be successful and

virile and these displays were part of the masculinity she performed. Through exaggeration she

hoped to force others to take note that she understood what it meant to be a man. The trickery she

engaged in was not inspired by malice or spite but through hopes for prosperity and validation.

She milked as much clothing, money, validation, and self-definition out of local circumstances as

she could and then relocated. Her success shows that private but assumed genital disposition was

not what defined a person, but the perception of the traits associated with a particular gender did.

The story of Catalina’s life, full of exaggerated and stereotypical performances, also confirms the

many relevant ideas prominent authors have argued relating to gender roles, masculinity, honor,

and social hierarchy in the Early Modern Spanish Empire.

 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 23

Figure 1 – Map of Catalina’s New World Travels, 1603-1620.88

88
“Travels of Catalina de Erauso in the New World,” accessed March 11, 2016,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Travels_of_Catalina_de_Erauso_1600s_map.svg/200
0px-Travels_of_Catalina_de_Erauso_1600s_map.svg.png.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 24

Figure 2 - Depiction of nude, primitive indigenous - circa 1565. 89

89
Ilona Katzew, ed., Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World (Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, 2011), 216.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 25

Figure 3 - “Dressed Miniature Female Votive Figurine,” silver, early 16th Century. 90

90
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 43.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 26

Figure 4 - “Victims of a smallpox epidemic,” circa 1555-1579. 91

91
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 62.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 27

Figure 5 - “View of Tenochtitlan with scenes of sacrifice,” circa 1579. 92

92
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 215.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 28

Figure 6 - “Inca mummy being transported on a litter,” circa 1615. 93

93
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 53.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 29

Figure 7 – Indigenous religious leader presented as consorting with Satan.94

Rolena Adorno, “The Depiction of Self and Other in Colonial Peru,” Art Journal Vol. 49,
94

No. 2, Depictions of the Dispossessed (Summer 1990): 110.

 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 30

Figure 8 - “The capture of Atahualpa (Incan king) by Francisco Pizarro at Cajamarca,”

circa 1534. 95

95
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 211.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 31

Figure 9 - Indigenous position in existing social hierarchy, circa 1615. 96

96
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 188.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 32

Figure 10 - Adoration of the European man by indigenous. 97

97
Adorno, “The Depiction of Self and Other in Colonial Peru,” 112.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 33

Figure 11 - Indigenous automatically lower regardless of local rank. 98

98
Adorno, “The Depiction of Self and Other in Colonial Peru,” 115.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 34

Figure 12 - “The mining district governor punishes caciques (indigenous leaders),” circa
1615. 99

99
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 189.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 35

Figure 13 - “Spanish Cruelty,” from Bartolomé de las Casas’ Narratio regionum indicarum
per Hispanos quosdom deuastastrum verissima, 1598. 100

100
Katzew, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, 66.
 Koch, “In Search of Lieutenant Nun,” 36

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