Catalina de Erauso, La monja Alférez (c. 1600)

Retrato de Catalina de Erauso (hacia 1626), atribuido a Juan van der Hamen, Fundación Kutxa.

Few autobiographical voices in early modern literature are as daring and unforgettable as that of Catalina de Erauso, also known as la Monja Alférez (“The Lieutenant Nun”). Born in the Basque Country in the late 16th century and raised in a convent, Catalina escaped monastic life in her teens, cut her hair, donned male clothing, and set out into the world living as a man. What followed is an extraordinary tale of gender defiance, transatlantic adventure, and survival.

Catalina fought in battles during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, worked various jobs under male identities, engaged in duels, and had numerous romantic entanglements with women, all while keeping her assigned gender a secret. Her story was so astounding that she was granted an audience with King Philip IV and later received a special dispensation from Pope Urban VIII to continue dressing and living as a man.

In this course, we explore Catalina’s Vida y sucesos de la Monja Alférez not only as a piece of early autobiographical writing but as a bold, complex expression of queer identity centuries ahead of its time. Catalina challenges every expectation we might have about gender roles, sexuality, and agency in the early modern world.

To better understand her remarkable journey, we will engage in a collaborative storytelling and digital mapping project using Leaflet. The class will be divided into groups, each focusing on a period of Catalina’s life: from her escape from the convent to her exploits in the Americas and her eventual recognition by Church and Crown. Using the text as our guide, and supplementing it with historical research, each group will map her travels and key episodes, reconstructing her narrative in a digital format that brings her voice—back to life.

The edition used for our course is: Catalina de Erauso. Vida y sucesos de la Monja Alférez. Ed. by Miguel Martínez. Clásicos Castalia, 2021.

An online version of text is also available here: Catalina de Erauso, Historia de la monja Alférez. Lima, Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, 1988 (Alicante : Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 2001).

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