Gendered Crime and Punishment: Women and/in the Hispanic Inquisitions

206 Pages·2013·1.55 MB·English

by  Stacey Schlau

Gendered Crime and Punishment
The Medieval and Early
Modern Iberian World
(Formerly Medieval Iberian Peninsula)
Edited by
Larry J. Simon, Western Michigan University
Gerard Wiegers, University of Amsterdam
Arie Schippers, University of Amsterdam
Donna M. Rogers, Dalhousie University
Isidro J. Rivera, University of Kansas
VOLUME 49
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/memi
Gendered Crime and Punishment
Women and/in the Hispanic Inquisitions
By
Stacey Schlau
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2013
Cover illustration: Illustration from Ulrich Molitor’s De Lamiis et Phitonicis Mulieribus (1493).
The Cornell University Witchcraft Collection.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schlau, Stacey, 1948-
Gendered crime and punishment : women and/in the Hispanic inquisitions / by Stacey Schlau.
pages cm. -- (Medieval and early modern Iberian world; 49)
“Formerly Medieval Iberian Peninsula” -- Series title page.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-23587-8 (hardback)
1. Inquisition--Sociological aspects. 2. Inquisition--Spain--History. 3. Inquisition--Latin
America--History. 4. Female offenders--Spain--History. 5. Female offenders--Latin America
--History. 6. Women--Spain--Social conditions. 7. Women--Latin America--Social conditions.
I. Title.
KBR128.S35 2012
272’.2--dc23
2012035162
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the
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ISSN 1569-1934
ISBN 978-90-04-23587-8 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-23735-3 (e-book)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................vii
Introduction
    Toward a Gendered Approach to Understanding
the Hispanic Inquisitions .................................................................................1
1  Betwixt and Between: Judaizing Women Face
the Inquisition ..................................................................................................25
2  Dangerous Spiritualities: Beatas, Illuminism, and
False Religiosity ................................................................................................65
3  Devil With A Black or Brown Dress On: Holy
Women as Ventriloquists of Satan ..............................................................95
4 Bewitching Acts: Cures, Love Potions, and Spells ................................119
5 E ntre cuerpo y alma: Female Sexuality,
Out of Control? .............................................................................................147
Epilogue ..................................................................................................................173
Bibliography ..........................................................................................................177
Index ........................................................................................................................187

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Innumerable people have helped me during the many years of research-
ing and writing this book. Unfortunately, because I neglected to keep a
list, I (mostly) omit their names here. My deepest apologies for the error.
The personnel of the various archives and libraries of several countries
have invariably done their utmost to facilitate the process that has culmi-
nated in the book you hold in your hands. Those who work in the Archivo
General de la Nación in Mexico City and the Archivo Histórico Nacional
in Madrid, not to mention smaller (yet rich) treasure troves of manu-
scripts such as the Hispanic Society library in New York City and Lea
Collection at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, make possi-
ble investigations such as mine. Access to documents is an essential first
step in advancing scholarship in this field. In addition, the Interlibrary
Loan Department of West Chester University of Pennsylvania has aided
my research immeasurably, by borrowing secondary sources.
Awards from various sources, including a National Endowment for the
Humanities Summer Research Stipend and several internal grants (and a
sabbatical leave) from West Chester University, ensured that what often
seemed a herculean task was completed.
Numerous colleagues and friends patiently listened to, read, and com-
mented on conference papers and articles that preceded Gendered Crime
and Punishment. Many have in supported me in other, more personal
ways, offering encouraging words over the years that this project has taken
to finish. In the fields of colonial Latin American and early modern
Spanish cultural studies, some colleagues who have provided resources,
both personal and scholarly, include: Maureen Ahern (deceased), Isabel
Barbeito Carneiro, Emilie Bergmann, Dana Bultman, Jennifer Eich, and
Nieves Romero-Díaz. I also wish to thank my colleagues, retired and
active, at West Chester University. And, I want to acknowledge my deep
appreciation for the scholars on whose research and theoretical frame-
works I built my own, especially the feminist historians and literary/cul-
tural studies critics who have written about the subject. I can only hope
that this contribution is worthy of following in their footsteps.
Finally, I offer a word of thanks to my family and closest friends, for put-
ting up with my distraction, occasional bad moods, and at times obses-
sion with finishing this book.