CATALINA DE ERAUSO 1592 – 1650
Determined to escape a destiny of ecclesiastical servitude, the bloodthirsty conquest of the New World beckoned instead
Until the age of 15 Erauso was restricted within the confines of a Spanish convent. She escaped, not wishing to conform to the paths set out for women in Early Modern Spain: either a life of pious seclusion as a nun, or domesticity. Erauso cut her hair, changed her clothes and began her second life, adopting male names such as Francisco, Pedro and Antonio.
With her new identity, she headed across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World as a cabin boy on a ship helmed by Captain Miguel de Echezarreta.
Erauso reached South America and served as a soldier in Peru and Chile during the Spanish conquest of the Araucanian Indians, even achieving the rank of second lieutenant. When her captain died during the Battle of Purén, Erauso proved her leadership by taking control and winning the battle. However, she became notorious for massacring Indians, burning crops and even assassinating a chief. That cruelty stopped her from becoming captain and even led to imprisonment in a church for six months. Upon release, she entered into a duel with her own brother, Don Miguel de Erauso, a secretary governor, whom she killed.
Grief-stricken, she entered a convent in Lima, confessing her gender to a bishop. This confession made her somewhat of a celebrity, and she was given a military pension by Philip IV. In 1626 she was given dispensation by Pope
Urban VIII to live the remainder of her life dressed as a man. Commenting on Erauso’s escapades, Captain Francisco Perez de Navarrete of the Spanish army said: “She was taken as a man because she always showed courage.”