Marina de la Caballería
Doña Marina Flores Gutierrez de la Caballería | |
---|---|
Born | unknown Almagro, Ciudad Real, Spain |
Died | 1540 |
Occupation(s) | Settler, pioneer |
Title | Poblador of New Spain, Vecino of New Spain |
Spouse | |
Children | 5 |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Diego Gutiérrez de la Caballeria (brother) |
Marina de la Caballería, full name Doña Marina Flores Gutierrez de la Caballería, (died 1540), was a Spanish pioneer, settler and noblewoman that colonized New Spain in the 16th century. She arrived to the New World in 1528 to reunite with her husband, Alonso de Estrada.
Ancestry and early life
She was born in
Modern historians believe that Marina belonged to a family of
Those who converted faced a period of close scrutiny by the
Marina spent her youth being taught the proper ways for a woman. Elizabeth Howe believes that, thanks to her family's proximity to Isabella, Marina probably benefited from the insistence of Queen Isabella on the education of noble women in every other subject, such as math and history. This would explain her impressive future impact on Mexican society.
Despite their certificate of purity of blood, it's possible that the growing religious tensions limited Marina's options to marry within her own city.[1]
Married life
In 1508 Marina married
Trip to America
There were various voyages organized by the crown to reunite conquerors in America with their families. It is likely that she traveled along with a group of women in 1523 to Mexico City to rejoin her husband, Alonso.
During that voyage, Marina traveled along with her two youngest children, and her brother,
Widowhood
In 1530 Alonso died. Marina was left to fend for herself and three unmarried daughters. According to Spanish law, a widow was to receive the same social status and courtesies as her deceased husband until she remarried. She was also the universal heir of her husband and administrator of her daughters' inheritance. She fought several litigations in court, both for control of her husband's assets and for the right to bury him in the manner she considered proper for his rank.
Marina was also in charge of carrying her husband's last year as treasurer to term. The Spanish crown audited the accounting books of their secretaries yearly, in search of discrepancies or irregularities that needed punishment. In Alonso's absence it fell on his widow to provide explanations and reconcile the reports of all New Spain, which she successfully managed to do. Alonso's books turned out to have large amounts of missing money in them. Marina's properties in Ciudad Real were confiscated by the crown in reparation for the missing money, until she could repay it. For three years Marina wrangled with the Council of the Indies about a shipment of silver that Alonso had sent to his children in Spain. The argument was whether this money was personal or official, and therefore stolen. She also fought in court for the ownership of various
Marina also fought to receive all the recognition her husband used to enjoy. After several years she was granted an exception to the Spanish anti-slavery law and permission to own two slaves, a special privilege her husband and other first-line-conquerors had enjoyed.[2]
Legacy
Marina kept using this strategy of social influence, use of the legal system, and strategic marriages of her children to expand her influence and patrimony, while reporting poorness and economic misery in her letters to the king of Spain. By the end of her life Marina had accumulated one of the largest patrimonies and richest
References
- ^ "La-sangre-limpiada of Marina Flores Gutierrez de la Caballeria" Colonial Latin American historical review: CLAHR 11(1):35-54 · December 2002
- ^ Robert Himmerich y Valencia "The Encomenderos of New Spain, 1521-1555" University of Texas Press
- ^ Shirley Cushing Flint "No Mere Shadows: Faces of Widowhood in Early Colonial Mexico" University of New Mexico Press 2013 pp 13-37