A Hearing Before the Inquisition
Constantino Escalante, “A Hearing Before the Inquisition.” Via the book D. Guillén de Lampart: La Inquisición y la independencia en el siglo XVII. (Mexico City: Librería de la Vida de C. Bouret, 1908). By González Obregón.
Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche was born around 1623. Her father was a famous Spanish soldier, and her mother an Irish noblewoman sent to Spain to be protected from English Protestants. As a child, Teresa moved every time her father received a new political appointment. She lived in Alessandria and Milan in Italy and Fuenterrabía and Granada in Spain, all before the age of fourteen. In 1638 she moved with her family to the Spanish colonies in the Americas, where her father took up the position of governor of Cartagena de Indias in Nueva Granada (present-day Colombia). Throughout her travels, Teresa received an excellent education. By the time she reached marriageable age, she could read and write Spanish, English, French, and Latin, and she was a dedicated follower of the Catholic Church.
When she was about twenty years old, Teresa married Don Bernardo López de Mendizábal and moved with him to Mexico City. Bernardo was a military hero and a rising star in New Spain. In 1658 he was appointed governor of the Spanish colony of New Mexico, a territory that covered much of modern-day New Mexico and Arizona. As the governor’s wife, Teresa was responsible for moving her entire household to the governor’s palace in the colony’s capital, Santa Fe. After much hurry and preparation, they departed Mexico City in late 1658.
The journey from Mexico City to Santa Fe took seven months, and every day brought new challenges for Teresa. The colder climate inflamed severe arthritis in her hands and feet. She suffered a miscarriage, which sent her into a deep depression. Arriving in Santa Fe probably did little to lift her spirits. The capital was a tiny settlement of about 800 people, only one hundred of whom identified as Spanish. It was surrounded by countryside dotted with missions and haciendas and was supplied by merchant caravans only three times a year. There was not much to appeal to a woman of Teresa’s stature and education.
To make matters worse, Teresa and Bernardo did not have a happy marriage. Bernardo regularly cheated on Teresa with other women. Many of the women he slept with were servants and enslaved women who had little power to say no. Angry over her husband’s infidelity but helpless to stop him, Teresa took her frustrations out on the women in her household. She whipped and beat them to discourage them from having sex with her husband.
In August 1662 Teresa and Bernardo were arrested by officers of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, a religious court that had absolute authority to try any citizen of Spain for crimes against the Church. Bernardo’s political enemies, with testimony from servants, convinced the Inquisition that Teresa and Bernardo were heretics. The Inquisition could hold suspects indefinitely. They were also known to torture, maim, and brutally execute people. Once Teresa was taken into custody, her property was confiscated. She was not allowed to communicate with anyone who might help her, including her husband.
She was accused of forty-seven crimes against the Catholic Church, including skipping mass, mocking religious traditions, practicing occult rituals, and secretly being Jewish.
Teresa’s trial began on May 2, 1663. She was not told what charges had been made against her. Instead, the court demanded that she confess to any and all crimes she may have committed. Teresa stood her ground, insisting that she was an upstanding Catholic woman and that any charges against her and her husband were lies told by their enemies. The court tried two more times to force a confession out of Teresa, but she stayed firm. After her third appearance on May 12, the court left her in her cell for six months. She repeatedly requested that her case be concluded or that she be allowed to live with her husband, who had become very sick during the journey to Mexico City. All these requests were ignored—her social status could only get her so far.
On October 26, 1663 Teresa was brought before the court to hear the charges against her. She was accused of forty-seven crimes against the Catholic Church, including skipping mass, mocking religious traditions, practicing occult rituals, and secretly being Jewish. Over the next month, Teresa responded to every accusation. She explained that she missed mass only when her arthritis was so bad that she couldn’t move. Her “occult rituals” were nothing more than herbal remedies for her many illnesses, which she was forced to use because no better medical treatment was available in Santa Fe. As for the charges of mocking religious traditions or practicing Judaism, they were lies fabricated by her enemies. She insisted that anyone who knew her would attest that she was a devout Catholic and had been since childhood. Teresa wrote a twenty-eight-page document identifying all of her enemies by name and laying out exactly why their testimony was biased. Without ever being told who was speaking against her, she was able to discredit nearly every witness the court had.
Teresa’s case was suspended and she was released from prison in December 1664, twenty-eight months after her initial arrest. But her life was essentially ruined by her ordeal. Her husband died in prison, and she spent the rest of her days fighting to get all her possessions back from the courts. Even so, Teresa was lucky to escape with her life. Today her trial testimony stands as one of the few accounts by a woman of life in colonial New Mexico.
Vocabulary
- arthritis: Painful swelling of the joints.
- Catholic: A Christian who follows the pope in Rome.
- Catholic Church: A Christian church that is led by the pope in Rome.
- Don: The title for a Spanish man of rank.
- Doña: The title for a Spanish woman of rank.
- hacienda: A large farm or ranch with a central house.
- heretic: A person who believes or practices something outside of an established religion.
- Holy Office of the Inquisition: A religious court that had the authority to try people for crimes against the Catholic Church.
- miscarriage: Unexpected loss of a baby during pregnancy.
- mission: A place where missionaries live and interact with people they are trying to convert.
- New Spain: The Spanish colony in North America, which encompassed current-day Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
- occult: Supernatural.
Discussion Questions
- What does Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche’s life story reveal about life in colonial New Mexico?
- Why did Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche physically attack her female servants and enslaved women? How did her servants and enslaved women get their revenge?
- What does Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche’s life story reveal about the role of the Catholic Church in the Spanish colonies?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH connection: 2.2 European Colonization
- Include this life story in a lesson about the Spanish colonies. Have the students consider why life in the Spanish colonies in the Americas was challenging for even high-ranking noblewomen like Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche.
- Include this life story in a lesson about the Spanish Inquisition. The story of Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche shows that its powers reached all the way to the Spanish colonies in the Americas and even high-ranking noblewomen were not safe from its accusations.
- Pair this life story with Life Story: Isabel Hernández, another woman who was tried by the Holy Office of the Inquisition. What did these women have in common? How were their experiences different? Why?
- Combine the life story of Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche with Witchcraft in Bermuda for a lesson on how accusations of religious crimes were used against women all around the North American colonies.
- The sexual exploitation of women that Don Bernardo practiced was common throughout the colonial Americas. You can learn more about this widespread problem by exploring the resources below:
- Doña Teresa de Aguilera y Roche was not the only woman in the colonies to stand trial for crimes she disavowed. Compare and contrast her experiences with any of the women in the following resources. Ask students to answer the following questions: Why were these women put on trial? What evidence existed of their guilt? What outside circumstances likely influenced the outcome of their trials?
- Religion was a powerful force in the daily lives of women in the European colonies of the Americas. Combine this life story with any of the following resources for a lesson on colonial women and religious life:
Themes
POWER AND POLITICS
