More than 430 years ago, a resident of the Toledo town of Fuensalida, Yuste López, gave his daughter Magdalena, aged about eight years old, to a 12-year-old Toledo resident. Bartolomé del Castillo paid this father 22 reales, with the commitment to feed, drink, dress and shoe the little girl, and also to teach her how to weave taffeta.
A notary named Luis Méndez signed the contract, in which the father promised “that you will not take her for more or less, neither for the saint nor for any other reason” and also that the girl “will not leave and will not be absent. “from the service before the said period had expired.” Even if the little girl ran away, the father was “obligated to take her to where she was.”
The document that relates this transaction, in which this father made his daughter the slave of Bartolomé del Castillo, is part of the exhibition “Women in Struggle: Violation of Women’s Rights through the Documents of the Provincial Historical Archives of Toledo », organized by Amnesty International. and which can be visited until November 29. María Eugenia Alguacil, technician of the Provincial Historical Archives of Toledo, is responsible for carrying out the guided tour of the documents and explains that this type of case was indeed “very common”. Magdalena is a case of “semi-slavery”, something that happened quite widely and not only in the 16th century, but also in the Middle Ages.
“We saw in more documents from the 15th century many letters of service. This is a girl who today was at school playing, and you have to think that at the time, they made her work in quite difficult conditions. The archivist describes it as a case of “indirect violence” against children during one of the guided tours of the exhibition attended by elDiarioclm.es.
Another document in the exhibition, dating from 1794, details what Antonia Losada experienced. She was beaten by her husband, Bernabé García, with a stake. The judge gave him a prison sentence, but even during his imprisonment, Barnabas ordered his wife to deny the facts, not to confess the truth, that they really only had “marital disagreements” due to his visits to houses of “bad reputation”. » and that’s where the problem comes from.
In this case, “no form of sanction or conviction” was imposed. María Eugenia Alguacil points out that “unfortunately” this happened by provoking the “withdrawal” of the victim and that this resembles what happens when women, even today, withdraw their complaints against their attackers.
Juana was raped in 1795. Her case is also documented in the Provincial Historical Archives. The man who attacked her was Ramón Riscales, a neighbor of the woman, married and father of two children, who was with her at the time of the attack. The events occurred in the town of Hormigos, Toledo.
It was Juana’s own husband, Pedro Jiménez, who denounced his wife after she was raped. He did not denounce the rape, but the adultery of his wife. “In the statements, it appears that one of the children was crying with his mother,” Alguacil points out. Ultimately, the complaint against the woman was withdrawn and no sanctions were imposed against the attacker. “The only protection measures for women were to leave them ‘in custody’ when a violent action had been committed against them, to protect them and to send them to another person, usually a family member” , explains the Archives technician. Instead of judicial protection, one of the usual “refuges” was the convent.
It is up to the archives to preserve the memory of women who suffered violence because of their status as women.
Toledo Provincial Historical Archives
The exhibition also presents the case of Teresa Manzano, a little girl of only 10 years old who suffered attacks from her father, a corporal in the Civil Guard of the town of Mora. This is reflected in the girl’s statements, preserved in the archives: hitting her, pulling her hair, even being dragged by her father by her hair. “Even this man’s colleagues testified in favor of the young girl,” Alguacil emphasizes.
In her “deposition” document, the girl describes how the father grabbed her by the ears and the braid of hair, and that he even “lifted her very high” and “kicked” her » on the ground. Additionally, the little girl said she never ate breakfast and that the midday meal was “skinny.” Not only did her colleagues in the Civil Guard confirm her testimony, but also the young girl’s neighbors.
The fact that there were women “dropped in” is not exceptional, since shelters did not exist as a resource; neither specialized courts nor police protocols. For this reason, it was decided to “drop” them in a place considered safe.
The document explains that the little girl ran away from school and was found two days later. The authorities then decreed that she would be “deposited” at the prosecutor’s home and finally, after legal proceedings, she was taken from her father. “We see a certain evolution,” underlines the archivist – the case dates from 1889 – but she specifies that everything depended on “the arbitrariness of the judge” of the time.
The last document that we can see during the tour is already written on a typewriter, because it corresponds to the year 1948. It is the story of an event that occurred in the town of Talavera de la Reina: the death of Benita Sánchez, murdered by her husband. His body was found by the servant of a local apothecary, who was walking along the road to Membrilla. “In the statements of the husband himself, who of course was imprisoned, it is stated that he had a strong argument with her, according to which they were already separated, but they met to visit a common son hospitalized.”
In the police inspection report carried out on the body, the “detail” is recorded that Benita received a stab wound to the stomach and another to the left side of the chest. “El Chato”, the murderer of Benita Sánchez, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, which he served in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo and also in the Puerto de Santa María prison.
Documented violence
“We see a small evolution in the way these problems have been addressed and what the vision of society has been in the face of violence against women,” explained María Eugenia Alguacil, who highlights the “great” progress made in this area. between the 20th and 21st centuries. Through this initiative, coinciding with the commemoration of 25N, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Provincial Archives of Toledo wants to show that it is something that has always existed and that its history must also be studied and known. “What is not known, is not appreciated and is not valued,” underlines the expert.
The historian Felipe Vidales offers a complementary vision to that presented during these days by the Provincial Historical Archives. “You have to know that there are misogynistic and patriarchal structures that go beyond any religious approach,” Vidales said. “There is a legal context that sometimes the documents do not dispute. But structural violence is supported by an enormous wealth of legal, literary, historical and religious discourses,” the expert emphasized.
And as an example, he cites “El Corbacho”, by Alfonso Martínez de Toledo, archpriest of Talavera, buried in the cathedral of Toledo. This is a literary work published in the 15th century, in which it is said about women: “The woman who abuses and is bad is not only greedy, she is a failure, even more, envious, cursing, thief, she is a two-edged sword, disobedient, contrary to what she is ordered to do. Arrogant, vain, a liar and a lover of wine once she tastes it.
From witches to prostitutes. This is “structural, ancient and deeply rooted violence” against women, the historian concludes, documented for posterity in documents kept in the archives.
