Antonio de Erauso
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"De Quincey’s account of the adventures of Catalina de Erauso appeared first in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine in 1847, under the title of The Nautico-Military Nun, and was reprinted in the third volume of the Edinburgh Edition of his collected works, with the title changed to its present form, and a few minor alterations. De Quincey’s version of the story was based on an article that appeared in 1847 in the Revue des Deux Mondes, by Alexis de Valon. Catalina’s autobiography has recently been translated, with introduction and notes, by Mr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly (The Nun-Ensign, Fisher Unwin), who considers that the History as we now have it represents a compilation by a later hand of the original memoirs written by Catalina herself."--Vere Henry Collins, 1909 "Catalina de Erauso was a Spanish woman who, after being forced to enter a convent, escaped from it disguised as a man, fled to America and enrolled herself in the Spanish army under the false name of Alonso Díaz Ramírez de Guzmán. She served under several captains, including her own brother, and was never discovered. She was said to behave as an extremely bold soldier, although she had a successful career, reaching the rank of alférez (lieutenant) and becoming quite well-known in the Americas. After a fight in which she killed a man, she was severely injured, and fearing her end, she confessed her true sex to a bishop. She nonetheless survived, and there was a huge scandal afterwards, specially since as a man she had become quite famous in the Americas, and because nobody had ever suspected anything about her true sex. Nevertheless, thanks to the scandal and her fame as a brave soldier, she became a celebrity. She went back to Spain, and was even granted a special dispensation by the pope to wear men's clothes. She started using the male name of Antonio de Erauso, and went back to the America, where she served in the army till her death in 1650."--Sholem Stein |
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Antonio de Erauso, born as Catalina de Erauso (in Spanish) (San Sebastián, Spain, 1585 or 1592 — Cuetlaxtla near Orizaba, New Spain, 1650), also went by Alonso Díaz and some other masculine names, later taking on the name Antonio de Erauso which he went by for the remainder of his life.
Originally an unwilling nun, she escaped the convent and travelled around Spain and Spanish America, mostly under male identities, in the first half of the 17th century.
de Erauso wrote or dictated the autobiography which remained in manuscript form until it was first published in Paris in 1829 at the request of Joaquín María Ferrer, a second time in Barcelona in 1838, and for the third time in 1894 in Paris, with illustrations by Spanish artist Daniel Vierge. Then his account was translated into several languages and versions of the theme, as idealized by Thomas De Quincey, entitled The Ensign Nun in English.
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