Unfit For Marriage: Impotent Spouses On Trial In The Basque Region Of Spain, 1650-1750

Acknowledgments

This study owes its existence to two individuals: Renato Barahona and Angel Ortega López. Renato Barahona first noted a number of cases for marital separation and impotence trials on a visit to the Diocesan and Cathedral Archives of Calahorra more than a decade ago. Renato’s intellectual generosity and practical knowledge of northern Spain have been the bedrock of this investigation. Perhaps more fundamentally important to this work have been the labors of archivist Angel Ortega López in his ongoing work cataloging the documents of the Calahorra archive. Father Ortega originally moved to Calahorra to serve as the cathedral’s musical director. Seeing that the diocese needed to organize its extensive documentation, Angel sought further university training and refashioned himself as the cathedral’s archivist. He has succeeded in creating a modern scholarly archive from what was an enormous amount of disordered material. I have been able to find and read the documents of this study only because they were first noted and cataloged by Father Ortega. A research scholar generally requires either independent wealth, some type of position, or patronage to keep working. My main patron has been Abril Martínez-Behrend, my wife. Without her financial support I would never have been able to travel, photocopy, and otherwise purchase the equipment essential to this historical research. Abril has continued to support this project , though she may have long ago tired of listening to my stories of seventeenth -century spousal abuse and impotence trials. The Spanish portion of my research was made possible by a grant from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the Commission for Cultural, Educational, and Scientific Exchange between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America. The Fulbright grant allowed my family and me to live in La Rioja, Spain, in –, where I was able to spend ten months reading materials from the Diocesan and Cathedral Archives of Calahorra. The study received further support from the History Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the form of a Bentley Brinkerhoff Gilbert Fellowship for –, and a grant from Appalachian State University’s University Research Council in . Several people have contributed to this study. Renato Barahona, Anne J. Cruz, and Abril Martínez-Behrend have all been helpful resolving translation problems. I thank Annette Chapman-Adisho and Chalice Wilkersen at the  University of Illinois at Chicago for reading versions of sections of the text. My colleagues in the Department of History at Appalachian State University, Jari Eloranta, Michael Krenn, Mary Quigley, Karen Greene, and David Reid provided me with further advice and criticism on portions of the manuscript. One of my students, Jessica Fowler, helped me with some particularly tedious editing. The encouragement, advice, and comments of Jeffrey Merrick and especially Merry Wiesner-Hanks from the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee have been invaluable. I have learned much from the comments and examples of George Huppert and David Jordan , two superb historians and writers, from the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Hispanists Anne J. Cruz and Susan Tax Freeman, both formerly at the University of Illinois at Chicago and experts in literature and anthropology respectively, have done much to shape my views of Spanish women and society. I also want to thank many of my colleagues in the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies for their fruitful conversations over the years: Michael Crawford, Stephanie Fink DeBacker, Elizabeth Lehfelt, Allyson Poska, and Scott Taylor. Above all, I must again thank Renato Barahona, who has been a wonderful guide to the culture and history of northern Spain. His breadth and depth of knowledge are impressive and have served as an inspiration to me. Renato has been consistently unselfish with his time. He faithfully read the multiple drafts of this study, and has always given me his honest criticism and direction. * * * Portions of chapter  appeared in Edward Behrend-Martínez, “Manhood and the Neutered Body in Early Modern Spain,” Journal of Social History , no.  (Summer ): –.ac xiv Acknowledgments    Margarita Rio Ebro Valle de Aramayona Arnedo Gravalos Préjano Cornago Munilla Enciso Torre en Cameros Soto en Cameros Albelda Lumbreras Aldeanueva de Cameros Grañon Entrena Agoncillo Villamediana Rodezno Gimileo Fuenmayor Murillo de Rio Leza Dima Elorrio Garayo Villafranca Castillo Cárcamo Derio Meñaca Sta. Cruz de Campezo San Roman Lasanta Elciego Calahorra Igea San Román de Cameros Jubera...