The Lives of Women: A New History of Inquisitional Spain (review)

In The Lives of Women, Lisa Vollendorf sets out to recover the voices of early modern Spanish women through an innovative mix of archival and literary records. Delving into sources as varied as inquisition trials, novellas, poems, religious autobiographies, and plays, Vollendorf argues for an early modern literary and educational revolution that set the groundwork for Spanish women’s involvement in public life. Faced with a national culture that sought to silence them, women of all backgrounds nonetheless managed to navigate the perils of patriarchy and find their voices.

Part I, “Defining Gender,” examines the inquisitorial trials of Eleno/a de Céspedes, a black hermaphrodite living as a man, and Bernarda Manuel, a Portuguese conversa on trial for judaizing. Though seemingly unconnected, both trials evince the complex dynamic between official gender ideologies and how women interpreted them. Thus, faced with Céspedes’s improbably malleable body, inquisitors sought to restore a fixed definition of masculinity. On the other hand, inquisitors virtually ignored Manuel’s legal defense based on the traditional rhetoric of motherhood, femininity, and long-suffering wife. Carefully analyzing both defendants’ narratives, Vollendorf demonstrates how they appealed to normative gender roles, arguing that dominant gender ideologies had effectively seeped into female popular culture.

Despite the seeming strength of patriarchal conceptions, some women sought to provide alternative gender narratives that could undermine official ones. Part II, “Imagining Gender,” is devoted to these female writers. Mining the works of María de Zayas, Mariana de Carvajal, Ángela de Azevedo, and María Caras for clues, Vollendorf deftly unpacks the subtle gender subversions they proposed. We encounter non-normative definitions of gender and desire articulated through an emphasis on female homosocial networks, intimacy, and even desire. By placing female characters at the forefront and articulating female-centered conceptions of gender, these writers provided the necessary framework for thinking of gender in new ways.

Part III, “Women’s Worlds,” turns to the cloister. Examining nuns as writers, Vollendorf uncovers a rich and varied tradition of female voices tackling diverse subjects: from their experiences inside and outside the convent—evidence of the cloister’s permeability—to learned responses to wider Renaissance debates about women’s worth. Furthermore, in an ambitious chapter titled “Nuns as Mothers,” Vollendorf tackles the unique mother-son relationship resulting in Sor Catalina de Jesús’s biography. Tracing the interplay for narrative control, psychological tensions, and collaboration between the two, Vollendorf sees Sor Catalina’s choice for a spiritual life after becoming a widow as a reconstruction of motherhood into a spiritual connection to other women and rejection of traditional feminine roles.

Having progressed from gender norms and their alternatives, Vollendorf then expands her perspective to broadly assess “Women’s Networks” in part IV. Choosing to focus on the challenges single women faced, she examines the lives of beatas, nuns, sorceresses, and prophetesses who paid a heavy price for their views. Vollendorf argues that these women encountered heavy opposition to unorthodox formulations of femininity but nonetheless remained active in their communities and continued to seek positions of leadership and reform. Finally, chapter 8 investigates the broad question of women’s education. Moving the field into long-neglected territory, Vollendorf provides an innovative framework for analyzing longterm patterns in female education and their effect on public life. In fact, she argues that early modern Spanish women’s educational movement lay the groundwork for future involvement in civil society.

Altogether Vollendorf paints a picture of charismatic women ready to participate in various fields through their ingenuity and their ability to subvert gender expectations. Although often silenced and targeted through judicial and cultural means available to those wielding power, women found their voices and successfully challenged the prescriptions promoted by the budding nation-state. This is a compelling argument for the wider reading public. Unlike more specialized works that often focus on certain types of women, Vollendorf...