Maria Francisca Ana de Castro, called La bella toledana (b. ca. 1686, Toledo, Spain, d. December 23, 1736, Lima, Peru) was a Spanish immigrant to Peru, renowned for her beauty and hauteur. She was arrested in 1726, accused of "judaizing" (being a practicing Jew). She was burned at the stake in an auto de fe in 1736. This event was a major spectacle in Lima, but it raised questions about possible irregular procedures and corruption within the Inquisition.

Early history

Ana de Castro was a native of Toledo. She and her second husband, a merchant in Lima, arrived in Peru in 1707, together with the new viceroy, Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau. Her great beauty was mentioned in most written accounts of her by contemporaries. She was also said to be extremely haughty. For example, she was said to attend mass in the Plaza de la Recoleta in her carriage, but without descending from it. She was a wealthy and cultivated member of society in Lima. And she was accused of being promiscuous. There were rumors that she had had an affair with one of the royal viceroys. (If true, this was probably Oms or Jose de Armendariz, viceroy from 1724 to 1736.)

Arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution

The story of her arrest is as follows. Out of revenge, one of her ex-lovers bribed a maid in her household to hide a crucifix beneath her mattress. He then denounced her to the Inquisition, claiming that she was guilty of whipping an image of Christ. An investigation turned up the image among her bed linen and she was arrested. It is not possible to verify this story.

Women were exempt from torture by the Inquisition, but nevertheless, the Supreme Council of the Inquisition in Lima voted to subject her to torture to obtain a confession. In her ten years in prison she was tortured three times, and she had twenty audiences with the inquisitors in order to give her an opportunity to confess. Her considerable property, estimated at 22,000 pesos, was confiscated.

She apparently did not confess to the major charges against her, although she admitted to some Jewish observances she believed were not incompatible with Catholicism (observing the Sabbath and mourning the dead, things she had learned as a child). She was said to have revealed under torture that her sister and some other relatives had been burned by the Inquisition in Seville for impenitence, that she herself had been implicated in the crime, and that she had been asked to whip a small child to death as an act of judaizing but had only witnessed the act.

In 1636, in spite of a ruling from Spain that she be spared, she was paraded through the streets of Lima on a mule, subjected to a sermon, turned over to the secular arm, and then burned at the stake. A crowd of 10,000 jeering spectators witnessed her execution. She was accompanied by other prisoners, but they were sentenced to lesser penalties. Her ashes were thrown into the Rimac River.

Irregularities

There were irregularities in her case, recognized at the time. As a woman, she should not have been subjected to torture. Some witnesses reported seeing signs of repentance when she was paraded through Lima to the stake, something that should have spared her life but didn't. There was also a directive from Spain barring her execution, which was ignored. Fiscal (public prosecutor) Mateo de Amusquibar accused Cristoval Sanchez Calderon, inquisitor from 1730 to 1748, of executing her for the spectacle, and as a demonstration of the power of the Inquisition. To this might be added the motive of confiscation of her property. Amusquibar accused Calderon of corruption — mismanaging funds and personally profiting from the fines he imposed. Calderon was arrested and expelled from Lima, but allowed to return in 1747.

The Holy Tribunal banned discussion of her case, under pain of excommunication.

References

• Toribio Medina, Jose, Historia del tribunal de la Inquisicion de Lima: 1569-1820, vol. II, chapter 25. This is available on-line here (in Spanish):
• Williams, Jerry M. "A New Text in the Case of Ana de Castro: Lima's Inquisition on Trial". This is available on-line (in .pdf format) here:

External links

• Some details
• Colonial-Peru

Other pages about Colonial Peru

-Alonzo de Alvarado -Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria -Ana de Castro -Andres Hurtado de Mendoza -Antonio de Mendoza -Antonio de Morga -Balconies of Lima -Baltasar de la Cueva Enriquez -Battle of Sangarara -Bernardo de Iturriaza -Blasco Nunez Vela -Cabildo (council) -Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo -Cathedral of Lima -Comentarios Reales de los Incas -Convento de San Francisco -Cristobal Ramirez de Cartagena -Cristobal Vaca de Castro -Diego Ladron de Guevara -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Diego Morcillo Rubio de Aunon -Diego Nunez de Avendano -Diego Quispe Tito -Diego de Almagro -Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva -Fernando Torres de Portugal y Mesia -Francisco Ruiz Lozano -Francisco de Borja y Aragon -Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa -Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Canete -Government Palace (Peru) -Hans Heinrich Bruning Brookstedt -Hernando de Luque -Historic Centre of Lima -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Antonio de Mendoza -Jose de Armendariz -Juan Jimenez de Montalvo -Juan Pizarro II -Lima City Walls -Luis Jeronimo Fernandez de Cabrera -Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau -Mateo de la Mata Ponce de Leon -Melchor Bravo de Saravia -Melchor Linan y Cisneros -Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull -Miguel Nunez de Sanabria -Osambela House -Pedro Alvarez de Toledo y Leiva -Pedro Antonio Fernandez de Castro -Pedro Bohorquez -Pedro de la Gasca -San Telmo (ship) -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Torre Tagle Palace -Tupac Amaru II -Turibius of Mongrovejo -Viceroyalty of Peru

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Ana_de_Castro