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Edwards_Txtfinal_SB.indd FOUR “A Woman of His Class” Contested Intermarriages In Córdoba in 1798, doña Magdalena López requested that don José Lino, a priest embroiled in an illicit a¤air with his concubine, Bernabela, serve as a key witness for her court case. She objected to the choice that her son, Ramón Romero, had made in marriage. She argued that María Mercedes Ferreyra, his wife- to- be, came from an inferior linage because her deceased father was rumored to be a mulato from Chile. Don José Lino obliged because he had known Mercedes Ferreyra’s parents for some time. He certi«ed that Mercedes Ferreyra came from an “inferior extraction and calidad.” He did not state she had African ancestry but instead refer- enced her calidad as being inferior to Ramón Romero’s assumed Spanish ancestry. Despite his own private a¤air with Bernabela, a woman noted for “being the color of a Spanish woman,” and most likely because he remained under the watchful eye of the bishop, he objected to the mar- riage owing to the apparent inequality.1 In this case, don José Lino provided crucial testimony that proved Mercedes Ferreyra had inferior lineage, so the court upheld doña Mag- dalena’s objection to their marriage. But sometimes «ancées accused of having inferior lineage—most often associated with African heritage— could convince the court that accusations of their inferiority were based on a mistaken identity and that in fact they were Spanish or Indian. In this chapter, I argue that women accused of having mala sangre worked within the limits of the law to achieve whiteness by marrying Spanish men. Furthermore, I examine their evasion of blackness through mar- riage dissent cases. In Córdoba, marriage dissent cases existed throughout the late eigh- teenth century and into the nineteenth century, with one of the last cases tried in 1850. A marriage dissent case came about after a parent or guard- ian denied a betrothed couple the right to marry, which the Royal Prag- matic of 1776, a Bourbon Reform policy continued in Córdoba two years later, permitted, and as a result the couple sought to overturn their negated marriage in court. The persistence of marriage dissent stemmed from ecclesiastical and civil authorities who focused on maintaining social contested intermarriages 67 hierarchy in a small city that had a majority casta population. Yet, the ver- dicts of marriage dissent cases reveal a slightly higher rate in favor of the betrothed’s marriage, 52 percent versus 48 percent, than against it.2 In cases that ruled in favor of the couple, the couple often argued a case of mistaken identity. The woman accused of having inferior lineage was in fact a Spaniard or Indian. By claiming a Spanish or Indian identity, these potential wives appropriated the ideal notions of a wife in Córdoba. In cases in which the «ancée acknowledged her African ancestry and honor, mar- riage dissent succeeded, mainly because civil authorities did not protect African- descended women’s honor. By examining the two strategies put forward, this chapter reveals that the ºuidity and ºexibility of calidad in Córdoba provided women of African descent who were accused of African ancestry in marriage dissent cases with a means to socially ascend within the con«nes of the law. Marriage dissent cases also provide a crucial jux- taposition with the previous chapter, which examined women of African descent in cohabiting relationships who resorted to illegal measures, such as wearing prohibited clothing and accessories, to secure privilege and sta- tus. But a concubine was also a very precarious status; once caught, as in the case of don José Lino and Bernabela, it could lead to excommunication from the Church and a loss of social and economic inºuence in society. Marriage, however, had more permanent social and political bene«ts and clearly was an institution worth «ghting for. INTERMARRIAGES BEFORE THE ROYAL PRAGMATIC OF 1776 During Córdoba’s colonial period before the enactment of the Royal Prag- matic of 1776 marriage provided an avenue of social ascent for people of African descent. Despite the small number of free and enslaved women and Spanish men who married—6 out of 947 in the seventeenth cen- tury and 25 out of 2,918 marriages in the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century—these marriages often were the means for African- descended women to provide a better life for their children and them- selves.3 Intermarriages also provide insight into upward mobility among castas. Marriages involving Indians and African descendants reveal the extent to which these two groups comingled and lived together in the city and the pampas. They also demonstrate that even when castas could not achieve whiteness, they still found ways to better the lives of their children. Children born from a marriage between Indian women and enslaved men reveals this practice. Indian women provided a way for enslaved men to guarantee that their children would be free and thus removed from the stain of former enslavement. chapter four68 In marriages in which enslaved women married Spanish men, six slave women successfully achieved the coveted title of doña.4 In 1765, casta marriage records listed Juan Bautista Ferreyra, also known as José Ferreyra, who originated from Rio de Janeiro, and described as a free pardo, as married to Teresa Sotelo, a slave. Thirteen years later, the cen- sus of 1778 noted a meaningful change in their calidades. José Ferreyra transformed into a Spaniard and Teresa a mestiza. The census also noted Teresa as the head of household, which consisted of José Ferreyra, her hus- band, their «ve girls, and a free negra named Theodora Romero.5 Teresa Sotelo made her «nal transformation to doña after the death of her hus- band. The widow then married don José Antonio Garcia in 1788. In 1811, the census listed them as Spaniards in the Salcaste, a small provincial town, and she had the title doña. Often married couples such as don José and doña Teresa would leave the city and settle in places where they could start new lives and assume new identities. In this case, Teresa started life as a slave in the city, then transformed to a mestiza, and later became a doña in another town.6 Her ascendancy revealed that physical mobility enhanced the e¤ects of a ºuid and continuously evolving identity at the end of the eighteenth century. Having moved with her new husband from the city where she was known to have been a slave to a small town as a doña, Teresa made the «nal transformation through the social networks she shared with her husband. Similarly, Ana Isabel Olmos also achieved the coveted title doña because of her husband, don Joaquín , who had emigrated from Spain. In 1765, don Joaquín freed Ana, a parda, the same year of their marriage.7 Don Joaquín’s will showed that he brought roughly 10,000 to 12,000 pesos to the marriage, while Ana brought “nothing.”8 When they married, both don Joaquín and Ana already had children from other relationships. Don Joaquín had a son named José Gavino and Ana had a daughter named Teresa, and while married they had a son, José Andres. Don Joaquín’s wealth, which came from his merchant activities, gave Ana, her daugh- ter, Teresa, and their son, José Andres, a very comfortable lifestyle. While married, Ana received various gifts such as colorful skirts, bodices, gold earrings, and pearls, which assisted in her transformation from slave to doña.9 Additionally, when Teresa married in 1773, before don Joaquín’s death, her dowry included 265 pesos, clothing and adornments such as petticoats, stockings, skirts, bodices, shirts, ribbons, shoes, silver buck- les, and gold earrings, and the more traditional objects such as bedding, a mattress, sheets, pillows, blankets, and some merchandise for sale such as contested intermarriages 69 yerba, sugar, and honey. Their shared son, José Andres, received the farm, various items in their rented home in the city, three slaves, and all of his father’s clothes (which included French suits).10 Thirty years after their marriage, the 1795 census described Ana as a forty- «ve- year- old widowed doña living with two slaves, José Bernardo and Pedro Ignacio, whom she inherited from don Joaquín, along with furniture, several domestic appli- ances, salt and capers to sell, and silver objects.11 Because of their mar- riage, Ana achieved a coveted whiteness and privileges that also extended to her children, Teresa and José Andres. Between 1720 and 1779, both Indian men and women tended to marry slaves.12 These marriages did not directly bene«t the spouses, but they did guarantee a better future for their children. Because the Royal Provision of 1542 prohibited Indian enslavement, enslaved men sought Indian and free women of African descent to ensure their children’s free- dom, because their children inherited their mother’s free status.13 In turn, Indian women sought enslaved men because their children would be exempt from paying tribute. This practice took place as early as the seventeenth century in the Río de la Plata, where, according to historian Daisy Rípodas Ardanaz, Indian women often enjoyed certain freedoms after leaving their pueblos to be with African descendants, because their children would be exempted from paying tribute, while enslaved men knew their children would be free.14 Most likely the trend continued in the eighteenth century and explains why there was such a high rate of mar- riage between Indian women and enslaved men as the eighteenth century progressed.15 Marriages between enslaved women and Indian men also provided upward mobility but not to the same extent as marriages between Indian women and enslaved men. Because a child inherited their mother’s sta- tus, the children resulting from these relationships would become slaves. However, they would no longer have to pay tribute in Córdoba. Addition- ally, Indian men who married enslaved women moved to the residence of their enslaved wives, which meant they were no longer subject to paying tribute but would be subject to the discipline of the wife’s household.16 For instance, Thomas Paragaui, whose last name suggests that he had origi- nated from the Jesuit missions located in Paraguay, married a slave. He lived on the same Jesuit ranch, Jesús María, located in the province of Cór- doba, as his wife under the “same conditions.”17 Even though marriages between Indian men and enslaved women did not produce the same freedoms, the tendency for Indian men to marry enslaved women in the eighteenth century suggests that social mobility did occur. Social mobility chapter four70 among castas must be emphasized, because despite how ecclesiastical and governing authorities viewed and categorized castas, among themselves, castas had their own quali«cations and hierarchies. THE ROYAL PRAGMATIC OF 1776 AND ITS SUBSEQUENT DECREES: THE REINFORCEMENT OF SOCIAL HIERARCHY The Royal Pragmatic of 1776 speci«cally targeted potential marriages that were deemed a threat to social order. Charles III enacted this decree as part of a series of policies known as the Bourbon Reforms to reinforce social hierarchy and order throughout the kingdom. Under the Bourbon Reforms, the Spanish Indies increased revenue, challenged the Church by removing the Jesuits, reorganized political jurisdictions, and strength- ened the military. Various policies targeted free castas by controlling their movements, ensuring they had a steady income, and instilling socially and morally correct behavior. These reforms not only governed the public sphere but also addressed the interworkings of the family. The family rep- resented a microcosm of the larger empire; thus, by extension, the King represented the supreme father «gure. In his role as the Father King, he safeguarded the social order and hierarchy. He authorized the Royal Prag- matic to guarantee that at the most basic level, marriage would remain an institution that protected the elites’ interests. To ensure that children did not make a mistake in choosing a mar- riage partner, the Crown reinforced the usurpation of the family’s interest over rash individual choices.18 According to the Royal Pragmatic, chil- dren, often inºuenced by emotion, contracted marriages with “unequals” without waiting for parental consent or guidance.19 Their rash decision resulted in “the perturbation of good order . . . [and] continuous discord and prejudices in the families.”20 Charles III’s decree protected the fam- ily and by extension social order. It required sons and daughters younger than twenty- «ve to receive permission from their parents (or those in their place) to marry. Sons and daughters younger than twenty- «ve were believed to base their opinions on emotion rather than logic, and of course, according to the King, they lacked the experience necessary to “reºect on the consequence and anticipate in time the [possible] troublesome results, prejudicial to the families and the public.”21 Those older than twenty- «ve were also required to obtain parental consent; however, if the parents did not approve, the marriage would still be valid, although the parents could disinherit their son or