The Relación de Guamanga (1617) as a pretext for the lives of Erauso, the Nun Ensign

Abstract

This article offers a critical reassessment of the main scholarly approaches to the figure of Catalina de Erauso, the Monja Alférez, focusing on the judicial origin of the narratives about her life. It proposes a reading that emphasizes the criminal component of her representation, distancing itself from interpretations centered on gender exceptionalism. The analysis is structured in three sections: a systematization of the textual traditions stemming from the Relación de Guamanga (1617); a study of Joaquín María Ferrer’s 1829 editio princeps as a key moment in the modern crystallization of the icon; and a reflection on life narration as a discourse produced under institutional coercion. Thus, the article proposes to understand Erauso as a cultural icon whose biography, as a judicial fable, is inseparable from the tensions between law and literature.