Popular lives: reconstructing «Vida i sucesos de la Monja Alférez» through Sevillian pliegos de cordel

Abstract

Much has been written, to date, about Vida i sucesos de la Monja Alférez, an autobiography attributed to Catalina de Erauso kept by Cándido María Trigueros during the XVIII century. Accounts of events that narrated her great deeds have caused less impact than the autobiographical piece, even though it was one of the American themes that garnered the most attention from the Sevillian press. This article reexamines various Sevillian cheap print pieces to determine to what extent these texts constitute a solid clue in regards to the provenance of the alleged autobiography; and briefly reflects upon the impact these “ephemeral” prints had on the collective imaginary of the time.