In the year 1589 Elizabeth I of England sent a Punishment expedition to Spain for the attack of the Gran Armada, a Counterarmada led by Francis Drake and John Norris . The expedition exceeded a hundred ships and more than twenty thousand men. His objective was to attack Santander, where the ships that had returned from England were, and cause a rebellion in Portugal.
However, the first objective was another, La Coruña . This population, of about four thousand inhabitants, had quite outdated medieval walls and the Castillo de San Antón was unfinished. Likewise, its entire lower part, the Pescadería neighborhood, lacked defenses. He had a very small garrison, some five or six hundred men, between the soldiers of the city and those who had arrived in some ships from the expedition to England. It seemed like an easy target.
The English siege of La Coruña
The siege began in early May, barely delaying the landing by the action of the Spanish ships, which would soon be transferred to a safe port or burned. The Pescadería neighborhood quickly fell and the Upper City prepared for the attempted assault and siege. Although reinforcements were called for, they arrived in a disorganized fashion, at best.
In this situation, the women collaborated in the defense side by side with the soldiers and the rest of the civilians. Not only did they remove the wounded or bring food and water to the men, but they actively participated in the repair of the walls, reloading weapons or throwing stones from the top of the walls. The sources show us some fighting "manly". Many died or were injured.
On May 14 the English managed to undermine the wall and open a hole. At that time it would be a woman, María Pita , who had recently lost her second husband in the siege, who had thrown himself against the standard-bearer crossing the walls. She managed to kill him and take the flag she was carrying from her while she harangued the Spanish troops to defend the siege. The story, at this point, is novel and varies. María Pita would have killed the Englishman with stones, with a sword or with a spear, and she would have (or not) shouted "Whoever has honor, follow me".
The English ended up withdrawing after approximately two weeks of siege, suffering more than a thousand deaths and having destroyed the suburbs, burning what they could not take. Citizens and authorities would raise different memorials to the king, requesting compensation and exemptions from taxes and charges.
María Pita, beyond the siege of Coruña
However, the story of María Pita, really called Mayor Fernández da Cámara Pita (it seems that the change of name in the story would come from a confusion with her sister) we know from through a later episode. One of the charges from which the people of A Coruña requested exemption was that of housing soldiers and one in particular, Captain Peralta, was staying in one of the houses of María Pita. When she tried to expel the bravas from her, the captain accused her of assault and attempted murder, getting her sentenced to jail and, later, exile in 1596 . The heroine against the English, with two little girls in charge of her, did not settle and she traveled to court, where she asked to be allowed to return home and privileges for her performance in the siege. Both things were granted to her, and the pension she obtained would increase until it was equivalent to something more than what an ensign had.
At this time, moreover, she was already married and widowed for the third time. Her marriage to Francisco de Arratia, an army captain, had allowed her to rise socially. She may not have dared to request the royal favor directly if she had remained the wife of a local butcher, as was Gregorio de Rocamunde, her second husband.
She soon found a new husband, Gil de Figueroa, a hidalgo and official with a wealthy position, who made the guardianship of the couple's two children dependent (and the consequent management of the family assets) that María Pita would not remarry. And so, after his death in 1613, she remained a widow until her own death in 1643. After this marriage she returned to Court in 1606, now in a more affluent position and defending economic rights, and not only her freedom and survival. .
We know many details of her life due to the continuous lawsuits in which she was involved, in addition to the one with Captain Peralta. She continued the lawsuits of her last husband, who claimed the preserve of San Pedro de Ledoño, and embarked on some of her own, also for economic issues, such as claiming debts. Between inheritances and businesses, with the economic privileges obtained from the king and not letting herself be daunted by the lawsuits, she obtained a certain patrimony, which included several houses, land and vineyards. In addition, she fought for the rights of her children, getting a place in the army for the two she had with her last husband.
she was also involved in several lawsuits for libel and slander , as well as in one by amancebamiento. In one of her lawsuits with her mayor, he accused her of throwing a tin pitcher at her head, denouncing her for assault. It is curious that in one of the complaints, from 1618, the complainant, Pedro de Soto, used as an insult, precisely, the mockery of his performance in the siege, with phrases such as "to take the pike" or "to go to bribar a Madrid". In another, from 1614, the complainant disparagingly describes her as a "butcher's wife", ignoring her marriages to a captain and a royal official. Social ascent is not forgotten with humble origins. She, too, was not able to be buried in Santo Domingo de La Coruña, as she wanted, the whereabouts of her tomb being unknown today.
Her turbulent life story is omitted many times. The symbol is interesting (recovered, above all, in the 19th century), but not so much the person, the woman behind the myth who, with her bad humor and strong character, applied the same courage that she had shown during the siege to defend her property, her freedom , his family and ask for compensation for the losses suffered. The reversal of gender roles in the siege, which becomes a paradigm of courage in despair and of popular unity in the face of the enemy, ceases to be a propaganda motive outside the sphere of war. The reason for the "substitution" of the husband or the man in war is also repeated, as a commonplace, as a way of creating legend, in other stories such as that of Agustina de Aragón or Jimena Blázquez from Avila. It's helpful, but punctual.
Today, the city remembers María Pita with a statue in the square that bears her name, where the City Hall is located, precisely reflecting the moment in which she killed the invader and encourages the troops. There is also a house-museum in which it was one of his properties, using the name of his heroine to reconstruct what life was like in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the city of Coruña and the clashes between Spain and England at the time. .
However, other women who participated in the siege did not have the same luck. This is the case of Inés de Ben , of whose existence we know by one of those memorials that were raised to the king. She was also widowed, like María Pita, in the siege of the city, remaining in charge of two small children. Furthermore, she lost everything in the raid, as her business was in the Fishmonger's area and she had provided a large amount of goods to the soldiers. As if that were not enough, she had been injured while she was repairing the wall, receiving two bullets that caused permanent consequences. Unlike María Pita, she was not listened to and died in poverty. Many others suffered the same fate, without us knowing either their names or their history, anonymous fighters who even lost their voice.
Bibliography
Martínez Salazar, A. (1889):The siege of La Coruña in 1589 and Mayor Fernández Pita (Notes and documents) , La Coruña, The Voice of Galicia,
Saavedra Vázquez, M. C. (2001):“War, women and social mobility in modern Spain”. In Balboa, Xesús y Pernas, Herminia (eds.), Entre nós:studies of art, xeography and history in homage or professor Xosé Manuel Pose Antelo, Santiago de Compostela, University of Santiago de Compostela, pp. 339-358
Saavedra Vázquez, M. C. (2005): María Pita. An approach to her life and her time , La Coruña, Milky Way.
Valcárcel, I. (2005):Women take up arms , Madrid, Algaba Editions.