suppose that the contemporary chronicles of the siege of. Corunna, with their ..... and awarded her as her arms a buckler and the sword with .... A curse on them!
Atti del Convegno internazionale:
SITUAZIONI D' ASSEDIO CITIES UNDER SIEGE - ETATS DE SIEGE Montalcino - Teatro degli Astrusi - 7 /10 luglio 1999 Realizzazione a cura di CLIO-POLIS - Montalcino sotto la direzione di Lucia CARLE -Antoinette FAUVE-CHAMOUX Contributi di: Guido AMORETTI, Francisco ANDUJAR CASTILLO, Luis ARCON, Maurice AYMARD, Charles T. BARBER, Victoria BELCO, Stefan BIELINSKI, Oronzo BRUNETTI, Lucia CARLE, Charles CARLTON, Vera COMOLI, Paolo CORNAGLIA, Rocco CORONATO, James E. CRISP, Jean-Paul DESAIVE, Yvon DESLOGES, Isidro DUBERT, Hamza DUVNJAK, Carolyn J. EICHNER, Vilma FASOLI, Antoinette FAUVE-CHAMOUX, Thomas G. FRASER, Manuel-Reyes GARCIA HURTADO, Diane GERVAIS, Patrice GROULX, Myron GUTMANN, Daphne HANEY, William S. II HANEY, Nat W. HARDY, Martin HERRING, Eric HINDERAKER, Serge LUSIGNAN, Maurizio MARTINELLI, Luis Pablo MARTINEZ, Emmanuel Adrien NUNEZ, Juliette PARNELL-SMITH, Jean-Fran~ois PERNOT, Mark A. PETERSON, Vincent RENSTROM, Ofelia REY CASTELAO, Joe RICHARDSON, María del Carmen SAAVEDRA, Emilie THONEL D'ORGEIX, Micaela VIGLINO, Kyri WATSON CLAFLIN, Michael WOLFE, Luigi ZANGHERI, Kristina ZARLENGO, Tukufu ZUBERI. Editing: Lucia Carie, Antoinette Fauve-Chamoux, Janet Marcus Traduzioni: Janet Marcus, Giles Watson. Progetto grafico, copertina e impaginazione: Carla Dottor Hanno contribuito alla sponsorizzazione del convegno: Affittacamere Marisa Centolani - Localicl Friggiali - Montalcino; Affittacamere Maria Pia Locatelli - Montalcino; Affittacamere Luigia Salvi - Localitl Santa Maria -Montalcino;Agriturismo Azienda Agricola Borgo Villa a Tolli-Montalcino; Agriturismo Azienda Banfi-Localici Collupino -Montalcino; Agriturismo Fattoria dei Barbi - Localitl Podernovi - Montalcino; Agriturismo Fiesole di Giacomo Neri - Montalcino; Agriturismo Il Coceo di G. Bindi - Localicl Villa a Tolli Montalcino; Agriturismo Il Poggiarellino di Ludovico Ginotti - Nfontalcino; Agriturismo La Croce di Paola Benocci - Montalcino; Agriturismo La Crociona di Barbara e Roberto Narinetti - Localit:i La Croce - JYfontalcino; Agriturismo Le Ferraiole - Montalcino; Agriturismo Le Ragnaie di JYfarco Martini - JYfontalcino; A.S.G.A. Associazione Senese Grossetana Apicoltori - Montalcino; Bianchini Massimo - Cartelloni - Torrita di Siena; Casavacanze La Pieve di S. Sigismondo Localici La Pieve - Montalcino; Casavacanze Piombaia Rossi-Cantini - Localit:i La Croce - Montalcino; Casavacanze Residence Montalcino; Consorzio Vino Brunello di Mont'llcino; Enoteca La Fortezza - Montalcino; Forno Lambardi Franco - Montalcino; Grafiche Gaspari S.r.L- Marciano di Romagna; Hotel Al Brunello - Montalcino; Hotel Bellaria - Montalcino; Hotel Del Capitani - Montalcino; Hotel Vecchia Oliviera - Montalcino; Osteria Porta al Cassero - Montalcino; Pasticceria Mariuccia - Montalcino; Tipolitografia San Giovanni - Siena.
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1,
Isidro Dubert* - María del Carmen Saavedra*
Women and siege: the construction and utilization of a legend (1589-1910)
1.
Introduction
Myths are commonly aliegorical tales referring to persons, events or situations belonging to the remate past, if not to the very dawn of time. Their being narratives, and the nature of their transmission do,vn the centuries, make it certain that they do not remain "tinaltered in the course of their history; their form, their content and the use made of them by the societies
that become familiar with them and adopt them are ali subject to mutation 1 This makes the elucidation of how myths have been interpreted by different societies, and of the importance given to them, a complex problem. It is a problem that has _been tackled in an immense variety of ways, one of the most striking of which takes as its starting point the axiom that every one of the elements of which a mythical narrative is composed, however irracional it may seem, has a real historical basis. Because the more or less fantastic forros of these elements in the 11).yth as we know it are thus taken to have been constructed
from historical reality, this approach stresses that the myth, like religion or society itself, is a creation of mankind; and further,
that successive elaborations of the myth will both affect its imaginative surface form and reflect current realities2 .
The more ancient a myth is, the harder it naturaliy becomes to determine the historical truth behind it, that is, the social, cultural or political traits that have been mythicized. Contrarily, the more recent the historical basis of a myth, the more literaliy historical it appears to be, the less likely it is to be regarded by historians as a myth, in spite of its possessing sorne or ali of the features that characterize myth3 . In such circumstances which are the norm when events belonging to the Modern Age are concerned - it is perhaps less confusing to speak of "social imaginaries" than myths. This is the case of the sixteen -day siege to which the city of Corunna was subjected in May 1589 by a fleet of 120 vessels commanded by Francis Drake.
* Universidad de Santiago de Con.poste/a - España
Although the invading force was repelled, the considerable cost in lives and goods made this incident one of the most memorable in the history of the locality, giving rise to official rhetoric and popular accounts, the mythical characteristics of which have hitherto received hardly any analysis. A striking leitmotiv of all versions of the siege is the prominent part played in the defence of the city, in roles usually reserved for men, by its womenfolk in general and by one woman in particular, María Pita. The theme of the female
I' 11 11
warrior is not new in mythology, but there is little reason to
suppose that the contemporary chronicles of the siege of Corunna, with their emphasis on its female defenders, were
the direct descendants of the classical myth. Firstly, 'it has long been clear that this part of Europe has no true tradition of the Amazon myth, in spite of its folklore and history including all kinds of queens and heroines 4 • Secondly, it is well known that between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries many chroniclers were apt to use classical models in recording contemporary events 5 .
Rather than appeal mechanically to a tradition of questionable relevance, we have investigated in detail the creation of the legend of María Pita and the motives that have contributed to this process since its initiation in 1589. Our sources have been official documentation conserved in the General Archives of Simancas, the Archives of the Realm of Galicia and the Municipal Archives of Corunna6 , and the subsequent versions of historians, propagandists and other writers. Our chief conclusions are that the participation of the historical María Pita in the defence of Corunna is supported mainly by her own far from disinterested word; that her hernie image was originally used to strengthen the identification of the inhabitants of Corunna with their city and with wider territorial entities such as the Realm of Galicia; and that the same image was later put to use in different ways, and with
different ideological, political and cultural implications, by local elites competing to control the life of Corunna7 • -359-
1
2.
Drake's attack and its context The course of the English attack on Corunna is fairly
uncontroversial given the general agreement among the
numerous recorded accounts. After landing in the vicinity of the city, the invaders' frrst concern was to control the roads to
the neighbouring cities ofBetanzos and Santiago de Compostela. Once Corunna was thus isolated, they proceeded methodically to sack the surrounding district befare focusing their attention on the city itself. Here, most damage was suffered by the outlying area protected by a wall too flimsy to resist attack: civilians and military were driven to seek refuge in the old town, girt by a rather stouter mediaeval wall with regularly spaced towers, leaving the extramural zone to the enemy. The attackers then tried to negotiate the surrender of the city while at the same time preparing to assault it. The refusal of the local authorities to surrender prompted a series of unsuccessful attempts to scale the walls or open a breach, but these activities were interrupted by the arrival of troops that had been hastily mustered and brought to relieve Corunna by the nobles of the region. This impromptu armywas easily defeated by the English in the vicinity of the city, but the victors then lost interest in the siege: on May 19th, four days after the last attempted assault, they ;et sail for Lis bon, not without having first set fire to the extramural quarters.
The attack on Corunna was one of the many
confrontations between Spanish and English forces that took place on the Atlantic coast of Spain in the last two decades of the sixteenth century. The rivalry between Philip II and Elizabeth I initially took the form of a trade war that culminated in the 1585 Spanish ban on trade with England and the accompanying embargo on ali English vessels in Spanish ports. Although this action
