Colonial Baracunatanas and Their Nasty Men. Spousal Homicides and The Law in Late Colonial New Granada

Peter N.
Stearns
Colonial "Baracunatanas" and Their Nasty Men: Spousal Homicides and the Law in Late Colonial
New Granada
Author(s): Victor M. Uribe-Uran
Source: Journal of Social History, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 43-72
Published by: Peter N. Stearns
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3789263
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COLONIAL BARACUNATANAS AND THEIR NASTY MEN:

SPOUSAL HOMICIDES AND THE LAW IN LATE COLONIAL
NEW GRANADA
By VictorM. Uribe-Uran
FloridaInternationalUniversity
" ... anochete vw,habiaotroquete chequeaba,

montaste
su moto,te brind6chicle,
conel monodeljean,el overally la
sumotoneta
tambien
galleta,prendio
y temarchaste
chaqueta...
... garosa,moPoreso tu eresgaruya,retrechera,

abeja,bergaja,
fulera,guaricha
... Baracunatana."
rronga,
farisea,gorzobia
"... lastnightI sawyou,anothermanwastakingyouout,yougot on his motorcycle,he gaveyouchewinggum,andalsoa cookie,he startedit up andyourode
blond....
awaywiththatjean-,overall-,andjacket-wearing
That is whyyouarerabble,slick,bee-like,rough,deceitful,strumpet... greedy,
whore,cat,hypocrite,filth ... Baracunatana."
"LaBaracunatana"
(LeonidasPlaza)
waswidelycelebratedinColombia.
The male-composed
song"LaBaracunatana"
Backin the 1980s,when it wasfirstreleasedas a male-sungvallenatotune and
rockrevival,1Colombiansof all agesenjoyed
duringits 1990sfemale-vocalized
lyrics.The song's
dancingto itscatchyrhythmandloudlysingingitsslang-filled
woman-the
untranslatable
of
slurs
a
choruswasanoverstated
against
string ugly
La Baracunatana-whomthe originallymalenarrator,
probablyher boyfriend
or lover,accusedof runningawaywithanotherman.The wordsutteredagainst
her,even thosewhosemeaningwasnot entirelyapparentto all listeners,were
She wasrepeatedlycalledthe equivalentof
ostensiblyinsultingandaggressive.
a deceiver,shrew,scum, bitch, whore, strumpet,harpyand so on.
violence-haunted
otherwisewar-weary,
Apartfromthe factthatColombians,
inclinationto produceand enjoygood
and stressedout, have a compensatory
'tropical'musicandbizarre(attimesperverse)jokesabouttheveryproblemsthey
whatmadethissongso likable.In it, a womanwas
face,it washardto understand
The song'sexcessiveslurswere
verballyabused,trampledon, veritablytrashed.2
probablyintendedto mockcommonsocialbehavior.Still, perhapsaccustomed
thissortof treatmentof women(allegedlydeceitfulandotherwise),the country,
menandwomenalike,lovedthe tuneandwenton blithelysinginganddancing
to it.3
Duringthe colonialperiod,in this SpanishAmericanregionthen called

the viceroyaltyof New Granada,womensufferedrepeatedverbalandphysical
atthehandsof theirspouses.The abuse
abuse,sometimesculminatingin murder,
mild
sometimes
the
and
met,area deeplysad
itself,
punishmentthe perpetrators
reminderthat,althoughcertainlynot unchangingthroughthe years,outbursts
44
journalof social history
fall 2001
of violence against women seem to have been considered natural among the
lower classesand state officialscenturiesago. Certainly,this was also the case in
other partsof the world.Wife-beatingwas a common practice,even a husband's
right as a punishmentfor misbehavior,until as late as the nineteenth century in
England, the United States, and probablyelsewhere.4As this essay will show,
both men and women werekilled by theirspouseswith some frequencyas a result
of battering.Nonetheless, spousalhomicides-the most acute formof domestic
abuse, patriarchyand, also, female resistance-have received little attention.5
In fact, specializedacademic researchabout these crimes in the particularcase
of New Granadaand the rest of colonial Spanish America is limited.6
However neglected they remain,such homicides are fertile groundfor study,
with significant implicationsfor the understandingof violent crime in general.
Gender-baseddisputeshave been found to comprisea considerableshare of all
criminal violence in late colonial Latin America.7 In addition, they express
tensions and conflicts of unsuspectedintensity among couples, bringingto the
surfaceintriguingeverydayfacets of gender relations and family life. From the
growingliteratureon the historyof genderand the family in Latin America, we
have learneda greatdeal aboutthe economic, social, and political structuresand
roles of notable families and family networks.In particular,it has become clear
that marriagestrategyand alliances, frequentlyconflictive, were fundamental
for attaining, maintainingand increasingsocial and economic prominence.8We
have also gained a better understandingof family-basedpatriarchalstructures,
social values,and honor codes, all gearedto ensurethe subjugationof women and
their strict adherenceto "virtuous"behavioralpatternsin a milieu dominatedas
much by gender as by class and race discrimination.9But only recently have we
started to learn more about lower-classfamilies'structures,daily routines, and
genderinteraction.Lower-classmen and womenappearedto have struggledwith
each other and with the largersociety to asserttheirautonomy,individuality,and
relative power.10Those struggles,exemplifiedby the spousalhomicides under
study, reflect deeply rooted and contested assumptionsabout the characterof
domestic life, appropriatepublic and private roles, acceptablesexual conducts,
and so forth. Finally, the cases examined here are of particularsignificance to
social historians because they reveal general day-to-dayaspects of life in rural
communities and constitute useful indicatorsof social values, popularculture,
and living patterns.
Besides their value as historical evidence, there is something else redeeming
about the rather depressingspousal homicide stories examined in this essay.
The extreme manifestationsof abusive patriarchy11some of the stories reflect
appearto have been matchedby equallyextremedefensivereactionson the part
of women. Our colonial "Baracunatanas,"
whether or not their behavior was
justified,did not stand still but, sometimesat the slightest provocationor insult,
fought back;several of them even killed their husbands.
In fact, one of the most striking findings of this research is that, although
women were an absoluteminority(29.4%) amongspousekillersin late colonial
Colombia, spousalhomicide accountedfor a significantproportionof homicides
attributedto women. This essay demonstrateswomen to have been over three
times more likely to kill their spousesthan any other person.Probablythis is why
a prosecutordeemed them "enemigosincubiertosque tienenlos hombresentrode
COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN
45
su casa"(hidden enemies inside of men's houses).12Occasionally, women who

killed their husbandscommitted their crimes as viciously as any male assassin,
but most of the time they acted to defend themselves from abuse. In a few
cases, they were simply victims of fatal accidents, which nevertheless reflect
women'sregulardefiance of male dominance. Overall, there is ample evidence
of defensive and occasionally aggressiveactions by women explicitly meant to
inflict, if not death, then considerablebodily harmon their husbands.This they
achieved by stabbingthem with knives, hitting them repeatedlywith a machete,
or beating them with sticks. However,beforeturningto such evidence, and also
to evidence of similarcrimescommittedby abusivehusbands,we mustfirstpause
to consider some significantfeaturesof crime in late colonial Spanish America
and to discuss the sociological profile of the spousal homicide cases at hand.
Later,this essay will discuss the characterand biases of the justice system and
the law to determine whether or not, as concerned these peculiar homicides,
judicial decisions and legal regulationsreflectedsociety'spatriarchalvalues and
practices.
Crime in Colonial Spanish America and New Granada'sSpousal Murders.
As we have learnedin recent workspertainingto New Spain (today'sMexico),
New Granada(today'sColombia), andRio de la Plata (today'sArgentina), crime
was a seriousproblemin late colonial SpanishAmerica.13Available statisticsdo
not allow us to asseswith accuracythe social and economic impact of crime but
nonetheless indicate that colonial officialsand courts were regularlyvisited by
cases of homicide, assaultand battery,robbery,rape,adulteryand concubinage,
incest, infanticide, sodomy,prostitution,slanderand a host of offenses against
"orderand tranquility."Tentative data suggestthat a majorityof these crimes,
probablyone-quarterto one-third of the total, were property-relatedoffenses,
muggingsand thefts in particular.Another one-quarterto one-third wereviolent
crimes, including homicides and bodily injuries.Fromone-quarterto one-fifth
were family- and sex-relatedoffenses, including adultery,incest, concubinage,
and rape. The remainderwas a mixed bag comprisingdrunkenness,gambling,
vagrancy,and numerouscasesof injurias(defamation)anddesacato(disobedience
of royal officials).14
Of the violent crimes,homicides totaled several hundred in New Spain and
New Granada,two of the viceroyaltieslisted above for which data are available,
in the last half of the eighteenth century. Although municipal authorities in
New Spain reported that murderwas a common fact of daily life, the truth
is that murdersdid not occur that frequently.They probablyhappened at an
averagerate-quite modest by today'sstandards-of 5 to 10 per year in central
urban areas within each viceroyalty,a figure close to that of some European
cities aroundthe same time.15During a 35-year interval in central Mexico the
authorities recordedabout 24.5 homicides per 10,000 people. In Antioquia, a
northwest province of New Granada,the number was almost the same-53.3
duringan interval of 69 years.
There is no accurate informationas to how many of the total homicides in
most Spanish American colonies involved spouses. We know that in central
Mexico duringroughlythe 1780-1815 period, approximately25% of homicides
fall 2001
46
Table1
ViolentCrimesin SelectedSpanishAmericanColonialRegions
Place
Years
1780-1815
New Spain
-Central Mexico
(MexicoandHidalgo)
-Mixteca Alta
(Teposcula)
Indexper
Homicides/
assaults
Population 10.000
344
140,000a
24.5
100
444
1750-810s
New Granada*
893
-Santa Fe
193
-Antioquiac
247
-Tunja
-Pamplonae
126
123
792,468b
11.2
91,147
21.2
46,366d
53.3
236,429
34,118
5.3
36.1
ArchivoGeneralde laNaci6n(hereafter
Sources:Colombia's
AGN),Colonia,Juicios
Criminales, Indice; Taylor,Drinking,Homicide& Rebellion,75; Haslip-Rivera,Crime

and Punishment,chapter3; LozanoArmendares,La criminalidad
en la ciudadde Mexico,
43.
morecomprehenJudgingby researchon Antioquia,regionaldataaresignificantly
sive.Whenavailabletheywereaddedto the generaldatausedhere.See,forinstance,
Patifo, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocial, 257, 534. Misleadingpartial figures
basedupona sample
(i.e., 160homicides,72 injurycases)forthe entireviceroyalty,
of over500 cases,areofferedin Gabrielde Dominguez,
"Delitoy sociedad,"
337;Mc-
353.
Farlane,ColombiaBeforeIndependence,
a. earlynineteenth-century
populationof MexicoCity
b. 1778-1780populationof New Granada
c. datafor 1750-1819fromregionalarchivesusedbyPatifio,Criminalidad,
leypenaly
estructurasocial, 257, 534.
d. 1778-1780populationof Antioquia
e. IncludingGir6n
were committed against spouses,sex partners,or rivals,16but the inclusion of
the last two categoriesmakesthe data hardto compareto the cases understudy,
which focusexclusivelyon legallymarriedspouses.l In New Granada,according
to a recent regionalstudyof late colonial crime, spousalkillings amountedto as
much as one-quarterof the total homicides reportedin and aroundSantafe de
Antioquia, capital of the key mining province, a peculiarlyhigh proportion.18
Representativedata from the central and northeasternprovinces of Santa Fe,
Tunja, and Pamplona suggest that such crimes constituted from 8% to 16%
of all homicides. Additional fragmentaryevidence shows that spousal killings
comprisedfromone-twentieth to one-fifthof all homicides in other provinces.19
In all of New Granada,the data indicate that they representedapproximately
11.4%of all homicides, a proportionclose to some late-nineteenth-centuryU.S.
standards.20
In fact, the extant criminal recordshoused in Colombia'scentral historical
archive, the Archivo General de la Naci6n, supplementedby partial information fromAntioquia'sArchivo Hist6rico, providefragmentaryevidence that at
47
Table2
ViolentCrimesin SomeNew GranadaProvinces,1750-1810
Homicides
Region
New Granada
-City of Antioquia*
-Province of Cartagena
-Provinceof LosLlanos
-Province
-Province
-Province
-Province
-Province
of Mariquita
of Neiva
of Pamplona
of SantaFe
of Tunja**
Spousalhomicides
BodilyInjuries
absolute# as % of homicid.
447
44
36
51
10
3
11.4%
22.7%
8.3%
11
36.3%
27
8
88
94
85
1
1
9
7
14
3.7%
12.5%
10.2%
7.4%
16.4%
19
436
203
16
35
99
41
Source:AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,Indice;SosaAbella,Labradores,
tejedores
y
ladrones,60, 146-47.
* Data from Patifio, Criminalidad,
leypenaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
376, 516.
** Datareferonlyto homicidesin thisregioninvolvingIndians
least 51 spousalmurderswere committed in the viceroyaltybetween 1754 and

1812.21Judgingby the irregulardistributionof these cases by decade, it is fair
to assumethat easily 15 to 20 more incidents may be missingfrom the available
records.Informationis moreabundantfor the last yearsof this timeframe,due to
undeterminedfactors that probablyinvolve better reportingor recordkeeping
at that time.22
Most cases in our sample occurredin the ruralareas of Santa Fe/Mariquita
and Tunja/Pamplona,the viceroyalty'scentral and northeasternprovinces and
two of its most densely populatedregions.23In fact, Tunja/Pamplonaalone accounted for 45% of the total, a disproportionatelyhigh figurerelative to these
regions'share of New Granada'sentire population (34.1%) and crime (32.5%).
This and other facts pertainingto the regionaldistributionof the cases remain
Table3
in
New
Homicides
Granada,1754-1808, by Decade.
Spousal
Years
Number
1750-1759
1760-1769
1770-1779
1780-1789
1790-1799
1800-1809
1810-1812
7
4
3
5
10
21
1
Total
51
SosaAbella,Labradores,
Source:AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales;
tejedores
y ladrones,
60, 146-47; Patifio, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
sexualen
376,516;GloriaLunaRivillas,"Documentos
parael estudiode la criminalidad
la provinciay gobemacionde Antioquia(Siglos17y 18)."Tesisde historia,Universidad
Nacionalde Colombia,Medellin,1988,554-564.
48
fall 2001
Table4
SpousalHomicidesin New Granada,1756-1808, by Region
Province Town
TotalNumber
Antioquia
Cartagena
Neiva
LosLlanos
SantaFe/Mariquita
Tunja/Pamplona
Other
10
3
1
4
8
23
2
Total
51
Percentof total
Percentof New
spousalmurders Granadapopulat.*
19.6
5.8
1.9
7.8
15.6
45
3.9
5.8
14.9
3.3
2.6
18.2
34.1
tejedores
y ladrones,
60,146-47; McFarlane,ColombiabeforeIndependence,
353-363; Patino, Criminalidad,
ley
penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,376, 516; LunaRivillas, "Documentos
sexualen la provinciay gobemacionde Antioquia,"

554-564.
* datafrom1778-1780census.
unexplained.24The availablerecordsare thus irregularand, as is usualwith historical evidence, can be presumedincomplete.Yet, they offeran approximation
of reality that is worth considering.25
Those who committed spousalmurderswere for the most part locals. In fact,
the available data suggest relatively little long-distance internal migration;a
good portion of the defendantswhose place of birth is listed in the recordsseem
to have been natives of the placeswhere the crimeswerecommitted,or else they
had been bor in nearbyvillages. So were many of the witnesses interviewed.
We know the ethnic backgroundof more than half of the accused.They appear to representa cross-section of the viceroyalty'sethnic groups, especially
Indians and white-Indian mixed races. Only a handfulwere "pure"whites and
very few had black ancestry.26As for Indians,at firstthe availablesamplewould
suggest that they were a minority among the criminals, only 3 (8.3%) of the
total. However, based on specializedresearchon Indian crimes in Tunja, one
of the viceroyalty'scentral provinces (comprisingover 29% of New Granada's
entire population and 13.5%Indian), it is fairto assumethat Indiansmay have
committed at least an additional 5 or more spousalmurdersduring the period
under study in each of other major areas within Colombia demographically
equivalent to Tunja.Such areasinclude Popayan(8.1% of New Granada'spopulation, 17.6% Indian) in New Granada'ssouth, and Cartagena(14.9% of the
population, 16.4% Indian) in the north. In any event, the available data on
Indianspousalhomicides, incorporatedinto Table5 below,would mean for now
that indigenous people were responsiblefor one-sixth or more of these types
of crimes throughout the viceroyalty.27ReportedIndian crimes were thus just
slightly high relative to this ethnic group'soverall numbers.
Given the ethnic profileof New Granada'slate colonial population, it seems
clear that crimes committed by mestizos(offspringof Indian and white unions)
in the sample were quite low relative to this group'sshare of the viceroyalty's
population. This fact, plus the records'frequentomission of ethnic description
49
for individualsother than Blacksand Indians,make it thereforehighly probable

that many of the 33 murderersof undeterminedethnic background(Table 5)
belonged to this ethnic category.Black slaves, nearly 8.1% of New Granada's
population,arelikely alsounderrepresentedin the sample.Most of them (35.4%)
residedin Cartagenaand Popayan,regionsforwhich evidence of spousalmurders
is scant in the available data. The same underrepresentationapplies to people
of African ancestryin general.Only two of the murderers(5.5%) in our sample
appearto have been mulattoesandone a zambo,a personof mixed Indian/African
ancestry.28
In absoluteterms,the sampleof murdersat hand comprisesa limited number
of cases. Despite its modest size and the irregulartemporal,spatial, and ethnical
distributionof the cases, the sample representsmore than 70% of spousal murders that occurred in the viceroyalty at the time. Therefore, it is a legitimate
startingpoint for a discussionof general featuresof this form of criminality in
late colonial New Granada.With some qualifications,the evidence may even be
representativeof patternsfor similarevents in other regions in colonial Spanish
America.
In terms of occupation, spousalmurdererswere modest manual workerswho
came from all walks of life. The defendants included hatmakers, potmakers,
tailors, journeymen, farmers,miners, weavers, laundresses,cooks, bogas (boat
(shearers),retailersand the unemployed.Of all of these,
rowers),trasquiladores
weavers, farmers,and day laborersconstituted a majority.Weavers were especially numerous among women (almost one-third of total female offenders).
Most of them came fromthe central and northeasternregionsof Tunja,Socorro,
and San Gil, where the weaving of cotton and woolen cloth was concentrated.
The abundance of farmersand journeymen (almost one-third of those whose
Table5
Spousal Homicides in New Granada, 1756-1808, by the Defendant's Ethnicity
EthnicGroup
Percentageof
Defendantsof as a Percentage
Number KnownRace
of population
Ethnicity
Whites
Indians
Mestizos
Mulattoes
Zambos
Blacks
Undetermined
2
8
6
2*
1
10.5
42.1
31.5
10.5
5.2
25.6
19.7
46.4
8.1%+
33
63.4a
52
Source:AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales;Sosa Abella, Labradores,tejedoresy ladrones,
60, 146-47; Patifo, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
sexualen laprovincia
376;LunaRivillas,"Documentos
delNuevoReino
554-564;"Padr6n
generaldelVirreinato
y gobemaci6nde Antioquia,"
de Granada,"in Jose Manuel PerezAyala,AntonioCaballeroy Gongora.Virreyy arzobispo
deSantafe,1723-1796(Bogota:Imprenta
Municipal,1946).
* One was an accomplice in a crime committed by his lover, a white woman; + refersto
blackslaves.a. As percentageof totaldefendants.
50
fall 2001
occupation is known) acrossall of the regions was consistent with the overall
agrariancharacterof New Granada'seconomy,which featureda combinationdependingupon the region-of largelandholdings,small farms,and subsistence
peasant agriculture.29
Elites are not representedat all in these cases, a situation that should not be
construedas a defect of the sample.We can assumethat every effortwould have
been made to keep elite crimes from coming to public attention and ending
up in court. It must also be acknowledgedthat crime of most kinds, except
perhaps defamation, was prevalent mostly among the populargroups.Abject
poverty, unemployment, oppressive living conditions, lack of education, and
limited possibilitiesfor upwardmobility causedhigh levels of personalviolence
and frustrationamong the poor,makingthem more likely to reject social norms.
Such groupsfound release through drinking,fighting, vandalism, and assorted
criminal behaviors. And in colonial Spanish America, the poor comprised a
majority(as much as 85%) of any region'sentire population.30
Some of the couples involved wererecentlymarriedandyoung,mostlyin their
20s and 30s (more than half of the defendants).This correspondsto findingsfor
late colonial Mexico; indeed, in most societies even to this day, young adults
between the agesof 16 and 39 are the age groupmost prone to commit crimes.31
Most spouses in New Granadafell into the 26 to 30 and 36 to 40-year-oldage
Table6
Spousal Homicides in New Granada, 1756-1808, by the Defendant's Occupation
Number Percentageof Defendants
Occupation
by KnownOccupation
Chicharetailer
Cook
Day laborer
Laundress
Farmer
Hatmaker
Housewife
Miner
Potmaker
Saltretailer
Boatrower
Tailor
Shearer
Weaver
Unemployed
Undetermined
2*
1
4*
1
7
1*
1
1
1+
1
1
1
1*
6*
1
23
6.6
3.3
13.3
3.3
23.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.3
20
3.3
45a
53
tejedores
y ladrones,
60, 146-47; Patifio, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
parael estudiode lacriminalidad
554-564.(*atleastone in eachrowcombinedthisactivity
with farming;+ combined this activity with weaving;all of these are includedin the final
total count just once). Table includesaccomplicesin two of the murders.
aAs percentageof total defendants.
51
Table7
SpousalHomicidesin New Granada,1756-1808, by the Defendant'sAge.
Number Percentage
Age
of Defendants
of KnownAge
20-25
5
26-30
5*
31-35
3*
5
36-40
2
40-45
4
46-50
1
51-55
1
56-60
61-65
66-70
over70
Undetermined 27
19.2
19.2
11.5
19.2
7.6
15.3
3.8
3.8
52.9a
53
tejedores
y ladrones,
socialen laprovincia
deAntioquia,
60, 146-47;Patifio,Criminalidad,
leypenaly estructura
sexualen laprovinciay
parael estudiodelacriminalidad
de Antioquia,"
554-564.* includesat leastone accomplice.a As percentage
gobernacion
of totaldefendants.
groups.32 However, 8 spousalhomicides, close to one-sixth of the total (30.7%
of those whose age is known), involved couples who had lived together for more
than 30 years,meaning that the assassinsand victims were at least in their late
40s and 50s. This figurealso mirroredlate colonial Mexico, where the same age
groupswere involved in 10%to 17%of all crimes.33
Conditions, Means, Motives.
Only a handful of defendants,most of them women, were drunk when they
murderedtheir victims. This probablyincludes30-year-oldlaundressand chicha
retailerAlbina Arias, who killed her husband,Agustin de Angarita, by hitting
him in the stomach with a machetehandle. The two lived in the parishof Capilla
in central New Granada'sruralTenzaregion with their two little sons. Albina
and Agustin had arguedwhen he implied,maybein jest or becausehe wasdrunk,
that most of their customerscame to the house not just for the chicha,but also to
sleep with his wife.34Thirty-one-year-oldweaver Maria del Carmen Martinez
alsokilled her husbandwhile she wasdrunk.After ingestingsome alcohol ("habia
bebido"),she stabbedher husbandPedro (who was drunktoo) afterhe allegedly
said things "againsther honor" and started to beat her, as he regularlydid.3
An identical situation involved 38-year-oldweaver MariaDolores Garcia, who
killed her 70-year-oldhusband,Juan.After she refusedto obey his ordersnot to
go into a certain room of the house, Juan startedto beat her with a club. Both
spouseshad been drinkingchichaall day long.36Fifty-seven-year-oldfarmerand
weaver Juan E Ortiz also drankchichaprior to beating his wife, Silvestra, who
disobeyedhis ordersnot to go to a fandangoor fiesta.37Zamboboat-rowerTomas
A. Sierragot drunk on distilled sugar-caneliquor (aguardiente)and guarapo,a
52
fall 2001
fermented cane liquor, prior to killing his wife Eduardaone night in 1799.38
These incidents confirmthe generalassumptionthat drinking,prevalentamong
the popularclasses,tended to precedeviolent crimes,homicides in particular.
However, drinking reportedlyoccurredin only 9.8% of our cases. It does not
appearto have been the norm but ratherthe exception; most spousalmurderers
acted in full sobriety.
To accomplish their crimes and dispatch their "loved ones," killers resorted
to all types of methods, particularlystabbings,beatings, and machetewounds.
Machetesand knives were women'sweaponsof choice, whereasmen used these
as well as their fists and feet. Clubs and rocks were used only on occasion. In a
few instances, men also engagedin exceedinglycruelbehavior,such as throwing
burningcoal on the victim'sface, or, in one case, damagingthe victim's internal
sexual organs.40Poison, a subtle and handy method, seems to have been used in
just one of the casesunderconsideration.It wasprobablyemployedin a few other
unrecordedinstances;deathsthat showedstrongevidence of violence weremore
likely to be investigated,but murderby poison may have gone undetected.41
Many murderswere the culmination of a long patternof batteringand abuse
by the perpetrator,a situation typical of other urban settings and historical
periods.42For instance, 48-year-oldmestizofarmerand day laborerEugenio J.
Verdugo,who killed his wife, Maria,by beating her with his fists and throwing
burning coal in her face, was portrayedby several witnesses as a habitual wife
abuser,a sevicioso(cruel person), fearedby his neighborsand even by his own
parents.43Thirty-six-year-oldmestizoday laborerand chicharetailer Francisco
Diaz had a similarreputation.Priorto killing his wife, Maria,by hurling a large
stone in her face, he often beat her for allegedlydrinkingtoo much, "provoking"
him (she called him a verdugoor oppressorand a "carade concha"),and uttering
shamefulremarksagainsthim ("ledeciadesverguenzas").44
Similarly,50-year-old
mestizoretailer Hilario Cepeda was known to have batteredhis wife regularly,
hitting her with his fists and even with iron barsand a whip before killing her
Table8
SpousalHomicidesin New Granada,1756-1808, by Method
Methods
Number Percentageof known
Methods
Stabbings
Fists, kicking
Machetewounds
Clubs
9
6
5
2
Rocks
Poison
Other
Undetermined
1
1*
25
34.6
23
19.2
7.6
7.6
3.8
3.8
49a
51
Sources:AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales;
tejedores
y ladrones,
60, 146-47; Patiiio, Criminalidad,
ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
554-564.* throwingburningcoalon victim'sface.aAsa
y gobemacionde Antioquia,"
percentageof totalmurders.
53
one day in 1799.45On severaloccasions, beforehe finallybeat her to death one

night in 1806, Lorenzode Ospina also beat his wife severely,threw her in a river,
and attemptedto stabher.46Fifty-seven-year-oldIndianJuanFranciscoOrtizalso
maltrataba(mistreated)his wife regularlywithout any apparentreason (although
he alleged that she used to talk back using malaspalabrasor foul language and
did not work hard enough). One day he beat her severely enough to harm her
reproductiveorgans,causingher death.47
Some other cases cite only circumstantialevidence of previous battering.
However, vicious behavior by husbandsclearly shows men's inclination to assert their patriarchalprerogativeby means of physical abuse. In fact, although
he demanded moderation and "corrective"punishment, the lawyer of one female victim accepted that husbandscould castigar(chastise) their insubordinate
spouses.48No wonderthat one of the main excuses husbandsused to justifythe
batteringand even death of their partnerswas a wife'sdisobedience, insolence,
or rebelliousattitude.We have alreadynoted that one drunkendefendant killed
his wife becauseshe went to a fandangoagainsthis wishes,49while another murdererclaimed that his wife answeredhim back using foul language.50In another
case, 46-year-old Martin Blanco stabbed his wife, Juana, in the back because
she disobeyedhis ordersnot to leave the house while he was away on business.
Not only was she out of the house on the morning when her husband came
home, Juanaallegedly returnedlater in the company of a woman her husband
disapprovedof forhaving a love affairwith a marriedman. Martinconstruedthis
companyas an indication that his wife also was in "malospasos";that is, betraying
him.51Twenty-one-year-oldday laborerVicente G6mez made deadly use of his
fists against his wife, Francisca,because she returnedhome from Mass without
waiting for him as he had commanded.Shortly priorto this final confrontation,
he was furiousthat she had gone to Mass againsthis wishes.52In another case,
farmerEmigdio Pabon, who began to feel ill while visiting neighbors with his
wife, asked her to stay a little longer with him, but she went home instead. He
then followed her, arguingalong the way that he was the boss, "elque manda."
When she replied that he could go and boss his own pants ("mandaraen sus
calzones"),he stabbedher to death.53When her husbandreturnedhome after a
prolongedabsence, EduardaA. Garzonrefusedto allow him into the house and
told him to go and "spendthe winter where he had spent the summer."Garzon,
drunk and annoyed by his wife'sapparentinfidelity,did not like this irreverent
treatment and stabbedher in the chest.54These and other cases make it clear
that a hint of insolence put women at riskof their lives.
Other crimes,and most of those committedby women, occurredas a defensive
response to abusive behavior and orders.In discussing the use of alcohol, we
mentioned two femaledefendants(weaversMariaDoloresGarciaand Mariadel
Carmen Martinez)who killed their husbands(one to escape a beating for going
into a forbidden area of the house, and the other to avenge remarks"against
her honor"55). Forty-year-oldmulatto potmakerand weaver Cecilia Heredia
stabbedher husband, Ignacio Torres,as he tried to beat her after knocking her
to the floor.There was abundantevidence that in previousfightshe had beaten
her (" le dabacuero")and she had tried to defend herself, pulling a knife in at
least one previous incident.56Mestizoweaver MariaE. Quintero twice stabbed
her husband, Salvador,complaining that she was tired of being treated "with
54
journalof socialhistory
fall 2001
cruelty."Witnesses confirmedthat he beat her constantly.57MarcelaMetauten,

a 39- to 40-year-oldmestiza,killed her husband,Ramon, by beating him with a
stick as he slept. Forreasonsthe recordsdo not explain, Ram6n had mistreated
her since shortly afterthey were married.58
In fact, as Table 9 indicates, most women in our sample-over 50%-were
respondingto repeatedabuse by their husbands.One of the leading categories
of violent crime reportedin late colonial New Granadawas domestic abuse, or
"malostratos."More than 21% of all assaultsreportedin the viceroyalty were
casesof wife-beating(58 cases in a sampleof 275 crimes).59Malostratoswere also
prevalent in other Spanish American regionsand cities, such as Rio de la Plata
(especiallyBuenosAires), the centralvalley of Costa Rica, Peru,and presumably
elsewhere.60This abominablebehavior caused ample female resistance,which
in several instances took the form of murder.
Finally,a few murderswere also motivated by a desire, mostly on the part of
males, to avenge alleged infidelities.One ought to keep in mind that husbands
accusedof killing their wives mayhave used infidelityas a convenient excuse to
receive favorabletreatment from judges. These all-male, honor-obsessedstate
officialscould base their lenient decisions on laws that, as we will soon explain,
made crimes against unfaithful wives justifiable.61Several of the cases under
studyinvolved allegedlyunfaithfulvictims, such as "disobedient"Juana,stabbed
by her husbandon suspicion of being in "malospasos."62After tying his Indian
Table9
in
New
Homicides
Granada,
1756-1808, by Defendant'sGenderand
Spousal
Motive
Motive
Males
Constant
unexplained
fights
Disputeoverin-laws
a husband's
orders
Disobeying
Torunawaywithlover
Victim'sinfidelity
Victim'sattemptto stopfamilyfeud
Unclear
Females
toverbalorphysical
abuse
Response
Victim'sinfidelity
Tobewithlover
Unclear
Number
6
2*
5*
2
4
1
7
7
2*
3+
5
Genderof Killernot known
Unclear
7
tejedores
y ladrones,
60, 146-47; Patiio, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
554-564.* specificmotiveassociated
withconstantfights;
+specificmotiveassociatedwithresponsesto verbalorphysicalabuse.
55
wife, Rosalia, down by the throat and hands and beating her to death with
his fists, Jacinto Gonzalez arguedthat she was having an affair (amancebada)
with FranciscoBeral, a white neighbor.At the time of her death Rosalia was
pregnant;the baby also died.63A similarsituation involved 28-year-oldfarmer
LuisMarcelinoGonzalez,who hit his wife MariaTeresaeight times with a machete
on differentpartsof her body, including the head, throat, and hands. He killed
both her and the babyshe wasexpecting.Luis'sexcuse wasthat he felt "verguenza"
(shame) at finding her one night with another man.64Juan FranciscoSoler, a
25-year-oldweaver, also claimed that he was blinded by "impaciencia
y colera"
(impatience and rage)when one night he caughthis wife Manuelahaving "actos
ilicitos"(sexual acts) with a man in their marriagebed. The lover fled the house in
a rush,leaving his pants behind, and JuanFranciscoproceededto beat Manuela
until she died.65Upon returningfrom an eight-month absence, drunken boat
rowerTomasA. Sierrafound his wife Eduardain her sixth month of pregnancy.
he proceeded to
destroyed("mancillado"),
Declaring his honor and "estimacion"
strike her with a machete,killing her and the baby in her womb.6 Notice that
in most of these instances the women were pregnant,which further infuriated
husbands who believed they had been betrayed.Even more significant, all of
these incidentsreflectlong-standingsocialpracticesin Iberiansocieties, whereby
aggrievedhusbandswould respondviolently but "appropriately"-"honorably,"
they would say-to their wives' adultery.67Iberianliteratureis full of stories of
such crimes.68
Conversely, husbands who were having extramaritalaffairsalso tended to
batter their wives. In several instances, men killed their wives so they could
run away with, or marry,their lovers, including close relatives of their spouses.
To marryhis concubine Maria,30-year-oldAntonio Cano, who had long ago
abandoned his wife Isidora,took his estrangedspouse to a deserted place and
allegedly poisoned her. A little later he forgedthe date on the death certificate
to make it look older and submittedit to a nearbyparishas proofthat he was free
to remarry,which he in fact did. The priest suspected him of wrongdoing and
he was eventually apprehendedand tried.Finally,SalvadorLe6n used a machete
to kill both his wife, Manuela,and his stepson. He was enragedat the fact that
Manuelahad punishedher 20-year-olddaughterMaria,Salvador'sstepdaughter,
afterlearning that the two had been having incestuousrelations for over a year.
Salvadorsubsequentlyran awaywith the frightenedgirl.70
Men did not alwaysmanageto have their way,however. In several instances,
mattersworkedto the contrary,with women as the ones who fought and eventually killed their husbandsover extramaritalaffairs.Both Maria del Carmen
Martinezand Cecilia Heredia, whose cases were discussed above, killed their
husbands after major brawls over the men's infidelities.71Some long-abused
female killers reacted by engaging first in extramaritalaffairsthemselves as a
release. Later, sometimes with the active help of their lovers, they did away
with their husbands.The most typical case was that of Dominga Espitia, who
enlisted the aid o her lover Nicolas, a 32-year-oldminer,in killing her husband,
Matias. Matias demanded that Dominga leave a party she was attending, and
upon her departurehit her with a macheteat least once. Joined by a machetebearingNicolas, who hadbeen at the samepartyandfollowedthe fightingcouple,
Dominga killed Matias.Later,she explained her two-month-old infidelity with
56
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her accomplice as a resultof"la malavida"(mistreatment)her husbandregularly

inflictedon her.72Twenty-five-yearold Mariade la Cruzalso helped her mulatto
lover, 27-year-oldJuanAgustin, to kill her husband,Jose, with a knife. Jose, she
alleged, "ledaba,"or beat her, regularly.73
Battering and abuse such as the acts describedabove were, in turn, related
to everydaydomestic disputesthat Steve Stern has recently placed within the
"contestedboundariesof genderrightsand obligation."74Women regularlychallenged patriarchaldomination and tried to assert their "rights,"acting in an
obstinate, contentious, and disobedientmanner (i.e., resistingverbaldeference
by speakingup forcefullyand aggressively,displayingan "insolent"physicalmobility by abandoninghusbandsand/or walking in and out at will). Threatened
patriarchs,in turn,struckbackwith extremeharshnessthat, least in their minds,
was "justifiable."
Defendants and Gender.
As wasmentioned at the outset, two-thirdsof spousalmurderswerecommitted
by men and the remainingone-thirdby women. This correspondsto the general
patternfound among criminalsin other areasof the worldduringthe same and
differentperiods.75In at least two other Spanish American regions during the
late colonial years,men were morelikely to participatein all mannerof criminal
misconduct, especially violent acts, than were women. In fact, in late colonial
Rio de la Plata women committed less than 9% of the violent crimes under
investigation.76Men were arrestedfor more than 72%of the crimescommitted
in colonial Mexico duringthe mid-1790s,whereaswomen were incarceratedfor
only 27%of said crimes.77In some Brazilianregionswomen were arrestedfor as
few as 4% of all criminal offenses in 1780-1833.78 The same was true of New
Granada,where men committed 91.3% of all crimesreportedin the 1750-1810
period.79
However, if one considers the general involvement of men and women in
all types of homicide, the intriguinglyhigh proportionof female involvement
in spousal murdersbecomes apparent.In some regions of eighteenth-century
England,women were accusedof just 13%of all murdersand manslaughters.80
In a randomsamplefor 1800-1812 Mexico City,womenwerefoundliable for 2 of
25 homicides, or 8% of the total.81In New Granada,also, women were charged
with 8% of all homicides listed in a representativeindex of late colonial trials.82
When it came to killing spouses,however, New Granada'swomen committed
almost one-third (29.4%) of all murders(34% if we count only defendants of
known gender). In other words,they were almost4 times more likely to commit
spousalmurderthan any other type of homicide.
As far back as medieval times, the documentation for court cases indicates
that women were more likely to perpetrateviolent crimes againstfamily members than against other persons.83The findings for colonial Spanish America
are compatible too with evidence for late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
Englandshowing that females involved in homicide were more likely (42% as
opposedto 7%) to kill membersof their own household-relatives and servants
included-than victims outside of the family.84Finally, this conclusion is in
keeping with moder studies of homicide, which demonstratethat a majority
57
Table10
GeneralHomicidesin New Granada,1756-1808, by the Defendant'sGender
Gender
Number Percentage
Men
Women
Undetermined
Total
332
30
12
88.7
8
3.2
374
Sources:AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales.
(51.9%) of females involved kill family members.85However, researchhas focused mainly on "family"or "domestichomicides,"that include crimes against
offspring,relatives, servants,and even apprentices(in some samples, husbands
representedas few as one-thirdof the victims), a categorymuch broaderthan the
spousalmurdercases examined here. The evidence in this essay is more precise
concerning spousalmurdersthan any other previousfindingsdiscoveredduring
a search of these sources.
Still more interestingis the prevalentacademicexplanation for the patternof
heavy female involvement in domestic crimes.According to this theory,since a
woman'splace was firmlyin the home, it was only logical that she would restrict
her criminalactivities to the domesticsphere.86On the surfacethis makessense.
A woman would more likely quarreland accumulategrievanceswith those with
whom she was in daily contact, husbandsand children in particular.She would
also more likely strike (or be struck) in the space she was normally expected
to circulate in, the home. However,several of our female assassinsand victims
appearto have had active "public"lives and to have interacted on a daily basis
with a wide variety of people. In fact, a few of the female defendants were
chicharetailerswho were in regularcontact with neighbors,local customers,and
viajerosor travelers;so too wereweavers,a majorityamong our female criminals,
who by the very natureof their activity entered into regularcontact with sheep
raisers,wool retailers, and market vendors. In addition, some of the women
involved in the crimes under discussion quarrelledwith their husbands over
their attendance at fiestasand Mass, and over visits to neighbors and friends,
Table11
in
New
Homicides
1756-1808, by the Defendant'sGender
Granada,
Spousal
Gender
Men
Women
Undetermined
Total
Number Percentageof Defendants

of KnownGender
29
15
7
65.9
34
13.7a
51
tejedores
y ladrones,
60, 146-47; Patifo, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,
sexualen la provincia
554-564.a As percentageof all defendants.
58
fall 2001
activities that gave them the opportunityto socializewith diversegroupsof men

and women. To be sure, many of the women committed their crimes or were
murderedinside their homes. This is not, however,becausethey were absolutely
restricted to this space, but because, having reached out and displayed an at
times irreverentcharacterand behavior(talkingback,walkingawayfromplaces
where they did not want to be, leaving their husbandsbehind againstthe men's
will, going to forbiddenplacesand seeing forbiddenpeople), they provokedtheir
husbands'domineeringcharacter,jealousy,and rage.The husbands,sensing that
their patriarchalprerogativeswere spinning out of control, resortedto abuse.
Over the years,these women either werekilled or, if they were lucky,killed their
husbandsfirst. In sum, contraryto what other studies of domestic crimes have
argued,here it seemsclearthat femalespousalmurderersand victims customarily
transcendeddomestic spaces and relations, placing themselves more at risk of
clashing with their spouses.
Trial, Punishment and the Law.
Once the murdershad been committed, a good part of those responsible
remained at the scene of the crime, usually their home, with the corpse or
alongside their dying partners.87Others immediatelyran awayand managedto
evade justice for a while.88In one instance, with the help of friends,a wife took
her husband'scorpse out of the house. They later proceededto hang the body
by the neck from a tree near the local church to simulate a suicide, so that the
"poorwoman"would not be chargedwith the murder.89Still other defendants
buried their victims to hide the crime, and in at least three cases corpses-at
times carriedat night on the back of a mule-were dumpedin a river or creek
so as to leave no trace.90Even consideringthat we are studyingcases in which
offenderswere prosecuted,however,it is fairto say that hiding the crime appears
to have been difficult.
Basedon informationfrominjuredvictims,relatives,neighbors,andwitnesses,
the local alcaldesor, in largervillages, their equivalent corregidores/justicias
mayores,soon undertookthe investigationof the crimes.These particularoffenses,
like all homicides, were consideredto be "public"and atrocious("enormisimo")
crimes.Unlike delitosprivados-for instance,danios(propertydamage)andinjurias
(slander)-such crimes did not requireanyone to file charges.They could be
automaticallyprosecutedby the generallydiligent, all-male local officials.91
Usually, alcaldesand corregidores
began by having the corpses examined by
local physicians or healers (curanderos)to determine the nature of the injuries
and the probablecauses of death.92In some cases, investigating officials were
actually able to talk to the victims priorto their deaths and learned about the
circumstancesof the crime.93In most instances,however,they beganby hearing
the versionsof witnesses,neighbors,or acquaintances.On a few occasions, local
officialswent on to interrogatethe defendantsdirectly.In the meantime, they
locked them up in the local jail, frequentlyalong with their offspring,who were
considered potential accomplices and/or prone to lie in order to protect the
living parent. The defendant'spropertywas also preemptivelyseized in some
instances.94
Several of the accused confessed their acts shortly afterwardand showed re-
59
morse;others denied their crimes by attributingtheir spouse'sdeath to natural

causes, especially priordiseases (menstruation-relatedillnesses included), food
and drink poisoning, a varietyof accidents, and even witchcraft.95
In the majorityof cases, with or without a guilty plea, the investigation and
sentencing was completed within one to two years of the crime.96After local
officialshad consulted with a designatedletradoor lawyer,most of the accused
were given jail sentences (43% were sentenced to six- to 10-yearjail terms, and
13.7% to less than five yearsin prison). These sentences may appearstrikingly
mild by today'sstandards.However,consideringthat life expectancy was around
40 at the time, and that the harsh conditions in the region's prisons would
have furtherreduced it, it is probablethat a six- to 10-yearterm in prison was
tantamount to a life sentence. Only a few (fourof the total) were sentenced to
death, and even severalof these (three of the five) had their sentences reversed
on appealand substitutedwith eight- to 10-yearjail terms.Once the sentences
wereissued,the caseswent forreviewbeforethe Real Audiencia, the viceroyalty's
high court in Santafe de Bogota. It was not uncommon for the Audiencia to be
lenient and reducethe punishmentoriginallyimposedby local mayors.97It was
also customaryto celebratespecial festive events (a prince'sbirth, a wedding,or
a king'sor queen'sbirthday),with special blank pardonsfrom the Crown. Such
pardonsbenefited one male and one female defendant in our sample.98
Table12
Spousal Homicides in New Granada, 1756-1808, by Punishment of Defendants
Number+ Percentof samegender Percentof total
Punishment
Men
1-5 yearsprison
6-10 yearsprison
11 yearsor more
life in prison
deathby hanging
pardon
undetermined
Women
1-5 yearsprison
6-10 yearsprison
11 yearsor more
lifein prison
deathby hanging
pardon
undetermined
6
17
14.2
40.4
10.7
30.3
2
4*
1
12
4.7
9.5
2.3
28.5
3.5
7.1
1.7
21.4
1
5
7.1
35.7
1.7
8.9
1
1
6
7.1
7.1
42.8
1.7
1.7
10.7
Genderof DefendantUnspecified
7
Undetermined
Source:AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales;Sosa Abella, Labradores,tejedoresy ladrones,
60, 146-47; Luna Rivillas, "Documentospara el estudio de la criminalidad sexual en
la provincia y gobemaci6n de Antioquia," 554-564. * includes at least one woman's
accomplice. + The total adds up to more than 51 cases, for the table includes both the
originalsentence and the reducedone, as well as the punishmentmet by two accomplices
in these crimes.
60
fall 2001
Although a good portion of the punishmentsmet by both males and females

werewithin the two to 10-yearjail time frame,there appearsto have been a lack
of strict sentencing standards.Only on a couple of occasions did local officials,
most of whom were not legal experts, cite the applicablelaws to explain the
parametersthey followed in tryingthe case and imposingspecificpunishments.
Even on these occasions, legal references tended to be vague and sentences
probablyfollowed customarypractices.99
Fragmentaryevidence shows biases among officials,particularlywith regard
to gender,in the formof passingstatementsand judicialdecisions. Forexample,
a prosecutorjustifyinghis petition to hang a wife for murderingher husband
insisted that this would set an example to serve as an "escarmiento
a las demas
to curtailtheirhidden enmitytowardtheirhusbands.l00This and similar
mujeres"
evidence suggeststhat-in accordancewith society's dominant male viewsmale officialswere not altogethergender-neutralwhen prosecutingcases. Biases
against female defendantscan be seen, for instance, in the fact that two-thirds
of the male offenders sentenced to death had their sentences reduced to jail
terms, whereas this only occurredin half of the cases (one of two) involving
females. This could have been a randomsituation or one derived from factors
other than gender,but the facts of the cases suggestotherwise.Unlike the male
offendersentenced to hanging for stabbinghis wife to death in a vicious, coldblooded, and seeminglyunjustifiablemurder,the woman whose death sentence
was confirmedseems to have acted in self-defense,a considerationaccepted in
several similar cases as an extenuating factor.101Furthermore,given the lack
of mitigating circumstancesin at least two of the cases involving males, it is
hard to understandwhy their death sentences were changed to jail terms.102
The evidence is far from conclusive, however, and one could point to cases in
which maleswere in fact treatedeven moreharshlythan women. Only men, for
instance, were condemned to life in prison.
Gender biases in the formal legal texts themselves may be easier to discern.
First of all, the law was casual in adddressingcases of malos tratosor sevicia
(battery) on the part of husbands,a conduct that frequentlypreceded spousal
homicide. Seviciaconstituted a justifiablecause for quodthorumet mensamdivorce; that is, physical separationfrom one's spouse.103However, even in cases
of husbandswho physicallyabusedtheir wives, state officialswere askedto make
all effortspossibleto reconcile the parties.104
The criminallegislationof the time
did not deal specificallyor in any detail with battery,which seems to have been
a widespreadpractice. In spite of acknowledgementsthat it was "unfortunately
quite frequent"("demasiado
frecuente,pordesgracia"),
batterywas not discussed
either in contemporarylegal manuals,except in passing.105In general,this conduct was not subject to automaticprosecution;rather,it was considereda delito
privadothat requiredthe injuredpartyto file charges.For the conduct to result
in automaticprosecutionit had to cause "seriousinjuries,""severebleeding,"or
"publicoutrage,"extremesituationssuggestiveof the lack of active state protection of women'ssafety,especiallyagainstthe frequentviolent outburstsof their
husbands.106
On the specific subject of spousalhomicide, the legal codes clearly reflected

the dominant male culture of colonial Hispanic society. The mid-fourteenth-
61
centurySpanishlegal code known as the SietePartidasestablishedgender-neutral

prohibitionson remarriageby spousalkillers.107However, it specified that men
(maridos)who found their spouseshaving extra maritalsex could kill the male
lover (wives had to be spared)without incurringany punishment.108Women
whose husbands betrayed them did not have the same prerogative and were
not entitled to reportthe offense, for the law did not considermale extramarital
affairsto be a sourceof dishonorto women.109To explain the dissimilartreatment
of male and female adulterio,a popularmid-nineteenth-century legal manual
discussingcolonial and postcolonial regulationsargued:
A womanwhoadmitssomeoneotherthanherhusbandto enjoyconjugalpleasures,
theirpaternallove,asshereplacesthehusband
usurpsfromherhusband's
offspring
fora falsesubstitute,thusalsodisturbing
the rulesof succession.It is not the same
whena husbandisunfaithful,
hisobligationstowards
foreventhough,considering
his wifehe maybe saidto commita graveoffense,nonethelesshe hurtsneither
his familynorsociety.110
In other words,unfaithfulwomen stigmatizedfamilyand society.Unfaithful men
did not.
Provisionsdiscriminatingbetween males and females who killed their adulterousspousesappearedin variouslegal codificationsafterthe SietePartidas.The
1505 Laws of Toro, for instance, precludedmales who murderedtheir spouses
and sex partnerscaught in fragantifrom keeping their wives' dowryor the male
lovers'properties,but it also consideredsuch murdersto be justified.Wives who
killed their unfaithfulhusbandshad no justification.111This gender-biasedprovision continued to reappearuntil as late as the 1805 codification known as
In sum, colonial laws did not left no doubt as to
the NovisimaRecopilaci6n.112
who was socially superioror likely to receive preferentialtreatment in cases of
criminal acts againsta spouse.
Conclusions.
Trialsof spousalkillers reveal intriguingaspectsof everydaylife among colonial Spanish America'sruralpoor.Criminalrecordsunveil a worldof infrequent
internal migration,peasantfamilies'effortsto combine diverse economic activities (retailing,farming,day work,washingclothes) to make a living, and active
socializingamong relatives and neighbors,including regulardrinkingand party
going. The recordsare even more revealingof the dynamicsof gender relations
among the lower classes. Colonial Spanish American societies displayed high
levels of aggressionand violence between spouses.Although women appearto
have been the predominantvictims, the recordssuggest that, far from the passive role indicated by earlierresearch,they could be defiant and readyto attack
their male counterparts.l13In fact, women reactedto domestic abusein a variety
of ways: talking back, abandoninghusbandsor leaving them behind, refusing
to submit to restrictions on their physical mobility, engaging in extramarital
affairs,defending themselves fromaggressionwith knives and sticks, and, in extreme circumstances,killing their husbands.It is true that in a nation of around
800,000 people, only 15 women appearedto have killed their husbandsover a
62
fall 2001
period of 60 years.It is also true that women were more likely themselves to be
the victims of spousal murder.Yet, among female murderersthose who killed
their husbandswere a sizablemajority.
The fact that women were more likely to kill relatives and spousesthan any
other victims, however,did not resultfromtheirallegedrestrictionto the domestic sphere. In fact, such crimes seem to have been causedby the exact opposite
situation-namely, the escalationof maritaltensions when women transcended
the circumscribedspace of the household and displayedan "insolent"tendency
to be with relatives,friends,marketpeople, and villagepartygoers.One could go
as faras to arguethat the circumstancessurroundingspousalmurderscommitted
by femalescall into question the entirely"domestic"natureand characterof the
female sphere in colonial Spanish American and other societies.
The female sphere in colonial Latin American societies has been assumedto
be a space of mundanedomesticity and seclusion. In it, women allegedly dedicated themselves to providingfor the needs of the membersof their households,
which could include parents,husbands,offspring,or siblings.Their spherecontrastedwith the male world, which was-arguably-authoritative, productive,
active, and public. Females were mainly in charge of performingmenial domestic activities and relatedchores (cooking, cleaning, sewing, nurturing,child
care) gearedto satisfyingthe privatereproductiveneeds (material,emotional, or
sexual) of familymembers.All women, housewivesin particular,were allegedly
kept awayfrom the worldoutside of the home; their external connections were
limited mainly to church attendance and local market activities. As a result,
according to this view, they could have little if any impact on politics or the
shapingof history.114Even their crimesdid not transcendthe home, but tended
to be domestic.
The characterand circumstancesof some spousalhomicides reveal this sharp
public/domesticdichotomy to be not only an organizingfiction of social life but
an academicfiction as well.115The worldof the home wasin realityclosely linked
to the worldof the street,not only becauseof churchesand marketplaces,which
were indeed importantpublic spacesfor female contact with the largersociety,
but also because of the active characterof social life taking place in chicheras,
pulqueriasor other bars, theaters, bullfights,parties and popularfestivals, and
the homes of neighbors,friends, and relatives.l16The very tensions emerging
fromthe ordinaryday-to-dayinteractionsof femalesin all of these public arenas
regularlyunleashedmaritaltensions and conflicts,117given that women'sactive
public life was considereda sign of improprietyand insolence and a challenge to
dominantpatriarchalnorms.Nonetheless, "insolent"publicbehavioron the part
of femalesappearsnot to have been trulyso exceptional;otherwise, it would be
difficultto understandthe frequencywith which femalesfaced maritaldisputes
or became spousal murderersnot only to protect their very physical integrity,
but also to safeguardwhat they seemed to consider their prerogativeto enjoy
unrestrictedand richer lives. Ultimately,patriarchalnormscould and would be
enforced by male colonial officialsand a male-biasedlegislative structurethat
broughtorderand sense back to the sometimesturbulentand irreverentlives of
women and men.
Evidence of gender biases on the part of officersrenderingjudicial decisions
in cases involving spousal murderersis still not conclusive. Preliminaryfind-
63
ings suggestthat judicial authoritiesdisplayeda harsherattitude towardfemale

spousalmurderersand more leniency towardmen than they did towardwomen
sentenced to death for the same crimes.This bias is clear in the legal structure.
As a reflection of the dominant male Hispanic culture, formal laws from the
sixteenth to the earlynineteenth centurywere skewedon behalf of men. These
laws mayhave servedas a reminderthat female domesticityand obedience were
regardedas sacredand worth preservingand/orrestoring.Like the colonial state
officialsin charge of enforcing the law, however, women at times also chose to
obey patriarchalmandatesand laws "amedias"(halfway).
Departmentof History
Miami, FL 33199
ENDNOTES
Officeof the Deanof ArtsandSciences
I wishto thankFloridaInternational
University's
forfinancialsupportto conductarchivalresearchfor this article.I am gratefulfor the
criticismof Professors
JohnKicza,WilliamB. Taylor,DanielA. Cohen,Noble David
Cook and AlexandraParmaCook.Twoanonymousreviewersalso providedvaluable
andcritiques.Valuableandtimelyhelpwithcopyeditingwaskindlyprovided
suggestions
byAlisaNewman.
Colombia's
1. The vallenatois an accordion-based
tropicalrhythmfromValledupar,
inColumbia
northwestern
region.See PeterWade,Music,RaceandNation:MusicaTropical
hombre
y canto(Bogota:IcaroEditores,
(Chicago,2000), CiroQuirozOtero,Vallenato,
1983). ForLa Baracunatana's
originalversionhearsingerLisandroMesa's1988 CD
DiscoFuentes;forthe rockversionheargroupLosAterciopelados's
"MejorImposible,"
CD LaPipadela Paz.
2. Numerouspopulartunesin LatinAmerica,particularly
ArgentinetangosandMexhusbandsandloversinsultor confess
referto womenwhoseheartbroken
icanrancheras,
to havinghurtorkilledthem.
3. Colombia'srecentstatisticson domesticabuseindicatea totalof 36,511 reported
cases(98 casesper 100,000people)forthe year1997.Thesecasesaresaidto represent
Therefore,theremaybe asmany
just27%of the actualtotal;mostothersgo unreported.
as 135,000casesof wifebattering(362casesper100,000people)everyyearin Colombia,
a reportedlyhigh and constantlygrowingproportionof the country'stotal violence.
de
See Colombia'sInstitutode MedicinaLegaly CienciasForenses,"Comportamiento
lesionesde causaextema,Colombia,1997."(Bogota,1998),45, 50-51. I thanklawyer
MarthaLuciaPinz6nGalanforthesestatisticsandforherassistancewith the database
on colonialcrimesdevelopedforthisessay.
4. PamelaHaag,"The'Ill-UseofaWife:'PatternsofWorkingClassViolencein Domestic andPublicNew YorkCity,1860-1880,"
JournalofSocialHistory25, 3 (Spring,1992):
Journalof Interdisci447-77; DavidPeterson,"WifeBeating:An AmericanTradition,"
Wife-Beating
plinaryHistory13, 1 (Summer1992):97-118;MaeveE. Doggett,Marriage,
andtheLawin Victorian
(New York,1993);ElizabethPleck,DomesticTyranny:
England
TimestothePresent(New
FromColonial
TheMaking
ofSocialPolicyAgainstFamilyViolence
York,1987),65, 88.
5. The only academicworkson the subjectI cameacrossforEuropeandthe United
StateswereEdwardHatton,"DomesticAssassins:Spousaland IntimateHomicidein
AntebellumAmerica"(Ph.D.diss.,TempleUniv., 1997),andthe broaderstudybyJ.A.
Historical
Journal24 (1981):
Sharpe,"DomesticHomicidein EarlyModernEngland,"
64
fall 2001
on relatedsubjects,particularly
29-48. Forrelativelymoreabundanthistoricalliterature
domesticabuse,see amongothersCarolBauerand LawrenceRitt, "'A Husbandis a
BeatingAnimal.'FrancesPowerCobbeConfrontsthe Wife-AbuseProblemsin VictoStudies
rianEngland,"
International
Journal
6, 2 (March-April,
1983):99-118;
ofWomen's
The DarkerSideof VictorianDomesticity,"
Canadian
ReMyraC. Glen,"Wife-Beating:
viewof American
Studies15 (1984):17-33;BrendaD. McDonald,"DomesticViolence
in ColonialMassachusetts,"
Historical
Journal
14, 1 (January,
1986):53ofMassachusetts
64; LindaGordon,Heroesof theirownLives:ThePoliticsandHistoryof FamilyViolence.
Boston,1880-1960(NewYork,1988),Chapter8; DarlaBorck,"'DomesticRecreation'
& 'HouseholdAmusements':
SpousalAbusein Memphis,1861-1865,"TheWestTennesseeHistorical
andVictims:
48 (1994):81-90;Kathryn
SocietyPapers
Harvey,"Amazons
ResistingWife-Abusein WorkingClassMontreal,1869-1879,"Journal
of theCanadian
2 (1991):131-148;DanielA. Cohen,"Homicidal
Association
Historical
Compulsionand
the Conditionsof Freedom:
TheSocialandPsychological
in AmerOriginsof Familicide
ica'sEarlyRepublic,"
Journal
of SocialHistory24, 4 (Summer,1995):725-764;JeffreyS.
isto Blame,ButI'llWalkonherNeckYet':Homicidein Late
Adler,"'MyMother-in-Law
Journal
Chicago,"
Nineteenth-Century
of SocialHistory31, 2 (Winter,1997):253-276,
me
esp.259-261.1owethanksto mycolleagueDanielA. Cohenforhavingintroduced
to some of this literature.
6. Exceptfor an excellentethnographic
casestudy,I couldnot findany specialized
"Crime
writingsconcerningSpanishAmericaon this subject.See KevinTerraciano,
andCulturein ColonialMexico:The Caseof the MixtecMurderNote,"Ethnohistory,
45, 4 (Fall,1998):709-745. See alsoa briefdiscussionin WilliamB. Taylor,Drinking,
inColonialMexicanVillages
Homicide
& Rebellion
(Stanford,1979),85-88, 93-96; idem,
Patronesde homicidioen el centroruralde Jalisco,1784-1820,"
"Amigosde sombrero:
in AntonioEscobarOhmstede,ed., Indio,naciony comunidad
en el MtxicodelsigtoXIX
(Mexico,1993), 63-103, esp. 75-77, 82-83. Forpassingreferencessee BeatrizPatifio,
socialenlaprovincia
deAntioquia,
1750-1820(Medellin,
Criminalidad,
1994),375-377;andSteveStem,TheSecretHistoryof Gender.Women,Men,andPower
in LateColonialMexico(ChapelHill, 1995),esp.chapters3, 4, 6.
7.
Stem, TheSecretHistoryof Gender,57-59.
8. See ElizabethAnne Kuznesof,"TheHistoryof the Familyin LatinAmerica:A

Research
Review,24, 2 (1989):168-186;Mark
Critiqueof RecentWork,"LatinAmerican
D. Szuchman,"TheState of FamilyHistoryin SpanishSouthAmerica,"unpublished
paperpresentedat the AmericanHistoricalAssociationmeeting,New York,December,
LatinAmerican
1990;LynnStoner,"Directionsin LatinAmericanWomen'sHistory,"
Research
Honorable
Lives:Lawyers,
Review,25, 2 (1990):101-134;VictorM.Uribe-Uran,
2000).
FamilyandPoliticsinColombia,1780-1850(Pittsburgh,
9. LymanJohnsonandSonyaLipset-Rivera
(eds.),TheFacesofHonor.Sex,Shameand
inColonialLatinAmerica(Albuquerque,
Violence
1999).
10. See, amongothers,VerenaMartinezAlier,Marriage,
ClassandColorin NineteenthCuba:A Studyof RacialAttitudes
andSexualValuesina SlaveSociety(Cambridge,
Century
1974);SusanKellogg,LawandtheTransformation
oftheAztecs(Norman,1995);Guiomar
DuefasVargas,Loshijosdelpecado.Ilegitimidad
en laSantafedeBogotacoloy vidafamiliar
nial(Bogota,199 ); SandraLauderdale-Graham,
HouseandStreet:TheDomestic
Worldof
Servants
andMasters
inNineteenth-Century
RiodeJaneiro
(Austin,1988);ChristineHuneintheBedroom.
inNineteenth-Century
Lima(University
feldt,Liberalism
Quarreling
Spouses
Park,2000);Stem,SecretHistoryofGender,passim;SusanSocolow,TheWomen
ofColonialLatinAmerica(Cambridge,2000). On the intertwiningof powerand genderrelations
see the suggestiveessayby SandraMcgeeDeutsch,"GenderandSociopoliticalChange
in Twentieth-century
LatinAmerica,"
American
Historical
Hispanic
Review,71, 2 (May,
1991):259-306.
65
hereseeStem,SecretHistory
11. Fora usefulworkingdefinitionof patriarchy
applicable
of Gender,21.
12. ArchivoHist6ricode Antioquia(hereafter
AHA), Criminales,legajo1800-1810,
doc.2, f. 6v.
inLateColonial
CrimeandPunishment
MexicoCity,169213. SeeGabrielHaslip-Rivera,
social:La
comounfen6meno
1810(Albuquerque,
1999);TamarHerzog,Laadministracion
deQuito(1650-1750)(Madrid,1995),289;Patifo,Criminalidd,
laciudad
justiciapenalde
social;LymanL. Johnson(ed.), TheProblem
of Orderin Changing
andUruguay,
Societies.
1750-1940(Albuquerque,
Argentina
EssaysonCrimeandPolicingin
La criminlidad
en la ciudadde Mexico,1800-1821
1990);TeresaLozanoArmendares,
"Order
andViolence:SocialDeviance
(Mexico,1987),35,44;PatriciaAnnAufderheide,
and Social Controlin Brazil,1780-1840."Ph.Ddiss.,Univ. of Minnesota,1976.See
Mexico.A Studyof the
Criminal
alsoColinM. MacLachlan,
Justicein Eighteenth-Century
and
Homicide& Rebellion;
Tribunal
of theAcordada
(Berkeley,1974);Taylor,Drinking,
de clasesy
AlbertoFloresGalindo,Aristocracia
y plebeen Lima,1760-1830(Estructura
sociedad
colonial)(Lima,1983),chapter5.
andthe failureto paytributerepresented
14. In colonialMexico,casesof indebtedness
a significantpercentageof crime.This does not seem to have been the case in New
CrimeandPunishment,
Granada.See Haslip-Rivera,
53, 54-55, 58-59; ZoilaGabriel
de Dominguez,"Delitoy sociedaden el Nuevo Reino de Granadaperfodovirreinal,
8-9 (1974-75):281-398, esp.322-23. ForBrazil
Humanistica
1740-1810,"Universitas
"Order
andViolence,"372-379,390.
see Aufderheide,
51.A probably
CrimeandPunishment,
15. Haslip-Rivera,
sampleof 474 crimes
irregular
committedin Mexicocity from1800to 1812 includesjust25 homicides,close to 5%
of the totalcrimes,or an averageof justtwoperyear.A larger,4,352-arrest
samplefor
1798MexicoCity includes13 homicides,a seeminglyhigh number.See, respectively,
en laciudaddeMexico,65;andMichaelScardaville,
Lacriminalidad
LozanoArmendares,
"Crimeandthe UrbanPoor:MexicoCityin the lateColonialPeriod"(Ph.D.diss.,Univ.
with an averageof close
of Florida,1977),38. Forstatisticson 1667-1816Amsterdam,
"Facetsof Violence:HomicideTrendsand
see PieterSpierenburg,
to 8 annualmurders,
CulturalMeanings:Amsterdam,1431-1816,"Journalof SocialHistory27, 4 (Summer,
1994):701-716,esp.707.
86.
andRebellion,
Homicide
16. Taylor,Drinking,
listedin thejudicialarchivesusedforthisworkdonot include
17. Crimesof"uxoricidio"
murders
concubines,andlovers.
partners,
involvingcommon-law
18. See Patifio, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocial, 376. On late colonial Antio-
in Colonial
andFarmers
quiasocietyandeconomysee Ann Twinam,Miners,Merchants
Colombia
(Austin,1982).
19. ArchivoGeneralde la Naci6n(hereafterAGN), Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,Indice.
20. In 1890sChicago,spousalmurders(dubbed"divorceby bullets")reachedone of
is
theirhighestpeaksto represent13%of all homicides.See Adler,"MyMother-in-Law
to Blame,"259.
comefromextantcriminalcasesof spousalhomicide
21. Datafor this workprimarily
Archivo
of Colombia's
forthe period1750-1810foundin the sectionJuiciosCriminales
Nacionalde Colombiahistorians
Generalde la Naci6nin Bogota.I thankUniversidad
Alicia FlorianandLuisFerando Torresforhelpingme to gatherthis evidence.These
on the northwestern
recordsdo not offerenoughinformation
provinceof Cartagena,
66
fall 2001
the wester provinceof Antioquia,andthe southernprovinceof Popayfin.

Therefore,
withotherprimary
evidenceof familyconflictsfromthe same
theyweresupplemented
sectionand the Medellin-based
ArchivoHist6ricode AnArchivo'sJuiciosCriminales
Partialevidencefor5 additionalcasescomesfromSosaAbella,
tioquia'sFondoCriminal.
Labradores,
tejedores
y ladrones.
22. Notice thatthereareno recordsat all forthe decade1771-1780,andveryfewfor
the decades1761-1770and 1781-1790.An averageof 8 to 10 murders
of thistypemay
have occurredperdecade,in whichcasethe totalforthe periodunderstudymayhave
beenashighas 70.
23. Onlya handfulof cases(5.8%of the total)seemto haveoccurredin majorurban
centers-namely,2 in SantaFeand1 in Medellin.
thehighpropor24. Similarly,
althoughwedonothaveenoughqualitativeinformation,
tionof casesin Antioquiarelativeto thisregion'spopulationis an issuerequiring
further
makeupof New Granada's
study.On the demographic
regionssee AnthonyMcFarlane,
Colombia
Rule(CamEconomy,
BeforeIndependence.
Society,andPoliticsUnderBourbon
on Antioquiais providedby Patinfo,
bridge,1993),353-363. Quantitativeinformation
socialenlaprovincia
deAntioquia,
Criminalidad,
376, 516.
25. Forinstance,therearesurprisingly
fewcases(justthree!)fromtheCartagena
area,in
NewGranada.
northwestern
wasthesecondmostdenselypopulatedprovince
Cartagena
andsiteof theviceroyalty's
maincommercial
8.6%of
entrep6tandport,wherereportedly
allcrimesin theviceroyalty
tookplace.Thereareno recordsatallofcasesfromimportant
andrelativelydenselypopulatedareassuchasPopayan,in southernNewGranada,
home
to key gold minesand the prosperous
southernvalleyof the Caucariver,an areaof
andlivestock.A sampleof 48 crimescommittedin thisregionbetween1591
agriculture
and1792showstwocasesof spousalhomicide(onein 1591,anotherin 1629),suggesting
the likelihoodof furtherinstancesin the latecolonialperiod.See ArchivoCentraldel
Cauca.CatalogoGeneral.Judicial,Criminal,vol. 4, fol. 627, 631. See also Germfn
Historia
econ6mica
II:Popaydn:
unasociedad
Colmenares,
esclavista,
y socialdeColombia,
1680-1800(Bogota,1979);idem.,Cali:terratenientes,
mineros
SigloXVIII
y comerciantes,
(Cali, 1983).
26. Forthe mestizocharacterof latecolonialNewGranadasee Ibid.,34.
27. Specializedresearchon crimescommittedby Indiansin New Granada's
province
of Tunjarefersto a totalof 6 casesof spousalhomicidebetween1740and 1810.Only
one case waspartof my originalsample.If addedto mydata,this informationwould
meanthat a totalof 8 of 51 homicidesagainstspouseswerecommittedby Indians.See
GuillermoSosaAbella,Labradores,
Hurtosy homicidios
enlaprovincia
tejedores
y ladrones.
de Tunja,1745-1810(Bogoti, 1993), 60, 146-47. Fora spousalhomicidecommitted
Mexicosee Terraciano,
"Crimeand
by an MixtecIndianin late seventeenth-century
Culturein ColonialMexico."Fora furtherdiscussionof IndiansandSpousalhomicides
in latecolonialMexicosee VictorM.Uribe-Uran,
"Domestic
ViolenceandThe Lawin
Conferenceon LatinAmericanStudies,Veracruz,
Mexico,1750-1810,"Southeastern
Mexico,March1-5, 2001.
28. FortheAfricancomponentofNewGranada's
seeMcFarlane,
1778-1780population
Colombia
353.Thereareno specificstatisticsformulatos
BeforeIndependence,
andzambos.
Forthe crimescommittedbymulatosseeAGN,Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,
vol. 98, fols
see vol. 204,fols.488-613.
899-1001;vol. 117,fols.266-303.Fora zambomurderer
29. See Mcfarlane,
Colombia
54-57.
BeforeIndependence,
67
CrimeandPunishment,
30. See Haslip-Rivera,
Lacriminali58-65;LozanoArmendares,
dadenla ciudaddeMexico,31-32;Scardaville,
"Crimeandthe UrbanPoor,"4-5; Taylor,
73-74.
"Amigosde sombrero,"
Crimeandpunishment,
"Crimeandthe UrbanPoor,"41;Haslip-Rivera,
31. Scardaville,
72-73.
55;Taylor,"Amigosde sombrero,"
Sentimientos
en el NuevoReinodeGranada(Santafe
32. PabloRodriguez,
y vidafamiliar
de Bogota,1997),77.
56.
CrimeandPunishment,
33. Haslip-Rivera,
vol. 163,fols.452-477.
34. AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,
vol. 61, fol. 549-552.
vol. 3, fol. 423-424.
vol. 97, fols.778-784.
vol. 204,fols.488-613.
andRebellion,
78Homicide
39. Taylor,Drinking,
94-95; idem,"Amigosde sombrero,"
en la ciudaddeMexico,67; Scardaville,"Crime
Lacriminalidad
80; LozanoArmendares,
andthe UrbanPoor,"40.
attackby 48-year-olddaylaborerEugenioVerdugoagainst
40. Forthe coal-throwing
his wife,Maria,see AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,vol. 172,fols.940. Fifty-seven(stirred)withviolence
year-oldfarmerandweaverJuanF Ortizadmittedthathe refrego
sexualorgans,causinghermortalinjury.Ibid.,vol. 97, fol.
his wifeSilvestraNempaque's
778, 784.
vol. 167,fols.292-326;vol. 36, fols.622-768.
Spanishlegal treatisesdedicatedextensivespaceto discussinghomicidescommitted
universal
criminal
forense,o tratado
throughpoison.See SenenVilanovay Manez,Materia
delosdelitosy delincuentes,
4 vols.(Madrid,1807),3: 41-45. On poison,
teoricoy prdctico
asa commonmeansof murderin the nineteenthcenturyseeRanda
arsenicin particular,
A Studyof GenderBiasin the
Helfield,"FemalePoisonersof the Nineteenth-Century:
Applicationof the Law,"OsgoodeHallLawJournal,28 (1990). Fornineteenth-century
criminalen
"Notesstatistiquessur l'empoisonnement
Francesee also A. Lacassagne,
et desSciences
Criminelles
Archives
Penales,1(1886):260-264.
France,"
d'Anthropologie
42. Recentresearchshows,forexample,thatspousalhomicidesin latenineteenthcendisputesandabuses.See Adler,"My
turyChicagowerethe culminationof long-festering
222-223.
is to Blame,"259;see alsoPleck,Domestic
Mother-in-Law
Tyranny,
vol. 172,fols.936-972.
vol. 15,fols.360-393.
vol. 60, fols775-895.
vol. 207,fols.448-492.
vol. 97, fols.776-831.
48. AHA, Criminales,
CajaB-101,legajo1800-1810,doc.2, f. 16v.
68
fall 2001
49. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 97, fols. 776-831.

50. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 97, fols. 776-831
51. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 181, fol. 489.
55. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 3, fol. 423-424; vol. 61, fol. 549-552.
58. AHA, Criminales,Caja B-101, legajo 1800-1810, doc. 2, f. 2-4,9-10, 16v; Patifio,
Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen Antioquia,376.
59. I could only examine a smallerportionof the 436 casesof "lesiones
(bodily
personales"
injuries)available. AGN, Colonial, JuiciosCriminales.Evidence of increasein maltrato
cases in the late colonial period is providedin Patifo, Criminalidad,
social, 265.
60. Silvia C. Mallo, "justicia,divorcio, alimentos y malos tratosen el Rio de la Plata,"
Investigaciones
y ensayos42 (Jan-Dec. 1992): 373-400; Susan Socolow, "Women and
Crime. Buenos Aires, 1757-97," in Johnson, ed., The Problemof Orderin ChangingSocieties, 1-18, esp. 4-6; EugeniaRodriguezSaenz, "Yame es insoportablemi matrimonio".
El maltratode las esposasen el Valle Central de Costa Rica (1750-1850)," CienciasSociales68 (June, 1995): 73-93; idem, "CivilizingDomestic Life in the Central Valley of
Costa Rica, 1750-1850," in ElizabethDore and Maxine Molyneux,eds., HiddenHistories
of Genderand the Statein LatinAmerica,85-107; JuanJavierPescadorC., "Entrela espaday el olvido: Pleitos matrimonialesen el provisoratoeclesiasticode Mexico," in Pilar
GolzalboAizpuru,ed., Lafamiliaen el mundoiberoamericano
(Mexico, D.E, 19 ), 193-225,
esp., 202-205; WardStavig, Amory violenciasexual.Valoresindigenasen la sociedadcolonial (Lima:Instituto de EstudiosPeruanos,1995), 77-87; Stem, SecretHistoryof Gender,
passim;Socolow, Womenof ColonialLatinAmerica,67.
61. See Patifio, Criminalidad,leypenaly estructurasocial,380, 405.
62. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 181, fol. 489.
63. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 170, fols. 922-974. In 1684 the Mixtec Indian Pedrode Caravanteskilledhis wife Mariade Montiel afterchargingher with adultery.
This hints at the likelihood of similarcases throughoutcolonial Spanish America. See
Terraciano,"Crimeand Culture in Colonial Mexico."
67. Maria BeatrizNizza da Silva, Sistemade Casamentono BrasilColonial(Sao Paulo:
Editorada Universidadde Sao Paulo, 1984), 194-195; Rodriguez,Sentimientosy vidafamiliar,233-237; LymanJohnsonand Sonya Lipset-Rivera(eds.), TheFacesof Honor.Sex,
69
Shameand Violencein ColonialLatinAmerica(Albuquerque,1999), 179-200; Socolow,

"Womenand Crime,"13.
68. See, to mention but a few works,Alfonso Garcia Valdecasas,El hidalgoy el honor
(Madrid,1948), 198-214; Albert S. Gerard,"TheLovingKillers:The Rationale of RightLiterature
Studies2 (1965): 209-232; FrankP.
eousnessin BaroqueTragedy,"Comparative
Casa, "Honorand the Wife-Killersof Calderon,"Bulletinof theComediantes28 (1977):
27-31; JorgeAmado, Gabriela,CloveandCinnamon(New York,1988); and Matthew D.
Comedias(London,
Stroud,FatalUnion. A PluralisticApproachof theSpanishWife-Murder
1990).
69. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 167, fol. 292-326.
71. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 61, fol. 541-651; vol. 32, fol. 420-450.
74. Stem, The SecretHistoryof Gender,Chapter4.
75. Women committed 33% of spousalmurdersin selected Englishcounties from 1202
to 1276, and 34% in the period from 1300 to 1348; in Essex they were responsiblefor
33.3% in the 1560-1709 period;in Essex,Hertfordshire,and Sussex, 26% from 1559 to
1625. In Philadelphia,women werechargedwith 14.2%of spousalhomicides committed
between 1839 and 1901, and 47.2%between 1948 and 1952;and from 1963 to 1982, U.S.
women were chargedwith 38% to 48% of these murders.See Pleck, DomesticTyranny,
223-224. See also Pieter Spierenburg,ed. Men andViolence,Gender,Honorand Ritualsin
ModernEuropeandAmerica(Ohio, 1998).
76. Susan Socolow, "Womenand Crime,"4.
77. Haslip-Rivera,Crimeand Punishment,56.
78. Aufderheide, "Orderand Violence," 216. Statistical tables offered later seem to
indicate female arreststo have been as high as 16% of the total, still a modest figure.
Ibid., 375, 380
79. AGN, Colonia. JuiciosCriminales.Indice.
80. J.M. Beattie, "The Criminalityof Women in Eighteenth-CenturyEngland,"Journal
of SocialHistory8 (Summer,1975): 80-116, esp. 85.
en la ciudadde Mexico, 127.
81. LozanoArmendares,La criminalidad
82. AGN, Colonia. Juicios Criminales. Indice. Out of a total 374 homicides, women
appearto have been involved in just 30, half of the time with male accomplices. Men
alone committed over 332.
83. JamesBuchanan Given, Societyand Homicidein ThirteenthCenturyEngland(Stanford, 1977), 56-61.
84. Sharpe, "DomesticHomicide,"36.
85. Marvin E. Wolfgang,Patternsof CriminalHomicide(New York,1966).
70
fall 2001
86. For a clear summaryof such views see Sharpe,"DomesticHomicide,"36.

87. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 181, fols. 476-562; vol. 61, fols. 541-651;
vol. 60, fols. 775-895; vol. 172, fols. 936-972; vol. 169, fols. 955-986; vol. 15, fols.
360-393; vol. 32, fols. 420-450;
88. AGN, Colonia, Juicios Criminales, vol. 117, fols. 226-303; vol. 36, fols. 1-175;
vol. 41, fols. 673-765; vol. 153, fols. 122-267. A few of the fugitives managedto evade
justice for several years.See, for instance, the case of MariaT. Saavedraand her lover,
Matias,who spent three yearsin hiding (ibid., vol. 108, fols. 950-951). It took fouryears
to apprehend32-year-ol tailorAntonio Nieto (ibid., vol. 16, fols. 755-831). Almost 15
yearspassed before weaver MariaQuintero was questioned about her crime (ibid., vol.
36, fols. 8-9).
89. Ultimately, however, someone who heard the story from one of the participants
denounced the crime to the local alcalde.AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 163,
fols. 452-477.
90. For buried bodies see AGN, Colonia, Juicios Criminales,vol. 98, fols. 899-1001;
vol. 167, fols. 292-326; vol. 194, fols. 736-910. Forcorpsesthrown into riversand creeks
see vol. 169, fols. 650-729; vol. 161, fols. 557-604; vol. 108, fols. 914-966.
91. Juan Alvarez Posadilla,Practicacriminalporprincipios,o modoy formade instruirlos
procesoscriminales,3 vols. (Valladolid,1802), 3: 101; Eugeniode Tapia,FebreroNovisimo
o libreriade jueces, abogadosy escribanos,10 vols. (Valencia, 1830), 7:123-124. On the
differencebetween delitosprivadosand deltos pfiblicos(subjectto automaticprosecution)
see IgnacioJordande Asso y del Rio and Miguelde Manuely Rodriguez,Institucionesdel
derechocivilde CastiUa(Madrid:Imprentade FranciscoGarcia, 1771), ccxxv-ccxlvii.
92. This was standardpractice in cases of assaultand homicide. See Vilanova y Mafiez,
Materiacriminalforense, 3:35; Juan Sala, Ilustraciondel derechoreal de Espana, 5 vols.
(Mexico, 1833), 5:18-19.
93. See, for instance, AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 60, fols. 775-895; vol 169,
fol. 956.
94. See AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCiminales, vol. 15, fol. 361; vol. 153, fol. 831.
95. FarmerEugenio Verdugoattributedthe death of his badlybeaten wife to tavardillo,
a diseasewhich she allegedlysufferedfrom(AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 172,
fol. 969); FranciscoA. Le6n arguedthat his poisoned wife died of a stomach ailment
(ibid., vol. 167, fol. 293); so did day laborerVicente G6mez, who also claimed that his
wife had menstruation-relatedcolic, got wet while crossinga creek, and got even sicker
from eating prunes (ibid., vol. 169, fol. 964); 46-year-oldwhite farmerand hatmaker
MartinRuizclaimed that his wife died not fromstabbingsbut due to a maleficioor spell
which damagedher liver (ibid., vol. 181, fol. 489).
96. Only on one occasion werethey chargedwith neglect;most of the time these officials
acted promptlyand efficiently.See exceptionalaccusationsof procrastination(morosidad)
againstan officialwho took over a decade to prosecutethe case. AGN, Colonia, Juicios
Criminales,vol.36, fol. 1-175.
97. See, for instance, the case of Jacinto Gonzalez,whose death sentence for stabbing
his wife to death was reducedto 10 yearsin prison;and farmerEmigdioPab6n and boat
paddlerTomasA. Sierra,who were sentenced to death by hanging for similarcrimes but
on appeal had their sentences reducedto 8 and 10 years in prison, respectively.AGN,
Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 170, fols. 922-974; vol. 41, fols. 673-765; vol. 204, fols.
488-613.
71
98. Suchwasthe caseof MariaT. Saavedraandher lover.The two werecaughtafter

theirescapeandspenttwoyearsinjail,butwerelateramnestiedbya royaldecree(indulto)
vol. 108,fol. 951.
issuedin 1760.AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,
vol. 117,fol. 298.
99. See, forinstance,AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,
100.AHA, Criminales,
CajaB-101,legajo1800-1810,doc. 2, f.6v.
andwhitemalehatmaker
MartinRuizdidnot receive
101.WeaverMariadelC. Martinez
in 1799and1800,respectively.
AGN,
anyleniency.Theirdeathsentenceswereconfirmed
Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,vol. 61, fol. 550;ibid.,vol. 181,fol. 51. The otherwoman
owedthe reductionin punishmentto the veryfact
whosedeathsentencewasabrogated
that she wastryingto defendherself.AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,vol. 117, fol.
298.
vol. 41, fol. 763;ibid.,vol 204, fol. 606.
102.See AGN, Colonia,JuiciosCriminales,
socialy regulaci6njuridica
Elmatrimonio
enIndias.Realidad
103.SeeDaisyRipodaz
Ardanas,
deCasamiento,
212, 219-231.
(BuenosAires,1977),383, 388;NizzaDa Silva,Sistema
de 15deMayode 1788"citedin Tapia,Febrero
deCorregidores
104.See"Realinstruccion
criminal
7:142;and,Vilanovay Mafez,Materia
novisimo,
forense,1:309.
105.Tapia,Febrero
Novisimo,7:141-142.
criminal
106.See Ibid.;Vilanovay Mafiez,Materia
forense,1:309;3:52.
107.See Partida4, tit. 2, Ley 14 and 19. See JuanN. Rodriguezde S. Miguel,Pan2 vols. (Mexico,1852),2:425,427, 475;Losc6digosespaiioles
dectasHispano-Megicanas,
concordados
y anotados,12 vols.(Madrid,1872),3:419,422.
108.Partida7, tit. 17,ley 12 and13, Ibid.,477. See alsoRafaelSerraRuiz,Honor,honra
medieval
e injuria
enel derecho
espaiol(Murcia,1969),236-237.
109.Ibid.,237.On the lightpunishment(i.e., banishment)of malecomparedto female
adulterio
(floggingandseclusionin a convent),seeAssoy delRioandManuely Rodriguez,
civildeCastika,ccxlvii.
delderecho
Instituciones
con
RealdeEspafia... ilustrada
o seaIlustracion
al Derecho
110.JuanSala,SalaMexicano,
sobreel derecho
noticiasoportunas
romano,y lasleyesy principios
rigenen la
queactualmente
4 vols.(Mexico,1845),3: 427-428.
mexicana,
republica
6:581;Sanchode Llamasy
111.See Toro'slaw82. Ibid.,477-478;Losc6digos
espafioles,
a lasochenta
y tresLeyesdelToro,3 vols.(Madrid,
Molina,Comentario
crftico-juriico-literal
1827),1:333-341.
10:95.
112.See lib. 12, tit. xxviii,leyv, in Losc6digos
espanoles,
113.Socolow,"Womenand Crime,"4; idem.,TheWomenof ColonialLatinAmerica,
pp.148.
114.Alternativeviewsforlatecolonialwomencanbefoundin SilviaArrom,TheWomen
of MexicoCity, 1790-1857(Stanford,1985),pp. 46-48 . See also Socolow,Womenof
ColonialLatinAmerica,pp.65, 113-115,126.
115.For an earlyformulationof the public/domestic
analyticdichotomyto explain
see MichelleZimbalistRosaldo,"Woman,Cultureand Sociwomen'ssubordination
ety: A TheoreticalOverview,"in MichelleZimbalistRosaldoand LouiseLamphere,
72
fall 2001
eds., Woman,Culture,andSociety(Stanford,Calif.:StanfordUniversity Press,1974), pp.

17-43 ; Anna Yeatman,"Genderand the Differentiationof Social Life into Public and
Domestic Domains,"SocialAnalysis, 15 (August, 1984): 32-49. For a historical discussion of the early cultural transformationof domesticity see Glenna Matthews, "Justa
Housewife":The Riseand Fall of Domesticityin America(Oxford, 1987), esp. chaps. 1-3.
See also critiquesand recent evaluationsof the public/domesticsplit in Joan B. Landes,
"The Public and the PrivateSphere: A FeministReconsideration,"in JohannaMeehan,
ed., FeministsReadHabermas:Genderingthe Subjectof Discourse(New York, 1995), pp.
91-116; and AlejandroLugo and Bill Mauer,"The Legacyof Michelle Rosaldo:Politics
and Gender in Modem Societies," in AlejandroLugoand Bill Mauer,eds., GenderMatters.RereadingMichelleZ. Rosaldo(Ann Arbor,2000), 16-34. I thank my colleague Lara
Kriegelfor discussingwith me some of the issuesraisedin this literature.
116. See PedroViqueiraAlba, ProprietyandPermissiveness
in BourbonMexico(Wilmington, DE, 1999); William H. Beezley, Cheryl English Martin, and William E. French,
andPopularCulturein Mexico
eds., Ritualsof Rule,Ritualsof Resistance.PublicCelebrations
(Wilmington, DE, 1994).
117. See numerousinstances of this situation in Stem, The SecretHistoryof Gender.

Colonial Baracunatanas and Their Nasty Men. Spousal Homicides and The Law in Late Colonial New Granada

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Colonial Baracunatanas and Their Nasty Men. Spousal Homicides and The Law in Late Colonial New Granada

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Peter N.

COLONIAL BARACUNATANAS AND THEIR NASTY MEN:

" ... anochete vw,habiaotroquete chequeaba,

... garosa,moPoreso tu eresgaruya,retrechera,

Duringthe colonialperiod,in this SpanishAmericanregionthen called

journalof social history

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

su casa"(hidden enemies inside of men's houses).12Occasionally, women who

journalof social history

Criminales, Indice; Taylor,Drinking,Homicide& Rebellion,75; Haslip-Rivera,Crime

estructurasocial, 257, 534.

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

least 51 spousalmurderswere committed in the viceroyaltybetween 1754 and

journalof social history

sexualen la provinciay gobemacionde Antioquia,"

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

for individualsother than Blacksand Indians,make it thereforehighly probable

de Granada,"in Jose Manuel PerezAyala,AntonioCaballeroy Gongora.Virreyy arzobispo

blackslaves.a. As percentageof totaldefendants.

journalof social history

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

journalof social history

Number Percentageof known

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

one day in 1799.45On severaloccasions, beforehe finallybeat her to death one

cruelty."Witnesses confirmedthat he beat her constantly.57MarcelaMetauten,

Genderof Killernot known

60, 146-47; Patiio, Criminalidad,ley penaly estructurasocialen la provinciade Antioquia,

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

journalof social history

her accomplice as a resultof"la malavida"(mistreatment)her husbandregularly

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

Number Percentageof Defendants

journalof social history

activities that gave them the opportunityto socializewith diversegroupsof men

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

morse;others denied their crimes by attributingtheir spouse'sdeath to natural

journalof social history

Although a good portion of the punishmentsmet by both males and females

On the specific subject of spousalhomicide, the legal codes clearly reflected

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

centurySpanishlegal code known as the SietePartidasestablishedgender-neutral

journalof social history

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

ings suggestthat judicial authoritiesdisplayeda harsherattitude towardfemale

journalof social history

Stem, TheSecretHistoryof Gender,57-59.

8. See ElizabethAnne Kuznesof,"TheHistoryof the Familyin LatinAmerica:A

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

journalof social history

the wester provinceof Antioquia,andthe southernprovinceof Popayfin.

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

journalof social history

49. AGN, Colonia, JuiciosCriminales,vol. 97, fols. 776-831.

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

Shameand Violencein ColonialLatinAmerica(Albuquerque,1999), 179-200; Socolow,

journalof social history

86. For a clear summaryof such views see Sharpe,"DomesticHomicide,"36.

COLONIAL BARACUNATANASAND THEIRNASTY MEN

98. Suchwasthe caseof MariaT. Saavedraandher lover.The two werecaughtafter

journalof social history

eds., Woman,Culture,andSociety(Stanford,Calif.:StanfordUniversity Press,1974), pp.

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