2023-11-24 20:13:04
In the recesses of history, hope can be found for today’s most discouraging situations. If not, tell Francisca de Pedraza. Her life, marked by the violence of her husband, orphanhood and the foreshadowing of a death at the hands of the one who promised her eternal love, is now a milestone for her tireless fight to be free. Her tenacity and perseverance made her the first Spanish woman to report before the courts the gender violence she received at the hands of her husband and obtained a favorable ruling before the justice system promoted by the University of Alcalá in 1964. That is why , this institution premieres ‘399 years later‘, a work by the classical theater company Almavivawhich represents the story of this young woman this Saturday the 25th in the Campus Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Orphaned and supervised after coming of age by her husband, Jerónimo de Jaras, her martyrdom began on her wedding night, when she already experienced the violence of her husband. As the anger increased over the years, Francisca could have made the decision to flee, but the fear of her children growing up next to a father like that made her stay and try to find justice. Her bruises, blood and anguish led the young woman to report her case to the ecclesiastical courts, where she barely found solace despite bearing witnesses and grievances in her body.
“Prison, my cruel captivity, what crime have I committed to suffer such a punishment?” Francisca de Pedraza’s silent screams day and night did not stop. Faced with the unlimited abuse of her husband, she wondered the reason for her innocent suffering. Sometimes she really wanted a death, at other times, when her hope surrounded her, she tried to reproach her husband for every slap and kick in vain. But it was useless. Violence and unbridled anger of Jerónimo would one day end his life. He already did it with others. While pregnant, the young woman went for a walk around the cathedral when Jerónimo, upon seeing her, pounced on her, beating her, causing her fetus to be thrown onto the sidewalk.
More witnesses
Francisca went again to the ecclesiastical authority with more witnesses, women and men. At that time, the testimony of a man was necessary to contrast that of the woman, which according to the judges could be manipulated in favor of the victim. “Henceforth, take care of and treat your wife lovingly». A measure doomed to failure that did nothing but make her husband arrogant and increase the beatings.
The rapes, humiliations and death threats for snitching did not stop, and despite presenting the case once again in the Archbishop’s Palace where the Marquis of Careaga as a witness to speak on behalf of Francisca, his request was denied. “We were shocked that during the four trials more than 30 witnesses appeared saying what was happening and the young woman had six attorneys who during all that time did not charge anything until they obtained the sentence,” he acknowledges. Cesar Barlodirector of the play.
Francisca, a tireless woman of arduous perseverance, did not give up and after going to university justice, the rector of the University of Alcalá de Henares, Alvaro de Ayala, who knew the case, issued his ruling in a very short time in which he established the return of the dowry, a restraining order and the divorce. “Endless days, fear gripping my heart, the need for compassion when life is lived alone,” Francisca expressed to the rector.
Terror
Although the fight was not over. Now he had to continue fleeing the streets because at any moment Jerónimo could appear to attack the young woman again. He also tried. At that time, the rectors only served for one year, so he decided to wait to appeal the sentence, although luck was not on his side since Ayala’s successor, Dionisio Pérez Manrique de Lara, reaffirmed the sentence, thus sealing a new life for Francisca. «We need to spread stories like this. The sentence that was determined was new four centuries ago, but also 50 years ago,” acknowledges the rector of the University of Alcalá, José Vicente Saz.
It was a historian who accidentally came across the story of this resident of Alcalá de Henares, who until now was unknown to most, and for some even forgotten. Through research relevant to his thesis, he found a file that was nothing more than the sentence of Francisca de Pedraza. After the discovery, the university as well as the city itself works every day to bring this woman’s life to light.
This institution keeps as a treasure the sentence that marked a before and after in history. Faced with the numbers that grow in the face of an indifferent society, culture has the power to transform the outlook. «Those of us who dedicate ourselves to classical theater we believe in culture as a social key to convey to people the problems that confront us, but we can only do it as long as they give us places to be able to convey this message,” says Barló. The work begins with the story of Francisca De Pedraza, but ends with the story of Mari Carmen, the tenth fatal victim of gender violence this year who died at the hands of her ex-husband in front of her son.
#hidden #life #looms #courts #Francisca #Pedraza