Catalina de Erauso

De Erauso, Catalina. ­Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World.

Trans. Michelle Stepto and Gabriel Stepto. Boston: Beacon Press Books, 1996

Images

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Joan of Arc

“The Trial of Joan of Arc.” The Medieval Sourcebook. 28June 2009.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/joanofarc-trial.html

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Mary Reed

"Mary Reed." The Women of Action Network. 01 July 2009.

http://www.woa.tv/articles/hi_readm.html

Images

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Anne Bonny

"Famous Pirate: Anne Bonny." The Way of the Pirates.

http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-pirates/anne-bonny.php

Images

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MARY FRITH OTHERWISE MOLL CUTPURSE

"Mary Frith otherwise Moll Cutpurse." Tarlton Law Library. 01 July 2009. 

http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/newgate/frith.htm

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Catalina de Erauso

Catalina de Erauso was a cross-dressing Basque woman that gained fame in Spain for her adventures in the New World during the start of the seventeenth century. She went by the alias of Francisco de Loyola. At four years old, de Erauso was placed into a convent by her parents where she stayed until fifteen. She ran away after she received a beating by the hands of her large older sister. She did well as a cross dresser. She got jobs and even tricked her father, brother and uncle. She also encountered her mother when she decided to hear mass at the convent she used to be in. Even her mother evidently did not recognize her.

De Erauso became a soldier under her brother’s command. As a soldier she fought side by side with him without being discovered. She eventually killed her brother while participating in a duel. Symbolically this represents how Catalina de Erauso proved that women can succeed in a man’s world.

After she killed a man during a fight over a card game, she confessed her true self to a bishop and went through a medical examination that proved that she was truly both a woman and a virgin. The Bishop assisted her in safe passage back to Spain. Pope Urban VIII granted de Erauso permission to continue dressing as a man since she had garnered so much fame for the events that she lived while in the New World. Her memoirs are preserved as a book entitled Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World.

Catalina de Erauso knew that if she looked like a woman on the outside, her opportunities would be vastly limited as opposed to someone that was perceived to be a man. She did kill a number of men and succeeded in what most would consider manly activities. She stands as a icon of woman ingenuity and success. On top of everything that she did, the most impressive thing that she accomplished was being granted permission to live the way that she wanted to live, even though everyone eventually knew that she was a woman. She embodies perseverance and resolve.

By Marcos Herrera

Joan of Arc

The most famous cross dresser of all time may just be none other than Joan of Arc.

Joan of Arc was a poor French girl that ultimately led the Dauphin forces to victory upon victory during the Hundred Years’ War in France. She confessed that the reason for her actions and subsequent success was because she herself was being led by God through her visions of him. She was ultimately captured by Burgundians and sold off the English and tried in an English church court in Rouen, France in 1431. Women were not allowed to participate in the army during this time. She, therefore, put on a man’s armor to impersonate a man and join the army. At the very beginning of the trial, Joan lets Bishop Cauchon, the man that is conducting the court session, that she refuses to swear to tell the truth about the Godly visions that she has received for she has only told Charles the King and would rather die than reveal them. She did reveal that she began to hear the voice of God when she was a mere thirteen years old. Joan also later confessed that she never had revelations from a divine being.

Joan was following here true belief that she was hearing the voice of God to lead the men to victory. She knew this was impossible as a girl, but as a man she would be able to succeed in her mission. She donned male’s clothing and fought victoriously.

Joan recanted her denial of hearing God’s voice. She was sentenced to execution for being a heretic. In one final act of defiance, Joan of Arc put men’s clothing on one more time and walked to the Old Market Place found in Rouen and, as her trial documents state, she heard everyone proclaim her relapse into heresy, in addition to the proclamation of her excommunication. She was then burned at the stake. A hero dead.

By Marcos Herrera

University of Texas at El Paso