Syntactic Trees

Letter from Leandro José de Rivera y Sotomayor to María de Mendoza y Espinosa.

The author instructs the addressee on how to keep their correspondence in secret and agrees on moving forward with the wedding plans by allowing her to tell her confessor and her mother about it.

María de Mendoza brought a lawsuit against Leandro José Rivera following an accusation of unfulfilled marriage promise. He admitted having promised to marry her and also being the author of the letters presented by her. However, he alleged having been deceived by his fiancé because she hid her father was a mixed race. She denied it by presenting witnesses and proofs, besides, she proved the frequent interaction between the families, which would make impossible to hide such a fact. The sentence was favourable to María de Mendoza and Leandro José was condemned to fulfil his promise and to pay the expenses of the trial.