1829. Carta de María del Patrocinio Ortiz de Tarancón para Vicenta Pérez, ama de lactancia.

Letter from María del Patrocinio Ortiz de Tarancón to Vicenta Pérez, a wet-nursing maid.

The author asks Vicenta Pérez to keep looking after her son and to update her about the child´s growth. Likewise, she asks her not to reveal her whereabouts to anyone.

In 1834 Martín Diego de Magura and his brother-in-law Basilio José de Olalde, residents to Durango (Biscay) and Bilbao respectively, took a stand before the courts to claim María del Patrocinio Ortiz de Tarancón´s properties. They argued to be the parental guardians of their sons and accused María del Patrocinio, Martín Diego de Magura´s wife, to have fled to France with her lover. Besides defending his offspring´s rights and interests, they had to face the claims of the woman´s creditors, among whom there was a Manuel Martín from Valladolid who laid claim to a more than six thousand reals compensation for having raised up María del Patrocinio´s illegitimate son. Martín Diego de Magura exposed to the proceeding the dishonour he had undergone as a result of the excesses of his wife´s dissolute and scandalous life. Indeed, after many complaints from her husband, María del Patrocinio was taken to Madrid, where she was locked in the Bernardas nun´s convent, also known as Pinto´s convent. From there, she was admitted to the Hospital de la Pasión, also in Madrid, to recover from an illness she was suffering from. Due to her bad health, in 1825 she was allowed to move to Valladolid, remaining under the authority of the Royal Chancellery.

The control she was subjected to failed, for she continued conducting her life in a dishonest way, resulting in a pregnancy. In 1828 she gave birth a boy given the name of Ramón María. The child was left in care of Manuel Martín and his wife, Vicenta Pérez. And the mother moved first to Madrid and later to Burgos. Meanwhile her husband had achieved the divorce in the bishopric of Calahorra (La Rioja), although he was ordered to assume a maintenance payment. During the time she spent in Burgos, María del Patrocinio looked after the administration of her properties in Santa Cruz de Juarros and Pineda de la Sierra (Burgos). While she was there, she cohabitated with Juan Martínez, which motivated a trial for cohabitation. In 1832, the two lovers fled to France. Regarding the proceeding following the default of the debt, Manuel Martín provided several letters proving he had raised the child. Besides, the aforementioned letters reflected “the denaturalised character of this woman (and) the most reprehensible ingratitude” (folio 3v). Eventually, María del Patrocinio Ortiz de Tarancón was pardoned.