[1586]. Carta de María de Torres para su padre, Francisco de Torres.

Letter from María de Torres to her father, Francisco de Torres.

The author asks her father to present as exhibit the note she had sent him in a previous letter.

On April the 11th 1586 Gaspar Suárez de la Puente, a jury from Seville, and María de Torres signed a document in which they declared their commitment to get married. Gaspar took María away from her household for assuring their promise would be fulfilled. María´s father, a trader, took his case to the Ecclesiastical Court for recovering his daughter, who was then taken to the monastery of San Leandro and stayed in Valentina Pinelo´s cell. The goal behind her confinement was to keep her away from Gaspar and his parents´ persuasion. Gaspar sued María for breaching their agreement and accused her parents of pressuring her to marry Luis de Miranda, despite the judicial precautions. After these legal proceedings had began, a third suitor came into play, a Diego de Cuéllar, who assured that a few years back himself and María had given their word to marry to each other. He presented several proofs of their love affair and explained how they used to meet when her parents were away, how they sent each other love notes written with invisible ink and he assured they had sworn mutual fidelity. Both Diego de Cuéllar and Gaspar Suárez de la Puente pointed out that the girl was being subjected to psychological and physical violence by her parents, who had their own agenda regarding her marriage. Despite the fact that both suitors provided documental proofs of their relationship with María de Torres, especially the love letters and notes, it was found that neither one nor the other had sufficiently proved their petition. More specifically, the many love notes provided by Gaspar Suárez were not taken into account due to formal errors in their presentation. The final ruling pardoned María, who was then free to choose who to marry to. She was released from her convent confinement and returned to her parent´s house.