[1766-1771]. Carta de Vicente Salazar para Isabel Trujillo

Letter from Vicente Salazar to Isabel Trujillo.

The author presents his apologies to Isabel de Trujillo for not having written before and for the present letter being so short.

In 1772 Isabel Trujillo appeared before court demanding Vicente Salazar´s compliance with the marriage promise he had made to her. The couple, native to Carmona, had kept a love relationship for five years. In order to prove the commitment was true, Isabel provided several letters and objects that Vicente had given her. However, at the same time that Isabel upheld her litigation before justice, another young woman appeared claiming that a similar promise had been made to her by Vicente Salazar. María de Ávila stated that she had also received a marriage promise and she had given in to Vicente´s pretentions. As a consequence, she was eight months pregnant. Isabel Trujillo argued that Vicente Salazar had promised to marry her first and doubted that María de Ávila had ever met him. The defendant, who was being held in Seville Real Audiencia´s prison, admitted the promises made to Isabel Trujillo and also that the letters and objects she presented were his. However, he did not admit having met María de Ávila. The fact that the latter left no stone unturned in her quest to achieve justice only delayed the proceeding. Throughout the litigation Isabel Trujillo kept providing letters proving her long friendship and courtship with Vicente Salazar. Despite Isabel´s arguments being solid, the witnesses presented by María de Ávila showed that she had enough reasons to demand the compliance of Vicente´s promises. In 1774 the defendant admitted he had promised to marry both women and, considering María´s circumstances, he acknowledged paternity of her child. Faced with this situation, Isabel Trujillo decided to withdraw her claim, which facilitated María and Vicente´s marriage.