1675. Carta de Francisca Ruiz Ruiz para Martín Gómez.

Letter from Francisca Ruiz to Martín Gómez.

The author writes to Martín Gómez, her husband´s cousin, asking for help. She wants her sons to have what they need, given that since he left, their lives have been very complicated. Francisca thinks that with Martín´s help she can send her sons to Fuentescusa (Cuenca).

Cristobal Gómez was accused of bigamy in 1675. He was a weaver during most of his life and he got married to Francisca Ruiz Ruiz, the author of this letter, in Alhama (Granada) on December the 13th 1651. They had three children and lived together for several years until he received a letter informing him of one of his brother´s death, so that he had to travel in order to claim the inheritance. Cristóbal never came back to his first wife and according to the interrogation conducted by the Tribunal: the last news she had from her husband was a letter in which he told her about the inheritance. Cristóbal Gómez got married a second time to Jusepa de Haspes. They married in Cuenca and lived in Cañete, Albarracín and Valencia, where Cristóbal died of a disease left her with three children in a state of distress. According to her statement, she never knew he was already married. The letter was provided to the Inquisition Tribunal by the chaplain from Fuentescusa, Pedro de la Hoya. It was delivered to him by Fulano Valiente and Martín Gómez (the addressee), both residents of the aforementioned village, since they did not have the means to answer it. The letter arrived to Martín Gómez through the presbyter of Cañaveras, Juan Serrano Vaquero, who brought it from Granada and was in charge of giving back an answer. Together with this letter, Francisca Ruiz handed another one to Juan Serrano Vaquero in order for him to send it to her husband, whose whereabouts remained unknown. However, that second letter was lost. The present letter has an annotation on the left margin from an unknown author: "you will carefully send the letter inside to Cristóbal Gómez, who is in Valencia, so I have been told. You will do it with your utmost care". The trial was incomplete due to the defendant´s death.