[1751]. Carta de Joseph Feliu para María Rodríguez Cerezo.

Letter from Joseph Feliu to María Rodríguez Cerezo.

The author writes María Rodríguez Cerezo to notify her that Cristóbal Hortelano belonged to his regiment in Villaviciosa and in El Puerto de Santa María, where he deserted. Since then, he has not received any news about him.

María Rodríguez Cerezo, resident in Fuensanta, was married with Cristóbal Múñoz Hortelano, a soldier, from 1733. After nine years without news from him, she started a relationship with Pedro Ximénez, a physician, with whom she got married in 1757. In order to be able to celebrate this second marriage, she claimed that her first husband had died, and presented a letter sent by a priest in Nechite (a town in the archibishopric of Sevilla, but its existence cannot be proved) in which the death of his husband was related. Afterwards, when she was accused of bigamy, this letter was considered false, and, in any case, it was not joined to the proceedings because María Rodríguez Cerezo affirmed that she did not have it anymore. The last news from Cristóbal Múñoz Hortelano came from La Roda, Cadiz, after his desertion from the regiment of Villaviciosa in 1737. He also belonged to the regiment of the Dragones de Edimburg. These letters were presented during the process to demonstrate the efforts made by María Rodríguez Cerezo, by Pedro Ximénez and by his relatives in order to find the whereabouts of Cristóbal Múñoz. However, she was eventually considered guilty and sentenced to five years of banishment, and she was prohibited to live with Pedro Ximénez until the death of her first husband had not been demonstrated. The witnesses who had declared that her first husband was dead were reprimanded, too.