Between Honor and Injury: Women in Lima, 1750-1800

Abstract

In the 18th century, honor had more than one connotation, that depended on who considered possessing it or the ethnic and inter-ethnic group that claimed it, honor itself was a factor of upward ethnic mobility. The latter is a consequence of the appearance and/or presence of characters “of merit” or “of quality” or “of luster” or “of respect”, among many other words that indicated preeminence and hierarchy of such men in each of the micro societies of eighteenth-century Lima. In upward ethnic mobility, we find that the defense of female honor is of the utmost importance to affirm, reaffirm or increase male honor. In the lawsuits for insults filed in the Real Audiencia de Lima or in the marital nullity, divorce or matrimonial litigation trials of the Archivo Arzobispal de Lima we find –between lines– information that suggests a certain autonomy of the woman, “autonomy” that allows her to be considered “modest” or “virtuous” or “honest”, in short, to live and function under the social and Church canons.