225:, and that Duran had told her to keep the rapes a secret. Vitória da Rosa also corroborated the testimony of Josefa Maria Xavier and Maria de Jesus: She had seen injuries on Duran's body from a demon, and she knew that Agostinha had been impregnated by Duran after their sexual relationship. Fourth was Verónica Maria, from the convent, who said Duran (using the name António and with a penis) had sex with her. Verónica Maria believed Duran was not involved in witchcraft, but was instead a hermaphrodite. The last witness was António Soares, the doctor who inspected Duran; he testified that she had the physical characteristics of a woman.
245:
the same month, several of them were interrogated. On 8 July, Duran was interrogated again, and she said she was a woman, did not have a penis, and did not have sex with any women. Almost two months later, she was interrogated again, and she denied having contact with the devil. She never confessed to working with the devil, though she admitted to
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on 7 November 1741. She was charged with 13 crimes, including contact with the devil and having sex with women. The next day, she selected João Nunes da
Silveira as her attorney, and they responded to the charges the next week. Some witnesses were re-interrogated, and on 19 May 1742, her charges were
244:
She was interrogated on 13 March 1741. Around this time, they interrogated
Agostinha—then a nun under the name Agostinha Teresa da Purificação—who testified that the two had sexual contact, but said she had never seen Duran with a penis. Nuns in Évora were sent a list of questions in April, and in
141:
army. She left the army and went to
Portugal, and upon arrival, confessed that she was a woman in men's clothing; a priest said she should enter a convent, and she entered various convents in the country for short times. She left them, traveled to Lisbon, and began wearing male clothing again. She
205:
First to testify was Josefa Maria Xavier of São Nicolão, who stated that Duran was born into an inferior social class, that others in the community suspected her of being a man, that Duran was to be kept away from young women in the convent, and that Duran showed her scratches on her arm from the
281:
her. The torture was postponed to 15 April 1744 to allow the inquisitors to deliberate on her guilt and seek outside legal guidance. In May, the inquisitors voted to have Duran denounce her heresy, leave
Portugal, and have her verdict read in a private
266:
updated. The next month, physicians and a midwife physically examined Duran; they all testified that she appeared to have only female genitalia, and one physician testified that although some women have large
206:
devil. Second was Maria de Jesus, from Lisbon, who stated that Duran professed her love for her as though she were a man and attempted to have sex with her on more than one occasion (resulting in Duran's
95:
on 17 February 1741. In her trial, she was tortured, found guilty and expelled from the country. There is no evidence of her life after her sentence. She was one of few women in
Portuguese history to be
349:. Soyer writes that Duran was not sentenced "because of her homosexuality"—the Portuguese Inquisition had decided a century earlier to no longer investigate female homosexuality unless it involved
345:. One of the only other cases is that of Branca Freire and Joana Fernandes, circa 1550; Freire was sentenced to expulsion from Portugal (on appeal, sentenced to only a fine) and Fernandes possibly
130:(shelters for girls and women). She married a man named Ignacio Sulsona at 14, and at 18, she had a child named Pedro with Sulsona, but he died in infancy. She left Sulsona at around age 21.
1024:
Soyer, François (2 November 2014). "The
Inquisitorial trial of a cross-dressing lesbian: Reactions and responses to female homosexuality in 18th-century Portugal".
177:), she was physically examined by a doctor and two religious figures, but they determined she appeared female. The religious figures decided against performing an
57:
village, she married a man at age 14 and they had a child together. She left her husband about seven years later, and she traveled to various locations throughout
399:
François Soyer. The
Catalan Hermaphrodite and the Inquisition: Early Modern Sex and Gender on Trial. London, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024, pp. 113-126
164:
71:
241:. The details of her detention are not known, but prosecutors heard further testimony from others in the community about her sexual advances and anatomy.
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was not used in mid-18th-century
Portugal, and there is no evidence she had any specific sexual identity. Duran was one of very few women in Portugal
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that resemble penises, Duran's was small. She was placed in warm water by investigators in order to have her penis appear, but it did not.
210:), that Duran told her she had attempted to have sex with a woman named Verónica Maria, and that Duran threatened her to not tell anyone.
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137:, and then left; after leaving Sant Julià de Lòria in around 1733, she began wearing male clothing. She said she had enrolled in the
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Roelens, Jonas (2017). "A woman like any other: Female sodomy, hermaphroditism, and witchcraft in seventeenth-century Bruges".
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to have sex with women. Others in the community claimed to have seen her with a penis, and she was expelled from the convent.
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61:. When she was about 23, she began to wear men's clothes, and according to her testimony, she became a member of the
292:(criminal procession). The General Council of the Inquisition overturned the vote, and sentenced her to a public
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Ambiguous gender in early modern Spain and
Portugal: Inquisitors, doctors, and the transgression of gender norms
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on her, claiming that she was not inhabited by any malevolent spirit, but instead that she worked with the
935:[Female sodomy: The Inquisition and the manumission of lesbianism in the Portuguese world, 1646].
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92:
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182:
43:
337:. François Soyer, a scholar on Duran's life, writes that calling her a lesbian is inaccurate: the term
217:. Third was Vitória da Rosa, from Rome, who stated that Duran professed her love for her, that Duran
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Maria de Jesus also testified that Duran had impregnated a woman named
Agostinha, but Agostinha had a
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She was expelled from the convent after members claimed she had a penis, and she was arrested by the
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armed forces. Upon leaving the army, she joined various religious convents, including the
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Whittington, Karl (2018). "Medieval intersex in theory, practice, and representation".
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Various members of her community testified against her prior to her arrest.
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of Portugal. The last extant evidence of her life comes from after the
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933:: A Inquisição e a alforria do lesbianismo no mundo Português, 1646"
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her with a penis several times, that Duran had both a penis and a
108:
According to her own testimony, Duran was born around 1710 in the
116:
to António Duran and Margarida Duran. She said she spent time in
218:
365:– two women tried for homosexuality in the Netherlands in 1618
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35:
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Alongside 33 others on 21 June 1744, Duran experienced her
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She testified that after she left her husband, she went to
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1100:The 'Catalan Hermaphrodite' and the Inquisition
169:in Évora. Under suspicion of having ambiguous
353:—but instead for causing distress to others.
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1130:, a collection of Duran's documents at the
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329:Her trial documentation is archived by the
343:charged with homosexual conduct as a crime
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28:Maria Christina de Escalhão e Pinos
277:overseeing Duran's trial voted to
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16:Portuguese nun c. (1710 – ?)
1132:Torre do Tombo National Archive
937:Politeia – História e Sociedade
331:Torre do Tombo National Archive
160:Convent of Our Lady of Paradise
67:Convent of Our Lady of Paradise
1157:People convicted of witchcraft
26:1710 – ?), also known as
1:
23:
1147:18th-century Portuguese nuns
1038:10.1080/00918369.2014.944044
950:10.22481/politeia.v20i1.8999
124:at various points to enter
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1167:Victims of the Inquisition
1152:People convicted of sodomy
968:Journal of Women's History
233:Duran was arrested by the
1075:10.1057/s41280-018-0085-3
302:, and to leave Portugal.
50:to have sex with women.
1098:Soyer, François (2023).
1026:Journal of Homosexuality
1005:Soyer, François (2012).
624:, pp. 212–213, 227.
311:in the presence of King
237:on 17 February 1741 for
1128:Processo de Maria Duran
1162:Portuguese Inquisition
980:10.1353/jowh.2017.0049
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235:Portuguese Inquisition
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93:Portuguese Inquisition
363:Magdaleene and Mayken
42:and working with the
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759:, pp. 261, 264.
684:, pp. 244, 248.
672:, pp. 239, 241.
454:, pp. 232, 244.
426:, pp. 212–213;
247:sexually penetrating
927:Mott, Luiz (2021).
846:, pp. 282–283.
747:, pp. 257–258.
735:, pp. 256–257.
696:, pp. 250–251.
573:, pp. 219–221.
549:, pp. 216–217.
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414:, pp. 230–231.
198:Pre-trial testimony
135:Sant Julià de Lòria
34:, was a Portuguese
931:Sodomia faeminarum
636:, p. 227–228.
273:In September, the
257:Trial and sentence
1032:(11): 1529–1557.
939:(in Portuguese).
888:, pp. 57–62.
193:Inquisition trial
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38:accused of
32:Maria Durão
20:Maria Duran
1141:Categories
1104:Bloomsbury
898:Soyer 2014
874:Soyer 2014
859:Soyer 2014
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388:Soyer 2012
370:References
318:auto-da-fé
308:auto-da-fé
295:auto-da-fé
287:auto-da-fé
268:clitorises
261:Duran was
239:witchcraft
185:to grow a
171:sex organs
104:Early life
53:Born in a
46:to grow a
40:witchcraft
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998:148944381
959:238671561
886:Mott 2021
375:Citations
251:tribadism
156:novitiate
139:Aragónese
118:Barcelona
63:Aragónese
1054:11150648
1046:25022623
357:See also
300:flogging
263:indicted
179:exorcism
114:Prullans
82:intersex
339:lesbian
333:in 367
279:torture
158:at the
110:Catalan
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335:folios
325:Legacy
313:João V
229:Arrest
122:Lisbon
59:Iberia
1079:S2CID
1050:S2CID
994:S2CID
955:S2CID
223:vulva
219:raped
187:penis
183:devil
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144:Évora
78:Évora
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44:devil
1108:ISBN
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