Man Met lecturer’s evidence leads to plaque change in Spanish town

The plaque about to be rectified by the town authorities

Karl took advantage of the Christmas break to travel to the town of Llerena in Extremadura to carry out archive work and meet with the local mayor to present hard evidence that the dates given for the birth and death of 17th-century female author, Catalina Clara Ramírez de Guzmán (1618-1685), could not be correct.

“My studies of this unusual author and her influential family in recent years have corroborated the belief that the dates her own hometown had included on the plaque accompanying her statue were inaccurate, by many years in the case of her death. In previous conversations on the subject, the mayor had agreed to look into the matter but insisted on firm evidence to support the new dates proposed” explains Karl.

Thanks to documentary proof in the form of official documents signed by Ramírez de Guzmán herself, along with correspondence by members of her family on the subject of her passing, Llerena is to take steps to amend the information on both her birth and her death, adding a full 25 years to her life.

“Previous arguments, including the fact that one of her poems offers a lengthy and witty account of Llerena’s celebrations of an important royal birth in 1657, proved insufficient to force a change of heart by the local authorities, who had given the date of her death as 1654 on the plaque (three years before the poem was written!). They had also mistaken her date of birth for that of an older but short-lived sister, after whom she was named” added Karl.

However, it seems that the correspondence, coupled with a long list of references to baptism and other records - including, crucially, her testament dated 1684 - have convinced the mayor of Llerena of the need to rectify the information on Catalina Clara Ramírez de Guzmán currently displayed on a square in the picturesque southern Spanish town. During the visit, Karl also received an invitation to take part in the town’s annual History Symposium and to deliver talks on the author and her times to local schools later in the year, to mark - albeit belatedly - the 400th anniversary of her birth.