Listen to the episode here.

You are not prepared for this week’s mashup.

Theresa tells us the story of the Compton Cafeteria Riot, that nearly forgotten time in San Francisco when a group of queens stood up against police discrimination. While this occurred three years before Stonewall, it isn’t well-known or credited with kicking off Pride Month. However, it was this event, and events like it, that paved the way for the tipping point for the Stonewall Uprising.

Not wanting to be outdone, Angie shares the unhinged life of the eye-patch wearing princess, Ana De Mendoza. Come for the drama she faces in the Spanish court. Stay for the moment, she moves into a convent and parties so hard she chases out the nuns who live there.

This story pairs well with:
WWII GI Who Becomes a Woman: Christine Jorgeson
Stonewall Uprising
Alice Roosevelt

Transcript

Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhand History Podcast. The podcast where two compulsive nerds are going to read history books, listen to the audio books, watch the documentaries, verbally assault their spouse with the knowledge they’ve only recently acquired, and then join forces once a week and tell each other what we’ve just learned. I’m host one, I’m Teresa, and that is host two. I’m Angie. Yeah, and welcome. 

Angie: I’m using my phone to prop up my service so I can be at a better angle for my own viewing. Oh, good. What the hell is my problem? 

Theresa: I mean, I will say that despite that I’ve owned a service, every time you say I’m using this to prop up my service, I think surface of the desk, surface of… Nope. Like, I don’t view that as a noun. Yeah, no, that’s fair. 

Angie: I don’t… But yeah. More proper noun. It’s… Sorry. 

Theresa: I don’t have another name for it. No, it’s just that this is a me thing. This is a me thing. Here we are. You know. Yeah. 

Angie: That’s a really pretty necklace that you have on. 

Theresa: Thank you. It is a gift from technically passed down through family on husband’s side. 

Angie: Oh my God. So you actually did get jewelry and not like a foreskin? Yeah. 

Theresa: And she’s talking about how she got me a book called Napoleon’s Privates and it’s just like celebrity body parts that have been passed down through history and I did a whole series of it on TikTok and yeah, like the tagline was because some families hand down jewelry, other families hand down hands and there’s like a lot of penises in that… There’s a lot of penises in that book. 

Angie: All the things to save. Like you… Okay, hair makes sense. I don’t know why it makes sense but it makes way more sense than a penis. Okay. 

Theresa: Hair doesn’t decompose in the same gross way and still… Maybe that’s why it makes sense. Victorian morning jewelry, you didn’t typically make a pendant out of your spouse’s dick. 

Angie: I mean there is a group of women that did. I can’t remember. It was like an ancient group of women that did but that was their means of mourning. They made a necklace out of it. 

Theresa: Wow. Yeah. I want to say Pixar didn’t happen so if you are in the Patreon, I’m going to make Angie figure this out and share with the class because I’m sorry. What? 

Angie: I know what my TikTok for tomorrow is going to be. Fair. 

Theresa: Okay, but that’s not… You know, you did tell me… I’m going to sharp departure here because I think we both have things we want to do after the three hours it’s going to take to record this. 

I’ve got a hell of a story for you. Let’s go. Okay. So I didn’t put who recommended the story which is appalling. So stand by because this was not a Teresa founded herself. Ah, okay. This was recommended on Instagram by Sophia Hunt 318. 

Angie: Go Sophia Hunt 318. I mean by the way, Instagram, if you know who she reads is would you send them a message for me? 

Theresa: You’re really on that kick. That person is not going to respond. That person like having brand social media handles, they’ve lost passwords themselves. They couldn’t give it to you if they wanted to. 

Angie: My understanding is I can reach out to Instagram. 

Theresa: Okay, then take it offline. 

Angie: I’m going to get a video. 

Theresa: Anyway, carry on. All right. Sorry. Here are my sources. There’s a book, Transgender History, a resource for today’s struggles and tomorrow’s, the third edition by Susan Stryker. And you know it’s legit when I say third edition. Now Los Angeles- Yeah, we’ve gone back and done more work. Exactly. 

Twice. Los Angeles Public Library, they have a blog post, Compton Cafeteria Riot by Andrea Borschert. The Guardian, Compton Cafeteria Riot, a historic act of trans resistance three years before Stonewall by Sam Levin. And there is a Stuff You Missed in History class podcast episode as well. Oh, and the documentary, Screaming Queens on PBS. 

Angie: That sounds like an awesome documentary. Oh, I had a hell of a time with this. 

Theresa: So buckle up, Buttercup, because I’ve got a story for you. Let’s go. Okay. Now, you’re a Californian. How familiar are you with San Francisco’s Tenderloin? 

Angie: I can tell you that I had once walked down the street there. That’s it. That’s all I got. Okay. The Tenderloin. 

Theresa: The Tenderloin is a well-known area of Fenderloin. 

Angie: Oh, yeah, yeah. No. Yeah, it’s well known. It’s where the, um, through all the gay clubs are. Or were. Yes, yes. 

Theresa: And I think Chappelle said he’s never seen cracks so freely than he did in the Tenderloin. Like, I just, I want to paint a picture. Okay. 

Angie: Yeah, that painted. All right. Okay. 

Theresa: Now, well-established area of vice, Susan Stryker calls it out in her book, The Transgender History. Now, one of the things she said is the definition of Tenderloin, you know, you think this is kind of neat. The next definition down is a district within a city characterized by high rates of crime, vice, like gambling, prostitution, narcotics, and poverty. 

Angie: So you’re telling me there are other cities with Tenderloins? 

Theresa: I’m saying there are other cities that could have districts called Tenderloin because that is a common term. Okay, let’s go. Okay. So, uh, as for San Francisco, it had a red light district in that same area for years and years and years. As time goes on, we see the housing get more and more impacted. During World War II, we have families that are migrating to coastal cities for the wartime work. This is happening in San Francisco as well. This is driving up the housing costs. Trans women never stopped existing. 

They’re struggling to get housing routinely discriminated against on the basis of their looks and they find themselves pushed more and more into this neighborhood. Okay. Compounding matters even more on the Steffumist in History class. They talk about how if you were found to be homosexual in the military during World War II, you were given a what they call the blue discharge and they typically processed a majority of those in San Francisco. So, you’re kicked out and processed in San Francisco and now you’re out of the military and in the city. 

With like no place to go. Yeah. So, you’re getting a bigger concentration of people from the alphabet mafia. 

Okay. Now, as all of this is happening, there’s reports of police that are reinforcing this zoning. They’re either telling people from the alphabet mafia to go to the tenderloin or they’re just straight up dropping them off in the neighborhood. Oh, at least you get an Uber. Yeah. You don’t even have to open the back door. 

It’s open for you. At least that’s kind. Now, only because the locks are on the outside. I mean, amen. 

But continuing all of this, right? That you have transgender women who they’re limited in the work they can do in 40s, 50s, 60s and very limited in the places they can live openly. In the 1960s, the few places that are open to transgender people is this tenderloin district. Now, this is basically one of the few areas where you can find affordable housing and if you cannot find work, sex work is an option. 

Many women that engaged in sex work or if they didn’t, they did housekeeping at hotels or places that cater to sex work. Right. So either way, you’re in that community. Yeah. Okay. 

In the heart of this is this business called Gene Comptons Cafeteria and it’s commonly known as Comptons Cafeteria. Okay. And this would end up being the place of a riot. 

Angie: Okay. This is so dumb, but when you said Comptons Cafeteria, all I could think of is, bro, you already did the Black Panther Breakfast Story. 

Theresa: I did the Black Panther Breakfast Story. I did the Black Night Brawl. 

Angie: Yeah. Where are we going? Okay. Got it. Let’s go. 

Theresa: I’m buckled. Okay. Gene Compton, not Compton, the area. Compton, the person’s last name. Right. And it’s, I know it’s weird because I did say Los Angeles blog, like Los Angeles Library was one of my sources, but they’re writing about San Francisco, not Compton. 

Theresa: No, that’s just, yeah, I got it. So there’s room for confusion. 

Theresa: Now, nobody knows the exact date of the Compton’s Cafeteria riot. In fact, if it wasn’t for Dr. Susan Stryker, writer of one of the books that’s my source, this event might have been completely forgotten. Wild? Okay. Okay. Now, here’s the whole deal. You’re ready for the too long don’t read. There’s this, as a trans historian, she’s rifling through the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society Archives in 91, and she stumbles on this timeline. 

Angie: Hold on. Backups. I’m so sorry. There is a Gay and Lesbian Archives somewhere, like in San Francisco? 

Theresa: Unclear of location. I didn’t realize that was going to be a question. I’ll circle back to you on that. Yeah. Either way, physical archive. 

Angie: That’s so cool. Okay. Sorry. 

Theresa: Yeah, no, please. That scratches my brain. Yes. Now, she stumbles on this timeline of historic events that reference August 1966. And it’s, quote, dry Queens protest police harassment at Compton’s cafeteria. Unquote. 

Angie: I need you to know that I’m pretty sure I have the best visual I have ever had. Good. 

Theresa: Good. Same. Okay. Same. Now, the file has basically no additional information. 

Angie: Oh, I mean, because really we just covered it with our own brain. 

Theresa: We just need actual information. Whatever you imagined. Presto change. Oh, you’re done moving on here. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Now it took Striker years to figure out what happened because she is one of us, one of us. Now, a city archive has told her that there were no arrest reports, that the records, quote, had been disappeared. Oh, right. The Hoover involved. I don’t think so. Right. I mean, don’t get me wrong, but a Hoover individual seems to be in the background here. So she has to slowly compile her own paper trail. 

Okay. And she learns how the corner of Turk and Taylor streets where there was this place called Compton’s cafeteria was basically trans central and how eventually she’s going to go on to meet people like a woman named Amanda St. James, who’s a trans woman who lived in a hotel in the area. And was present at the riot. Okay. She goes on, finds a bunch of other people who were present there. And she compiles their story in a documentary called screaming Queens. And this includes archival footage of the fear mongering news reports that describe the tenderloin as quote, a hotbed of homosexuals and transvestites to engage in the marketplace of vice degradation and human misery. 

Angie: And they’re literally just in their pain their nails might in their own damn business. Right. Yeah. 

Theresa: Yeah, just live in a Tuesday. Yep. And they talk about how there were quotes screaming Queens who fought at Compton’s, which was a local diner. 

Angie: I love this. It’s giving waffle house. Honestly, it’s giving dry queen run waffle house and I’m so here for it. 

Theresa: Hold on to that visual because everything I say from here on out is only going to make things so, so much better. I love this for me. Now. Woman named persona remembers things dramatically differently. She’s around 17 when she hopped on a Greyhound bus to go from San Jose to San Francisco and she would end up being a regular at Compton’s cafeteria. 

Okay. Now persona, she would go on to say they were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Now she’s raised in a large Mexican family with a Baptist minister father. So this whiplash. 

Angie: Okay. Right. That’s a very different cultural connection I’m making. Yeah. 

Theresa: So she gets there and she’s like, I’m home in a way. I just felt like I was in Wonderland. They took care of me like big sisters. They were just so sweet to me and to each other. 

Angie: That’s sort of the image I’ve always gotten. Right. Yeah. So. I’ve never seen a mean drag queen. Never. 

Theresa: Not to someone like us. If you deserve the wrath of a drag queen, you deserve a lot more. You’ve deserved it. 

Angie: That’s what I’m saying. Right. If you’re minding your business, you’re doing your thing. I mean. Get it, queen. You know what I mean? 

Theresa: If a drag queen is at you, you had it coming. Yeah. 

Angie: That’s what I’m saying. Like I’ve never seen one involved in something that it wasn’t warranted. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So. Now. 

Theresa: Confidence cafeteria. This is a haven for members of the transgender community. And this, it was all the way in the forties up until when it closed in 72. It’s open 24 hours a day. And it served as a safe space off the streets for transgender people, drag queens, gender nonconforming individuals. But there’s harassment, improper arrest, police violence, ongoing issues for the LGBTQIA community, even within the tenderloin. Is this when a mafia comes in? There’s no mafia in this one. Damn it. That was strictly stonewall, which still incredible. 

Angie: Now. Team fitting that that’s when they would enter the picture. 

Theresa: It did. And honestly, that would have been a perfect segue. And had it been there, I would have been right this way. Walk this way. Yeah. But it’s during this time we have transgender women, primarily women, because oftentimes from what I understand, this is me speaking out of turn, transgender men tended to just kind of disappear and try to pass or into the community. Transgender women had a harder time just folding into the mix. 

And so as a result needed to band together a bit more. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And so when it was explained like that, I was like, yep, following right along. Didn’t question the thing thing. So transgender women are often arrested for trivial crimes that included female impersonation or obstructing the sidewalk. 

Oh, how do you just taking up space? This checks. They’re typically or they’re regularly harassed, assaulted and even demeaned by the police. And also checks. And a lot of the research, it goes into even more details. I’m glossing over it. 

I’m sure we can all use our imaginations. Yeah. Now trans women talked in the documentary about their struggles as sex workers in the neighborhood. 

They found huge relief at Compton. Surprise, surprise. The women tended to face intense violence from clients, police, and they would end up going and checking on each other and hanging out at the restaurant. Okay. It was, it was the community hub. It was like, oh, you’re still alive. Okay, great. You’re safe. I see you. Let’s have coffee. 

Angie: Let’s get a milkshake. Right. I bet they made hell of good milkshakes there. 

Theresa: We’ll share some fries. We’ll talk about our night. Mm-hmm. So the Tenderloin, it’s two miles from the famous Castro Gabor hood. And the Castro is this long, has long attracted white gay men. And in some ways it’s kind of safer for women, but police tend to bother the women everywhere they go. What? 

Yeah, flies in the face of the fragile masculinity. Yes, this checks. So meanwhile, confidence, refuge, because it’s got the location open 24 hours, but the ownership isn’t exactly enamored with the clientele. Okay. Now you’re giving me the eyebrow, but I kind of understand. I can see the owner’s point of view here. Patrons, they might end up coming in for a single cup of coffee and sit for hours. So this doesn’t allow the tables to turn quickly. So the money’s not being made. So the money’s not being made. And so this causes a fairly antagonistic relationship. And in a lot of the sources, it talks about how they would try to pass on a service charge. You know, you’re going to take up the table. 

We’re going to charge you a rent. And that makes sense. The problem is, is it’s not fairly applied across the board. It’s just tacked on to people who look the part. Okay. So it’s kind of a pain in the ass charge. And it’s only, yeah. And so that causes. 

Angie: Not everybody gets it only the same. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 

Theresa: So that causes a bit of issue. They’re, they use some protests and sometimes it’s dropped. I don’t know. It’s just, it sounds not necessarily good. And sometimes the owners would do things like call the cops when they just didn’t want to deal with people. Like, hey, even if it’s a long police can pick her up. Right. 

So this sounds lovely. Now. With the discrimination against the transgender women and on growing police brutality. There’s a couple of things brewing in the background and the queer community. There’s also this part of the culture of political activism, which is endemic in the 1960s. 

So they’re starting to organize into political groups to protest the harassment and to start advocating for their own civil rights. Right. Okay. On top of this, Christine Jorgensen has already hit the papers. 

Angie: Right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. 

Theresa: So that’s happening. There’s, you know, ongoing talk about medical treatment that’s available to the trans community as well. So we have all of that going on in the background, which is quite a lot when you think about it. Mm hmm. Now, we’re going to go to likely because we don’t know the date of the riot Sunday, August 28th, 1966. 

Okay. It’s, it’s our best guess. It’s late at night. We have two uniformed officers. They walk into a packed competence. Now, competence holds 166 Patriots. 

Okay. It’s a big restaurant when you think of it. Now, with that in mind, these cops had directly over to a table of Queens and I’m going to use the phrasing that’s used in all the documentaries. Yes, a lot of the phrasing has changed. I am using the parlance of the time. I know you are, but I’m saying future people isolate these sound bites. This is your disclaimer. Do which will. Yeah. 

Okay. Now the police, they’re looking for a woman who isn’t there. They can see clearly that she’s not there, but she’d caused me if she recently and they start harassing the other women, one of the women. This woman. I know she is not going to have it. She responds by throwing a hot cup of coffee in the officer’s face. Okay. One of the other women at the table, well, she takes her sugar shaker and she slaps him upside the head with it, literally knocks him in the head. 

Angie: Both cops go down. So when you say sugar shaker and you’re talking about a drag queen, it could have been her butt or the actual sugar shaker. So. 

Theresa: Well, she threw it at her mama, gave her. Not really, but both officers, they go down. Now this is where things erupt because dishes are getting smashed, tables are being flipped and people are breaking the play glass windows. Oh, who pays that bill? Unclear. 

The officers are chased into the street. Yeah. And one report claims that they heard sirens filling the air way too soon for the police to call for backup. This was suggesting that they had planned a raid by the police force. Oh, nice. Now, as the police force gathers, street fights break out on Turrick and Taylor, the neighborhood bars empty and residents enter the brawl. 

Angie: It’s what we’re something to do on a random Sunday night. Yeah. 

Theresa: And drag queens are using their purses and pointy stiletto heels to beat the cops. That girl. 

Angie: Ian would love this story anytime somebody uses stiletto heels, a weapon is like high on his list of badass ladies. 

Theresa: So you think of all the ensuing chaos. There’s chairs, dishes being tossed outside, police car windows are being broken in and a new stamp is lit on fire. Okay. Okay. So I witness accounts, police citizens and police totaling several hundred people. 

Angie: I love this. Oh, I would have loved to been in the check-in line at the jail that night with all these drag queens. 

Theresa: Be like, I’m here for jaywalking, but I like my luck. What are you here for? 

Angie: I know. Look at your nails. 

Theresa: Oh my God, I don’t have it. We’ve got to talk about eyeshadow because however you did that, I need to know that cut crease is incredible. Your concession? 

Angie: Yeah. That is, yeah. No, I cannot take any moment of my life serious. I would be having the best night. 

Theresa: There’s ongoing protests and scourmages with police that would continue on for several days. 

Theresa: Yes. Get them. And remember how I said they broke the play glass windows at Compton’s that night? Yeah. Yeah. The scourmages caused them to re-break the windows at Compton’s. 

Angie: Maybe you should just put some tape up for now. Yeah. 

Theresa: Maybe it’s just plywood for a little bit. We got to figure our stuff out. Yeah. Yeah. Now the Compton’s cafeteria right is going to go on to prove to be a milestone for LGBTQIA rights. And the San Francisco community history. Because following the riot, positive changes will occur in the tenderloin for the transgender community. There is continued political activism from the queer community that ushered in federal relief through pathbreaking work that would redefine the tenderloin as a disadvantaged community. And this is huge because a large majority of the trans people there are white. And so typically the communities getting these funds are more ethnically diverse as opposed to, you know, diverse from the gender background. 

Right. This redefining made the area eligible for anti-poverty support like job training or additional schooling. And allies would help the advocates or help to advocate to change laws like repealing the cross-dressing law in 1974 or the formation of the Center for Special Problems, which was a unit of the San Francisco Public, nope, San Francisco Department of Public Health that offered some of the nation’s first social services to transgender people. And the creation for transsexual counseling unit to create new ID cards for gender non-conforming people. That is huge because if you look like a woman and went to go get a job and they said, hand me your license and it says Robert Anderson. Right. You’re not getting that role because it looks like you either stole that ID or whatnot. Right. 

Angie: But Robert Anderson is looking like Pam Anderson and things aren’t going great. Right. 

Theresa: So the downside is if you have one of these ID cards, now you’re outing yourself as being a member of the community, but you have an ID that matches your gender. Right. 

Angie: It matches how you’re presenting. 

Theresa: Right. So it’s the best of the bad situation kind of deal. And then in 2019, the area around the original competence cafeteria is now known as competence transgender cultural district. This is the first. Wow. Right. I had no idea. That’s super cool. I would have never guessed it. It is the first legally recognized transgender district in the world to memorize, to memorialize the groundbreaking history of a local area. That’s awesome. Yeah. I love that. 

Angie: I’m still thinking about sitting in jail with a bunch of queens and kind of upset that I’ve never been around a bunch of queens. 

Theresa: You know, and you probably wouldn’t have it. And this is probably part of the issue, right? Because if we’re when the queens were picked up at this time period, they were because their ID said male, they were taken to a male jail. Now, if you have breasts and no facial hair, you’re going to be victimized at this jail. While there, many of these women were forcibly shaped, which is not something you would want. 

And if they wouldn’t submit to being shaved, they were put in solitary confinement. I take that, honestly. You know what? I’m in solitary because at least you’re safe there. And give me some space by myself. 

Angie: You’re telling me three hops and a cot and I get to be by myself for a few days. 

Theresa: I mean to you and I this sounds like vacation we would pay for that but you know this I think it’s that whole as soon as you’re told that you have no choice you’re like oh crap. 

Angie: Yeah no no I wanted to be entirely on my decision I’m going to leave when I’m done here. 

Theresa: I finished my book I would like another. Oh and there’s no library I get it. Yeah that would be a rough day but I mean but beyond that the entire like this being a breaking point in a moment three years before Stonewall. 

Angie: That is crazy because in my mind I’m picturing it long after Stonewall but 

Theresa: I don’t know why it’s in the 80s. One of the things that kind of like and there’s even some incidences that I learned about prior to this one. 

Angie: That’s cool so we our friends in this community have been fighting this for us it almost seems like a quiet battle because it’s so it’s been so long happening right 

Theresa: but yeah and not only is it so long happening but you think about Stonewall is why we have pride which is basically why we have gay rights in general like the marriage equality and things like that and that all happened because of trans people and the 

Angie: trans movement like trying to live 

Theresa: right and you look at the tenderloin and they’re like look we have a bunch of people here that are suffering from poverty or homelessness or all of these things bunch of you know ethnically diverse people and trans and we’re all together we’re going to use intersectionality to advance the goals of everybody here and it was basically led by a bunch of queens I love that that’s awesome mm-hmm I’m here for that get it sis is how do you say multiples get it sis is at Queens get it Queens I think that works 

Angie: okay go Queens yes I’m here for it 

Theresa: that’s the story of the Compton capture your right 

Angie: I love it thank you for that yeah my pleasure I’m going to take you to a wildly different century 

Theresa: I had a feeling we very rarely play in the same century 

Angie: and I’m also I was considering not starting by showing you this but I feel like it’s required so allow me to share my screen really with you real quick do you know this woman 

Theresa: okay she is showing me someone with a rather nonchalant face the face what you notice first but you feel weird that you notice the face first because she’s wearing an eyepatch she has pearl earrings and she has the big neck cover that is not coffee filters but is what I would use coffee filters to make 

Angie: mm-hmm yeah okay here so there’s that one let me show you one more picture because I just love it so much 

Theresa: okay another image same woman same nonchalant stare same eyepatch she has a very big hat on with plumage it’s her shepherdess outfit ah plunging neckline she is like lifting a rose very delicately from a bouquet from other hand yeah okay 

Angie: so I wasn’t going to show you that I was going to tell you her story but I felt like you needed to see her before I before I told her told you her story 

Theresa: I mean you definitely know I don’t think I would have imagined her but now I can’t wait to hear about her 

Angie: yeah I need you to see her first because that’s how I learned about her so there is this woman on Instagram that I have followed forever she is this phenomenal seamstress her name is off the darling and on top of being a phenomenal seamstress she is also a cosplayer and does some really really amazing things and several weeks ago somebody asked her or she she framed it this way what her favorite historical character to cosplay as is because she does a lot of like the Versailles events and things like that and that first picture is the one she shared and I was like my god I must know everything 

Theresa: you know any any baddie in an eyepatch you’ve got my full undivided attention 

Angie: right okay so my caveat there is not a ton of information in English on her so I had to how were the internet 

Theresa: I thought you were going to say so I had to learn 

Angie: Austrian I’ve been busy okay I’m learning Arabic yeah the line week on duolingo yeah pretty much her name is Anna demon doza and my sources are the ebesco ebio ceo um daily art go as opposed to 

Theresa: ebesco whatever 

Angie: you had a value however you want okay see you whatever okay I like them carry on they are good I used them last week yeah right okay so daily art magazine has a beautiful write up about her called rebellious princess of eboli there is a jay store article which I absolutely loved and wish this entire article was a book it is the it is the from fall 2018 of the early modern women the article is called pushing boundaries women music and the life of Anna demon doza idea la sorrera princess of eboli by a session mazula and Gita wait did you say princess I did okay that’s a bbli um that article was amazing and if it could just be turned into a book I would love it so I’m just gonna I’m just gonna start off by telling you that one of my favorite things about specifically women’s history is that women’s history is not written like men’s history right like we don’t have volumes on the princess diablo we like we have for Caesar right like it just doesn’t happen right right but but what we do have and I think this is really special is every day things right so we learn about women from the 16th century by receipt books and like book of hours and like their day to day which I think makes them more human 

Theresa: less very flowery less yeah right it’s not as inflated you get the real stuff 

Angie: that’s that’s my opinion of it um and in her case because her story doesn’t have a ton of sources but it does she has a broad range of people that she deals with and you can see her life through their life so it’s a really interesting like you have these receipt books you have these like orders of hours for the house and then you have these other very powerful very influential people that she is day to day interacting with so you see her life in those things and it’s so interesting to me so I guess that’s why people say choose your friends wisely because eventually you might be in the history books as an aside to somebody else’s story 

Theresa: yeah yeah you want your friends to destroy your receipt books as opposed to publish them 

Angie: right so our girl Anna Dementosa is born into one of the most powerful and loaded families of her time Dementosa’s her dad is Diego her father Dementosa and he is the viceroy of argon and katalonia she is his only legitimate child he makes it to adulthood at a girl right okay now she is actually given the last name silva when she’s baptized but according to historian james m bowden she later switches to the Dementosa de losier because that’s what she has to use in order to claim her countess of malito title I’m not clear why that matters 

Theresa: I mean the right title titles come with land I would change my name to britney if it gave me a castle 

Angie: I’m an honestly same girl now for her most day to day life she’s just Anna Dementosa you know she likes to keep it simple it has been suggested that the young Anna was actually educated by her mother I am there’s varying versions of her name and it makes me think it’s just that her name was so long that each source uses a part of her name but ebsco culture katalina de silva you won’t even say it out loud anymore yeah it’s like so long it’s ridiculous but anyway okay so she mr silva is the owner of a rather large library oh yes she is a woman celebrated for her intelligence and there is this understanding that her aunt maria de mendosa is also heavily involved in her education and honestly I love that now you have her mom and her aunt who are both wonderfully educated and wonderfully connected now let me side quest here for a second and tell you about her grandmother because these women ball like they don’t play around there is a doogle palace in pastrana her grandmother also a widow has bought I didn’t know you could do this the castilian town of pastrana from the order of khala trava in 1536 and she commissions this grand renaissance palace did you know you just buy a whole city from an order of people 

Theresa: you know here’s why I couldn’t because I would have to ask the price and if you have to ask you can’t afford yeah she didn’t need to ask 

Angie: she just said all right move along where’s my checkbook darling now because I was curious what is the order of khala trava it is one of four Spanish military orders it was the first Hispanic military religious order was founded in the 12th century during the reconquista its role was sort of in the defense and the expansion of the christian territory in this region it combines the other military life as well as a monastic one so I’m thinking this is really similar to the nice Templar okay right anyway so they have this town and I don’t know grandma ma was just driving by one day in her carriage and she’s like oh I think I’ll take this and she just buys it and then build a glorious palace there now I’m getting a little ahead of myself but there will come a point in Anna’s story where she and her husband inherit the town and they set out to make it a multicultural renaissance hub from the JSTOR article by often Missoula Angita quote the princess and her husband took possession of the town on March 27 1569 and were welcomed with an event organized by the city councilor for which two trumpets eight wind players and eight wind players were brought from Elysia de Hadas the princess frequently in the absence of her husband organized festivities included music dancing procession tournaments and tournaments with the inspiration of the inhabitants including Moresco from Canada who introduced the silk industry to Pastrana as well as merchants and craftsmen from Italy, Flanders and Portugal thus music served as a means of social integration for this international and multicultural community so her family is doing the thing 

Theresa: and it sounds like an incredible party right 

Angie: um that was just to fill your head with two very seemingly random side quests but I promise it matters back to Anna’s life there’s little we know about her childhood other than she is educated she is brilliant she is most definitely stubborn and shall we say a bit unruly but she is also gorgeous and the only legitimate child of her father’s so it’s around our preteen years that our girl starts wearing this iconic black eye patch and I’m assuming it’s not for giggles maybe it is no one knows why what some suggest yeah so some suggest that she was severely injured when falling off her horse um doctors today have even gone back and like looked at the paintings to see if there is anything that they could glean about sort of injury could have caused this eye patch and the only thing that I’ve heard that sounds like any sort of a reasonable assumption is that one of her eyebrows sits lower than the other one but also same on me same and we’re looking at paintings they’re not photos they’re paintings so anyway others say no she lost her eye in a duel like perhaps she challenges a servant and things it’s just aesthetic maybe she just liked it or maybe she had a lazy eye and because she’s this gorgeous noble girl she needed to hide it but honest to god I think she’s just doing it for the plot like that’s my opinion of her but there’s really no like a hundred proof we know that this is this is what happened with her right anyway she loves the rumors so here we are at least I think she loves when she is 13 she enters into a marriage contract with a man called Rui Gomez de Silva who is like the secretary slash counselor slash favorite to the crown prince of spain prince phillip okay so like not a terrible match for her right there are some sources that say they don’t consummate the marriage for up to six years which makes my heart happy because she was yeah she was 13 the contract was signed right right um there was a there was one youtube video that I was able to find in english but um I don’t really know what their sources are but that video seemed to believe that um it not only did it take a couple of them for a couple of years for them to actually act as a married couple but the part of her marriage contract was stipulated that she was to remain with her family for an additional two years before she even went to live with him good I’m not I’m not a hundred percent on that because I didn’t see that in any other sources but I think it’s interesting to note that if that is accurate regardless her husband is gone for much of the time of those years anyway because he is traveling with the prince while he tours england and the netherlands so 

Theresa: makes you hard to cultivate if he’s out of the country 

Angie: yeah she is with her family but she because she is obviously part of this this royal entourage she is at court and her husband’s position at court as he benefits so does she and she would eventually become the close friend to queen isabel valois the daughter of kathrin demedici 

Theresa: but say valois like yeah I know that line or yeah right 

Angie: such a fun connection and I swear I’m going to do a deep dive on her one day but anyway Anna is a huge patron of music it seems both the secular nature and like the religious liturgy what is really interesting to me is that we know a lot of this based on what she’s doing in her dookal seat of pastrana that I mentioned earlier and like I also mentioned earlier we know a lot of this because of like receipts and financial documents of the day so I think that’s super cool now she is super involved in court life like she’s involved in all of these festivities in the music and the dancing and she is also pushing out babies when they eventually do start living as man and wife in her lifetime she gives birth 10 times good night with at least six that survived a child like that survived those are great odds I know now to fuel the rumor mill for a second sources say that both she and her husband were really close to the royal like the king queen because now prince philip is now king philip and he her husband is still serving as his secretary and they’re just they’re very close in proximity to the royal family and they’re also like really good friends there is this deep seated belief that perhaps at least one of her children is not her husband’s making but rather king philips okay so you with that what you will nobody knows for a hundred percent sure but that’s that’s around the rumor mill you know now after the queen dies both Anna and her husband sort of retreat from the main court life to their estate in pastrana what I’m not clear on here is that her grandmother had literally bought the city but the now king philip has rewarded her husband with the title of duke of pastrana so I’m assuming he just hands out titles they already own the city higher than duke now like 

Theresa: maybe I have no idea right I never had a title I don’t know how this works 

Angie: unclear but that’s what I sort of think happened now during the couple’s time our girl is also going to bear the title of princess of ebbly herna has been have funded funded and founded several religious institutions like monasteries convents in fact one of the monasteries actually has tunnels from their palace into the monastery 

Theresa: yes I want that moving bookshelves and tunnels 

Angie: the whole thing she funds a carmelite college then at her request the very celebrated mystic and sister of the time later to be st. trice of avala establishes a religious community there but things are not going great right now she’s mourning the loss of her friend the queen and the very next year in 1573 her husband dies things aren’t great and at this point it’s fair to say that her dear old father has mostly been out of the picture for a while he has gotten into some trouble and needed to leave but but all the while she has kept in very close contact with her family either through letters or because they’re nearby like she’s family is always around so when her husband dies her and her mother do the fashionable thing widowed women did during the renaissance and they retreat to one of the convents that she’s founded ah yes that that old move it all goes to hell in a handbasket from there going back to the jay store article by mazula and githa quote indeed the princess was accused of disrupting life in the cloister and trice of avala asked the king to intercede to return the princess to secular life she then left the convent and returned to her palace a 17th century chronicle points out that the hermit test katalina day cardona this 

Theresa: is where you got the word hermit test okay for those what for those playing at home last night i get a text saying did side quest did you know hermit test was a job title that you could have gone for and then you said you’ll never forgive your high school counselor 

Angie: again yeah yeah don’t miss don’t add about it i could have been a black market maple syrup dealer or hermit test and no one told me but anyway this hermit test counted on the princess’s favor she visits pester on in 1573 and she’s like hey you know anna you should leave the cloister and you should go back to regular life you’re 

Theresa: really bad at this he’s sleep through hymns 

Angie: you’re not you’re not great 

Theresa: at your drunken eating song 

Angie: so um the other article by besko says has this to say about the events quote largely as a result of this agreement um anna has a failure to follow the strict seclusion rules tarysa and her nuns abandon the convent and pastrana in the dead of night at 

Theresa: the same time they get the nuns to 

Angie: evacuate they’re like we can’t do with this crap anymore bye wow yeah um at the same time royal authorities insisted that the princess leave the convent in order to administer to her estate for her children now here’s the thing supposedly the king is not so keen on her returning to actual court life for whatever reason maybe they they are they were former levers and he’s just still busy like whatever the reason the king’s not keen on it but that’s exactly what she does in 1576 

Theresa: so wait let me pass my understanding we’ve already decided that she was such a party girl that the tarysa valet literal saint took all of her nuns and they skedaddled so that the king could retrieve her and then the king’s like yeah but i don’t want her around either pretty much okay i just want to make sure that we’re connecting those thoughts that both sides are like i don’t 

Angie: yeah i don’t know that at the time i mean i guess for tary so it would be party girl but i think it was just that she could not just live the cloistered life like she still wanted to have festivities and she she still wanted to listen to secular music on top of the religious music and shreve and benundz are like we can’t we can’t keep doing this we can’t keep playing led zeppelin at full blast the nightly song does not want led zeppelin um but whatever the reason is she makes it back to court in 1576 and she starts this we’ll call it a friendship with another of the king’s secretaries who also happens to have been her late husband’s dear friend as well called antonia prez historians can’t agree but to this day but it is possible that there was an affair now 

Theresa: her husband’s dead that should have been allowed that should have been on the table 

Angie: it should have been on the table but i don’t know if prez is married but either way her her cavorting with him is not great for the king and also as an aside while she is in the convent she has been reading all sorts of new thoughts and literature and she’s real mouthy about it and the king doesn’t really like what she’s saying okay okay so there’s that um but like regardless of the the truth of the rumors about their affair on the water cooler it doesn’t go great for her because anna and prez are implicated in this plot to murder a man called wan descobito he is a secretary of phillips and the half brother of donwan of austria 

Theresa: that’s that’s a non-starter right there don’t be involved in plots to murder especially if you’re running your mouth 

Angie: yeah her role in this plot has never really come to light but a year after their murder both she and prez are arrested one of the one of two things or both are possible she may have spilled some state secrets and she may have both like the the idea of her openly speaking new ideas that the king doesn’t like may have played a role in this um it’s possible she did both and he just really needs to get rid of her it’s also possible he is still harboring some ill will as they are former lovers who who really knows but just as king needs to to handle what we do know is that eventually prez manages to remove himself from the king’s vengeance and goes on to live like this full life of adventure but anna is confined to yeah she is confined to increasingly restrictive imprisonment she has eventually moved to her home in pastrana under this like permanent house arrest um but like sis kept up her musical activities and spending like there’s a receipt of her buying one of her musicians fiancé’s address like we we know this today during this time so she’s like really not living her life any different than she was she just can’t leave home which honestly okay i’ll stay here thank you um eventually like i said he’s increasingly restricting her imprisonment eventually she’s going to be basically walled up in possibly one maybe two of her rooms and i say walled up in the sense that the king even has her windows boarded up so she can’t build a sunlight okay yeah no thank you yeah by the end of 1591 early 1592 she isn’t even allowed to have contact with her children including her daughter that’s there with her it’s my understanding and if if she was able to have contact with anybody it might have been her but she had one daughter that stayed to attend to her and i’m not clear if that daughter was removed from the picture but regardless she has had no contact with anybody oof um she dies in February we actually have her death date as well February 2nd of 1592 her legacy today resides in the contribution to the music of her time and the many significant roles her like of power her children go on to have and like if the king’s goal was to silence her and keep her story um out of the books it didn’t work because she’s everywhere just only in spanish and so so i had 

Theresa: no idea had never seen the pictures but now i i need to know everything right like i 

Angie: scoured the internet i was like there has to be some like bad ass articles about her and like said the jay sore article is amazing um and i found a couple of other good ones but like it was like an art history article because her paintings are as you saw incredible iconic right and she sat for many paintings like if those are just the two that i like to show you but there are tons more um and i also just want to point out i think it’s really funny that powerful women in this like 200 300 time year range really went through this great shepherdish phase and we all have to have our country girl photo and 

Theresa: i just love that so what i’m hearing is i need to adopt a little shepherd girl dress and then get that painted and and then wage a holy war where i’m playing my loud music chasing nuns out the convent yes okay well i’ve i got to go get off this thing because i’ve apparently got a full list of things 

Angie: i need to do got things to do you’ve got a checklist you’ve got to attend to 

Theresa: and if you also need to pull together a shepherdess dress and i’d and get an ipad and wage hell chase bunch of nuns out of a convent send this to somebody who would chase nuns out of a convent and on that note goodbye 

Theresa: bye