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Condescending into the past on matters of desire and lust is common practice.
Fortunately, there are works such as that of
José Deleito y Piñuela
(Madrid, 1879-1957), capable of blowing up all preconceived ideas.
Professor at the University of Valencia, he was purged by the Franco regime at the end of the Civil War
.
He then dedicated the rest of his life to research, from which a little gem emerged called
La mala vida en la España de Felipe IV.
(Editorial Alliance).
If at the beginning of the 2000s it was a book that was passed from hand to hand among Madrid university students, it is also true that many stopped reading it due to the disbelief (or was it jealousy?) That read all the imaginary derivations of "sensuality" illicit "that the seventeenth century Madrid lived in such lustful ages.
Over the years, it is not ruled out that its reading in the current times of pandemic and recollection can be especially cruel as far as the festive (not licentious) part is concerned.
"The immorality of the Spain of Felipe IV was manifested in all respects by a scandalous corruption of customs.
Very typical was the unbridled sensuality
", writes Deleito y Piñuela.
Such relaxation occurred in both Spain and France, but, paradoxically, both countries were scandalized by the other's corruption.
"In Spain, sin was done with mystery; in France, with publicad. The mistresses of their kings, for example, were official lovers: here they were open secrets, but secrets," said
Gregorio Marañón
.
And the Madrid author gives a good account of this, emphasizing that "the concept and responsibility for acts of debauchery varied radically in Spain according to the categories of society, as if the morality of such externally exalted Catholicism were not the same for the high and the low ".
The upper classes took more sexual licenses, but they were justified in their actions.
A hero could "run over comics in the middle of the theater", and the monarch, the infants and the favorite could have legitimate children and recognize them without major problems.
"
The sexual debauchery of Felipe IV knew no limits,
" he says.
And of course, that caused the increase and the general relaxation.
Portrait of Felipe IV, by Diego Velázquez.NATIONAL GALLERY DE LONDRES
"Irregular" unions between men and women were the order of the day
.
And I did not understand ages.
A young man of high social class who did not have a mistress "would not have been considered a man."
In Madrid, from the age of 12 they used to have a girl, and once they reached adulthood, the usual thing for "a gentleman" was to have a "wife, girl, and mistress."
The proceedings in the Court surprised foreign visitors, and was corroborated by the Spanish customs of the time, in the case of
Zabaleta and Santos
, who
complained about husbands who squandered with other women what was missing in their house
, or who were He feasted with his own maid, who was filled with finery while his women became "servants of both."
For some men, breastfeeding was for life.
Others "rented" the girls for months.
They were the so-called "ameradas".
But in terms of denominations, nothing accumulated more than the dedicated ones who practiced prostitution: "swan council", "iza", "urgamentera", "brand, bribery", "gaya", "germana", "marquiña", "tangle "," party wench "," upturned siren "or" grabbing girl "were some of the most used" in vulgar language ".
However, there were three "official" titles:
the aforementioned "manceba", who lived in the home;
the "courtesan", who was "hired with dissimulation and of a certain category";
and the one who dealt with men in the street, called "whore, cantonera or whore
.
"
But the list of derivatives is endless: those with the lowest condition were called "rubizas", but those who lived alone in their homes, "without scandal", were called "women of love."
Then there were the "Godeñas brands" (of high rank), "the achaque ladies" (women of humble condition with pretensions), "the ladies of the tusón" (the aristocracy of the trade) ...
Map of Madrid drawn up by Pedro de Texeira in 1656.
In the Madrid court it was estimated that there were "300,000 public women."
There was also "adultery in women", although it was not as general or accepted as that of men, it occurred "with progressive frequency throughout the time."
In a memorial raised to the King in 1658, 143 ladies of bad living were denounced.
The feminine adultery and the conformity of the spouses, was a favorite theme in the satires of the literati
, none other than
Lope de Vega
,
Góngora
or
Quiñónes de Benavente
, In
Quevedo
, it was directly a "true obsession".
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, only three brothels were operating in Madrid: one with a high top on Calle Cervantes (formerly Calle de Francos);
another in the calle de Luzón, for the bourgeoisie, and a third in the Plaza del Alamillo, for the common people.
But in the time of
Felipe III
their number increased, especially in the Calle Mayor.
In the words of Deleito, "the busiest market for hiring mercenary beauties was in the middle of the street."
But, citing the historian
Mesonero Romanos
, the Madrid professor emphasizes that "
the favorite neighborhood for the devotees of Venus was, by a singular coincidence, the same one where Apollo's children
, poets and comedians
had their homes
".
It was the Calle de Huertas, Santa María, San Juan and Amor de Dios.
The Lavapiés neighborhood, particularly its Calle de la Primavera, was also a "characteristic of the mancebías" place.
But given that his clientele was recruited "among the dregs of the Villa", the scandals made Felipe IV decide in 1628 to spread those brothels between the neighborhoods of Antón Martín and San Juan.
In the middle of the 17th century, "there were more than 800 public houses that were open all night" in Madrid
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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