Children Of A Known Mother And An Unknown Father

CHILDREN OF A KNOWN MOTHER AND AN UNKNOWN FATHER In the case of children of a well-known mother and an unknown father, the examples are evidently more abundant. This corresponds to an easier and more natural situation than the previous one, where it is the woman who is left in charge of the child. Generally, the documentation reflects the name and surname of the mother, the origin and her social status. There is a wide variety of cases, but many of them show that in this type of relationship there can be a social differentiation between the parents: a father of high social status and a slave mother. This is why the identity is hidden, but it can also be because one of the parents is married. Relationships between women and men of high social status were quite common since there were a large number of women who worked in domestic work for wealthier people and were at their mercy. In this regard, Hernández González points out the "weight of an oligarchic dominant elite, with caciquil behavior, which will maintain habitual illegitimate relations with its servants".24 In this sense, the maids were extremely vulnerable as they lived with a lord on whom they depended and for whom other men also worked, with greater consideration than her.25 It must have been an episode of great transcendence and precocity. since the legal regulation has been recorded since the year 1347: For it sometimes happens that those who live with others dare to do wickedness and fornication with the barraganas, or with the relatives or with the servants of the house, and from this usually comes the death of the lords, and other evils and damages; Wherefore we ordain and command, that whosoever commits fornication with the lord's known barragana, or with a maiden whom he has in his house, or with the shelter of the mistress of those who have her, or with the kinswoman of him with whom he lives, the kinswoman dwelling in the house of the lord, or with the housekeeper who nurses her son or daughter, As soon as he gives him milk, let him be put to death for it: and whoever he does this error must be put into the power of him with whom he lives, let him give him the punishment he pleases, also of death as in any other way. Another possibility is that the mothers who appear in the documentation could be related to individuals of inferior social consideration, so they tried to avoid knowledge of it, but in this case more moved by the maintenance of their own honor than that of their partner, as was the case in the previous case. Of great relevance is the fact of illicit relations when one of the parents is married. We must bear in mind that given the social significance of the figure of the individual in the community and the maintenance of honor, the public knowledge of the couple's infidelity was enormously embarrassing, especially when it was the husband who was the cuckold. In addition, it should be borne in mind that this was a crime prosecuted by the civil justice system itself, as we had occasion to see earlier. An episode that deserves special consideration is that of the children of an unknown father and a slave mother. We must bear in mind that the slave is a fundamental element in the study of illegitimate relationships due to her character, not only as an economic possession aimed at domestic work, but also as an instrument to alleviate the sexual desire of her masters, as well as becoming a procreator of new slaves.27 It should be taken into consideration that although the slave in Spain and during Modernity was In practice, it was quite difficult for her, since the masters generally tried to avoid marriages.28 However, in the Canary Islands there are quite a few cases of slave women who marry, despite the fact that the masters will hinder the nuptials as much as possible since this could mean a reduction in the capacities of their slave as a concubine. If we look at the documentation, the presence of children of slave mothers and unknown fathers appears to us as a fairly frequent and repetitive phenomenon. The records consulted show a total of 71 cases, which constitutes 22.53%. In addition to the qualitative consideration, the cases of children of slaves and unknown fathers have a relevant qualitative dimension, since they clearly represent the problem of social stratification of the time. Thus, most of the cases analysed are due to relationships between people of different social status, that is, slave mother and free father. Moreover, a large number of them have a high social position, as evidenced by the fact that they are covert or hidden parents. These are probably relationships between the slave and her master or someone related. We can see this in the fact that the normal thing, as happens in other societies, would be for the mother, in order to avoid her child inheriting the same social status, to expose him, especially from 1647 when the cradle was created in Las Palmas. This, however, does not happen in La Vega, at least according to the documentation consulted, since the fact of the creation of the nursery in the Hospital de San Martín de La Ciudad will not be an incentive for the children of unknown parents to decrease. In addition, we see how the case of illegitimate children of slave mothers are very numerous in La Vega. This leads us to think that the paternity of the master, or his interest in the maintenance of illicit relations by his slave, who thus provided him with a new possession: his son, were possible causes of the repetition of the phenomenon.29 In this regard, we must point out that children were a heavy burden for female slaves. since pregnancy did not exempt them from their obligations. In addition, as has been pointed out, the son would inherit the same social status as his mother, but as we can see, this does not prevent the number of slave mothers in La Vega from continuing to be high.