The Basque Seroras by Amanda L. Scott

Author:Amanda L. Scott [Scott, Amanda L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Spain & Portugal, Social Science, Gender Studies, Religion, Religion; Politics & State
ISBN: 9781501747502
Google: Qg2aDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2020-03-15T01:10:25+00:00

De Lancre, of course, held the Basque lands in low opinion in general, and the seroras formed only a small part of his larger conviction that demonism was rampantly present in Basque culture. Still, while exaggerated, his views incorporated some of the same sorts of critiques that communities leveled from time to time against their own seroras. As will be discussed further in chapter 6, the prestige and esteem the seroras enjoyed at the local level often attracted the jealousy of their colleagues and neighbors, and it was often easiest to channel this discontent through attacks on the vocation or on the persons of the seroras themselves. Their unmarried and uncloistered status made seroras particularly vulnerable to attacks and suspicions that they were not immaculate church servants, and that they were taking advantage of the freedoms of the seroría to lead duplicitous lives. Most seroras, of course, remained chaste and single; they did not take Satanic spouses, nor were they procuresses and seductresses. Occasionally seroras did misstep, however, fueling gossip, and confirming the worst fears. When they did, opportunistic parishioners and church officials were well armed with a rhetoric and a tradition of suspicion, and could easily use seroras’ trespasses to attack and critique the vocation, if they chose.

Ultimately, the diocese reacted swiftly and harshly to Simona and Don Sebastián’s love affair; yet in the end, only Simona was charged with any wrongdoing. Despite “murmurings” and suspicion that the other seroras might also be involved, any evidence the witnesses were able to provide only implicated Simona, and none of the other seroras were investigated or chastised. Moreover, Joan and his friends seem to have been satisfied to just frighten and embarrass Don Sebastián. Despite Don Sebastián’s panicked confession, even the bishop’s fiscal refrained from pressing further charges, preferring to make an example of Simona alone. After collecting the testimony of Joan and his four friends, the bishop expelled Simona from the shrine, deprived her of all duties relating to the seroría, and placed her under a ban of excommunication. For a woman who had her life (and wealth) tied up so closely to service to the church, there was hardly a worse form of punishment. Yet perhaps realizing the severity of his sanctions, and after receiving a standard appeal from Simona’s lawyer, the bishop curiously backtracked and revoked his initial sentence. Providing no justification for his change of mind, the bishop announced that although Simona was as guilty as ever, instead of excommunication and expulsion, she would only have to serve a three-month suspension, after which she would be free to return to the seroría.52

Nor did this escapade cause any great harm to Don Sebastián’s ecclesiastical career. Despite his admission to being guilty on all three of the diocese’s “big three” targeted reforms for the lower clergy—these being “immorality, disorderliness, and idiocy”—no charges were brought against Don Sebastián.53 Just four years later in 1595, the parish of Urnieta nominated him to move from the role of presbyter to a recently vacated half-benefice in that town, and the promotion was duly approved by the bishop.

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