Manuela Sáenz
Encyclopedia
Doña Manuela Sáenz was born in Quito
, Viceroyalty of New Granada
(Present-day Ecuador
) and died in Paita
, Peru
. She was a revolutionary hero of South America
, who also became the mistress of the South American revolutionary leader, Simón Bolívar
. She married a wealthy English merchant in 1817 and became an aristocrat and socialite in Lima, Peru. This provided the setting for involvement in political and military affairs, and she became active in support of revolutionary efforts. Leaving her husband in 1822, she soon began an eight-year collaboration and intimate relationship with Bolivar that lasted until his death in 1830. After she prevented an 1828 assassination attempt against him and facilitated his escape, Bolivar began to call her, "Libertadora del Libertador", the liberator of the liberator and she was celebrated and given many honors. For many years after their deaths, their contributions to the revolutions of South America were suppressed and although those of Bolivar were revived a decade later and he was returned to the status of a hero, Manuela's role generally was overlooked until the late twentieth century.
, the illegitimate child of Maria Joaquina Aizpuru from Ecuador
and the married Spanish
nobleman Simón Sáenz Vergara (or Sáenz y Verega). Her mother was abandoned by her modest family and young "Manuelita" went to school at the Convent of Santa Catalina where she learned to read, to write, and express herself. She was forced to leave the convent
at the age of seventeen, when she was discovered to have been a victim of seduction by army officer Fausto D'Elhuyar, the nephew and son of Juan José
and Fausto de Elhuyar y de Suvisa, who was one of the co-discoverers of tungsten
.
For several years, Manuela lived with her father, who in 1817 arranged for her marriage to a wealthy English merchant, James Thorne, who was twice her age. The couple moved to Lima
, Peru
, in 1819 where she lived as an aristocrat and held social gatherings in her home where guests included political leaders and military officers. These guests shared military secrets about the ongoing revolution with her, and, in 1819, when Simón Bolívar took part in the successful liberation of New Granada
, Manuela Sáenz became an active member in the conspiracy against the viceroy
of Perú, José de la Serna e Hinojosa
during 1820.
In 1822, she left her husband and traveled to Quito
, where she met Simón Bolívar
. They felt an instant attraction to each other and, for the following eight years, she dedicated her life to Bolivar. She exchanged love letters with him, visited him while he moved from one country to another, and supported the revolutionary cause by gathering information, distributing leaflets, and protesting for women's rights. As one of the first women involved, Manuela received the "Order of the Sun" ("Caballeresa del Sol"), honoring her services in the revolution. During the first months of 1825 and from February to September 1826, she lived with Bolívar near Lima, but as the war continued, Bolívar was forced to leave. Manuela later followed him to Bogota. On September 25, 1828, mutinous officers attempted to assassinate Bolívar, but with Manuela's help he was able to escape, which made him later call her "Libertadora del Libertador".
Bolívar left Bogotá in 1830 and died in Santa Marta
from tuberculosis
while he was in transit, leaving the country to exile. He had made no provision for Manuela. She became a thorn in the side of Francisco de Paula Santander
, who returned to power after Bolívar's death. Santander then exiled Manuela, and she went to Jamaica
.
When she attempted to return to Ecuador in 1835, the Ecuadorian president, Vicente Rocafuerte
, revoked her passport. She then took refuge in northern Peru
, living in the small coastal town of Paita
. For the next twenty-five years, a destitute outcast, Manuela sold tobacco
and translated letters for North American whale hunters who wrote to their lovers in Latin America. While there she met the American author Herman Melville
, and the revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi
.
In 1847, her husband was murdered in Pativilca
and her enemies made sure that she was denied her 8,000 pesos inheritance. Disabled after the stairs in her home collapsed, "Manuelita" died in Paita, on November 23, 1856, during a diphtheria
epidemic. Her body was buried in a communal, mass grave and her belongings were burned. She had contributed many items, however, to the collection of papers preserved about Bolivar. On December 17 of 1830, at the age of forty-seven, Simón Bolívar died after a painful battle with tuberculosis
in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino
in Santa Marta
, Gran Colombia
(now Colombia
). On his deathbed, Bolívar asked his aide-de-camp
, General Daniel F. O'Leary
to burn the remaining, extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a vast wealth of information about Bolívar's liberal
philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his longstanding love affair with Manuela Sáenz. Shortly before her own death in 1856, Sáenz augmented this collection by giving O'Leary her own letters from Bolívar.
There is an impressive statue of Manuela outside the entrance to the Mitad del Mundo Equatorial Line Monument outside Quito, Ecuador
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, Viceroyalty of New Granada
Viceroyalty of New Granada
The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739...
(Present-day Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
) and died in Paita
Paita
Paita is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Paita Province which is in the Piura Region. It is a leading seaport in that region...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. She was a revolutionary hero of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, who also became the mistress of the South American revolutionary leader, Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
. She married a wealthy English merchant in 1817 and became an aristocrat and socialite in Lima, Peru. This provided the setting for involvement in political and military affairs, and she became active in support of revolutionary efforts. Leaving her husband in 1822, she soon began an eight-year collaboration and intimate relationship with Bolivar that lasted until his death in 1830. After she prevented an 1828 assassination attempt against him and facilitated his escape, Bolivar began to call her, "Libertadora del Libertador", the liberator of the liberator and she was celebrated and given many honors. For many years after their deaths, their contributions to the revolutions of South America were suppressed and although those of Bolivar were revived a decade later and he was returned to the status of a hero, Manuela's role generally was overlooked until the late twentieth century.
Life
Manuela was born in QuitoQuito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, the illegitimate child of Maria Joaquina Aizpuru from Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
and the married Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
nobleman Simón Sáenz Vergara (or Sáenz y Verega). Her mother was abandoned by her modest family and young "Manuelita" went to school at the Convent of Santa Catalina where she learned to read, to write, and express herself. She was forced to leave the convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
at the age of seventeen, when she was discovered to have been a victim of seduction by army officer Fausto D'Elhuyar, the nephew and son of Juan José
Fausto Elhuyar
Fausto de Elhuyar was a Spanish chemist, and the joint discoverer of tungsten with his brother Juan José Elhuyar in 1783. Fausto de Elhuyar was in charge, under a King of Spain commission, of organizing the School of Mines in México City and so was responsible of building an architectural jewel...
and Fausto de Elhuyar y de Suvisa, who was one of the co-discoverers of tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
.
For several years, Manuela lived with her father, who in 1817 arranged for her marriage to a wealthy English merchant, James Thorne, who was twice her age. The couple moved to Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, in 1819 where she lived as an aristocrat and held social gatherings in her home where guests included political leaders and military officers. These guests shared military secrets about the ongoing revolution with her, and, in 1819, when Simón Bolívar took part in the successful liberation of New Granada
Viceroyalty of New Granada
The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739...
, Manuela Sáenz became an active member in the conspiracy against the viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of Perú, José de la Serna e Hinojosa
José de la Serna e Hinojosa
José de la Serna e Hinojosa, 1st Count of los Andes was a Spanish general and colonial official. He was the last Spanish viceroy of Peru to exercise effective power .-Background:...
during 1820.
In 1822, she left her husband and traveled to Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, where she met Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
. They felt an instant attraction to each other and, for the following eight years, she dedicated her life to Bolivar. She exchanged love letters with him, visited him while he moved from one country to another, and supported the revolutionary cause by gathering information, distributing leaflets, and protesting for women's rights. As one of the first women involved, Manuela received the "Order of the Sun" ("Caballeresa del Sol"), honoring her services in the revolution. During the first months of 1825 and from February to September 1826, she lived with Bolívar near Lima, but as the war continued, Bolívar was forced to leave. Manuela later followed him to Bogota. On September 25, 1828, mutinous officers attempted to assassinate Bolívar, but with Manuela's help he was able to escape, which made him later call her "Libertadora del Libertador".
Bolívar left Bogotá in 1830 and died in Santa Marta
Santa Marta
Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
while he was in transit, leaving the country to exile. He had made no provision for Manuela. She became a thorn in the side of Francisco de Paula Santander
Francisco de Paula Santander
Francisco José de Paula Santander y Omaña , was a Colombian military and political leader during the 1810–1819 independence war of the United Provinces of New Granada...
, who returned to power after Bolívar's death. Santander then exiled Manuela, and she went to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
When she attempted to return to Ecuador in 1835, the Ecuadorian president, Vicente Rocafuerte
Vicente Rocafuerte
Vicente Rocafuerte y Bejarano was an influential figure in Ecuadorian politics and President of Ecuador from September 10, 1834 to January 31, 1839....
, revoked her passport. She then took refuge in northern Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, living in the small coastal town of Paita
Paita
Paita is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Paita Province which is in the Piura Region. It is a leading seaport in that region...
. For the next twenty-five years, a destitute outcast, Manuela sold tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and translated letters for North American whale hunters who wrote to their lovers in Latin America. While there she met the American author Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
, and the revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
.
In 1847, her husband was murdered in Pativilca
Pativilca
Pativilca is a town in central Peru, capital of the district Pativilca in the province Barranca in the region Lima.-External links:...
and her enemies made sure that she was denied her 8,000 pesos inheritance. Disabled after the stairs in her home collapsed, "Manuelita" died in Paita, on November 23, 1856, during a diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
epidemic. Her body was buried in a communal, mass grave and her belongings were burned. She had contributed many items, however, to the collection of papers preserved about Bolivar. On December 17 of 1830, at the age of forty-seven, Simón Bolívar died after a painful battle with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino
Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino
La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino is a hacienda or Quinta built in the 17th century, famous for being the death place of Simón Bolívar on December 17, 1830. At that time, the estate produced rum, honey and panela...
in Santa Marta
Santa Marta
Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
, Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...
(now Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
). On his deathbed, Bolívar asked his aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
, General Daniel F. O'Leary
Daniel Florencio O'Leary
Daniel Florence O'Leary was a military general and aide-de-camp under Simón Bolívar. He was born in Cork, Ireland; his father was Jeremiah O'Leary, a butter merchant...
to burn the remaining, extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a vast wealth of information about Bolívar's liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his longstanding love affair with Manuela Sáenz. Shortly before her own death in 1856, Sáenz augmented this collection by giving O'Leary her own letters from Bolívar.
Recognition and 2010 reburial
On July 5, 2010, Manuela Sáenz was given a full state burial in Venezuela. Because she had been buried in a mass grave, no official remains of her existed for the state burial; instead "symbolic remains," composed of some soil from the mass grave into which she was buried during the epidemic, were transported through Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to Venezuela. Those remains were laid in the National Pantheon of Venezuela alongside those of her lover, Bolívar, who is memorialized at that monument.There is an impressive statue of Manuela outside the entrance to the Mitad del Mundo Equatorial Line Monument outside Quito, Ecuador
Museum Manuela Sáenz
- "Museo Manuela Sáenz"
- Barrio San Marcos, Centro Histórico, Quito, Ecuador
- The museum contains her history, paintings, stamps, and personal effects
- Casa de Manuelita Sáenz, Downtown-Bogota Colombia
Biographical Writings
- "The Four Seasons of Manuela". Biography by Victor Wolfgang von HagenVictor Wolfgang von HagenVictor Wolfgang von Hagen was an American explorer, archaeological historian, anthropologist, and travel writer who traveled in South America with his wife...
(1974) - "Manuela". Novel by Gregory Kauffman (1999). ISBN 0-9704250-0-7
- "Manuela Sáenz - La Libertadora del Libertador". Author: Alfonso Rumazo González (Quito 1984)
- "En Defensa de Manuela Sáenz". Authors: Pablo NerudaPablo NerudaPablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, Ricardo PalmaRicardo PalmaManuel Ricardo Palma Soriano was a Peruvian author, scholar, librarian and politician. His magnum opus is the Tradiciones peruanas.- Biography :...
, Victor von Hagen, Vicente Lecuma, German ArciniegasGermán ArciniegasGermán Arciniegas was a Colombian essayist and historian. Arciniegas wrote over 50 books and many columns in the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo and also taught at Columbia University in New York.- Books :...
, Alfonso Rumazo, Pedro Jorge VeraPedro Jorge VeraPedro Jorge Vera was an Ecuadorian writer and Communist Party of Ecuador politician. He contributed to several newspapers and magazines of controversial character "La Calle", with the writer Alejandro Carrión, as well as "La Mañana". He remained throughout his life a close friend of Cuban...
, Jorge Salvador Lara, Jorge Enrique AdoumJorge Enrique AdoumJorge Enrique Adoum was an Ecuadorian poet and writer. He was one of the major exponents of Latin American poetry. Social concerns were always present in his work.-Biography:...
, Mario Briceño Perozo, Mary Ferrero, Benjamín CarriónBenjamín CarriónManuel Benjamín Carrión Mora was an Ecuadorian writer and cultural promoter.He was born into an aristocratic family in Loja. He was a lawyer by training, and occupied various positions in the public arena, including Minister of Education, legislator, diplomat in several countries of Europe and...
, Jorge Villalba S.J., Leonardo Altuve, Juan LiscanoJuan LiscanoJuan Liscano Velutini Venezuelan poet, folklorist, writer and critic. Director of Monte Ávila Editores, amongst his poetic work emphasizes: Nuevo mundo Orinoco , Cármenes and Fundaciones...
(Quito) - "Manuela Sáenz - presencia y polémica en la historia". Authors: María Mogollón and Ximena Narváez (Quito 1997)
- "la Vida Ardiente De Manuelita Sáenz". Author: Alberto Miramón (Bogota 1946)
- For Glory and Bolívar: The Remarkable Life of Manuela Sáenz. Biography by Pamela S. Murray. (Austin, TX 2008). ISBN 978-0-292-71829-6
- Our Lives Are the Rivers: A Novel. Author: Jaime Manrique