Catalina de Erauso

Born in San Sebastián in the Basque region, Catalina de Erauso is widely known as La Monja Alférez. Sources describe her as a Spanish nun, soldier, and writer who lived while presenting as a man under names including Alonso Díaz Ramírez de Guzmán. Her life later became famous for its dramatic movement across Spain and Spanish America.

She is remembered above all for an autobiographical narrative that helped turn her into a legendary and controversial figure. That text was not published until 1829, and some scholars have questioned how fully it can be taken at face value, which is part of why her story still attracts so much interest.

The exact details of her life are not completely settled. The source I found gives her birth as around 1585 or 1592 and her death near Orizaba in New Spain around 1650, so the user-supplied date of 1630 does not match that account.