author
Catalina de Erauso
d. 1630
Known as the "Lieutenant Nun," this remarkable 17th-century memoirist escaped convent life, lived for years in male disguise, and built a legend that still fascinates readers today. Their story moves through Spain and colonial Spanish America with a mix of adventure, violence, reinvention, and self-mythmaking.
1 Audiobook
La Nonne Alferez
by Catalina de Erauso
About the author
Born in San Sebastián in the Basque region of Spain, probably in either 1585 or 1592, Catalina de Erauso was placed in a convent as a child but ran away as a teenager. After leaving, they lived under a series of male identities and eventually became known as Antonio de Erauso.
Erauso traveled through Spanish America and later became famous for an autobiographical narrative usually known in English as Lieutenant Nun. In it, they recount a life of duels, military service, gambling, escapes, and constant movement, helping create one of the most unusual personal legends of the early modern Spanish world.
Even basic details of Erauso's life remain disputed, including the year of birth and the date of death. Some modern reference pages give a death date later than 1630, so it's safest to say that Erauso was a real historical figure whose life sits at the edge of history and myth, and whose memoir continues to attract interest for what it reveals about gender, identity, and survival in the 1600s.