Esther M. Lederberg HMS Fellowship
Parlatorio San Zaccaria convent, Francesco Guardi
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Parlatorio at San Zaccaria convent, by Francesco Guardi Return
A man in the Spanish territory of Nueva España,
emulating his counterpart in Ibearian Spain, was
dressed in the most expensive clothing, bejeweled,
riding his horse (also dressed for the occasion).
Next to this man, was a beautifully dressed woman,
also astride a fancily-dressed horse. This pair, rode
proudly through the streets, streets filled with an
impoverished population. Scurrying through the
crowded streets, trying to keep up with this couple,
was a shabbily dressed woman in black, tattered rags.
Of course, the fancy woman on the horse was the
mistress of the wealthy man on the horse. The impoverished
woman in the streets dressed in rags was the wealthy
man's wife.
This was a typical situation in Ibearian culture.
The typical man from Ibearia did whatever he could to increase
his wealth such as marrying a wealthy woman for her money and
property. Having no other use for his wife after she bore him
children, such wealthy men hoped to sentence their wives to
permanent imprisonment in a convent, typically leaving his
property to a religious order. If this wealthy man had enough
wealth, he aspired to sentence his daughters to permanent
imprisonment in a convent too.
As a consequence, these women bribed church officials and had
male company in the convents. Sometimes lesbianism solved this
social problem. The church gained, had no reason not to comply
with this profitable business.
Sometimes illegitimate children were secretly born in the convents.
As these children were a social embarrassment, they were disposed
of in graves hidden among the convent shrubbery. It was advised
not to dig in the soil of convent gardens!
Another kind of imprisonment took place in the convents, however.
To avoid embarrassment, daughters, after they came of age, were
imprisoned in convents, but put on display as possible marriage
partners (after all, they could be sold). The display consisted
of finely dressed women in "cages" accessible to the male
population. Nuns suitably bribed,
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allowed the couples to secretly keep company. These prisons of
display were called "parlatorio" (places were public intercourse
could take place, and bargains reached).
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