Katherina Hetzeldorfer was tried, and then drowned in the Rhine, for a crime that didn’t have a name in 1477.
Hetzeldorfer had moved to the city of Speier from Nuremberg with a woman who, during the trial, Hetzeldorfer said was a sister. They had lived in Speier for two years before Hetzeldorfer was arrested. They had apparently confided in members of the community describing the nature of their relationship like that of a husband and wife. After intense cross-examination Hetzeldorfer revealed that the woman was not a sibling but that they had a long-standing sexual relationship.
Hetzeldorfer was described by female witnesses who claimed to have been seduced by him/her as “being like a man in both physique and behavior, a sexually aggressive character and a potent lover.”
Hetzeldorfer and witnesses were made to describe in detail how it was that Hetzeldorfer acted like a man including describing the use of an “instrument” and how it was made: “With a red piece of leather, at the front filled with cotton, and a wooden stick stuck into it, and made a hole through the wooden stick, put a string through, and tied it round.” It was the use of this “instrument,” combined with Hetzeldorfer’s gender transgressions that lead to death by drowning, a particularly demeaning sentence reserved for women.
As a side note, Hetzeldorfer’s wife may have escaped, because she was not heard from in the trial transcripts.
Sources: Puff, Helmut. “Female Sodomy: The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer (1477).” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30.1 (2000): 41-61. ---. Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, 1400-1600. University of Chicago Press, 2003. Rupp, Leila J. Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women. New York University Press, 2009.
ART INFO: Katherina Hetzeldorfer c. 1477 Germany gouache on paper, 11 x 7 inches 2012 In the collection of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College
Elena aka Eleno de Céspedes was a freed slave born in Alhama, Spain in 1545. Her father was a Castilian peasant and her mother an African slave. She had brand marks on both sides of her face to indicate her status as “offspring of a slave.” She was married at age 16 to a man who left her shortly after she became pregnant. According to her testimony before the Spanish Inquisition in 1587, while giving birth to her son, she grew a penis. She gave the baby to another family and proceeded to live sometimes as a woman and sometimes as a man. de Céspedes moved from town to town working as a tailor, a hosier, a soldier, and finally a licensed surgeon using whichever gender suited the occasion.
de Céspedes had many affairs with women, but in 1586 he became engaged to Maria del Caño. When he asked the vicar for a marriage license, the vicar became suspicious of de Céspedes’ hairless physique and had him examined by his associates. The vicar’s men testified that all was intact. However, before the marriage could occur someone came forward and claimed that de Céspedes was both male and female so the vicar wanted them examined again. de Céspedes was examined multiple times by doctors, surgeons, lawyers, the Secretary of the Inquisition, and other people of “good repute” and finally they confirmed that he was indeed male. The wedding was finally allowed to proceed. However, a year later, after a tip from a neighbor, the couple was arrested and charged with sodomy, sorcery, and disrespect for the marriage sacrament.
When testifying before the Tribunal of Toledo de Céspedes said that they were a hermaphrodite and had both male and female natures. de Céspedes argued that at the time of his marriage to Maria he was of the male nature and had therefore committed no wrong. However, his male member had recently withered and fallen off due to a serious accident. After more examinations by court doctors and midwives de Céspedes was found to be a woman and was sentenced for bigamy, fakery, perjury, and mockery of the sacrament of marriage. de Céspedes received 200 lashes and was ordered to serve ten years in a public hospital, dressed as a woman.
Sources: Blackmore, Josiah and Gregory S. Hutcheson. Queer Iberia: Sexualities, Cultures, and Crossings from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Duke University Press, 1999. Kagan, Richard L. and Abigail Dyer. Inquisitorial Iinquiries: Brief Lives of Secret Jews and Other Heretics. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Rupp, Leila J. Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women. New York University Press, 2009. Velasco, Sherry. Lesbians in Early Modern Spain. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2011.
ART INFO: Elena aka Eleno de Céspedes 1545- c.1588 Spain gouache on paper, 11 x 7 inches 2011 In the collection of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College