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Agustina de Aragón
Agustina de Aragón | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 4, 1786 |
| Died | May 29, 1857 (aged 71) |
| Occupations | guerrilla fighter, freedom fighters |
Agustina Raimunda María Saragossa Domènech,[1] known as Agustina de Aragón (Reus or Barcelona, March 4, 1786 – Ceuta, May 29, 1857), was a defender of Zaragoza during the Sieges, in the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain.
Biography
She was the daughter of Pedro Juan Francisco Ramón Saragossa Labastida, a laborer, and Raimunda Domènech Gasull, both natives of Fulleda (Lérida). She was baptized on March 6, 1786, in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona.[2]
At the age of 17, Agustina married Juan Roca Vilaseca, an artillery corporal, on April 17, 1803, in the church of Santa Maria del Pi in Barcelona. The couple had a son whose name is unknown, who died at the young age of five in 1809, when they were being taken as prisoners to France after the capitulation of Zaragoza; the child died upon reaching Ólvega (Soria), due to the plague, the exhaustion of the journey and hunger. Her husband took part in the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain from the beginning, fighting in the Battle of El Bruch. The events of the war brought Agustina and him to Zaragoza.
During the siege of that city, Agustina carried out the deed that made her famous. After all the defenders of the gate known as the Portillo had fallen wounded or dead, the French troops hurried to take it by storm. Agustina, who was bringing food to her husband, took the match from the hands of a wounded artilleryman and managed to fire a cannon at the French troops rushing toward the entrance. Legend has it that the French attackers, fearing an ambush, retreated, and new defenders came to plug the breach, so that the city was defended once more.
Thus was born the myth of Agustina de Aragón, or La Artillera ("the Artillerywoman"), the name given from then on to the woman who, at a time when examples of heroism were so needed, came to occupy a prominent place in the pages of the history books of Spain.
Again, legend says that General Palafox, upon learning of such a feat, summoned the young woman and, right there on the battlefield, congratulated her and granted her the insignia of second lieutenant, with the use of the shields of distinction bearing the motto of each: "Defender of Zaragoza" and "Reward for valor and patriotism." The reality is somewhat more sober: Palafox did indeed admit Agustina into the corps of artillerymen, but as a private. The appointment was probably as practical as it was honorary: membership in the artillery corps gave Agustina the right to eat from the soldiers' rations, which was not to be scorned in a besieged city. Later, however, Agustina would successively obtain the stripes of Sergeant and of Second Lieutenant.[3]
Agustina did not cease in her efforts to defend her city from the French and took an active part in the defense during other sieges of Zaragoza. On February 21, 1809, after two months of frenzied resistance, the city of the maños could no longer withstand the pressure of the Napoleonic troops and fell.
On August 30, 1809, the Central Junta granted her the rank of second lieutenant.
Agustina was taken prisoner and freed in an exchange together with Captain José Carratalá Martínez. She traveled through much of Spain encouraging the armies, where her deed had become very well known. She took part in numerous engagements, including the French siege of Tarragona. Her military career ended at the Battle of Vitoria, with the forces of General Morillo, who issued her a certificate for her participation in that battle.[4]
After the war ended, and reunited with her husband, Agustina gave birth in 1818 to her second son, Juan. Her husband, ill with tuberculosis, died with the rank of lieutenant at the Military Hospital of the Seminary of Barcelona on August 1, 1823.
On March 12, 1824, she married for a second time, to the Almería-born physician Juan Eugenio Cobos de Mesperuza (1st Baron of Cobos de Belchite), and from this marriage had, in 1825, a daughter named Carlota. Shortly afterward Agustina, Juan Cobos, Carlota and Juan, a new family, moved to Seville, where Juan Cobos practiced as a physician. However, her husband supported the Carlists, which led to their separation.
In 1847 both of Agustina de Aragón's children married in Seville, but Carlota, married to a soldier stationed in Ceuta named Francisco Atienza y Molillo, would move to that city, to which Agustina began to travel frequently, until in 1853 she took up residence there. Juan remained in Seville with his stepfather, who helped him with his medical studies, and practiced there as a physician until his death in 1885. (see https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/6525/agustina-zaragoza-domenech)
She died at her home at number 37 Calle Soberanía Nacional (now Calle Real) in Ceuta on May 29, 1857, at the age of 71, of bronchopneumonia, and was buried in the cemetery of Santa Catalina in that city. Not until 1870 were her remains moved to Zaragoza, resting first in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and, from June 14, 1908, in the Chapel of the Annunciation of the Church of Nuestra Señora del Portillo, where they are venerated as those of a great heroine who, with courage and resolve, repelled adversity. She is regarded as one of the most representative symbols of the Spanish resistance against the French invader.
Tributes
In 1913 a commemorative plaque was placed on the house in Ceuta where she died.
She was celebrated in verse by Lord Byron in his Childe Harold.
Since 1969 streets in Valladolid, Aranda de Duero, Madrid, Getafe, Móstoles and Valdemoro have been named after her.[5]
External links
- Agustina de Aragón at Portal Mundos
- Prologue and eminent figures of Santa María del Mar in Barcelona (see p. 112)
- Agustina de Aragón at the Real Academia de la Historia
- ↑ See Francisco Javier Solduga, La artillera del Portillo. Retrieved 18-2-2020.
- ↑ Suñé, Ricardo. Nueva crónica de Barcelona: historia de la ciudad a través de sus calles y de sus tradiciones. Barcelona: Editorial Seguí, 1945, vol. III, p. 1651. Photographic reproduction of the baptismal record.
- ↑ García, Mariano. "La nómina de Agustina de Aragón" (in español). Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
- ↑ Sánchez Arreseigor, Juan José: Vascos contra Napoleón. Actas, Madrid 2010. (pp. 175, 185 and 339)
- ↑ Vela, Víctor (November 11, 2018). "Un paseo por las (pocas) calles vallisoletanas dedicadas a mujeres". El Norte de Castilla (in español). Retrieved May 19, 2020.
