Luisa de Carvajal's Autograph Vows: A Textual Disentanglement and Critical Guide (Part One: Introduction)

Over the course of the following posts, I will provide a textual and contextual analysis of the four religious vows composed by Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza (1566-1614) - normally referred to as Luisa de Carvajal - during the final decade of the sixteenth century. Whilst her unusual missionary life, her mystical poetry - with its strong evocation of John of the Cross - and her 180 extant letters have attracted a fair amount of scholarly interest over the past three decades, the textual history of her curious vows has received relatively little attention. Though it was not my original intention, I consequently ended up dedicating an entire chapter of my PhD thesis - Luisa de Carvajal: Text, Context and (Self-)Identity (University of Manchester, 2012) - to her written vows of poverty (1593), obedience (1595), 'greater perfection' (1595) and martyrdom (1598). 

Transcriptions and translations of the vows have appeared various times in print; the most recent and most useful edition can be found on pp.107-21 of This Tight Embrace: Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza (1566-1614), ed. and trans. by Elizabeth Rhodes (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2000). In order for us fully to understand the vows, however, we need to undertake a close cross-textual analysis of the various manuscript drafts of each. Doing so enables us to lift the lid on what was, for Carvajal, the negotiation of an unconventional (and non-conventual) religious life out in the world during her first decade as an independent adult. Getting to the bottom of the nature of this negotiation, as it were, also enhances our understanding of her other, better-known writings. 

What will be provided here, then, is a full transcription and translation of every draft of each vow, arranged in chronological order and accompanied by a critical commentary. This will be prefaced in the following post with a look at the complex journey of these texts from manuscript to print. The idea is that this series of blog posts will serve as a useful resource for all those interested in the writings of Luisa de Carvajal and, more broadly, religious culture and women's lives and writings in the early modern, Spanish-speaking world. 

Feedback in the comment section below is most welcome!