Isabel Calvimontes
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Isabel Calvimontes (November 19, 1790 – December 20, 1855) was a Bolivian-born Argentine patriot who participated in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
society at the service of the
May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...
and in the early years of the emancipatory movement. She is one of the Patricias Argentinas.


Early life and marriage

Isabel Calvimontes Trujillo was born on November 19, 1790, in Chuquisaca,
Upper Peru Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to th ...
. She was the daughter of José Calvimontes, prosecutor of the court of the
Real Audiencia of Charcas The Real Audiencia of Charcas ( es, Audiencia y Cancillería Real de La Plata de los Charcas) was a Spanish '' audiencia'' with its seat in what is today Bolivia. It was established in 1559 in Ciudad de la Plata de Nuevo Toledo (later Charcas, to ...
and Florencia Trujillo. On August 14, 1804, in Chuquisaca, she married Dr. Pedro José Agrelo, who had befriended her father at the
University of Saint Francis Xavier The Royal and Pontifical Higher University of San Francisco Xavier of Chuquisaca ( es, Universidad Mayor, Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca; USFX) is a public university in Sucre, Bolivia. It is one of the oldest universitie ...
. She had several children, among them José Pedro Agrelo Calvimontes and the future colonel, Martín Avelino Agrelo Calvimontes. The failure of the
Chuquisaca Revolution The Chuquisaca Revolution was a popular uprising on 25 May 1809 against the governor and intendant of Chuquisaca (today Sucre, Bolivia), Ramón García León de Pizarro. The Real Audiencia of Charcas, with support from the faculty of University o ...
in 1809 forced Pedro José Agrelo to abandon his post as subdelegate in
Tupiza Tupiza is a city in Potosí Department, Bolivia. It is located at an elevation of about 2850 m. The population is 25,709 (2012 estimate). Tupiza and its environs are characterized by dramatic red escarpments which jut ruggedly skyward from the coa ...
and move with his wife to his hometown, the City of Buenos Aires. There, he did not take long to integrate into the circles that promoted
American independence The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
and when the May Revolution of 1810 took place, the couple immediately joined the patriot movement.


1811–12

In June 1811, Diego Saavedra, son of
Cornelio Saavedra Cornelio Judas Tadeo de Saavedra y Rodríguez (September 15, 1759 in Otuyo – March 29, 1829 in Buenos Aires) was a military officer and statesman from the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He was instrumental in the May Revolution, the firs ...
, the president of the
Junta Grande Junta Grande (), or Junta Provisional Gubernativa de Buenos Aires, is the most common name for the executive government of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (modern-day Argentina), that followed the incorporation of provincial represent ...
, and Juan Pedro Aguirre left for the United States as commissioners with the mission of acquiring weapons and ammunition in that country. At the beginning of 1812, the commissioners concluded a contract for the purchase of 1,000 rifles and 350,000 bullets with the firm Miller & Wambor. On May 13, the commissioners and supplies arrived at the Barragán cove port aboard the US-flagged vessel ''Liberty'' and on May 19, they anchored off the port of Buenos Aires. Word spread of the ship's arrival at the port of Buenos Aires and that the economic situation of the revolutionary government made its purchase difficult. On May 30, 1812, fourteen society women of Buenos Aires met at the home of Tomasa de la Quintana, the wife of Antonio José de Escalada. The patrician women, who would become known as the "Sociedad Patriótica" (Patriotic Society) made donations equivalent to thirteen rifles and two ounces of gold so that, according to Bernardo de Monteagudo, they could say, "I armed this brave man who assured our freedom". The patricians requested that each of the rifles acquired with their contributions would bear the name of the donor.Carranza, pp. 23-24. In addition to Calvimontes, the women who subscribed by donating a rifle were, Tomasa de la Quintana,
María de los Remedios de Escalada María de los Remedios de Escalada y La Quintana (November 20, 1797 – August 3, 1823), commonly known as Remedios de Escalada, was the wife of the leader of the Argentine War of Independence, General José de San Martín. Life and times S ...
, María de las Nieves de Escalada, María de la Quintana, María Eugenia de Escalada de Demaría, Ramona Esquivel y Aldao,
Mariquita Sánchez Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson y de Mendeville, also known as Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson (1 November 1786 – 23 October 1868), was an Argentine socialite and activist from Buenos Aires. She was one of the city's leading ''salonnières'', who ...
, Petrona Bernardina Cordero, Rufina de Orma, María de la Encarnación Andonaégui de Valdepares, Magdalena de Castro de Herrero y Ángela Castelli de Irgazábal, while the two ounces of gold was donated by Carmen de la Quintanilla de Alvear. On June 26, the
First Triumvirate The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus. The constitution of the Roman republic had many v ...
accepted the patrician donation, rendering "the most expressive thanks in the name of the country", in the '' Gazeta de Buenos-Ayres''.


Exile and death

Her husband's political life led him into exile in the United States (1817), imprisonment on the
Martín García Island Martín García Island ( es, Isla Martín García) is an island in the Río de la Plata. The island is in Uruguayan waters but in 1973 Uruguay and Argentina reached an agreement establishing Martín García as Argentine territory and a nature r ...
, and again in exile in
Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, where he was killed on July 23, 1846. Sometimes, Calvimontes accompanied her husband, while at other times, they were separated. While in exile, she sometimes lived in a high social position, and in other times, in misery. She took care of the family and faced setbacks with resignation.Carranza, p. 116 Calvimontes died in Buenos Aires on December 20, 1855.


See also

*
Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Argentina, links=no) was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín a ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* Carranza, Adolfo Pedro (1910). ''Patricias Argentinas''. Buenos Aires: Sociedad Patricias Argentinas. (in Spanish) * Cutolo, Vicente Osvaldo (1968). ''Nuevo diccionario biográfico argentino (1750-1930)''. Buenos Aires: Editorial Elche. (in Spanish) * Sosa de Newton, Lily (1972). ''Diccionario biográfico de mujeres argentinas''. Buenos Aires. (in Spanish) * Yaben, Jacinto R. (1952). ''Biografías argentinas y sudamericanas''. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Históricas Argentinas. (in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Calvimontes, Isabel 1790 births 1855 deaths People from Chuquisaca Department Argentine philanthropists Patricias Argentinas