María Martina Ibaibarriaga Elorriaga (26 January 1788 – 6 June 1849) was a
Spanish guerrilla leader during the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
(1807–14).
A legend later grew up that she pretended to be a man, enlisted in the Spanish army, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Life
María Martina Ibaibarriaga Elorriaga was a native of
Berriz
Berriz (in Basque and officially, in Spanish: ''Bérriz'') is an elizate, town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Berriz is part of the ''comarca'' of Durangaldea and has a population of 4 ...
, Biscay.
She was born on 26 January 1788.
In 1810 Martina Ibaibarriaga's family was based in
Durango, Biscay
Durango is a town and municipality of the historical territory and province of Biscay, located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. It is the main town of Durangaldea, one of the ''comarcas of Spain, comarcas'' of B ...
.
The French arrested and interrogated them, and found that Martina, dressed as a man, had joined the band of the guerrilla Belard, "''El manco''".
The next year Ibaibarriaga was in command of her own force of 50 men.
The municipalities complained to the guerrilla leaders that her fighters were taking rations and supplies by force, without paying.
As a result, the guerrillas of
Francisco Espoz y Mina
Francisco Espoz Ilundáin (17 June 1781 – 24 December 1836), being better known as Francisco Espoz y Mina, was a Spanish guerrilla leader and general.
Biography
He was born in Idocin in Navarre. His father, Juan Esteban Espoz y Mina, and hi ...
captured Ibaibarriaga in
Munguía
Mungia (in Spanish: ''Munguía'') is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Bi ...
, Biscay on 3 July 1811 and took her to a gathering of guerrilla chiefs at
Villarcayo
Villarcayo de Merindad de Castilla la Vieja () is a municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a ...
, Burgos.
The leaders included Espoz y Mina,
Francisco de Longa
Francisco Tomás de Anchia Longa (10 April 1783 – 1831) was a Spanish general.
Biography
He was born in the village of Longa, Mallabia (province of Biscay). A blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wr ...
, Isidoro Salazar and Ignacio de Cuevillas.
Eight of Ibaibarriaga's men were executed by firing squad, but she was spared.
Ibaibarriaga was allowed to serve under Longa for the remainder of the war.
She joined the ''División de Iberia'', Longa's guerrilla force.
She met Lieutenant Félix Asenjo of
Oña
Oña is a municipality and town located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2011 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 1,219 inhabitants.
Main sights
* Benedictine monastery of San Salvador de Oñ ...
, Burgos early in 1812.
He had been sent by the Spanish government to instruct new guerrillas.
They married in March 1812.
She participated in the battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813.
After the war Ibaibarriaga left the army.
She and her husband went to live in Oña, where their son Francisco Asenjo Ibaibarriaga was born.
A record of her post-war trial for banditry, at which she was acquitted, is held in the Historical Archives of Pamplona.
Ferdinand VII of Spain
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Charles IV of Spain
, mother = Maria Luisa of Parma
, birth_date = 14 October 1784
, birth_place = El Escorial, Spain
, death_date =
, death_place = Madrid, Spain
, burial_plac ...
gave her the honorary title of captain.
In 1825 she was granted a state pension.
She died in Oña on 6 June 1849.
In December 1977 a street in Vitoria was named after her.
The street is wrongly named "Coronela Ibaibarriaga".
Legend
Many of the misconceptions about Martina de Ibaibarriaga are due to her grandson, Ricardo Blanco Asenjo, who wrote a fictional story of his grandmother in the Madrid periodical ''
El Imparcial
''El Imparcial'', founded in 1918, was a newspaper in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Assoc ...
'' dated 7 May 1883.
It was said that her father and brother, who ran a pharmacy in Bilbao, were killed by the French in August 1808. This is almost certainly a later embellishment to her story.
It is also untrue that she disguised herself as a man under the name of "Manuel Martinez" or that after reaching the rank of captain her sex was discovered at the siege of Zaragoza.
It is known that she joined the guerrillas without hiding her sex, as did other women.
The legend says that Ibaibarriaga was commissioned in the Spanish army disguised as a man.
She took the name of "Manuel Martínez".
She is the only known example in the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
of a woman enlisting and serving as a man.
She was seriously wounded during the
Second Siege of Zaragoza in 1809 and her true identity was discovered.
She fought in the battles of Gamarra, Barbastro and notably in the
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leading to ...
(Gasteiz), when she came to the attention of General
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
. She reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.
After the war Ibaibarriaga married Lieutenant Félix Asenjo, and they had several children.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibaibarriaga, Maria
1788 births
1849 deaths
19th-century Spanish people
Basque history
Women soldiers
Spanish guerrillas
Female wartime cross-dressers
Women in 19th-century warfare
Women in war in Spain
Basque women
People of the Peninsular War
Spanish female military personnel