Erauso’s full history as given in Kelly’s volume is compiled from an autobiography included _in toto_, certain “Relaciones” fairly well established as originating with Erauso herself, and references in the _De’ Viaggi ..._ of Pietro della Valle. Relegated by her family to the life of a nun, which she found intolerable, though three of her sisters took their vows, the girl escaped from her convent in 1607 at the age of about fifteen by contriving men’s garments from the stuff of her religious habit. Subsequently she shipped to South America, where for some time she lived by her wits and her sword. Later, to escape a prison sentence she joined the army, was promoted for bravery to the rank of ensign, and was entrusted with at least one special mission. For some ten to fifteen years she went unexposed and unrecognized even by her brother, under whom she served for a time in Peru. In 1622, however, he became suspicious, and assigned her to perilous duty, as a result of which wounds brought her so near death that she confessed her sex to a bishop, and her military career was naturally at an end. The alternative life as a nun was now more distasteful to her than ever, and within a year she sailed for Spain to obtain proof that she had never taken the final vows, and, if possible, to secure a pension from Philip III on the strength of her military service. It was at this time that _La Monja Alférez_ was written and presented, and perhaps partly through its sympathetic influence she had success in both her undertakings and was furthermore granted permission by Pope Urban VIII to continue wearing men’s clothes, though not to practice further deception about her true sex. Her European visit was thus somewhat in the nature of a triumph, though her family still refused to recognize her. Accordingly she returned to South America, became a wealthy owner of horses and mules, and was still thriving in the business of carrier when she died in her late fifties. Of her love life not too much is given, but it is all significant. At one point she tells of taking refuge, when wounded, with a halfbreed Indian woman, a widow, who wished to keep her on as son-in-law. The daughter, however, “was very black and ugly as the devil, the very opposite of my taste, which has always been for pretty faces.”[15] From this situation she quite simply ran away, as from a number of similar ones; but where the ladies were agreeable to her she postponed flight till the ultimate moment. While serving under her brother she even sometimes accompanied him to his mistress’ house, but when she took to going there on her own he became so jealous—believing her a man, of course—that he had her transferred to a distant post.