Hierarchized Bodies, Irrelevant Violence: Forced Defloration in Santafé and Tunja in the Early 17th Century; Corpos hierarquizados, violências irrelevantes: defloramento forçado em Santafé e Tunja no início do século XVII; Cuerpos jerarquizados, violencia

Abstract

This article analyzes the judicial processing and the meanings attributed to forced defloration in Santafé and Tunja in the early 17th century. First, it explains the criminal offense of estupro and its relationship to forzamiento in the Castilian legal tradition. Then, it delves into three cases preserved in the General Archive of the Nation of Colombia, dated 1606, 1613, and 1619. Based on these cases, the article demonstrates the irrelevance of violence when judging what we would now consider rape, as well as the differential valuation of the victims’ bodies, which determined whether or not the perpetrators were sanctioned.