Eleno de Céspedes
Eleno de Céspedes, also known as Elena de Céspedes (1545-d. after 1587), was a Spanish surgeon. Eleno was the first female surgeon known in Europe.
Life
Eleno was born Elena, in Granada, 1545. Born as either a slave or the daughter of slaves, she was free by the time she married, at the age of 15. From this first marriage, she got pregnant and gave birth to a son, though she only lived with her husband for a few months before learning of his death. She left her son in the care of a baker soon after his birth, and had no further contact with him.
After this, Elena began a new life as a male under the name Eleno. As such he served as a soldier in Andalucia, a tailor, and finally as a surgeon in Yepes. He was diagnosed as a hermaphrodite by a surgeon in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
Trial
His story became known in 1587 when, at the age of 40, he tried to marry María del Caño. After an initial examination resulting in testimony that Eleno was physiologically male, permission for this marriage was granted. Eleno's maleness was later challenged, and a second examination did not find male physiology nor any sign of hermaphroditism. Eleno was put on trial by the Spanish Inquisition, charged with sodomy "while pretending to be a man" , "contempt for the sanctity of marriage", "consorting with demons", and of being an "unruly woman" by rejecting a female gender role.
Eleno claimed in his own defense that he was not guilty of sodomy because though at the time of his first marriage he had been female, when he gave birth to his son, a penis-like organ emerged from him that engorged when aroused and retracted inside of him otherwise. He said that initially this organ was curved downward by skin, but a surgeon was able to successfully sever this skin, allowing Eleno to have sexual relations with women. Therefore, he had only had sex with a man as a woman, and with women as a man. Because a recent examination showed no sign of this organ, Eleno claimed it had withered away mere days before his imprisonment from a riding injury. He also had in his defense witnesses, previous female sexual partners of Eleno, who testified he had been a man during their sexual encounters.
Verdict
Eleno was convicted of bigamy instead of the charges he originally faced. This conviction was due to being unable to prove his previous husband was dead. The sentence was 200 lashes, public humiliation, and ten years working as a surgeon in a public hospital. For the time, the sentence was in line with those received by other male bigamists.
Sex and Gender
Eleno's sexual identity is debated, and the only information regarding it is his testimony during his trial. Possibilities include that Eleno was a transsexual man whose claims to being "hermaphrodite" were his attempts to explain his gender dysphoria without a specific word for it,[1] or that she was a lesbian who adopted male clothes and identity to acquire more social freedom (which would make Elena the first female surgeon known in Europe), and/or that the claims of hermaphroditism made during the trial were true.
References
- ↑ Emilio Maganto Pavón, El proceso inquisitorial contra Elena/o de Céspedes. Biografía de una cirujana transexual del siglo XVI, Madrid, 2007