[Excerpt from Chapter 2.]
Writing her journals led Francisca to reading more and with gusto, but she showed no signs of putting down calculations, nor was she writing poetry. Was she philosophizing? Was Francisca in effect a smart woman? Mr. Pinelo felt mortified for having encouraged her to read, and voraciously. Men didn’t like tall women, even less smart women. A most respectful client considered a tragedy that his only son married a woman smarter than he was. He disinherited him.
What if Francisca didn't marry? Mr. Pinelo examined the pros and cons, using his double-entry accounting system. A father incurred exorbitant expenses rearing a daughter for a perfect stranger to come claiming her when she was at her best. Not only that, the father had to give out a dowry. It didn’t make sense. Where did European men get their supremacy notion? Other cultures were more civilized. Men in Africa gave the father of the bride pounds of lard, cattle, or large tracks of land. Mr. Pinelo, an accountant, trained to stay focused, dismounted the horse of the hypothetical to analyze specifics. How a day would be in the life of an unmarried Francisca? He imagined high karat conversations out in the garden, discussing books, devising business strategies, or solving numerical puzzles. The devil’s advocate, a tenuous voice in the back of his head, asked: And solitude? What about her womb withering without purpose? It was a tenuous voice. Mr. Pinelo deloused it.
Mr. Pinelo taught Francisca the principles of accounting, the science of lending for interest, which the Catholic Church sneered at, and the book of law Las Siete Partidas prohibited, but for which he had devised loopholes. He taught her taxation, business law, and advanced math for commercial calculations. Francisca proved not bad at calculations. Mr. Pinelo started taking her along. Her presence vexed some clients. The more superstitious, convinced women brought bad luck, asked her to step out. Others grew fond of her intelligence and welcoming smile. In time, most clients requested her presence. Father and daughter traveled to Trujillo, Salamanca, Valladolid, Toledo, Madrid (a small town then, or they said, the city of the future), Burgos and southwards to Seville. Seville was their favorite destination. Francisca spent hours visiting the Dutch bookseller in Calle del Mar. The Dutch brought books on every subject from all over Europe. Francisca’s intellectual hunger was vast.
[King Alphonse broke from the pack. He outlived friends and enemies. He outlived three generations. Life expectancy during his reign was 30. He reigned from 791 to 842. King Alphonse consolidated the conquest of Galicia and established a Bishopric.]
He was not alone in his longevity. Bishop Theodomiro of Galicia was also blessed with longevity. Fortunately I have Theodomiro. Nothing is worse than having no one to scrutinize memories, said King Alphonse. People thought the two men eternal, and the aura made them fearsome: besides the Savor only the Evil One was eternal.
To what did King Alphonse attribute his longevity? To chastity, and he’d put it axiomatically: Not bathing the bird brings many tomorrows. But half the time King Alphonse was in foul mood. Sexual deprivation exasperated his mood swings. Doctors advised him copulation to alleviate irritation.
To copulate one needs desire, the king rejected medical advice.
Doctors agreed. King Alphonse had not shown symptoms of desire.
One night doctors slipped to his chamber an opulent whore to ignite an erection. King Alphonse was a light-sleeper. He grabbed the gold scepter he kept at hand all the time—more deadly a weapon in solid gold than royal symbol. Once he dropped it on his foot and fractured two toes. Reaching the bed, the whore tried touching the King to ignite the erection. King Alphonse beat her mercilessly. He fractured her skull and broke at least three ribs. In spite of the fractures the whore managed to escape running. King Alphonse chased her out screaming:
I am chaste! I am chaste!
The Church had to intervene. His mood swings, paralleling sea tides, said Bishop Theodomiro, threatened the kingdom’s tranquility. He begged his permission to have the most eminent physicians and one anatomist demonstrate the carnal act.
Okay, said King Alphonse. Because it is you asking, and because scientific elucidation ignites my curiosity.
The eminent men of science brought to palace a beautiful maiden and a handsome boy. The girl laid face down while the anatomist pointed all the erogenous zones and sexual possibilities, asking her to push up or spread out different parts of her anatomy. He made her turn. She had beautiful eyes and breasts the color of milk. Little snowy hills crowned by raspberries that some men, said the anatomist, enjoy sucking or chewing on. He descended on her, and sticking his wooden pointer in her bellybutton, theorized on the purpose of her very dense pubic hair, or Venus bush, as commonly called.