Leonor Rodríguez’s Bezoar Stone: Gender, Identity, and Influence in Late 16th-Century New Granada

As a woman of Indigenous and European ancestry living in late sixteenth-century Santafé de Bogotá, Leonor Rodríguez’s life was shaped by a flurry of objects flowing into and traveling out of New Granada’s highland capital city. Her untimely death in 1582, followed by an auction of her assets, reveals a woman deeply connected to commercial networks both local and transatlantic in scope. Indigenous cotton mantas, spools of thread, and bolts of European fabric suggest Leonor’s deft handling of textiles as both cultural and economic currency. Emeralds mined from Muzos, at least one gold-set bezoar stone, and coral, pearl, and gold jewelry demonstrate Leonor’s commitment to diversified assets. Furthermore, Leonor’s material life was complemented by her acquisition of land titles, which she purchased from local men to augment her wealth. Through an examination of Leonor’s life and her estate, this paper invites scholars to write new histories of how gender, race, and ethnicity influenced the commercial and political activity of the New Kingdom of Granada. Leonor’s life and death, which coincided during a time of immense change and political upheaval, suggest the existence of a robust trade network in the highlands with an influential mestiza woman, not a European man, at its helm.