Synopses & Reviews
Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance uncovers from history the fascinating and strange story of Spanish explorer Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa. in 1556, accompanied by his second wife, Francisco returned to his home in Spain after a profitable twenty-year sojourn in the new world of Peru. However, unlike most other rich
conquistadores who returned to the land of their birth, Francisco was not allowed to settle into a life of leisure. Instead, he was charged with bigamy and illegal shipment of silver, was arrested and imprisoned. Franciscoandrsquo;s first wife (thought long dead) had filed suit in Spain against her renegade husband.
So begins the labyrinthine legal tale and engrossing drama of an explorer and his two wives, skillfully reconstructed through the expert and original archival research of Alexandra Parma Cook and Noble David Cook. Drawing on the remarkable records from the trial, the narrative of Franciscoandrsquo;s adventures provides a window into daily life in sixteenth-century Spain, as well as the mentalitandeacute; and experience of conquest and settlement of the New World. Told from the point of view of the conquerors, Franciscoandrsquo;s story reveals not only the lives of the middle class and minor nobility but also much about those at the lower rungs of the social order and relations between the sexes.
In the tradition of Carlo Ginzbergandrsquo;s The Cheese and the Worms and Natalie Zemon Davisandrsquo; The Return of Martin Guerre, Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance illuminates an historical periodandmdash;the world of sixteenth-century Spain and Peruandmdash;through the wonderful and unusual story of one man and his two wives.
About the Author
Alexandra Parma Cook is an independent scholar.
Noble David Cooks is Professor of History at Florida International University. They are coeditors of The Discovery and Conquest of Peru, also published by Duke University Press.