María Hermenegilda de Guisla y de Larrea

Other names/titles: La Marquesa de Guisla Guiscelan
Gender: F
Ethnic origin: White

Biographical details

The Marquesa de Guisla y Guicelín, she worked for the independence cause. Aged 70 she encouraged young revolutionaries who met at her house. She used her age to disguised her ambitions and worked as a spy and secret messenger. By day she met upper class Spaniards and at night related their news to the insurgents (Balta, 24).

She held tertulias attended by Riva Agüero and Francisco de Paula Quiroz. (Parra de Rieglo, 269-270)

The wife of Captain Carlos José de Guisla y Salazar, Marqués de Guisla Guiscelan, she hosted pro-independence meetings in her Lima home, at which Riva Agüero and Quiroz planned independence from Spain. San Martín ordered that she be awarded 50,000 pesos and that she become a member of the Orden del Sol in recognition for her efforts. (García y García, 258-259)

See also María Guisla, this could be the same person.