Usuario:Corgipup13/Constanza Nordenflycht

Corgipup13/Constanza Nordenflycht

María Constanza de Nordenflycht y Cortés de Azúa (Lima, 1808 - Santiago, 23 July 1837) was a Chilean aristocrat of Courland origin, famous for having been the partner of the conservative politician Diego Portals, with whom she had three children.

Early life

María Constanza's father was the Baron of Courland, Timoteus von Nordenflycht Auerbach (1752-1815), and her mother was a Chilean aristocrat, María Josefa Cortés de Azúa (?-1823).​ The couple had five children: Pedro, José Dionisio, Francisca, Ludomilia and María Constanza. María Josefa Cortés de Azúa was daughter of José Ramón Cortés and Madariaga, and a descendant of the conquistadors Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, as well as Francisca de Paula María de Azúa y Marín de Poveda, and granddaughter of the marchioness of Cañada Hermosa de Saint Bartolomé, María Constanza Marín de Poveda.​​

After she married, Francisca de Paula María y Azúa y Marín de Poveda went to live on the property Las Palmas, inherited from her parents, in the valley of Quillota. During her marriage, she suffered mistreatment and violence from her alcoholic husband, José Ramón Cortés y Madariaga, until they divorced when she already had five children. Francisca returned to Santiago, where she died young, in September 1784. Three of her children lived with the marchioness of Cañada Hermosa de Saint Bartolomé, while María Josefa and Eugenio went to Lima with Francisca's aunt María Rita de Azúa and Marín de Poveda. In Lima on 4 November 1796, María Josefa married Timoteus von Nordenflycht, a mineralogist. After his death in 1815, while on a trip to Spain, the family decided to go back to Santiago.

In Santiago, Chile

Constanza arrived in the Chilean capital in 1818, together with her great aunt María Rita of Azúa, who she had brought as company to lighten the burden for María Josefa. They stayed on the Azúa plot, situated on Compañía Street, where Ana Josefa waited for them, then the marchioness. Here she spent days accompanying her aunts, strolling by the city and studying piano.

A while later, her mother, María Josefa arrived from Lima with news that her brother Pedro had been shot. Pedro was a royalist, like the rest of the family, but had been confused for a Chilean patriot. for a arrived his mother María Josefa from Lima, bringing the news of the shooting of his brother Pedro, monarquista, as all the family, but was confused with a patriot. In June 1823, after contracting a cold, María Josefa died, leaving Constanza an orphan and plunged her into a deep depression.

Meeting Diego Portales

Six months after her mother's death, Constanza, now 15 years old, saw Diego Portales for the first time, who she fell in love with, despite him being twice her age.

Tenía Portales treinta y un años al visitar por primera vez la casa de la marquesa. Su carácter jovial, amigo de la buena charla, bromista, de conversación llena de recuerdos y de notas alegres, a veces salpicada del comentario liviano, hacía estimar su presencia en las reuniones familiares e íntimas [...] Aún la propia marquesa, que tan religiosa se mostraba, olvidando sus rezos y jaculatorias, dejaba pasar y oía las picardías sabrosas del visitante.

Gustavo Opazo M. y Manuel G. Balbontín.​

One day, Portales approached Constanza and invited her on a date, a private meeting in the house of "a lady of confidence". They left together with his maid to a house that remained in La Chimba, just across the river Mapocho. The maid waited in a small hovel adjoining to the room, with just a bed and a mud floor, which became a meeting place for the two, each time Portales visited Santiago.

On 20 September 1824, Constanza gave birth to her first daughter, Rosalía de los Dolores. Portales asked his sister Dolores that she take charge of everything and represent him in front of the family Azúa. The baby was registered as "[h]ija de don Diego Portales y C. N, solteros, nacida bajo palabra de matrimonio" and was supported by the sister of the politician and her husband Lorenzo Plaza de los Reyes. Once she was visibly pregnant, Constanza was forced to live in the countryside near Santiago. The aunts gave her a condition that in order to return to Santiago, she would have to go without the baby girl and commit to returning to her regular figure to avoid any association with a pregnancy. After her return to the Azúa property, she was punished by the marchioness. She could not live with her and was moved to the secondary courtyard with the servants.In Santiago, Constanza advocated for the marriage Portales had promised. She began to frequently visit Dolores Portales with the goal of hearing news of Diego Portales, but months passed without any news of him. On one of Portales' visits to Santiago, Constanza sent her maid to arrange a meeting; they were found sneaking back into the brothel on the other side of the Mapocho and in May of 1825, Constanza became pregnant again. Portales, enraged, returned to Valparaíso. In January 1826, Ricardo was born in the same field as Rosalía. Constanza was just 17 years old. This time, Portales was represented by his sister Manuela, who, alongside her husband Ignacio Morán, sponsored the baby.

Se le inscribió como hijo natural de don Diego Portales y doña A.T. Este niño nacía en peores condiciones legales que su hermana; era simplemente natural, no ya bajo palabra de matrimonio y además escondía la identidad de la madre bajo iniciales falseadas.

Opazo y Balbontín.​

Two months after the marchioness allowed her niece to stay at the Azúa property, on the condition that she stopped seeing Portales. The conditions were worse: she could only be with her aunts to pray the rosary and on walks, she had to appear normal, dressed in hand-me-downs from her cousins and could only eat half portions of meals.

In July of 1827 Constanza became sick with bronchopneumonia. Portales heard of the severity and travelled to Santiago, where he was warned that the illness was severe of the gravity of the illness and travelled to Santiago, where he learned that Constanza had been evicted. At the property, he decided to marry Constanza as she was dying, and intended to go speak with her aunts to The marchioness warned him that if Constanza died, he would speak to the aunts to go through with the marriage. Constanza learned Portales was there and recovered, but Portales returned left again without marrying her.

In 1830, the interim president José Tomás Ovalle appointed Portales as Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs. With this new title, Constanza thought that Portales would reconsider and decide to fix the situation and move to Santiago. But after accepting the position, Portales sent her a letter that stated that he had a responsibility to the county and would now have less time to see her. The next year, Portales left his position and returned to Valparaíso. Constanza, still believing his manipulation, went to visit him where she later gave birth to her third and last son, who was sponsored by Portales' maid and her husband.

Constanza died at 29, in 1837, shortly after the murder of Portales, and was buried in yard 5 of the Santiago General Semetary.

Children's legitimacy

On 31 August 1837, the president José Joaquín Prieto issued a rescript that legitimated the three children of Constanza Nordenflycht and Diego Portales. Later, in July of 1840, the Congress approved for Rosalía (1824-1906), Ricardo (1826-1905) and Juan Santiago Portals Nordenflycht (1833-?) a pension of 1200 annual pesos for each for four years.

Legacy

There are three novels about the relationship between Constanza Nordenflycht and Diego Portals: Don Diego Portales, by Magdalena Petit (1937); La emperrada (2001), by Marta Blanco, and Constanza dee Nordenflycht: La querida de Portales (2005), by Eugenio Rodríguez. The two last books are critical of Portales, who left Constanza pregnant when she was 15 years old and despite having three children, refused to marry her.​ In an interview with The Mercury of Valparaíso, Blanco explained that she revised the idea that Constanza died shortly after Portales because of love. She wanted to show that Constanza only experienced poverty, loneliness, and pain from him. Many of her children did not survive birth. If she died of anything, it was a lack of love.​

External links

• Interview with Eugenio Rodríguez, author of the novel Constanza de Nordenflycht. La querida de Portales

[[Categoría:19th-century women]]