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. Francisco’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 Francisco’s adventures provides a window into daily life in sixteenth-century Spain, as well as the mentalité and experience of conquest and settlement of the New World. Told from the point of view of the conquerors, Francisco’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 Ginzberg’s The Cheese and the Worms and Natalie Zemon Davis’ The Return of Martin Guerre, Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance illuminates an historical period—the world of sixteenth-century Spain and Peru—through the wonderful and unusual story of one man and his two wives. "A remarkably juicy tale that opens a window onto daily life at the height of the conquest of the Americas. . . . A thoroughly compelling story." --Mary Talbot," Newsweek" "A steamy drama involving an arranged marriage, sexual intrigue, a couple of scheming nuns . . . a lengthy struggle between two women married to the same man and a handful of lawyers. All that plus two sobering thoughts: It happened more than 400 years ago. It is all true." --David Shribman, "Wall Street Journal" "A well-paced historical narrative illuminating the hidden recesses of private life in the two worlds of Europe and America." --J. H. Elliott," The New York Review of Books" "Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa, along with his second wife, returned home to Spain in 1557 after a profitable 20-year sojourn in Peru. . . . Charged with bigamy on his arrival in Spain, he was arrested and incarcerated. . . . The authors trace Noguerol's peregrinations through a meticulous culling of the labyrinthine legal documents of the bigamy case as well as notary and municipal records of the period. In doing so they open a window on the 16th-century conquest as it was lived by those of the lower rungs of the social ladder, the middle class and minor nobility." --Times of the Americas "It was impossible to put this book down. It is a superb example of excellence in historical reconstruction and narrative. It is also a fine example of how, through the window of daily live and personal experience, we can apprehend and understand complex social and institutional processes. . . . For social historians who want their students to live history 'in the flesh, ' this work is a must." --Asuncion Lavrin, "Hispanic American Historical Review" 'A well-paced historical narrative illuminating the hidden recesses of private life in the two worlds of Europe and America.'--J.H. Elliott 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. Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance A Case of Transatlantic Bigamy By Alexandra Parma Cook, Noble David Cook Duke University Press Copyright © 1991 Duke University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8223-1222-2 Contents List of Illustrations and Maps, Preface, Acknowledgments, Prologue: Justice Be Fulfilled, The Indies, I She who Died, II Hardship and Risk, III Neither Rectitude Nor Tranquility, IV The Healthiest in Peru, V This City is Traitorous, VI This is the Head, VII Such Little Penitence, VIII Kissed Her on the Cheek, IX The Crown Jewel, X They Would Kill Me, XI Silver Common as Copper, XII On the First Ship, XIII I Promise You, XIV Relieve My Conscience, XV Used Force, XVI Justice will Not Be Lost, XVII She Should Receive, XVIII No Case is So Expensive, XIX In Truthful Ignorance, The Trial, XX He Should be Jailed, XXI In Search of the Fugitive, XXII I Have Presented Myself, XXIII Are You Married?, XXIV This Claim, XXV Foul Odors and Vapors, XXVI I Consent, XXVII No Hope of Survival, XXVIII Give Me the City, XXIX A Wise Man, XXX Shock and Great Sadness, XXXI Never Forgive the Nuns, XXXII He and She Knowing, XXXIII Married Life Together, XXXIV Compel and Force, XXXV Leave the House, XXXVI Contrary to the Truth, XX