ABSTRACT
Catalina de Ysásaga, described as a morena libre or free Afro-Peruvian woman, on what she took to be her deathbed in 1578 articulated her final desires before a notary: to be buried in the church of San Agustín, accompanied by her parish priest from San Marcelo and her brothers and sisters from the cofradía of Santa Ana, and memorialized by seven masses that same day and others on days to follow, indefinitely through the establishment of a capellanía.2 This outpouring of support would be financed with the proceeds of her estate, which was substantial for an Afro-Peruvian woman in the sixteenth century: she owned a set of houses in the San Marcelo neighborhood where she lived; 100 pesos in silver, held for her by a Spanish merchant; some furniture, clothing, and housewares; and a slave, Juana Zape, whom she had previously purchased with her own funds in a notarized sale.3
