#countess de la roca

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FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

[city-of-ladies]

Agustina de Aragón, Casta Álvarez and other heroines of the siege of Zaragoza

In 1808, the Spanish city of Zaragoza was besieged by the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Peninsular war was raging as the Spanish people resisted the French occupation. 

Women distinguished themselves in defense of their homes. One of them was Agustina Raimunda María Zaragoza Doménech (1786-1857), also known as Agustina de Aragón.  

Defender

In 1803, she married Juan Roca Vilaseca, a corporal in the Spanish Artillery. Since her husband had been stationed in Zaragoza in 1808, Agustina was present when the French troops besieged the city.

Many of the Spanish defenders of the strategic Portillo Gate had been wounded or killed following the French assaults. The enemy was beginning to storm the city. Agustina, who had been carrying food and water to the soldiers, stepped into the breach, retrieved a still-burning wick from the hand of a fallen gunner, and fired the cannon at the advancing French soldiers. Her courage rallied the defenders who repelled the assailants, thus saving the gate.

The Spanish Commander in Zaragoza, José de Palafox, heard of her bravery and rewarded her. Her exploit also won her international fame. Lord Byron wrote, for instance, a poem in her honor. 

Zaragoza’s other heroines

She wasn’t the only woman to take arms. Another was Casta Álvarez (1786-1846). Armed with a bayonet, she defended the Sancho Gate and was later awarded a pension by King Ferdinand VII.

Manuela Sancho (1783-1863) fought to defend the San José convent, riffle in hand. María de la Consolación Azlor, countess of Bureta, (1773-1814) organized a battery to repel a French assault on her home. The names of Benita Portales, Juliana Larena, and María Lostal are also remembered. Women also nursed the wounded and brought food and drink to the soldiers. María Agustín (1784-1831) was, for instance, wounded when bringing ammunition to the defenders. 

This first siege ended on August 14, 1808, but the French returned to besiege the city on December 19, 1808. Agustina wanted to fight but had contracted typhus and could only watch from her sickbed as the city was taken. Captured by the French, she and her son were forced to march to the frontier among a column of prisoners. She would probably have died if an officer had not placed her on the back of a mule. Agustina made it to Puenta de la Reina where she escaped. Her son died shortly afterward. 

Ensign 

Agustina reached the nearest headquarters of the Spanish army. She was made an ensign and served with her unit in Seville. She later fought in the defense of Tortosa and the battle of Vitoria, though her participation in the latter is subject to doubt.

After the end of the war in 1814, Agustina followed her husband to various military posts. After he died in 1823, she remarried to a doctor. She died in Ceuta on 29 May 1857.

Further reading

Esdaile Charles J., Women in the peninsular war

Fernandez Gilbert G., “Agustina de Aragón”, in: Bernard Cook (ed.), Women and war, an historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present vol.1

Lawrence Tone John, “Aragón, Augustina”, in: Higham Robin, Pennington Reina (ed.), Amazons to fighter pilots, biographical dictionary of military women, vol.1

Navascués Alcay Santiago, “Casta Álvarez Barceló”

Solduga Francisco Javier, “La Artillera del Portillo”

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Countess De La Roca: Bender, you risked your life to save me. Bender: And I’d do it again, and maybe even a third time! But that would be it. 

Episode 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

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My Friend Is Watching Futurama For The First Time

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FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

[futurama-in-color]

FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

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FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

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FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

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Bender, I don't care whether you have money. I love you for your artificial intelligence and your sincerity simulator. You do? Really?

FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

[futurama-in-color]

FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

[futurama-in-color]

FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

[futurama-in-color]

FUTURAMA 1.10 - A Flight to Remember

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