Ana Felix and Don Gregorio: love, exile, and hope for reunion across the sea

Ana Felix and Don Gregorio are lovers whose separation turns the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain into a personal ordeal: he follows her into exile in disguise, only for their journey to end with him confined in Algiers and her sent back across the sea. Their story links mutual attachment to religious identity, forced displacement, and a rescue plan whose outcome remains unresolved in the account presented here.

Love and the Journey into Exile

Before their separation, Ana Felix and Don Gregorio find opportunities to see one another despite the seclusion in which she lives. She describes their affection as mutual: his heart was lost to her, and she did not keep hers from him. When the expulsion begins, Don Gregorio chooses to accompany her rather than remain in Spain. He joins a group of Moriscos leaving other villages, uses his knowledge of their language to pass among them, and befriends the two uncles accompanying Ana. Their shared journey is therefore not an accidental crossing of paths: it is his deliberate effort to remain with her as she is driven from the country.

Ana’s father, Ricote, had left Spain earlier in search of refuge and hidden a valuable store of pearls, precious stones, and money, entrusting the location only to his daughter. Ana travels with her uncles and other relatives and neighbors to Algiers, while Don Gregorio’s disguise initially lets him travel in the same company. Their closeness is tested by the conditions of exile: togetherness depends on concealment, and the danger surrounding them grows once they reach Algiers.

Separation in Algiers

The ruler of Algiers summons Ana after hearing of her beauty and wealth. He learns that the treasure is buried in Spain and plans for her return to recover it. At the same time, reports reach him of the handsome young person accompanying her. Ana recognizes that Don Gregorio is in danger if his sex is discovered: she explains that the Turks might value a fair young man even more highly than a beautiful woman. To protect him, she tells the ruler that Don Gregorio is a woman, dresses him in Moorish women’s clothing, and presents him in that disguise.

The plan protects Don Gregorio from immediate exposure but separates the lovers. The ruler decides to keep the supposed young woman and send her as a gift to the Grand Signor. Concerned about the risk she might face among the women of the seraglio, he orders her placed in the house of women of rank, where she is to be protected and attended to. Ana is meanwhile arranged to return to Spain aboard a brigantine, accompanied by two Turks and a Spanish renegade. Her account makes the emotional cost of the separation clear without resolving how long it will last: she says that she and Don Gregorio suffer because they love one another and have been parted.

Rumors and Recognition

Before Ana’s identity is publicly established, Sancho tells Ricote what he witnessed when Ricote’s daughter left their village. She wept, embraced friends and acquaintances, and asked them to commend her to God and Our Lady. Sancho recalls that the sight moved him to tears, despite his usual reluctance to weep. The villagers were struck by her departure, but fear of disobeying the king’s command kept anyone from hiding or carrying her away.

Sancho also reports that Don Pedro Gregorio, a wealthy young heir whom Ricote knew, seemed deeply affected and had not been seen in the village since Ana’s departure. The villagers suspected that he had gone after her to carry her off, though they had received no news. Ricote admits that he had suspected the young man’s passion for his daughter, but says he had trusted her virtue and believed she would not be drawn into an affair. Ana’s later account confirms the central part of the rumor—that Don Gregorio did follow her—while correcting its imagined purpose: he accompanied her in exile rather than pursuing her to abduct her.

A Rescue Planned, Not Completed

After Ana explains who she is, Ricote’s connection to her is recognized, and the authorities turn to the danger facing Don Gregorio. Ricote offers more than two thousand ducats in pearls and gems toward the effort to recover him. A renegade proposes returning to Algiers in a small vessel with Christian rowers, claiming to know where and when to land and which house holds Don Gregorio. The general and the viceroy hesitate to trust him with the mission, but Ana says she can answer for his reliability. Ricote adds that he will pay the Christians’ ransom if they do not return.

The agreement creates a concrete possibility of reunion, but not a completed one. The renegade is to lead the journey back; Ana and her father are entrusted to Don Antonio Moreno’s hospitality in the meantime. The account thus leaves the lovers separated, with a rescue proposed and supported by both Ana and Ricote, but without reporting Don Gregorio’s recovery. Their relationship remains defined by commitment across successive separations: first Don Gregorio chooses exile beside Ana, then she risks entrusting his return to a mission whose success has yet to be established.