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Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is born
November 12, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz de Asbaje y Ramirez is born in the village of San Miguel Mepantla near Mexico City. She is the illegitimate child of a Spanish Captain, Pedro Manuel de Asbaje and Isabe Ramirez. The father, according to all accounts, is absent from her life. She is baptized December 2 when she is registered on the Church rolls as "a daughter of the Church" because her parents were not married. She is raised in the country at the home of her maternal grandfather. -
Interest in books.
At the age of three, Sor Juana follows her sister to a school for "amigas" (girls) and coaxes the teacher into teaching her to read. She then turns to her grandfather's library and is unstoppable in her quest of learning through study of his books. -
Sor Juana reads every book in her grandfather's library.
1654-1658, Sor Juana hears of the university in Mexico City and begs her mother to send her there disguised as a boy. Her mother refuses, so Sor Juana continues to content herself with her grandfather's library. She writes a dramatic poem for the Eucharist and inflicts punishments on herself for not learning fast enough. She receives twenty Latin grammar lessons which she forces herself to learn well by cutting her hair off everytime she doesn't learn a certain point. -
Sor Juana moves to Mexico City
Sor Juana is sent to live with her aunt in Mexico City. By this time, Sor Juana's knowledge and memory is amazing and she becomes known as a prodigy. -
Sor Juana meets the new viceregal couple.
1664-1669, A new viceregal couple, Antonio Sebastian de Toledo, Marquis de Mancera, and Leonor Carreto arrive in Mexico City. They hear of Sor Juana and she is presented at their court. Vicereine Leonor takes the sixteen year-old girl under her wing as a maid-in-waiting. Sor Juana spends five years in the court of the viceregal couple. She continues to develop intellectually and socially. -
Sor Juana enters the covent.
Sor Juana enters the Convent of the Order of St. Jerome where she remains until her death. In his forward to A Sor Juana Anthology, Octavio Paz notes that the life of this Convent was not austere. The nuns had private living quarters, often occupying two floors, and complete with kitchens, baths and parlors. Many of the nuns, including Sor Juana, had servants. This lifestyle allows Sor Juana to amass her own library, to write, correspond, study, and hold intellectual court with her -
New vigeregal couple.
The viceregal term of the Marquis and Marquise de Mancera ends. Sor Juana remains on good terms with the viceregal court, now headed by Archbishop Friar Payo Enriques de Ribera, although he does not attend her intellectual gatherings as frequently. -
Sor Juana writes the secular play, The Trials of a Noble House.
Sor Juana writes the secular play, The Trials of a Noble House. -
Sor Juana writes more poetry.
Sor Juana writes another secular play, Love, the Greater Labyrinth. Marquise de la Laguna has an anthology of Sor Juana's poetry published in Spain under the title The Overflowing of the Castalian Spring, by the Tenth Muse of Mexico. Sor Juana also writes a sacramental play, The Divine Narcissus at the Marquise's request.Sor Juan -
Sor Juana defends herself.
1 March, Sor Juana publishes Reply to Sor Philothea. In it, she recounts her intellectual history, defends herself and defends women's rights to education . Pressure on her to turn from worldly intellectualism is increased. -
Sor Juana dies.
17 April, Sor Juana dies of the plague after caring for her sick sisters.
