The Basque Seroras: Local Religion, Gender, and Power in Northern Iberia, 1550–1800 by Amanda L. Scott (review)

Reviewed by: The Basque Seroras: Local Religion, Gender, and Power in Northern Iberia, 1550–1800 by Amanda L. Scott Lu Ann Homza The Basque Seroras: Local Religion, Gender, and Power in Northern Iberia, 1550–1800. By Amanda L. Scott. ( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2020. Pp. 246. $49.95. ISBN 978-1-501-74749-6.) This astute and beautifully written study extends our understanding of Catholic religious reform by focusing on a practically unknown phenomenon: the figure of the Basque serora. Up to now investigated primarily by anthropologists, the serora was a unique fixture in northern Iberia in the early modern period. She was a single woman, either never married or widowed. She was nominated and elected locally by her community to care for the nearby church or shrine; she then had to be examined and licensed by the bishop. Her caretaking duties usually involved sweeping, cleaning, laundering, and ironing. Seroras refilled the holy water when it ran low, kept the keys to the church, and even helped the priest to dress for Mass. Seroras could take care of the dead by cleaning tombs and arranging offerings of bread and wax left in their memory. They rang bells to call people to Mass and might also use bell-ringing to spread messages to the village and surrounding territory. Seroras were expected to serve for life, but they could leave to marry; they came to their position with a dowry, but also received a stipend as well as free housing. They were not tertiaries or nuns, and despite the Council of Trent's mandates, they were never cloistered. Over seven chapters, Scott lays out the background, duties, functions, and cultural and religious contributions of the seroras, as well as their demise under the Bourbon monarchy in 1769. She explains the seroras' similarities to and differences from other medieval and early modern semi-religious women. She elucidates the various ways in which women could secure nominations for this prestigious position, which often was a competitive process. She lays out the special place the seroras held as religious custodians for their local communities while still preserving their familial ties. Finally, she illuminates the gender expectations that could both [End Page 422] allow seroras to exist while also, sometimes, making them objects of communal concern. Scott's largest aim is to enlarge our understanding of lay female spirituality, not simply by adding another variation to an already long list, but by complicating what we think of as typical (34). Her largest conclusion is that the Basque seroras demonstrate how Tridentine reforms were negotiated on the ground. If the seroras sidestepped some Tridentine mandates, they also helped to implement them by informing the bishop of clerical improprieties and testifying to that effect in episcopal court. At the same time, the seroras and their neighbors engaged in a constant calibration as to when and whether to call in the bishop vis-à-vis maintaining local control of their religious priorities and practices. The depth of research behind this study cannot be overstated. Scott has gone through every imaginable archive in northern Iberia to find clues to the seroras' existence; she has plumbed legal and notarial records to great effect. Happily, she clearly explains her methods and takes every opportunity to note the challenges of her materials. I think the book might have benefitted from a more sustained discussion of honor. Future investigators might be able to clarify even further the nexus between the seroras' natal bonds and their neighbors' sense of responsibility for them. But Scott's work stands as a model of historical investigation and exposition, and should be read by a broad audience.