Mariana de Pineda Muñoz
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Mariana de Pineda y Muñoz, generally known as Mariana Pineda, (September 1, 1804–May 26, 1831) was a Spanish national heroine.
At a very young age, she married Manuel Peralta Valte, a liberal army officer, and widowed in 1822 with two children. She became very involved in liberal causes. In 1828 she assisted the escape from prison of her cousin, Captain Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, a noted liberal who had been condemned to death for taking part in General Rafael Riego's insurrection.
In a search of her house in 1831, a flag was discovered with the embroidered slogan 'Equality, Freedom and Law' and she was arrested and accused of conspiracy. After a failed escape attempt she was detained in the Santa María Egipciaca convent in Granada. During the trial, the Judge tried to convince her to betray her accomplices in exchange for leniency, but she refused and was publicly executed on May 26.
In 1925 the playwright Federico García Lorca based his play Mariana Pineda on her story, propelling the popular heroine into legend and myth. Between 1965 and 1969 the French composer Louis Saguer (1907-1991) composed an opera on the subject. The work premiered in 1970 in Marseille and was awarded the Grand Opera Prize of Monaco (1970).
