Fernán Caballero: An illustrious writer adopted by Seville

The name of Swiss writer Cecilia Böhl de Faber y Larrea, who wrote under the pseudonym of Fernán Caballero, can be found in several locations in Andalucía, especially in the province of Seville, where she lived for many years during the 19th century.

Born in Morges, Switzerland, in 1796, her family moved to Rota, Cadiz, in 1814, although she would travel extensively after marrying a military captain in 1816.

Following the death of her first husband in 1818, Caballero married Francisco Ruiz del Arco in 1822, an army captain and aristocrat who owned a house in Seville, and a farmhouse in the neighbouring town of Dos Hermanas, where there is a street named in her honour.

Caballero began to write stories inspired by the rich Andalusian folklore and her work was soon accepted among the elite literary circle in Seville, where she hosted gatherings that were attended by renowned writers like Washington Irving.

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She was said to have been a contradictory character, since, although she rejected politics, she wrote several novels taking a clear anti-liberal political stance, which rejected the idea of emancipated women.

Her second husband died in 1835, and she married for a third time two years later. However, this marriage failed and Caballero was left with severe financial difficulties. Her situation improved when Queen Isabel II offered her a house in the Alcázar in Seville, due to her status as a leading figure in Spanish literature.

She died in Seville 1877 and was buried in the pantheon of illustrious women in the Iglesia de la Anunciación.

In 2024, Rota town hall renamed Calle Fernán Caballero with her real name: Cecilia Böhl de Faber, an act that it said "aims to give visibility to one of the many women who, throughout history, have had to use pseudonyms to express themselves and fight for their rights".