Federico García Lorca mixed historical data with those of romance and popular legend. The real Mariana Pineda was younger when she died (26 years old) than the character in Lorca’s drama (37 years old). She was a Spanish liberal executed during the Restoration of Ferdinand VII.
She was a widow and had two children. It was during the Liberal Triennium when she adhered to the liberal cause and after the new restoration of absolutism of Ferdinand VII she welcomed persecuted liberals into her home. She was away from Granada for two years and when she returned he helped a cousin of her called Fernando Álvarez Sotomayor (Lorca changed his name) to escape. The mayor of the crime of Granada, Ramón Pedrosa suspected her and went to her house on several occasions. On March 18, 1831 the police broke into her house (Calle del Aguila, in Granada). They found the flag there and she was placed under house arrest. After her escape attempt, she was imprisoned in the convent of the Arrecogidas de Santa Maria Egipciaca. She was condemned to death and executed on May 26, 1831.
There is no data to prove her love for her cousin or the harassment she suffered from Pedrosa.