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Converso

January 09, 2024

A converso (Spanish: [komˈbeɾso]; Portuguese: [kõˈvɛɾsu]; feminine form conversa), "convert", (from Latin conversvs 'converted, turned around') was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.

To safeguard the Old Christian population and make sure that the converso "New Christians" were true to their new faith, the Holy Office of the Inquisition was established in Spain in 1478. The Catholic Monarchs of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the remaining openly practising Jews by the Alhambra Decree of 1492, following the Christian Reconquista (reconquest) of Spain. However, a significant proportion of these remaining practising Jews chose to join the already large converso community rather than face exile.[1][verification needed]

Conversos who did not fully or genuinely embrace Catholicism, but continued to practise Judaism in secrecy, were referred to as judaizantes "Judaizers" and pejoratively as marranos "swine".

New Christian converts of Muslim origin were known as moriscos. Unlike Jewish conversos, moriscos were subject to an edict of expulsion even after their conversion to Catholicism, which was implemented severely in Valencia and in Aragón and less so in other parts of Spain.[citation needed]

Conversos played a vital role[which?] in the 1520–1521 Revolt of the Comuneros, a popular uprising in the Crown of Castile against the rule of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.[2]

History edit

Ferrand Martínez, Archdeacon of Écija, directed a 13-year antisemitic campaign that began in 1378. Martínez used a series of provocative sermons,[3] through which he openly condemned the Jews with little to no opposition. He rallied non-Jews against the Jews, creating a constant state of fear through riots. Martínez's efforts led to a series of outbreaks of violence on 4 June 1391,[4] where several synagogues in Seville were burned to the ground and churches were erected in their place. Amidst this outbreak, many Jews fled the country, some converted to Christianity in fear, and some were sold to Muslims. Martínez set in motion the largest forced mass conversion of Jews in Spain.[4]

Both the Church and the Crown had not anticipated such a large-scale conversion stemming from the unplanned anti-Semitic campaign led by Martínez. The new converts represented a new problem. Their conversion temporarily resolved the friction between the Christian and Jewish populations in Spain; however, it led to the creation of a new group that was neither completely Catholic nor Jewish and new tensions resulted.[5]

Conversos, who were now fully privileged citizens, competed in all aspects of the economic sphere. This resulted in a new wave of racial anti-Semitism that targeted conversos. This anti-Semitism evolved into small and large riots in Toledo, 1449, that now oppressed not Jews by Christians, but New Christians (conversos) by the Old Christians. Thus, the Crown established an office of the Inquisition in 1478, monitored the religious loyalty a newly-baptized Christian (converso). Such religious surveillance continued to the descendants of converts.[6] Often due to continued oppression, some Jews and conversos fled Spain, going to Portugal, then when the Portuguese crown instituted similar anti-Jewish policies as Spain's, they migrated particularly for the Netherlands. Others created crypto-Jewish communities to ensure the survival of Judaism in the Iberian Peninsula, although outwardly practicing Christianity.[5]

Perpetuation of Jewish heritage edit

Conversas played a pivotal role in keeping Jewish traditions alive by observing many Jewish holidays such as Shabbat. They prepared traditional Jewish dishes in honor of the Sabbath (starting on Friday sundown), Yom Kippur, and other religious holidays. During festivals such as Sukkot and Passover, Conversas participated by giving clothing articles and ornaments to Jewish women, attending a seder, or obtaining a baking matzah. Conversas ensured that their household maintained similar dietary regulations as their Jewish counterparts, by eating only kosher birds and other animals. These women also financially contributed to the growth of the Jewish/Converso community and synagogue.[5] The Jewish community and conversos exchanged books and knowledge, Jews taught conversos how to read to ensure constant growth of their Jewish heritage. To take a stance against the church and its principles, some conversos performed professional work even on Sundays.[5]

The traditional Jewish Purim was kept by conversos still adhering to Jewish observances in the disguise of a Christian holiday, they named it "Festival of Santa Esterica".[citation needed]

Description edit

 
Saint Joseph of Anchieta (1534–1597), Spanish Jesuit missionary to Brazil and one of the founders of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. José de Anchieta was a descendant of Jewish converts through the maternal line.

Conversos were subject to suspicion and harassment from both what was left of the community they were leaving and that which they were joining.[7] Both Christians and Jews called them tornadizo (renegade). James I, Alfonso X and John I passed laws forbidding the use of this epithet. This was part of a larger pattern of royal oversight, as laws were promulgated to protect their property, forbid attempts to convert them back to Judaism or the Muslim faith, and regulate their behaviour, preventing their cohabitation or even dining with Jews, lest they convert back.

Conversos did not enjoy legal equality. Alfonso VII prohibited the "recently converted" from holding office in Toledo. They had supporters and bitter opponents in the Christian secular of general acceptance, yet they became targets of occasional pogroms during times of social tension (as during an epidemic and after an earthquake). They were subject to the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions.

While "pure blood" (so-called limpieza de sangre), free of the "taint" of non-Christian lineage, would come to be placed at a premium, particularly among the nobility, in a 15th-century defence of conversos, Bishop Lope de Barrientos would list what Roth calls "a veritable 'Who's Who' of Spanish nobility" as having converso members or being of converso descent. He pointed out that given the near-universal conversion of Iberian Jews during Visigothic times, (quoting Roth) "[W]ho among the Christians of Spain could be certain that he is not a descendant of those conversos?"[8]

With advances in science able to trace individuals' ancestry via their DNA, according to a widely publicised study (December 2008) in the American Journal of Human Genetics, modern Spaniards (and Portuguese) have an average admixture of 19.8 percent from ancestors originating in the Near East during historic times (i.e. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Jews and Levantine Arabs) – compared to 10.6 percent of North African – Berber admixture.[9][10][11] This proportion could be as high as 23% in the case of Latin Americans, however, according to a study published in Nature Communications.[12][13] The possibly higher proportion of significant Jewish ancestry in the Latin American population could stem from increased emigration of Conversos to the New World to avoid persecution by the Spanish Inquisition.[13]

By country edit

In Spain edit

See also: Xueta Christianity
 
Church of Montesión (Mount Zion) in Palma de Mallorca, the main Church of Xuetas of Majorca.[14]

The Chuetas are a current social group on the Spanish island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea, who are descendants of Majorcan Jews that either were conversos (forcible converts to Christianity) or were Crypto-Jews, forced to keep their religion hidden. They practiced strict endogamy by marrying only within their own group.

The Chuetas has been stigmatized up until today in Balearic Islands. In the latter part of the 20th century, the spread of freedom of religion and laïcité reduced both the social pressure and community ties. An estimated 18,000 people in the island carry Chueta surnames in the 21st century.[15] Traditionally, The church of Saint Eulalia and the church of Montesión (Mount Zion) in Palma de Mallorca have been used by the families of Jewish converts (Xuetas).[16][14]

All this, however, does not imply the complete elimination of rejection behaviors, as indicated by a survey carried out among Majorcans by the University of the Balearic Islands in 2001, in which 30% stated that they would never marry a Chueta and 5% declared that they do not even want to have Chueta friends.[17]

In Italy edit

Specific groups of conversos left Spain and Portugal after the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, in search for a better life. They left for other parts of Europe, especially Italy,[18] where they were inevitably looked at with suspicion and harassment, both in their old and new communities. Subsequently, many conversos who arrived in Italian cities did not openly embrace their Judaism, since they were tempted by the advantages they could seek in the Christian world.[18]

The first three cities to accept the conversos who openly converted back to Judaism, were Florence, Ferrara, and Ancona. Most of these conversos appeared after 1536 from Portugal, and most lived in Florence. In 1549, Duke Cosimo de' Medici allowed the Portuguese conversos to trade and reside within Florence. Most of the re-converted Jews lived in the ghetto of Florence, and by 1705 there were 453 Jews in the city.[18]

Conversos arrived to Ferrara in 1535, and were able to assimilate with their neighbours, perform circumcisions, and return openly to Judaism, due to the Lettres Patentes issued by Duke Ercole II. After the plague in 1505 and the eventual fall of Ferrara in 1551, many of these Jews relocated North towards the economically stable ports in Venice. Venice slowly became a center for conversos who either stopped temporarily on their way to Turkey or stayed permanently as residents in the ghetto Jewish community port. Venetian leaders were convinced to openly accept conversos to practice Judaism because they recognised that if conversos were not welcome in Venice, they would take their successful trades to the country's economic rival of Turkey. A Portuguese converso in Venice, named Abraham de Almeda, connected strongly with Christianity, however, turned to the Jewish members of his family when in need of financing for moral support. As a result, many of the conversos during this period struggled with their Christian and Jewish identities.[18]

Conversos in the city of Ancona faced difficult lives living under the pope and eventually fled to Ferrara in 1555. Portuguese conversos in Ancona were falsely misled that they were welcome to Ancona and that they could openly convert back to Judaism. Their fate was overturned by the succeeding pope, Pope Paul IV. The conversos in Ancona faced traumatic emotional damage after the pope imprisoned 102 conversos who refused to reside in the ghetto and wear badges to distinguish themselves. In 1588, when the duke granted a charter of residence in return for the conversos building up the city's economy, they refused, due to accumulated scepticism.[18]

See also edit

Further reading edit

  • Alberro, Solange. Inquisición y sociedad en México, 1571–1700. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1993.[ISBN missing]
  • Alexy, T. The Marrano Legacy: A Contemporary Crypto-Jewish Priest Reveals Secrets of His Double Life. University of New Mexico Press 2002. ISBN 978-0-8263-3055-0. OCLC 51059087.
  • Amelang, James. Historias paralelas: Judeoconversos y moriscos en la España moderna. Madrid: Ediciones Akal, 2011.
  • Beinart, Haim. "The Conversos in Spain and Portugal in the 16th to 18th Centuries", in Moreshet Sepharad: TheSephardi Legacy, ed. Haim Beinart. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1992.[ISBN missing]
  • Beinart, Haim. "The Records of the Inquisition: A Source of Jewish and Converso History", Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2 (1968).
  • Beinart, Haim. Conversos ante la inquisición. Jerusalem: Hebrew University 1965.
  • Bodian, Miriam. Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.
  • Bodian, Miriam. “'Men of the Nation': The Shaping of Converso Identity in Early Modern Europe". Past & Present 143 (1994): 48–76.
  • Brooks, Andrée Aelion. The Woman who Defied Kings: the life and times of Dona Gracia Nasi, Paragon House, 2002. ISBN 1557788294
  • Dirks, Doris A. "I will make the Inquisition burn you and your sisters: The role of gender and kindship in accusations against Conversas." Magistra 6.2 (2000): 28.
  • Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio. Los judeoconversos en la España moderna. Madrid: Editorial MAPFRE, 1992.
  • Gerber, Jane S. The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience. New York: The Free Press 1994. ISBN 978-0029115749.
  • Gitlitz, David. Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews, Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2002. ISBN 082632813X
  • Gojman de Backal, Alicia. "Conversos" in Encyclopedia of Mexico. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, vol. 1, pp. 340–344.
  • Gojman Goldberg, Alicia. Los conversos en la Nueva España. Mexico City: Enep-Acatlan, UNAM 1984.
  • Greenleaf, Richard E. The Mexican Inquisition in the Sixteenth Century. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1969.
  • Jacobs, J. Hidden Heritage: The Legacy of the Crypto-Jews. University of California Press 2002. ISBN 978-0-520-23517-5. OCLC 48920842
  • Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1965.
  • Lafaye, Jacques. Cruzadas y Utopias: El judeocristianismo en las sociedades Ibéricas. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1984.
  • Lanning, John Tate. "Legitimacy and Limpieza de Sangre in the Practice of Medicine in the Spanish Empire." Jahrbuch für Geschicte 4 (1967)
  • Liebman, Seymour. Los Judíos en México y en América Central. Mexico city: Siglo XXI 1971.
  • Martínez, Maria Elena. "Limpieza de Sangre" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, vol. 1, pp. 749–752. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.
  • Navarrete Peláez, María Cristina. "Judeoconversos en el Nuevo Reino de Granada." In Los judíos en Colombia: Una aproximación histórica, edited by Adelaida Sourdis Nájera and Alfonso Velasco Rojas, 26–52. Madrid: Casa Sefarad Israel, 2011.
  • Navarrete Peláez, María Cristina.. La diáspora judeoconversa en Colombia, siglos XVI y XVII: Incertidumbres de su arribo, establecimiento y persecución. Cali: Universidad del Valle, 2010.
  • Novoa, Nelson. Being the Nação in the Eternal City: New Christian Lives in Sixteenth-Century Rome. Peterborough: Baywolf Press 2014
  • Pulido Serrano, Juan Ignacio. "Converso Complicities in an Atlantic Monarchy: Political and Social Conflicts behind the Inquisitorial Persecutions". In The Conversos and Moriscos in Late Medieval Spain and Beyond, Volume Three: Displaced Persons, edited by KevinIngram and Juan Ignacio Pulido Serrano, 117–128. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
  • Pulido Serrano, Juan Ignacio. "Political Aspects of the Converso Problem: On the Portuguese Restauraçao of 1640". In The Conversos and Moriscos in Late Medieval Spain and Beyond, Volume Two: The Morisco Issue, edited by Kevin Ingram, 219–246. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
  • Roth, Norman, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. ISBN 0299142302
  • Saban, Mario Javier. Judíos Conversos: Los antepasados judíos de las familias tradicionales argentinas. Buenos Aires: Editorial Distal, 1990.
  • Seed, Patricia. To Love, Honor, and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts over Marriage Choices, 1574–1821. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1988.
  • Sicroff, Albert A. Los estatutos de limpieza de sangre. Translated by Mauro Armiño. Madrid: Tauros 1985.
  • Soyer, François. “'It is not possible to be both a Jew and a Christian': Converso Religious Identity and the Inquisitorial Trial of Custodio Nunes (1604–5).” Mediterranean Historical Review 26 (2011): 81–97.
  • Tobias, H.J. A History of the Jews in New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press 1992.[page needed]. ISBN 978-0-8263-1390-4. OCLC 36645510
  • Ventura, Maria da Graça A. "Los judeoconversos portugueses en el Perú del siglo XVII: Redes de complicidad". In Familia, Religión y Negocio: El sefardismo en las relaciones entre el mundo ibérico y los Países Bajos en la Edad Moderna, edited by Jaime Contreras, Bernardo J. García García, e Ignacio Pulido, 391–406. Madrid: Fundación Carlos Amberes, 2002.

References edit

  1. ^ Alicia Gojman de Backal, "Conversos" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, vol. 1, p. 340.
  2. ^ Hernando, Máximo Diago (2015). "Líderes de origen judeoconverso en las ciudades castellanas durante la revuelta comunera: su papel al frente de Común de pecheros". Carlos V: Conversos y Comuneros: Liber Amicorum Joseph Pérez, 2015, ISBN 978-84-608-4640-6, Págs. 71–102 (in Spanish). Centro de Estudios del Camino de Santiago: 71–102. ISBN 9788460846406.
  3. ^ "Ferrán Martínez's speech at the Tribunal del Alcázar in Seville, 19 February, 1388 (English version)". 10 September 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ a b Lea, Henry Charles (1 January 1896). "Ferrand Martinez and the Massacres of 1391". The American Historical Review. 1 (2): 209–219. doi:10.2307/1833647. JSTOR 1833647.
  5. ^ a b c d Melammed, Renee (1999). Heretics or Daughters of Israel. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 3–10, 86–95, 166–174.
  6. ^ Bodian, Miriam. "Men of the Nation": The Shaping of Converso Identity in Early Modern Europe." Past & Present, No. 143 (May, 1994), pp. 48-76
  7. ^ Novoa, James William Nelson (28 December 2014). Being the Nação in the Eternal City: New Christian Lives in Sixteenth-Century Rome. Baywolf Press / Éditions Baywolf. ISBN 978-0-921437-52-9.
  8. ^ Roth, p. 93
  9. ^ Adams, Susan M.; Bosch, Elena; Balaresque, Patricia L.; Ballereau, Stéphane J.; Lee, Andrew C.; Arroyo, Eduardo; López-Parra, Ana M.; Aler, Mercedes; Grifo, Marina S. Gisbert; Brion, Maria; Carracedo, Angel; Lavinha, João; Martínez-Jarreta, Begoña; Quintana-Murci, Lluis; Picornell, Antònia; Ramon, Misericordia; Skorecki, Karl; Behar, Doron M.; Calafell, Francesc; Jobling, Mark A. (2008). "The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 83 (6): 725–36. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007. PMC 2668061. PMID 19061982.
  10. ^ "Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia – life". New Scientist. 4 December 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  11. ^ Zalloua, Pierre A.; Platt, Daniel E.; El Sibai, Mirvat; Khalife, Jade; Makhoul, Nadine; Haber, Marc; Xue, Yali; Izaabel, Hassan; Bosch, Elena; Adams, Susan M.; Arroyo, Eduardo; López-Parra, Ana María; Aler, Mercedes; Picornell, Antònia; Ramon, Misericordia; Jobling, Mark A.; Comas, David; Bertranpetit, Jaume; Wells, R. Spencer; Tyler-Smith, Chris; The Genographic, Consortium (2008). "Identifying Genetic Traces of Historical Expansions: Phoenician Footprints in the Mediterranean". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 83 (5): 633–42. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.10.012. PMC 2668035. PMID 18976729.
  12. ^ Ruiz-Linares, Andrés; Hellenthal, Garrett; Balding, David; Rothhammer, Francisco; Bedoya, Gabriel; Gallo, Carla; Poletti, Giovanni; Canizales-Quinteros, Samuel; Bortolini, Maria-Cátira (19 December 2018). "Latin Americans show wide-spread Converso ancestry and imprint of local Native ancestry on physical appearance" (PDF). Nature Communications. 9 (1): 5388. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.5388C. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-07748-z. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6300600. PMID 30568240.
  13. ^ a b Ronel, Asaf (27 December 2018). "A Surprising Number of Latin Americans Have Jewish Roots, Study Finds". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  14. ^ a b ""A Dead Branch on the Tree of Israel" The Xuetas of Majorca". Commentary. 17 February 1957.
  15. ^ "| L'Hora D | Els xuetes, crònica dels jueus conversos de Mallorca - 13-2". ib3.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  16. ^ "The New Yorker reviving Jewish life on a holiday island". BBC. 18 August 2019.
  17. ^ Santamaría Arández, Álvaro (1 January 1997). "Sobre la condición de los conversos y chuetas de Mallorca". Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie III, Historia Medieval (10). doi:10.5944/etfiii.10.1997.3609. ISSN 2340-1362.
  18. ^ a b c d e Melammed, Renee Levine (2004). A Question of Identity: Iberian Conversos in Historical Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 109–133. ISBN 0195170717.

External links edit

  • Ana Gómez-Bravo, "Conversos and identity in the poetry of the fifteenth century"  (poems of Comendador Román and Antón de Montoro, excerpts from Andrés Bernáldez's Memorias and the Libro de Alborayque [late 15th century]), in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology))
  • Selections in English and Spanish of Ferrán Martínez's speech at the Tribunal del Alcázar in Seville, 19 February, 1388 (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)
  • Out of Spain educational materials
  • Alhambra Decree: 521 Years Later, a blog post on the Law Library of Congress's In Custodia Legis
  • Song From a Withered Limb: Las Posadas and the Converso Crisis of the 16th Century/

January 09, 2024
converso, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, august, 2011, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, this, ar. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations August 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas incidents or controversies Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view December 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message A converso Spanish komˈbeɾso Portuguese koˈvɛɾsu feminine form conversa convert from Latin conversvs converted turned around was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries or one of their descendants To safeguard the Old Christian population and make sure that the converso New Christians were true to their new faith the Holy Office of the Inquisition was established in Spain in 1478 The Catholic Monarchs of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the remaining openly practising Jews by the Alhambra Decree of 1492 following the Christian Reconquista reconquest of Spain However a significant proportion of these remaining practising Jews chose to join the already large converso community rather than face exile 1 verification needed Conversos who did not fully or genuinely embrace Catholicism but continued to practise Judaism in secrecy were referred to as judaizantes Judaizers and pejoratively as marranos swine New Christian converts of Muslim origin were known as moriscos Unlike Jewish conversos moriscos were subject to an edict of expulsion even after their conversion to Catholicism which was implemented severely in Valencia and in Aragon and less so in other parts of Spain citation needed Conversos played a vital role which in the 1520 1521 Revolt of the Comuneros a popular uprising in the Crown of Castile against the rule of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor 2 Contents 1 History 2 Perpetuation of Jewish heritage 3 Description 4 By country 4 1 In Spain 4 2 In Italy 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 References 8 External linksHistory editFerrand Martinez Archdeacon of Ecija directed a 13 year antisemitic campaign that began in 1378 Martinez used a series of provocative sermons 3 through which he openly condemned the Jews with little to no opposition He rallied non Jews against the Jews creating a constant state of fear through riots Martinez s efforts led to a series of outbreaks of violence on 4 June 1391 4 where several synagogues in Seville were burned to the ground and churches were erected in their place Amidst this outbreak many Jews fled the country some converted to Christianity in fear and some were sold to Muslims Martinez set in motion the largest forced mass conversion of Jews in Spain 4 Both the Church and the Crown had not anticipated such a large scale conversion stemming from the unplanned anti Semitic campaign led by Martinez The new converts represented a new problem Their conversion temporarily resolved the friction between the Christian and Jewish populations in Spain however it led to the creation of a new group that was neither completely Catholic nor Jewish and new tensions resulted 5 Conversos who were now fully privileged citizens competed in all aspects of the economic sphere This resulted in a new wave of racial anti Semitism that targeted conversos This anti Semitism evolved into small and large riots in Toledo 1449 that now oppressed not Jews by Christians but New Christians conversos by the Old Christians Thus the Crown established an office of the Inquisition in 1478 monitored the religious loyalty a newly baptized Christian converso Such religious surveillance continued to the descendants of converts 6 Often due to continued oppression some Jews and conversos fled Spain going to Portugal then when the Portuguese crown instituted similar anti Jewish policies as Spain s they migrated particularly for the Netherlands Others created crypto Jewish communities to ensure the survival of Judaism in the Iberian Peninsula although outwardly practicing Christianity 5 Perpetuation of Jewish heritage editConversas played a pivotal role in keeping Jewish traditions alive by observing many Jewish holidays such as Shabbat They prepared traditional Jewish dishes in honor of the Sabbath starting on Friday sundown Yom Kippur and other religious holidays During festivals such as Sukkot and Passover Conversas participated by giving clothing articles and ornaments to Jewish women attending a seder or obtaining a baking matzah Conversas ensured that their household maintained similar dietary regulations as their Jewish counterparts by eating only kosher birds and other animals These women also financially contributed to the growth of the Jewish Converso community and synagogue 5 The Jewish community and conversos exchanged books and knowledge Jews taught conversos how to read to ensure constant growth of their Jewish heritage To take a stance against the church and its principles some conversos performed professional work even on Sundays 5 The traditional Jewish Purim was kept by conversos still adhering to Jewish observances in the disguise of a Christian holiday they named it Festival of Santa Esterica citation needed Description edit nbsp Saint Joseph of Anchieta 1534 1597 Spanish Jesuit missionary to Brazil and one of the founders of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Jose de Anchieta was a descendant of Jewish converts through the maternal line Conversos were subject to suspicion and harassment from both what was left of the community they were leaving and that which they were joining 7 Both Christians and Jews called them tornadizo renegade James I Alfonso X and John I passed laws forbidding the use of this epithet This was part of a larger pattern of royal oversight as laws were promulgated to protect their property forbid attempts to convert them back to Judaism or the Muslim faith and regulate their behaviour preventing their cohabitation or even dining with Jews lest they convert back Conversos did not enjoy legal equality Alfonso VII prohibited the recently converted from holding office in Toledo They had supporters and bitter opponents in the Christian secular of general acceptance yet they became targets of occasional pogroms during times of social tension as during an epidemic and after an earthquake They were subject to the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions While pure blood so called limpieza de sangre free of the taint of non Christian lineage would come to be placed at a premium particularly among the nobility in a 15th century defence of conversos Bishop Lope de Barrientos would list what Roth calls a veritable Who s Who of Spanish nobility as having converso members or being of converso descent He pointed out that given the near universal conversion of Iberian Jews during Visigothic times quoting Roth W ho among the Christians of Spain could be certain that he is not a descendant of those conversos 8 With advances in science able to trace individuals ancestry via their DNA according to a widely publicised study December 2008 in the American Journal of Human Genetics modern Spaniards and Portuguese have an average admixture of 19 8 percent from ancestors originating in the Near East during historic times i e Phoenicians Carthaginians Jews and Levantine Arabs compared to 10 6 percent of North African Berber admixture 9 10 11 This proportion could be as high as 23 in the case of Latin Americans however according to a study published in Nature Communications 12 13 The possibly higher proportion of significant Jewish ancestry in the Latin American population could stem from increased emigration of Conversos to the New World to avoid persecution by the Spanish Inquisition 13 By country editIn Spain edit See also Xueta Christianity nbsp Church of Montesion Mount Zion in Palma de Mallorca the main Church of Xuetas of Majorca 14 The Chuetas are a current social group on the Spanish island of Majorca in the Mediterranean Sea who are descendants of Majorcan Jews that either were conversos forcible converts to Christianity or were Crypto Jews forced to keep their religion hidden They practiced strict endogamy by marrying only within their own group The Chuetas has been stigmatized up until today in Balearic Islands In the latter part of the 20th century the spread of freedom of religion and laicite reduced both the social pressure and community ties An estimated 18 000 people in the island carry Chueta surnames in the 21st century 15 Traditionally The church of Saint Eulalia and the church of Montesion Mount Zion in Palma de Mallorca have been used by the families of Jewish converts Xuetas 16 14 All this however does not imply the complete elimination of rejection behaviors as indicated by a survey carried out among Majorcans by the University of the Balearic Islands in 2001 in which 30 stated that they would never marry a Chueta and 5 declared that they do not even want to have Chueta friends 17 In Italy edit Specific groups of conversos left Spain and Portugal after the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 in search for a better life They left for other parts of Europe especially Italy 18 where they were inevitably looked at with suspicion and harassment both in their old and new communities Subsequently many conversos who arrived in Italian cities did not openly embrace their Judaism since they were tempted by the advantages they could seek in the Christian world 18 The first three cities to accept the conversos who openly converted back to Judaism were Florence Ferrara and Ancona Most of these conversos appeared after 1536 from Portugal and most lived in Florence In 1549 Duke Cosimo de Medici allowed the Portuguese conversos to trade and reside within Florence Most of the re converted Jews lived in the ghetto of Florence and by 1705 there were 453 Jews in the city 18 Conversos arrived to Ferrara in 1535 and were able to assimilate with their neighbours perform circumcisions and return openly to Judaism due to the Lettres Patentes issued by Duke Ercole II After the plague in 1505 and the eventual fall of Ferrara in 1551 many of these Jews relocated North towards the economically stable ports in Venice Venice slowly became a center for conversos who either stopped temporarily on their way to Turkey or stayed permanently as residents in the ghetto Jewish community port Venetian leaders were convinced to openly accept conversos to practice Judaism because they recognised that if conversos were not welcome in Venice they would take their successful trades to the country s economic rival of Turkey A Portuguese converso in Venice named Abraham de Almeda connected strongly with Christianity however turned to the Jewish members of his family when in need of financing for moral support As a result many of the conversos during this period struggled with their Christian and Jewish identities 18 Conversos in the city of Ancona faced difficult lives living under the pope and eventually fled to Ferrara in 1555 Portuguese conversos in Ancona were falsely misled that they were welcome to Ancona and that they could openly convert back to Judaism Their fate was overturned by the succeeding pope Pope Paul IV The conversos in Ancona faced traumatic emotional damage after the pope imprisoned 102 conversos who refused to reside in the ghetto and wear badges to distinguish themselves In 1588 when the duke granted a charter of residence in return for the conversos building up the city s economy they refused due to accumulated scepticism 18 See also editMarrano Chuetas Donmeh Allahdad Chala Neofiti Anusim Crypto Judaism Judaism in MexicoFurther reading editAlberro Solange Inquisicion y sociedad en Mexico 1571 1700 Mexico City Fondo de Cultura Economica 1993 ISBN missing Alexy T The Marrano Legacy A Contemporary Crypto Jewish Priest Reveals Secrets of His Double Life University of New Mexico Press 2002 ISBN 978 0 8263 3055 0 OCLC 51059087 Amelang James Historias paralelas Judeoconversos y moriscos en la Espana moderna Madrid Ediciones Akal 2011 Beinart Haim The Conversos in Spain and Portugal in the 16th to 18th Centuries in Moreshet Sepharad TheSephardi Legacy ed Haim Beinart Jerusalem The Magnes Press 1992 ISBN missing Beinart Haim The Records of the Inquisition A Source of Jewish and Converso History Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2 1968 Beinart Haim Conversos ante la inquisicion Jerusalem Hebrew University 1965 Bodian Miriam Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam Bloomington Indiana University Press 1997 Bodian Miriam Men of the Nation The Shaping of Converso Identity in Early Modern Europe Past amp Present 143 1994 48 76 Brooks Andree Aelion The Woman who Defied Kings the life and times of Dona Gracia Nasi Paragon House 2002 ISBN 1557788294 Dirks Doris A I will make the Inquisition burn you and your sisters The role of gender and kindship in accusations against Conversas Magistra 6 2 2000 28 Dominguez Ortiz Antonio Los judeoconversos en la Espana moderna Madrid Editorial MAPFRE 1992 Gerber Jane S The Jews of Spain A History of the Sephardic Experience New York The Free Press 1994 ISBN 978 0029115749 Gitlitz David Secrecy and Deceit The Religion of the Crypto Jews Albuquerque NM University of New Mexico Press 2002 ISBN 082632813X Gojman de Backal Alicia Conversos in Encyclopedia of Mexico Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn 1997 vol 1 pp 340 344 Gojman Goldberg Alicia Los conversos en la Nueva Espana Mexico City Enep Acatlan UNAM 1984 Greenleaf Richard E The Mexican Inquisition in the Sixteenth Century Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press 1969 Jacobs J Hidden Heritage The Legacy of the Crypto Jews University of California Press 2002 ISBN 978 0 520 23517 5 OCLC 48920842 Kamen Henry The Spanish Inquisition London Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1965 Lafaye Jacques Cruzadas y Utopias El judeocristianismo en las sociedades Ibericas Mexico City Fondo de Cultura Economica 1984 Lanning John Tate Legitimacy and Limpieza de Sangre in the Practice of Medicine in the Spanish Empire Jahrbuch fur Geschicte 4 1967 Liebman Seymour Los Judios en Mexico y en America Central Mexico city Siglo XXI 1971 Martinez Maria Elena Limpieza de Sangre in Encyclopedia of Mexico vol 1 pp 749 752 Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn 1997 Navarrete Pelaez Maria Cristina Judeoconversos en el Nuevo Reino de Granada In Los judios en Colombia Una aproximacion historica edited by Adelaida Sourdis Najera and Alfonso Velasco Rojas 26 52 Madrid Casa Sefarad Israel 2011 Navarrete Pelaez Maria Cristina La diaspora judeoconversa en Colombia siglos XVI y XVII Incertidumbres de su arribo establecimiento y persecucion Cali Universidad del Valle 2010 Novoa Nelson Being the Nacao in the Eternal City New Christian Lives in Sixteenth Century Rome Peterborough Baywolf Press 2014 Pulido Serrano Juan Ignacio Converso Complicities in an Atlantic Monarchy Political and Social Conflicts behind the Inquisitorial Persecutions In The Conversos and Moriscos in Late Medieval Spain and Beyond Volume Three Displaced Persons edited by KevinIngram and Juan Ignacio Pulido Serrano 117 128 Leiden Brill 2015 Pulido Serrano Juan Ignacio Political Aspects of the Converso Problem On the Portuguese Restauracao of 1640 In The Conversos and Moriscos in Late Medieval Spain and Beyond Volume Two The Morisco Issue edited by Kevin Ingram 219 246 Leiden Brill 2012 Roth Norman Conversos Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain Madison WI University of Wisconsin Press 1995 ISBN 0299142302 Saban Mario Javier Judios Conversos Los antepasados judios de las familias tradicionales argentinas Buenos Aires Editorial Distal 1990 Seed Patricia To Love Honor and Obey in Colonial Mexico Conflicts over Marriage Choices 1574 1821 Stanford Stanford University Press 1988 Sicroff Albert A Los estatutos de limpieza de sangre Translated by Mauro Armino Madrid Tauros 1985 Soyer Francois It is not possible to be both a Jew and a Christian Converso Religious Identity and the Inquisitorial Trial of Custodio Nunes 1604 5 Mediterranean Historical Review 26 2011 81 97 Tobias H J A History of the Jews in New Mexico University of New Mexico Press 1992 page needed ISBN 978 0 8263 1390 4 OCLC 36645510 Ventura Maria da Graca A Los judeoconversos portugueses en el Peru del siglo XVII Redes de complicidad In Familia Religion y Negocio El sefardismo en las relaciones entre el mundo iberico y los Paises Bajos en la Edad Moderna edited by Jaime Contreras Bernardo J Garcia Garcia e Ignacio Pulido 391 406 Madrid Fundacion Carlos Amberes 2002 References edit Alicia Gojman de Backal Conversos in Encyclopedia of Mexico Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn 1997 vol 1 p 340 Hernando Maximo Diago 2015 Lideres de origen judeoconverso en las ciudades castellanas durante la revuelta comunera su papel al frente de Comun de pecheros Carlos V Conversos y Comuneros Liber Amicorum Joseph Perez 2015 ISBN 978 84 608 4640 6 Pags 71 102 in Spanish Centro de Estudios del Camino de Santiago 71 102 ISBN 9788460846406 Ferran Martinez s speech at the Tribunal del Alcazar in Seville 19 February 1388 English version 10 September 2020 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help a b Lea Henry Charles 1 January 1896 Ferrand Martinez and the Massacres of 1391 The American Historical Review 1 2 209 219 doi 10 2307 1833647 JSTOR 1833647 a b c d Melammed Renee 1999 Heretics or Daughters of Israel New York Oxford University Press pp 3 10 86 95 166 174 Bodian Miriam Men of the Nation The Shaping of Converso Identity in Early Modern Europe Past amp Present No 143 May 1994 pp 48 76 Novoa James William Nelson 28 December 2014 Being the Nacao in the Eternal City New Christian Lives in Sixteenth Century Rome Baywolf Press Editions Baywolf ISBN 978 0 921437 52 9 Roth p 93 Adams Susan M Bosch Elena Balaresque Patricia L Ballereau Stephane J Lee Andrew C Arroyo Eduardo Lopez Parra Ana M Aler Mercedes Grifo Marina S Gisbert Brion Maria Carracedo Angel Lavinha Joao Martinez Jarreta Begona Quintana Murci Lluis Picornell Antonia Ramon Misericordia Skorecki Karl Behar Doron M Calafell Francesc Jobling Mark A 2008 The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance Paternal Lineages of Christians Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula The American Journal of Human Genetics 83 6 725 36 doi 10 1016 j ajhg 2008 11 007 PMC 2668061 PMID 19061982 Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia life New Scientist 4 December 2008 Retrieved 10 February 2012 Zalloua Pierre A Platt Daniel E El Sibai Mirvat Khalife Jade Makhoul Nadine Haber Marc Xue Yali Izaabel Hassan Bosch Elena Adams Susan M Arroyo Eduardo Lopez Parra Ana Maria Aler Mercedes Picornell Antonia Ramon Misericordia Jobling Mark A Comas David Bertranpetit Jaume Wells R Spencer Tyler Smith Chris The Genographic Consortium 2008 Identifying Genetic Traces of Historical Expansions Phoenician Footprints in the Mediterranean The American Journal of Human Genetics 83 5 633 42 doi 10 1016 j ajhg 2008 10 012 PMC 2668035 PMID 18976729 Ruiz Linares Andres Hellenthal Garrett Balding David Rothhammer Francisco Bedoya Gabriel Gallo Carla Poletti Giovanni Canizales Quinteros Samuel Bortolini Maria Catira 19 December 2018 Latin Americans show wide spread Converso ancestry and imprint of local Native ancestry on physical appearance PDF Nature Communications 9 1 5388 Bibcode 2018NatCo 9 5388C doi 10 1038 s41467 018 07748 z ISSN 2041 1723 PMC 6300600 PMID 30568240 a b Ronel Asaf 27 December 2018 A Surprising Number of Latin Americans Have Jewish Roots Study Finds Haaretz Retrieved 28 December 2018 a b A Dead Branch on the Tree of Israel The Xuetas of Majorca Commentary 17 February 1957 L Hora D Els xuetes cronica dels jueus conversos de Mallorca 13 2 ib3 org in Spanish Retrieved 5 April 2021 The New Yorker reviving Jewish life on a holiday island BBC 18 August 2019 Santamaria Arandez Alvaro 1 January 1997 Sobre la condicion de los conversos y chuetas de Mallorca Espacio Tiempo y Forma Serie III Historia Medieval 10 doi 10 5944 etfiii 10 1997 3609 ISSN 2340 1362 a b c d e Melammed Renee Levine 2004 A Question of Identity Iberian Conversos in Historical Perspective New York Oxford University Press pp 109 133 ISBN 0195170717 External links editAna Gomez Bravo Conversos and identity in the poetry of the fifteenth century poems of Comendador Roman and Anton de Montoro excerpts from Andres Bernaldez s Memorias and the Libro de Alborayque late 15th century in English and Spanish pedagogical edition with introduction notes and bibliography in Open Iberia America open access teaching anthology Selections in English and Spanish of Ferran Martinez s speech at the Tribunal del Alcazar in Seville 19 February 1388 pedagogical edition with introduction notes and bibliography in Open Iberia America open access teaching anthology Out of Spain educational materials Converso lectures and activities Alhambra Decree 521 Years Later a blog post on the Law Library of Congress s In Custodia Legis Song From a Withered Limb Las Posadas and the Converso Crisis of the 16th Century Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Converso amp oldid 1190110327, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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