Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Cambridge Companions to History
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: Beginnings, Endings, Myths
- Part I The Institution
- Part II Targets
- 5 Conversos
- 6 Moriscos
- 7 Alumbrados
- 8 Protestants
- 9 Old Christians
- 10 Texts
- Part III Geographical Reach
- Index
- References
5 - Conversos
from Part II - Targets
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 December 2025
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Cambridge Companions to History
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: Beginnings, Endings, Myths
- Part I The Institution
- Part II Targets
- 5 Conversos
- 6 Moriscos
- 7 Alumbrados
- 8 Protestants
- 9 Old Christians
- 10 Texts
- Part III Geographical Reach
- Index
- References
Summary
The essay reviews the ebb and flow of Jewish conversions to Catholicism, as well as the ambiguous process of categorizing religious identity. It examines the types of accusations launched against conversos, as well as the motivations for such accusals and their gendered nature. The essays discusses the truthfulness of surviving Inquisition records. It compares trials from the Spanish Inquisition’s first decades to those of later years, with particular attention to the presence of Jewish converts from Portugal. These trials demonstrate the complicated, ongoing interactions among Jews, New Christians, and so-called “Old Christians” throughout the Spanish Empire and around the world. The end of the chapter notes the decline of trials for Judaizing in the eighteenth century.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition , pp. 117 - 141Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Suggestions for Further Reading
Bethencourt, Francisco. Strangers Within: The Rise and Fall of the New Christian Trading Elite. Princeton University Press, 2024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Graizbord, David L., and Stuczynski, Claude, eds. “Special Issue on Portuguese New Christian Identities, 1516–1700.” Jewish History 25 (2011).Google Scholar
Pastore, Stefania. Una herejía española. Conversos, alumbrados e inquisición (1449–1557). Marcial Pons, 2010.Google Scholar
Starr-LeBeau, Gretchen D. In the Shadow of the Virgin: Inquisitors, Friars, and Conversos in Guadalupe, Spain. Princeton University Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wachtel, Nathan. The Faith of Remembrance: Marrano Labyrinths. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Yisraeli, Yosi, and Israeli, Yanay. “Defining ‘Conversos’ in Fifteenth-Century Spain: The Making of a Controversial Category.” Speculum 97, no. 3 (2022): 609–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bibliography
Bethencourt, Francisco. Strangers Within: The Rise and Fall of the New Christian Trading Elite. Princeton University Press, 2024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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