DOCSLIB.ORG

Unraveling the Myth About the Spanish Inquisition Drek Ortiz University of North Florida

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Unraveling the Myth About the Spanish Inquisition Drek Ortiz University of North Florida University of North Florida UNF Digital Commons All Volumes (2001-2008) The sprO ey Journal of Ideas and Inquiry 2006 Ruthless Oppressors? Unraveling the Myth About the Spanish Inquisition Drek Ortiz University of North Florida Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/ojii_volumes Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Suggested Citation Ortiz, Drek, "Ruthless Oppressors? Unraveling the Myth About the Spanish Inquisition" (2006). All Volumes (2001-2008). 66. http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/ojii_volumes/66 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The sprO ey Journal of Ideas and Inquiry at UNF Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Volumes (2001-2008) by an authorized administrator of UNF Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Digital Projects. © 2006 All Rights Reserved Ruthless Oppressors? introduction froze the earlier heretics of Italy, France, and Germany into Unraveling the Myth About orthodoxy… It arrested on suspicion, the Spanish Inquisition tortured till confession, and then punished by fire. Two witnesses… were Drek Ortiz sufficient to consign the victim to a Presented at the National Council on loathsome dungeon. Here he was Undergraduate Research Conference sparingly supplied with food, forbidden Virginia Military Institute to speak… and left to himself till famine Lexington ,VA and misery should break his spirit… [If April 2005 he confess to heresy,] whether innocent or not, he might then assume the sacred Faculty Advisor: Dr. J. Michael Francis, shirt, and escape with the confiscation of Associate Professor of History all his property. If he persists to avow his innocence, Inquisitors brought him to Abstract the torture chamber deep within the ground so no one could hear him wail. From its inception to the present, The victim, whether man, matron, or critics of the Spanish Inquisition has tender virgin—was stripped naked and characterized the institution as stretched upon the wooden bench. omnipotent and oppressive and Water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws— highlighted its role in the expulsion, all the apparatus by which the sinews forced conversion, and execution of could be strained without cracking, the supposed heretics. The latter perception bones bruised without breaking, and the is misleading. Revisionist historians by body racked exquisitely without giving the 1960s dismissed the latter portrayal up its ghost—was now put into and offered a more objective description operation. The executioner, enveloped in of the institution. A careful analysis of a black robe from head to foot, with his Inquisition records and secondary eyes glaring at his victim through holes literature reveals that the Spanish cut in the hood, practiced successively Inquisition was less powerful and more all the forms of torture which the benign than previously characterized. devilish ingenuity of the monk had invented.1 Creating the Myth Protestant critics used the Inquisition myth to further the conflict Opponents of the Spanish between Catholics and Protestants. Inquisition have dominated the narrative During the sixteenth-century Catholic of its past. All told, these critics left the and Protestant leaders were involved in impression of a terrible institution that bloody struggle over the beliefs, loomed over the Spanish Empire. territories, and wealth of Western According to one of these critics, so Europe. In 1572, twelve hundred powerful and oppressive was the Protestants in the Netherlands were Inquisition that: slaughtered by Catholic troops after …it taught the savages of India and Protestants revolted against their Spanish America to shudder at the name of sovereign.2 In 1588, King Philip II of Christianity…, and that the fear of its Spain sent his infamous armada to England and came close to conquering and their reasons for disgracing the the kingdom of the nominally Protestant history of Spain and the Roman Catholic King, Henry VII.3 In order to bolster Church.8 support against Spain, the preeminent To an extent, the Inquisition’s defender of the Catholic cause, opponents have a valid claim in Protestants highlighted the Spanish portraying Spain, the Catholic Inquisition’s malign achievements and establishment, the Inquisition as brutal warned their Protestant readers that they and oppressive. After all, Spain and the could be the Inquisition’s next victims, if Roman Catholic Church did support the they allowed the Pope and the King of Inquisition and the Inquisition did Spain to rule over them. persecute individuals base on their English and American historians religious beliefs. In accordance with trial affirmed the Protestant account three procedures outlined in Inquisitorial hundred years later. By the 1820s, Spain, manuals, not only was the accused kept with the backing of post-Napoleonic in the dark of who had accused them, France and Imperial Russia, had plans of Inquisitors could—but not necessarily— restoring its former colonies.4 Motivated torture the accused if they refuse to by this proposed invasion, historians and incriminate themselves.9 Although they novelists in England and America wrote did not perform the actual burning of narratives describing the persecution and convicted heretics, Inquisitors were subjugation of Catholics and Jews in responsible for sanctioning the execution Spain and its colonies, which persuaded of individuals, which was carried out by readers of the need to emancipate them secular authorities. In 1559-1566, from Spain’s tyranny.5 Backed with considered by Protestant as the bloodiest proof from Inquisition records and other period of Protestant repression, the corroborative sources, they blamed the Spanish Inquisition sentenced over a intolerance of the Spanish state and hundred Lutheran heretics to death.10 In Catholic Church for establishing a “reign the late-eighteenth-century, another of terror” which devastated the lives of hundred plus individuals of Jewish and thousands.6 Jewish scholars writing Portuguese decent were burnt alive or in during the rise of Fascism in Europe also effigy. 11 Many more convicted heretics portrayed the Inquisition in a similar were executed during the Inquisition’s fashion and emphasized the anti-Semitic existence. attitude of Spanish and Catholic authorities. Cecil Roth held this view: in Unraveling the Myth his monograph, The Spanish Inquisition, he stated that the ruthlessness of the But the literature of its opponents Spanish Inquisition “nearly fulfilled its is misleading. Missing from their objective of having exterminated or else literature was the actions of other cowed into subjection the native Spanish tribunals that were just as brutal—if not Judaizers.”7 more sadistic—than the Inquisition in Although long extinct the Spain. The Inquisition in Spain was not Inquisition still has critics highlighting the only tribunal in early-modern Europe its brutal past. One only has to type in that allowed the use of torture and the word “Spanish Inquisition” on the sentenced individuals to death base on Internet to find out its newest opponents their religious beliefs. Lord Burghley, a contemporary of the Inquisition, justified that hovered over Spanish society, she the torture of Catholics because the discovered an institution that rarely accused refused to incriminate disrupted the daily activities of themselves.12 While the Spanish communities. In the tribunal of Cuenca, Inquisition condemned over a hundred she noted that the chief Inquisitor, Pedro individuals to death during the period of Cortes, nor any of his subordinates, 1559-1566, the English authorities under hardly left their desk at work.20 Rather Queen Anne executed three times as than barge in the homes of suspicious many heretics during the same time individuals and coerce them to confess period, and the French under Henry II at of heresy, these Inquisition officials sat least twice as many.13 In the in their chairs behind their desk at the Netherlands, ten times as many were office and examined reams full of paper executed.14 work of unfinished court cases.21 So Actual Inquisition records either under-funded and undermanned was completely dismiss or at least moderate Cortes’ tribunal, that they were still the assertions made by its opponents. work on the court cases of deceased Whereas the Protestant, Raimundo suspects. Only once in the period of six- Gonzales de Montes, claimed that the months did Inquisitor Cortes bother to Inquisition stripped every accused incarcerate and question a denounced heretic of all their wealth and property, heretic.22 the trial record of Inés López, presented The heretic that Inquisitor Cortes in Medieval Iberia: Readings from questioned was Bartolomé Sánchez, a Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, poor and unemployed laborer with revealed how she only paid a fine to be visions of being the second Messiah of released from prison—only on the God. Sánchez was arrested after he second trial in which she was convicted repeatedly disrupted Mass with his again for heresy, was her property heretical tirades and for denouncing the confiscated.15 Also, judges in López’s Catholic establishment as the work of trial did not accept every testimony Satan at various locations in Cuenca.23 against the defendant.16 In her second Rather than condemned the self- trial, López’s attorney, afforded to her proclaimed Messiah to death for his by the tribunal, was given fifteen days to blatant heretical beliefs, Cortes gave him produce a list of questionable witnesses a month and a half
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chapter Three the Genesis of the Black Legend
    1 Chapter Three The Genesis of the Black Legend "Todo esto yo lo vide con mis ojos corporates mortales." Bartolomé de las Casas, 1504. "I saw all this with my very own eyes." “ I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.” [Revelation 6:1,2] Or, in Latin as Las Casas may have been accustomed to reading it “Et vidi quod aperuisset agnus unum de septem signaculis et audivi unum de quattuor animalibus dicentem tamquam vocem tonitrui veni. Et vidi et ecce equus albus et qui sedebat super illum habebat arcum et data est ei corona et exivit vincens ut vinceret.” 1Perhaps he also read it in Spanish: “Vi cuando el Cordero abrió uno de los sellos, y oí a uno de los cuatro seres vivientes decir como con voz un trueno: Ven y mira. Y miré, y he aquí un caballo banco; y el que lo montaba tenía un arco; le fue dada una corona, y salió venciendo, y para vencer.” "Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means." Jeremiah 17:11 Next to climbing aboard a ship for a long journey, there is probably nothing more exciting than getting off that same ship! Especially if after a long voyage, sometimes made terrifying by the perils of the sea.
    [Show full text]
  • The Marranos
    The Marranos A History in Need of Healing Peter Hocken www.stucom.nl doc 0253uk Copyright © 2006 Toward Jerusalem Council II All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Toward Jerusalem Council II. Short extracts may be quoted for review purposes. Scripture quotations in this publication are taken from Revised Standard Version of the Bible Copyright © 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2 www.stucom.nl doc 0253uk Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................... 5 Part I: The Spanish Background ............................................ 9 Part II: The Marranos and the Inquisition .............................. 13 Part III: The Life of the Crypto-Jews .................................... 29 Part IV: The Issues for Toward Jerusalem Council II ............. 47 Epilogue ............................................................................... 55 3 www.stucom.nl doc 0253uk 4 www.stucom.nl doc 0253uk Introduction This booklet on the Marranos, the Jews of Spain, Portugal and Latin America baptized under duress, is the third in the series of the TJCII (Toward Jerusalem Council II) booklets. TJCII was launched in 19961. In March 1998 the committee members and a group of in- tercessors made a prayer journey to Spain, visiting Granada, Cordoba and Toledo. From this time the TJCII leadership knew that one day we would have to address the history and sufferings of the Marranos. An explanatory note is needed about the terminology.
    [Show full text]
  • Jews on Trial: the Papal Inquisition in Modena
    1 Jews, Papal Inquisitors and the Estense dukes In 1598, the year that Duke Cesare d’Este (1562–1628) lost Ferrara to Papal forces and moved the capital of his duchy to Modena, the Papal Inquisition in Modena was elevated from vicariate to full Inquisitorial status. Despite initial clashes with the Duke, the Inquisition began to prosecute not only heretics and blasphemers, but also professing Jews. Such a policy towards infidels by an organization appointed to enquire into heresy (inquisitio haereticae pravitatis) was unusual. In order to understand this process this chapter studies the political situation in Modena, the socio-religious predicament of Modenese Jews, how the Roman Inquisition in Modena was established despite ducal restrictions and finally the steps taken by the Holy Office to gain jurisdiction over professing Jews. It argues that in Modena, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Holy Office, directly empowered by popes to try Jews who violated canons, was taking unprecedented judicial actions against them. Modena, a small city on the south side of the Po Valley, seventy miles west of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, originated as the Roman town of Mutina, but after centuries of destruction and renewal it evolved as a market town and as a busy commercial centre of a fertile countryside. It was built around a Romanesque cathedral and the Ghirlandina tower, intersected by canals and cut through by the Via Aemilia, the ancient Roman highway from Piacenza to Rimini. It was part of the duchy ruled by the Este family, who origi- nated in Este, to the south of the Euganean hills, and the territories it ruled at their greatest extent stretched from the Adriatic coast across the Po Valley and up into the Apennines beyond Modena and Reggio, as well as north of the Po into the Polesine region.
    [Show full text]
  • An Educator's Guide To
    An Educator’s Guide to by Adam Gidwitz Dear Educator, I’m at the Holy Crossroads Inn, a day’s walk north of Paris. Outside, the sky is dark, and getting darker… It’s the perfect night for a story. Critically acclaimed Adam Gidwitz’s new novel has “as much to say about the present as it does the past.” (— Publishers Weekly). Themes of social justice, tolerance and empathy, and understanding differences, especially as they relate to personal beliefs and religion, run through- out his expertly told tale. The story, told from multiple narrator’s points of view, is evocative of The Canterbury Tales—richly researched and action packed. Ripe for 4th-6th grade learners, it could be read aloud or assigned for at-home or in-school reading. The following pages will guide you through teaching the book. Broken into sections and with suggested links and outside source material to reference, it will hopefully be the starting point for you to incorporate this book into the fabric of your classroom. We are thrilled to introduce you to a new book by Adam, as you have always been great champions of his books. Thank you for your continued support of our books and our brand. Penguin School & Library About the Author: Adam Gidwitz taught in Brooklyn for eight years. Now, he writes full- time—which means he writes a couple of hours a day, and lies on the couch staring at the ceiling the rest of the time. As is the case with all of this books, everything in them not only happened in the real fairy tales, it also happened to him.
    [Show full text]
  • NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY the Roman Inquisition and the Crypto
    NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY The Roman Inquisition and the Crypto-Jews of Spanish Naples, 1569-1582 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of History By Peter Akawie Mazur EVANSTON, ILLINOIS June 2008 2 ABSTRACT The Roman Inquisition and the Crypto-Jews of Spanish Naples, 1569-1582 Peter Akawie Mazur Between 1569 and 1582, the inquisitorial court of the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples undertook a series of trials against a powerful and wealthy group of Spanish immigrants in Naples for judaizing, the practice of Jewish rituals. The immense scale of this campaign and the many complications that resulted render it an exception in comparison to the rest of the judicial activity of the Roman Inquisition during this period. In Naples, judges employed some of the most violent and arbitrary procedures during the very years in which the Roman Inquisition was being remodeled into a more precise judicial system and exchanging the heavy handed methods used to eradicate Protestantism from Italy for more subtle techniques of control. The history of the Neapolitan campaign sheds new light on the history of the Roman Inquisition during the period of its greatest influence over Italian life. Though the tribunal took a place among the premier judicial institutions operating in sixteenth century Europe for its ability to dispense disinterested and objective justice, the chaotic Neapolitan campaign shows that not even a tribunal bearing all of the hallmarks of a modern judicial system-- a professionalized corps of officials, a standardized code of practice, a centralized structure of command, and attention to the rights of defendants-- could remain immune to the strong privatizing tendencies that undermined its ideals.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) License CC BY-NC-ND Link to Publication
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Introduction: On Hispanophobia and Hispanophila across time and space Rodríguez Pérez, Y. DOI 10.26530/OAPEN_1006718 10.1515/9789048541935 Publication date 2020 Document Version Final published version Published in Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) License CC BY-NC-ND Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Rodríguez Pérez, Y. (2020). Introduction: On Hispanophobia and Hispanophila across time and space. In Y. Rodríguez Pérez (Ed.), Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) (pp. 11-45). (Heritage and Memory Studies; Vol. 10). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_1006718, https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048541935 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:02 Oct 2021 Introduction: On Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia across Time and Space Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez Abstract This introductory chapter puts the case studies presented in this edited volume into a broader historical and theoretical context.
    [Show full text]
  • Christopher White Table of Contents
    Christopher White Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Peter the “rock”? ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Churches change over time ...................................................................................................................... 6 The Church and her earthly pilgrimage .................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1 The Apostle Peter (d. 64?) : First Bishop and Pope of Rome? .................................................. 11 Peter in Rome ......................................................................................................................................... 12 Yes and No .............................................................................................................................................. 13 The death of Peter .................................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2 Pope Sylvester (314-335): Constantine’s Pope ......................................................................... 16 Constantine and his imprint .................................................................................................................... 17 “Remembering” Sylvester ......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Cyprian on the Lord’S Prayer
    Early Church Classics. ST. CYPRIAN ON THE LORD’S PRAYER AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION, WITH INTRODUCTION BY T. HERBERT BINDLEY, M.A., D.D. PRINCIPAL OF CODRINGTON COLLEGE, BARBADOS; EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET. NEW YORK: EDWIN S. GORHAM. 1914 Source: https://archive.org/stream/stcyprianonlords00cypruoft/stcyprianonlords00cypruoft_djvu.txt Modernized, corrected, and annotated (in blue) © William H. Gross www.onthewing.org Apr 2014 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 4 § 2. St. Cyprian’s Life. .................................................................................................................... 4 § 3. The Date Of The Treatise. ....................................................................................................... 7 § 4. Cyprian’s Text Of The Paternoster. ........................................................................................ 7 § 5. Liturgical Allusions. ................................................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2 ....................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Legacy of the Inquisition in the Colonization of New Spain and New Mexico C
    University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Student Papers (History) Department of History 5-11-2012 Lobos y Perros Rabiosos: The Legacy of the Inquisition in the Colonization of New Spain and New Mexico C. Michael Torres [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.utep.edu/hist_honors Comments: Master's Seminar Essay Recommended Citation Torres, C. Michael, "Lobos y Perros Rabiosos: The Legacy of the Inquisition in the Colonization of New Spain and New Mexico" (2012). Student Papers (History). Paper 2. http://digitalcommons.utep.edu/hist_honors/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Papers (History) by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LOBOS Y PERROS RABIOSOS: The Legacy of the Inquisition in the Colonization of New Spain and New Mexico Cheryl Martin, PhD. Master’s Seminar Essay May 11, 2012 C. Michael Torres 1 It is unlikely that any American elementary school student could forget the importance of the year 1492, as it immediately brings to mind explorer Christopher Columbus, his three tiny sailing ships and the daring voyage of discovery to the New World. Of no less importance was what historian Teofilo Ruiz of UCLA has called the Other 1492, the completion of the Reconquista (Reconquest) of the Moorish kingdoms in Iberia, and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragón, and Queen Isabella of Castile.1 These seemingly unconnected events influenced the history and economy of Spain and Europe, setting in motion the exploration, immigration, and colonization of the Americas which gave rise to Spain‟s Golden Age.
    [Show full text]
  • Is the Church Responsible for the Inquisition? Illustrated
    IS THE CHURCH RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INQUISITION ? BY THE EDITOR. THE QUESTION has often been raised whether or not the Church is responsible for the crimes of heresy trials, witch prosecutions and the Inquisition, and the answer depends entirely ^k^fcj^^^mmmwj^^ The Banner of the Spanish Inquisition. The Banner o?- the Inouisition of Goa.1 upon our definition of the Church. If we understand by Church the ideal bond that ties all religious souls together in their common aspirations for holiness and righteousness, or the communion of saints, we do not hesitate to say that we must distinguish between IThe illustrations on pages 226-232 are reproduced from Packard. IS THE CHURCH RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INQUISITION? 227 The Chamber of the Inquisition. Tl-V I ' ^1 * y '^u Tj- - i;J\f.4.. 1 T77,. ^*~"- \ \1 II 11 s M WNH s nl- ( ROSS I \ \MININ(, 1 Hh DEFENDANTS. 228 THE OPEN COURl'. if the ideal and its representatives ; but we understand by Church the organisation as it actually existed at the time, there is no escape from holding the Church responsible for everything good and evil done by her plenipotentiaries and authorised leaders. Now, it is strange that while many Roman Catholics do not hesitate to con- cede that many grievous mistakes have been made by the Church, and that the Church has considerably changed not only its policy but its principles, there are others who would insist on defending the most atrocious measures of the Church, be it on the strength of A Man and a Woman Convicted of Heresy who have Pleaded Guilty Before Being Condemned to Death.
    [Show full text]
  • Spanish Persecution of the 15Th-17Th Centuries: a Study of Discrimination Against Witches at the Local and State Levels Laura Ledray Hamline University
    Hamline University DigitalCommons@Hamline Departmental Honors Projects College of Liberal Arts Spring 2016 Spanish Persecution of the 15th-17th Centuries: A Study of Discrimination Against Witches at the Local and State Levels Laura Ledray Hamline University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Ledray, Laura, "Spanish Persecution of the 15th-17th Centuries: A Study of Discrimination Against Witches at the Local and State Levels" (2016). Departmental Honors Projects. 51. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp/51 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts at DigitalCommons@Hamline. It has been accepted for inclusion in Departmental Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Hamline. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 1 Spanish Persecution of the 15th-17th Centuries: A Study of Discrimination Against Witches at the Local and State Levels Laura Ledray An Honors Thesis Submitted for partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with honors in History from Hamline University 4/24/2016 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction_________________________________________________________________________________________3 Historiography______________________________________________________________________________________8 Origins of the Spanish Inquisition_______________________________________________________________15 Identifying
    [Show full text]
  • Descendants of the Anusim (Crypto-Jews) in Contemporary Mexico
    Descendants of the Anusim (Crypto-Jews) in Contemporary Mexico Slightly updated version of a Thesis for the degree of “Doctor of Philosophy” by Schulamith Chava Halevy Hebrew University 2009 © Schulamith C. Halevy 2009-2011 This work was carried out under the supervision of Professor Yom Tov Assis and Professor Shalom Sabar To my beloved Berthas In Memoriam CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................7 1.1 THE PROBLEM.................................................................................................................7 1.2 NUEVO LEÓN ............................................................................................................ 11 1.2.1 The Original Settlement ...................................................................................12 1.2.2 A Sephardic Presence ........................................................................................14 1.2.3 Local Archives.......................................................................................................15 1.3 THE CARVAJAL TRAGEDY ....................................................................................... 15 1.4 THE MEXICAN INQUISITION ............................................................................. 17 1.4.1 José Toribio Medina and Alfonso Toro.......................................................17 1.4.2 Seymour Liebman ...............................................................................................18 1.5 CRYPTO‐JUDAISM
    [Show full text]