The Past and Present Society

"Men of the Nation": The Shaping of Converso Identity in Early Modern Europe
Author(s): Miriam Bodian
Source: Past & Present, No. 143 (May, 1994), pp. 48-76
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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"MEN OF THE NATION": THE SHAPING

OF CONVERSO IDENTITY IN EARLY
MODERN EUROPE
In 1762 Isaac de Pinto,a Dutch Jewishbankerand economic
theorist
ofconverso
origin,composeda lettertoVoltairetoprotest
againstthe latter'shostiledepictionof the Jewsin his article
"Juifs".What offendedhim was not so muchVoltaire'slow
between
opinionof theJewsas his failureto drawa distinction
theAshkenazic
Jews,an ethnicsubgroupwithrootsin medieval
and theSephardicJewsofIberianorigin,ofwhomde
Germany,
Pintowas one. "A Portuguese
JewfromBordeauxanda German
JewfromMetz", wrotede Pinto,"appear to be two entirely
different
he asserted,lay
beings".One reasonforthedifference,
in separatedescent.The SephardicJewswere descendedfrom
thetribeof Judahand had alwayslivedapartfromotherJews,
marryingamong themselvesand maintainingseparatesynagogues.De Pinto suggestedthatthe distinctlineageof the
hadperpetuated
which
Sephardim
qualitiesofcultural
superiority
werealtogether
withtheEuropeans',and whichdiscompatible
theSephardicJewfromtheAshkenazic
tinguished
Jew.1
Sucha lineof argument
stoodin sharpcontrast
to traditional
which
eschewed
such
distinctions
in theface
Jewishapologetics,
of Gentilehostility.
It was also farremovedfroman emerging
modeofthinking
whichwouldeventually
egalitarian
bringemanto
Ashkenazim
and
alike.
It
was
not,however,
cipation
Sephardim
a misguided
effort
atpractical
merely
politics.De Pinto'sattitudes
reflect
ofidentity
whichhad beenvitallyfunccomplexpatterns
tionalonlya fewgenerations
earlieramongthePortuguese
Jews
ofnorth-western
andindiEurope.AmongtheseJews,collective
vidualself-perception
entailedthebalancing
oftwoseparateclustersofideas,one associatedwithJewish
andpeoplehood,
religion
theotherwith"theNation".The cultivation
ofthisdualidentity
representeda conspicuousdeviationfromtraditionalJewish
1
surle premier
critiques
[Isaac de Pinto],Apologiepourla nationjuive, ou reflexions
chapitredu VIIe tomedes oeuvresde M. de Voltaireau sujetdesjuifs(Amsterdam,
1762). For a discussionof de Pinto's pamphlet,see ArthurHertzberg,The French
and theJews(New York, 1968), pp. 180-3.
Enlightenment

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

49

of development.
It is thishistory
notions,and had a longhistory
thatthepresentarticleseeksto examine.
The "Men of the Nation" of north-western
Europe were a
in
of
conversos
with
the
of
(descendants
group
origins
population
in
Peninsula.
After
of
the
Iberian
generations
baptizedJews)
in
or
had
as
been
Catholics
Spain Portugal,they
impelled
living
to emigrateto the emergingAtlanticstatesof north-western
Europe,eitherout of fearof the Inquisitionor foreconomic
reasons.OutsidethePeninsulatheyestablished
theirown comIn
munallifewherever
settled.
some
they
respectsthecommunities theyfoundedwerelikeothermerchant
coloniesin European
commercial
centres.But thesecommunities
wereuniquein one
were
established
as
communities
Jewish
byconverrespect.They
sos seekingto re-attachthemselvesto the world of rabbinic
of suchcommunities
after
Judaism.One of thecrucialfunctions
theirfoundation
ofnewemigresfromthe
was there-Judaization
Peninsula.As such, theyreflected
a concrete,consciousproself-transformation,
grammeofcollective
something
rarelyfound
in thepre-modern
world.
The impulseforthistransformation
grewoutofa longhistory
ofproblematic
self-definition.
Whilein thePeninsula,
theconversoshad necessarily
livedas Catholics,at leastpublicly.Some of
themhad soughtto cultivatea "Jewish"existencewhichthey
sharedsecretlywithan intimatecircleof friendsand family
members.
Othersaccommodated
themselves
to a Catholicwayof
lifewithoutapparentdifficulty.
Stillothersfitneitherof these
patterns,
havingbecomealienatedfromtraditional
religiouslife
ofanykind.But all conversos
shareda commonfate:theexperienceofenmeshment
in, and rejectionby,Iberiansociety.Thus,
the diversity
of beliefand practiceamongconversos
underlying
were commonpsychological
issues thatplayeda key role in
formation.
identity
Scholarshave not ignoredthe issue of converso(or marrano)
But therehas been a tendency
to isolateand examine
identity.2
whatappearsto be the"religioussphere".This focusis evident
in Cecil Roth's popularbut pioneering
work,A Historyof the
Marranos(1932). Roth's workdevotesa singlechapterto the
innerlife of the conversos,and it is titled,significantly,
"The
2
Untilrecentyearswhenconverso
has become the preferred
expression,the term
marrano- a pejorativetermfromthe medievalperiod,discussedbelow (p. 52)was routinelyused by scholarsto referto conversos
or to crypto-Jews.

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50

PASTAND PRESENT

NUMBER143

Religionof the Marranos".3This narrowlydefinednotionof

the 1950sand 1960s.
identity
persisted
throughout
Researchon "diaspora"conversos
has likewisefocusedon relifor
defined
the
giousidentity.
Typically, example,CarlGebhardt
conversoas a "Catholicwithoutbeliefand a Jewwithoutknowledge,but in will,a Jew".4I. S. Revah,too, in his influential
article"Les marranes"(1959), regardedconversoidentityas a
function
of religiousloyalties(or lackthereof).5
In recentyears
a morethree-dimensional
withtheproliferapicturehasemerged,
tionof conversoand Inquisition
studies.Scholarssuchas Antonio
DominguezOrtiz in the area of Spanishsocial life, Y. H.
Yerushalmiin the realmof conversoapologetics,and Jonathan
Israelin thesphereof international
commercehavecontributed
to a more nuancedunderstanding
of conversoexperienceand
motivations.6
Thesestudiesprovidestriking
evidenceofthecomand loyalties.No attempthas
plexityof conversoself-perception
and ethnicity
the
beenmade,however,to makeconversoidentity
interest
in thehistorfocusofa historical
study.Recentscholarly
ical foundations
and dynamics
of ethnicidentity
wouldseemto
pointthe way to such an enquiry.7The presentarticleis an
and ethnicity
to addresstheproblemofconversoidentity
attempt
ofconversobehaviour
didnotsimply
on thepremisethatpatterns
of consciousness,
Jewishstratum
emergefromsomeprimordial
in
mobilization
of
human
rather
reflect
the
but
general
strategies
It
will
view
converso
with
and
survival.
conflict,
stigma
dealing
3 This is
essentiallya popularizedversionof Roth's article,"The Religionof the
Marranos",JewishQuart.Rev., new ser., xxii (1931-2), pp. 1-33.
4 Carl Gebhardt,Die Schriften
des Urielda Costa(Amsterdam,1922), p. xix. In the
same vein is Van Praag's discussionof the "split souls" among the re-Judaized
see J. A. Van Praag, "Almasen litigio",Clavileno,i (1950), pp. 14-26.
conversos:
5 I. S. Revah, "Les marranes",Revuedes etudes
juives,cviii(1959-60), p. 53.
6 AntonioDominguez Ortiz, La clase socialde los conversos
en Castillaen la edad
en la Espana
moderna(Madrid, 1955); AntonioDominguezOrtiz,Los judeoconversos
moderna(Madrid, 1992); Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi,From SpanishCourtto Italian
Marranismand Jewish
Ghetto.Isaac Cardoso: A Study in Seventeenth-Century
TheDutch,
andEntrepots:
2nd edn (Seattle,1981);Jonathan
Israel,Empires
Apologetics,
theSpanishMonarchyand theJews,1585-1713(London, 1990).
a few particularly
7 Of a large and expandingliterature,
suggestivestudiesare
FredrikBarth(ed.), EthnicGroupsandBoundaries:The Social Organization
ofCulture
"Mobilized and ProletarianDiasporas",
Difference
(Boston, 1969); JohnArmstrong,
Nationsbefore
Amer.Polit. ScienceRev., lxx (1976), pp. 393-408; JohnArmstrong,
Nationalism(Chapel Hill, 1982); Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds.), The
Invention
(Cambridge,1983); AnthonySmith,"EthnicMythsand Ethnic
ofTradition
xxv (1984), pp. 283-305;AnthonySmith,TheEthnic
Revivals",EuropeanJl Sociology,
OriginsofNations(Oxford,1986).

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

51

culturalconstruction,
as a changing
evolvingovermany
identity
of
needs.
This approach
a
and
generations answering variety
themselves
over
defined
of
how
conversos
examination
an
requires
timevis-d-visothergroups("Old Christians",the Protestant
world,"the Jewishpeople", and so on), and how a distinct
amongtheex-conversos
conceptionof "the Nation" crystallized
historical
to
theirspecific
as
a
ofnorth-western
response
Europe
and
predicament.
experience given
I

froma collectivepointof view

The problemof conversoidentity
riotsthatspreadthrough
beginswiththe popularanti-Jewish
of1391.Theseriotswerenotunprecedented
Spaininthesummer
in medievalEurope,but theywere unique in theirlong-term
The manyJewswhoacceptedbaptismduringthe
consequences.
riotsin orderto escapeviolencebecamethenucleusofa permanin Spanishsociety.8
To be sure,earlier
entsubgroupof conversos
hadalsoleftintheirwakelargenumbers
disturbances
anti-Jewish
to Christianity.
offorcedconverts
Butthistimethenewconverts
werenotdestinedto be absorbedintoChristian
society.On the
factorin Spanishlife,
contrary,
theyin timeemergedas a distinct
as suchbyall strataofSpanishsociety.Moreoverthe
recognized
sincedescendants
continuedto be
groupwas self-perpetuating,
or converts,
formanygenerations.
Andthe
regardedas conversos,
ranksofthisgroupgrew.Freshconverts
the
joined groupperiodas well
icallyas a resultofeconomicand psychological
pressures,
as outbreaks
ofanti-Semitic
violence.These combinedpressures
peakedintheperiodfrom1391to 1415,butviolenceandconversionistpressurepersistedup to thetimeof theexpulsionof the
JewsfromSpainin 1492.9
The termsby whichCastiliansreferred
to the convertsand
theirdescendants
in thefifteenth
reveal
someimportant
century
of attitudes
features
to conversosin thisperiod.Numerousterms
8 On the riotsof 1391, see YitzhakBaer, A Historyof theJewsin ChristianSpain
[Eng. trans.fromHebrew], 2 vols. (Philadelphia,1961-6), ii, pp. 95-134; Philippe
Wolff,"The 1391 Pogromin Spain: Social Crisisor Not?", Past and Present,no. 50
(Feb. 1971), pp. 4-18.
9 A discussionof the patternof violentoutbreakscan be foundin AngusMacKay,
Castile", Past and Present,
"Popular Movementsand Pogromsin Fifteenth-Century
no. 55 (May 1972),pp. 33-44. For a moredetailedand descriptiveaccount,see Baer,
HistoryoftheJewsin ChristianSpain, ii, pp. 170-232,244-51.

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52

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

were currentwell beforethe expulsion.In officialdocuments,

CatholicsofJewishlineagewerereferred
to as conversos,
confesos
or cristianos
nuevos.
Theseareconciseandreasonably
appropriate
termsforJewswho had undergonebaptism.Had theirusage
beenlimited
tothissense,thetermswouldsoonhavedisappeared,
sincetherewereno Jewsto be convertedin Spain after1492.
Butinfactthetermsshoweda surprising
In thecentury
resilience.
betweentheriotsof 1391and theexpulsionof 1492,theywere
converjustas oftenappliedtopersonswhohadneverundergone
sion- thatis, to offspring
ofbaptizedJewswhohad beenraised
as Catholicsfrombirth.Andaftertheexpulsion,
whentherewas

no one left to convert,the termsconverso,confesoand cristiano

nuevowereneverusedin theirliteralsense.The statusofconverso

an inherited
status- a fatefuldevelopment.
became,curiously,
thatjustified
Clearlythetermshad assumedcertainconnotations
theircontinued
use.
The primaryconnotationwas "insincereChristian".This
aboutChristians
ofJewish
assumption
originwasexpressedquite
becameknownpejoratopenlyin streetparlance,whereconversos
ively as tornadizos
(renegades)or marranos
(a termprobably
alludingto pork).10The factthatthe use of thesetermswas
ofthefourteenth
indiprohibited
byCastilianlegislation
century
catesthattheywereconsidered
intheextreme
insulting
byconversos,someofwhomhad obviouslycomplained.1
towardstheconvertsto somedegreerepresSpanishhostility
enteda perpetuation
ofold anti-Jewish
sentiments.
It was also a
to
revelations
of
the
response
crypto-Judaizing
among converts.
Bothof theseissueshad sociological
as wellas religiousaspects.
The awarenessthattheNew Christians
had onlyrecently
worin
and
continued
to
socialize
with
their
shipped synagogues,
friends
and
aroused
uneasiness
about
their
relatives,
Jewish
place
in Spanishsociety.In a societywheregroupboundarieswere
inan unprecedenclearlydrawn,theconversoviolatedboundaries
tedway.Ananonymous
satirist
ofthefifteenth
century
presented
the issue aptlyand colourfully
fromhis pointof view. In his
LibrodelAlborayque,
a Castilianworkwritten
around1460,the
10On the term
see Revah, "Marranes",p. 30.
marrano,
n On this
legislation,see Jose Maria Monsalvo Ant6n, Teoriay evoluci6nde un
social:el antisemitismo
enla coronade Castillaen la bajoEdad Media (Madrid,
conflicto
1985), pp. 150, 251.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

53

authordescribedthe forcedconverts- in contradistinction

to
the sincereones - as follows:

like theMoors,and observe

They performtheceremonyof circumcision
the sabbathlike the Jews,and bear merelythe name of Christians.But
theyare neitherMoors, nor Jews,nor Christians,even if secretlythey
wish to be Jews.For theydo not observethe [laws of the] Talmud or
performJewishceremonies;neither,certainly,do they adhere to the
Christianfaith.Thereforetheyhave been given a derisiveappellation,
or alborayque
foran individual. .. For
namelyalborayques,
collectively,
Mohammed. . . claimed thatAllah sent forththe angel Gabrielfrom
heaventosummonhim,and inordertotransport
him[toheaven]provided
himwitha beastcalledAlborayque.This beastis less a horsethana mule
. . And just as thisbeast is not to be foundin eitherthe Old or New
Testament,so one should understandthat these [persons]are neither
Jewsnor Christiansnor Moors.12

As faras we know,theuse ofthetermalborayque

in reference
to conversoswas a literaryinventionof thisunknownauthor.
Whatis important
to noteis thattheauthor'sconceptualization
oftheproblemis solelyalongreligiouslines.'3He makesa clear
distinction
betweensincereand insincereconverts,
his
directing
ridiculeonlyat thereligiously
confusedor cynical.In theperiod
whenhe composedthetreatisetheInquisition
had notyetbeen
establishedand Judaizingamongconversoswas relatively
open
and identifiable.
Generalized
paranoiahad notyetsetin.
The comparatively
relaxedattitudesof this periodare also
in socio-economic
reflected
Whatever
hostileattidevelopments.
tudesexisted,theydidnotprevent
converts
andtheirdescendants
frompenetrating
thesocialandeconomicelitesofthemajorcities
of theSpanishrealms.New Christians
negotiated
marriageallianceswithOld Christian
familiesof thehigh
families,
including
fromtheir
nobility.They were able to fan out occupationally
base in traditional
administrative
and
financial
functions.
Jewish
This facilitated
into
hitherto
unattainable
offices
in munientry
and
these
obtained
cipalgovernment,
offices,
frequently
byroyal
officials
as a rewardforservices,could be transformed
intoan
12
Quotedin IsidoreLoeb, "Polemisteschretienset juifsen Franceet en Espagne",
Revue des etudesjuives, xviii (1889), pp. 238-40. The entiretext of the Libro del
has been publishedin Nicolas L6pez Martinez,Los judaizantescastellanos
Alborayque
en tiempode Isabella Catolica(Burgos,1954), pp. 391-404. But Loeb
y la Inquisici6n
and L6pez Martinezhave used different
of the work,and thereappear
manuscripts
to be significant
discrepanciesbetweenthem.
13 For other
de JuanAlfonsode
expressionsof the same theme,see El cancionero
Baena (Madrid,1851), nos. 140-2;R. Foulche-Delbose,Cancionero
castellano
delsiglo
XV, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1912-15), ii, pp. 384-5, nos. 702-4. Cf. Baer, Historyof the
Jewsin ChristianSpain, ii, pp. 275-6.

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54

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER143

inherited
asset.The rapidaccumulation
ofsocialprestige,
family
wealthand politicalpoweramongthe conversoelitecontinued
withoutsignificant
hindranceuntilthe mid-fifteenth
century.
This phenomenon
an effort
on thepart
maywellhavereflected
ofconversos
to offset
itstirred
religious
Inevitably,
stigmatization.
newfearsand resentments.
These new fearscontributed
in 1449 to thefirstoutbreakof
violenceagainstconversos.A popularuprisingin Toledo,led by
in riotingagainst
a nobledisaffected
withthecrown,culminated
thelocal conversosand legislation
aimedat excludingthemfrom
publiclife.14The Toledo"purityofblood"statute(revokedafter
of the
as an earlystatement
therevoltwas quelled)is important
idea thatconversosin generalposeda dangerwithnon-religious
the conversoshad accumulatedpower"in orderto
dimensions:
who
destroytheholyCatholicfaithas wellas theOld Christians
shiftin
a deeplysignificant
believein it".15This idea reflected
thinking.
violencewas a
Fromthistimeuntilabout 1474,anti-converso
commonevent.Bands formed,as conversostook up armsand
themselves.
defended
helpedfueltheunrest,
Religioussuspicions
a rolewas playedbystrongpopularresentbutno lesspowerful
lucrativemunicipal
mentat thesuccessof conversosin obtaining
16 Growing
forconversosolidbasis
created
a
new
offices.
hostility
towards
"Old Christians".
wariness
and
intensified
converso
arity,
can be foundin a contemporary
Some traceof thisdistancing
in
chronicleby Alfonsode Palencia.Describingthe hostilities
were
that
the
conversos
in
the
author
explains
Segovia 1464,
"like a nation
accusednot of heresy,but of beingseparatists,
contact
with Old
social
refuses
which
everywhere
apart
14The riotsand theiraftermath
have been studiedin detailby Eloy BenitoRuano,
Toledoen el sigloXV: vida politica(Madrid, 1961), pp. 33-81; Eloy Benito Ruano,
de Pero Sarmientocontralos conversostoledanos",Revista
"La 'Sentencia-Estatuto'
de Madrid,vi (1957), pp. 277-306. See also NicholasRound, "La
de la Universidad
xvi (1966), pp. 385-446;
rebeli6ntoledanade 1449: aspectosideol6gicos",Archivum,
Baer, HistoryoftheJewsin ChristianSpain, ii, pp. 277-83.
15
BenitoRuano, Toledoen el sigloXV, p. 194.
6
violence reflectshis generalconvictionthat
Baer's view of the anti-converso
religiousfactorswere paramount:Baer, Historyof theJewsin ChristianSpain, ii,
pp. 277-83,300-12. More recentresearch,however,has tendedto emphasizetherole
See especiallytheanalysisofFranciscoMarquez
conflicts.
ofpowerfulsocio-economic
Villanueva,"Conversos y cargos consejilesen el siglo XV", Revistade archivos,
bibliotecas
y museos,lxiii(1957), pp. 503-40; and, morerecently,FranciscoMarquez
Villanueva,"El problemade los conversos:cuatropuntoscardinales",in JosepSolaSole et al. (eds.), Hispaniajudaica, 3 vols. (Barcelona,[1980]), i, pp. 52-6.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

55

A greatdeal moreneedsto be understood

about
Christians".17
in thisperiod.It
relationsbetweenconversosand Old Christians
seemsevident,however,thatit was a timewhenconversoaccomwhileat thesametime
modationto Catholiclifewas proceeding,
linesbetweenconversosand Old
tensionsalongsocio-economic
wereheightened.
Christians
Withthe firmcentralcontrolestablishedby Ferdinandand
of the Inquisitionin thelate fifIsabellaand the establishment
teenthcentury,the civil strifebetween conversosand Old
subsided.But theprocessof isolationand stigmatizaChristians
tion of conversoscontinued.Indeed it was given considerable
impetusby the activityof the Inquisition.By the timeit was
in Castilehad accommodated
a greatmanyconversos
established,
toSpanishCatholiclife,and,whilenotnecessarily
piousCatholics,
neitherwere theyintentional
Judaizers.However,the highly
that
of theInquisition
fedthepopularconviction
publicactivity
the
all conversoswerereligiously
suspect.Officially, Inquisition
butin factall conversos
soughtto prosecuteonlyactiveheretics,
resultwasthat
andsuspicion.The inevitable
cameunderscrutiny
cases of "Judaizing"- oftenbut notalwaysa consciouseffort
to maintain
Jewishpractice- wereuncovered
amongthem,and
hostilepublicattitudes
werereinforced.'8
Andas theInquisition
forced crypto-Judaizing
underground,fears about conversos
intensified.
Two royalmeasurestowardstheend of thefifteenth
century
led to a greatincreasein thenumberof conversos:first,
theedict
of expulsionissuedby Ferdinandand Isabellain 1492, which
a waveofconversions
to facethe
triggered
amongJewsreluctant
of exile,and secondly,theforcedbaptismen masseof
hardships
Portugal'sJewsin 1497.19These measuresnotonlyaddedto the
17
Alonsode Palencia,CronicadeEnriqueIV, 3 vols.(Bibliotecade autoresespafioles,
cclviii,Madrid, 1973-5),ii, pp. 93-4.
18
Almostany non-conformist
religiousact, if performedby a converso,
mightbe
associated with "Judaizing". How unclear the boundarywas, in the minds of
Spaniards,between"Judaizing"and non-conformist
(i.e., blasphemousor sceptical)
speechhas been demonstrated
byJohnEdwards,"ReligiousFaithand Doubt in Late
Medieval Spain: Soria circa 1450-1500", Past and Present,no. 120 (Aug. 1988),
and JohnEdwardsin Past
pp. 3-25. See also thedebatebetweenC. JohnSommerville
and Present,no. 128 (Aug. 1990), pp. 152-61.
19The issue of approximatenumbersis a thornyone. Beforethe 1391 riotsthere
wereperhaps250,000Jewsin the Spanishkingdoms.See IsidoreLoeb, "Le nombre
des juifsde Castilleet d'Espagne au moyenage", Revuedes etudesjuives,xiv (1887),
in estimating
see Henry
pp. 161-83.For a recentdiscussionof thedifficulties
figures,

(cont.onp. 56)

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56

PASTAND PRESENT

NUMBER143

ranksof the conversos;theyalso eliminatedofficially

tolerated
JewishlifefromthePeninsula.Fromthispointonwardsconverso
lifein the Peninsulaevolvedin almostcompleteisolationfrom
normative
Jewishlife.This is notto saythatno contactwhatsoever was maintainedbetweenconversosin the Peninsulaand
elsewhere.
Evidenceindicates
thata number
Jewishcommunities
ofJewsdidmaketheirwaytothePeninsula,
indisguise,
generally
toconductbusinessorproselytize
Buteffective
amongconversos.20
lifeelsewhere
ceased.In theabsence
ongoingcontactwithJewish
ofinstitutionalized
aboutJudaism
Jewishlife,ideasand attitudes
assumeda folkloristic
andrelatively
amongtheconversos
primitive
character.
In theperiodfollowing
theexpulsion,
as converso
societyunderwentchange,Old Christian
attitudes
aboutconversos
also altered.
This is reflected
in certainshiftsin terminology
in thesixteenth
century.The termsthathad been commonat the timeof the
to theconverts
and theirdescendants
as indiexpulsionreferred
vidualswitha certainreligioushistory.By the mid-sixteenth
had nearly
century,when in Castile,at least,crypto-Judaism
there
of
was
an
use
such
terms
collective
disappeared,
increasing
as gentedel linaje,estagente,estageneracion,
esta raza ("people of

thislineage","thispeople","thislineage","thisrace"), and so
on. These termsreflected
an emerging
view whichemphasized
the conversos'purportedethnicor racialtraitsratherthansus(n. 19 cont.)

and the Expulsionof SpanishJewsin 1492", Past and

Kamen, "The Mediterranean
Present,no. 119 (May 1988), pp. 30-55. Estimatesof the numberof Jews who
convertedduringthe 1391 riotsand in theiraftermath
varygreatly,fromBaer's tens
of thousandsto Netanyahu'sexaggeratedtwo hundredthousand:Baer,Historyofthe
Jewsin ChristianSpain, ii, p. 246; B. Netanyahu,The Marranosof Spain fromthe
Late XIVth to theEarly XVIth Centuryaccordingto HebrewSources(New York,
had grown
1966), pp. 235-40. By the timeof theexpulsion,the numberof conversos
the standardestimatebeing threehundredthousand.To thisnumber
significantly,
werelateradded theJewsin Portugalwho were baptizedin 1497; thelatterperhaps
numberedsome tensof thousands.
20On Jewishvisitorsto post-expulsionSpain, see Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi,
"ProfessingJewsin Post-ExpulsionSpain and Portugal",in Saul Lieberman(ed.),
BaronJubileeVolume,
3 vols. (Jerusalem,1974),ii, pp. 1023-58;Haim
Salo Wittmayer
Beinart,"A Jew of Salonica in Spain in the SeventeenthCentury"[in Hebrew],
xii (1971-8), pp. 189-97; Haim Beinart,"Ties betweenJewsand Conversos
Sefunot,
of Italy and Spain", in Haim Beinart(ed.), Jewsin Italy: StudiesDedicatedto the
Memoryof U. Cassuto[in Hebrew] (Jerusalem,1988), pp. 275-88; Salo Wittmayer
Baron, A Social and ReligiousHistoryof theJews,2nd edn, 18 vols. (New York,
1952-83),xv, pp. 162, 481 n. 71; JulioCaro Baroja, Los judiosen la Espafa moderna
3rd edn, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1986), iii, p. 361 (Appendix29).
y contempordnea,

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

57

The ethnicdefinition
served,among
pected religioustendencies.21
other things, to provide an explanation for the rapid socioeconomic rise of a conversoelite. Accordingto this view, Jewish
blood had endowed the conversoswith certaintraits- cunning,
a lust forwealthand power, arrogance,and a readinessto exploit
the vulnerable- thathad facilitatedtheirrise to power. Even if
the conversos were no longer identifiablyJewish,they were a
branchof the Jewishpeople which had been graftedunsuccessfullyon to Christiansociety,and which was unable, as it were,
to produce good fruit.
The evolvingethnicview of the conversoalso servedto explain
the failureof the church's mission,and fuelled the rhetoricof
"purification". Many in Spanish society, including concerned
ecclesiastics,came to believe thateven the propensityto Judaize
The New Christiancouldnot
was an inherentracial characteristic.
be a "good Christian".The Franciscanauthorof Centinelacontra
judios (1673) articulatedthis idea vividly:
To be enemiesof Christians,of Christand of his divinelaw, it is not
necessarythatboththe fatherand motherbe Jews.One is enough.The
fatherneed notbe Jewish:enoughthatthemotheris. And even she need
notbe entirelyso; halfis enough,and noteven that;a quarteris enough,
or even an eighth.In our day the Holy Inquisitionhas discoveredthat
even at a distanceof twenty-one
a personhas
degrees[of consanguinity]
been knownto Judaize.22

Religious fears,then, did not disappear. In fact they became

increasinglygeneralizedand paranoiac. What the shiftto a racial
view meantwas thatreligioussuspicionswere relegatedto a more
marginal position in the general configurationof anti-converso
thinking,which pointed to the conversos' tainted blood as the
source of a multiplicityof evils.
This shiftin perceptionwas greatlystimulatedby the gradual
spreadin Spanishsocietyof statutesdiscriminating
againstconverde limpiezade sangre,or "purity
soson racialgrounds(the estatutos
of blood" statutes). In sixteenth-century
Castile these statutes
became ubiquitous. In effectthey established a separate and
21

For two quite different

discussionsof racialviewsabout the conversos,
see Yosef
Assimilation
andRacialAnti-Semitism:
TheIberianand theGerman
HayimYerushalmi,
Models(Leo Baeck MemorialLecture,xxvi,New York, 1982); Diego GraciaGuillen,
"Judaismo,medicinay 'mentalidadinquisitorial'en la Espafiadel sigloXVI", in A.
Alcala et al. (eds.), Inquisicion
espafolay mentalidad
inquisitorial
(Barcelona,1984),
pp. 330-9. Yerushalmianalysesthese views in the contextof the historyof antiSemitism,GraciaGuillenin thatof sixteenth-century
anthropological
thinking.
22 Franciscode Torrejoncillo,
Centinelacontrajudios(Madrid, 1676), p. 62.

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58

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

inferior
social statusforanyonewho could be shownto have
Jewishblood,of whatever
degree.A conversowitha profoundly
Catholicoutlookmightnowfindhimself
excludedfromtheorganized life of variousinstitutions,
amongthemmilitaryorders,
andconfraternities.
The statorders,municipal
councils,
religious
uteswerenotadoptedin all suchbodies,norweretheyalways
strictlyenforcedeven when adopted. But the implicitsocial
ofconversos
wasaffirmed
ofthislegislainferiority
bytheenacting
tion,andtherightofexclusionwasacknowledged
bytheauthorities. The stigmaof beinga converso
had becomea racialone,
relatedprimarily
to valuesofhonourand socialprestige.
II
The institutionalized
attitudesto conversoswhichevolved in
Castilewere in some ways unique to thatkingdom.But they
reverberated
theIberianPeninsulaandhadimportant
throughout
for
the
conversos
ofPortugal,
a groupcentralto this
consequences
It
in
to
from
was
the Spanishcrown
study.
response pressure
thatthe Portuguesemonarchcarriedout theforcedbaptismof
Portugal'sJewsin 1497. And it was in imitationof Spanish
patternsthat Portugaldealt with its "conversoproblem".In
wereadopted.Conversos
too,"purityofblood" statutes
Portugal,
therecameto be identified
terms
which
werethePortuguese
by
cristdos
novos ("New
of
the
Castilian
ones:
equivalents
Christians"),genteda nafdoand homensda nadao ("Men of the

theidentifying
adjectivehebrea.But
Nation")- withor without
a group
in so faras theysuggested
thetermscoinedforconversos,
withgenuinecollectivetraits,were morejustifiedin Portugal
ofconverso
theperceived"Jewishness"
thaninCastile.In Portugal
a productof the imagination.
societywas not so unequivocally
to
Here the "Men of the Nation" tendedto clingtenaciously
Jewishidentity,and actual Judaizingamong them was not
unusual.
are clear.The conversoswho
The reasonsforthisdifference
in post-expulsion
remained
Spainweretheproductofa centuryassaultwhichhad endedat some point,for
long psychological
In Portugal,bycontrast,
eachofthem,in conversion.
Jewishlife
until
had been allowedto proceedwithoutseriousinterference
the suddenforcedbaptismsof 1497. Amongthe new converts
were manyexiles fromSpain, thatis, Jewswho had had the

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

59

to flee
to resistpressuresto convertand, ultimately,
strength
life
in
retained
a
a
As
result,
Portugal
crypto-Jewish
Spain.23
whereas
in
Castile
for
it
became
surprising
vitality generations,
enfeebled.But towardsthe end of the sixteenth
increasingly
on oppositesidesof
ofdevelopment
neat
bifurcation
the
century
the borderwas upsetby politicalevents.In 1580 Portugalwas
annexedtotheSpanishcrown,andtheSpanishborderwasopened
Thiswasvirtually
an invitation
tothePortuguese
New Christians.
to thelatterto migrate
to thelargecommercial
centresofCastile,
toSevilleandMadrid- eithertoescapetheInquisition
especially
inPortugal)
(inSpainonecouldnotbe triedforcrimescommitted
The migration
reached
or to seek out economicopportunities.
after1621,due to increasedinquisitorial
activmajorproportions
confavourable
ityin Portugalwhichcoincidedwithparticularly
ditionsforconversosin Spain.24
The immigration
of thousandsof PortugueseNew Christians
to thegreatcommercial
and politicalcentresof Spanishlifewas
A relatively
ladenwithconsequences.
quietSpainbecamea refuge
forsignificant
numbers
ofJudaizers,
amongthemprominent
royal
financiers.Spanish societywas not slow to respond. The
Inquisition
beganto exposewhatitclaimed,notalwayson strong
newevidence,to be episodesofJudaizing
amongthePortuguese
comers.25
Theserevelations
arousedgrowinghostility
amongthe
public.As a result,the"Men of theNation"whohad migrated
fromPortugalwereperceivedas a distinct
and increasingly
susin
Castilian
element
pect
society.
The appearanceof thisnewgroupon theCastilianscenegave
riseto a newterm.The needto distinguish
theseconversos
from
nativeSpanishconversoswas obvious,and was soon satisfied
by
the use of the termsportugueses
de la nacionhebrea,or, simply,

de la nacion.Significantly,
portugueses
bytheseventeenth
century,
theterm"Portuguese"wasappliedeventoCastilian-born
conver23See Yerushalmi,From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto,pp. 4-5; R6vah,
"Marranes",pp. 36-9.
24For the
to Castile and theirsubsequent
migrationof the Portugueseconversos
en la cortede FelipeIV
activitythere,see JulioCaro Baroja, La sociedadcriptojudia
(Madrid, 1963), pp. 35-128; AntonioDominguezOrtiz,Politicay haciendade Felipe
IV (Madrid, 1983), pp. 121-33; JamesC. Boyajian,Portuguese
Bankersat theCourt
ofSpain, 1626-1650(New Brunswick,1983).
25 For discussionof this
and Societyin
development,see HenryKamen, Inquisition
Centuries(Bloomington,1985), pp. 225-31;
Spain in the Sixteenthand Seventeenth
Bankers,pp. 116-21.
Boyajian,Portuguese

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60

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

soswhoseparentsorgrandparents
hadPortuguese
Since
origins.26
theJudaizing
tendencies
of thefamilieswho crossedtheborder
fromPortugalto Spainwerenotorious,
theterm"Portuguese"
becamevirtually
with
the
synonymous "Judaizer".Collectively,

Portuguese conversoswere known as la nacionportuguesaor la

These termswereadopted in European countries
genteportuguesa.

outsidethePeninsulaas well. The Portuguese

Jesuittheologian
AntonioVieirawrotethat"in popularparlance,amongmostof
theEuropeannations,'Portuguese'is confusedwith'Jew',.27
When in the late sixteenthcenturyareas of north-western
the responsein the
Europe openedup forJewishsettlement,
Peninsulawas one that seemed to vindicatethe distinction
betweenCastilianand Portugueseconversos.The emigresfrom
thePeninsula- whethertheyleftfromPortugalor Castile
wereoverwhelmingly
ofPortuguese
It was theseconverorigin.28
to maketheleap.
motivation
soswhohad sufficient
III
reactto theimageof themin
How did thePortugueseconversos
Iberiansociety?In theabsenceof directevidence,we mustrely
on circumstantial.
An important
sourceofinformation
aboutthe
in Spain and Portugalis, paradoxically,
the
conversos'attitudes
behaviourof thosewho fledthePeninsula.Thereis littleto be
in Lisbonor Sevilleroutinely
learnedfromthefactthatconversos
used the terms"Portuguese"or "Men of the Nation" among
to coin specialtermsamongthemselves
themselves.
Certainly,
would have been foolhardy,
giventhe trivialsortof evidence
oftenused to convict"Judaizers".But thosewho had fledthe
elsewhere
werefreeto
Peninsulaand joinedJewishcommunities
thattheydidnot.The emigres
shedIberianlabels.It is significant
the familiarethnic
retainedin theirnew places of settlement
labels"Men of theNation"and "Portuguese".This was nota
of solidarity
mere matterof convenienceor a demonstration
towardstheirfellowsin the Peninsula.They used theseterms
Caro Baroja,Judios,i, p. 221.
12 vols. (Lisbon, 1951-4),iv,p. 182; see further,
AntonioVieira,Obrasescolhidas,
Caro Baroja,Judios,i, p. 361.
28This emerges clearly from the study of migrationfrom the Peninsula to
Amsterdamby Daniel Swetschinski,"The Portuguese Jewish Merchants of
Amsterdam:A Social Profile"(BrandeisUniv. Ph.D. thesis,
Seventeenth-Century
1979), pp. 78-121.
26
27

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

61

withobviousprideand in a waythatshowedtheirbasicacceptance of Iberianethnicconcepts.The basis of this pride was

ofIberianvalues
boththeinternalization
complex,ofteninvolving
associatedwiththese
and the rejectionof negativejudgements
samevalues.
forexample,
The "Men of theNation"regardedthemselves,
of nobility.It maybe thatevengeneraas possessingattributes
tionsaftertheexpulsionconversos
retainedvestigesofthearistocraticprideof medievalSpanishJewryin itsheyday.29
But it is
thebloodof
also truethat,by theend of thefifteenth
century,
theSpanisharistocracy
had becomemixedwithno littleJewish
blood. Literaryworksof the periodrevealthatcontemporaries
wereoftenbewilderedby thisstateof affairs.
One of theways
to resolvetheapparentcontradiction
(a personwithJewishblood
couldscarcelybe descendedfromthenoblewarriorclass)was to
makea distinction
betweendifferent
ofhonour.We
components
find,forexample,thefollowing
analysis,in an earlysixteenthcenturyletterby a certainJosefLuyando,protesting
againsta
proposalto limitthe"purityof blood" statutes:
In Spain thereare two typesof nobility.The principalone is based on
noblelineage(hidalguia),theotheris based on purityof blood (limpieza),
[foundin those]whomwe call Old Christians.Even if the firsttypenobilityof lineage- is more honourableto achieve,yet it is farmore
degradingto be withoutthe second; forin Spain we esteema common
personwho is limpiomuchmorethana hidalgowho is not limpio.30

statement.31
Certain
This,to be sure,is a somewhat
disingenuous

conversosmightbe despisedfortheirlack of limpieza,but they

mightwellbe enviedby the"commonand limpio"fortheirties

to the aristocracy
or fortheirwealth.As is well known,there
was a denseconcentration
of conversosin thefieldsof commerce
and banking- so muchso, in fact,thatone of thetermsused
to identify
themwas "men of affairs"(homens
de negocios).
Not
as
merchants
and
but
also
as
and
men
only
bankers,
physicians
ofletters,
conversos
occupieda disproportionate
placein thesocial
elite.True, mostconversosdid not enjoygreatwealthor social
29For a characterization
of the particularethos of medievalSpanishJewry,see
H. H. Ben-Sasson,"The Generationof SpanishExiles on Itself" [in Hebrew],Zion,
xxvi (1961), pp. 23-64.
30 BibliotecaNacional,Madrid,MS.
13043,fo. 117v.
31
Maravall persuasivelyargues that therewas in factonly one systemof social
prestigein baroque Spain: see JoseAntonioMaravall,Poder,honory elitesen el siglo
XVII, 3rd edn (Madrid, 1989), pp. 116-34.

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62

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

it is not surprising
that
prestige.But, givenIberianattitudes,
manyofthemenergetically
aspiredto attainthem.
Even withouta title,wealthyconversosbelongedto a sortof
Wealthpermitted
themto imitatethelife-style
pseudo-nobility.
of thearistocracy.
It was evenpossibleto createtheillusionof
noblebackground
name- an
byadoptingan aristocratic
family
occurrence
common
conversos
to
sufficiently
among
annoysome
Old Christians.32
Andtherewereothermeansto compensate
for
thestigmaofJewish
blood:politicalinfluence,
tieswithillustrious
andmembership
ofprestigious
ormilconfraternities
personages,
orders.
itary
no titlewasweighty
But,formanyconversos,
enoughtoeliminate the shameof Jewishblood. There werethosewho, having
internalized
toobtainspuriouscertiSpanishattitudes,
attempted
ficatesof limpieza.Others,however,showeda certaindaring
oflineageand turnediton
ingenuity.
Theyadoptedthestandard
its head. Jewishblood, despisedby the majority,
becamethe
A
ultimate
fine
of
such
inversion
is
the
tradition
lineage.
example
of a conversofamilyof Brazil,accordingto whichone of its
memberspossesseda deed of nobility
provingthathe was descendedfromthe Maccabees.33A similarclaimexistedin the
Frenchprotofamilyof JosephSalvador,a nineteenth-century
An earlyexamplecan be foundin a
Zionistof conversoorigin.34
the
workof Juande Lucena, who attributes
fifteenth-century
Alonsode
fictional
wordsto the conversochurchman
following
Cartagena:
Hebrews.Of
Don'timagine
thatyouinjuremewhenyoucallmyfathers
course theywere, and thus I want themto be. For if nobilitylies in
antiquity,who goes back further[thantheJew]?And if [nobilitylies in]
virtue,who is closerto it [thanthe Jew]?And if - by the standardsof
Spain - wealthis nobility,who is morewealthyin his day?35

and inversion
ofIberian
As thispassagehints,theinternalization
conversos
to
and
values concerning
ethnicity
permitted
lineage
vis-d-visOld
cultivatea sense of adequacy,even superiority,
Christians.
For someconversos,
serveda similarpurpose.If Old
Judaizing
32

Yerushalmi,FromSpanishCourtto Italian Ghetto,p. 62 n.

33ArnoldWiznitzer,TheJewsin ColonialBrazil (New York, 1960), p. 16.

His Life and Ideas" [in Hebrew], Zion,

4 See H. Reinhold,"JosephSalvadorix (1944), p. 115.
35Juan de Lucena, Tratado de Vita Beata (Burgos, 1502), fo. 11, quoted in
DominguezOrtiz,Clase social,p. 159.

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63

"MEN OF THE NATION"

Christiansociety refused to permit them to feel secure in the

knowledge that they were good Catholics,and if theirenemies
insultedthem by calling themjudios, how betterto regain selfrespectthanby cultivating(secretly,of course) theirJewishness?
Since the Judaizersof later conversogenerations,having been

hadnotthemselves
Judaism
betrayed
through
baptizedininfancy,
and sincein anycase theytookdailyrisksand made
conversion,
to maintaina Jewishidentity,
enormoussacrifices
theydid not
and observof
that
their
level
feel
Jewish
knowledge
usually
ance -

however rudimentaryand folkloristic-

was less than

lackedin organicconnection
admirable.WhattheirJewishness
in theface
it madeup forin itssteadfastness
to historic
Judaism,
Thisconviction
was expressedin variofsystematic
persecution.
idealizedtheircondition
sometimes
ousways.Conversos
byidentifyingwiththe Jewsin Egypt,oppressedand surroundedby
withthe storyof Esther,withits
Othersidentified
idolatry.36
ofidentity
concealment,
systematic
religious
perstrongelements
These idealizedinterpretations
secution,and ultimatevictory.37

of conversoexperienceallowed conversos
to situatethemselvesin
themainstreamofJewishhistoryand tradition.It was theirsevere
isolationfromnormativeJewishlife thatprovided the psychological stimulusforsuch ideas. In certainways it was also thisvery
isolationthatallowed such a self-conceptionto go unchallenged.
Such strategiesas extolling Jewish lineage and cultivating
Judaismreflecta deep ambivalence towards Spanish life, not a
rejectionof it. In an everyday,concreteway all conversoswere
deeplyengagedin Spanishlifeand culture.Both in theiroutward
habits- speech, dress, culinarypreferences,and so on - and
in the deeper aspectsof theirsocial and mentallife,such as childrearing,attitudestowardsdeath, views about wealth,and leisure
habits, they were a product of their Iberian environment.The
entirearray of their specific,concreteculturalexperiencestied
themto thePeninsula.Such profoundlinkswerenoteasilybroken

36 H. P. Salomon,"The 'De Pinto'

Marrano
Manuscript:A Seventeenth-Century
ix (1975), p. 46 (Eng. trans.,p. 13); Elvira
FamilyHistory",Studia Rosenthaliana,
Cunhade AzevedoMea, "Oraqces judaicasna Inquisiqcoportuguesa- sculo XVI",
in Yosef Kaplan (ed.), Jews and Conversos:Studiesin Societyand the Inquisition
toJudaism:The Storyof
(Jerusalem,1985), p. 168; Yosef Kaplan, FromChristianity
Isaac Orobiode Castro(Oxford,1989), p. 312.
37 See Roth,"ReligionoftheMarranos",
FromSpanishCourt
pp. 26-7; Yerushalmi,
to Italian Ghetto,p. 38 n.

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64

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

evenlongaftera converso
lefthisorhernativeSpainorPortugal.38
andintimidated
Despitebeingstigmatized
bythesocietyinwhose
midsttheylived,manyconversos
to be conspicuous
continued
and
in
the
cultural
of
and
life
the
eagerparticipants
political
society
thatrefusedto acceptthemfully.
therewererelatively
Amongtheemigres,
certainly,
highnumbersof menand womenwho felta genuineimpulseto uproot
themselves
and "return"to Judaismon foreignsoil. But even
withinthispartially
self-selected
attigroup,thereweredifferent
tudesand degreesof commitment
to thisgoal. For some,the
foremigration
was economic.After1595,
primarymotivation
whenthe Dutch imposeda generalmaritimeblockadeon the
therewerecompelling
reasonsforIberian
SpanishNetherlands,
conversomerchants
involvedin thePortuguesecolonialtradeto
in northern
centres
establishthemselves
Europeancommercial
ofa fullblockadewas
Buttheimposition
(otherthanAntwerp).39
In
shiftin conditions.
onlyone criticalmomentin a continuing
general,politicaland economicconditionsin northern
Europe
forconversoemigres,whilein thePeninsulawereimproving
afterthe fallof Olivaresin 1643- theydeteriorated
certainly
motivations
forbankingfamilies
Indeed,thepractical
seriously.40
likethePintosto fleeSpainor Antwerp
wereso strongthatsome
scholarshave deniedthatJewishloyaltiesplayedanyroleat all
in thedecisionto do so.41
forflightwas nothingmorethan
Sometimesthe motivation
hadbeenpassedontotheInquisition.
wordthata baselessrumour
A chargeagainstone memberof a familywouldlead inevitably
of othermembers,
who mightchooseto flee
to an investigation
eveniftheydid notwishto do so. Then,too,in thepatriarchal
38On the
emigresfortheirnativeland, see YosefKaplan,
longingamongconverso
"The Travels of PortugueseJews from Amsterdamto the 'Lands of Idolatry'
(1644-1724)", in Kaplan (ed.), Jewsand Conversos,
pp. 197-8.
demo39 For a concisediscussionof the impactof the Dutch blockadeon converso
p. 420.
graphics,see Israel,Empiresand Entrepots,
40For an analysisof changingconditionsin thecrucialcentres,see Jonathan
Israel,
"A Conflictof Empires:Spain and the Netherlands,1618-1648", Past and Present,
no. 76 (Aug. 1977), pp. 34-74.
41 For sucha positionconcerning
thePintofamily,see JamesBoyajian,"The New
ChristiansReconsidered:EvidencefromLisbon's PortugueseBankers,1497-1647",
xiii (1979), pp. 152-6; Salomon," 'De Pinto' Manuscript",p.
StudiaRosenthaliana,
21 n. 75, p. 29 n. 96. In myview,neitherofthesescholarsis persuasiveon thispoint.
to the Netherlands.
Clearlythe Pintoswaitedforthe opportunemomentto transfer
But thissayslittleabouttheirlong-termgoals. Was themovea reluctantsubmission
to economicconditions,or a long-anticipated
step?

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

65

wouldbe a matterdecided
societyoftheIberianPeninsula,flight
and someby thehead of thehousehold.For women,children,
therewas no choicebutto submitto thedecision
timesservants,
Buteven
oftheirowninclinations.
ofthefamily
head,regardless
to thetaskofre-Judaization
at the
thosemosthighlycommitted
time they left the Peninsula harbouredideas about their
and their"Iberianness"whichhad been constructed
Jewishness
as a responseto theIberianmilieu.
theseideasfacedconsiderable
Withemigration,
upheaval.The
of thousandsof "Portuguese"Jewsfromthe
transplantation
Peninsulato townsand citiesin thediaspora- Livorno,Tunis,
orLondon,tonameonlya fewIstanbul,Bordeaux,Rotterdam
a
shock
to thesenseofselfand group
was accompanied
by deep
whichhad evolvedin the Peninsula.There were threefundamentalchallenges:the encounterwitha non-Iberiancultural
withJewsof otherbackgrounds,
and the
sphere,theencounter
encounter
withnormative
Judaism.
To one degreeor another,
sucha confrontation
formed
partof
the experienceof all conversoemigresraisedin post-expulsion
documentation
SpainandPortugal.It couldbe described,
permitconversos
in
who
settled
Salonica
Cairo,Jerusalem,
ting,among
or Venice.But theconfrontation
was sharpestin thesettlements
of north-western
Europe Amsterdam,
Hamburg,south-west
of
France,and London.It was in the"Portuguese"communities
theseplacesthatconversoidentity
outsidethePeninsulaachieved
itsmostself-conscious
Thiscanbe explainedbythe
expression.42
absencein the communities
of north-western
Europe of three
importantmediatingfactorsthat were to be found in the
Mediterranean
a historically
communities:
continuous
Sephardic
in bothJewishand
presence,a highdegreeof culturaldiversity
Gentilesociety,and a somewhatfamiliar
Mediterranean
cultural
style.In northernEurope the deeplyalien characterof both
iftheywereto
Jewishand Gentileliferequiredtheex-conversos,
weatherthetransition,
to attempta moreradicalarticulation
of
theircollective
It was particularly
in Amsterdam
and its
identity.
satellitecommunities
in Hamburg,Bordeaux,Bayonne,London
and elsewhere
in theAtlantic
ethos
diasporathata newcollective
focuson developments
in theAtlantic
emerged.I willtherefore
42See Miriam Bodian, "The 'Portuguese' Dowry Societies in Venice and
Amsterdam",Italia, vi (1987), pp. 55-61.

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66

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

in the late six"Portuguese"diaspora,afterits establishment

teenthand earlyseventeenth
centuries.
For mostof the emigreswho settledin thisregion,the new
environment
servedto reinforce
a basicsenseofseparatecollective identity.
In the Peninsulathe conversosdid not constitute
a
as "Men of the
separatesocial entity,and theiridentification
Nation" had to do mainlywithintangible
factors.In contrast,
the "Portuguese"who settledin north-western
Europebecame
a distinct
socialgroup,trulydistinguished
fromtheirneighbours
by speech and otherculturalcharacteristics.
They now were
"the" Portuguese
in theirplacesofsettlement.
The importantchangesin the parametersof identitythat
sensedimmediately.
As menaccompaniedexile werecertainly
tionedabove, the newlyarrivedmembersof the Amsterdam
continued
to referto themselves
as "Portuguese"or
community
"Men oftheNation".However,it is interesting
that,whenthey
soughtto definethe boundariesof theirgroupprecisely,they
revealedtheirawarenessof the misleadingcharacterof these
used terms.Theychoseto use expressions
withboth
commonly
an Iberianand a Jewishelement:eitherda nafaohebrea,
portu-

or theconverse,da naafoportuguesa
e espanhola,
guesese espanholes,

hebreos.43
This was an earlyresponseto theneedto definethemselvesin a newwayvis-d-visGentileandJewishsocieties.
It seems that there was virtuallyno impulseamong the
in theirnew environments,
ex-conversos
despitehavingfledthe
fromIberianculture.
"landsofidolatry",to distancethemselves
the cultivation
of Iberianculturalhabitsand
On the contrary,
featureof
aristocratic
becamea strongdistinguishing
pretensions
To be sure,alongsidethispreservatheirJewishcommunities.44
tionofIberianculturetherecoexisteda driveto cultivate
Jewish
book
learning,expressedin communaleducationalinstitutions,
and
the
of
rabbis
to
educational
functions.
printing,
perform
hiring
in maintaining
a biculBut therewas apparently
littledifficulty
43I. S. R6vah, "Le premierreglementimprimede la 'Santa Companhiade dotar
iv
de bibliografia
orfanse donzelas pobres"', Boletiminternacional
luso-brasileira,
(1963), pp. 668, 678.
44For a detaileddescriptionof continuingIberian culturalactivitiesamong the
Amsterdamex-conversos,see Daniel Swetschinski,"The Portuguese Jews of
and Adaptation",in Frances
Amsterdam:CulturalContinuity
Seventeenth-Century
Malino and PhyllisCohen Albert(eds.), Essaysin ModernJewishHistory:A Tribute
toBen Halpern(Rutherford
and London, 1982),pp. 62-74; Kaplan,FromChristianity
toJudaism,
pp. 286-302,308-12.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

67

efforts
to restoreJewishlife,zealous
turallife.The ex-conversos'
as theymightbe, did not entailrejectingtheirIberiancultural
ofone ofthemost
whichwerea reassuring
attributes,
expression
deep-seatedaspectsof theiridentity.
exacerThe continued
pursuitofIberianculturedid,however,
in theirimmediate
envirofanotherkind.At first,
bateconflicts
ons,theconversosof south-west
France,Holland,Hamburgand
London were the onlyJews.Late medievalpersecutions
had
drivenout the AshkenazicJewswho had settledin western
whosettledinthese
Europeinthemedievalperiod.The conversos
and earlyseventeenth
centuries
were
placesin thelatesixteenth
thusfreeto shapea Jewishidentity
thatwas consistent
withtheir
psycho-socialneeds. Beforelong, however,when the newly
conditions
forsettlement
becameknown,Ashkenazic
favourable
Jewsbeganto trickle- and thenflood- intothesecentres
France,wheretheywerenot
(withtheexceptionof south-west
to settle).For theconversos,theencounter
withthese
permitted
"alien" Jewswas doublyfraught
withdifficulty,
sincethelatter
were largelypoor Ashkenazimwho had fled westwardfrom
Polandand theGermanstatesfromthe 1620sonwards,mostof
themfromthelowersocialstrata- butchers,
pedlars,beggars,
and the like. They did not conformto the self-imageof the
"Portuguese"Jewsin anyway,and wereregardedby thelatter
withdistastefromthestart.
Howeverunattractive
thelocalAshkenazim
seemed,theywere
From
the
of
view
of Jewishlaw, it
Jews.
unquestionably
point
was impossible
to refrain
fromestablishing
tiesofsolidarity
with
them.LikeotherJews,the"Portuguese"wereobligatedtorelate
to the widerJewishworld both conceptually
(as reflectedin
and
rabbinic
and
in
liturgy
literature)
practice(in the areas of
welfareand inter-communal
This posedan acute
co-operation).
to
In
the
as
in
challenge self-perception.
past, New Christians
thePeninsula,therehad been a certainidentity
between"Men
of the Nation" and "Jews". Now thissociologicalcongruence
The "Men oftheNation"werebuta smallminority
disappeared.
in thelargerJewishworldwithwhichtheywerenowin continuous contact.
In practice,thepoliciesofthe"Portuguese"communal
leaders
towardsthe widerJewishworldwere quite logical,giventhe
conflict
thatwas felt.This is bestdocumented
forAmsterdam,
wherecommunalrecordshave been preservedalmostin their

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68

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

entirety.In mattersthathad to do withJewsin dangeror distress,

the "Portuguese" communityco-operatedwithAshkenaziccommunitiesand offeredaid to the needy,both in Poland and in the
German states. The community also granted aid to poor
Ashkenazim who arrived in Amsterdam. However, the
"Portuguese" were not interestedin encouragingsuch refugees

to settlein the city,an attitudereflected

clearlyin an episode
from1656. That year,whenabout threehundredAshkenazic
arrivedinAmsterdam
fromPolandandLithuania,
memrefugees
bersof the "Portuguese"community
receivedthem,providing
themwithfood,clothing
and shelter.Buttheyalso tookpainsto
continueon to destinations
outsidethe
helpmanyoftherefugees

Dutch Republic.45
The furtheraway the needy Ashkenazimwere, the friendlier
the attitude to them. When distant Ashkenazic communities
sufferedin timesof war,theMa'amad (rulingcouncil) was willing
to offersubstantialassistance.It granteda largesum,forexample,
to theJewsof Kremzierin Moravia in 1643 afterthatcommunity
had been destroyedby the Swedish army.46Similarly,in 1677 it
contributedto the redemptionof Polish Jews taken captive and
held in Constantinople.47
There is no reason to doubt the sincerityof the expressionsof
solidaritythatsometimesaccompaniedthe decisionsto grantaid.
In 1642 the communitycontributeda considerablesum to aid
Ashkenazimin German lands who sufferedfromthe ravages of
the ThirtyYears War. More interestingthan the decision itself

it:
is theentryin theminute-book
justifying

The naturalmercyand compassionof theJewishpeople [povode Ysrael],

have stirred
and especiallyof thosebelongingto this holy community,
of the
themenof theirMa'amad to finda remedyforthegreatsufferings
poor of our Hebrew nation,especiallythe Ashkenazimwho have been
expelledfromGermany... and at the same timeto bringan end to the
greatinjurywhichhas resultedfromthe desecrationof God's holyname
due to violationsof his holy Torah, bringingloss of honourupon his
people.48

Taking actionin such a case was withoutdoubt a religiousobligation.Indeed thesolidarityexpressedis couchedin religiousterms.
45H. L. Bloom, TheEconomic
in theSeventeenth
Activities
oftheJewsofAmsterdam
and Eighteenth
Centuries
1937), pp. 25-6.
(Williamsport,

PA 334,no. 19,p. 157.

46 Gemeente
Archief,
Amsterdam,
47Ibid., 765.
p.
48Ibid.,p. 109.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

69

The Jewishpeopleare depictedas an ideal religiousbody,the

oftheTorah.The factthat
ofbelieversandobservers
collectivity
it was feltnecessaryto justifythe decisionin thisway seems
areinteresting:
themselves
andthejustifications
first,
noteworthy,
ofthe"Portuguese"Jews,and secondly,
thenaturalcompassion
observed
thehonourof theTorah,whichcouldnotbe properly
I
In
documents
the
archival
and
homeless
by
hungryrefugees.
havestudied,I havenotseen- and wouldnotexpectto see a decisionto aid "Portuguese"Jewsaccompaniedby such a
justification.
were not to be found.In
Closerto home,such sentiments
thatconcernedactualsocial contact,the communal
everything
leadershipacted to maintainas great a distanceas possible
betweenthe "Men of the Nation" and Jewsof otherethnic
It appearsthatthispolicybecamemoreharshand
backgrounds.
in the
rigidwithtime.In itsessence,however,it was established
A dowrysocietyfounded
existence.
first
yearsofthecommunity's
andapplicants
in 1615rejectedas potential
members
personswho
there
werenotmembersof the"Nation".49Here,as elsewhere,
and adaptationof
can be littledoubt thatthe internalization
Iberian conceptsof blood contributedto the emergenceof
"Portuguese"ethnicexclusivity.
had no basis in Jewishlaw, and someof its
This exclusivity
to Jewishlaw. It appears,for
wereactuallycontrary
expressions
werereluctant
to acceptintothe
example,thattheex-conversos
communitya convert to Judaismwhose fatherwas not
"Portuguese".5Such a personwas unequivocally
Jewish;the
Likewise,negrose mulatos
problemwas his or her ethnicity.

judeos- convertedservantsor illegitimatechildrenof servants-

were deniedthe fullrightsof communalmembership,

though
forsucha rule.A regulation
thereis no rabbinicjustification
of
for
set
aside
a
burial
for
1614,
"slaves,
example,
separate
plot
servants,and Jewishgirlswho are not of our Nation".51Some
modifications
weremadein 1647,buttheprinciple
ofsegregated
burialwas maintained.52
in
1644
it
was
decided
thata
Similarly,

49Bodian,"'Portuguese' Dowry Societies",pp. 41-6.

50Yosef Kaplan, "Jewish Proselytes from Portugal in Seventeenth-Century
Amsterdam- The Case of Lorenzo Escudero" [in Hebrew], in Proceedings
of the
SeventhWorldCongress
ofJewishStudies,4 vols. (Jerusalem,1980-1),iv, pp. 99-101.
51WilhelminaC. Pieterse,Livro de Bet Haim do Kahal Kados de Bet Yahacob
(Assen, 1970), p. 4.
52 Gemeente
Archief,PA 334, no. 19, p. 224.

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70

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

non-white
malecouldnotbe calledto theTorahor receiveother
honours.53
synagogue
ThereareexplicitdecisionsoftheMa'amadoftheAmsterdam
whichalso glaringly
contradict
basicnormsofJewish
community
In 1657,forexample,a decisionwas adoptedprocommunities.
ItalianJewsandmulattos"fromusingthe
"Ashkenazim,
hibiting
communalhouse of study.54
Accordingto a decisionof 1709,
members
women
not
ofthe"Nation"wouldlose their
marrying
In
as
members.55
the
too,thereis
rights
dowrysocietystatutes,
evidenceoftensionbetweenethnicattitudes
andrabbinicnorms.
One clause stipulatesthat the illegitimatedaughterof a
womanis eligibleto
"Portuguese"man bornof a non-Jewish
applyfora dowry(whichshe could receiveafterundergoing
whereastheillegitimate
ofa "Portuguese"
conversion),
daughter
womananda Gentilefather,
frombirthaccording
Jewish
although
toJewish
law,shouldnotbe allowedtoapply"underanycircumstances".56This is trulya remarkable
deviationfromrabbinic
notions.It wouldappearthat"Portuguese"lineagewas passed
on throughthefather,and thatthesignificance
of suchlineage
was endorsedevenbya rabbinically
suchas
approvedinstitution
thedowrysociety.The implication
was thatone's "Portuguese"
characterand one's Jewishnesshad no inherent,essential
relationship.

IV
The feelingthathe or she possesseda distinct
Iberiancharacter
notonlycausedtheemigreto recoilfromJewsof othercultural
but also reinforced
his or her senseof solidarity
backgrounds,
of
the
withother"Men
Nation",whetherinsideor outsidethe
53 Ibid., p. 173. The issue of attitudesto convertedblacksor mulattosamongthe
materialin
PortugueseJewshas yetto be explored.Meanwhile,see the illuminating
Surinamin the Second Half of the
Robert Cohen, Jews in AnotherEnvironment:
(Leiden, 1991), pp. 143-59.
Century
Eighteenth
54 YosefKaplan, "RelationsbetweenSpanishand Portuguese
Jewsand Ashkenazim
and
in Seventeenth-Century
Amsterdam",in ShmuelAlmoget al. (eds.), Transition
Changein ModernJewishHistory:Essaysin Honourof ShmuelEttinger[in Hebrew]
(Jerusalem,1987), p. 403.
55 Ibid., p. 406. And indeed in the nineteenth
refusedto
centurythe community
an
buryin its cemeterya "Portuguese"Jewwho had alienatedhimselfby marrying
Ashkenazicwoman. See J. Michman, "Between Sephardimand Ashkenazimin
Amsterdam",in I. Ben-Ami (ed.), The Sephardiand OrientalJewishHeritage[in
Hebrew] (Jerusalem,1982), p. 136 n. 7.
56
Revah, "Premierreglement",p. 677.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

71

Peninsula.A certainanxietyaboutthefutureof thisgrouphad

of so manyof
no doubtbeen stirredby theexileand scattering
instiin
communal
The ethnicexclusivity
itsmembers.
expressed
coltutionsindicatesthattheneedfeltto preservea threatened
stillhad a greatholdon mentallife.
lectiveattachment
withpurelyJewishaims.If the
In thistherewas someconflict
on
established
conversos
wereto builda Jewishcommunity
firmly
rabbinicnorms- and thisactwas perceivedamongotherthings
inthePeninsula- there
cultivated
ofexpectations
as a fulfilment
could be no avoidingthe painfulneed to establisha boundary
betweenthose"Membersof theNation"who had acceptedfull
Jewishobservanceand thosewho remained,in the parlanceof
leaders,"outsideJudaism"(forada judesmo).
community
in
It appearsthatin the"Portuguese"communities
generally
in particular,
the
the seventeenth
century,and in Amsterdam
in Catholiclandswas
acceptedrabbinicstatusof the conversos
thatof "infantstakencaptiveamongthe Gentiles".That is to
fortheirfailureto
say,thesepersonswerenotheldresponsible
observeJewishlaw, and fromthe pointof view of Jewishlaw
werefullyJews.The rationaleforthiswas statedclearly.In the
of the
wordsof SamuelAboab, a Venetianrabbinicauthority
therewasreasontoregard
secondhalfoftheseventeenth
century,
as apostates:
thoseparticularpersonswho wereforciblyconvertedand had previously
been Jews,who understoodthe natureof the Jewishtradition. . . But
theirchildrenand laterdescendantswho did notknowand neversaw the
themfroman infanttakencaptive
lightof the Torah, whatdistinguishes
amongthe Gentiles?57

Even conversos
whowerepractising
Catholicswerethusregarded
as Jewsfromthepointof viewofJewishlaw. However,it was
almostinevitablethattherewould be a feelingamongnewly
committed
Jewstowardsthosewholingered"outsideJudaism",
as wellas towardsthosewho had settledin Jewishcommunities
butresistedcircumcision,
thatthelatterwerenotJewsin thefull
senseof theword.
Formalreinforcement
was givento thisfeelingby rulingsof
lay and rabbinicleaders.Indeedsuchreinforcement
appearsto
havebeenthemotivation
behindcertainrulings.This is explicit
in a decisionofa rabbiniccourtin Livornofromtheseventeenth
a Jewwho had notbeen circumcised
from
century,
prohibiting
57

Devar Shemu'el(Venice,1702),no.45.

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72

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

holdinga Torah scroll,even thoughaccordingto Jewishlaw this

was ordinarilypermissible:
We rule thatalthoughthe law is thus [i.e., permitsthis],the timesare
such as to make this inappropriate.So you must not give them [the
equal statuswithfullypractising
Jews(yisra'elimgemurim)
uncircumcised]
by allowingthemto touchsacredobjects... This would resultin ruin,
fortheywouldputoffenteringtheCovenantof Abrahamiftheysaw that
althoughuncircumcised
theyare deniednothing,and may touchsacred
Jews.Such an unacceptablesituationwill
objectsjustlike fullypractising
not developif an explicitdistinction
is made.58

The distinctionwas made in different"Portuguese" communitiesas theneed arose. In Amsterdama "Member of theNation"
who failedto join a Jewishcommunityand undergocircumcision
was denied the rightto be buriedin a Jewishcemetery,to inherit
fromJewishrelatives,or to be includedin communalprayersfor
the deceased.59Decisions such as these indicatethe generalconcurrenceof communalleaders and rabbis concerningthe need to
draw a line withinthe conversodiaspora betweenfullypractising
Jewsand those whose Jewishcommitmentwas only potential.
But as has been hinted,this exclusionby no means meant the
severingof linkswiththeNew Christianworld.In factcommunal
leadersdid nothesitateto initiatecommunalactivitieswhichwere
aimed at maintainingcontact with "Members of the Nation",
whethercircumcisedor not. These tiesweremaintainedin various
non-institutionalized
ways. They were also institutionalizedin
the formof the dowrysocietymentionedabove, whichwelcomed
conversosliving outwardlyas Catholics both as membersand as
applicantsfordowries.60
V

The policies of the communalleadershipthus reveal two somewhat conflicting(thoughnot contradictory)aims: first,building
a communitybelongingfullyto the rabbinic-Jewish
world, and
secondly, preservinga separate identitybased on quasi-ethnic
foundationsalien to rabbinic Judaism. In general, communal
leaders seemed unaware of any tensionbetweenthese aims. The
separationtheytended to maintainbetween mattersconcerning
58RafaelMeldola,MayimRabim(Amsterdam,1737), pt 2, no. 52.

59Pieterse,Livro de Bet Haim, p. 45; Y. Sasportas,Ohel Ya'akov (Amsterdam,

1737), no. 59; GemeenteArchief,PA 334, no. 19, p. 195.
60Revah, "Premierreglement",pp. 674, 678.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

73

the"Portuguese
thewiderJewishworldand matters
concerning
fromtimeto
Nation" keptthe tensionminimal.Nevertheless,
and
weremadeto resolveapparentcontradictions
timeattempts
to definetheterms.
rabbiandpublicist
Thus,forexample,thefamousAmsterdam
Menassehben Israelin his workTheHopeofIsrael(1650). The
Antoniode Montesinos
authordescribesthe visionaryconverso
in
as
(AharonLevi)
being "Portuguese nation,and a Jewin
to thetacitdistinction
Menasseh
religion".61
appearsto subscribe
made in communityaffairs between "Jewishness"and
But perhapshisis onlya realisticrecognition
"Portugueseness".
of the religiousdiversity
withinthe converso
diaspora:all have
Jews.
Jewishbloodbutnotall are practising
of
A fewsources,however,attestto a genuinefragmentation
identity.One of thesesourcesis a letterof 1683 writtenby
AbrahamIdafia,an ex-converso
merchant
livingin Amsterdam.
to an inquisitorial
The letterwas addressed,perhapsfictitiously,
in Madrid.Idafiawrites:
official
In thiscitythereare ... twosynagoguesin whichtheJewsoftheGerman
empire,knownas tudescos[i.e., Ashkenazim],gatherto worship,along
withPolish Jews.They observethe same holy Law of Moses withits
ritualsas thePortuguese,but in politicalmatters(en la politica)theyare
because they are of an alien native character(estrana
very different,
naturaleza),and forthisreason,even if todaymanyof themare wealthy,
theyare held in low esteem,forin facttheyare debasedin spirit.62

a consciousdistinction
Anothersourceindicating
betweenthe
two elementsof Portuguese-Jewish
identityconsistsof a few
It is precisely
thecasualnature
wordsscrawledina minute-book.
oftheseremarks
thatmakesthemsuchconvincing
evidence.The
resemblance
betweentheirformulation
andthatofIdaiiais strong
enoughto suggestthattheyreflecta widelyacceptedattitude.
The sourceis an entryfrom1670 in the minute-book
of the
in Hamburg,recording
an embarrass"Portuguese"community
had investigated
a report
ingincident.The communal
leadership
thata memberof the community
had takenit upon himselfto
visita newpastorinHamburg.The personinquestionapparently
arrivedat thepastor'shousewithout
priornotice,forhe cameat
an hourwhenthepastorwasnotaccustomed
toreceiving
visitors,
andwastherefore
turnedaway.The following
wastheinteresting
61Menassehben Israel,Esperanfade Israel(Amsterdam,1650), p. 41.
62
B. N. Teensma,"FragmentenuithetAmsterdamse
convolutvan AbrahamIdafia,
aliasGasparMendezdel Arroyo(1623-1690)", StudiaRosenthaliana,
xi (1977), p. 149.

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74

PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 143

conclusionof the Ma'amad, whichhad failedto uncoverthe

of theculprit:
identity

It mayverywellbe thattheeldersoftheAshkenazim
weretheoneswho
didthis[i.e.,senttheman];foralthough
and
theybelongto ournation,
theTorahis one, this[unity]does notextendto matters
of conduct
(governo).63

is madebetweentwoclustersof identity
Here,too,a distinction
the "religious"and the "ethnic".This passagemay
attributes,
even implythatthe unexpectedvisitor'slack of courtesywas
relatedto hisundistinguished
lineage.
By way of caution,let me stressthattherewas neitheran
intention
nora need at thistime,as therewouldbe by thelate
eighteenthcentury,to deny the collectiveethnicaspect of
Judaism.Whatdoes seemto emergefromthesepassagesis the
idea thatthetraitsand ideasencodedin theterm"Portuguese"
weredifferent
from- or at leastnotalwayscongruent
withthoseencodedin theterm"Jew".Whatalso emergesis theclear
conviction
thatbothclustersof traits,whileat timestheycould
be distinguished
and separated,werecapableof coexisting
and
evenmerging.
Coherence,or at leastthe illusionof it, was providedin the
a
realmoftheology
and myth.Themesofexileand redemption,
in
the
element
of
were
Peninsula,64
key
crypto-Jewish
theology
theJewish
also themesthatassumedunusualpotencythroughout
It
was
these
worldin theseventeenth
themes,
through
century.65
elaboratedabouta uniquelyconversocore,thatthe Portuguese
theresoJewsof north-western
Europewereable to anticipate
in theircondition.
It wasforthem
lutionofthetensions
inherent
tarriedin
factthatmanyof theirfellowconversos
an unfortunate
conviction
outofprudence,
Catholicism
thePeninsula,
practising
or inertia.The divinescenarioensured,however,thattheytoo
wouldone day "return",bringing
to an end theirconditionof
other
had potentialforresolving
alienation.66
Such expectations
63
AHW 993, i, p. 449 (photocopyat the
Staatsarchiv,
Hamburg,Gemeindearchiv,
CentralArchivesforthe Historyof theJewishPeople, Jerusalem).
64See Revah, "Marranes",p. 53.
65
Amongvariousdiscussionsof thisphenomenon,see GerschomScholem,Major
TrendsinJewish
3rdedn (New York,1954),pp. 244-58;ShalomRosenberg,
Mysticism,
"Exile and Redemptionin JewishThoughtin the SixteenthCentury:Contending
Conceptions",in BernardDov Cooperman(ed.), JewishThoughtin the Sixteenth
Century(Cambridge,Mass., 1983), pp. 399-430.
toJudaism,
6 This expectationis discussedin Kaplan,FromChristianity
pp. 339-43;
Yerushalmi,FromSpanishCourtto Italian Ghetto,pp. 302-6.

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"MEN OF THE NATION"

75

tensionsas well.The condition

ofexileand dispersion
had given
risetodifferent
"nations"
with
natural
little
Jewish
affinity
among
themselves.The ex-conversos
were all too aware of theirsepar-

ateness.Yet viewedon thewiderstageofuniversal

their
history,
own specificexperiencewas an integralpartof the unfolding
thattouchedall groupsofJewsin
storyofexileand redemption
all ages.67
VI
A superficial
look at the patternsof behaviourthatemerged

in north-westernEurope mightlead to
among the ex-conversos

theconvenient
formula
thatmembers
ofthisgroupweresociologically"Portuguese"and religiouslyJewish.This, however,
would be a distortedrepresentation
of the fluid,situationally
determined way in which the ex-conversosof north-western

Europe actuallybehavedand thought.True, theystubbornly

maintained
the systemof socialtiestheyhad established
in the
it. But theneed to be partof
Peninsula,and indeedreinforced
the widerJewishworld,even if at a distance,was a real and
roleinthatworld
urgentone;andgaininga recognized,
legitimate
was a goal pursuedpersistently
comby the merchant-banker
munalleadership.Likewisein theirreligiouslifeand thinking.
Communalleaderssoughtto adoptand enforcerabbinicnorms
in a waywhichoccasionally
themintoconflict
withnonbrought

conformistmembers. Yet even the most orthodox ex-converso

interpretationsof Jewish life were permeated with converso
overtones.68

whende Pintowrotehis letterto

By theeighteenth
century,
the
rationale
forsucha complexsetofnotions
Voltaire, implicit
about self and group had largelydisappeared.The dramatic
was over. The waves of converso
period of transformation
emigration had ceased as the remainingPeninsularconversos
had, in the

end, been absorbedinto Spanish-Catholic

society.Thus, the
no
communities
had
to occupythemPortuguese-Jewish
longer
selveswiththetaskofre-Judaizing
newcomers
and proselytizing
67
For a detailed discussionof this perceptionsee Kaplan, From Christianity
to
Judaism,pp. 363-77.
68The impact of Iberian experience on ex-conversoJudaism is analysed in
Yerushalmi,From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto,pp. 370-80; Kaplan, From
toJudaism,pp. 308-77.
Christianity

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76

PASTAND PRESENT

NUMBER143

those left behind.Withinthe wider Jewishworld,too, the

communities
dynamicperiodhad ended.The Portuguese-Jewish
had enjoyedtheirheydayof rabbinicachievement,
but thiswas
over.The wealththathaddistinguished
themhadalsodiminished
fortuneshad
greatly,whileamongthe once-poorAshkenazim
climbed.Under these circumstances,
the descendantsof the
emigrestendedto cling to a gloriouspast, thoughpride in
into sterile
deteriorated
belongingto "the Nation" frequently
and arrogance.But thiswas theeighteenth
exclusivity
century.
A centuryand a halfbeforede Pinto'sletter,theperpetuation
of"theNation"amongthere-Judaized
conversos
andidealization
of Europe had been a powerfulmeansof dealingwitha wide
arrayofrealproblems.
University
ofMichigan

Miriam Bodian

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