Jewish Conversion to Christianity in Late Medieval Spain:
Women’s Reasons for Converting and the Effects That Followed
In the late medieval period in Spain, there were a myriad of reasons that Jews converted to Christianity. This paper will focus on why Jewish women sought out conversion and how converting affected conversas (female word for convert). Paola Tartakoff highlighted that Jewish women converted under two broad sets of circumstances: “some went over to Christianity with their husbands or fathers, while others chose baptism in order to assert control over their lives”[1]. Conversions were hardly ever forced; however, coercion from extraneous factors were often contributors. Women who converted with their husbands and fathers seemed to do so out of necessity, whether that be for protecting their inheritance and dowry, or for protection against prosecution in the future. On the other hand, baptising to gain autonomy can be seen in many factors for conversion. Violence against Jewish people in 1391 resulted in mass conversion in the years to follow[2]. Some women chose to convert for issues involving marriage (wanting to marry or divorce). Additionally, some baptized to seek economic relief in a time where Jewish communities were facing extreme financial issues[3].
Even when conversion was sought after to escape dire situations, what followed after baptism was not vastly superior. Apostates faced various struggles after baptism. Most struggled with poverty after renouncing Judaism, leaving them dependant on Christian charity[4]. Some conversas who were coerced into conversion were forced to present as Christians in public but practiced Judaism secretly. While some apostates did so, not everyone did; nonetheless, the danger of being accused or caught of Judaizing a common concern as it could result in severe punishment[5]. Christians were suspicious of the converts because they did not know who was being unfaithful, and many Jews viewed the converts as traitors and sinners[6]. Tensions from both groups left the converts in an uneasy situation.
Conversion
1391 was filled with violent raids against Jewish people in Castile and the Crown of Aragon following the deaths of King Juan I and the archbishop of Seville, Pedro Gómez, in 1390[7]. Both were attacked for being “Jew-sympathisers’, so following their demise, Ferrán Martinez magnified anti-Jewish preaching, leading to the riots[8]. This brutality reached Girona in August, led to mass conversions, the death of about 40 Jews, and the destruction of the Jewish community[9]. The majority of the Jewish community survived by escaping to Gironella tower, a refuge where they stayed for several months[10]. While technically safe, the living conditions were less than desirable, and many Jews converted starting August 10[11], possibly to escape the conditions of the tower[12]. Life for the Jewish people in Girona did not improve after 1391 as economic burdens began to escalate in the years to follow[13].
After the violence of 1391, growing economic issues caused some to convert to escape debt and poverty[14]. Queen Violant saw her Jewish subjects struggling to fulfil their tax burdens, so she reduced the tax amounts until 1392. Additionally, in 1394 she decreed that Jewish property could not be taken away for unpaid debts in Girona and granted a two-year delay on payments of taxes as well as granting the Jewish community to collect new taxes on various essential goods[15]. This economic struggle persisted in the decades to follow and attempts to salvage the community financially ultimately failed[16]. Conversion to evade debt and poverty further shrank the community and amount of people to pay taxes[17] making it difficult for the community to pay taxes, thus continuing the cycle of conversion caused by economic burden.
Jewish women experienced economic fragility in unique ways through inheritance and their dowries, which could be affected or taken away if they converted or not. Marriage, divorce, and whether or not these women followed their husbands or families into conversion also affected these. For Tolrana Benet, conversion was related to paternal inheritance through marriage[18]. Tolrana was to become her family’s universal heir, however, her position had stipulations: if she did not wed her converso half-uncle, she would be removed as universal heir and her dowry would only be 5,000 sous[19]. This demonstrates the aforementioned ways that women were affected by the economic burdens.
Tolrana went through with the marriage and also wanted to convert. A common belief was that if a woman converted “she should leave her husband, lest he recall her to her former error;” but, if the husband converted instead, they should stay together because women were viewed as more easily influenced and would likely convert if her husband did[20]. While Tolrana fits this belief there could be more to this conversion. Her desire to convert could be connected to financial concerns: she came from one of the wealthiest Girona Jewish families and as such faced expanding fiscal issues due to the Jewish community’s slow depletion and the royal demands and papal intervention increasing[21]. Through converting, the taxes that placed this pressure on her would no longer be an issue and by marrying her half-uncle, she would remain the universal heir of her family, placing her in economic stability.
Marriage was significant in how conversion effected women: some converted to force divorce, while others converted to marry; both were risky. If a woman refused to convert alongside her husband, she would still be considered married and would have to obtain a get (bill of divorce) in order to remarry[22]. However, there was every chance that the husband would not oblige[23]. This concern was valid, as can be seen in the case of another Tolrana who wanted to divorce her converso husband. When going over the terms of divorce, Tolrana’s soon-to-be ex-husband promised that he would not hinder the divorce process[24]. While this may have been stated merely as a formality, it goes to show how husbands handled divorce, and how easy it would be for wives to be left stranded[25]. Since women in the medieval period were “legally, economically, and very likely socially, perpetually connected to either their marital or natal families,”[26] women had to rely on a man’s word not to foil the divorce, which her life depended on.
When divorce was not possible, some women converted, or threatened to convert, as a means to void the marriage. There was a case from the Crown of Aragon where a Jewish woman wanted to escape her abusive relationship, though the community new what was happening no one was willing to help her, so she threatened to convert if her family did not help her leave[27]—it is unclear whether or not she managed to escape, or if she converted. While threatening conversion happened, it was very risky. If word got out that somebody threatened conversion “it was as though the blackmailer had reneged on a promise to convert, which might have landed him in Inquisitional court and forced the actual, irrevocable, conversion.”[28] An example of someone baptizing to divorce and remarry was Astruch Bonnin (dubbed Eulalia post-baptism) who verbally contracted her marriage to a converso after converting herself. Jews could have a valid marriage according to their own rites and customs, that marriage would be accepted as such by Christians, and even though pre-conversion marriage violated Christian church rules, it would remain intact should one partner convert[29]. However, something extraordinary happened when her Jewish husband learned of what she did; he converted and asked that his marriage to her override the validity of her new marriage[30]. Since she had a ‘legitimate’ marriage with the new converso husband after verbally exchanging the vows, it seems like Eulalia was able to maintain her new marriage[31]. Not only did Eulalia use conversion as a way to null her previous marriage, she also used it as a way to be with her new husband.
Using conversion as a means of separation could be connected to the intolerance of interfaith marriages. Christians were forbidden from marrying non-Christians, and when they did, they could be excommunicated and socially isolated[32]. Worse than this, according to Secular law, marriage between Christians and Jews was a capital crime that could result being burned to death in extreme cases; or their marriage would be considered void, resulting in forced separation unless the non-Christian converted[33]. Choosing to convert to be with someone was a form of asserting control over their lives, even if the circumstances that brought about conversion placed a degree of pressure.
Life After Conversion:
While conversion did solve some issues, it came with its own problems. For women, apostasy issues were varied and potentially dangerous[34]. Among the more universal difficulties were poverty, losing community support, and possible persecution and punishment based on accusations of Judaizing.
After converting, most apostates faced destitution. This was, in part, due to many converts giving up their belongings[35]. A conversa named Blanca stated that she and other converts “gave up all of their goods freely and spontaneously, taking with them nothing but their bodies” in hopes of gaining “celestial glory”[36]. Furthermore, numerous families kept apostates’ inheritances, even though:
King Jaume I declared that no Jew or Muslim who sought to become a Christian should encounter impediments of any kind. To this end, he ordered that converts be allowed to retain their belongings, which Christians normally confiscated, and receive their inheritances, which relatives often withheld[37].
Despite these declarations, apostates remained dependant on Christian charity. One ‘solution’ to enduring this poverty were begging licenses which could be granted by bishops for within their dioceses[38], allowing them the beg for charity, placing emphasis on apostates’ destitution[39].
It is understandable that Jews turned their backs on converts for feeling betrayed, however, what does not make sense at a first glance the Christian’s treatment. Many Christians worried that apostates retained aspects of their Jewish past, meaning that they were still partially Jews. With this mentality, Christians felt justified in treating converts in the same manner that they would that of Jews[40]. Horrific treatment of converts became such an issue that in las Siete Partidas (Castilian statutory code), the following was stated under ‘what punishment those deserve who insult converts’:
we order all Christians, of both sexes, in our dominions to show honor and kindness, in every way they can, to persons of other or strange beliefs, who embrace our religion…and we forbid anyone to dishonour them by word or deed, or do them any wrong, injury, or harm in any way whatever[41].
These beliefs did not stem from nowhere, Christians began to realize that “many Jewish converts had turned to baptism not in the course of a spiritual odyssey but in an effort to improve the conditions of their earthly existence”[42]. They saw the struggles that converts faced before baptism and the impacts and began to question who the crypto-Jews (those who practice Judaism in secret) were and who were genuine converts of Christianity.
Crypto-Judaism, or the act of Judaizing, began when Jews were forced into conversion due to outlying circumstances and were forced to practice Judaism secretly[43]. Crypto-Judaism was preserved mainly through the women within the home[44] as they were responsible for performing “rituals and customs relating to the Sabbath, religious holidays, and Jewish dietary laws…creating a separate sphere of female religious practice”[45]. Since the majority of these could be done at home, it became their duty to maintain a crypto-Jewish household[46].
Judaizing was extremely perilous. In 1492-1520 alone 111 women were accused of Judaizing[47]. Association with Jews gave enough ground for prosecution, which could end horribly. Inés López, a conversa from the 1400s, was tried by the Inquisition for acts of heresy[48]. Her sister Leonor was found guilty of Judaizing, and Inés’ crimes seemed similar[49]. During her trials Inés admitted to eating Jewish food, lighting candles on Friday evening, not eating Jewish forbidden parts of meat, as well as speaking ill of Christianity[50]. Saturdays were when Jews carried out their devotions, such as lighting candles[51]. Food connects to Jewish heritage[52] meaning Inés Judaized through her food. Perhaps most shocking was Inés mocking-Christianity as a convert; “not speaking ill of the faith of Our Lord Jesus Christ” was one of the conditions to obtaining religious freedom[53]. After being arrested and having her property confiscated, Inés was burned at the stake[54]. While she did not seem to admit to Judaizing per se, Inés displayed acts of crypto-Judaism. Ultimately, conversas who practiced crypto-Judaism risked their lives to keep the religion, or even parts of it, alive.
Conclusion:
Conversion from Judaism to Christianity was not typically ‘forced’, coercion took the form of economic, political, and social issues[55]: converts were “a by-product of the main dispute, a kind of displaced person, whose story and status illumine the larger scene”[56]. Even when conversion was sought after to escape these various pressures, what followed afterwards was not better. Poverty, societal exclusion, and prosecution were all pervasive issues for converts. Women faced complex issues within each of these problems, both before and after conversion. They were also able to navigate the loopholes within each difficulty in a way that would give them semblance of control over their lives.
Bibliography:
Anonymous, “Inquisitorial Trials of Inés López (1495-1496, 1511-1512),” in Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia R. Constable. (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 485-490.
Anonymous. “The Legal Status of Jews and Muslims in Castile.” in Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. Olivia R. Constable. (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 399-405.
Brundage, James A. 1988. “Intermarriage Between Christians and Jews in Medieval Canon Law.” Jewish History 3(1): 25-40.
Guerson, A. and Wessell Lightfoot, D. 2019. “Crises and community: Catalan Jewish women and conversas in Girona, 1391-1420.” Tamid: Revista Catalan Annual d’Estudis Hebraics 14: 91-130.
Guerson, A. and Wessell Lightfoot, D. 2020. “A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona.” Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 12(3): 344-364.
Guerson, Alexandra. 2010. “Seeking remission: Jewish conversion in the crown of Aragon, c.1378-1391.” Jewish History 24: 33-52.
Jacobs, Janet L. 1996. “Women, Ritual, and Secracy: The Creation of Crypto-Jewish Culture.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 35(2): 97-108.
Tartakoff, Paola. 2010. “Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391.” Jewish History 24(1): 7-32.
Tartakoff, Paola. 2012. Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
End Notes:
[1] Paola Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391 (New Brunswick: Jewish History, 2010), 7.
[2] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona (London: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2020), 4.
[3] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas, 6.
[4] Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 83.
[5] Paola Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391 (New Brunswick: Jewish History, 2010), 16.
[6] Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 1.
[7] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona (London: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2020), 6.
[8] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas, 6.
[9] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community: Catalan Jewish women and conversas in Girona, 1391-1420 (Tamid, 2019), 96.
[10] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community, 96.
[11] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community, 96
[12] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona (London: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2020), 7.
[13] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community: Catalan Jewish women and conversas in Girona, 1391-1420 (Tamid, 2019), 97.
[14] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona (London: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2020), 6.
[15] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community: Catalan Jewish women and conversas in Girona, 1391-1420 (Tamid, 2019), 97.
[16] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community, 97.
[17] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community, 97.
[18] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona (London: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2020), 14.
[19] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas, 14.
[20] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas: Jewish Women’s Agency and Conversion in Late Medieval Girona (London: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2020), 7.
[21] Guerson and Wessell Lightfoot, A Tale of Two Tolranas, 17.
[22] Paola Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391 (New Brunswick: Jewish History, 2010), 11.
[23] Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy, 9.
[24] Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy, 12.
[25] Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy, 12.
[26] Alexandra Guerson and Dana Wessell Lightfoot, Crises and community: Catalan Jewish women and conversas in Girona, 1391-1420 (Tamid, 2019), 99.
[27] Paola Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391 (New Brunswick: Jewish History, 2010), 16.
[28]Alexandra Guerson, Seeking remission: Jewish conversion in the crown of Aragon, c.1378-1391 (Switzerland: Jewish History, 2010), 41.
[29]James Brundage, Intermarriage Between Christians and Jews in Medieval Canon Law (Milwaukee: Jewish History, 1988), 27.
[30] Paola Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391 (New Brunswick: Jewish History, 2010), 15.
[31] Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy, 15.
[32] James Brundage, Intermarriage Between Christians and Jews in Medieval Canon Law (Milwaukee: Jewish History, 1988), 27-28.
[33] James Brundage, Intermarriage Between Christians and Jews, 27-28.
[34] Paola Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon c.1300-1391 (New Brunswick: Jewish History, 2010), 7.
[35] Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy, 10.
[36] Tartakoff, Jewish Women and Apostasy, 10.
[37] Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 65.
[38] Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew, 83.
[39] Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew, 84.
[40] Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 68.
[41] Anonymous, The Legal Status of Jews and Muslims in Castile (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 403.
[42] Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 69.
[43] Janet Liebman Jacobs, Women, Ritual, and Secrecy: The Creation of Crypto-Jewish Culture (United States: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1996), 97.
[44] Jacobs, Women, Ritual, and Secrecy, 98.
[45] Jacobs, Women, Ritual, and Secrecy, 100.
[46] Jacobs, Women, Ritual, and Secrecy, 102.
[47] Jacobs, Women, Ritual, and Secrecy, 100.
[48] Anonymous, Inquisitorial Trials of Inés López (1495-1496, 1511-1512) (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 486.
[49] Anonymous, Inquisitorial Trials of Inés López, 485.
[50] Anonymous, Inquisitorial Trials of Inés López, 486-489.
[51] Anonymous, The Legal Status of Jews and Muslims in Castile (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 400.
[52] Janet Liebman Jacobs, Women, Ritual, and Secrecy: The Creation of Crypto-Jewish Culture (United States: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1996), 103.
[53] Anonymous, The Legal Status of Jews and Muslims in Castile (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 399.
[54] Anonymous, The Legal Status of Jews and Muslims in Castile (United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 488-490.
[55] Alexandra Guerson, Seeking remission: Jewish conversion in the crown of Aragon, c.1378-1391 (Switzerland: Jewish History, 2010), 35.
[56] Paola Tartakoff, Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 65.
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