LESSON TOPIC: Jews and Conversos in Medieval Christian Spain
AIM: Give the students knowledge on the identities of Jewish and Converso people in Spain at the time of Christian rule.
OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to understand why Jews converted to Christianity and the struggles that they faced as Jews and as Conversos. Using this knowledge they will produce a piece of work reflecting what they understand.
MATERIALS: Lesson plan, video, printed copies of the Disciplina clericalis primary document, blank papers, pencils.
WARM UP:
We begin by gathering in a circle to start the lesson. Then start by talking about any personal/school/current events. Next we will review what we learned in the last class. I will then briefly explain what will happen in today’s class.
VISUAL COMPONENT:
This is meant to be the light and fun part of the lecture. It is to get us thinking about the topic. The video I made is unlisted on YouTube and I emailed you the link.
Here is the script:
The Lex Visigothorum is a set of rules created during the Visigothic Chrsitian rule over Spain.
Woah woah woah, what is Visigoth and where is Spain?
Well take a look at this: the Visigoths were a Christian group that conquered Roman Spain in around 507. Over the course of the 6th century many converted to Christianity and by the end of the century most of them had.
Why?
From intermarriage with the Catholic roman Iberians who greatly outnumbered them and also from political and social pressures.
Ok, this makes more sense.
Lets head back to the studio
Now what was the Lex Visgothorum again?
A set of rules created by the Visigoths!
Can I see it?
I don’t have a picture of the Lex Visigothorum itself, but here is a photo of the Liber ludicum from 1600 that was published with the Lex Visigothorum
So this set of rules must have lasted a long time
It sure did
Who exactly made it?
Well it was first put into order in 654 under King Recceswinth then revised by king Ervig.
Why are we talking about it?
Many of the sections of this Law Code address Jewish people that convert to Christianity but secretly still practice Judaism.
Was that allowed?
You’re about to find out!
So what are we waiting for!
Let’s start by talking about the testimony of faith by converted Jews, this is what the Jewish people would have to recite when they converted to Christianity. I am just going to read some important parts of it. First off, they must admit that they previously did not embrace the Christian faith to full extent, here is that part: “…whereas the perifidy born of our obstinacy and the antipathy resulting from our ancestral errors influenced us to such an extent that we did not then truly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and did not sincerely embrace the Catholic faith, therefor now, freely and voluntarily, we promise Your Majesty for ourselves, our wives, and our children, by this, our memorial, that henceforth we will observe no Jewish customs or rites whatever, and will not associate, or have any intercourse with any unbaptized jews. Nor will we marry any person related to us by blood, within the sith degree, which union has been declared to be incestuous and wicked. Nor will we, or our children, or any of our posterity, at any time hereafter, contract marriage outside our sect; and both sexes shall hereafter be united in marriage according to Christian rites.”1 What do you say to this?
This tells me that they once already converted to Christianity but did not believe in the Christian faith fully
This is right
It must have been difficult for early converts as they could not see or have relations with any Jew that wasn’t baptized
Very true and this might be why some of them converted but did not follow the rules of conversion. In the document it lays out more rules converts must follow, do you think you could guess any?
Hmmm, well I would suppose they couldn’t partake in any Jewish holidays.
That’s right, it says “We will not celebrate the Passover, Sabbath, and other festival days, as enjoyed by the Jewish ritual.”2
It wouldn’t possibly be so strict to restrict what foods they eat, would it?
It would, you must not make any distinction in food or have any Jewish ceremonies. In fact, they even have to eat meat with no disgust or dislike even if it was against their Jewish beliefs.
Wow, that seems like its taking it too far.
Religion was taken very seriously at this time.
What happened to those that did not follow these rules?
It says in this document: “…in the case a single transgress or should be found among our people, he shall be burned, or stoned to death, either by ourselves, or by our sons. And should Your Majesty graciously grant such culprit his life, he shall at once be deprived of his freedom, so that Your Majesty may deliver him to be forever a slave to anyone whom Your Majesty may select…”3
This is a very severe punishment. It seems that although the Jews had some sort of religious freedom, they could not change their minds once they became Converso’s or coveted Christians.
This is true and though they did have religious freedom, there was much coercion for them in medieval Spain to convert. This includes the violent attacks against Jews in 1391 and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.
Ahh I see, so it was technically labelled as a choice but it wasn’t really a fair choice
Exactly, now you’re getting it!
READING COMPONENT:
Teacher: May I please ask the class to now read the document that was handed out titled Disciplina clericalis, early 12th century. We will be discussing this document afterwards.
DISCUSSION:
Discussion points:
What can the Disciplina clericalis tell us about the experience of a converso?
– They can honestly and passionately change faiths, not just pretend to do so
– He seems truly moved by his faith, in fact it was his inspiration for writing this book.
– They must always be on the defensive side and be prepared to prove themselves.
In what ways do we see the rules of the Lex Visigothorum reflected in Alfonsi’s writing?
– When Alfonsi writes on hypocrisy he states “‘Imagine a man who both openly and secretly shows himself as obedient to God…’”4. He is shaming those who hide their obedience to God. This reflects the section in the Lex Visigothorum when Converso’s must be against anyone who tries to take back the Jewish religious or traditional lifestyle. In his mind, he may see this as hypocrisy because many self-proclaimed Converso’s still secretly practiced Jewish traditions.
– In the Lex Visigothorum they swear to “…uphold the Catholic faith…”5. Alfonsi certainly reflects that he has been upholding Christianity and that he has a fear of God in him that drives his faith.
What kind of values and ideas might converso’s have that Jewish people who do not convert and Christians do not? Think about how many Jews were coerced, punished, killed or exiled for being Jewish and the struggles of converting faiths.
– In the Disciplina clericalis it is clear that trust and loyalty are very important when he tells the story of the half friend. This may not be something Christians have to go through as they do not need the extra defence or security on their friendships for they were not once at risk or a minority. For conversos, it is important for them to have people of like-mind and whom they can count on and trust for although they are now Christian, they are still of Jewish origin.6
– Another example in Disciplina clericalis is when Alfonsi tells the story of The Anti, the Cock, and the Dog. This describes needing to be smarter, stronger and nobler than others (animals). I interpret this as a means of proving himself to others, which is something a converso may need to do since they have not been Christian their whole life. 7
– After analyzing parts of the Lex Visigothorum, we are able to hypothesize that these Converso’s would be very resilient as they have had to completely change their lifestyle, religion and most likely their social groups as well. They would also have to be quite brave to be able to convict fellow conversos, including friends and family, of being traitors to the Christian faith knowing the consequences.
LECTURE:
When looking at a topic in history, it is not only important to look at primary sources, but also at secondary sources. Why is this? (to understand other biases and how other scholars interpret history). Today’s lecture will focus on one more primary source and two secondary sources to further understand the identity and life of Converso’s in Christian Iberia.
We are going to begin by discussing a primary document from a bit later than both the previous documents. The first video we watched today referenced anti-Jewish violence that occured in 1391. I think it is good for us to look at that in a bit more detail. The information I am providing for you on the riots that occurred comes from the primary document Hasdai Crescas’s Letter to the Community of Avignon, 1391. In this letter, it explains that on June 4, 1391, the Christians came into the town of Seville which had many Jewish families and caused death and destruction with fire and other means. Here is a passage from this document: “The majority, however, changed their faith. Many of them, children as well as women, were sold to the Muslims, so that the streets occupied by Jews have become empty. Many of them, sanctifying the Holy Name, endured death, but many also broke the holy Covenant.”8 This document can tell us that many Converso’s may have only converted to Christianity because of fear, which may not be a very good basis for their new faith. This may have caused instability in their later identity as many of them most likely secretly still hold allegiance to their former faith.
Now we are going to finish by connecting the works of other scholars to our knowledge from primary documents. David Nirenberg wrote an article called “Conversion, Sex, and Segregation: Jews and Christians in Medieval Spain”, in this he discussed the effects of marriage, sex and relation laws between Jews, Christians and Converso’s. He argues that by having rules against intermarriage and sex it further segregates the Converso’s from the Christians. Here is a quote from the article: “In the mid-1430s; a number of people began to articulate the view that converts and their descendents were essentially different from (that is, worse than) “natural” Christians and therefor (among many other things) unmarriageable”9. Nirenberg, however, believes that this segregation that is made is not because of their closeness to being Jewish, but for the fear that their children or future generations will become Jewish. So if we think about Jewish identity and how it would form from Nirenberg’s perspective we see that they were very excluded from both Christain and Jewish groups, this would have pushed them together to form a unique identity. This perspective on Converso’s identity is backed up as well by scholar Benjamin Gampel. His article “The “Identity” of Sephardim of Medieval Christian Iberia” explains that as Jewish people converted to Christianity they began to construct their identities on both Jewish and non-Jewish elements. He also argues that these new identities are not uniform, which makes sense since they are so new. He explains that differences in culture and patterns contribute to this diversity of identity.
When we look at our analysis of the three primary sources and cross reference them to our secondary sources, we notice a pattern. These conversos were careful, prepared, brave, unique, unstable, and resilient. They have been through struggles unique to them. We are not going to move on to your assessment, which is in the form of an assignment.
ASSIGNMENT:
Students must take what they learned from each section of the lesson (video, reading, discussion and lecture) and complete an assignment.
Students must make a mind map on a blank piece of paper that includes all the characteristics, events and themes that make up the identity of a conversation. They can also either draw a converso in the middle or simply define a converso in one sentence. Below is an example:
REFLECTIVE CIRCLE:
Finishing off by asking the following questions to the class:
On a scale of one to ten how much did you enjoy this class?
We are going to go around the circle to either say one thing you learned today or one thing you would like to add to today’s lesson
How has your perspective changed during this class from what you might have known before on the topic?
Footnotes:
1 Lex Visigothorum (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 24.
2 Lex Visigothorum, 25.
3 Lex Visigothorum, 25.
4 Alfonsi, Petrus, Disciplina clericalis, early 12th century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 201.
5 Lex Visigothorum, 24.
6 Alfonsi, Disciplina clericalis, 201-202.
7 Alfonsi, Disciplina clericalis, 201.
8 Hasdai Crescas’s Letter to the Community of Avignon, 1391, (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2016), 165.
9 Nirenberg, David, “Conversion, Sex, and Segregation: Jews and Christians in Medieval Spain,” The American Historical Review 107, no. 4 (2002): 1092.
REFERENCES CITED
Alfonsi, Petrus. “Disciplina clericalis, early 12th century.” Translated by P.R. Quarrie. In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. 2., edited by Olivia R. Constable, 199-202. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.
“Lex Visigothorum.” In Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources, ed. 2., edited by Olivia R. Constable, 23-26. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.
Gampel, Benjamin R. “The “Identity” of Sephardim of Medieval Christian Iberia.” Jewish Social Studies, New Series, 8, no. 2/3 (2002): 133-38. Accessed May 21, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4467632.
Nirenberg, David. “Conversion, Sex, and Segregation: Jews and Christians in Medieval Spain.” The American Historical Review 107, no. 4 (2002): 1065-093. Accessed May 28, 2021. doi:10.1086/532664.
Saperstein, Marc, and Marcus, Jacob Rader. The Jews in Christian Europe : A Source Book, 315-1791. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2016. Accessed May 28, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.
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