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Mission and Inquisition among Conversos and Moriscos in Spain, 1250–1550

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

John Edwards*
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham

Extract

The example of co-existence between Christians, Jews and Muslims in medieval Spain should, in theory, be an inspiration to those who hope for a successful multi-faith society today. On the other hand, the expulsion in 1492 of Jews who refused baptism, and of Muslims who adopted a similar attitude, from Castile in 1502 and Aragon in 1610, implies that the Spanish example should rather be seen as a warning of the consequences of failure. The question of interfaith relations will be considered here mainly from the point of view of Christians who attempted to cope with the proximity of the other two ‘religions of the book’. It will, however, be possible to look at the feasibility of the long-term existence of Jewish and Muslim communities in Spain, and at the problems faced by converts from these two faiths to Christianity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1984

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References

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18 Baer, Diejuden 2 pp 348–9; 1 pp 569–913.

19 Fita, ‘La verdad sobre el martirio del Santo Niño de La Guardia, o sea el proceso y quema (16 noviembre 1491) del judio Juçe Franco en Avila’, BRAH 11 (1887) pp 7—134.

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35 Cross-frontier traffic is discussed in MacKay, ‘The ballad and the frontier in late medieval Spain’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 53 (1976) pp 15–33.

36 Mercedes Garda-Arenal, Inquisición y moriscos. Los procesos del tribunal de Cuenca (Madrid 1978) p 117, criticising Fernand Braudel, ‘Conflicts et refus de civilisation: espagnols et morisques au XVIe siècle’, Annales 2 (1947) 397–410.