The Trauma of Converso Women

books:


	• Heretics or Daughters of Israel?: The Crypto-Jewish Women of Castile Renee Levine Melammed Oxford University Press, USA, 2002 - 264 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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The Trauma of Converso Women

This is an outstanding text. I have extensive experience working on Sephardic culture and the forced conversion of the Jews. In addition the author has been able to focus on one of the leading areas of Inquisitional studies that has gone unresearched for far too long and that is the treatment and experience of Jewish women forced to convert to Catholicism. This is a scholarly book that is a "must" have for anyone who is interested in medieval Spain, western history and nation-building because Spain was the first modern nation-state to come into existence in the West at the expense of minorities - the forced conversion and expulsion of Jews and Moriscos. The women of minority status were of the great risk and often the most abused. Levine Melammed has done a wonderful job in presenting this painful and traumatic experience. I recommend this text without any reservations.

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Between 1391 and the end of the 15th century, numerous Spanish Jews converted to Christianity, most of them under duress. Before and after 1492, when the Jews were officially expelled from Spain, a significant number of these conversos maintained clandestine ties to Judaism, despite their outward conformity to Catholicism. Through the lens of the Inquisition's own records, this groundbreaking study focuses on the crypto-Jewish women of Castile, demonstrating their central role in the perpetuation of crypto-Jewish society in the absence of traditional Jewish institutions led by men. Renee Levine Melammed shows how many "conversas" acted with great courage and commitment to perpetuate their religious heritage, seeing themselves as true daughters of Israel. Her fascinating book sheds new light on the roles of women in the transmission of Jewish traditions and cultures.

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