Jewish Inquisition Dbq

Shortly after the Spanish reconquering of the Iberian Peninsula, they had ambitious visions of unifying the country, namely in the light of religion. The Spanish felt that they needed to be unified entirely under one religion in order to progress: Christianity. Inquisitors only had power over Christians, and so the forced conversions brought all men under the domain of The Church.

Jews were viewed as religious enemies, while Moors seen as political ones. Though different, the spaniards still had a deep mistrust for both of the peoples, and thusly, thousands were brought to trial under the Inquisition to be tried as heretics and brought to Christian justice. The process was not always fair, and in most cases seemed as though men were trying

to dig themselves out of wholes that they did not always belong in.
Throughout The history of the Spanish empire, the Inquisition was trying people in the courts for alleged heretical crimes. Forcibly converting Jews to Christianity showed the Spanish intolerance and refusing to let the religion continue freely under the new regime. This clear discrimination forced many to convert, but it was not always one that was fully embraced.
At first, conversion would not seem to be a bad idea because of the implementation of The Siete Partidas which would view all converts as whole Christians. Though it would not take long for Christians to question why they should treat convert equally. Likely because of the eventual Purity of Blood laws, the Jews thought that if they as Conversos would not be treated equally, why should they worry about practicing christianity properly?
As a result of these thoughts, Jewish practices would carry over into the new Converso lifestyle for some.

It would be hard for people that knew only one religion their whole life to suddenly and so uniformly practice a religion so foreign to them. It is said in The proceedings against Isabel, wife of Higuera, that there were 3 types of jews (Homza Doc. 3 p. 13), all of which portray a Converso who has not really let go of the Jewish culture, but really just use their old roots to justify a conversion. Due to this failure to practice Christianity the correct way, the inquisition would move swiftly on such people in an attempt to do away with those who would wish to hurt the Spanish Christian

way.
Judges of the inquisition saw themselves as men with “apostolic authority” (Homza Doc.

3 p. 14). This meant that they not only thought very highly of themselves as christians, but also that they were educated men of influence that might have already gone to a trial with biases to their religion. Consequentially, that for all brought to the Inquisition as Isabel and other Conversos and Moriscos, he/she would be guilty until proven innocent, imprisoned until he/she could show himself to be an upstanding christians who committed no heresy.

In the case of Isabel, conversion was a means to get the Spanish off of her back. As far as was understood, she was only Christian in name, but Jewish in practice because she still kept sacred all of the rituals she performed as a Jew. Inquisitors issued a summons of Isabel made public and posted on the church door (Homza Doc. 3 p. 16). However, if what people say is true, she would never be able to see the church summons and so never would actually be justly notified. By the inquisitions standards, this was all her fault, and shortly after, she was

executed.
Truly there is not justifiable fault in Isabel, due to the unprofessional manner in which she was summoned. It is made very clear that the inquisition had no care on giving her the fair trial she deserved, but rather was more interested in bringing the case to a close swiftly, perhaps in a show of the effectiveness and authority. This again is just another show of guilty until proven innocent; the inquisition does not seem to care whether or not one was falsely accused, only that their form of justice is served.
Another case of Pedro de Villegas is observed, and is again is written by a man of religious background, a cleric, in this case. He is accused of again only being Christian in name, but participating in Jewish eating practices and observation of the Sabbath. It is important to know that people in one’s community take notice of their habits and report them, hence the Inquisition seemingly had eyes everywhere. Also, more accusations could be made as the trial went on, so a defendant could potentially face an onslaught of accusations that would only make his character look more and more guilty.
When taking oaths in the Spanish court, one must swear to tell the truth, which is typical of any court system. However, use of the wrath of God and what he will do to those that are truthful or deceitful has other implications. Might one do what is “right” in the eyes of the people so that, “God might help your bodies in this world and your souls in the next.” (Homza Doc. 4 p. 19)? Some credibility is lost through the use of such means, because religious Christians would love to believe that God would look at them favorably if they did what they felt they had to.
During his trial, Villegas called upon witnesses that were his longtime business partners or friends that were socially respected by all. Accordingly, his side could be well defended by people that have more credibility amongst the people and judges because. Conversely, the people called upon to accusing Villegas of being a heretic were two women, making it hard to be seen as highly as the gentlemen. Moreover, the women lacked significant details in their accusations. It is not made clear that women were not respected as much as men, however, due to norms of the times, and that fact that they had second-hand information not supported by much detail at all meant that witnesses were crucial during these times to build an air-tight defense.
Villegas maintained that any acts he performed that may seemed to have following Jewish traditions or broke Christian ones were simply those of habit and necessity. The length and strength of his witness’ friendships and testimonies meant that when they vouched for his innocence, it was more reasonably believed. That which could potentially be seen as heresy would be accepted if a reasonable reason for an action could be given. This made it evident that the inquisition was capable of viewing things objectively, despite all opportunities for bias.
In the end, it was ruled that The accusers did not provide enough evidence to support Villegas being a heretic. However, the idea of guilty until proven innocent is still evident: the inquisition provided compensation for the time he was in jail. However, they reserved the right to impose additional penances that he would be expected to fulfill when they ask. This type of administration means, that even if one is proven innocent, they are still accountable for these misleading accusations, Even in victory, one never emerged from the aftermath totally unscathed.
In the Morisco trials after the suppression of revolt, there almost seemed to be a rush to get so many done in as short a time as possible. The Church still wanted these people to be loyal, but yet we see less severe scrutiny of the cases. Some people committed the same heresies as those of the Conversos, such as observing old moor traditions and defacing Christian symbols, yet there are instances where one could be abstained from death because of the “quality of his person” (Homza Doc. 22 p. 240) such as in the cases of Ramiro de Palencia and Senastian de Alcaráz.
A scribe mistakenly recorded a man in the file notes as a Mudejar and not a Morisco. If they were really trying a Muslim, that would be violation of the laws of the Inquisition stating that they only have domain over Christians. This type of mistake could very likely be a result of lack of attention, or rushed work. As a result, Palencia payed a hefty fine compared to other convicted heretics.
It would seem though that perhaps they were treated so lightly because though they were a part of a rebellion, that might not have been necessarily thought of as heresy, possibly because it was not necessarily a crime against religion, but one against the government. Being political enemies, it would seem more likely that the things Moriscos and Moors did were for the purpose of preserving the old order.
In most of the guilty cases in Morisco/a trials, they were to be “relaxed to the secular arm” of whatever state they are tried in. In other words they would be left to the state, who would likely quickly execute heretics. Because of that, these people hastily confessed to whatever they are accused of. Why? maybe because it was easier, or it maybe for pride. The Moors, because of freely practicing their religion, may have cared less for the consequences.
Regardless of circumstance, it would have been more bearable to pay a fine and take whippings, be forced to repent publicly, or be forced to perpetual galleys over the latter of being executed by the state. However, it is it is made very clear that at the time at least, Moriscos were converted, but in name only, and we will see why soon. The inquisition almost encouraged these types of actions, or more
The reason for the preference of confession was that they likely did not want to relax people to secular authority. It very likely meant death for an accused heretic, and because the Church could not personally condemn someone to death, they preferred to keep people alive. Additionally, with Spain already underpopulated, it is almost certain that they no longer wished to continue dropping further down in numbers, as well as losing key societal figures. Confession, amongst in-danger Moriscos, was seen as a way of “dodging the bullet” for those who have committed heresies and joined the uprising.
The uprising fueled the Spanish mistrust of them. It only reinforced the idea of moors being political threats to them. In the letter sent from the Granada Tribunal to Suprema, though short, was written from Church leaders in granada after the revolt of the alpujarras. They seem to want to rush an Auto de fe because they are, “on the verge of having enough trials” (Homza Doc. 23 p. 247) to do so. The eagerness perhaps was for the rush of having a unified state, but likely meant more rushed trials for the means of producing money and more pardoned individuals
The Converso and Morisco trials had similarities in that they brought to light the points that the Inquisition sought out. Conversos trials were much more based on the facts and seemed much more sever in the case that one would be caught. There were no conceivable differences, except sometimes they seemed to be dealt with more harshly that Converted Moors.
Nevertheless, there were notable differences in the manner in which Moriscos were dealt with. Jews and Moors alike had been given the option of converting or emigrated. Though unlike conversos, Moriscos were given forty years prior to be left alone isolated form the law of the Spanish. They still practiced Islamic culture despite technically being Christian. This lack of enforcement on the Spanish governments part clearly created problems because they did as they wanted for forty years untouched. The eventual hard transition was fuel for the Rebellion, causing more Moriscos to rebel against the Spanish, and the resentment to grow deeper.
The Jewish and Muslim converts, though they had different ways of being handled by the government, were still mistrusted the same by the Spaniards. To them, it was convert, leave, or suffer the consequences. It was shown that though the Spaniards did have their biases and rigged systems, it was also shown that they did make valid efforts to maintain the objective oversight during trials. It was undoubtedly a hard time for Muslim and Jewish converts, they had to abandon all that they knew in order to stay in the land they loved. Though by recording and analyzing these events, conclusions can be drawn in order to form an understanding of the time.