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The Inquisition as Economic and Political Agent: The Campaign of the Mexican Holy Office Against the Crypto-Jews in the Mid-Seventeenth Century*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Stanley M. Hordes
Stanley M. Hordes*
Affiliation:
New Mexico Records Center and Archives, Santa Fe, New Mexico
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Extract

Within the scope of Mexican history, the subjects of the Church and the Inquisition have long been the focus of emotion, heated controversy, and misplaced value judgments. As a result, a lack of understanding surrounding these institutions has developed, and to a certain extent still exists today. Many authors have placed a heavy emphasis on the role that the Holy Office of the Inquisition played in the persecution of crypto-Jews, despite the fact that the inquisitors concerned themselves far more with more mundane breaches of faith and morals as blasphemy, bigamy, witchcraft, impersonation of priests, and solicitation of women in the confessional. These same writers demonstrate a certain emotional preoccupation with torture and burnings at the stake, phenomena which, while spectacular, occurred infrequently. The continual preoccupation with the theme of inquisitorial persecution of crypto-Jews, furthermore, seems to obscure other important areas of research in colonial Mexican history.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , July 1982 , pp. 23 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1982

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Footnotes

*

The author wishes to acknowledge the United States Office of Education, Division of International Exchange for a Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Research Fellowship, which provided financial support for research in Mexico and Spain.

References

1 The term crypto-Jew refers to those baptized as Catholic Christians and living outwardly as such, but secretly practicing Judaic rites and customs. While the terms converso and New Christian strictly should refer to those Jews who actually converted to Catholicism, they will be extended for the purposes of this essay to the descendants of the original conversos, who lived as crypto-Jews.

2 See Hordes, Stanley M., “The Crypto-Jewish Community of New Spain, 1620–1649; A Collective Biography” (Ph.D. dissertation, Tulane University, 1980)Google Scholar. The author is currently preparing an expanded manuscript for publication.

3 Baer, Yitzhak, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain. 2 vols. (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1971), 2: 304–323.Google Scholar

4 Llorente, Juan Antonio, The History of the Inquisition of Spain (London, 1827)Google Scholar; Hume, Martin A.S., The Spanish People: Their Origin, Growth and Influence (London: W. Heinemann, 1901).Google Scholar

5 Lea, Henry Charles, A History of the Inquisition in Spain. 4 vols. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908)Google Scholar; Roth, Cecil, A History of the Marranos (Philadelphia and New York: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1932)Google Scholar; Llorca, Fray Bernardino, S.J., La inquisición en España (Barcelona: Editorial Labor, 1954).Google Scholar

6 Kamen, Henry, The Spanish Inquisition (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965).Google Scholar

7 Lea, , A History of the Inquisition in Spain, 2: 315–367.Google Scholar

8 Greenleaf, Richard E., The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1969), pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., p. 81; Liebman, Seymour B., The Jews in New Spain (Coral Gables: University of Miami Press, 1970), pp. 123, 130.Google Scholar

10 Liebman, , The Jews in New Spain, pp. 135, 151, 184.Google Scholar

11 No attempt is made here to detail the events surrounding the campaign of the Mexican Inquisition against the Carvajals. For an elaboration on this period see: Liebman, The Jews in New Spain, Chapters 7 and 8; Cohen, Martin, The Martyr (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1973)Google Scholar; Toro, Alfonso, La familia Carvajal. 2 vols. (Mexico: Editorial Patria, 1944)Google Scholar; Liebman, , The Enlightened: The Writings of Luis de Carvajal, el Mozo (Coral Gables: University of Miami Press, 1967)Google Scholar; Greenleaf, , The Mexican Inquisition, pp. 169–171.Google Scholar

12 Liebman, , The Jews in New Spain, pp. 131–182.Google Scholar

13 Lea, , The inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908), p. 216.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., pp. 216–219.

15 Phipps, Helen, “Notes on Medina Rico’s ‘Visita de Hacienda’ to the Inquisition of Mexico,” Todd Memorial Volumes: Philological Studies… (New York, 1930)Google Scholar, Volume 2. Phipps’ contention is corroborated by the small number of judaizante cases in relation to those concerning other breaches of the faith cited in the index to the Ramo de Inquisición of the Archivo General de la Nación on Mexico. Also, a list of sanbenitos hanging in the Cathedral of Mexico City covering the period between 1521 and 1632 revealed only seven worn by convicted judaizantes for the period from 1610 to 1639. Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico) (hereafter cited as AGN), Inquisición, Tomo 77, exp. 35, “Postura de los sanbenitos en la Santa Iglesia Catedral de México” (1632).

16 Phipps, , “Notes on Medina Rico’s ‘Visita de Hacienda’,” p. 79.Google Scholar

17 Ortiz, Antonio Dominguez, “Historical Research on Spanish Conversos in the Last 15 Years,” in Collected Studies in Honour of Américo Castro’s Eightieth Year (Oxford: Lincombe Lodge Research Library, 1965), pp. 68–69 Google Scholar; Ortiz, Dominguez, La clase social de los conversos en Castilla en la edad moderna (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1955)Google Scholar; Baer, , A History of the Jews, 2: 438 Google Scholar; Payne, Stanley, A History of Spain and Portugal (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 211, 229.Google Scholar

18 Baroja, Julio Caro, La sociedad criptojudía en la corte de Felipe IV (Madrid: Imprenta y Editorial Maestre, 1963), pp. 23, 36.Google Scholar

19 Ibid., pp. 36–37; Baron, Salo Wittmayer, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 15, Late Middle Ages and Era of European Expansion (1200–1650); Resettlement and Exploration (New York: Columbia University Press, 1973), p. 288.Google Scholar

20 Baroja, Caro, La sociedad criptojudía, pp. 37, 40–48.Google Scholar

21 Liebman, , The Jews in New Spain, pp. 188–189.Google Scholar

22 The data extracted from the Inquisition procesos found in the AGN, and from passenger lists located in the Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla (hereafter cited as AGI) reveal that sixty-nine percent of the crypto-Jews arrested by the Inquisition in the 1630’s and 40’s who emigrated from Portugal or Spain, did so between the ages of thirteen and twenty-nine.

23 The records of the Inquisition relating to the second three decades of the seventeenth century reveal that the Mexican Holy Office did not vigorously persecute judaizantes during the period in question. AGN, Inquisición, Indice; Tomo 77, exp. 35 (1632).

24 Liebman, , “The Great Conspiracy in New Spain,” The Americas, 30 (July 1973): 22 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, cited Medina, José Toribio, Historia del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de Lima (Santiago, 1956), 2: 145 Google Scholar. See also, Liebman, , “The Great Conspiracy in Peru,” “The Americas, 28 (October 1971): 176–190 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Cross, Harry, “Commerce and Orthodoxy: A Spanish Response to Portuguese Commercial Penetration in the Viceroyalty of Peru, 1580–1640,” The Americas, 35 (October 1978): 151–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 489, ff. 84–85, “Traslado del papel que remitó a este Santo Oficio el Sr. Obispo Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, visitador general de este Reyno en veinte de noviembre de 1641 que es el original que escribio al exmo Sr. Marqués de Villena, Duque de Escalona, Virrey de esta Nueva España segun refiere el dicho Villete.”

26 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 489, f. 97, Cédula of Philip IV, issued January 7, 1641; AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 489, f. 114, Papeles del Sr. Virrey Conde de Salvatierra acerca del donativo de los Portugueses.... ” (January 17, 1643). This document contains a partial accounting of the donativo collected from crypto-Jews in New Spain; AGN, Reales Cédulas, Tomo 1, exp. 289, “ordenado al Virrey de la Nueva España, que cumpla las Reales Cédulas expedidas en relación a los Portugueses …” (February 10, 1642); AGI, Contratación, Legajo 102 B, “Ante los oidores de la Contratación… en Cádiz y Sevilla para embargar perteneciente a portugueses que venia en los galeones y flotas del aquel año; varios autos y diligencias” (1641–1642). A total of 332,629 pesos worth of goods sent from New Spain to Portuguese merchants in Sevilla was embargoed in compliance with a royal order of June 17, 1641.

27 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 499, exp. 1, “Proceso y causa criminal contra Luis de Amezquita…” (1642), f. 6.

28 For example, Sebastian Váez de Açevedo was appointed to the position of proveedor general of the Armada de Barlovento, and later to head a company of infantry. Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid) (hereafter cited as BN), Mss. 12054, “Relación de las operaciones del Duque de Escalona, Marqués de Villena desde su arribo a Nueva España hasta que fue dispuesto y copia del manifesto del Conde de Santiesteban, hijo del dicho Don Juan de Palalfox y Mendoza” (1643), f. 288. The Viceroy also owed considerable sums of money to prominent conversos, including a debt of eighteen thousand pesos to Antonio Méndez Chillón. AGN, Real Fisco de la Inquisición, Tomo 40, exp. 14, “Relación de los deudores de Antonio Méndez Chillón” (1647).

29 AGN, Real Fisco de la Inquisición, Tomo 58, exp. 4, “Francisco de Ortuño, en nombre de la Condesa de Peñalva en contra del Real Fisco” (1642).

30 BN, Mss. 12054, ff. 281, 287v.

31 In the trials conducted by the Inquisition, judaizantes were referred to as “portugueses,” whether born in Portugal or not.

32 Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid) (hereafter cited as AHN), Inquisición, Legajo 1054, “Cartas originales del Tribunal de México para el Consejo” (1640–1648), ff. 27–28, 31, 157.

33 BN, Mss. 12054, ff. 288v–289.

34 Liebman, , “The Great Conspiracy in New Spain,” p. 29.Google Scholar

35 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 398, exp. 1, “Proceso y causa criminal contra Simon Váez Sevilla…” (1642), ff. 145, 343. With Váez' conviction in 1649, his estate, estimated at over 675,000 pesos, was formally confiscated by the Holy Office.

36 AGN, Inquisición, Tomo 398, exp. 1, ff. 65–66, 74–75, 111v–113.

37 AGN, Real Fisco de la Inquisición, Tomo 15, exp. 12, “Declaraciones fechas en… Los Angeles … perteneciente a la hacienda de… Simón Váez Sevilla” (1642), f. 236.

38 AGN, Real Fisco de la Inquisición, Tomo 17, exp. 11, “Declaraciones hechas ante el comisario del Santo Oficio en Acapulco…” (1643), f. 204.

39 AGN, Real Fisco de la Inquisición, Tomo 42, exp. 1, “Quenta de la cantidad de pesos de oro que deve el Gral. D. Melchor de Valdés…al Capitan Simón Váez Sevilla …” (1645).

40 Medina, José Toribio, Historia del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición en México (Mexico: Imprenta Elzeviriana, 1905), p. 211.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., p. 212.

42 Phipps, , “Notes on Medina Rico’s ‘Visita de Hacienda’,” p. 80.Google Scholar

43 lbid.. p. 81.

44 AHN, Inquisición, Legajo 1736, exp. 4, “Diferentes autos y papeles tocantes a la visita del Tribunal del Santo Oficio de México que sirven para comprovación de los cargos de ella y de lo demas que se obrado, 1646,” ff. 45–334.

45 AHN, Inquisición, Legajo 1737, exp. 11, “Resumen de los cargos que resultan asi comunes como particulares de la visita…” (1658).

46 Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico), Archivo Histórico, Colección Antigua, Tomo 60, “Libro primero del juzgado de bienes confiscados. … ” The Libro primero served as an extremely helpful resource in reconstructing the commercial lives of crypto-Jews in seventeenth-century New Spain.

47 It is difficult to estimate how many of the judaizantes reconciled by the Inquisition remained in New Spain, as the records pertaining to the compliance of the sentences are unavailable and only those reconciliados who relapsed into judaizing were recorded by the Holy Office.