The Rocky Road to Assimilation: Converso-Old Christian Intermarriage in the Late 15th Century
Paper by Mark Meyerson
Given at the Sephardic Identities, Medieval and Early Modern Symposium at the University of Michigan, on March 27, 2019
Excerpt: On my paper this morning I’m going to explore the phenomenon of intermarriage between conversos and old Christians in late 15th century Spain. Intermarriages of course is a misnomer since like their old Christian partners the conversos or new Christians were baptized Catholics who were marrying in accordance with canon law. Yet the individuals and families involved in these intermarriages perceived what we would call an ethnic difference between their families that was rooted in their respective Jewish or Christian ancestries. Focusing on converso / old Christian intermarriage will I hope shed more light on the social and religious processes in the individual decision making that were involved in the gradual assimilation of a good number of converso families into old Christian society.
Mark Meyerson is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. Click here to view his university webpage.
The Rocky Road to Assimilation: Converso-Old Christian Intermarriage in the Late 15th Century
Paper by Mark Meyerson
Given at the Sephardic Identities, Medieval and Early Modern Symposium at the University of Michigan, on March 27, 2019
Excerpt: On my paper this morning I’m going to explore the phenomenon of intermarriage between conversos and old Christians in late 15th century Spain. Intermarriages of course is a misnomer since like their old Christian partners the conversos or new Christians were baptized Catholics who were marrying in accordance with canon law. Yet the individuals and families involved in these intermarriages perceived what we would call an ethnic difference between their families that was rooted in their respective Jewish or Christian ancestries. Focusing on converso / old Christian intermarriage will I hope shed more light on the social and religious processes in the individual decision making that were involved in the gradual assimilation of a good number of converso families into old Christian society.
Mark Meyerson is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. Click here to view his university webpage.
You can watch more papers from this symposium at the University of Michigan Youtube page.
Top Image: Badge or Harness Pendant, ca. 1400, probably from Spain. Image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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