Manueline Marriages: Marriage, Wardship, and the Assimilation of Cristãos Novos in Portugal, 1497-1507
In 1497, during the event known as the General Conversion, the Portuguese Crown assumed the custody of unmarried Jewish youths and forcibly baptized them. This article explains how the Crown used marriage and wardship as part of a strategy to assimilate these cristãos novos (New Christians). To this...
| Published in: | The sixteenth century journal |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
[2020]
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
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| IxTheo Classification: | AF Geography of religion BH Judaism CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBH Iberian Peninsula SA Church law; state-church law |
| Further subjects: | B
Religion & politics; History
B Guardian & ward B Christian converts from Judaism B Manuel I, King of Portugal, 1469-1521 B Reign of Manuel I, Portugal, 1495-1521 B Jewish Christians B Marriage |
| Summary: | In 1497, during the event known as the General Conversion, the Portuguese Crown assumed the custody of unmarried Jewish youths and forcibly baptized them. This article explains how the Crown used marriage and wardship as part of a strategy to assimilate these cristãos novos (New Christians). To this end, Manuel I and his councilors expanded and manipulated the traditional custom of wardship as a means of encouraging mainstream families to take on cristãos novos as wards. The assets of the wards were controlled by their guardians until the ward entered into marriage or reached age twenty-five. Drawing on pardons detailed in the Manueline chancery registers, the article evaluates the success and impact of the Manueline marriage strategy. It examines marriages that ended in adultery and abandonment and posits that endogamous marriages among cristãos novos were the basis of exploitation by the Portuguese authorities. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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