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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Humble Ferreira, Susannah (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc. [2020]
In: The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2020, Volume: 51, Issue: 2, Pages: 323-342
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
Description
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.
ISSN:2326-0726
Contains:Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal