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Crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Spanish Jews who outwardly professed Catholicism, also known as Conversos, Marranos, or the Anusim. The phenomenon is especially associated with Renaissance Spain, following the Massacre of 1391 and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.Levine Melammed, Renee. "Women in Medieval Jewish Societies," in ''Women and Judaism: New Insights and Scholarship''. Ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 105–106. Europe Officially, Jews who converted in Spain during the 14th and 15th centuries were known as ''Cristianos Nuevos'' (New Christians), but were commonly called ''conversos'' (converts o Christianity. Spain and Portugal passed legislation restricting their rights in the mother countries of Spain and Portugal a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belmonte Jews
The history of the Jewish Community in Belmonte, Portugal dates back to the 12th century and consists of Spanish and Portuguese Jews who kept their faith alive through the practice of Crypto-Judaism. The Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique and represented a hub of resistance against European Anti-Semitism. Belmonte Marranos The Marranoes are also referred to as ‘Belmonte Jews’, or ‘Conversos’. They are the Jewish community in Belmonte that have survived in secrecy for hundreds of years. The community was forced under King Manuel I to convert to Catholicism in 1490. Otherwise, they would face exile. They kept their faith alive through a tradition of Crypto-Judaism and endogamy. Traditions were kept alive by unique candlelight ceremonies, Sabbath candles submerged in clay jars, and sausages constructed out of flour and chicken. They were hung on their windows to prevent arousing suspicion from local authorities. The secret community was discovered in 1917 by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xueta
The Xuetes (; singular , also known as and spelled as ) are a social group on the Spanish island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea, who are descendants of Majorcan Jews that either were conversos (forcible converts to Christianity) or were Crypto-Jews, forced to keep their religion hidden. They practiced strict endogamy by marrying only within their own group. Many of their descendants observe a syncretist form of Christian worship known as Xueta Christianity. The Xuetes were stigmatized up until the first half of the 20th century. In the latter part of the century, the spread of freedom of religion and laïcité reduced both the social pressure and community ties. An estimated 18,000 people in the island carry Xueta surnames in the 21st century, but only a small fraction of the society (including those with Xueta surnames) is aware of the complex history of this group. Etymology of Xueta The Balearic word derives, according to some experts, from , diminutive of ("Jew" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dönmeh
The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The movement was centered mainly in Thessaloniki. It originated during and soon after the era of Sabbatai Zevi, a 17th-century Sephardic Jewish Rabbi and Kabbalist who claimed to be the Jewish Messiah and eventually feigned conversion to Islam under threat of death from the Sultan Mehmed IV. After Zevi's forced conversion to Islam, a number of Sabbatean Jews purportedly converted to Islam and became the Dönme. Some Sabbateans lived on into 21st-century Turkey as descendants of the Dönme. Today it is unclear how many people stil call themselves Dönme although some still live in Teşvikiye in Istanbul. Most are buried in the Bülbüldere Cemetery (AKA Selanikliler Mezarlığı or the Cemetery of the Salonicans) in Üsküdar where, unusually, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian population and make sure that the ''converso'' " New Christians" were true to their new faith, the Holy Office of the Inquisition was established in Spain in 1478. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the remaining openly practising Jews by the Alhambra decree of 1492, following the Christian ''Reconquista'' (reconquest) of Spain. However, even a significant proportion of these remaining practising Jews chose to join the already large ''converso'' community rather than face exile. ''Conversos'' who did not fully or genuinely embrace Catholicism, but continued to practise Judaism in secrecy, were referred to as ''judaizantes'' (" Judaizers") and pejoratively as ''marranos'' ("swine"). New Christian converts of Musli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian population and make sure that the ''converso'' " New Christians" were true to their new faith, the Holy Office of the Inquisition was established in Spain in 1478. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the remaining openly practising Jews by the Alhambra decree of 1492, following the Christian ''Reconquista'' (reconquest) of Spain. However, even a significant proportion of these remaining practising Jews chose to join the already large ''converso'' community rather than face exile. ''Conversos'' who did not fully or genuinely embrace Catholicism, but continued to practise Judaism in secrecy, were referred to as ''judaizantes'' (" Judaizers") and pejoratively as ''marranos'' ("swine"). New Christian converts of Musli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Christian
New Christian ( es, Cristiano Nuevo; pt, Cristão-Novo; ca, Cristià Nou; lad, Christiano Muevo) was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction in the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire. The term was used from the 15th century onwards primarily to describe the descendants of the Sephardic Jews and Moors baptised into the Catholic Church following the Alhambra Decree. The Alhambra Decree of 1492, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, was an anti-Jewish law made by the Catholic Monarchs upon the ''Reconquista'' of the Iberian Peninsula. It required Jews to convert to Catholicism or be expelled from Spain. Most of the history of the "New Christians" refers to the Jewish converts, who were generally known as '' Conversos'' (or in a more derogatory fashion Marranos) while the Muslim converts were known as '' Moriscos''. Because the conversions were achieved in part through coercion and also with the threat of expulsion, especially when it came to the Jews, the Inqui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anusim
Anusim ( he, אֲנוּסִים, ; singular male, anús, he, אָנוּס ; singular female, anusáh, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in ''halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically while forcibly converted to another religion. The term "anusim" is most properly translated as the "coerced nes or the "forced nes. Etymology The term ''anusim'' derives from the Talmudic phrase ''averah b’ones'' (), meaning "a forced transgression." The Hebrew ''ones'' (pronounced "oh'nes") derives from the triconsonantal root (Aleph-Nun-Samekh), and originally referred to any case where a person has been forced into any act against his or her will. In Modern Hebrew, the word ''ones'' is mainly used to mean rape, thus "anusim" (or female "anusot") nowadays means rape victims, the older meaning used only in the historical context. The term ''anús'' is used in contradistinction to ''meshumad'' (), (literally "self-destroyed") which m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabbateans
The Sabbateans (or Sabbatians) were a variety of Jews, Jewish followers, disciples, and believers in Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676), a Sephardi Jews, Sephardic Jewish rabbi and Kabbalah, Kabbalist who was List of Jewish messiah claimants, proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah in 1666 by Nathan of Gaza. Vast numbers of Jews in the Jewish diaspora accepted his claims, even after he outwardly became an Apostasy in Judaism, apostate due to his Forced conversion#Ottoman Empire, forced conversion to Islam in the same year. Sabbatai Zevi's followers, both during his proclaimed messiahship and after his forced conversion to Islam, are known as Sabbateans. Part of the Sabbateans lived on until well into 21st-century Turkey as descendants of the Dönmeh. Sabbatai Zevi Sabbatai Zevi was a Sephardi Jews, Sephardic ordained rabbi from Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey). A Kabbalah, kabbalist of Romaniote Jews, Romaniote origin, Zevi, who was active throughout the Ottoman Empire, claimed to be the lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limpieza De Sangre
The concept of (), (, ) or (), literally "cleanliness of blood" and meaning "blood purity", was an early system of racialized discrimination used in early modern Spain and Portugal. The label referred to those who were considered "Old Christians", without recent ancestry from people who had not been Christian, such as Muslim or Jewish ancestors. In the context of the Spanish Empire, the concept defined castes of those of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry, as opposed to the non-Christian aboriginal populations of Asia, Africa and the Americas. After the Reconquista By the end of the Reconquista and the conversion or expulsion of Muslim mudéjars and Sephardi Jews, the populations of Portugal and Spain were all nominally Christian. Spain's population of 7 million included up to a million recent converts from Islam and 200,000 converts from Judaism, who were collectively referred to as " New Christians". Converts from Judaism were referred to as conversos and converts from Isla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. It began toward the end of the Reconquista and was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under Papal control. It became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition along with the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition. The "Spanish Inquisition" may be defined broadly as operating in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which included the Canary Islands, the Kingdom of Naples, and all Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America. According to modern estimates, around 150,000 people were prosecuted for various offences during the three-century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marrano
Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to practice Judaism in secrecy. The term specifically refers to the charge of crypto-Judaism, whereas the term '' converso'' was used for the wider population of Jewish converts to Catholicism, whether or not they secretly still practised Jewish rites. Converts from either Judaism or Islam were referred to by the broader term of " New Christians." The term ''marrano'' came into later use in 1492 with the Castilian Alhambra Decree, which prohibited the practice of Judaism in Spain and required all remaining Jews to convert or leave, under the premise that, "If they are not good Christians, their descendants will be." By then, the vast majority of Jews in Spain had converted to Catholicism, perhaps under pressure from the Massacre of 1391, and ''conversos'' numbered hundreds of thousands. They were monitored ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi (; August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676), also spelled Shabbetai Ẓevi, Shabbeṯāy Ṣeḇī, Shabsai Tzvi, Sabbatai Zvi, and ''Sabetay Sevi'' in Turkish, was a Jewish mystic and ordained rabbi from Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey). A kabbalist of Romaniote or Sephardic origin, Zevi, who was active throughout the Ottoman Empire, claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Sabbatean movement, whose followers subsequently came to be known as Dönme (converts) or crypto-Jews. Upon arriving in Constantinople in February 1666, Sabbatai was imprisoned on the order of the grand vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha; in September of that same year, after being moved from different prisons around the capital to Adrianople, (modern Edirne, the imperial court's then seat) to be judged on accusations of fomenting sedition, Sabbatai was given the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal, or of converting to Islam by the Gran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
