Skip to content

Conversos, Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Conversos, Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain Hardcover - 1995

by Norman Roth

From the publisher

This detailed study examines the long history of the Jews in Spain, focusing in particular on their fortunes during the dangerous years between the 13th and 15th centuries. Sections examine the early phases of conversion, the Converso service of the church and state and Converso authors and chroniclers. Finally, Roth considers the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews. Useful information about literature, the 15th-century Jewish and Converso population and major Converso families is presented in appendices.

From the rear cover

The Jewish community in Spain was the largest and most important in the West for almost a thousand years, participating fully in cultural and political affairs with Christian and Muslim neighbors. Norman Roth traces the chain of events that led to mass conversions of Spanish Jews to Christianity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the rise of animosity against them, the establishment of the Inquisition, and finally, the 1492 Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Citing evidence from his extensive research of medieval documents, he firmly refutes the traditionally accepted story of "crypto-Judaism", which contends that the conversos were forced publicly to abandon their faith, while continuing secretly to maintain their Jewish traditions. Roth argues persuasively that the conversos were, in fact, sincere Christians.

Details

  • Title Conversos, Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
  • Author Norman Roth
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 429
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Wisconsin Press
  • Date 1995-05
  • ISBN 9780299142308 / 0299142302
  • Weight 1.64 lbs (0.74 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.3 x 6.25 x 1.21 in (23.62 x 15.88 x 3.07 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: Medieval (500-1453) Studies
    • Cultural Region: Spanish
    • Religious Orientation: Jewish
  • Library of Congress subjects Spain - History - 711-1516, Jews - Spain - History
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 94023486
  • Dewey Decimal Code 946.004

About the author

Norman Roth is emeritus professor of Hebrew and Semitic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of Maimonides: Essays and Texts and Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain.

Hang on… we’re fetching the requested page.