Search results for " purity of blood"

From Spain to Sicily after the Expulsion: Conversos between Economic Networks and the Aristocratic Elite

2018

Abstract This article focuses on a group of conversos families from Spain, who established themselves in Palermo after the Expulsion of the Jews in 1492. There they supported financial activities of the Nazione Catalana and established strong relationships with the local aristocracy. Thanks to this alliance, they managed to avoid persecution by the Spanish Inquisition, “cleanse” their “impure” blood and reach high positions within politics and society: feudal titles, political and financial offices, habits of military orders, ecclesiastical appointments and sometimes even sainthood. Firstly, the paper will give a brief sketch of the phenomenon of conversos in Sicily as well as the activitie…