SEPHARDIM-L Archives

Archiver > SEPHARDIM > 2004-02 > 1075642133


From: "Sephard Manager" <>
Subject: [SEPHARDIM] FW: Re: "Racial purity"
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 13:28:53 +0000


----Original Message Follows----
From:
To:
Subject: Re: "Racial purity"
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:34:06 -0700

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Classification: Query

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/CtB.2ACIAE/88.1.2.1.1.2

Message Board Post:

Dear Silvia,

I don't know much about situations like the one you mention, but I do know
that, at least in Portugal, marriages between old and new Christians were
quite frequent. A few generations later, those with some new-Christian
ancestry tried to hide it as well as they could.

When a man wanted to become a priest, a judge, or a local representative of
the Inquisition (among other jobs), an investigation was performed on his
family, often uncovering some hidden ancestry. On the other hand, having
someone with one of the jobs mentioned above was always good for a family's
reputation (apparently, some people would apply to become Inquisition
representatives just to show everyone they didn't have "infected blood").

Of course, sometimes people did get the jobs even if they had "illegal"
ancestry. I could be too distant for anyone to remember. Some cases of false
declarations from witnesses are also known.

After several centuries, I guess that virtually all people in Spain and
Portugal have both old and new Christian lines, in variable proportions.

Best regards,

Rui Pereira

_________________________________________________________________
High-speed usersbe more efficient online with the new MSN Premium Internet
Software. http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=byoa/prem&ST=1

This thread: