Limpieza de sangre facts for kids
Limpieza de sangre (meaning "cleanliness of blood" or "blood purity") was a term used in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires a long time ago. It was about whether someone had "pure" Christian ancestors. People with this "pure blood" were thought to be Old Christians, meaning their families had always been Christian, without any Muslim or Jewish relatives.
This idea caused a lot of unfair treatment. It especially affected people who had recently converted to Christianity from Judaism or Islam. In Spain's American colonies, this idea also helped create a system called the casta system. This system ranked people based on their family background, including whether they had Native American or African ancestors.
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What Happened After the Reconquista?
The Reconquista was a long period when Christian kingdoms took back land in Spain from Muslim rule. By the end of this time, all people in Portugal and Spain were supposed to be Christian. However, many people had recently changed their religion.
These new Christians were called "New Christians." Those who converted from Judaism were known as conversos. Those who converted from Islam were called Moriscos. People often accused these New Christians of secretly practicing their old religions. This led to the idea that "purity of blood" was more important than someone's personal faith.
Rules About Blood Purity
The first rule about "purity of blood" was made in Toledo, Spain, in 1449. It came after a riot against conversos. This rule stopped conversos and their families from holding many important jobs. At first, the king and the Church didn't like these rules. But later, in 1496, Pope Alexander VI approved a purity rule for a religious group called the Hieronymites.
These rules meant that even ordinary "Old Christians" could claim to be honorable, even if they weren't nobles. Many groups, like religious orders and guilds, added rules that required proof of "clean blood." New Christian families who wanted to improve their lives often faced discrimination. They sometimes had to bribe officials or fake documents to show they had Christian ancestors for many generations.
People in the Basques region of Spain believed they had "universal hidalguía" (a low noble status). This was because the Umayyad conquest of Hispania (when Muslims conquered Spain) didn't reach their area. So, people thought Basques had kept their original "purity," unlike the rest of Spain. This idea helped many Basques get powerful jobs in the government.
By the 1500s, the "limpieza de sangre" rules became a strong way to keep conversos out of important jobs in the Church and government. These rules spread quickly, especially with support from cathedrals and special colleges. This focus on "blood purity" made these important jobs very exclusive. It also created a system where anti-converso ideas were passed down through generations.
One example shows how these laws worked. A legal paper was written about Pedro Francisco Molines, who was supposed to marry Maria Aguiló. The paper argued that he should not marry her because Maria was not of "pure blood." It said that Maria's family had Jewish ancestors, and because of this, Pedro didn't have to marry her. This was so he wouldn't "dirty his clean blood." This shows how ancestry became linked to impurity, which was an early form of racism. The paper even said the judge could jail Pedro until he found a "pure blood" woman to marry. Many religious leaders and lawyers signed this paper, showing how much support these rules had.
These rules were closely connected to the Spanish Inquisition. Together, they created a system that caused fear. People were encouraged to accuse others, even if they had to lie. If someone found out you had a Jewish ancestor, your whole family could lose everything.
However, not everyone agreed with these "limpieza de sangre" rules. They could affect anyone, including nobles, farmers, and even Catholic reformers. These reformers felt the rules went against the meaning of baptism and Christ's teachings. While powerful people largely supported these rules, not all Spanish people wanted laws that separated people by their "blood."
How the Rules Faded Away
By the 1800s, the "limpieza de sangre" tests were used less often. People rarely had to go through difficult investigations into their distant family history. However, some laws requiring "purity of blood" lasted into the 19th century. For example, in 1804, King Ferdinand VII said that knights in the military could not marry without proof of their spouse's "clean blood."
Official rules stopping these requirements for the Army were made into law in 1865. The Navy followed later that year. In 1865, a rule allowed children born outside of marriage, whose ancestry couldn't be checked, to enter religious higher education. In 1866, the blood purity test was outlawed for college admission. Finally, in 1870, a rule stopped all use of blood purity standards for any government job or licensed profession.
Even so, some discrimination continued into the 1900s. In places like Majorca, priests who were Xueta (descendants of Majorcan conversos) were not allowed to say Mass in a cathedral until the 1960s.
How Purity of Blood Was Judged
One of the earliest ways to judge "limpieza de sangre" came from the Church of Cordoba. Here's how it worked:
- Candidates would kneel, put their right hand on a crucifix on a Bible, and swear they had no Jewish or Moorish ancestors.
- They then gave the names and birthplaces of their parents and grandparents.
- Two people from the council or church would check this information to make sure it was true.
- If the check needed to be done outside Cordoba, someone would be sent to question witnesses chosen by the candidate.
- After all reports were gathered, the secretary would read them to the council. A simple vote would decide if the candidate was approved.
- If approved, the candidate promised to follow all Church laws.
In the Spanish Colonies
The idea of limpieza de sangre made it hard for many Spaniards to move to the Americas. They often needed proof that they didn't have recent Muslim or Jewish ancestors. But in Spain's colonies overseas, this idea changed. It became linked to racial purity for both Spaniards and native people.
People needed proof of "racial purity" for many things in both Spain and its colonies. Those applying for important jobs, and their spouses, had to get a certificate. This certificate proved they had no Jewish or Muslim ancestors. In New Spain (Mexico), they also needed proof of being "white" and that no one in their family had done manual labor.
Early on, laws were made to stop Jews, Muslims, and their families from moving to the colonies. There was a big business in creating fake papers to help conversos move there. These rules were often repeated in later laws, which suggests they were often ignored. This was probably because colonial leaders needed the skills of these immigrants.
When Portugal and Spain were ruled by the same king (1580–1640), many Portuguese merchants, who were secretly crypto-Jews, came to the colonies. They pretended to be Christians and became important traders. When Portugal broke away from Spain in 1640, the Inquisition in Mexico City and Lima started looking for and punishing these crypto-Jews. This led to big public punishments called autos-da-fé.
The Society of Jesus
Ignatius of Loyola, who started the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), once said he would consider it a special gift from God to have Jewish ancestors. In the first 30 years of the Jesuits, many members were conversos.
However, some Jesuits didn't like conversos. This led to a rule in 1593 called the Decree de genere. This rule said that having any Jewish or Muslim ancestors, no matter how far back, meant you could not join the Society of Jesus. This applied the Spanish "Limpieza de sangre" idea to Jesuits all over the world.
This rule meant that no one with Jewish or Muslim ancestors could join the Jesuits, even if Ignatius didn't want that. Later, this rule was extended to include ancestors up to five generations back. This 16th-century rule stayed in place for the Jesuits much longer than it did in Spain. Over time, the rule about Muslim ancestors was dropped, but people with Jewish ancestors were still excluded.
In 1923, the Jesuits repeated that "The problem of origin extends to all who are descended from the Jewish race, unless it is clear that their father, grandfather, and great grandfather have belonged to the Catholic Church." It wasn't until 1946, after World War II, that the Jesuits finally dropped this requirement. However, they still said that "cautions" should be used before accepting someone if there was doubt about their family background.
See also
In Spanish: Estatutos de limpieza de sangre para niños
