I understand that many Catholic families with origins in Spain and
Portugal can trace lines back to converso/Crypto-Jewish families. Can
any Sephardi families trace lines back to Old Christian noble families
through intermarriage in the 15th-17th centuries?
An OT question: Are de Leon and de Leão variants of the same name. My
Mendes de Leon line in Amsterdam can't be traced beyond the early 18th
century. But a Benveniste, alias Mendes de Leão, family was resident
in Amsterdam and Brazil in the 17th century. Could this be the same
family?
Thanks,
Mark Bridge
Conversos/Crypto-Jews
Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper
-
Gjest
Re: Conversos/Crypto-Jews
mark_bridge@hotmail.com escreveu:
Converso/Crypto-Jewish were the jews forced to conversion but who never
really abandoned their ancient faith. Except for small communities who
kept a very low profile, most were or killed or forced to emmigrate to
escape the Inquisition. In safe countries, mostly in Flanders but also
in North Africa and Near Orient they openly reverted to judaism.
So, as a rule, you won't find any Catholic descendants.
A different thing were the large majority of "cristãos-novos" that
truly accepted christianism (even if only after 3 or 4 generations).
Sometimes they were persecuted but it was more for their richnesses
than for any true religious motives; their descendants must be nowadays
practically all the portuguese population. As jews both from Portugal
and Spain, sometime fled to South America and many jewish families from
Flanders emmigrated do North America its more than probable that many
Catholic families can trace lines back to the first converted.
In that time frame it is not at all probable. In Portugal jews were
nobilitated and served in high offices, even as Royal Chancellors
mostly in the 13th-14th centuries. The 15th was a transition to the
most intolerant 16th-17th. The second half of the 18th was a transition
to most tolerant times and in the XIXth some jewish families of former
portuguese and spanish ancestry come to Portugal from Morocco and a
signifiant number that enriched in trading married in wealthy families
and, as usual, the second generation married also in noble families.
Nowadays pure jewish surnames are current in portuguese's high society.
Leão is portuguese for spanish Leon. If a spanish family Mendez de
León would come to Portugal they would be Mendes de Leão. As the
tilde and the sequence of three vowels are *difficult* it is just
probable that a Mendes de Leão would become Mendes de Leon in
Amsterdam but if we went to portuguese Brazil he would revert to Mendes
de Leão.
But that does not allow to ascertain that it is the same family. Mendes
is a patronymic for Mendo, once a very popular name and "de Leão" any
family that came from the kingdom of León or just lived, traded or
fought there some time. Also in smaller numbers, the origin could be a
nickname (leão=lion) commonly given to a brave man.
So it is possible to find different Mendes de Leão without connection
between themselves.
Regards,
Francisco
(Portugal)
I understand that many Catholic families with origins in Spain and
Portugal can trace lines back to converso/Crypto-Jewish families.
Converso/Crypto-Jewish were the jews forced to conversion but who never
really abandoned their ancient faith. Except for small communities who
kept a very low profile, most were or killed or forced to emmigrate to
escape the Inquisition. In safe countries, mostly in Flanders but also
in North Africa and Near Orient they openly reverted to judaism.
So, as a rule, you won't find any Catholic descendants.
A different thing were the large majority of "cristãos-novos" that
truly accepted christianism (even if only after 3 or 4 generations).
Sometimes they were persecuted but it was more for their richnesses
than for any true religious motives; their descendants must be nowadays
practically all the portuguese population. As jews both from Portugal
and Spain, sometime fled to South America and many jewish families from
Flanders emmigrated do North America its more than probable that many
Catholic families can trace lines back to the first converted.
Can
any Sephardi families trace lines back to Old Christian noble families
through intermarriage in the 15th-17th centuries?
In that time frame it is not at all probable. In Portugal jews were
nobilitated and served in high offices, even as Royal Chancellors
mostly in the 13th-14th centuries. The 15th was a transition to the
most intolerant 16th-17th. The second half of the 18th was a transition
to most tolerant times and in the XIXth some jewish families of former
portuguese and spanish ancestry come to Portugal from Morocco and a
signifiant number that enriched in trading married in wealthy families
and, as usual, the second generation married also in noble families.
Nowadays pure jewish surnames are current in portuguese's high society.
An OT question: Are de Leon and de Leão variants of the same name. My
Mendes de Leon line in Amsterdam can't be traced beyond the early 18th
century. But a Benveniste, alias Mendes de Leão, family was resident
in Amsterdam and Brazil in the 17th century. Could this be the same
family?
Thanks,
Mark Bridge
Leão is portuguese for spanish Leon. If a spanish family Mendez de
León would come to Portugal they would be Mendes de Leão. As the
tilde and the sequence of three vowels are *difficult* it is just
probable that a Mendes de Leão would become Mendes de Leon in
Amsterdam but if we went to portuguese Brazil he would revert to Mendes
de Leão.
But that does not allow to ascertain that it is the same family. Mendes
is a patronymic for Mendo, once a very popular name and "de Leão" any
family that came from the kingdom of León or just lived, traded or
fought there some time. Also in smaller numbers, the origin could be a
nickname (leão=lion) commonly given to a brave man.
So it is possible to find different Mendes de Leão without connection
between themselves.
Regards,
Francisco
(Portugal)
-
Gjest
Re: Conversos/Crypto-Jews
Thank you, Francisco. That's fascinating and extremely helpful.
francisco.tavaresdealmeida@gmail.com wrote:
In Portugal jews were
How were they ennobled? Were they granted heriditary titles/coats of
arms?
francisco.tavaresdealmeida@gmail.com wrote:
In Portugal jews were
nobilitated and served in high offices, even as Royal Chancellors
mostly in the 13th-14th centuries.
How were they ennobled? Were they granted heriditary titles/coats of
arms?
-
Turenne
Re: Conversos/Crypto-Jews
Have a look at, The De Leons are mentioned there amongst other Coats of
Arms granted to Jewish families
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view. ... 1&letter=C
francisco.tavaresdealmeida@gmail.com wrote:
Arms granted to Jewish families
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view. ... 1&letter=C
francisco.tavaresdealmeida@gmail.com wrote:
mark_bridge@hotmail.com escreveu:
I understand that many Catholic families with origins in Spain and
Portugal can trace lines back to converso/Crypto-Jewish families.
Converso/Crypto-Jewish were the jews forced to conversion but who never
really abandoned their ancient faith. Except for small communities who
kept a very low profile, most were or killed or forced to emmigrate to
escape the Inquisition. In safe countries, mostly in Flanders but also
in North Africa and Near Orient they openly reverted to judaism.
So, as a rule, you won't find any Catholic descendants.
A different thing were the large majority of "cristãos-novos" that
truly accepted christianism (even if only after 3 or 4 generations).
Sometimes they were persecuted but it was more for their richnesses
than for any true religious motives; their descendants must be nowadays
practically all the portuguese population. As jews both from Portugal
and Spain, sometime fled to South America and many jewish families from
Flanders emmigrated do North America its more than probable that many
Catholic families can trace lines back to the first converted.
Can
any Sephardi families trace lines back to Old Christian noble families
through intermarriage in the 15th-17th centuries?
In that time frame it is not at all probable. In Portugal jews were
nobilitated and served in high offices, even as Royal Chancellors
mostly in the 13th-14th centuries. The 15th was a transition to the
most intolerant 16th-17th. The second half of the 18th was a transition
to most tolerant times and in the XIXth some jewish families of former
portuguese and spanish ancestry come to Portugal from Morocco and a
signifiant number that enriched in trading married in wealthy families
and, as usual, the second generation married also in noble families.
Nowadays pure jewish surnames are current in portuguese's high society.
An OT question: Are de Leon and de Leão variants of the same name. My
Mendes de Leon line in Amsterdam can't be traced beyond the early 18th
century. But a Benveniste, alias Mendes de Leão, family was resident
in Amsterdam and Brazil in the 17th century. Could this be the same
family?
Thanks,
Mark Bridge
Leão is portuguese for spanish Leon. If a spanish family Mendez de
León would come to Portugal they would be Mendes de Leão. As the
tilde and the sequence of three vowels are *difficult* it is just
probable that a Mendes de Leão would become Mendes de Leon in
Amsterdam but if we went to portuguese Brazil he would revert to Mendes
de Leão.
But that does not allow to ascertain that it is the same family. Mendes
is a patronymic for Mendo, once a very popular name and "de Leão" any
family that came from the kingdom of León or just lived, traded or
fought there some time. Also in smaller numbers, the origin could be a
nickname (leão=lion) commonly given to a brave man.
So it is possible to find different Mendes de Leão without connection
between themselves.
Regards,
Francisco
(Portugal)
-
Gjest
Re: Conversos/Crypto-Jews
mark_bridge@hotmail.com escreveu:
Simple question but very difficult answer.
In Portugal the jews always have been a community apart and no
intermarriage took place. They were always referred as jews in
documents, they lived in different and were subject to different taxes
(not always worse). Their preeminent people were called with variations
of 'master' (against the variations of 'lord=dominus' given to
christians). Sometimes, but that were exceptions, very preeminent jews
could be called 'Dom' like some of the higher nobility and the
king's bastards. They had their own 'nobility' and heraldic seals
are known already in the XIIIth. As the christians, some assumed arms.
After the moorish *disapeared*, assimilated in Portugal, expelled in
Spain, roughly in the XVth we can say that in Portugal co-existed three
different communities: christians, jews and conversos. These last two
could amount to anything between 20 and 35% of the total population.
As a rule the jews were richer (and always less poor) than the
christian population and even some nobility and that was aggravated
after Portugal received the jews expelled from Spain, mostly the
richest because they had to pay to enter.
Also the jews were much better educated and hold offices in the
financial area. Many were tax collectors - sometimes they advanced the
money to the Crown - and many medical doctors and, in both qualities,
finantial and medical, they were intimate with nobility.
This was the beggining of their problems and they were envied, later
hated by the christian population, also under imported influence from
Castile. The Lisbon's 'progrom' in 19.4.1506, started on the
merest of the pretexts, and about 4.000 jews, man, women and children
were killed in 3 days, until the massacre was stoped by a strong action
enforced by the king's direct orders.
Always under influence from Castile, Portugal adopted the laws of
'pureness of blood' meaning that conversos could not be ordained
priests, hold some jobs and their ingress in Coimbra's University was
difficulted.
Then, not already by Castile's influence but by Castile's
imposition - some 'clausula' on King D.Manuel's contract of
marriage with an Infanta of Castile - Portugal expelled the jews and
introduced the Inquisition. For some time King D. Manuel postponed and,
before they were expelled, they were allowed to be baptised and to
become conversos 'cristãos-novos'.
This was the same time when heraldry was finally regulated also by King
D. Manuel's iniciative and the Kings-of-Arms did not recognized any
jewish arms.
The Jews that refused baptism were expelled and those included the
leaders - religious and social, both by fortune and by knowledge - and
I really do not know if any of them used their old assumed arms in
Flanders or, for instance, Ragusa.
That baptism of jews to escape being expelled was very badly accepted
by the christian population - intolerance went and still go along with
lack of education - and the strong division between old and new
christians lasted for nearly three centuries and survived several laws
against it. Curiously, a very large number of processes of the
Inquisition finished by proving, against the original denounciations,
that the accused's family was not 'cristã-nova' (in some cases a
great-grand uncle had married a 'cristã-nova' or something like
that).
The overwhelming majority of the baptised jews adopted the most common
patronymics as surnames but a few more preeminent, had godparents from
nobility and adopted their surnames. In one or other case youngsters
were adopted by the godparents. (similar thing ocurred in India in a
much larger scale when collective baptisms were patronized by the
Viceroy and the baptised received the surnames of their noble
grandparents, surnames still used nowadays)
As the Inquisition started persecuting these new conversos, some fled,
mainly to Flanders and it is just probable that some of them used the
same arms of the family of their surname. Not legal of course, but
really not much different of the practice in Portugal where very few
people asked and registered their family arms, only doing it when they
need it for any particular purpose, for instance as a kind of
'passport' when they emmigrate.
This is the general frame, but reality far exceeds the frame, both at
family or individual level and for that, only cherrypicking is
possible.
The jewish Navarro are documented since early XIIth - proved genealogy
only from the XV-XVIth - and they become christians in different times
and branches. Nowadays I remember Prof. André Navarro, a notable of
Salazar's regime and whose children married *well* two of them in the
families of the counts of Belmonte and Margaride.
One of my nieces also married a Navarro and she - not from my side -
belongs to the family of the counts of Vila-Flor and Alpedrinha and
dukes of Terceira.
Undoubtly noble - not in the english sense - and with right to bear
arms are 'Mata Coronel', 'Castros do Rio', 'Ximenes de
Aragão' these titled in Italy, 'Dias de Menezes' and several
branches of 'Mata' that used different surnames like 'Elvas'
and 'Évora'.
Individual christians of jewish ancestry that were ennobled existed
everywhere. The Pierleoni, before Baruch who become one of the most
preeminent roman families and had two Popes; one french Braquemont,
ennobled in Navarra and, the well known portuguese jew that was
baptised in England and become a knight of the Gartner as sir Edward
Brampon are just examples. Sir Edward Brampton, after the death of King
Edward IV, returned to Portugal, bought several royal properties,later
entailed, was recognized as a knight and was Councellor (roughly a non
executive member of the Cabinet) of Kings D. João II and D. Manuel I.
In Portugal the Espargosa and Alte are possibly the best example.
Cristovão Esteves, was baptized 'in his own feet' (beeing an
adult), a son of master Isac, a pharmacist. He was a judge of the royal
Court of Appeal and was granted in 1533 a 'chart of privilege' that
overcome his 'birth's unperfection' and later he received arms
and was nobilitated with the name of his property of Espargosa wich was
entailed and considered with the privilege's of ancient manors. His
brother Bernardim Esteves de Alte, a bachelor - took the surname 'de
Alte' from a property in Alentejo - was also nobilitated by King
D.João III and confirmed by King D.Filipe I - a spanish Habsburg!!! -
in 1583. He had two sons Doctors of Law by Coimbra University, one
professor there, both judges and one Chancelor of the Court of Appeal.
This Bernardim was made 'hereditary noble' as if all his ancestry
were noble, his manor was ancient and al his parents, grandparents,
geatgrandparents and greatgreatgrandparenst were 'lords of a
recognized lordship'.
(A very rare case of ennoblement of ancestors, common practice in China
but not in Europe).
Acknowledgement: I used some information of friends in the
Portuguese-Brazilian list, and, mainly, an essay of Manuel Abranches de
Soveral.
Regards,
Francisco
(Portugal)
PS - I looked at the 'De Leon' arms and for genealogical purposes
they are meaningless. The Lion gules crowned gold in silver were the
arms of the kingdom of León. The lion, passant in León, become
rampant when it was quartered in Castile arms. Those arms can still be
seen in many civil heraldry, for instance, impalled with a castle (the
usual symbol for a town) in the town of Cáceres.
F.
Thank you, Francisco. That's fascinating and extremely helpful.
francisco.tavaresdealmeida@gmail.com wrote:
In Portugal jews were
nobilitated and served in high offices, even as Royal Chancellors
mostly in the 13th-14th centuries.
How were they ennobled? Were they granted heriditary titles/coats of
arms?
Simple question but very difficult answer.
In Portugal the jews always have been a community apart and no
intermarriage took place. They were always referred as jews in
documents, they lived in different and were subject to different taxes
(not always worse). Their preeminent people were called with variations
of 'master' (against the variations of 'lord=dominus' given to
christians). Sometimes, but that were exceptions, very preeminent jews
could be called 'Dom' like some of the higher nobility and the
king's bastards. They had their own 'nobility' and heraldic seals
are known already in the XIIIth. As the christians, some assumed arms.
After the moorish *disapeared*, assimilated in Portugal, expelled in
Spain, roughly in the XVth we can say that in Portugal co-existed three
different communities: christians, jews and conversos. These last two
could amount to anything between 20 and 35% of the total population.
As a rule the jews were richer (and always less poor) than the
christian population and even some nobility and that was aggravated
after Portugal received the jews expelled from Spain, mostly the
richest because they had to pay to enter.
Also the jews were much better educated and hold offices in the
financial area. Many were tax collectors - sometimes they advanced the
money to the Crown - and many medical doctors and, in both qualities,
finantial and medical, they were intimate with nobility.
This was the beggining of their problems and they were envied, later
hated by the christian population, also under imported influence from
Castile. The Lisbon's 'progrom' in 19.4.1506, started on the
merest of the pretexts, and about 4.000 jews, man, women and children
were killed in 3 days, until the massacre was stoped by a strong action
enforced by the king's direct orders.
Always under influence from Castile, Portugal adopted the laws of
'pureness of blood' meaning that conversos could not be ordained
priests, hold some jobs and their ingress in Coimbra's University was
difficulted.
Then, not already by Castile's influence but by Castile's
imposition - some 'clausula' on King D.Manuel's contract of
marriage with an Infanta of Castile - Portugal expelled the jews and
introduced the Inquisition. For some time King D. Manuel postponed and,
before they were expelled, they were allowed to be baptised and to
become conversos 'cristãos-novos'.
This was the same time when heraldry was finally regulated also by King
D. Manuel's iniciative and the Kings-of-Arms did not recognized any
jewish arms.
The Jews that refused baptism were expelled and those included the
leaders - religious and social, both by fortune and by knowledge - and
I really do not know if any of them used their old assumed arms in
Flanders or, for instance, Ragusa.
That baptism of jews to escape being expelled was very badly accepted
by the christian population - intolerance went and still go along with
lack of education - and the strong division between old and new
christians lasted for nearly three centuries and survived several laws
against it. Curiously, a very large number of processes of the
Inquisition finished by proving, against the original denounciations,
that the accused's family was not 'cristã-nova' (in some cases a
great-grand uncle had married a 'cristã-nova' or something like
that).
The overwhelming majority of the baptised jews adopted the most common
patronymics as surnames but a few more preeminent, had godparents from
nobility and adopted their surnames. In one or other case youngsters
were adopted by the godparents. (similar thing ocurred in India in a
much larger scale when collective baptisms were patronized by the
Viceroy and the baptised received the surnames of their noble
grandparents, surnames still used nowadays)
As the Inquisition started persecuting these new conversos, some fled,
mainly to Flanders and it is just probable that some of them used the
same arms of the family of their surname. Not legal of course, but
really not much different of the practice in Portugal where very few
people asked and registered their family arms, only doing it when they
need it for any particular purpose, for instance as a kind of
'passport' when they emmigrate.
This is the general frame, but reality far exceeds the frame, both at
family or individual level and for that, only cherrypicking is
possible.
The jewish Navarro are documented since early XIIth - proved genealogy
only from the XV-XVIth - and they become christians in different times
and branches. Nowadays I remember Prof. André Navarro, a notable of
Salazar's regime and whose children married *well* two of them in the
families of the counts of Belmonte and Margaride.
One of my nieces also married a Navarro and she - not from my side -
belongs to the family of the counts of Vila-Flor and Alpedrinha and
dukes of Terceira.
Undoubtly noble - not in the english sense - and with right to bear
arms are 'Mata Coronel', 'Castros do Rio', 'Ximenes de
Aragão' these titled in Italy, 'Dias de Menezes' and several
branches of 'Mata' that used different surnames like 'Elvas'
and 'Évora'.
Individual christians of jewish ancestry that were ennobled existed
everywhere. The Pierleoni, before Baruch who become one of the most
preeminent roman families and had two Popes; one french Braquemont,
ennobled in Navarra and, the well known portuguese jew that was
baptised in England and become a knight of the Gartner as sir Edward
Brampon are just examples. Sir Edward Brampton, after the death of King
Edward IV, returned to Portugal, bought several royal properties,later
entailed, was recognized as a knight and was Councellor (roughly a non
executive member of the Cabinet) of Kings D. João II and D. Manuel I.
In Portugal the Espargosa and Alte are possibly the best example.
Cristovão Esteves, was baptized 'in his own feet' (beeing an
adult), a son of master Isac, a pharmacist. He was a judge of the royal
Court of Appeal and was granted in 1533 a 'chart of privilege' that
overcome his 'birth's unperfection' and later he received arms
and was nobilitated with the name of his property of Espargosa wich was
entailed and considered with the privilege's of ancient manors. His
brother Bernardim Esteves de Alte, a bachelor - took the surname 'de
Alte' from a property in Alentejo - was also nobilitated by King
D.João III and confirmed by King D.Filipe I - a spanish Habsburg!!! -
in 1583. He had two sons Doctors of Law by Coimbra University, one
professor there, both judges and one Chancelor of the Court of Appeal.
This Bernardim was made 'hereditary noble' as if all his ancestry
were noble, his manor was ancient and al his parents, grandparents,
geatgrandparents and greatgreatgrandparenst were 'lords of a
recognized lordship'.
(A very rare case of ennoblement of ancestors, common practice in China
but not in Europe).
Acknowledgement: I used some information of friends in the
Portuguese-Brazilian list, and, mainly, an essay of Manuel Abranches de
Soveral.
Regards,
Francisco
(Portugal)
PS - I looked at the 'De Leon' arms and for genealogical purposes
they are meaningless. The Lion gules crowned gold in silver were the
arms of the kingdom of León. The lion, passant in León, become
rampant when it was quartered in Castile arms. Those arms can still be
seen in many civil heraldry, for instance, impalled with a castle (the
usual symbol for a town) in the town of Cáceres.
F.