Catholic Spain
Intermixture of races in Spain
Intermixture of races in Spain, when the records of antiquity are consulted, the truth turns out to be, that in no other country of Europe has there been such an intermixture of races as in Spain—Iberian, Celtic, Carthaginian, Roman, Greek, Gothic, Jewish, Saracennic, Syrian, Arabian, and Moorish. With none are the Spaniards more anxious to disclaim all kindred than with the Jews and Moors. Yet anciently their Christian kings did not scruple to form alliances with the Moorish sovereigns of Grenada, to appear at their tournaments, and even to fight under their banners. Down to the middle of the fifteenth century, the Spanish poets and romancers celebrated the chivalry of “the Knights of Grenada, gentlemen though Moors.” It was no uncommon occurrence for the Christians in Spain to connect themselves by marriage with Jews and Moors; and the pedigree of many of the grandees and titled nobility has been traced up to these “cankered branches” by the Tizon de Espana, or Brand of Spain, a book which neither the influence of the government, nor the terror of the Inquisition, has been able to suppress. Nor is greater credit due to the opinion which has long been prevalent in the Peninsula, that its inhabitants have uniformly kept themselves free from all stain of heretical pravity, and preserved the purity of the faith inviolate since their first reception into Christianity.
The ancient state of the church in Spain is but little known. Modern writers of that nation have been careful to conceal or to pass lightly over those spots of its history which are calculated to wound the feelings or abate the prejudices of their countrymen. Shut out from access to original documents, or averse to the toil of investigating them, foreigners have generally contented themselves with the information which common books supply. And knowing that the Spaniards have signalized their zeal for the See of Rome and the catholic faith during the last three centuries, the public, as if by general agreement, have come to the hasty conclusion that this was the fact from the beginning. To correct such mistakes, and to furnish materials for an accurate judgment.
The ecclesiastical history of Spain during the three first centuries may be comprised in two facts,—that the Christian religion was early introduced into that country; and that churches were erected in various parts of it, notwithstanding the persecution to which they were exposed at intervals. All beside this is fable or conjecture. That the gospel was first preached to their ancestors by St. James, the son of Zebedee, is an opinion which has been long so popular among the Spaniards, and so identified with the national faith, that such of their writers as were most convinced of the unsound foundation on which it rests have been forced to join in bearing testimony to its truth. The ingenuity of the warm partisans of the popedom has been put to the stretch in managing the obstinate fondness with which the inhabitants of the Peninsula have clung to a prepossession so hazardous to the claims of St. Peter and of Rome. They have alternately exposed the futility of the arguments produced in its support, and granted that it is to be received as a probable opinion, resting on tradition. At one time they have urged that the early martyrdom of the apostle precludes the idea of such an expedition; and at another time they have tendered their aid to relieve the Spaniards from this embarrassment, and to “elude the objection,” by suggesting, with true Italian dexterity, that the Spirit might have carried the apostle from Palestine to Spain, and after he had performed his task, conveyed him back with such celerity that he was in time to receive the martyr’s crown at Jerusalem.f4 By such artful managements, they succeeded at last in settling the dispute, after the following manner; that, agreeably to the concurring voice of antiquity, the seven first bishops of Spain were ordained by St. Peter, and sent by him into the Peninsula; but that, as is probable, they had been converted to the Christian faith by St. James, who despatched them to Rome to receive holy orders from the prince of the apostles; from which the inference is, that St. James was the first who preached the gospel to the Spaniards, but St. Peter was the founder of the church of Spain.
The facts which we have to bring forward may be arranged under three heads:—the doctrine of the ancient church of Spain; her government; and her worship.--THE REFORMATION IN SPAIN
by Thomas M’Crie
Resource: EL TIZÓN DE LA NOBLEZA DE ESPAÑA
POR EL CARDENAL
FRANCISCO DE MENDOZA Y BOBADILLA OBISPO DE BURGOS
MDLX
o understand the reasons used by the Habsburg dynasty, in the person of King Philip II, to investigate the genealogy of some of the noble families, with the purpose of finding Moorish or Jewish ascendants, it is necessary to delve into the authentic history of Spain written by Amé- rico Castro in his books De la edad conflictiva (Taurus Ediciones, S. A. Madrid 1961, and La realidad histórica de España (Editorial Porrúa, S. A. Mexico 1966) and its English translation, The Spaniards (University of California Press. 1971). A. Madrid 1961), and La realidad histórica de España (Editorial Porrúa, S. A. Mexico 1966) and its English translation, The Spaniards (University of California Press. 1971). In the latter he added a preamble entitled In relation to this history and its historical method, chapter XIII: The historical epochs conditioned by the peculiar problem of the Spanish population, chapter XIV: Problems and periods in the history of Spain, an addition concerning Santiago and an inquisitorial case, and an appendix: Observations on bulls and autos de fe.
Taking into account that the presence of the Jewish people in Sepharad or Hispania is millenary, Castro
wrote the following in chapter XIV:
The Muslim occupation allowed the Jew to have more freedom than he had under the Visigoth tyranny . This is the usual historical explanation given for the Jewish help to the new invaders of most of the Peninsula, particularly Toledo, the ancient capital of the Visigothic monarchy. At this point in the eighth century the struggle and rivalry between these three peoples began. None of them was powerful enough to subjugate the other two, but neither was it so weak as to resign itself to total submission. The final and decisive blow was dealt by the Christian caste, led by the military and political supremacy of Castile.
In chapter XIII under the subtitle The role of the Jews in the caste system, Castro offers us a clear concept of the struggles for predominance, where the Jew helps the Castilian to dominate the muslim:
The overall picture of the Hispanic phenomenon begins to take shape as that of a group of people comprising three castes who lived uneasily due to their inevitable coexistence.
The imperial greatness of Spain in the 16th century was forged by a combination of factors: the tenacious awareness of the Castilians of their superiority and self-confidence, evident from long ago in their epic poetry and songs; the technical skill of the Moor and later the Mudejar, used to the advantage of the Castilian Christians as well as others in the Peninsula; and finally, the technical knowledge of financial administration, culture and the imperialistic utopias of the Castilian Jews. Without these Castilian Jews and the conversos of the 15th century, it is impossible to explain either the long and complicated enterprise of the reconquest or the aspiration to extend the Spanish empire to remote and unknown lands.