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4 zyxwvuts Conversos and Political Upheaval The crisis of the fifteenth century in Spain begins with the turmoil of the reign of Juan II, a weak and ineffective ruler. Pedro Lopez de Ayala, a powerful noble of Toledo, vacillated in his "loyalty" to the king and finally in 1440 entered into an alliance with thezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON infante Enrique in open warfare against his father. Many of the other nobles of Castile joined in a confederation against Ayala. The king himself, unfortunately, did nothing, and the rebellion soon spread throughout the land. It took some months before the king was able to regain control of the cities. In 1444, he pardoned his son and Ayala, but the continued rebellion led him finally to depose Ayala of his powers and castles. Two years later, however, as part of the compromise which was an attempt to end the conflict, the king was forced to restore Ayala to power. It is against this background that the anti-converso hostility must be understood. Although one writer has it that animosity against conversos played no special part in the violence of the era, adding a warning against being "hypnotized by the purely anti-Semitic [sic] aspects" of this violence, in fact all of the instances of violence and popular unrest which he enumerates involved either Jews or conversos or both.1 The truth is that the increasing hostility against Jews, and more especially against conversos, was able to erupt into actual violence and riots because of the general state of anarchy which prevailed. The anti-Jewish nature of these riots was not a mere manifestation of the general social unrest, however , but was a separate and very real issue.2 In 1448 there was yet another plot by some rebellious nobles against the king. Many were arrested, and some, like the admiral don Fadrique Enrfquez , escaped across the border. Badly in need of money for the war against the Muslims of Granada, Juan asked for financial aid from the cities. In Toledo the following year Alvaro de Luna entrusted a wealthy converso merchant, Alonso Cota (member of the famous Jewish and converso Cota family), with the responsibility of raising the required sum. 88 Conversos and Political Upheaval 89 Alvaro de Luna,zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA condestable of the king and Master of the Order of Santiago, was himself of a converso family, though perhaps distantly, as was probably his treasurer and chronicler Gonzalo Chacon, later contador mayor of Fernando and Isabel.3 In 1441 serious charges had already been brought against de Luna, some possibly true (illicit alliances and political intrigues) and others no doubt exaggerated (murder, homosexuality, black magic). In 1443 he was a sponsor of legislation, the pragmdtica of Arevalo, in favor of the Jews. This, of course, does not mean that he had a particularly "pro-Jewish" policy, as some have claimed.4 In 1453, when an angry mob attacked de Luna accusing him of treason while he was staying at the palace of Pedro de Cartagena, brother of the converso bishop Pablo de Santa Maria, in Burgos, he sought to protect Alvaro, Pedro's son, from the mob, which was also attacking conversos in general. However, in the end de Luna's own followers convinced him that Cartagena could save him, since he knew secret ways out of the palace and the city. Together, they barely escaped with their lives. Chacon later invented a speech in which de Luna supposedly complained of the evil which conversos sought to do him, though he treated them better than anyone in the realm. This is unlikely, for it contradicts not only his previous statement that he wished to save Alvaro de Cartagena from the mob that was attacking conversos, but also the fact that many conversos later supported him in the 1449 riots.5 Meanwhile in Toledo in 1449 suspicion fell on the conversos that they were somehow the instigators of the special tax imposed by the king, perhaps in order to "humiliate" the "old Christians" who clearly could not afford to pay such a sum, reportedly 1,000,000 mrs. The alcalde mayor, Pero Sarmiento, and his assessor, Marcos Garcia de Mazarambros, urged resistance to the tax and also sought the intercession of the infante Enrique with his father. A riot broke out in the city, which began with a mob in the Church of Santa Maria (a former synagogue, now a national monument). The house of the converso Alonso Cota was burned, although he survived the attack...

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