Reconquista Era Analysis

If one were to look into an hourglass at any period of time, one will never fail to see at least two conflicting authorities. Conflicting authorities are one of the main sources to the shaping of history and the effects it produces. If one were to point the hourglass into the 15th century Royal court of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella, one could see the Royal policy clashing with the social tensions. The Reconquista Era consist of a traditional royal court of Jewish descent at war with the search for a “unified identity” and the anti semitic movements. Though Ferdinand and Isabella intervened repeatedly to protect their jews, they eventually were forced to crumble under the opposing power. The effects produced by the clash of Royal

Spain was in a period of national civil war with the Moorish kingdom, hence it felt a heightened need to defend its self-identity. This identity was Catholicism. The Church according to historian Hamilton "was one stable institution that provided leadership and order, as the sole vehicle of a more civilized tradition in a barbarous world." Any undermining of this society whether it be a war, heresy, or financial issue was a threat to the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of the whole of Spain. Eventually, the Royal court of Ferdinand used the Church’s teachings as an instrument for social survival and to unify the nation. Many influential leaders that formed the opposing authority, showed that the race of Jews were an enemy of the church, therefore, were hindering the survival of

But on the other hand, many conversos were beneficial to the church, for following a long tradition, converso families gave many sons and daughters into the hands of the Catholic Church, to be brought up in the religious orders. Conversos students were to be found in the universities of Spain with choice benefits. One of the main leaders in the anti-Jewish movement was Pedro Gonzalez who was a Spanish prelate and diplomat who influenced Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon and was called, even in his own time, “the third king of Spain.” He was the big mover for the crypto-Judaism and anti-converso theories. “Anti-converso publicist in the mid-fifteenth century had already suggested that the new Christians were infiltrating the Church and threatening to take it over. Conversos, it was argued, had worked their way into the heart of Christian society, and were planning to destroy it from within.”