Enrique was eventually sworn in as Enrique II. Enrique's son Juan I and his grandson Enrique III inherited the crown. Enrique III was married to his cousin Catalina of Lancaster in alliance and gave birth to Juan II who inherited the crown at a young age after his father's death. Catalina and the child's uncle, Fernando de Aragón, took control until Juan II was old enough to be crowned. While the Laws of Catalina in 1412 against Jews were said to be harsh, her son would permit Álvaro de Luna to control and allow conversos to continue to hold high positions of power. Álvaro de Luna, who was introduced to Juan II at a young age as a companion, profoundly influenced him and became his most trusted confidant as Condestable. As a result of Luna's …show more content…
Kaplan, conversos were viewed with disdain during the early fifteenth century due to their ability achieve social advancement regardless of their status converts. He states “This perception was shaped by the forced nature of the mass conversions of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, which produced neophytes who had little time to become educated in Christian doctrine” (25). Netanyahu states that many of the conversos “were extremely reluctant to stop performing all the Commandments, and even more so to take part in Christian rites and ceremonies” he continues “Nevertheless, such behavior was dictated to them not only by the laws of Church and state, but also by economic necessity; in fact, their survival depended on their readiness to behave publicly as Christians” (207). Therefore, it is not surprising that literature of this period reflected that need to demonstrate Christian knowledge. Kaplan refers to Albert S. Sicroff's research to develop the argument that “Purity of blood became an accepted convention for articulating a distinction between Old and New Christians, according to which conversos were 'guilty by association,' that is, their blood was unclean because they were essentially considered to be indistinguishable from Jews”