Tracing the movement of Sephardic Jews during and after anti-Jewish measures in
Spain, “cleanliness of blood” statutes and the Inquisition generally is one of the
great challenges encountered by modern historians and genealogists. A solution to
the problem of tracking many Jewish lineages during this era lies concealed in an
unusual location – the manuscripts and records held in Spanish Catholic cathedral
and municipal archives. Within these institutions are the foundational documents
that detail the members of the Sephardic community who filtered into Portugal and
across the Atlantic World during the late 15th through early 16th
centuries.
A scientific and integrative study of the so-called Spanish “Extremadura”, employing
original records at this unique source point, will allow genealogists and scholars
to better ascertain the familial transformations of Sephardic Jews during the early
modern period and comprehend the processes and strategies they utilized to relocate
and integrate into the “New World”.
A scientific study of this kind will be carried out by Prof. Roger Louis Martínez,
Ph.D of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, CO, in order to:
- Reconstruct and compile the lineages of Jewish and converso families of the Spanish
Jewish Diaspora;
- Explore the cultural, religious and economic activities and associations of the
Sephardic Jews;
- Offer new insights on the varied survival strategies utilized by Jews and conversos
during this era;
- Uncover the nature of communal and personal identities during this period of intense
stress for Sephardic Jews.
Click here
for the project abstract.