The Secret Society: Descendants of Crypto-Jews in the San Antonio ...

today. Present day traditions include everything from food to games and funerary
practices to holidays.
Recently, crypto-Jews have become more noticed as a cultural phenomenon, and
in particular, the conversos of New Mexico have been singled out and studied to a large
extent. 4 However, there is a large converso population in San Antonio that has gone
largely undocumented and ignored. This is the community that I would like to focus on
as the subject of my thesis. It will be more interesting and challenging to research the
conversos of San Antonio than those of New Mexico, and since I have lived in San
Antonio all my life it will personally be more important to document these local
conversos.
The Historical Evidence
King Ferdinand, Queen Isabella, and the Edict of Expulsion
From the time of the Diaspora, Jews had contributed to the prosperity of
the Iberian Peninsula, but in 1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decided they were
no longer welcome in the Spanish Empire. The Edict of Expulsion was read throughout
the land on March 31, 1492, which decreed that the Jews had to leave the country in four
months, convert to Catholicism, or accept death. The actions of the Catholic Monarchy
were very peculiar because they had appeared to be protecting their Jewish citizens right
up until a few months before the edict was announced. From the large Jewish
population of Spain at least half did not have the emotional strength, physical strength, or
financial means to leave their homeland, so they converted to Catholicism. This resulted
in many of the crypto-Jews who eventually made their way to the New World and settled
in the San Antonio region.
The “Catholic Monarchy” is most well known for uniting Spain, funding the
exploration of the New World, and for the expulsion of the Jews and Moors. The reign
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was odd in that many of their actions and policies
contradicted one another and one of their largest contradictions was the Edict of
Expulsion for the Jews. The king and queen initially protected and defended the Jews
and treated them respectfully, and they appointed Jews to higher positions of power
within the community and court. 5 In some instances the monarchy even intervened in
anti-Semitic disorders, and punished those who were involved to protect their Jewish
citizens. 6 Unfortunately, the Jewish community soon discovered that Ferdinand was
greedy and Isabella only aimed to please the clergy.
The Edict of Expulsion came as a surprise to the Jewish population. The kingdom
had just defeated the last of the Moors, so thoughts were focused on the future stability of
the kingdom, and it was not apparent to the Jews that they were a threat. In the spring of
1492 the Edict of Expulsion was distributed throughout the nation and the words of the
Monarchy were shouted in the squares:
Having considered the matter with much deliberation, [we] are agreed in
ordering that all the said Jews and Jewesses of our realms shall leave and
4 Ibid, Hordes, To the End of the Earth.
5 Prescott, William H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic. (London: George
Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1962), 129.
6 Ibid, 129.
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