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

During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the Jews in New
Spain were accepted without animosity by the general populace because
they served a function and role which the Spaniard was unable or
unwilling to assume. They were merchants, peddlers, itinerant salesmen,
and imposers. 17
The New Christians held a partial monopoly on the trading industry and profited in their
new surroundings. Interestingly, trading probably kept the Jewish traditions alive
because New Christians had the opportunity to keep in contact with other Jews.
Historian Stanley Hordes states that “in almost every area of trade, crypto-Jews relied on
one another as sources of supply and credit, as agents in remote regions, as bondsmen,
and as partners in business ventures.” 18 And in a more specific example, Liebman writes
that Mexican Jews traded with those in Hamburg and Aleppo. 19 San Antonio especially
had a unique situation since it was a main trading post on the Camino Real (also known
as King’s Highway or Old San Antonio Road). (see figure 1) It was a group of old trails
official founded in the 1690’s by Alonso De León and, “in Spanish Texas, the Old San
Antonio Road was a major artery for travel into Texas.” 20 Undoubtedly, crypto-Jewish
traders would have constantly used the road to their advantage and settled around it.
Although most New Christians were doing well financially and simply “living
their lives” in the New World, the life of the converso was still one defined by constant
fear of the Inquisition. As in most cases, wherever the Jews went trouble was not far to
follow; after traveling to the New World with the hope they could remain safe from
persecution, Philip II ordered the Inquisition to set up holy offices in Mexico.
Trouble in the New World Paradise
After King Philip II ordered the creation of the Inquisition in the New World, the
normal life of the New Christian was once again in danger. In the north of the Spanish
Empire conversos had to take special precautions so as not to be caught by the eye of the
inquisitor. Although many crypto-Jews managed to avoid suspicion (and those of whose
descendants still practice Jewish traditions in San Antonio), some were not as lucky. In
public demonstrations called autos-de-fe, those conversos who were convicted of
reverting back to Judaism were flogged, embarrassed, and exiled, and/or burned at the
stake. Although a grotesque part of Spanish history, it is important to mention these
public acts in the context that they instilled fear into the remaining crypto-Jewish
population which forced them deeper into hiding and, at times, grabbing a tighter hold on
their faith.
As mentioned before, King Philip II ordered the creation of the Holy Office of the
Inquisition in Mexico City in 1571 to “free the land, which has become contaminated by
Jews and heretics.” 21 Liebman writes “he once said that he would rather lose all his
kingdom than permit freedom of religion.” 22 King Philip II proved to be a stringent
religious man when it was in his best interest, but was generally a person lacking
17 Ibid, 60.
18 Ibid, Hordes, To the End of the Earth, 46.
19 Ibid, Liebman, New World Jewry, 1493-1825: Requiem for the Forgotten, 68.
20 Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. ","
Hhttp://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/OO/exo4.htmlH (accessed April 11, 2007).
21 Ibid, Roth, A History of the Marranos, 275-6.
22 Ibid, Liebman, The Jews in New Spain: Faith, Flame, and the Inquisition, 132.
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