Crypto Jews

A term referring to Jewish men and women of Spain as the Christian Reconquista culminated in the houses of Castille and Aragon uniting and establishing their rule over the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century (although anti-Jewish sentiment flared much earlier). The atmosphere of religious zeal and martial triumph led a dangerous environment for the Jewish population, as popular riots, persecution by the Spanish Inquisition, and legal repression forced people to reckon with their faith in new ways. Jews who converted to Christianity under this pressure, and were suspected of secretly continuing their old faith in secret, were derisively called “marano,” or swine. Crypto-Jews and New Christians are other terms for these individuals used by later historians.