Harmonizing identities: the problem of the integration of the Portuguese conversos in early modern Iberian corporate polities

Abstract

Past historiography concerning the question of identity among Portuguese New Christians was divided between those who located identity in the deep “inner selves” of conversos, and those who perceived New Christian identities as reactive byproducts of the environment. Among the latter, António José Saraiva claimed that the stereotypical identification of the conversos as Judaizers by the Holy Office was a determining factor in framing their real identities, sometimes creating a paradoxical phenomenon of “self-fulfilling prophecy.” This article continues to explore the shaping influence of environment upon identity-construction, but in totally different way. Instead of denying the reality of Portuguese crypto-Judaism by questioning the reliability of the inquisitorial sources, this article will claim that the corporate (in the sense of a united body) character of Early Modern Portuguese politics was a major obstacle to the integration of the New Christians into Old Christian society. Moreover, a study of a pro-converso tract written during the Habsburg period by the arbitrista Martín González de Cellorigo (1619) will show that profound political structures were fundamental in framing many of Portuguese New Christian identities.