A CHRISTIAN MEANS TO ACONVERSAEND

Abstract

In 1499, seven years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the conversa Ines of Herrera envisioned an apparition foretelling the advent of the messianic age and the salvation of conversos faithful to the laws of Moses. Her visions fomented a messianic movement that became especially popular among women, who adopted Jewish rituals in the hopes of hastening their redemption. The Inquisition responded quickly. Ines was arrested in April 1500 and burned at the stake by August. Seventy-seven followers were burned in an auto da fe in Toledo in 150 1,1 and the movement was completely eradicated by 1502. Interesting research has emerged on the Jewish aspects of this movement in the Southern Castilian region of Extremadura. Yitzhak Baer focused on its messianic character as proof of the essential Jewishness of the conversos (Jews who had converted to Christianity or their descendants; f. conversa).2 Haim Beinart uncovered many of Ines's followers' inquisition trial records and used these to demonstrate the conversos' deep allegiance to the Jewish faith.3 Most recently, Renee Levine Melammed focused on Ines's many female followers. She reviewed the women's inquisition records, documented their judaizing practices, and presented a detailed social history of the movement.4 Levine Melammed 's research offers evidence that conversas in general were far more likely to judaize than their male counterparts. This incongruity is understandable, given the very different roles afforded to men and women in traditional Judaism, in which men enjoyed a more public role in Jewish institutional life, while women were expected to be managers of the household. When Judaism was pushed inside, into the private sphere, women retained such forms of devotion as keeping kosher and lighting Sabbath lamps, thus becoming the transmitters of Jewish piety.5 Retaining Jewish rituals, however, does not necessarily indicate animosity toward Christianity or Christian practice. In his study of Inquisition records from