"Este maldito linaje": maurofilia o maurofobia en Jorge Toledano, de Lope de Vega

Abstract

The term “maurophilia” was coined by Georges Cirot in a series of articles pub-lished in the Bulletin Hispanique during the years of the Second World War. Since then, the idealized image of the Moor in the many genres of Golden Age literature has been interpreted as a nostalgic look at the Islamic cultural past, or as an expression of dissenting voices in a space overwhelmed by the ubiquitous surveillance of the Inquisition, the persecution of minorities, and the obsession with blood purity as structuring criteria for social hierarchies. This article revises the concept of maurophilia in light of Lope de Vega’s Jorge Toledano (1595-97), a rarely studied captivity play, in which the idealized relations between Moors and Christians serve as an instrument to exalt notions of lineage and genealogical purity, as well as to repudiate the Morisco communities during the years leading up to the expulsion.