Jewish debates on the colonial Mexican stage: the case of Fernán González de Eslava

Abstract

The plays of Fernán González de Eslava (c. 1534–1599) provide unexpected insights into sixteenth-century crypto-Judaism in Mexico. In an era of increasing persecution, González de Eslava, a secular priest whom contemporaries suspected had Jewish ancestry, creates plays that bring religious debate into the heart of the Lettered City. These plays, which feature pro- and anti-Jewish polemic and incorporate frequent references to the Inquisition, propagate Counter-Reformation theology but also resist the coalescing myth of Jewish blood impurity. The frequency of Jewish (and related) themes in González de Eslava's oeuvre—they appear in 14 of his 16 extant plays—locates his work within Nathan Wachtel's ‘marrano labyrinth,’ alongside the writings of more famous sixteenth-century crypto-Jews like Luis de Carvajal. While autobiographies and trial records are typically used to explore dissident religiosity in the Americas, González de Eslava's plays demonstrate theater's role in making public the religious debates of Mexico.