TREATY ON THE ALBORAYQUE. STUDY AND EDITION

The objective of this essay is the edition and study of a late 15th-century print entitled Tratado del Alborayque (The Treatise of the Alborayque). It aims to explore specific events that occurred in the Iberian Peninsula in the late 14th and 15th centuries, as well as their sociocultural repercussions. These events began with the massacres of Jews that took place in 1391. Those who survived were forced to be baptized. Many of those who were forcibly baptized continued to practice the Jewish religion in secret; others were good and faithful Christians, known as "New Christians." The Jewish converts who continued to practice the Jewish religion in secret are called "Alborayques" in our Treatise. They were the object of harsh persecution by the Spanish Inquisition, created in 1478 precisely to resolve the so-called "converso problem." The social repercussions of forced conversions were extraordinary, penetrating all strata of society and provoking the most unexpected reactions. One of these reactions, at a rather popular level, was the appearance of writings and pamphlets, often virulent, against those converts who continued to practice their Judaic religion in private. The Treatise on the Alborayque, which we publish as part of our study, belongs to this category of works.