Sara Nalle
William Paterson University, History, Emeritus
- Family Law, Portuguese History, History, Historical Demography, Early Modern History, European Catholicism, and 20 moreHistory of Religion, European Ethnography, Inquisition, Spanish History, Mediterranean Studies, Cult of Saints, History of Childhood and Youth, Hispanism, Historical Anthropology, Kinship (Anthropology), Literacy, Saints' Cults, Early modern Spain, Moriscos, Early Modern economic and social history, "Conversos" in Medieval Iberia and Early Modern Spain, Jewish History, Conversos, Limpieza De Sangre, and Historical GISedit
- Currently I am working on a book-length project titled "Blood and Memory: Ethnic Identity and the Family in Spain, 1... moreCurrently I am working on a book-length project titled "Blood and Memory: Ethnic Identity and the Family in Spain, 1500-1700." As the title suggests, the study looks at the evolution of the family in Spain against the backdrop of its three major ethnic groups: the Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Chapters deal with family formation in the sixteenth century, case studies of converso and morisco families in the province of Guadalajara during the 16th century, the crisis of the 17th century's impact on families, a comparative study of the Portuguese marranos who settled in New Castile in the 17th c., changes in life course over the period, and finally the disappearance of the last vestiges of the medieval bilateral family system (among Old Christians) in favor of a patrilineal, patriarchal one.edit
Este artículo investiga las conexiones entre los comuneros de Requena y Moya en el contexto de una rebelión contra el marqués de Moya que estalló en septiembre, 1520. La rebelión alcanzó incluir pueblos cercanos como Iniesta y La... more
Este artículo investiga las conexiones entre los comuneros de Requena y
Moya en el contexto de una rebelión contra el marqués de Moya que estalló en septiembre, 1520. La rebelión alcanzó incluir pueblos cercanos como Iniesta y La Motilla, y tropas procedentes de Valencia, todos los cuales querían acabar con sus señores y volver al realengo, o en el caso de Requena, conservar su condición como villa privilegiada de la Corona de Castilla. La investigación se basa principalmente en fuentes primarias de la época y corrige algunos de los errores factuales que perduran en la historiografía de las Comunidades.
Moya en el contexto de una rebelión contra el marqués de Moya que estalló en septiembre, 1520. La rebelión alcanzó incluir pueblos cercanos como Iniesta y La Motilla, y tropas procedentes de Valencia, todos los cuales querían acabar con sus señores y volver al realengo, o en el caso de Requena, conservar su condición como villa privilegiada de la Corona de Castilla. La investigación se basa principalmente en fuentes primarias de la época y corrige algunos de los errores factuales que perduran en la historiografía de las Comunidades.
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Contrary to the common perception, after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews, many individuals returned to their hometowns in Castile. Using the autobiographical statements of many such returnees (retornados), this article discusses the... more
Contrary to the common perception, after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews, many individuals returned to their hometowns in Castile. Using the autobiographical statements of many such returnees (retornados), this article discusses the experiences of many who left Spain only to return again.
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see below in publications for full information.
Translation of _Mad for God: Bartolomé Sánchez, the Secret Messiah of Cardenete_ (U. Viriginia Press, 2001; http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/nalle.html).
Monograph on the impact of the Tridentine reforms in Spain. Includes studies of inquisitorial activity, episcopal policy, and quantitative studies of the parish clergy, catechization, confraternity membership, and death rituals. This... more
Monograph on the impact of the Tridentine reforms in Spain. Includes studies of inquisitorial activity, episcopal policy, and quantitative studies of the parish clergy, catechization, confraternity membership, and death rituals. This version unfortunately does not include the graphs, tables, maps, and illustrations, but the full book is available at libro.uca.edu.
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The egodocuments presented to the seminar are Inquisitorial confessions of second-generation "nuevos convertidos" who in one way or another were caught between their parents' desire to maintain contact with Judaism and their... more
The egodocuments presented to the seminar are Inquisitorial confessions of second-generation "nuevos convertidos" who in one way or another were caught between their parents' desire to maintain contact with Judaism and their own alleged desire to assimilate as Spanish Catholics. This presentation is for the following text(s): Trial of Francisco Martinez, apothocary, resident of Deza Trial of Gaspar de San Clemente Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop EMW Workshops
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Using a variety of archival sources, this article traces the transition in Cuenca, Spain, from the bilateral family system that predominated in late medieval Castile to the final triumph of the patrilineal, agnatic family system in the... more
Using a variety of archival sources, this article traces the transition in Cuenca, Spain, from the bilateral family system that predominated in late medieval Castile to the final triumph of the patrilineal, agnatic family system in the seventeenth century. The central measure of this transition is the interlocking fates of the dowry and the arras (bride price). As the patriarchal, patrilineal family became entrenched during a period of demographic crisis, the price of dowries skyrocketed while the bride price declined in value and ultimately disappeared. The article includes a discussion of funding strategies for the dowry, inheritance law, and the degree of homogamy in marriages which relied on the dowry system
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This article adds another dimension to the debate whether Jewish modernity originated with the Haskalah in eighteenth-century Germany or among the Sephardic Jews living in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Noting that one element of... more
This article adds another dimension to the debate whether Jewish modernity originated with the Haskalah in eighteenth-century Germany or among the Sephardic Jews living in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Noting that one element of modernity was rationalism, the author uses two commonly employed indices of rationalism (literacy and numeracy) to find that the most literate and numerate of Castile's various socioeconomic or ethnic groups were the Luso-conversos who settled in Castile in the seventeenth century---members of the Nação, the group at the center of the debate over Amsterdam's contribution to Jewish modernity. Another aspect of modernity involves an awareness of chronological time. In this respect as well members of the Nação viewed their lives somewhat differently than did others. These traits, coupled with the well-documented skepticism and secularism of the group, point to marked quantifiable differences between the Sephardim and their Castilian and Portuguese contemporaries.
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In 1536 Inquisitor Cortés initiated a 20-year-long campaign against the New Christians of the diocese of Sigüenza. Those who converted in 1492 were treated far more harshly than those who converted at an earlier date. The tribunal's... more
In 1536 Inquisitor Cortés initiated a 20-year-long campaign against the New Christians of the diocese of Sigüenza. Those who converted in 1492 were treated far more harshly than those who converted at an earlier date. The tribunal's ruthless prosecution of the conversos is illustrated in the story of one highly placed individual who was caught in the Inquisition's dragnet. An appendix reproduces a contemporary anti-Semitic poem from the prison.
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Owens, J. B. & Polónia da Silva, Amélia, “Scientific Report: TECT Networking Workshop (University of Porto, Portugal), 26-29 March 2008; “Trust, Reputation, Defectors, and Sustaining Social Norms: Studying spatially complex cooperative... more
Owens, J. B. & Polónia da Silva, Amélia, “Scientific Report: TECT Networking Workshop (University of Porto, Portugal), 26-29 March 2008; “Trust, Reputation, Defectors, and Sustaining Social Norms: Studying spatially complex cooperative relationships in ways that connect TECT projects” [23 pages; 11,000 words]. Prepared for the European Science Foundation’s EUROCORES (European Collaborative Research) Scheme’s program “The Evolution of Cooperation and Trading” (TECT), Strasbourg, France, 1 June 2008.
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article published in 1996 in Moya: Estudios y documentos 1 (Cuenca: Diputación de Cuenca), 93-102. Relying on unpublished sources from the archives of Simancas, Cuenca and Requena, the article traces in detail the extensive... more
article published in 1996 in Moya: Estudios y documentos 1 (Cuenca: Diputación de Cuenca), 93-102. Relying on unpublished sources from the archives of Simancas, Cuenca and Requena, the article traces in detail the extensive anti-señorial rebellions in the province of Cuenca during the Comunero Revolt, and follows the fortunes of the comuneros of Cardenete after the rebellion as they sought to return the town to royal jurisdiction.
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A study of bequests of religious objects and artwork in early modern Spain shows that women were the primary collectors of religious art. Moreover, their relationship to their religious objects differed in many ways from that of the men... more
A study of bequests of religious objects and artwork in early modern Spain shows that women were the primary collectors of religious art. Moreover, their relationship to their religious objects differed in many ways from that of the men in the study. Research based on testaments drown up between 1505 and 1655 in Cuenca, Castile.
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A signal aspect of the Counter-Reformation was its attempt to link exterior signals of faith with interior belief. In this article I show how this was accomplished by studying anti-blasphemy campaigns, reform of sexual mores, and change... more
A signal aspect of the Counter-Reformation was its attempt to link exterior signals of faith with interior belief. In this article I show how this was accomplished by studying anti-blasphemy campaigns, reform of sexual mores, and change in death practices. The net result of these changes was to create an interiority or self-awareness among Catholics that is parallel to developments in Reformation Europe.
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The cult of San Julián, second bishop of Cuenca, languished for centuries until an ambitious cathedral chapter tried to promote the saint in the sixteenth century. Ultimately, however, the saint only gained true popularity when, in the... more
The cult of San Julián, second bishop of Cuenca, languished for centuries until an ambitious cathedral chapter tried to promote the saint in the sixteenth century. Ultimately, however, the saint only gained true popularity when, in the seventeenth century, Julian was found effective against the plague. Written before Kleinberg's _Prophets in Their Own Country_, which would have provided a great framework for the article.
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Using book store inventories and the testimony of Inquisition defendants, the article demonstrates that 1) male literacy rates were much higher in this period than previously thought; 2) readers's books were generally related to their... more
Using book store inventories and the testimony of Inquisition defendants, the article demonstrates that 1) male literacy rates were much higher in this period than previously thought; 2) readers's books were generally related to their educational level, profession, age and gender, but not always so (fiction being the big exception); and 3) booksellers adjusted their inventory to address the market.
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Examines both the chronicles and inquisitorial evidence to arrive at an analysis of the changing legend of El Encubierto.
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During the second half of the sixteenth century, the Inquisition joined in the church's efforts to teach all Spaniards key Tridentine attitudes regarding everyday religious and moral behavior. To reach the rural population, the... more
During the second half of the sixteenth century, the Inquisition joined in the church's efforts to teach all Spaniards key Tridentine attitudes regarding everyday religious and moral behavior. To reach the rural population, the Inquisition relied heavily on networks of local officials who investigated cases and relayed messages and prisoners to the central courts. This article examines in detail one of these networks, the comisarios of the tribunal of Cuenca, who were drawn from the parish clergy of the district's smaller towns. In Cuenca, comisarios effectively increased the Inquisition's ability to process a high volume of trials aimed at eradicating mistaken popular religious beliefs and attitudes.
Published in the Sixteenth Century Journal, XVIII, No. 4, Winter 1987
Published in the Sixteenth Century Journal, XVIII, No. 4, Winter 1987
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"This essay reveals the existence of two distinct converso minorities in the old Bishopric of Sigüenza: those who converted ca. 1391 and those who converted in 1492. Using a variety of measures drawn from anthropology and sociology, I... more
"This essay reveals the existence of two distinct converso minorities in the old Bishopric of Sigüenza: those who converted ca. 1391 and those who converted in 1492. Using a variety of measures drawn from anthropology and sociology, I show that in terms of their ethnic identity, the antiguos and nuevos convertidos were two completely separate groups which had virtually nothing to do with one another. The paper challenges us to rethink the nature of converso identity in the 16th century.
Appeared in The Early Modern Hispanic World: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Approaches, ed. Kimberly Lynn and Erin Kathleen Rowe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017, 89–118.
Appeared in The Early Modern Hispanic World: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Approaches, ed. Kimberly Lynn and Erin Kathleen Rowe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017, 89–118.
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The article reviews the various outbreaks of millennial fervor in Castile and Valencia at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and concludes with reflections on why Valencia was more receptive to millennial revolution while Castile was... more
The article reviews the various outbreaks of millennial fervor in Castile and Valencia at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and concludes with reflections on why Valencia was more receptive to millennial revolution while Castile was not.
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Using the inventories from five Castilian bookshops, this article examines the pricing and stocking strategies of booksellers in the sixteenth century. In terms of volume, cheap devotional texts predominated the market for books and... more
Using the inventories from five Castilian bookshops, this article examines the pricing and stocking strategies of booksellers in the sixteenth century. In terms of volume, cheap devotional texts predominated the market for books and pamphlets, but they were not important to most booksellers in terms of their overall value. The article ends with an example of religious reading gone astray and speculates on the reasons why Catholic devotional printing has not received attention from historians.