Conversion and Inquisition in the Medieval Crown of Aragon, 1243-1391

In spite of enduring interest in the Spanish Inquisition and the secret Jews of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, earlier Iberian converts and inquisitors have received little attention. My research has revealed, however, that inquisitors began to prosecute Jewish converts to Christianity nearly two hundred years before the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition. I am applying for an NEH grant in order to complete a book on the interactions between Jews, converts, and inquisitors in the Crown of Aragon prior to the massacres and forced conversions of 1391. Thus far my work has been based on unpublished documents from archives in Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia. During the grant period, I would explore the Jewish and Christian intellectual background of my subject, expand the geographical scope of my inquiry, and consider the ways in which my work sheds light on subsequent historical developments.