Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World

François Soyer, Ph.D. (2007, University of Cambridge) is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is currently a senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of New England (Australia).

“Arguing against Karl Popper, who regarded conspiracy theories as a product of the eighteenth century, [...] Soyer insists convincingly that they started far earlier, in the early modern period.” Alastair Hamilton, Warburg Institute. In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (2020), pp. 410–412.“compelling and thoroughly researched […]. The author is to be congratulated on an important, and highly recommended, contribution.”Norman Roth, University of Wisconsin–Madison, emeritus. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 2 (Summer 2021), pp. 651–653.“I applaud Soyer’s engagement with a sensitive historical subject like popular antisemitism, without opting to hide behind academic relativism or political correctness. […]. [His book is] solid, convincing, and enrichingly honest.”Claude B. Stuczynski, Bar-Ilan University. In: AJS Review: The Journal of the Association of Jewish Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (November 2021), pp. 464–468.“a detailed and fascinating book […], valuable not only for historians but also, and maybe even more so, for people interested in how conspiracy theories work, what they do, and how they endanger ethnic and religious groups.” Lucien van Liere, Utrecht University. In: Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context, Vol. 50, No. 3–4 (2021), pp. 327–328.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIllustrationsAbbreviationsMapsIntroduction1 The ‘Secret Jews’ and Proto-Racialism of Early Modern Spain and Portugal2 Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracism1 Conspiracism and Society in Early Modern Europe1 Defining the Conspiracy Theory2 Delusional Paranoia, Collective Emotions and the Emotional Dimension of the Conspiracy Theory3 Explaining the Popularity of Conspiracy Theories4 Moral Panics: The Social and Political Function of the Conspiracy Theory5 ‘Modernity’ and the Origins of Conspiracism6 Conspiracism in Early Modern Europe: the Demonic Superconspiracy 7 Conclusion: the Conspiracy Theory in the Age of ‘Confessionalization’2 Forged Documents and the Fear of Jewish Infiltration: The Jewish World Plot and the Early Modern Iberian World1 The Early Notions of a Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy in Medieval Europe 2 The Forged Letter of the Jews of Toledo to Those of Jerusalem:  a Fatal Precedent?3 Warrant for Hatred: the Forged letters from Toledo and Constantinople4 The Obscure Origins of the Forged Letters5 The Reception of the Forged Letters6 Francisco de Quevedo’s La Isla de los Monopantos7 The Legacy and Influence of the “Toledan Letters” in Modern Antisemitism8 Conclusion3 “Seeking to Build a Synagogue within the Church of God”: the Alleged Converso Plot to Infiltrate and Destroy the Catholic Church1 The Insidious Converso Threat to the Church2 Perceiving Judaism as a Militant and Missionary Faith3 The Spectre of the Jewish Dogmatizadores4 The Menace of Jewish Proselytism amongst Africans and Amerindians5 Reckless Resistance or Narrative Assault?: the Desecration of Religious Objects and the ‘Jewish Conspiracy’6 Conclusion4 Medical Murder: the Myth of the Jewish Serial-Killer Doctors1 Jews and Medicine in Medieval Iberia2 Fear of the Homicidal Jewish Doctor and its Medieval Roots3 The Archetypal Homicidal Doctor: Dr Meir Alguadex 4 Converso Doctors and the ‘Jewish Plot’5 Ethnic Discrimination and the Medical Professions 6 Medical Antisemitism in the Eighteenth Century7 Other Medical Conspiracy Theories: a Comparative Study 8 Conclusion5 “Traitors Who Dwell amongst Us”: the Conversos as Collaborators and Masterminds of the Muslim and Protestant Onslaught against Spain and Portugal1 The Archetype of Jewish Treason: the Fall of Toledo in 711 CE2 The ‘Jewish Origins’ of the Reformation: Linking Conversos and Protestants3 The ‘Jewish Plot’ against the Portuguese Empire4 A New Toledo in the Americas: Jewish Treason and the Fall of Bahia (1624)5 Dutch Brazil and the Image of the Conversos6 The Dutch, the Conversos  and the “Grand Conspiracy” against the Spanish Empire (1610-1650)7 Conclusion6 “Sponges That Suck Up the Wealth of Spain”: the Jewish Plot, Economic Parasitism and the Fear of Economic Decline1 The Trope of Jewish Lust of Gold and Usury beyond2 The Converso Merchant: a Parasite Growing at the Expenses of the Host3 The Merchant in the Ancien Régime: a Figure of Suspicion and Fear4 An Easy Hate Figure: the Converso Tax-Farmers and Asentistas 5 ConclusionConclusion1 The Elusive Converso Enemy: a Tool to Construct a Collective Identity2 Epilogue: the Survival of the Conspiracist Narrative afterBibliographyIndex