Cristianos nuevos portugueses en Écija: integración y dificultades (finales siglo XVI - comienzos siglo XVIII)

Abstract

Durante el año de 1597, la ciudad de Córdoba celebró un Auto de Fe con una gran presencia de reos portugueses. Si bien hubo condenados aislados y sin conexiones con el resto de procesados, encontramos varios casos de familias lusitanas (por ejemplo, el linaje de los Andrada) poseedoras de fuertes vínculos de parentesco y económicos dentro de los condenados por el Tribunal Inquisitorial. Grupos que adquirieron propiedades, cargos municipales preeminentes (como jurados o escribanos públicos) y riqueza que les convirtieron en integrantes del poder local. Sus estrategias matrimoniales combinaron una endogamia consanguí- nea, que reforzaba sus vínculos de parentesco, con uniones conyugales destinadas a enlazar con familias astigitanas, protagonizando un gradual proceso de asimilación y un destacado ascenso social.

During 1597, an “Auto de Fe” [Public penance of heretics by the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal] was celebrated in the city of Córdoba, with considerable presence of Portuguese penitents. While there were some isolated prisoners, unrelated to the rest of the accused, it is possible to find some examples of Lusitanian families (for instance, the Andradas lineage) having strong social and economic ties among the prosecuted by the Holy Office. These groups had acquired properties, prominent magistracies (such as jurors or public notaries) and wealth, which made them members of the local power of the city. Their marriage strategies combined an inbreeding that strengthened their ties of kindship with marital unions destined to connect prominent “astigitanas” families, starring a gradual process of assimilation and a notorious eminent upward mobility. The significant number of Portuguese New Christians found in this community reveals an arrival of this social group to Castilla earlier to what it has been traditionally thought, as well as an integration affected, under the religious problem, by ethnic and social conflicts.