Secrecy and deceit
Subtitle: the religion of the crypto-Jews
By: David M. Gitlitz.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 677
Subjects: Jews -- Spain -- History; Marranos -- Religious life; Spain -- Ethnic relations
Description: Secrecy and Deceit documents the religious customs of the Iberian Jews who converted to Catholicism, largely under duress, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Although many of the converts quickly melted into the Catholic mainstream, thousands of others and their descendents strove to preserve their Jewish culture despite the efforts of the Inquisition to suppress them.

The author uses Inquisition records, chronicles, rabbinical rulings, letters, eyewitness accounts, religious books, and other historical documents to give the most thorough and accurate picture of crypto-Jews ever cataloged.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 629-651) and index.