Polemical privileges: two versions of the first-known anti-converso satire

Abstract

The anti-Converso literature of the 15^th century is noteworthy for its variety of genres –prose treatises, sermons, satirical poetry, allegories, etc.–, but what unites all of these works is their intent to mock individuals or vilify conversos as a whole. While most of these works convey their hostility in crude, stereotypical fashion, a few are distinguished by their clever form, a rhetorical cloak designed to conceal the morally repugnant sentiments contained in these texts. Among the latter is a curious, unedited document entitled Privilege that King Juan II granted to a man named Hernando, one of his favored, to become a marrano, even though he was not one by birth. The 18^th-century manuscript –“copied by hand from an old book”– is housed in the Royal Library of Madrid, and satirizes not only conversos but also patents of nobility. It is here edited for the first time. A work belonging to the same tradition, Transcript of a letter of privilege that King Juan II granted to a hidalgo, is found in two manuscripts in the National Library of Madrid. The editorial misfortunes it has suffered over more than a century warrant its publication here in a reliable edition.