Source E

Atalia Omer and Jason Springs, professors of religion and peace studies, writing in the academic book Religious Nationalism: A Reference Handbook (2013).

In 1469, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon were married [in order] to unite the two crowns of the Spanish Empire. This act was intended to resist the regionalism of Hispania [Spain] by centralizing power and consolidating a shared identity. Though the monarchs did not actively seek to construct a nation, they recognized the need to harness [encourage] a certain degree of popular allegiance based on a common Catholic faith. The Spanish Inquisition consolidated a Spanish–Catholic identity by purging Jewish and Moorish elements in an effort to promote support for a nation that would be only for Spanish Catholics. Hence, as Anthony Marx has suggested, “Jews or converts were described as separate, alien, or as enemies, implying that everyone else shared a blood relationship … habit or faith”. The Inquisition sanctioned [approved] and institutionalized pre-existing anti-Semitism by intentionally excluding Jews. The language of “purity of blood” was integral [central] to the Inquisition; consequently, it provides a clear example of the important interconnections between religion, nationality, and ethnicity.

[Source: Republished with permission of ABC-CLIO Inc, from Religious Nationalism: A Reference Handbook,
Omer, A. and Springs J., 2013, Santa Barbara; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc]

Source F

Henry Kamen, an historian and Fellow of the British Royal Historical Society, writing in the academic book Spain, 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict (2005).

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain was carried out for religious motives that had long been in the making; the forcible conversion of the Mudéjars was by contrast an abrupt move. It is very likely that the Catholic monarchs expected a further programme of evangelization [preaching] to produce a nation truly united in religion. This, however, did not happen. Instead, the abandonment of a pluralist [diverse] society led to the creation within Christian Spain of two great disadvantaged minorities, conversos and Moriscos, which suffered all the disabilities of prejudice but enjoyed few of the benefits of conversion. From the early 15th century various official bodies began to discriminate against the New Christians, setting in motion the social pressure for “purity of blood”. The university college of San Bartolomé in Salamanca was the first to introduce, in 1482, rules forbidding any but those “of pure blood” from becoming members. The principal impulse [trigger] to the spread of this practice was the founding of the Inquisition, which made Spaniards familiar with the image of conversos as a danger to religious integrity and national security … The Inquisition adopted as its rule (1484) that descendants of those it condemned were not entitled to hold any public office, thereby giving support to the notion that guilt for heresy remained in the blood generation after generation.

[Source: From: Spain, 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict, Henry Kamen, 2005,
Routledge, reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK]