The practice of purity: Christian identity in early modern Spain

Purity of blood statutes, taken together with the Spanish Inquisition and the enthusiastic participation of the Spanish monarchy and church in the Counter-Reformation, have long been held as evidence of early modern Christian Spain's racist attitudes and adherence to Catholic orthodoxy. However, a close examination of the social milieu in which purity of blood statutes were generated, as well as the method of their implementation, uncovers a religious scene less fraught with racism and more with heterodoxy than has previously been acknowledged. The social unrest created by the reconquest and the breakdown of religious categories of identity caused by the forced conversions of Jews circa the turn of the fourteenth century created a society in search of stability. As religious distinctions were discarded, purity of blood statutes were one of several methods employed to facilitate social stability by creating new categories for the construction of identity.