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In Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World: Narratives of Fear and Hatred, François Soyer offers the first detailed historical analysis of antisemitic conspiracy theories in Spain, Portugal and their overseas colonies between 1450 and 1750. These conspiracy theories accused Jews and conversos, the descendants of medieval Jewish converts to Christianity, of deadly plots and blamed them for a range of social, religious, military and economic problems. Ultimately, many Iberian antisemitic conspiracy theorists aimed to create a ‘moral panic’ about the converso presence in Iberian society, thereby justifying the legitimacy of ethnic discrimination within the Church and society. Moreover, they were also exploited by some churchmen seeking to impose an idealized sense of communal identity upon the lay faithful.
Price: $273.00
Pages: 316
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Publication Date:
07 March 2019
ISBN: 9789004395503
Format: Hardcover
“Arguing against Karl Popper, who regarded conspiracy theories as a product of the eighteenth century, [...] Soyer insists convincingly that they started far earlier, in the early modern period.”
Alastair Hamilton, Warburg Institute. In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (2020), pp. 410–412.
“compelling and thoroughly researched […]. The author is to be congratulated on an important, and highly recommended, contribution.”
Norman Roth, University of Wisconsin–Madison, emeritus. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 2 (Summer 2021), pp. 651–653.
“I applaud Soyer’s engagement with a sensitive historical subject like popular antisemitism, without opting to hide behind academic relativism or political correctness. […]. [His book is] solid, convincing, and enrichingly honest.”
Claude B. Stuczynski, Bar-Ilan University. In: AJS Review: The Journal of the Association of Jewish Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (November 2021), pp. 464–468.
“a detailed and fascinating book […], valuable not only for historians but also, and maybe even more so, for people interested in how conspiracy theories work, what they do, and how they endanger ethnic and religious groups.”
Lucien van Liere, Utrecht University. In: Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context, Vol. 50, No. 3–4 (2021), pp. 327–328.
Alastair Hamilton, Warburg Institute. In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (2020), pp. 410–412.
“compelling and thoroughly researched […]. The author is to be congratulated on an important, and highly recommended, contribution.”
Norman Roth, University of Wisconsin–Madison, emeritus. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 2 (Summer 2021), pp. 651–653.
“I applaud Soyer’s engagement with a sensitive historical subject like popular antisemitism, without opting to hide behind academic relativism or political correctness. […]. [His book is] solid, convincing, and enrichingly honest.”
Claude B. Stuczynski, Bar-Ilan University. In: AJS Review: The Journal of the Association of Jewish Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2 (November 2021), pp. 464–468.
“a detailed and fascinating book […], valuable not only for historians but also, and maybe even more so, for people interested in how conspiracy theories work, what they do, and how they endanger ethnic and religious groups.”
Lucien van Liere, Utrecht University. In: Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context, Vol. 50, No. 3–4 (2021), pp. 327–328.
François Soyer, Ph.D. (2007, University of Cambridge) is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is currently a senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of New England (Australia).