Contents
Acknowledgments
Illustrations
Abbreviations
Maps
Introduction
1 The ‘Secret Jews’ and Proto-Racialism of Early Modern Spain and
Portugal
2 Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracism
1 Conspiracism and Society in Early Modern Europe
1 Defining the Conspiracy Theory
2 Delusional Paranoia, Collective Emotions and the Emotional
Dimension of the Conspiracy Theory
3 Explaining the Popularity of Conspiracy Theories
4 Moral Panics: The Social and Political Function of the
Conspiracy Theory
5 ‘Modernity’ and the Origins of Conspiracism
6 Conspiracism in Early Modern Europe: the Demonic
Superconspiracy
7 Conclusion: the Conspiracy Theory in the Age of
‘Confessionalization’
2 Forged Documents and the Fear of Jewish Infiltration: The Jewish
World Plot and the Early Modern Iberian World
1 The Early Notions of a Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy in Medieval
Europe
2 The Forged Letter of the Jews of Toledo to Those of Jerusalem:
a Fatal Precedent?
3 Warrant for Hatred: the Forged letters from Toledo and
Constantinople
4 The Obscure Origins of the Forged Letters
5 The Reception of the Forged Letters
6 Francisco de Quevedo’s La Isla de los Monopantos
7 The Legacy and Influence of the “Toledan Letters” in Modern
Antisemitism
8 Conclusion
3 “Seeking to Build a Synagogue within the Church of God”: the
Alleged Converso Plot to Infiltrate and Destroy the Catholic
Church
1 The Insidious Converso Threat to the Church
2 Perceiving Judaism as a Militant and Missionary Faith
3 The Spectre of the Jewish Dogmatizadores
4 The Menace of Jewish Proselytism amongst Africans and
Amerindians
5 Reckless Resistance or Narrative Assault?: the Desecration of
Religious Objects and the ‘Jewish Conspiracy’
6 Conclusion
4 Medical Murder: the Myth of the Jewish Serial-Killer Doctors
1 Jews and Medicine in Medieval Iberia
2 Fear of the Homicidal Jewish Doctor and its Medieval Roots
3 The Archetypal Homicidal Doctor: Dr Meir Alguadex
4 Converso Doctors and the ‘Jewish Plot’
5 Ethnic Discrimination and the Medical Professions
6 Medical Antisemitism in the Eighteenth Century
7 Other Medical Conspiracy Theories: a Comparative Study
8 Conclusion
5 “Traitors Who Dwell amongst Us”: the Conversos as Collaborators
and Masterminds of the Muslim and Protestant Onslaught against
Spain and Portugal
1 The Archetype of Jewish Treason: the Fall of Toledo in 711
CE
2 The ‘Jewish Origins’ of the Reformation: Linking Conversos and
Protestants
3 The ‘Jewish Plot’ against the Portuguese Empire
4 A New Toledo in the Americas: Jewish Treason and the Fall of
Bahia (1624)
5 Dutch Brazil and the Image of the Conversos
6 The Dutch, the Conversos and the “Grand Conspiracy” against the
Spanish Empire (1610-1650)
7 Conclusion
6 “Sponges That Suck Up the Wealth of Spain”: the Jewish Plot,
Economic Parasitism and the Fear of Economic Decline
1 The Trope of Jewish Lust of Gold and Usury beyond
2 The Converso Merchant: a Parasite Growing at the Expenses of the
Host
3 The Merchant in the Ancien Régime: a Figure of Suspicion and
Fear
4 An Easy Hate Figure: the Converso Tax-Farmers and Asentistas
5 Conclusion
Conclusion
1 The Elusive Converso Enemy: a Tool to Construct a Collective
Identity
2 Epilogue: the Survival of the Conspiracist Narrative after
Bibliography
Index
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).
“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.
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