The Jewish and Judeo-Converse controversy in the debates of the Cancionero de Baena

Abstract

This article attempts to establish a correlation between the public and social evolution of the Jewish and Judeo-Converse minorities and his presence in the literary debates of the Cancionero de Baena, the first and most important anthology of lyric poetry of fifteenth-century Castile. Its anthologist, Juan Alfonso de Baena, not only chose texts to highlight a lyrical poetry, that of the public court debates, which was in danger of disappearing in the face of the phenomenal success of the theme of love, but he also included poetic texts arranged in a question and answer format, Amongst these, the elements (true or burlesque) that deal with belonging to other religions or heterodox beliefs are clearly on the increase until the arrival of the Inquisition, which will put a stop to the presentation of these debates. For this reason, the Cancionero de Baena can be considered as a culmination of these anti-Jewish and anti-conversation controversies.