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Continued from:
2. Uncovering the Jewish-Converso Lineage of the Gutiérrez de la Caballería FamilyThe Jewish-converso Ancestry of Doña Beatriz de Estrada,
Wife of Don Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
José Antonio Esquibel
Copyright ã 1997 by José Antonio Esquibel
3. Gonzalo Gutiérrez and Catalina Gutiérrez: Third-Great-Grandparents of Doña Beatriz de Estrada
Gonzalo Gutiérrez, most likely born in the latter part of the 1300s, was a son of Gómez Gutiérrez and lived in the city of León in the region of Asturias.17 This particular family had come to León from "las montañas". Gonzalo Gutiérrez resided in the "mercado viexo," the old commercial district in the parish of Santa Ana where he was most likely engaged in commerce.18 His wife’s name has been identified from an Inquisition record of 1484 as Catalina Gutiérrez.19 Gonzalo, with his wife and at least one son, Men Gutiérez, left the city of León to reside in the Villa de Almagro, near Ciudad Real and in the immediate vicinity of the Campo de Calatrava, headquarters of the military Orden de Calatrava. Since the early thirteenth century, the Orden de Calatrava had been known as the protector of Spains minority groups, in particular the Jews. Following the persecutions of 1391, many of the Jewish families that were pressured into conversion to Christianity left their towns and relocated to areas near lands owned by the Orden de Calatrava such as the Villa de Almagro where Jews practices their faith openly and unhindered until the early 1480s.20
By all appearance, Gonzalo Gutiérrez was a member of a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity, most likely in the last decade of the fourteenth century. When he relocated his family to the Villa de Almagro, Gonzalo may have been seeking refuge from the general anti-Semitic atmosphere of the city of León and desired to adhere to his Jewish faith. In the Villa de Almagro, the next two generations of his family were able to outwardly practice their hereditary Jewish customs and ceremonies. For many decades, the openly Jewish practices of the large Converso population of the Villa de Almagro were for the most part tolerated. This had also been occurring in several other towns across Spain, in particular, Ciudad Real, Almodóvar, Almadén, Valdepeñas, and Daimiel.21
The attempted absorption and integration of Jews who converted to Christianity in the late fourteenth century into the dominant society began to present new problems for the Church in the early fifteenth century. Many Jewish-conversos outwardly expressed their conversion through participation in baptism and other Catholic sacraments. In their daily home-life, they continued to adhere to their Jewish faith as if a people in exile. To deal with what the Church considered to be heresy, it established the Tribunal de la Inquisición in 1479 at the request of the Catholic Monarchs with the primary goal being to wipe out the heresy of the newly converted. However, as a royal court with all appointments made by the Spanish crown, the Spanish Inquisition was not fully implemented under the direct control and authority of the Church.
The opening of the Inquisition process allowed a period of grace given to those "in error" to come forward voluntarily, confess, and be reconciled with the Catholic Church. Those who did not come forward and who were denounced to the Inquisition for their Jewish practices, were subjected to an investigation and trial.22 Although a few conversos that were tried reconciled themselves to the Catholic Church, others refused to reconcile and fled the country or remained and were punished by imprisonment or death, usually being burnt at the stake. A number of deceased conversos were tried and condemned posthumously, as in the case of the Gonzalo Gutiérrez, his son Men Gutiérrez, and their wives. In these cases, the punishment was often the confiscation of property, taken from their heirs and held in sequestration, and always the bones of the deceased were exhumed and burnt.
The Inquisition trials of Ciudad Real, which included the persecution of conversos of the Villa de Almagro, took place between the years 1483-1485. It was during this period that the ancestors of doña Beatriz de Estrada were tried and condemned. Later, the Inquisition court was relocated to the city of Toledo, and again many conversos of the Villa de Almagro were persecuted.23 Extended family groups of Ciudad Real and the Villa de Almagro were devastated by the Inquisition trials. The surviving Inquisition records of these trials reveal that each of these towns had a close-knit community of Jewish-conversos unified by matrimonial alliances and the rather open practice of their Jewish customs and ceremonies. This can particularly be seen in the information contained in trial records concerning the three generations of the Gutiérrez family that were condemned between 1483-1485.
Gonzalo Gutiérrez and his wife, Catalina, were able to end their lives practicing their Jewsih faith. While living, they were spared the torment of trial and condemnation by the Inquisition. Nonetheless, many decades after their deaths, they were posthumously placed on trial before the Inquisition at Ciudad Real, accused of practicing Jewish religious customs as baptized Catholics. Condemned as "judiazantes," their bones were exhumed and burnt on February 23, 1484. Gonzalo’s property was taken by the Inquisition and held in sequestration until it was released to his descendants on January 23, 1503.24 Also denounced to the Inquisition were his son, Men Gutiérrez, and his grandson, Alonso Gutiérrez, and their wives.
Continued on:
4. Men Gutiérrez and Catalina Gutiérrez: Second-Great-Grandparents
of Doña Beatriz de Estrada
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2. Uncovering the Jewish-Converso Lineage of the Gutiérrez de la Caballería Family