El estatuto de limpieza de sangre y sus repercusiones en Vitoria en tiempos de Felipe II.

Abstract

The renewed interest in social status in Castile, which had been permeated by the cult of «limpieza de sangre» transforming status almost into caste, was at its peak, when it reached Vitoria in 1572. Vitoria experienced this process in a particular way because of its geographical situation and its custom-house which made her closer and more vulnerable to European ideas such as dissent from official orthodoxy. Ecclesiastical and Civil authorities joined to prevent these ideas fram spreading. They achieved this with the aid of the Ordinance of «limpieza de sangre», which they presumed to he compulsory on all religious as well as municipal officers, accompanied by a remarkable effort in instituting a native clergy, and the foundation of new convents. This procedure, which was strongly infused by a Tridentine spirit, left out, nonetheless, the society of Jesus. The rejection of the Jesuits must be understood as a direct consequence of the new religious autarchy and local power then developing. The Jesuit postulate rejected the foundations on which the new political and social elite was shaping itself with the help of the Ordinance in which they sought not only a warrant of «limpieza» but of nobility as well. Therefore, what happened in Vitoria in those years needs to be seen not only in terms of religious struggles, but of power struggles as well.