converso

In Spanish history, a Jew who had converted to Christianity. Despite their conversion, and the fact that many of them rose to positions of power in the 14th and 15th century, conversos and their descendants suffered at the hands of the Inquisition. Insincere converts, who continued to practise Judaism in secret, were branded marranos (pigs), and particularly ran the risk of prosecusion.

Curiously, some of the most zealous persecutors of the Jews were themselves of converso stock – the antipope Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna; died 1423) and Torquemada are two well-known examples.