From the Inquisition Pyre to Insertion into the Church: The Familial and Social Trajectory of Hernando Ortiz, a Jewish Convert in the Spanish Empire in the 16th Century

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Before posing the main question of the article, it is necessary to understand that New Spain and the University of Mexico were two new realities, in a land of conquest, in a new continent. That is, although it shared many aspects with Spanish society, it also had very novel elements. Then, the author or author poses as the main question of this article the following: what capacity did the society and the university of Mexico have to allow an individual and his family to join the social elite, taking into consideration that it was a individual whose Jewish ancestry was a major obstacle in Spanish society in the late 15th century and throughout the 16th century? This is an original and novel question, because the studies that have addressed the subject of the history of the University of Mexico had not detected the presence of Jews among its students and professors. Clara Ramírez has dealt with this character before, but she has not placed special emphasis on the Jewish origins of Hernando Ortiz. She has two books that are cited in the bibliography of this article: University and family ..., and In land where greed reigns ... Likewise, previous research has studied the University of Mexico as a platform for social advancement, but no work, except , those already mentioned by Ramírez, has carried out research over several generations, much less have they seen how the success achieved by a family member at university is transmitted to other generations through women, in this case by of the sisters of Dr. Ortiz. In the article that is now being reviewed, it should be mentioned that, to the data already known about the figure of Dr. Hernando Ortiz, progress is made in three aspects. The first is the way in which, through university studies and the exercise of the chair, he achieves a social ascent that places a descendant of Jews in the New Spanish elite. The second aspect, barely mentioned in the article, is the different attitude of the king and the inquisition towards a descendant of Jews who has completely converted to Christianity and who proves to be a valuable character for the monarchy, for the secular church and for University. For these reasons, the king grants him promotions, while the inquisition does not and, on the contrary, opens an investigation that will cause him to fall from grace shortly before his death. This point, I insist, is barely mentioned in the article, but it opens a discussion about the attitude of different instances of power in the Hispanic monarchy (in this case, the royal bureaucracy and the inquisition) in relation to what we could call “social value ”Of an individual. The third novel aspect is that the author demonstrates that despite this fall, the relatives of Hernando Ortiz, already placed in the highest part of society, managed to erase the Jewish background and legitimize his lineage. This aspect is very novel and is linked to the previous one, as it shows that Spanish society, despite its closure and apparent intolerance, was capable of assimilating, endowing rights and socially promoting people who in other circumstances were stigmatized and persecuted. Thus, the conclusion of the work, although it is brief, is logical, is coherent and derived from the initial approach and the evidence presented throughout the work. About the writing of the work I can say that I find it well structured and read fluently.

Author Response

I agree with the comments, Thanks

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors:

This paper presents does not respond to the structure of a research article and the contributions are not particularly significant. Likewise, most of the sources are little up to date. Publication in this journal is not recommended.

Author Response

No comment

Reviewer 3 Report

There is no Research Hypothesis but a continous narration-description of a case, appealing and interesting, but references to previous research on converts, on the Mexican case are needed to place the story into a general historical framework.

In line 63 we read: the case of Hernando Ortiz is not an isolated one but...

If is not an isolated one, we need evidence of other such cases.

Conclusions are poor since they do not answer any previous research question: this aspect should be addressed.

Some insights could be found in these journals:

https://jewishjournal.com/tag/conversion/

https://www.jstor.org/journal/archhistpont

https://esefarad.com/?p=61521

http://web.uaemex.mx/iesu/PNovohispano/Encuentros/1999%20XII%20EPN/MESAS/Mesa%203/Exiliados%20de%20Sefarad.pdf

https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-93032019000100153

Author Response

No comment.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Accept in present form.

Reviewer 3 Report

Thanks for the answer to our suggestions to make it better both in form and in content.