Debates on the Nature of Blood and the Forging of Social Models in Early Modern Spain (1630s)

Abstract

During the early modern period, blood was not only the red fluid that circulates within the body, but also an important cultural and social element. It was a symbol that synthesized and represented the most relevant social principles: individuals, families, and groups were defined according to the alleged nature of their blood, and, thus, it was an important matrix through which society was built and imagined. However, there were many ways to think about blood, each of which reflected a different social model. In this article, we study different concepts of blood and seek to understand their symbolic value. We aim to dissect and analyze their meanings in order to reconstruct the implicit models of society which they embodied. We focus on three Castilian treatises that deal with the issue of purity-of-blood, written by Fernando de Valdés, Gerónimo de la Cruz, and Bartolomé Jiménez de Patón in the 1630s – a decade of resurgent Anti-Judaism and racist attitudes in Castile. They represent different currents of opinion about purity-of-blood statutes – essentially, those wishing to abolish, reform, and preserve this system of social segregation – and they allow us to examine the characterization of blood traits, the construction of social principles, and the forging of ideal societies.