Accusations of secret Jewish practice persisted in Spain into the eighteenth century

Evidence

As late as 1727, the economist Francisco Máximo de Moya Torres bemoaned the ‘old evil’ of ‘Judaism’ afflicting Spain: … A great deal of Judaism is to be found in Spain in spite of the indefatigable zeal with which the Holy Tribunal [of the Inquisition] stands guard, as it is proven by its trials and numerous autos de fé … These vile people are concealed, infecting so much … Their usual life is one of profit and usury: their professions are those of doctors, rentiers, merchants, confectioners, and all their trades are those of idlers. They are clever and shrewd and take vengeance on Christian blood. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 376

Categorization

• SHARE: The 1727 Moya Torres quote — ‘clever and shrewd and take vengeance on Christian blood’ — could be shared with a scholar of Spanish economic thought or early modern antisemitism; it’s a striking late example of blood-libel-style discourse attached to professional success.
• ADDENDUM: This 1727 lament overlaps with ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ in showing how moral panic discourse about a group attaches to their economic and professional activities — here doctors, merchants and confectioners are read as coded Jewish markers.