Forced conversions could not be made sincere without sustained campaign funding

Evidence

Throughout this ill-defined middle period from the 1520s up to about 1560, there are two conflicting trends. On the one side, on the part of the Christian authorities, Church and the state alike, there were many attempts at turning the forced and empty conversions into true and sincere incorporation in the Church. There were edicts and decrees, in practical terms there was some sporadic evangelization, but there was no sustained campaign backed by high-level financial support. Such attempts as were made to evangelize the “converts” failed for many reasons. The basic reason, of course, is because the “converts” had never desired conversion. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 530

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle on how the Spanish state’s half-hearted, underfunded conversion campaign is a case study in the limits of coerced cultural change without sustained institutional investment.