Medical-murder conspiracy theories targeted crypto-Jews but not crypto-Muslims

Evidence

The conspiracy theory of medical murder stands as a case in point. A comparison of the fears of medical murder by crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims that existed in early modern Spain and Portugal unambiguously demonstrates the extent to which the anxieties relating to doctors and medical knowledge can generate a potent conspiracy theory when they are combined with xenophobic suspicions about the place and role of religious/ethnic minorities. Yet it also reveals the limits of the notion of a ‘shared history’, since it was focused almost exclusively on the judeoconversos rather than the moriscos. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 419 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Since many Spaniards and Portuguese feared judeoconversos to be nothing but Jews pretending to be Christians, it was to be expected (and entirely logical) that the fear of Jewish doctors would be replaced by that of judeoconverso doctors. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 378 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Crypto-Muslims cherished anti-Jewish polemics even with no Jews left in Spain; Secret-identity fears, not medicine itself, drove suspicions of medical murder; Medical-murder conspiracies targeted Jewish converts far more than Muslim converts — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in…, 419 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Medical-murder conspiracies targeted Jewish converts far more than Muslim converts #corroborates (0.97) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 419
• Five specific factors made judeoconversos uniquely vulnerable to medical-murder libels #expands (0.93)
• Suspicion of conversos transferred the Jewish-doctor murder myth to them #expands (0.92) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 378
• The unassimilability trope once applied to Jews now targets Muslims #complicates (0.75)
• Antisemitic attacks have local context rather than revealing a global conspiracy #complicates (0.73)
• Anti-Semitic forgeries exaggerate Jews’ power rather than disparaging their competence #complicates (0.71)