Thirteenth-century Castilian law treated apostasy to Islam as death-worthy pollution

Evidence

Several laws of the Partidas show that Islam is still considered a threat to late thirteenth-century Castilian society: not only a military threat but also a potential source of pollution through religious and sexual contamination. The ultimate pollution is apostasy: five of the ten laws involve punishments for Christians who convert to Islam. They are to lose all their property and be put to death; even if they repent and return to Christianity, they shall be unable to serve as a witness, hold public office, or be a beneficiary of another’s will. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 982

Categorization

• XREF: Grounds the modern conflation of Islam with treason/contamination mapped via Anidjar, Aziz, and Razack — here the same literal code existed in 13th-century Castile.
• ADDENDUM: N/A
• SEED: Potential essay angle: apostasy law as the ancestral template for modern citizenship-based suspicions of Muslim converts or dual loyalty.