Wiktionary
n. (context history English) A Jew or Muslim in Spain or Portugal who converted to Roman Catholicism under duress, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Wikipedia
A converso (; ; , ; "a convert", from Latin , "converted, turned around") and its feminine form conversa was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendents. The majority of Spain's Jews converted to Christianity as a result of the pogroms in 1391. The remaining Jews who had chosen to remain practicing Jews were finally expelled during the Alhambra decree in 1492. A significant portion chose to join the already large Convert community rather than face exile. Over the following two centuries Conversos were subject to discriminatory laws and harassment by the Inquisition.
New Christians of Jewish origin were referred to as marranos. The term marrano may also refer to Crypto-Jews, i.e., those who secretly continued to practice Judaism. New Christians of Moorish origin were known as moriscos. Unlike Marranos, Moriscos were subject to an edict of expulsion even after conversion, which was implemented severely in the eastern region of Valencia and less so in other parts of Spain. Nevertheless, overall Moriscos were subject to considerably less suspicion and hostility from the wider Christian community than the Jews and Jewish-descended Marranos.
Conversos played an important role in the Revolt of the Comuneros, a popular revolt and Civil war centred in the region of Castile against the imperial pretensions of the Spanish monarchy.
Usage examples of "converso".
And I had slowly put together the fact that his converso status was one of the reasons the Crown used him.
When the doctor is a converso, as I am, and as others believe you are, familiars from the Inquisition may pull you from your bed in the middle of the night if you expose too much medical skill.
Or some fool who smirks and calls him a converso as if it were a form of leprosy.
If a scapegoat is ever needed, a converso will fall faster than anyone else.
Manila, both employed by a converso, were to accuse rich, powerful men.
I could tell them I was not really a converso Spaniard at all, that I have only been pretending to be a gachupin.
I was known as a Spaniard, a converso, and carried myself as one, and he gave no indication whether he knew we were both of mixed blood.
Torquemada himself was from a family of conversos, and when King Felipe II made war on the pope, the pope reminded him that Spanish kings were also descendants of conversos.
Both conversos, those who converted willingly and Jews who only converted for appearances, were tolerated for the blood money they paid until King Filipe of Spain inherited the throne in Lisbon.
When pressures increased, many conversos and secret Jews, marranos, came to New Spain.
Following his brother and the mass exodus of Conversos to Amsterdam had seemed the inevitable choice.
When I told him what you had said to me, he said that of all the Conversos he knew, you were the one best made to be a liar.
The Conversos of Lisbon had been duplicitous by necessity, even those who fully embraced the Catholic Church.
Peculiare tibi fuit et renitentes Barbaros aggredi, et conversos terrore sectari.
There are conversos (Jews who converted, at least publicly, to Christianity) in Brazil, and the Nasi family may be able to identify possible recruits from this community.