Watchman

Gaelic

TRAITORS

Medicine?

carvajal

Means converso, or crypto-jew

Nuevo León — 1590s to early 1600s

The history of the colonization of Mexico can be described as a northward expansion over increasingly hostile geography well-populated by angered tribes and loose confederations of indigenous peoples, being conquered. Spain financed the expansion by exploiting mineral wealth, using indigenous peoples as labor in mines, and establishing ranchos for raising livestock. One troublesome region was a large expanse covering the North-Eastern quadrant of the current geography of Mexico. Chichimec, Apache and other tribes were resistant to Christianization and "settling". They were perceived to render the frontier (frontera) a lawless and unsettled region.

Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva was a Portuguese New Christian royal accountant who received a royal charter to settle Nuevo León, a large expanse of land in the hostile frontier. Significantly, Carvajal y de la Cueva received an exemption from the King of Spain to allow New Christians to participate in settling of this region. This exemption allowed an increased number of peoples to come to the hostile region while doing so with immigrants that were legally barred from entering Mexico elsewhere. Carvajal chartered ships from Portugal. Historians believe the passenger lists consisted exclusively of conversos.

With Carvajal as governor, Monterrey was established as the center, currently in the state of Nuevo León. Within a few years, some people reported to Mexico City that Jewish rites were being performed in the Northern Province and efforts to convert heathen indigenous peoples were lax.^{[citation needed]}

The governor, his immediate family members and others of his entourage were called to appear before the Inquisition in Mexico City. They were arrested and jailed. The governor subsequently died in jail, while his family members were rehabilitated. One of these was Anna Carvajal, a niece of the Governor. She and others were later again taken captive and sentenced to burning at the stake for relapsing.

The governor's nephews changed their name to Lumbroso. One of these was Joseph Lumbroso, also known as Luis de Carvajal el Mozo, who is said to have circumcised himself in the desert to conform to Jewish law. His memoirs, letters and inquisition record survive. Two other nephews also changed their names to Lumbroso and migrated to Italy, where they became famous rabbis.

When Governor Carvajal was in office, the city of Monterrey became a destination for other crypto-Jews feeling the pressure of the Mexican Inquisition in the south of the territory. Thus, the story of Nuevo León and the founding of Monterrey are significant as it attracted crypto-Jewish migrants from all parts of Mexico. They created one of the earliest Jewish-related communities in Mexico. (The Jewish communities in Mexico which practice their Judaism openly were not established until the considerable immigration from eastern Europe, Turkey and Syria in the late 1800s and 1900s.)

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