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A semblant que hom pinta sent Christòfol: bautismos y milagros en valencia (1391)

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    Statement of Responsibility:
    Gregori Bou, Rubén
    Main Author:
    Gregori Bou, Rubén

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    Format:
    Journal article
    Language:
    Spanish; Castilian
    Form / Genre:
    text (article)
    Published:
    2021
    In:
    Specula: Revista de Humanidades y Espiritualidad ISSN 2697-2484 Nº. 1, 2021 (Ejemplar dedicado a: A Don Ramón Arnau García), pags. 99-121
    Subjects:
    Annotation:

    Throughout the summer of 1391, the Jewish quarters of Iberia were assaulted. The night of July 9 was the turn for the aljama of Valencia, the first and most aggressive of the pogroms of the Crown of Aragon. As a result, the vast majority of Jews were forced to convert or die. According to the version of the city, the conversion of the Jews was validated by the divine will, since a series of miracles took place such as the increase in chrism in the parishes or the appearance of Saint Christopher with the baby Jesus on the main synagogue. Thus, the pogrom was authorized, since God himself had orchestrated the events and the crown could do little to recriminate what had been a divine design. Among the wonders that happened, the one by Saint Christopher stands out, since the story of the apparition gave rise to a set of legends in which that manifestation of the saint became a physical image, one that interacted with Jews. Therefore, it can be extracted from these readings the importance given to images, channels of communication between the divinity and the faithful. However, what is interesting is no longer the subsequent reconception of the history of its appearance, but the way in which it becomes a physical object, giving it materiality. Furthermore, the choice of this saint as one of the protagonists on the night of the pogrom has much to do with his legend, one in which the virtue of conversion stands out. This would explain the choice of him as patron of the re-founded synagogue in a church under his dedication and where the convert community took shelter, a topic that will be analyzed in this article.


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