«Macula Infamiae» in cleaning records of the Cathedral of Toledo (1577-1623)

Abstract

The Statute of blood cleaning established in the cathedral of Toledo was used as the main argument to exclude individuals from the cathedral benefits. Other theses indicate that served to promote the reproduction of a social group by controlling the purity of blood. With the name blood cleansing a genealogical investigation was conducted, the degree of recognition is different depending on the institution that commands them to perform. Tests conducted to enter the Cathedral of Toledo were very conscientious and rigid. Its aim was to test the genealogical cleaning a candidate canon, prebendary, cleric or choirboy. With that report was intended to restrict entry to those ancestors had certain defects, almost always converts, the so-called “New Christians”. Due to the complexity of the examination performing a commissioner they came to light questionable provenance or the infamy of the ancestors. Among the copious documentation there is other very diverse news, as well as falsified and hidden under various strategies not legitimated origins and junctions. The documentary basis on which this article has been prepared files is saved in the Archive of the Cathedral of Toledo, where those are tested negative notes and containing anonymous complaints, some true and some.