Republics of difference : religious and racial self-governance in the Spanish Atlantic world

Spanish monarchs recognized the jurisdictions of many self-governing corporate groups, including Jews and Muslims on the peninsula, indigenous peoples in their American colonies, and enslaved and free people of African descent across the empire. Republics of Difference examines fifteenth-century Seville and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lima to show how religiously- and racially-based self-governance functioned in a society with many kinds of law, what effects it had on communities, and why it mattered. By comparing these minoritized communities on both sides of the Spanish Atlantic world, this study offers a new understanding of the distinct standings of those communities in their urban settings. Drawing on legal and commercial records from late medieval Spain and colonial Latin America, Karen B. Graubart paints insightful portraits of residents' everyday lives to underscore the discriminatory barriers as well as the occupational structures, social hierarchies, and networks in which they flourished. In doing so, she demonstrates the limits, benefits, and dangers of living under one's own law in the Spanish empire, including the ways self-governance enabled some communities to protect their practices and cultures over time. "Spanish monarchs recognized the jurisdictions of many self-governing corporate groups, including Jews and Muslims on the peninsula, indigenous peoples in their American colonies, and enslaved and free people of African descent across the empire. Republics of Difference examines fifteenth-century Seville and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lima to show how religiously- and racially-based self-governance functioned in a society with many kinds of law, what effects it had on communities, and why it mattered. By comparing these minoritized communities on both sides of the Spanish Atlantic world, this study offers a new understanding of the distinct standings of those communities in their urban settings. Drawing on legal and commercial records from late medieval Spain and colonial Latin America, Karen B. Graubart paints insightful portraits of residents' everyday lives to underscore the discriminatory barriers as well as the occupational structures, social hierarchies, and networks in which they flourished. In doing so, she demonstrates the limits, benefits, and dangers of living under one's own law in the Spanish empire, including the ways self-governance enabled some communities to protect their practices and cultures over time."--Publisher description Cover 1 Half Title 2 Republics of Difference 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: Republics and the Politics of Self-​Governance 18 Part I 36 1. Religious Republics in Seville, 1248–​1502 38 2. Lima’s Indian Republics, 1532–​1650 72 Part II 106 3. Institutionalizing Legal Difference in Castile 108 4. Aljama, or the Republic of Difference 127 5. Caciques and Local Governance in the Andes 152 6. Entangled Authority in the Lima Valley 176 Part III 198 7. The Specters of Black Self-​Governance 200 8. Walls and Law in Lima and Its Cercado 225 Conclusion: Republics Producing Difference 248 Notes 256 Glossary 304 Bibliography 308 Index 340