One of Jim’s Covid projects was researching the genealogy of our families on Ancestry.com. We are both second generation Americans – Polish/Austro-Hungarian (Marsha,) Irish/Italian (Jim.) Neither family talked much about their ancestral history. And of course not until they were long gone did we think of things we would have liked to have known. We were able to trace Marsha’s paternal line back to her 4th great-grandparents in Debreczen, Hajdu, Hungary and the other three branches at least a couple of generations. No real surprises or insights other than names and places we were unfamiliar with.
Then we took the Ancestry.com DNA tests and found out a few things we definitely didn’t expect. Nothing that made us think that our whole lives had been a lie. But some minor bewilderments. Jim discovered that almost 1/3 of his “Italian half” was French. And Marsha learned of her single digit Ashkenazi Jewish, Swedish and French roots. We were bemused and amused by these revelations.
Around the same time we also were learning more about the general ancestry of the New Mexican people with whom we mingled on a daily basis and whose history we talked about at El Rancho de las Golondrinas living history museum. And the Colonial Spanish “Casta System” – under which DNA deviations such as ours would have been taken much more seriously – Marsha’s in particular.
It began with the Reconquista – the recapture of Spain by Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II from the North African Muslim Moors who controlled it from 711 AD to 1492 AD – and the subsequent proclamation of Spain as a strictly Catholic country requiring the conversion, expulsion or execution of all Jews and Muslims. At that time Spain’s population was approximately 7 to 8 million of which 500,000 to 600,000 were Muslim and between 80,000 and 400,000 Jewish. Approximately 100,000–200,000 Jews were expelled, with 50,000–200,000 converting to Catholicism while at least 300,000 Muslims were expelled. Tens of thousands died during expulsion.
But becoming a “New Christian” was not enough to provide full citizenship. There was still the “statutes of blood purity,” which required that individuals seeking to hold particular jobs or join certain institutions must be descendants of Old Christians. It was “the body's fluids, and especially blood, [which] transmitted a certain number of moral qualities from parents to children … Jews, as a people, were incapable of change despite their conversion … A Jew may descend on three sides from gentlemen or Old Christians, but a single bad lineage infects and ruins him.” (Friar Prudencio de Sandoval) Those with pure Spanish blood were declared possessed with “inherent nobility, honor, and a natural capacity for loyalty and Christian faith.” (Duke University Press)
Converted Jews or Muslims (Conversos/Moriscos) and their descendants were prohibited from holding public office, entering religious orders, attending universities and perhaps most importantly joining many guilds. And being in a guild was a really big deal. “In the 1700s, Spanish guilds (gremios) and merchant guilds (consulados) were powerful, state-sanctioned institutions controlling trade and manufacturing. They maintained strict quality standards, set prices, and enforced hierarchical training (apprentice to master.) [This system] expanded in Spain and the Americas to dominate trade, manage commercial disputes, and support the crown's economic interests.” (Google AI) Among the many “guild trades” were clothing & textiles, metalworking, construction & woodworking, leather & footwear and food.
Street of the Salt-Sellers in Madrid Spain
This class system worked pretty effectively partly because of its captive audience and high percentage of on-site ruling enforcers. There were some outliers, known as “cryptos” – mostly Jews but some Muslims who professed to have converted to Catholicism and publicly followed its rules and rituals but continued to practice their real religion in secret. For them the Spanish created the Inquisition.
When the Spanish Empire colonized the New World they adopted a similar “blood purity” template where people were either members of República de Españoles (Spanish republic) or the República de Indios (Indigenous Republic.)
Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain.
Criollos: Children of Spanish parents born in the Americas.
Indios: Indigenous people.
Negros/Esclavos: African descent, usually enslaved.
Mestizos: Children of a Spanish parent and an Indigenous parent.
That worked okay for the first generation of occupancy. Over time however the “ooh, that Indios(or Negros) girl is cute” became “… that part-Indios(or Negros)-looking girl is cute” became “… that daughter of that part-Indios(or Negros)-looking girl is cute.” And the number of logically possible combinations grew exponentially leading to the more complex “Casta System” and – since a picture tells 1,000 words – the “Casta Paintings” to explain it all to the folks back home.
Espanol x Espanol = Espanol
Espanol x India = Mestizo
Espanol x Mestiza = Castiza
Espanol x Castiza = Torna a Espanol (“Return to Spanish”)
Espanol x Negra = Mulato
Espanol x Mulato = Morisco
Morisco x Espanol = Albino
et al.
Espanol x India = Mestizo
The pinnacle for the Casta System and Casta Paintings was the 18th century. The artworks were primarily produced in Mexico by prominent local artists for elite Spanish officials, colonists, clergy and European collectors. Most commonly a series of 16 individual canvases or a single canvas divided into 16 compartments the paintings documented racial mixing – portraying proper clothing and stereotypical behavior for each class while also showcasing the colony's bounty, flora, and fauna to European audiences. To date over one hundred full or partial series of casta paintings have been documented.
This class structure was rigorously adhered to in Meso-America where, as in Spain, the ruling class was a significant presence and the audience was largely captive. Working hand-in-hand with the Casta System the guilds functioned as the primary regulatory body for skilled craft production from the late 16th through the 18th century – flourishing in major economic hubs such as Mexico City where they enforced a hierarchical system of masters and apprentices, maintained rigid quality standards and played a major role in the urban economies.
The remote New Mexico frontier however proved to be different situation.
In New Mexico a person's casta was typically assigned by traveling priests during sacraments or government officials recording new settlers – neither of whom were likely to be personally familiar with the person. Therefore casta assignments were based upon what the authorities were told and/or how ethnic the person looked to them (Spanish, Native American, and African features and/or skin color.) The individual's socio-economic standing and community reputation might also come into play. The same person sometimes showed up in different censuses in different castes. Individuals occasionally could “pass” as a higher caste by living in a place where the rest of the population were unfamiliar with them. Gradually many New Mexicans simply identified themselves as vecinos – working homeowners of some position, aka “middle class.” Which, in practical terms, was what the vast majority of New Mexicans were except for the small number of higher government officials and priests who fell into the Espanol class.
The “Spanish colonial guild system also failed in New Mexico primarily due to isolation, a lack of specialized urban economies and a small, poor population that couldn't support strict labor regulations. The frontier necessitated self-sufficiency over specialization, while constant conflict and economic strain forced a blended, informal economy that made rigid European-style craft monopolies impossible to enforce.” (Google AI)
The Casta System officially ended in Mexico and New Mexico when the former won its independence and control of New Mexico from Spain. Other newly independent colonies also abolished their caste-based distinctions, although discrimination based on race and class persisted long after colonial rule. The Spanish blood purity system was formally ended in 1865 for marriage, and 1870 for government and licensed professions. The traditional Spanish guild system was officially scrapped around 1835 – but a few such as Fishermen's Guilds (Cofradías de Pescadores) remain.
So how does all this relate to us?
Well, we learned that ethnicities can be messy – or a least not entirely straightforward. Napoleon Bonaparte controlled Italy from 1796 to 1814. Which might explain Jim’s French connection. On Marsha’s side – for over 1,000 years Poland was historically home to the world's largest Jewish population; there was a 17th-century “Swedish Deluge” into the Polish regions and migrating Poles mingled with early French farmers in ancient times. Or maybe it was just simply some individual guys from each of those ethnic groups noticing some cute, interesting Polish girls…
That’s how it happened to this Irish/Italian guy.
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