The anti-Jewish violence that spread throughout the Spanish kingdoms during the summer of 1391 resulted in the forced conversion, and death, of well over half of the Jewish population. This presentation will focus on the specific situation of converted Jewish women in Majorca and the strategies they used to cope with post-1391 challenges in the final decade of the fourteenth century. These challenges were primarily economic, and often related to the absence of husbands or male relatives responsible for household finances and/or the woman’s welfare.

Dr. Natalie Oeltjen specializes in Jews and conversos in late medieval Spain, and has published two journal articles on the conversos of Majorca at the turn of the fifteenth century. She is currently the Assistant to the Director at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, University of Toronto.