Hernando Alonso (c. 1460 – 17 October 1528 [1]) was a Spanish conquistador. He is believed to be the first Jew to come to the New World, and was the first person in the New World to be burned at the stake. [2] [1]: 49
Biography
He was possibly from Moguer, in Andalusia. [3]: 24
Originally, he was a blacksmith. He married Beatriz, sister of Diego de Ordaz. [1]: 50
He arrived in Mexico along with Pánfilo de Narváez around 1520 or 1521. At this time, he was over 60 years old. [3]: 11 He was involved in the Fall of Tenochtitlan, having been one of the shipbuilders who built the brigs, [4]: 103–104 and was also likely present at La Noche Triste. [3]: 12
He was involved in the meat trade between 1524 and 1528. [3]
His wife Beatriz had died sometime before the siege of Mexico. According to remembrances of him, he remarried, first to a woman named Ana; after Ana's death, he married Isabel de Aguilar. [3]: 24–25 [1]: 49 After his death, Isabel de Aguilar married a conquistador, Juan Perez de Gama, and moved to Seville. [3]: 21 His daughter with Beatriz, also named Beatriz, married Alonso de Nuñez in Seville. [4]: 103
In 1528, he was arrested on charges of Judaizing. Three charges were brought against him. One charge was of pouring wine on his 2-year-old son's body, letting the wine drip off his son, and drinking the wine, in mockery of baptism. Another accused him of forbidding his wife to attend Mass so that she would not violate the law of Niddah. The third one was having baptized his son according to Jewish law. [5] [3] According to historian Boleslao Lewin, the charges were likely based on at least partially fabricated evidence; [2]: 294 nevertheless, Alonso was tortured until he confessed, and was subsequently burnt at the stake. His brother, Gonzalo de Morales, was also burnt at the stake on the same day. [2]: 292
Allegedly, two or three of his children were living in Mexico City in 1574. [3]: 21
Legacy
American writer Alan Cheuse wrote the story Hernando Alonso based on the life of Alonso. It was published in 1998 as part of his anthology Lost and Old Rivers. [6] [7]
References
- ^ a b c d Kritzler, Edward (2009). Jewish pirates of the Caribbean: how a generation of swashbuckling Jews carved out an empire in the New World in their quest for treasure, religious freedom--and revenge (First Anchor Books ed.). New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-7679-1952-4.
- ^ a b c Liebman, Seymour B. (1963). "Hernando Alonso: The First Jew on the North-American Continent". Journal of Inter-American Studies. 5 (2): 291–296. doi: 10.2307/164816. ISSN 0885-3118. JSTOR 164816. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Conway, G. R. G.; de Manozca, Pedro (1928). "Hernando Alonso, a Jewish Conquistador with Cortes in Mexico". Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society (31): 9–31. ISSN 0146-5511. JSTOR 43059486. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
- ^ a b Uchmany, Eva A. (1973). "The Crypto-Jews in New Spain During the First Years of Colonial Life". Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות. ו. ISSN 0333-9068. JSTOR 23529115. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ Wiznitzer, Arnold (1962). "Crypto-Jews in Mexico during the Sixteenth Century". American Jewish Historical Quarterly. 51 (3): 171. ISSN 0002-9068. JSTOR 23873766. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ Cheuse, Alan (1998). "Hernando Alonso". The North American Review. 283 (5): 14–22. ISSN 0029-2397. JSTOR 25126269. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Lost and Old Rivers: Stories by Alan Cheuse by Alan Cheuse". Publishers Weekly. 31 August 1998. Retrieved 14 October 2023.