Maneuvering between the Lines: Conversa Widows after the Violence of 1391 in Girona

In January 1393, Blanca, a Jewish woman who had converted to Christianity during the violence of 1391, concluded a contract with her brother Benedict Bonjorn, in the city of Girona. Widowed in 1392, Blanca was active in the management of her late husband’s assets, acting largely as legal guardian for her young son Michael. The violence of 1391 left many Jewish women and conversas (as those recently converted were known) widowed, often with young children to care for and with financial responsibilities as tutors and guardians for their children’s newly inherited estates (or something like that). A close look at notarial contracts in the years immediately following the 1391 violence shows widows as being particularly active in enforcing debt obligations others had with their late husbands. While these women acted as many widows did in the late medieval period, regardless of faith, their situation is nuanced by their identities as recent converts in the early 1390s. This paper will explore the actions and negotiations of Blanca de Banyoles and other widows as they sought to preserve their family’s assets in Girona after the violence of 1391. Reflective of their Jewish background and newly adopted Christian status, some of these women blended Christian and Jewish legal structures when they proved beneficial in order to achieve their desired outcomes.  This paper will highlight the effect of the violence of 1391 on women and the impact of gender in such negotiations, considering how women specifically sought to protect, but also expand, familial assets in a time of crisis.