JUAN DE CIUDAD

JUAN DE CIUDAD (15th century), Castilian Converso. In 1465 Juan and his son arrived at Huesca in Aragon, then the main center in Spain of Jewish activities for encouraging Conversos to return to Judaism. Juan approached the ḥakham abraham bibago and his circle, and after they had become convinced of his sincerity, he and his son were circumcised in a festive ceremony. Subsequently they immigrated to Ereẓ Israel, as customary among many Conversos who regarded this as a means of atonement for adopting Christianity. In 1489 the community of Huesca was charged by the Inquisition with helping Conversos to return to Judaism, the chief indictment being responsibility for the reversion of Juan de Ciudad. The inquisitors arrested the Jews who had been present at the circumcision ceremony, including prominent members of the community such as R. isaac bibago , the brother of Abraham, R. Abraham Almosnino, and others, who confessed their action under torture. At the end of that year the accused were sentenced and burned alive, except Isaac Bibago, who in return for adopting Christianity was strangled before being committed to the pyre. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1936), 486ff.; Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 297f., 384ff.