"Converso Republican Thought": Republican Aspects in the Political Theology of the "Defensorium unitatis christianae" by Alonso de Cartagena

Abstract

This article claims that republicanism was present in the Hispanic World during the 15th and 16th centuries. The category Converso republican thought is proposed in order to refer to the specific circumstances in which it was developed in Fifteenth Century Castile. This label is therefore used as an alternative to the widely applied idea of civic humanism. The latter concept will be criticised because it lacks an understanding of the specificities of the Hispanic world thereby wrongfully excluding it from the history of republicanism. I will show that one of the main features of this Converso republican thought resides in its suggestive articulation and reciprocal nurturing between republican and Chris­tian theological elements. An articulation, the paper will demonstrate, that contributes to an inclusive political rationality. The article will exemplify this by drawing on Alonso de Cartagena’s Defensorium unitatis christianae, written in 1449 –a treaty that can be taken as an epitome of this Converso repub­lican thought.