Hordes, S.M. 1980 . The crypto-Jewish community of New Spain, 1620-1649; A collective biography. Tulane University, Ph.D. Thesis Tulane University 237 pp.

Notes: [Ph.D. Thesis] Within the scope of Mexican history, the subjects of the Inquisition and of crypto-Jews have long been the focus of emotion, heated controversy, and misplaced value assessments. This dissertation seeks to examine closely and dispassionately the social and economic life of the crypto-Jewish community in New Spain during the period of expansion and prosperity from the 1620's until 1642, and to analyze the campaign of the Mexican Holy Office against this ethnic element from 1642 to 1649. Demonstrating a marked tendency to pursue mercantile trades, their careers spanned the commercial spectrum from wealthy and powerful entrepreneurs to itinerant peddlers barely able to eke out a living. As in the Peninsula, crypto-Jewish merchants manifested their presence over a broad geographical area, from the mining regions of Tierra Adentro to the cochineal producing districts.