Dr. François Soyer is a Senior Lecturer in Late Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW, Australia). From January 2012 until early 2016, he was a Partner Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions at the University of Adelaide and then an Associate Professor in Late Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2018.
He has published a number of books and articles, including The Persecution of the Jews and Muslims of Portugal: King Manuel I and the End of Religious Tolerance (1496-7), published in 2007, Popularizing Anti-Semitism in Early Modern Spain and its Empire. Francisco de Torrejoncillo and the Centinela contra Judíos (1674), published in 2014, and most recently, Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World: Narratives of Fear and Hatred, published in 2019.
He is currently working on the origins, development and impact of the Antisemitic Ritual Murder and Blood Libel legends in Spain, focusing especially on the Blood Libel cases of San Dominguito de Val and the Holy Child of La Guardia.
In episode 20 of History Hub’s podcast series – ‘Kingdom, Empire and Plus Ultra: conversations on the history of Portugal and Spain, 1415-1898′ he discusses antisemitism in medieval and early modern Iberia, specifically some forged documents that purported to be communications between Jews in Spain and Constantinople with series host Dr Edward Collins.
Listen to ‘Antisemitism, Forgeries, and Conspiracy Theories in Early Modern Iberia’, with Dr. Francois Soyer (University of New England).
Francois Soyer’s conversation with series host Dr. Edward Collins is now available as a podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud.
Kingdom, Empire and Plus Ultra
This History Hub podcast series features interviews with experts in the areas of Portuguese and Spanish history, from the beginning of the Portuguese discoveries in 1415 to the end of Spanish dominion in America in 1898. The interviews, conducted by historian Dr. Edward Collins, cover a range of topics on the domestic and overseas histories of both nations, which include, among others: the Portuguese explorations of Africa and Asia, Spanish navigation and settlement in America, the church in Portugal and Spain, monarchy and intermarriage in the Iberian kingdoms, natural science and mapping in America, the role of nautical science, Irish historical relations with Portugal and Spain, and imperial competition in Europe and overseas. The interviewees comprise a number of established and renowned academics, as well as up-and-coming researchers from universities and institutions worldwide.
This History Hub series is funded by UCD Seed Funding and supported by UCD School of History. Series editor is Mike Liffey (Real Smart Media).
Download series episodes on iTunes or listen via Soundcloud.
Episodes
- Series introduction by Edward Collins
- Episode 1: Portugal and Spain in the 15th and early-16th centuries: a brief overview by Edward Collins
- Episode 2: Ellen Dooley on the Spanish Inquisition and the religious image in Spain & America, 1478–1700
- Episode 3: Ricardo Padrón on America, the Pacific, and Asia in the Imperial Imagination, 1513-1609
- Episode 4: Allison Bigelow on the Science of Colonial Silver: Rethinking the History of Mining and Metallurgy in the Early Americas
- Episode 5: Early Colonial Brazil, English Piracy, and the Adventures of Anthony Knivet (1591-1599) by Vivien Kogut Lessa de Sá
- Episode 6: Onésimo T. Almeida on Portugal and the Dawn of Modernity, 1419-1620
- Episode 7: Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra on Old Testament Culture in the Spanish Monarchy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries
- Episode 8: Zoltan Biedermann on ‘A Negotiating Empire: Portuguese diplomacy in Asia and the Global Renaissance’
- Episode 9: Flora Cassen on ‘Philip II and His Italian Jewish Spy’.
- Episode 10: Tamar Herzog on ‘Frontiers of Possession: Spain and Portugal in Europe and the Americas’.
- Episode 11: Pedro Cardim on ‘The Idea of Hispania: Portugal and the Spanish Monarchy in the 16th and 17th Centuries’
- Episode 12: Barbara E. Mundy on ‘Tenochtitlan: Transformation and Endurance after the Spanish Conquest’
- Episode 13: Aaron Alejandro Olivas on ‘The Iberian Atlantic and the War of the Spanish Succession, 1700-1715’
- Episode 14: Amelia Almorza Hidalgo on Spanish women on transatlantic voyages in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
- Episode 15: Carla Rahn Phillips on The Struggle for the South Atlantic: The Armada of the Strait of Magellan, 1581-1584
- Episode 16: Stephanie Cavanaugh on ‘Moriscos, Enslaved Children, and Litigating for Liberty in sixteenth-century Spain’.
- Episode 17: Adrian Masters on ‘Petition and Response: Spanish America and the Council of the Indies in the 16th Century’.
- Episode 18: Ben Vinson on ‘Mestizaje and the Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico’
- Episode 19: Palmira Fontes da Costa on Garcia de Orta: Portuguese physician, herbalist and naturalist
- Episode 20: Francois Soyer discusses antisemitism, forgeries, and conspiracy theories in Early Modern Iberia.
Image: ‘Portuguese Conversos scourging a crucifix of Christ in Madrid’ by Francisco de Rojas Nieto.