The “Cursed Races” of Spain (I): Introduction.
In the social history of the Iberian Peninsula, there was a handful of communities that for centuries were treated as separate peoples by the majority society, with residential segregation, prohibition of mixed marriages, liturgical separation in churches, and reserved occupations. Contemporary historiography has grouped them under the popularized label of “cursed ethnicities,” though that name, to be sure, must be qualified from the outset. Except in the case of the Mallorcan chuetas (verified descendants of 15th-century Jewish converts) and to some extent that of the Navarrese agotes (where a recent genetic study from the Complutense University of Madrid, led by Antonio González-Martín, leaves the door open to a Cathar or functional leper origin), we are not dealing with ethnicities in a biological sense. What we have are endogamous guilds racialized by their surroundings or impoverished regions turned into an imaginary of barbarism.
The seven groups that we will address in this series, one by one, are the following.
The AGOTES of the Baztán Valley and the rest of northern Navarre, a peninsular extension of the Gascon and Béarnese cagots. They had a side entrance door to the church (still visible in Arizkun, walled up in 1954), a separate baptismal font, prohibition on bearing arms, and occupations limited to carpentry and stonework.
The VAQUEIROS DE ALZADA of western Asturias and northwestern León. Transhumant cattle herders between high-altitude summer pastures and coastal winter settlements, marginalized by the “xaldos” (sedentary peasants) with separate benches and horn cups in taverns. The inscription in the church of San Martín de Luiña, “the vaqueiros do not pass beyond here to hear Mass,” remains engraved on the floor.
The HURDANOS of Cáceres, racialized by extreme structural poverty, endemic goiter due to iodine deficiency, and the forced endogamy of the high valleys. The black legend of the Hurdes was built between Pascual Madoz, 19th-century French travelers, and above all, Buñuel’s falsified 1933 documentary.
The MARAGATOS of Astorga, muleteers along the Royal Road from Madrid to Galicia with a monopoly on transporting fish and luxury goods until the arrival of the railroad. Strict guild endogamy, distinctive dress, and a proverbial reputation for commercial honesty that earned them the monopoly.
The CHUETAS of Mallorca, descendants of 15th-century Jewish converts crystallized into fifteen surnames (Aguiló, Bonnín, Cortès, Forteza, Fuster, Martí, Miró, Picó, Pinya, Pomar, Segura, Tarongí, Valentí, Valleriola, Valls) after the 1691 auto-da-fé and the literary fixation by the Jesuit Garau. Effective social marginalization persisted until the 1970s. The Balearic Parliament recognized the historical discrimination in September 2023.
The MERCHEROS or quinquilleros, an old Christian nomadic community from Castile, neither Romani nor mixed with gypsies. Sharpeners, umbrella makers, tinsmiths, and traders.
And finally, the PASIEGOS of the Cantabrian valleys of the Pas, Pisueña, and Miera. Vertical transhumant cattle herders with stepped cabins, famous for their wet nurses in the Madrid court up to and including Alfonso XIII. Pasiega marginalization is the latest and mildest, emerging in the 19th century out of economic envy.
We will go through them one by one over the course of the week.