The stories of the “Santo Niño de la Guardia”. Inquisition, Martyrdom, Historiography

Abstract

This article analyzes the inquisitorial, hagiographic, and historical narratives constructed from the case known as the "Santo Niño de la Guardia," a devotion that arose from a 15th-century inquisitorial trial in Toledo in which five people were sentenced to death in an auto-da-fe, accused of committing the ritual murder of a Christian child during Easter. The child's body was never found because, as contemporary investigations have shown, this murder never took place. However, between the 16th and 18th centuries, hagiographic stories about the child's life, death, and miracles, were elaborated. Today, these stories have been challenged with the advent of modern and secular historiography. Eventhough some Catholic historians recognize that the story is more of a product elicted by anti-Jewish prejudices held by the Inquisitors than a narrative of what actually happened, the story persists in Toledo’s local devotion. In this sense, the case of Santo Niño de la Guardia and the related stories are relevant not only for the history of anti-Semitism and inquisitorial institutions in Spain, but also as a case to observe the changes occurred in the transition from ecclesiastical history to modern historiography.