What term was used for Jews who converted to Christianity?

The term used for Jews who converted to Christianity in Iberia was conversos. The word generally describes Jewish converts to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, especially during the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as their descendants.

Conversions occurred under varied circumstances. Some people converted voluntarily, while others faced violence, pressure, or the choice between baptism and exile. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 required Spain’s remaining openly practising Jews to leave or convert; more than 200,000 are estimated to have converted, while tens of thousands were expelled.

Converso is broader than marrano or crypto-Jew. A converso might have sincerely adopted Christianity, whereas marrano and crypto-Jew commonly refer to converts suspected of secretly continuing Jewish practices. Jews who converted from Islam were called Moriscos, so Moriscos is not the correct answer here.

Conversos became a major focus of Spanish and Portuguese social discrimination and inquisitorial investigations. The Inquisition increasingly examined whether New Christians were genuinely Catholic, and ancestry later became important through limpieza de sangre, or blood-purity statutes.