Ph.D. Candidate
Department of History
536 Burdine Hall
University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station B7000
Austin, TX 78712-0220
Contact Me
Photo: Evening foot traffic in the Plaza Mayor de Plasencia, Spain. The illuminated building is the Ayuntamiento de Plasencia ("city hall"). November 2006
Department of History
536 Burdine Hall
University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station B7000
Austin, TX 78712-0220
Contact Me
Photo: Evening foot traffic in the Plaza Mayor de Plasencia, Spain. The illuminated building is the Ayuntamiento de Plasencia ("city hall"). November 2006
Summer 2007
Dissertation Progress
An unbelievably busy past spring kept me away from the website and emails. My apologies to everyone that I was unable to respond to on a personal basis.
My progress on my dissertation remains my key focus -- I am attempting to complete about half of the writing this summer. Should all go well, I hope to enter the academic job market this fall. (Si dios manda.)
My dissertation, about the Carvajal family in Plasencia, Spain (1390-1516), continues to unearth a fascinating relationship between this family and the Santa Maria/Ha-Levi family. As you might know, the Carvajales are an old Christian family from Leon, Spain. (My own investigations in the archives of the Cathedral of Leon and the Ayuntamiento of Leon -- do show them present in the 1200s.) In the 1300s, they fought as very minor caballeros (lesser knights) in the Kingdom of Castile and Leon, and most of the family emigrated to Zamora, Spain, as well as several cities in the Extremadura (Plasencia, Caceres, Trujillo.)
My interest centers on the relationship between the Extremaduran Carvajales and the illustrious converts to Christianity, the converso Santa Maria/Ha-Levi family, who were formerly Jewish religious leaders in Burgos. Specifically, I am examining how the close personal and professional relationships of these families allowed the Carvajales to transform themselves from lesser knights into learned ecclesiatical leaders and royal bureacratics. Through their joint patronage and collaboration in the Cathedral of Plasencia's governing board (the cabildo), the Carvajales and Santa Marias built wealth and power, bolstered their Catholic identities, and created new opportunities for their descendants. Further, it is fair to argue that without the Santa Maria's guilding hand, the Carvajales could not have achieved what they did--generating two Catholic Cardinals (Juan de Carvajal, Bernardino Lopez de Carvajal) and a critical adviser (Lorenzo Galindez de Carvajal) to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel.
Recent Additions and Updates:
Updated Dissertation Description
Photos of Spain Some of my photography of Plasencia and Trujillo, Spain.
"Moving Pictures" Semana Santa in Toledo, the Plasencia countryside, and the Universidad de Salamanca.
Carvajal Genealogy Database (1300 to 1600, Extremadura, Spain)
Carvajal Genetic Genealogy Project
3 July 2007 Status Report
Results in Detail
Dissertation Progress
An unbelievably busy past spring kept me away from the website and emails. My apologies to everyone that I was unable to respond to on a personal basis.
My progress on my dissertation remains my key focus -- I am attempting to complete about half of the writing this summer. Should all go well, I hope to enter the academic job market this fall. (Si dios manda.)
My dissertation, about the Carvajal family in Plasencia, Spain (1390-1516), continues to unearth a fascinating relationship between this family and the Santa Maria/Ha-Levi family. As you might know, the Carvajales are an old Christian family from Leon, Spain. (My own investigations in the archives of the Cathedral of Leon and the Ayuntamiento of Leon -- do show them present in the 1200s.) In the 1300s, they fought as very minor caballeros (lesser knights) in the Kingdom of Castile and Leon, and most of the family emigrated to Zamora, Spain, as well as several cities in the Extremadura (Plasencia, Caceres, Trujillo.)
My interest centers on the relationship between the Extremaduran Carvajales and the illustrious converts to Christianity, the converso Santa Maria/Ha-Levi family, who were formerly Jewish religious leaders in Burgos. Specifically, I am examining how the close personal and professional relationships of these families allowed the Carvajales to transform themselves from lesser knights into learned ecclesiatical leaders and royal bureacratics. Through their joint patronage and collaboration in the Cathedral of Plasencia's governing board (the cabildo), the Carvajales and Santa Marias built wealth and power, bolstered their Catholic identities, and created new opportunities for their descendants. Further, it is fair to argue that without the Santa Maria's guilding hand, the Carvajales could not have achieved what they did--generating two Catholic Cardinals (Juan de Carvajal, Bernardino Lopez de Carvajal) and a critical adviser (Lorenzo Galindez de Carvajal) to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel.
Recent Additions and Updates:
Updated Dissertation Description
Photos of Spain Some of my photography of Plasencia and Trujillo, Spain.
"Moving Pictures" Semana Santa in Toledo, the Plasencia countryside, and the Universidad de Salamanca.
Carvajal Genealogy Database (1300 to 1600, Extremadura, Spain)
Carvajal Genetic Genealogy Project
3 July 2007 Status Report
Results in Detail
