In this transition between the Middle Ages and modernity, one aspect that guided Spain was the concept of purity of blood. Spain adhered to statutes about purity of blood, which originally served as a mechanism to exclude converted Jews from participating in important positions in government and in ecclesiastical positions. In other words, color was not the main element in racial identity but religious difference; Spaniards were more intent on excluding people on the basis of their Jewish heritage. In actuality, the purity statutes were directed mostly toward conversos (Jewish converts to
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