What then is an "Al Borayque"? The following is a definition
of an "Al Borayque"1, 2:
Wolf's mouth (hypocracy, as they are heretics and sinners
pretending to be Catholics, recognized by their holidays
observing Sabbath like Jews, practicing circumcision like
Jews and Muslims, eating meat during Lent, praying as
Jews, their fasting days, festivals, never confessing or
communing, not observing the Lord's day, nor going to
mass, praising neither Jesus Christ nor the Virgin Mary.
Jacob said of his son Benjamin: "Benjamin is a ravenous
wolf".)
Horse's muzzle (also swift like a horse, to shed blood in battle)
Man's eyes (a neophyte alboraycos looks like a
charitable and endearing human, but they are inhuman and
cruel, only human in appearance, but are really devils
[Saint John calls them a synagogue of devils...].)
A dog's ears (sometimes the ears of an elephant)
A horse's neck (or a camel's neck) and a horse's mane (like a horse not fit for work
in the mountains nor in rugged soil, but only fit for
ambling in squares and streets, trying to cheat
Catholics. Their work being useless, heretics as
orators they can only be dishonest defense lawyers).
Breast of a mule
Body of an ox
Serpent's tail (because conversos poison the world with their
heresy) or camel's tail
At the end of the tail, A crane's head with a peacock's body
("And as the cranes live in great fear amongst us and under
the cover of darkness, so do these people who live in fear
amongst us; and in the same way as it is quite impossible
to kill cranes, because they protect themselves behind layers
of feathers, it is almost impossible to bring to justice and
execute an alborayco because they protect themselves with
important sums of money and bribes")
An elegantly clothed human leg with a well-shod foot
Another leg shod as a horse
Another leg an eagle's leg with talons (claws)
The last leg a lion's with a paw without claws
Hooves like an ox
Fur of many colors (like the morciegalo
[bat] that lives in the night, they have teeth
like animals but wings like birds: they are
neither birds nor animals, neither Christians
or Moors, but are Jews).
It eats all kinds of food
Hermaphroditic (neither male nor female; "The tribe of Benjamin
sinned in sodomy ... From the Jews it was transmitted to the
Moors, and from the Moors to the bad Christians ...").
A saddle of precious construction: seat support of fig-tree wood
Stirrups of many metals (signifying the many types of conversions
of alboraycos; "one would hardly find any heretics amongst the
conversos naturales [natural converts, i.e., willingly converted];
on the contrary, in the kingdom of Toledo and Murcia, in all of
Andalusia and Estramadura, one will hardly find amongst them [i.e.,
conversos] any sincere Christians").
A fiery bridle's bit, reins as finely polished as a sword's steel
The Alboraique was a mythical monster that was said to have
been Mohammed's mount as Mohammed rode to heaven upon his
death (though this does not appear in the Koran). The idea
of the Alboraique (and other fantastical creatures such as
the Manticora) originated in the Middle East (Persia), but
extended to the Iberian Peninsula, as early as the 13th
century. During the 15th century the Alboraique was
modified by "someone close to Torquemada" and used as a
propaganda tool against Jews and conversos.
1
Moshe Lazar, "Anti-Jewish and Anti-Converso Propaganda:
Confutatio Libri, talmud and Alboraique", in Moshe
Lazar, Stephen Haliczer, Eds., "The Jews of Spain and the
Expulsion of 1482", Labyrinthos Press, Lancaster, CA, pp. 153-236.
.
2
Dwayne Lee Carpenter, Ed., Tratado del Alboraique, Biblioteca
Nacional de Madrid, MS. 17567, Madison, 1993, pp. 1-9.
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