From Messianic Apologetics to Missionary Counterattack in the Sabbatian Sacred Romancero

Abstract

Due to the extreme secrecy of the Sabbatians who followed their messiah into apostasy, only five manuscripts containing their sacred poetry are available to scholars today. The corpus of songs contained therein amounts to well over a thousand unique titles, and among them are found five poems of a particular type: romances. Four of them are traditional Judeo-Spanish romances that were sanctified by the Sabbatians: "Meliselda", "Delgadina", "Tarquin and Lucretia", and "Armavangera los Moros". One single romance, "Hakhamim van ayrando", was created by the Sabbatians themselves.