Marranos 475Further reading:Marie de France, The Lais of Marie
de France,trans. Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante (New
York: Dutton, 1978); Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby,
trans., The Lais of Marie de France(London: Penguin,
1986); Emanuel J. Mickel Jr., Marie de France(New York:
Twayne Publishers, 1974); Judith Rice Rothschild, Narra-
tive Technique in the Lais of Marie de France: Themes and
Variations (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina,
Department of Romance Languages, 1974).
Marie of Oignies(1177–1213) mystic
Marie was born at Nivelles, in the diocese of Liège.
JAMES OFVITRYwrote about Marie’s life soon after her
death. He became her confessor late in her life. In his
writing she was a model for emulation by women. Mar-
ried by her parents when she was 14, Marie persuaded
her husband to accept a chaste marriage and service at a
leper hospital. She aspired to more solitude and so got
permission from her husband and her confessor to retire
alone to Oignies-sur-Sambre. Marie was soon joined by
other women, who wished, as she did, to live a life of
penintential practice in a community. James paid little
attention to this idea of lay and female community and
instead described in detail her religious experiences; her
devotion to Christ, to the Cross, to the Passion; her rev-
elations and mystical ecstasies; her fasts, her vigils, and
her ascetic practices, even self-mutilation. She did not
provide rules for the religious life or take any explicit
vows. James intended her as an example for a saintly
and orthodox Christian lifestyle in opposition to con-
temporary CATHARheretics. However, her beguinal life
made her suspect because of its minimal links to male
clerics. Her other admirable religious practices as
described by James included frequent attendance at
SERMONS, frequent CONFESSION, and desire to receive
the Eucharist, all of these practices could be considered
a way the church could exercise control over the
BEGUINES. Her biography itself was a common source for
exemplary sermon material. She died in 1213 but was
never canonized.
Further reading:James of Vitry, The Life of Marie
d’Oignies,trans. Margot H. King (Saskatoon: Peregrina,
1986).
Maritime Republics SeeGENOA;PISA;VENICE.
markets SeeFAIRS AND MARKETS.
Marrakech (Marakesh, Marrakesh) Marrakech is
located on a wide plain about 25 miles (or 40 kilome-
ters) from the ATLASMOUNTAINSin southern MOROCCO.
It was founded by the ALMORAVIDruler Yusf ibn Tashfin
(r. 1060–1106), founder of the Almoravid dynasty, in
1062.
Remains from the ALMOHADperiod from the 12th to
the 13th century include the Kutubiya MOSQUEfrom
1147, the Kasba Mosque, and the Bab Agnau. The city
had three madrasah. The oldest is the Bin Yusuf
Madrasa, originally built as a mosque in the 12th cen-
tury. The town also contains the tombs of various
Moroccan rulers, including that of Yusuf ibn Tashfin as
well as the tomb of the seven local saints, still the object
of annual PILGRIMAGES. There are several medieval
palaces within the city, the oldest of which is the Dar al
Makhzan, built by the Almohads. The city also contains
historic gardens.
See alsoBERBERS; AL-MAGHRIB.
Further reading: Leo Africanus, The History and
Description of Africa and of the Notable Things Therein
Contained,3 vols. (1986; reprint, New York: B. Franklin,
1963); Thomas Kerlin Park, Historical Dictionary of
Morocco(Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996); Maya
Shatzmiller, The Berbers and the Islamic State: The
Marinid Experience in Pre-Protectorate Morocco(Princeton,
N.J.: Markus Wiener, 2000); Henri Terrasse, History of
Morroco, trans. Hilary Tee (Casablanca: Éditions
Atlantides, 1952).Marranos (conversos, swine, muharran[forbidden])
The word marrano originally designated a pig, or
an unclean creature. From the second half of the 14th
century, marrano was used essentially to designate
converted JEWS, whose numbers grew after the huge
pogroms of 1391, when perhaps 50,000 Jews were
killed. Although there was some effort to ban the term,
it became common and generic in the second half of the
15th century, especially after the expulsion in 1492.
Ideas about these people of every social class were tied
to an obsession with purity, both purity of FAITHand
purity of blood. Not even baptism could wash away the
sin of the Jews, who some considered guilty of killing
Christ. Sincerity or length of conversion was ignored.
From the 1480s, the INQUISITIONand statutes defining
purity of blood were established. One theological
current defended the Marranos, or conversos, who often
had attained more social integration, prestige, and
wealth; but it had little effect.
See alsoANTI-JUDAISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM.
Further reading:Haim Beinart, Conversos on Trial:
The Inquisition in Ciudad Real, trans. Yael Guiladi.
(Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1981);
Renée Levine Melammed, Heretics of Daughters of Israel?:
The Crypto-Jewish Women of Castile(New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999); Benzion Netanyahu, The Marra-
nos of Spain: From the Late 14th to the Early 16th Century,
According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources,3d ed. (Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999); Cecil Roth, A His-
tory of the Marranos,2d ed. (1932; reprint, Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society of America, 1959).