Gacet


Can't find anything on this guy. He is played by a Pakistani actor and one character calls him a "marrano" in one episode. Was he a converso?

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He's based on Francesco (Francesc) Gacet, Alexander's close friend and confidant. He was a canon of Toledo, a Catalan and probably held position similar to what they're showing. Can't find anything about him being a Marano.

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In season 2 when Rodrigro was withdrawing from his drug, he referred to Gacet as a Muslim sodomite. At the time (1494) the Moors had been ruling southern Spain for 700 years and there had been many conversions of Muslims and Jews, as one would expect after several centuries. Many had not actually converted, but simply did not practice their religion an became secular. Some Muslims had married into noble families, others had joined the church and risen quite high. After the conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella, the Muslims and Jews were given a choice, forced conversion or expulsion. Unfortunately, Isabella was a fanatical christian and did not trust the conversos which is why the Inquisition was introduced: to weed out suspected backsliders, or "cryptos" and persecution began. It would not have been at all unusual for a canon of Toledo to have been ethincally a Moor. Even the Borgias were rumoured to be part Jewish.

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