What happened to the Jews in Spain?
v “Silver age”- during the reconquista
¨ Northern areas are the Christian states (Aragon, Castile)
¨ South is still Muslim
¨ Seepage of negative Christian attitudes from the rest of Europe into Spain
*Rambam video*
2/28/11
How did the conditions in “Spain” (Aragon and Castile) deteriorate?
v Step 1 = the Disputation
¨ 1263 in Aragon
¨ It was the first time a Jew was forced to debate
v Step 2 = problems in Castile 1368
¨ King Pedro “the Cruel”
Ø Was not particularly cruel to the Jews
Ø Pedro’s brother, Henry, revolted against Pedro with the support of some nobility
Jews supported Pedro, but Henry won à Henry II (Trastamara) of Castile
¶ Henry was hostile towards the Jews because they supported his brother and allowed mobs to force Jews to convert to Christianity
v Step 3 = Castile 1391
¨ Ferrand Martinez
Ø He was the king’s mother’s personal spiritual guide to which she confesses her sins. He had a lot of influence within the royalty
Ø Mob conversions
Martinez went around collected a group of people with weapons, brought them to the shul, Martinez would go into the shul and say that there was a crazy mob outside that was going to kill the Jews, so he would convert them to save them
Most of the time, whoever was in shul that day converted the Christianity
Martinez was extremely successful
¨ Bishop Pablo de Santa Maria of Burgos (originally Shlomo HaLevi)
Ø He preached the rightness of Christianity and was very convincing and persuasive
v Step 4 = Aragon 1411
¨ Vincent Ferrar
Ø Copied Ferand Martinez with a similar mob campaign
v More Jews voluntarily converted to Christianity for economic and social reasons
¨ Jews who wanted to maintain their jobs and be accepted in society realized it was easier to do so as a Christian
¨ The Spanish Jewish community was almost disappearing
¨ All converts to Christianity are called “conversos”
Ø Conversos who tried to remain Jewish were called “marranos” (which means pigs in Spanish). In Hebrew they are called “anusim” (which means the forced ones)
Ø The governments were aware that there were marranos amongst the Jews who converted to Christianity
3/1/11
v Step 5 = 1412 King John II of Castile imposed additional restrictions on the unconverted Jews
¨ Restrictions
Ø Jews cannot live near Christians
Ø Jews cannot sell food to Christians
Ø Jews must wear Jew badges/ distinctive clothing
Ø Jews may not be tax collectors or physicians to Christians (these jobs are positions of authority, and they did not want Jews to be of higher authority to Christians)
Ø Bait Din may not judge criminal cases (characteristic of new monarchs who wanted to centralize authority, which included the justice system)
¨ Purpose
Ø Prevent contact and influence of Jews on converts/ marranos
Ø Encourage more converts
v Step 6 = 1413 Disputation at Tortosa
¨ Jews debating against converted Jews about the validity of the Talmud
¨ Jews were not allowed free speech
¨ Christians were represented by a former Jew, Joshua Lorki
¨ Jews had a panel, represented by Vidal Benvenisti and R. Yosef Albo
¨ Result- Talmud was banned in Spain
v Step 7 = Inquisition started 1480/81
¨ The rulers of Spain were getting nervous about the marranos
¨ A group of marranos decided to have a secret Seder together
Ø Susana was the daughter of the owner of the house. She told her boyfriend (not a marrano) told him she could not see him one night because she was having a secret Seder, and the boyfriend went to the priest and told him about it à the Seder was raided by the police and all the marranos were arrested
Ø This was a huge scandal!
Ø Result- Church agreed to bring the Inquisition to Spain to get rid of the marranos, who were unfaithful Christians
The Inquisition was a Church court whose job was to prevent and punish heresy
Goal: to prevent heresy, which includes “Judaizing”- doing anything Jewish either laws or customs
Methods were brutal
¶ Secret accusations
¶ Tortured until they confessed
¶ Rationale for cruelty = love (they want to spare the soul and eternity in hell)
3/3/11
v Step 8 = Holy Child of LaGuardia 1491
¨ Conversos were accused of a blood libel of taking a child and cutting out his heart to use witchcraft to create a rabies epidemic to kill all the Christians
¨ Problems with the prosecution
Ø There was no body and no complaining parents
Ø All of the conversos’ stories (fake confessions) differed as to what had happened
¨ Solution
Ø Forced all of the confused into agreeing on one confession
¨ The real purpose of this blood libel was to attack and get rid of the Jews so that they would not be able to help marranos Judaize
¨ Case created a mass hysteria
Ø There was a public demand to get rid of the Jews (just as the Church wanted)
v Step 9 = The expulsion 1492
¨ Jews were given 6 months to get out of Spain
¨ In this same year, the reconquista ended, so it was possible to tolerate the expulsion of the Jews
¨ Columbus also set sail in 1492
¨ Jews tried to get the order changed
3/4/11
How did the Jews respond to the expulsion?
v An appeal
¨ Rabbi Abraham Senor- chief rabbi of Spain
Ø Representative of the Jews to the king
¨ Don Isaac Abrabanel (Abarbonel)
Ø Famous commentator
Ø Financial genius- personal friend and financial advisor to Ferdinand
He had lent one 1½ million gold ducats to Ferdinand and Isabella to finance the wasr against the Muslims, so they owe him
¨ The two of them came to the king with two arguments
Ø The Jews were loyal citizens and an asset to the economy
Ø Charges against them were false
Ø Bribe
¨ Result
Ø Torquemada brought a crucifix and said, “There he is, sell him again.” He is referring to the person who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. So if Ferdinand took the bribe, it would be like he was selling Jesus again
Ø King upholds the expulsion
v Choices for the Jews
¨ Become a Christian
Ø Rabbi Senor became a Christian
Ø Tore apart families- Senor’s son stayed a Jew and left Spain, but Senor’s grandson stayed in Spain and became Christian
¨ Leave
Ø The Abrabanel left Spain
Ø He turned down the king’s offer to stay in Spain as a Jew
Ø He moved to Naples, and became financial advisor there
¨ Get baptized and be a marrano
Ø Dona Gracia Mendez
In the time of the expulsion, her parents opted to leave Spain and moved to Portugal
In 1497 there was a marriage- the prince of Portugal married the princess of Spain
¶ This brought the inquisition to Portugal
¶ However, the Portuguese did not want the Jews to leave because they were good for the economy. So they kidnapped Jewish children and baptized them. Then parents had the choice to be baptized and get their children, or leave without their child
In 1510 Dona Gracia was born into an established marrano family, and she was married to a fellow marrano
¶ The Mendez family had a very wealthy import-export business- imported spices and exported textiles (and marranos. If you suspected the Inquisition was going to suspect you, then you would go to the Mendez trading company to get out of Portugal)
Problem- Dona’s husband died young and left her a widow with a young daughter, Reyna
She moved to Antwerp, where she thought it would be a little bit safer for her as a marrano
¶ Problem- Reyna was beautiful, smart, talented, extremely nice, and the only heir to her mother’s extremely successful and wealthy business. There were tons of noblemen (Christians) who wanted to marry Reyna. Dona told them that she was only 10 years old, and too young to marry. But once Reyna got older and old enough to marry, Dona and Reyna moved to Venice
Venice was a great place for marranos
¶ It had a very mild, “don’t ask don’t tell” Inquisition that was not nosy like the Spanish Inquisition. This was good for the marranos, and good for Dona Gracia
¶ Dona enjoyed socializing with Jews, such Benvida Abrabanel
¶ Eventually, she was reported to the Inquisition (by a jealous relative) and arrested
Ø Her nephew, Joseph, decided to help her. He asked the Ottoman Sultan to let DG go, and she would move to the Ottoman Empire (with all her wealth). So eventually, DG and Reyna moved to the Ottoman Empire. Reyna married Joseph (her cousin)
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