Spanish Edict Of Expulsion

The Spanish Inquisition lasted from 1478 to 1834. The goal of the Spanish Inquisition was to expel, convert or kill all Non-Catholics from Spain in Spain. When people were accused heresy they would be pit on trial, but before they could be on trial they had to sit in jail which most of them were unsanitary and people were given little food to eat. The punishments people received if they were found guilty were: torture, public humiliation, and death. The trials were unfair, unjustified and not necessary. The Spanish Inquisition did not help spread Catholicism and in fact slowed the spread because of the fear that it instilled in Non-Catholics.

They claimed that those of the Jewish faith were responsible for Jesus’ death, and therefore they were unable to be trusted. The expansion of Jewish communities infuriated the Christian society, pushing them towards their breaking point. In 1391, anti-Semitic violence broke out in Castile, and spread across many other areas in Spain such as Barcelona, Saragossa, and Valencia. Mobs entered the Jewish communities to burn synagogues, invade homes, rape the women, and kill the dominant Jewish rulers that were recognized. The Jews of Spain were given an ultimatum; evacuate, or convert to Christianity. Nearly half of them agreed to convert their faith, and they were baptized in order to show their true commitment to the Church. Those who converted were referred to as Conversos or “New Christians”. This ultimatum that those of the Jewish faith were given satisfied Christian societies, but it soon became apparent that the Conversos were not acting accordingly in respect to the Christian belief system. Although they attended church and participated in Christian traditions, behind closed doors, it was believed that they continued to practise the traditions, beliefs, and holy days outlined by the Jewish faith. They refrained from eating pork, and supposedly celebrated the Jewish Sabbath which lasted from Friday’s sundown until Saturday’s nightfall. This realization caused Christians to become furious, and those who had been deemed

Before the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Moors were in control of much of the Iberian Peninsula. They desperately wanted to unite Spain and turn it into a

After watching the documentary, “When the Moors Ruled Europe”, it was made clear that the Spanish informed everyone that was within the Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not part of the Catholic religion they were to be harshly punished and even sometimes fatally. The documentary mentioned that in 1526 there

During this long-lasting Reconquista, there were long periods of war and peace. Over time, the Christian kingdoms gradually defeated the Moors and took back all of Moorish Spain. After several centuries, the Moors were at their weakest moment. No other caliph from North Africa, or the Middle East could save the Moors. In 1469, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united by the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Soon, the Moors only had control of the Kingdom of Granada. The Moors were extremely economically, politically and militarily weak. In 1492, the last outpost of the Moors had fallen. Spain had captured Granada and finally brought an end to the reconquest of Spain. During this period of time, there was more than a reconquering of lands. There was an an inquisition and an expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain. In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV issued a bull that authorized Isabella and Ferdinand to appoint inquisitors in Castile for the purpose of combating heresy. The Spanish Inquisition

Since the beginning of the Judaism, the Jewish people have been subject to hardships and discrimination. They have not been allowed to have a stabile place of worship and have also faced persecution and atrocities that most of us can not even imagine. Three events that have had a big impact on the Jewish faith were the building and destruction of the First Great Temple, the Second Great Temple and the events of the Holocaust. In this paper, I will discuss these three events and also explain and give examples as to why I feel that the Jewish people have always been discriminated against and not allowed the freedom of worship.

Beginning in the early 15th and 16th centuries, people began settling in places like Europe, Africa, Asia, and the New World. Like many of the surrounding people and empires, the Iberians wanted to reach the wealth of Asia and get their hands on the New World first to possibly gain world dominance. The Iberian presence in Asia, Africa, and the New World in the late 15th and early 16th centuries helped aid the Spanish and Portuguese to become world powers. Combining with the conquering of new lands in the New World and parts of Africa, the use of Christianity and the converting of conquered people, and the exchange of goods with foreign countries helped make this mission a reality.

Like the Holocaust in the 1930s-1940s, Jews during this time were treated with brutality. Manchester describes it as, “Jewry was luckier - slightly luckier - than blacks. If the pogroms of the time are less infamous than the Holocaust, it is only because anti-Semites then lacked twentieth-century technology” (35). In the year 1492, the Spanish had regained control of Spain. The rule of Spain was now under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. They were not fond of Jews in their nation. The Jews in Spain were given three months to convert to christianity or to leave. After seeing what the Spanish were doing in Spain, the king of Portugal ordered the expulsion of all Portuguese Jews. Any Jews who wouldn’t leave or were slow to leave were massacred. Around four thousand Lisbon Jews were killed during a single night in 1506. Only three years later persecution of Jews in Germany began. Jews throughout history have been treated badly but during the medieval period it was especially hard if you were a Jew.

The Spanish Inquisition was originally an institution developed in Spain to conduct trials by the Catholic Monarchs. The Inquisition’s trial courts focused on ensuring that the Catholic Doctrine was enforced. After the conquering and colonization of indigenous groups within the New World the colony of New Spain was formed. The Spanish Crown sought to use the Inquisition to prosecute those guilty of heresy or blasphemy, which is the act of denouncing God or demeaning religious ideas. Comparing and analyzing Spanish Inquisition blasphemy trial documents demonstrate the recorded history and process by which these trials started and ended. Which presents us with the question, how did blasphemy trials effect the personal lives of indigenous groups within New Spain?

In the late 15th century, Spain gained its freedom from the Moors. They were Islamic North African people that were and controlled much of Spain. The wealthy, educated Jewish population financially assisted the monarchy to regain Spain from the Moors. Large prosperous Jewish communities existed in Spain. They were respected, unlike other areas of Europe where the Jews were persecuted and victims of organized massacres. In Spain, they remained the financial and scientific leaders in the 15th century. Many of Jews married into Catholic families, consequently, many of Spain’s Christian leaders were of Jewish descent. As Spain became a unified country, many Hispanics forgot the services from which the Jewish had provided them. The economy plummeted, and to many, the Jews became a scapegoat. They became targets for bigotry. Stories were created to lessen the Jews image. These stories included Jews murdering innocent Christian children. Such legends fueled the expulsion of the Jews from

In the Luis de Carvajal reading, the idea of what it means to be a Jew is explored. To provide some background, Luis de Carvajal (the Younger) was a crypto-Jew, or a secret Jew, who lived in New Spain during the time of the Inquisition. He was burned at the stake in December 1596, after being convicted of observing Jewish religious practices. The reading as a whole fundamentally delineates Luis’ desire to embrace his religion during a time in which people of the Jewish faith either had to either convert to Christianity or suffer persecution. Ultimately, Luis de Carvajal’s memoirs entail the concept that being a Jew involves the following: being loyal and devoted to the religion; carrying on Jewish traditions; feeling or developing a community with fellow Jews; and believing in one God and having a personal connection with Him.

Kamen notes the ambiguous pressure on Jews, as despite the anti-semitism of contemporary Europe, the ‘Aragonese crown protected the Jews and conversos firmly, rejecting all attacks on them‘ and how any existing anti-Semetic legislation went unenforced (Kamen 15). Even after Ferdinand and Isabella initiated their reign in 1474, the monarchs were ‘never personally anti-Semitic’ and their intervention in domestic politics demonstrated an ‘impressive picture of the monarchy protecting its jews’ (Kamen, 16). In actuality, the inception of the Inquisition and the subsequent expulsion of the Jewish population was prompted by the actions of ‘Judaizers’, who were made up of conversos who had attempted to persuade newly assimilated Christians to return to their original Jewish faith. The efforts of these Judaizers concerned the crown and as a result the Inquisition was officially founded on September 27, 1480 as a means of regulating the the disruptive and disobedient conversos.

The Inquisition executed Jews and Muslims. However, even the ones who converted to Christianity or born Christian were tortured if they once were of another faith or if it could be traced back in their roots. The ones who had the Jewish blood, or of any other faith and were born Christian, were tortured more severely. The accused was not allowed to have a lawyer or counsel for their defense.

Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Straight of 'Gibraltar' at first with the sole intention of avenging king Roderic for the crime he committed. However, because of the weakness of the kingdom due to civil war, Tariq opted to continue his occupation of Roderic's entire empire. Another theory for the occupation by the Arab Muslims of Spain is that because of their persecution, the Jews called upon their contacts in North Africa, who in turn encouraged the able Arabs to capture Spain. This allowed the Almoravids and the Almohads to establish themselves in Spain.Nevertheless, without a doubt, the Jews supported and welcomed Muslims in Spain because they were great beneficiaries under Muslim rule.

Over thousands of years, the religion of Judaism has evolved. With years of suffering, persecution, and dispersion the Jews’ religion stays constant. When researching the religion, the history is extremely strong, and the doctrine of the religion dates back thousands of years. With such a vast history, one might want to examine the change into modern society.