Expulsion of the Jews from Spain

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The arrival to the throne of the Catholic kingsIt supposed a series of changes in the administration and in the society that would make, little by little, both Castile and Aragon reached the Modern Age even before many other European nations. Among the various social changes that occurred, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we bring you a summary of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, an ethnic component that, since the great diaspora of the Roman Empire, inhabited the Peninsula being, in addition, a quite powerful group within society.

Index

1. The Jews during the Middle Ages
2. Why did the anti-Semitic element arise?
3. The resurgence of life for the Jewish people in the Peninsula
4. The creation of the Holy Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews

Although it has always been said that tolerance between cultures in the Iberian Peninsula had been exemplary, recent studies show us that in no case was this the case. Jews living in Muslim domains were respected, because they had to pay a series of tributes for keeping their Faith, although they were confined to a series of neighborhoods of which they could barely move.

In the territories belonging to the Christians, the aljamas / Jewish quarters were the special neighborhoods for this type of group, which from the 13th century began to be located near the centers of power such as the Alcázar in the case of the city of Seville.

This was undoubtedly due to the fact that a series of antisemitic outbreaks, headed by ecclesiastics and members of the nobility. Thus we will find massacres such as the one carried out in 1348 in Barcelona due to an outbreak of the black plague that devastated the region and whose blame fell on said people.

Continuing with our summary on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, we must emphasize two root causes for the emergence of anti-Semitism.

Christian conception

In the first place, the Church from the beginning of the Full Middle Ages carried out the idea of ​​recovering the holy elements of Christendom, such as Jerusalem, among other key points for the Christianity.

Inside that apology, the Jewish people were seen as the murderer of the RedeemerIn other words, it was the people who executed Jesus Christ, therefore, any self-respecting Christian should go against these murderers.

Within this we must point out that throughout the Full and Low Middle Ages many Jews were converting to Christianity, some for conviction and others seeking a better quality of life, without having to be harassed by Christian neighbors who wanted to see the neighbor. The downside was that, if the Jews converted to Christianity, they could not be freely attacked and therefore we will find that during the late Middle Ages there will be many false accusations about heresy.

Economic reasons

To this ecclesiastical or theological element, we must add the economic activity that the Jews did, since they acted as bankers, charging too high interest (35%), an element that was reproached by the Church, calling it usury.

The problem was that both the great nobles and the kings on many occasions had to need their services and when it came to paying their debts it was better to attack their people, with the excuse that they were the murderers of the Savior.

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The 14th century was marked by great racial tension both in the Crown of Castile and in the Crown of Aragon, thus a fundamental milestone to understand the expulsion of This town was produced in the year 1391, by which time the Jewish quarter of Seville was completely destroyed in a night, dying about 2000 people during the assault.

This fact was provoked from the pulpits, at the hands of the speech of Fernando Martínez, the Archdeacon of Écija. After this, Córdoba, Burgos and other important points of the Crown of Castile, would suffer the incipient hatred provoked by the Church and supported by the nobles, who owed a lot of money to these bankers.

From that moment on we should know that the Crown had to apply a series of measures to appease and safeguard the lives of the Jews:

• They were forced to leave the beard.
• They had to wear a red badge sewn, to be able to be differentiated at a glance.
• You couldn't proselytize, that is, they could not try to convert people to their religion, nor to their children.
• Obligation of attend three annual masses, with the intention that they be converted to the Christian Faith.
• Limitation of synagogues.

The creation of the Holy Inquisition in Castile in 1480 began the process of expulsion definitive. During the years prior to this, an indefinite number of people left the Castilian and Aragonese kingdoms for Italy or Portugal, places where their culture was still respected. These were selling their possessions, being able to obtain benefits of these.

In the year 1482 the expulsion of all the Jews took place in the kingdom of Seville that there was in these lands, an element that included Seville, Huelva, Cádiz and some areas of Córdoba, that is, of all western Andalusia. This caused many families to be evicted and some to embark to North Africa and others to Portugal.

The other great milestone within this summary on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, took place in the year 1492, when every Jew was forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula, Unless he converted to Christianity, so in four months there was one of the largest population movements that the Iberian Peninsula has had.

In total we know that between 70,000-100,000 people were expelled of the peninsular territory and the most recent studies warn that it did not lead to the loss economic, because their assets were confiscated, thus passing to the Crown and other groups social.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover a brief summary of the Spanish Inquisition so that you know their work better.

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