Early Christian Rule (11^th Century-1868):

The early years of Christian rule over parts of Spain seemed quite promising for the Spanish Jews. Alfonso VI, the conqueror of Toledo (1085), was tolerant and benevolent in his attitude toward them, for which he won the praise of Pope Alexander II. Soon after coming to power, Alfonso VI offered the Jews full equality with Christians and even the rights offered to the nobility to estrange the wealthy and industrious Jews from the Moors.

To show their gratitude to the king for the rights granted them, the Jews willingly placed themselves at his and the country's service. At one point, Alfonso's army contained 40,000 Jews, who were distinguished from the other combatants by their black-and-yellow turbans. (So honored and important were the Jews to the Spanish army that the Spanish chose not to initiate the battle of Zallaka until after the Sabbath had passed). The king's favoritism toward the Jews became so pronounced that Pope Gregory VII warned him not to permit Jews to rule over Christians and roused the hatred and envy of the latter.

After the Christian loss at the Battle of Ucles (1108), an anti-Semitic riot broke out in Toledo; many Jews were slain, and their houses and synagogues burned. Alfonso intended to punish the murderers and incendiaries, but died before he could carry out his intention (1109). After his death the inhabitants of Carrion slaughtered the local Jews, others were imprisoned and their houses pillaged.

In the beginning of his reign, Alfonso VII (1111) curtailed the rights and liberties that his father granted the Jews. He ordered that neither a Jew nor a convert may exercise legal authority over Christians, and he held the Jews responsible for the collection of the royal taxes. Soon, however, he became friendlier, confirming the Jews in all their former privileges and even granting them additional ones, by which they were placed in parity with Christians. Judah ben Joseph ibn Ezra had considerable influence with the king, and after the conquest of Calatrava (1147) the king placed Judah in command of one of his fortresses, later making him his court chamberlain.

Under the reign of Alfonso VIII the Jews gained still greater influence, aided, doubtless, by the king's love of the beautiful Jewess Rachel Fermosa of Toledo. When the king was defeated at the battle of Alarcos, many attributed the defeat to the king's love affair with Fermosa, and the nobility retaliated by murdering her and her relatives in Toledo.

Despite the reclaimed status of the Jews in Spain, their condition soon began to worsen once again as the Crusaders unleashed another round of anti-Semitic riots in Toledo (1212), robbing and butchering Jews across the nation. During the 13^th century, Spanish Jews of both sexes, like the Jews of France, were required to distinguish themselves from Christians by wearing a yellow badge on their clothing; this order was issued to keep them from associating with Christians, although the reason given was that it was ordered for their own safety.

During this time, the clergy's endeavors directed against the Jews became increasingly pronounced as well. A papal bull issued by Pope Innocent IV in April, 1250 further worsened the situation of the Jews in Spain by prohibiting Jews from building new synagogues without special permission, outlawing proselytizing by pain of death, and forbidding most forms of contact between Jews and Christians. According to the decree, Jews were also forbidden to appear in public on Good Friday. The Jews of Spain were also forced to live as a separate political body in the Juderias (Jewish ghettos).

Although the Spanish Jews engaged in many branches of human endeavor—agriculture, viticulture, industry, commerce, and the various handicrafts—it was the money business that procured them their wealth and influence. Kings and prelates, noblemen and farmers, all needed money, and could obtain it only from the Jews, who were forced to act as bailiffs, tax-farmers, or tax-collectors since Christians were forbidden from charging eachother interest rates. Becuase of their acquired wealth, as well as government anti-Semitism, Jews were also forced to pay many additional and exorbitant taxes to the king.

Disputation of Barcelona

Though their holy texts were often burned by royal decree, and many Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, during the rule of King James of Aragon (a Christian ruled province of Spain) the Spanish monarchy started to take an interest in Jewish philosophy and religion, if only so that they could better understand Jews and convince them to convert. In 1263, King James convened a special council of Dominican (Christian) and Jewish clergymen to debate three key theological issues: whether the Messiah had already appeared, whether the Messiah was divine or human, and which religion was the true faith. Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi, Ramban), a Jewish theologian and philosopher was called upon to represent the Jews; while Friar Pablo Christiani, a Jew who later converted to Christianity, represented the Church.

Nachmanides

The disputation lasted four days and drew the attention of the entire Jewish community. Though the King granted Nachmanides the freedom to speak freely, the Jewish community feared that any statement that offended the King would lead to increased persecution. As the disputation turned in favor of Nachmanides the Jews of Barcelona entreated him to discontinue; but the King, whom Nachmanides had acquainted with the apprehensions of the Jews, desired him to proceed. At the end of disputation, King James awarded Nachmanides a prize and declared that never before had he heard "an unjust cause so nobly defended.” Despite the Kings declaration, the Dominicans still claimed victory, which led Nachmanides to publish a transcript of the debate to prove his case. From this publication Christiani selected certain passages which he construed as blasphemies against Christianity and denounced to his general Raymond de Penyafort. A capital charge was then instituted, and a formal complaint against the work and its author was lodged with the King. King James mistrusted the Dominican court and called an extraordinary commission, ordering the proceedings to be conducted in his presence. Nachmanides admitted that he had stated many things against Christianity, but he had written nothing which he had not used in his disputation in the presence of the King, who had granted him freedom of speech.

The justice of his defense was recognized by the King and the commission, but to satisfy the Dominicans Nachmanides was sentenced to exile for two years and his pamphlet was condemned to be burned. The Dominicans, however, found this punishment too mild and, through Pope Clement IV, they succeeded in turning the two years' exile into perpetual banishment. Nachmanides left Aragon never to return again and, in 1267, he settled in the Land of Israel. There he founded the oldest active synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, the Ramban Synagogue.

The Reign of Pedro I

During the reign of Pedro I (1350-1369), the quality of Jewish life in Spain began to improve and the King became a well-known friend to the Jews. From the commencement of his reign, Pedro so surrounded himself with Jews that his enemies in spoke derisively of his royal court as "a Jewish court." Soon, however a civil war erupted and a rival army, led by Pedro I’s half brother Henry II, attacked the Jews. During the war, part of the Juderia of Toledo was plundered and about 12,000 Jews were murdered without distinction of age or sex. The mob did not, however, succeed in overrunning the Juderia proper, where the Jews, reinforced by a number of Toledan noblemen, defended themselves bravely.

The friendlier Pedro was to the Jews, and the more he protected them, the more antagonistic his half brother became. Later, when Henry II invaded Castile in 1360, he robbed and butchered the Jews living in Miranda de Ebro and Najera.

Yet, everywhere the Jews still remained loyal to Pedro and fought bravely in his army. In return, Pedro I showed his good will toward them, and called upon the King of Granada to also protect the Jews. Nevertheless the Jews suffered greatly. Villadiego (whose Jewish community numbered many scholars), Aguilar, and many other towns were destroyed. The inhabitants of Valladolid, who paid homage to Henry, robbed the Jews, destroyed their houses and synagogues, and tore their Torah scrolls. Paredes, Palencia, and several other communities met with a similar fate, and 300 Jewish families from Jaen were taken prisoners to Granada. Pedro was eventually defeated and succeeded by Henry de Trastamara.

Conditions Worsen

When Henry de Trastamara ascended the throne as Henry II (1369), the Jews of Spain witnessed the dawn of a new era of suffering and persecution. Prolonged warfare devastated the land, and the people became accustomed to lawlessness. The Jews were reduced to extreme poverty and later expelled. In addition, Henry II decreed that Jews:

1) Be kept far from palaces

2) Were forbidden to hold public office

3) Must live separate from Christians

4) Should not wear costly garments nor ride on mules

5) Must wear distinct badges to indicate that they were Jewish

6) Were barred from adapting Christian names

7) Were forbidden to carry arms and sell weapons.

Despite his aversion for the Jews, Henry could not dispense with their services. He employed wealthy Jews—Samuel Abravanel and others—as financial councilors and tax collectors. He also did not prevent them from holding religious disputations or deny them the right to conduct their own court proceedings.

Massacre of 1391

Under the rule of John I (1379-1390), things grew even worse for the Jewish community of Spain. Jewish courts were forbidden from calling for capital punishment, Jews were forced to change prayers deemed offensive to the Church, and people were forbidden to convert to Judaism on pain of becoming property of the State. Anti-Semitic violence also increased during this period, and Jews were often beaten, or even killed in the streets.

A revolt broke out in Seville after the death of King John I in 1390 leading to a period of disorger which greatly affected the Jewish community of Spain in the coming years. On Ash Wednesday 1391, Ferrand Martinez, the Archdeacon of Ecija, urged Christians to kill or baptize the Jews of Spain. On June 6, the mob attacked the Juderia in Seville from all sides and murdered 4,000 Jews; the rest submitted to baptism as the only means of escaping death. The riots then spread across the countryside destroying many synagogues and murdering thousands of Jews in the streets. During the months long riots, the Cordova Juderia was burned down and over 5,000 Jews ruthlessly murdered regardless of age or sex. Again, more Jews converted as the only way to escape death.

Soon after, a series of laws were passed to reduce the Jews to poverty and further humiliate them. Under these laws, the Jews were ordered to:

1) Live by themselves in enclosed Juderias

2) Banned from practicing medicine, surgery, or chemistry

3) Banned from selling commodities such as bread, wine, flour, meat, etc.

4. Banned from engaging in handicrafts or trades of any kind

5) Forbidden to hire Christian servants, farm hands, lamplighters, or gravediggers

6). Banned from eating drinking, bathing, holding intimate conversation with, visiting, or giving presents to Christians

7) Banned from holding public offices or acting as money-brokers or agents.

8) Christian women, married or unmarried, were forbidden to enter the Juderia either by day or by night.

9) Allowed no self-jurisdiction whatever, nor might they, without royal permission, levy taxes for communal purposes

10) Forbidden to assume the title of "Don,"

11) Forbidden to carry arms

12) Forbidden to trim beard or hair

13) Jewesses were required to wear plain, long garments of coarse material reaching to the feet, and Jews were forbidden to wear garments made of fine material.

14) On pain of loss of property and even of slavery, Jews were forbidden to leave the country, and any grandee or knight who protected or sheltered a fugitive Jew was punished with a fine of 150,000 maravedís for the first offense.

These laws were strictly enforced, and calculated to compel the Jews to embrace Christianity.

Though these laws were targeted against the Jews, with them suffered the entire kingdom of Spain. Commerce and industry were at a standstill, the soil was left uncultivated, and the finances disturbed. In Aragon entire communities—as those of Barcelona, Lerida, and Valencia—were destroyed, and many had lost more than half of their members and were reduced to poverty.

After the persecutions of 1391, many Jews converted, and still thousands more continued to practice Judaism in secret (these people were known as Marranos). On account of their talent and wealth, and through intermarriage with noble families, the converts and Marranos gained considerable influence and filled important government offices. To restore commerce and industry, Queen Maria, consort of Alfonso V and temporary regent, endeavored to draw Jews to the country by offering them rights and privileges while making emigration difficult by imposing higher taxes.

The Inquisition

By the mid-15th century, hatred toward the Neo-Christians exceeded that toward the professed Jews.  Later, in 1413, at the behest of Pope Benedict XIII, King Ferdinand I of Aragon called for another religious disputation similar to that held two centuries earlier. Yet, unlike the disputation in which Nachmanides succesfully defended the Jews of Spain, the Disputation of Tortosa was structured in such a way that it always granted the final word to the Church. The King also was not as favorable to the Jews, and the representatives of the Jewish community less eloquent and convincing than Nachmanides had been. Jews were subsequently forcibly converted and rabbinic texts were confiscated and burned.

The nobles of Spain later found that they had only increased their difficulties by urging the conversion of the Jews, who remained as as devout in their new faith as they had been in the old, and gradually began to monopolize many of the offices of state, especially those connected with tax-farming. In 1465, a "concordia" was imposed upon Henry IV of Castile, reviving all the former anti-Jewish regulations. (So threatening did the prospects of the Jews become that in 1473 they offered to buy Gibraltar from the king; the offer was refused).

As soon as the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella ascended their thrones (1479 and 1474, respectively), steps were taken to segregate the Jews both from the "conversos" and from their fellow countrymen. Though both monarchs were surrounded by Neo-Christians, such as Pedro de Caballeria and Luis de Santangel, and though Ferdinand was the grandson of a Jew, he showed the greatest intolerance to Jews, whether converted or otherwise.

Anti-Semitism in Spain peaked during the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella as they instituted the Spanish Inquisition, a Church sponsored investigation of anyone suspected of being a crypto-Jew (Marrano). On November 1, 1478, Pope Sixtus IV published the bull Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, through which the Inquisition was established in the Kingdom of Castile. During this period, thousands of Marranos (Jews who had converted to Christianity but still practiced Judaism in secret) were interrogated and executed. At first, the activity of the Inquisition was limited to the dioceses of Seville and Cordoba, where Alonso de Hojeda had detected the center of Marrano activity. From there, the Inquisition grew rapidly in the Kingdom of Castile. By 1492, tribunals existed in eight Castilian cities: Ávila, Córdoba, Jaén, Medina del Campo, Segovia, Sigüenza, Toledo and Valladolid. The first auto de fe (reading of a decree against someone found to be a heretic, followed by a prayer session and public procession) was celebrated in Seville on February 6, 1481: six people were burned alive.

Sketch depicting one of the brutal torture methods used to interogate
Marranos into confessing that they were Jewish during the Spanish Inquisition.

Despite the horrors of the Inquisition, the cities of Aragón continued resisting, and even saw periods of revolt, such as in Teruel from 1484 to 1485. However, the murder of inquisidor Pedro Arbués in Zaragoza on September 15, 1485, caused public opinion to turn against the Marranos and in favor of the Inquisition.

The Inquisition was extremely active between 1480 and 1530, during which time about 2,000 Jews were executed. Many Spanish Jews immigrated to Portugal (from where they were expelled in 1497) and to Morocco. Much later the Sephardim, descendants of Spanish Jews, established flourishing communities in many cities of Europe, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire.

Approximately 40,000 Jews converted to Christianity to escape death and expulsion. These conversos were the principal concern of the Inquisition; continuing to practice Judaism put them at risk of denunciation and trial. (During the 18th century the number of conversos accused by the Inquisition decreased significantly. Manuel Santiago Vivar, who was tried in Cordoba in 1818, was the last person tried for being a crypto-Jew).

Expulsion of 1492

Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree in 1492, which officialy called for all Jews, regardless of age, to leave the kingdom by the last day of July (one day before Tisha B'Av). It is estimated that more than 235,000 Jews lived in Spain before the inquisition. Of these, approximately 165,000 immigrated to neighboring countries (mostly to Italy, England, Holland, Morroco, Egypt, France, and the Americas), 50,000 converted to Christianity, and 20,000 died en route to a new location.

The Al Hambra Decree signed in 1492 by King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella ordering the expulsion of the Jews from all land under their control.

Some claim that Don Isaac Abravanel, who had previously ransomed 480 Jewish Moriscos of Malaga from the Catholic monarchs by a payment of 20,000 doubloons, offered Ferdinand and Isabella 600,000 crowns for the revocation of the edict of expulsion. As the story goes, Ferdinand hesitated, but was prevented from accepting the offer by Torquemada, the grand inquisitor, who dashed into the royal presence, threw a crucifix down before the king and queen, and asked whether, like Judas, they would betray their Lord for money.

Many Spanish Jews settled in Portugal, which allowed the practice of Judaism. In 1497, however, Portugal also expelled its Jews. King Manuel of Portugal agreed to marry the daughter of Spain’s monarchs. One of the conditions for the marriage was the expulsion of Portugal’s Jewish community. In actuality only eight Jews were exiled from Portugal and the rest converted, under duress, to Christianity.

Modern Times (1868-Present)

After hundreds of years abroad, Jews were finally permitted to return to Spain upon the creation of a new constitutional monarchy in 1868, though the edict of expulsion was not repealed until 1968. (From 1868 until 1968 Jews were allowed to live in Spain as individuals, but not to practice Judaism as a community). Small numbers of Jews started to arrive in Spain in the 19th century, and synagogues were eventually opened in Madrid and Barcelona. Slowly things began to improve and Spanish historians even started to take an interest in the history of Spain’s Jewish population and in the Sephardic language of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). The government of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) even granted the right of Spanish citizenship to Sephardim who applied before December 31, 1931.

During this period, Jews slowly began to return to Spain and take part in national affairs. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), many Jews from all over Europe and America volunteered to fight in support of the Spanish Second Republic. Despite the easing of tensions between the Spanish government and the Jews, synagogues in Spain remained closed.

The Holocaust

During World War II  Franco-led Spain aided the Jews by permitting 25,600 Jews to use the country as an escape route from the European theater of war, provided they “passed through leaving no trace.” Paradoxically, though Spain later cultivated relations with Arab countries, it also assisted Moroccan and Egyptian Jews who survived pogroms.

Furthermore, Spanish diplomats such as Ángel Sanz Briz and Giorgio Perlasca protected some 4,000 Jews and accepted 2,750 Jewish refugees from Hungary. Later, as the Franco regime evolved, synagogues were opened and the communities were permitted to hold services discreetly.

Modern Jewish Community

Today, there are approximately 50,000 Jews living in Spain, mainly of North African-Sephardic descent. The Jewish community is led by the central governing body of the Federación de Comunidades Judías de España (FCJE). Like other religious communities in Spain, FCJE has established agreements with the Spanish government, regulating the status of Jewish clergy, places of worship, teaching, marriages, holidays, tax benefits and heritage conservation. Jewish day schools have also been established in Barcelona, Madrid, and Málaga. In the 1970s there was also an influx of Argentinian Jews, mainly Ashkenazim, escaping from the military Junta. Spain also grows kosher olives which they export to Jews around the world.  

Despite interest in Jewish culture, Jews are still not completely safe from anti-Semitism. Many Spanish-Jewish leaders note that the presence of the “new anti-Semitism” is growing. This new form uses anti-Zionism as a disguise for anti-Semitism.

Spain and Israel

Even with the gradual ease of tensions between the Spanish government and the Jews of Spain, Francoist Spain chose not to establish diplomatic relations with the new state of Israel. Israel, in turn, opposed the admission of Spain into the United Nations as a friend of Nazi Germany. Despite not engaging in diplomatic relations with Israel, Spain maintained a consulate in Jerusalem and traded freely with Israel. After years of negotiations, the Spanish government of Felipe González established relations with Israel in 1986. Today, Spain tries to serve as a bridge between Israel and the Arabs as reflected by hosting the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991.

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