A signed copy of the Edict of Expulsion

Background

Beginning in the 8th century, Muslim invaders had occupied and settled most of the Iberian Peninsula. Jews who had lived in these regions since Roman times, considered 'people of the Book' (dhimmis), thrived under Muslim rule. The tolerance of the Muslim rulers attracted Jewish immigration, and Jewish enclaves in Muslim Spanish cities flourished as places of learning and commerce.

The Reconquista was the gradual reconquest of Muslim Spain by the Catholic Monarchs and had a powerful religious flavor: Spain was being reclaimed for Christendom. By the 14th century, almost all of Spain and Portugal had been taken back from the Moors.

Overt hostility against Jews became more pronounced, finding expression in brutal episodes of violence and oppression. Thousands of Jews sought to escape these attacks by converting to Catholicism; they were commonly called conversos or New Christians. At first these conversions seemed an effective solution to the cultural conflict: many converso families met with social and commercial success. But eventually their success made these New Christians unpopular with the church and royal hierarchies.

Many of the ruling Spanish, both secular and religious, viewed Jews with deep suspicion and hostility. (This is admittedly a major oversimplification of a complex history: for much greater detail, see History of the Jews in Spain.)

These suspicions on the part of Catholics were only heightened by the fact that some of the coerced conversions were undoubtedly insincere. Some, but not all, conversos had understandably chosen to salvage their social and commercial prestige by the only option open to them - baptism and embrace of Christianity - while privately adhering to their Jewish practice and faith. These secret practitioners are commonly referred to as crypto-Jews or marranos.

The existence of crypto-Jews was an irresistible provocation for secular and church leaders who were already hostile toward Spain's Jewry. The uncertainty over the sincerity of Jewish converts added explosive fuel to the fire of anti-semitism in 15th-century Spain.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The hostility toward Jews was brought to a climax by "The Catholic Monarchs" - Ferdinand and Isabella, whose marriage in 1469 led ten years later to the unification of the two principal Spanish kingdoms, Aragon and Castile. The result was a single royal state, the precursor of the modern state now known as Spain.

Ferdinand and Isabella took seriously the reports that some crypto-Jews were not only privately practicing their former faith, but were secretly trying to draw other conversos back into the Jewish fold. In 1480, the king and queen created the Spanish Inquisition to investigate these suspicions; under the authority of this new institution, thousands of converted Jews were killed within 12 years. It is not known how many, if any, had lapsed from their new Christianity, or were trying to convince others to do the same.

In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconquista by forcing the surrender of the Muslim kingdom of Granada (Granada had in fact been a vassal state to Spanish royals for more than two centuries). The surrender of the city of Granada placed yet another large Jewish population under their rule, and Ferdinand and Isabella decided to act.

The Edict

The king and queen issued the Alhambra decree less than three months after the surrender of Granada. In it, Jews were accused of trying "to subvert our holy Catholic faith and trying to draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs."

All Jews were ordered to leave the kingdom by "the end of July of this year." Jews were granted royal "protection and security" for the three-month window before the deadline. They were permitted to take their belongings with them - except "gold or silver or minted money".

The punishment for a Jew who did not leave by the deadline was death. The punishment for a non-Jew who sheltered or hid Jews was the confiscation of all belongings and hereditary privileges.

As a result of this expulsion, Spanish Jews dispersed throughout the region of North Africa known as the Maghreb. They also fled to south-eastern Europe, intermingling in many places with the Mizrachi (Eastern Jews) communities.

Scholars disagree about how many Jews left Spain as a result of the decree; the numbers vary between 130,000 and 800,000. Many (likely more than half) went to Portugal, where they only eluded persecution for a few years (see Portuguese Inquisition). The Jewish community in Portugal (perhaps then some 10% of that country's population ) were then declared Christians by Royal decree unless they left, but since their departure was severely hindered by the King (who needed their expertise for Portugal's overseas enterprises), the vast majority was forced to stay as nominal Christians.

Other Spanish Jews (estimates range between 50,000 and 70,000) chose in the face of the Edict to convert to Christianity and thereby escape expulsion. Not surprisingly, their conversion served as poor protection from church hostility after the Spanish Inquisition came into full effect; persecution and expulsion were common.

Many of these "New Christians" were eventually forced to either leave the countries or intermarry with the local populace by the dual Inquisitions of Portugal and Spain. Many settled in North Africa or elsewhere in Europe, most notably in the Netherlands and England (see Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands, History of the Marranos in England).

Don Isaac Abravanel and the Alhambra decree

Legend does claim that Don Isaac Abravanel, who had previously ransomed 480 Jewish converts of Malaga from the Catholic monarchs by a payment of 20,000 doubloons, now offered them 600,000 ducats for the revocation of the edict. It is said also that Ferdinand hesitated, but was prevented from accepting the offer by Torquemada, the grand inquisitor, who dashed into the royal presence and, throwing a crucifix down before the king and queen, asked whether, like Judas, they would betray their Lord for money.

The 1988 novel The Alhambra Decree by David Raphael contains a fictionalized response to the Alhambra decree attributed to Rabbi Don Isaac Abrabanel. It is commonly (and mistakenly) cited as genuine.^[1]

The Alhambra Decree (trans.)

See also

• History of the Jews in Spain.
• Jewish refugees
• Jewish diaspora

References

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