TheEdict
of 1492
Jewish
converts to Christianity (Conversos), were a mixed bag. Many were voluntary
and of true conviction and often these converts became the most zealous
persecutors of the Jews. Many more converted, often as a gesture otherwise
meaningless to them, because it was beneficial to their careers and position
in court. Still others went to their deaths in the thousands condemned
to burn at the stake for refusing conversion. Sad stories abound about
families condemned to burn alive where mothers threw their children into
the fire before jumping to follow them to avoid their conversion. Finally
there were the forced conversions, the Anusim. Being involuntary these
converts clung to their Judaism in secret and became known as crypto Jews.
In
1391vicious riots broke out in Seville,
Valencia and other Spanish cities causing many Jewish deaths. Preachers
such as Ferrer roamed the country stirring up mobs who looted and terrorized
the Jews. A forced debate was held in 1431 between learned Jews and Jeronimode
la Santa Fe who 2 years after his conversion (he was Joshua Harlorki)had
risen to become the right hand of Pope Boniface XIII. The debate was designed
to prove conclusively that Jesus was the Messiah and was declared to have
done so.
The
combination of debate, restrictive laws and persecution caused such demoralization
of Spanish Jewry that thousands accepted baptism. The Jewish aristocracy
was particularly encouraged to convert because they were needed to continue
their traditional roles as counsellors to the government Since the Jewish
aristocracy was largely secular at the time, great numbers did accept baptism
but maintained old traditions, such as not eating pork and similar. Many
of them married extensively into the Spanish nobility where their wealth
was a great asset to historic but impoverished nobility. Parodies appeared
calling conversos albaracosbecause,
Al barak the magic steed that transported Mohammad to Heaven was "neither
a horse nor a mule", it resembled these conversos who were neither
Jews
nor Christians.
Though
the clergy had felt that if Jews were converted to Catholicismtheir
problems would be over, the over taxed, economically deprived Castilian
peasantry, envious of Jews because of their economic and social success,
noted no great change in their living conditions after the conversions.
Gradually the anger with monarchs which had been deflected to their Jewish
surrogates extended to the rulers themselves especially after a couple
of particularly ineffective monarchs and a civil war between feuding half
brothers.