Alhambra Decree
The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion;
In 1924, the regime of
In 2015, the government of Spain passed a law allowing
Background
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By the end of the eighth century,
The .
During the Christian re-conquest, the Muslim kingdoms in Spain became less welcoming to the dhimmi. In the late twelfth century, the Muslims in al-Andalus invited the fanatical Almohad dynasty from North Africa to push the Christians back to the North.[3] After they gained control of the Iberian Peninsula, the Almohads offered the Jews a choice between expulsion, conversion, and death.[3] Many Jewish people fled to other parts of the Muslim world, and also to the Christian kingdoms, which initially welcomed them. In Christian Spain, Jews functioned as courtiers, government officials, merchants, and moneylenders.[3] Therefore, the Jewish community was both useful to the ruling classes and to an extent protected by them.[13]
As the Reconquista drew to a close, overt hostility against Jews in Christian Spain became more pronounced, finding expression in brutal episodes of violence and oppression. In the early fourteenth century, the Christian kings vied to prove their piety by allowing the clergy to subject the Jewish population to forced sermons and disputations.[3] More deadly attacks came later in the century from mobs of angry Catholics, led by popular preachers, who would storm into the Jewish quarter, destroy synagogues, and break into houses, forcing the inhabitants to choose between conversion and death.[3] Thousands of Jews sought to escape these attacks by converting to Christianity. These Jewish converts were commonly called conversos, New Christians, or marranos; the latter two terms were used as insults. At first, these conversions seemed an effective solution to the cultural conflict: many converso families met with social and commercial success.[3] But eventually their success made these new Catholics unpopular with their neighbors, including some of the clergy of the Church and Spanish aristocrats competing with them for influence over the royal families. By the mid-fifteenth century, the demands of the Old Christians that the Catholic Church and the monarchy differentiate them from the conversos led to the first limpieza de sangre laws, which restricted opportunities for converts.[3]
These suspicions on the part of Christians were only heightened by the fact that some of the conversions were insincere. Some conversos, also known as crypto-Jews, embraced Christianity and underwent baptism while privately adhering to Jewish practices and faith. Recently converted families who continued to intermarry were especially viewed with suspicion.[3] For their part, the Jewish community viewed conversos with compassion, because Jewish law held that conversion under threat of violence was not necessarily legitimate.[3] Although the Catholic Church was also officially opposed to forced conversion, under ecclesiastical law all baptisms were lawful, and once baptized, converts were not allowed to rejoin their former religion.[3]
European context
From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, European countries expelled the Jews from their territories on at least fifteen occasions. Before the Spanish expulsion, the Jews had been expelled from England in 1290, several times from France between 1182 and 1354, and from some German states. The French case is typical of most expulsions: whether the expulsion was local or national, the Jews usually were allowed to return after a few years.[14] The Spanish expulsion was succeeded by at least five expulsions from other European countries,[15][16] but the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was both the largest of its kind and, officially, the longest lasting in western European history.
Over the four-hundred-year period during which most of these decrees were implemented, the causes of expulsion gradually changed. At first, expulsions of Jews (or absence of expulsions) were exercises of royal prerogatives. Jewish communities in mediaeval Europe often were protected by and associated with monarchs because, under the feudal system, Jews often were a monarch's only reliable source of taxes.[14] Jews further had reputations as moneylenders because they were the only social group allowed to loan money at a profit under the prevailing interpretation of the Vulgate (the Latin translation of the Bible used in Roman Catholic western Europe as the official text), which forbade Christians to charge interest on loans.[14] Jews, therefore, became the lenders to and creditors of merchants, aristocrats, and even monarchs. Most expulsions before the Alhambra Decree were related to this financial situation: to raise additional monies, a monarch would tax the Jewish community heavily, forcing Jews to call in loans; the monarch then would expel the Jews; at the time of expulsion, the monarch would seize their remaining valuable assets, including debts owed them by other subjects of the monarch and, in some instances, by the monarch himself.[14] Expulsion of the Jews from Spain was thus an innovation not only in scale but also in its motivations.
Ferdinand and Isabella
Hostility towards the Jews in Spain was brought to a climax during the reign of the "Catholic Monarchs," Ferdinand and Isabella. Their marriage in 1469, which formed a personal union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, with coordinated policies between their distinct kingdoms, eventually led to the final unification of Spain.
Although their initial policies towards the Jews were protective, Ferdinand and Isabella were disturbed by reports claiming that most Jewish converts to Christianity were insincere in their conversion.
These issues came to a head during Ferdinand and Isabella's final conquest of Granada. The independent Islamic
Decree
The king and queen issued the Alhambra Decree less than three months after the surrender of Granada. Although Isabella was the force behind the decision, her husband Ferdinand did not oppose it. That her confessor had just changed from the tolerant Hernando de Talavera to the very intolerant Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros suggests an increase in royal hostility towards the Jews.[18] The text of the decree accused the Jews of trying "to subvert the holy Catholic faith" by attempting to "draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs."[1] These measures were not new in Europe.
After the decree was passed, Spain's entire Jewish population was given only four months to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. The edict promised the Jews royal protection and security for the effective three-month window before the deadline. They were permitted to take their belongings with them, excluding "gold or silver or minted money or other things prohibited by the laws of our kingdoms."[1] In practice, however, the Jews had to sell anything they could not carry: their land, their houses, and their libraries, and converting their wealth to a more portable form proved difficult. The market in Spain was saturated with these goods, which meant the prices were artificially lowered for the months before the deadline. As a result, much of the wealth of the Jewish community remained in Spain. The punishment for any Jew who did not convert or leave by the deadline was summary execution.[1]
Dispersal
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2019) |
The
Many Spanish Jews also fled to the Ottoman Empire, where they were given refuge. Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire, learning about the expulsion of Jews from Spain, dispatched the Ottoman Navy to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of Thessaloniki (currently in Greece) and İzmir (currently in Turkey).[19] Many of these Jews also settled in other parts of the Balkans ruled by the Ottomans such as the areas that are now Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia. Concerning this incident, Bayezid II is alleged to have commented, "those who say that Ferdinand and Isabella are wise are indeed fools; for he gives me, his enemy, his national treasure, the Jews."
A majority of Sephardim migrated to
Throughout history, scholars have given widely differing numbers of Jews expelled from Spain. However, the figure is likely to be below the 100,000 Jews who had not yet converted to Christianity by 1492, possibly as low as 40,000. Such figures exclude the significant number of Jews who returned to Spain due to the hostile reception they received in their countries of refuge, notably
Conversions
A majority of Spain's Jewish population had converted to Christianity during the waves of religious persecutions prior to the Decree—a total of 200,000 converts according to Joseph Pérez.
A
Modern Spanish policy
The Spanish government has actively pursued a policy of reconciliation with the descendants of its expelled Jews. In 1924, the regime of Primo de Rivera granted the possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship to a part of the Sephardic Jewish diaspora.
From November 2012 Sephardi Jews have had the right to automatic Spanish nationality without the requirement of residence in Spain. Prior to November 2012, Sephardi Jews already had the right to obtain Spanish citizenship after a reduced residency period of two years (versus ten years for foreigners but similar to nationals from Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil and about 20 other American republics that also require 2 years.) While their citizenship is being processed, Sephardi Jews are entitled to the consular protection of the Kingdom of Spain.
See also
- Edict of Expulsion
- Edict of Fontainebleau
- Expulsion of Jews from Spain
- Expulsions of the Jews from France
- Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain, a series of similar decrees affecting Muslims
- Expulsion of the Jews from Sicily
- Expulsion of the Moriscos
- Expulsions of Protestants from Salzburg
References
- ^ a b c d "The Edict of Expulsion of the Jews – 1492 Spain". www.sephardicstudies.org. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ISBN 978-84-08-00695-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0029115749.
- ^ ISBN 9780252031410.
- ^ a b Celia Prados García: La expulsión de los judíos y el retorno de los sefardíes como nacionales españoles. Un análisis histórico-jurídico (in Spanish)
- ^ a b "1492 Ban on Jews Is Voided by Spain", The New York Times, 17 December 1968
- ^ "Sephardic Jews eager to apply for Spanish citizenship", Washington Post, 17 February 2014
- ^ "1492 and all that", The Economist, 22 February 2014
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ^ "BOE-A-2015-7045 Ley 12/2015, de 24 de junio, en materia de concesión de la nacionalidad española a los sefardíes originarios de España". pp. 52557–52564.
- OCLC 183353253.
- ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project".
- ISBN 978-1611684872.
- ^ ISBN 978-0674015937.
- ISBN 9780706513271.
- ^ "Map of Jewish expulsions and resettlement areas in Europe". A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust. Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
- OCLC 759581255.
- ^ Eisenberg, Daniel (1993) [1992]. "Cisneros y la quema de los manuscritos granadinos" [Cisneros and the Burning of the Granada Manuscripts]. Journal of Hispanic Philology. pp. 107–124. Retrieved 27 June 2017. [dead link]
- ^ "Turkey", Jewish Virtual Library
- ^ Kayserling, Meyer. "História dos Judeus em Portugal". Editora Pioneira, São Paulo, 1971
- PMID 15280900.
- PMID 12627534.
- S2CID 18482536.
- S2CID 26716816.
- PMID 18976729.
- PMID 19061982.
Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a Sephardic Jewish origin
- ^ Yanes, Javier. "Tres culturas en el ADN" [Three cultures in DNA] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
[English translation] The Sephardi result may be overestimated, since there is much diversity in those genes and maybe absorbed other genes from the Middle East. Puts Calafell in doubt the validity of ancestry tests? They can be good for the Americans, we already know from where we come from.
- ^ Hesman Saey, Tina (4 December 2008). "Spanish Inquisition couldn't quash Moorish, Jewish genes". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
We think it might be an over estimate. The genetic makeup of Sephardic Jews is probably common to other Middle Eastern populations, such as the Phoenicians, that also settled the Iberian Peninsula," Calafell says: "In our study, that would have all fallen under the Jewish label.
- ^ Cáceres, Pedro (10 December 2008). "Uno de cada tres españoles tiene marcadores genéticos de Oriente Medio o el Magreb" [One in three Spaniards have genetic markers for Middle East and the Maghreb] (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 September 2016.
[English translation] Dr. Calafell clarifies that ... the genetic markers used to distinguish the population with Sephardi ancestry may produce distortions. The 25% of Spaniards that are identified as having Sephardi ancestry in the study could have inherited that same marker from older movements like the Phoenicians, or even the first Neolithic settlers thousands of years ago.
- ^ Callaway, Ewen (4 December 2008). "Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia". New Scientist.
- ^ Wheelwright, Jeff. "The 'Secret Jews' of San Luis Valley". Smithsonian. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ^ Cembrero, Ignacio (1 April 1992). "El Rey celebra en la sinagoga de Madrid "el encuentro con los judíos españoles"" [The King celebrates the "meeting with Spanish Jews" in the Madrid synagogue]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 September 2016.
- ^ Minder, Raphael (22 November 2012). "Spain: Citizenship Process Eased for Sephardic Jews". The New York Times.
- ^ Alberola, Miquel (30 November 2015). "El Rey, a los sefardíes: "¡Cuánto os hemos echado de menos!"" [The King, to the Sephardim, "How I've missed you!"]. El País (in Spanish).
- ^ Goldschläger, Arielle, and Camilla Orjuela (2021). "Return after 500 Years? Spanish and Portuguese Repatriation Laws and the Reconstruction of Sephardic Identity." Diaspora Studies 14, no. 1 (2021): 97–115.
External links
- The Edict of Expulsion of the Jews – English translation of the decree (from Castilian) by Edward Peters (b. 1936)
- Alhambra Decree: 521 Years Later, a blog post on the Law Library of Congress's In Custodia Legis.