ruveyn wrote:
Laconvivencia wrote:
16th century Spain, the closest you could get to Nazi Germany during the 16th century
That is right on. In Spain the Inquisition introduced racial notions into who was or was not a proper Catholic. Converts or the descendants of Jews were cast in a bad light. It turns out that many of the descendants of Jews who did not leave during the expulsion in 1491 advanced far in the hierarchy of management of the Catholic church because of their ability. Envy and suspicion introduced the notion of limpienza del sangre (purity of blood) and many such persons were demoted and even imprisoned by the Inquisition. Having Jewish ancestry become cause for being closely monitored by the Inquistion.
In the 16th century it did not pay to have opinions or if one had them, it were best to keep one's opinions to one's self.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
ruveyn
the Spanish Anti Judaism goes years back before the Spanish Inquisition and the 1492 expulsion, it all started after the Black Death when the Christians were blaming Jews, when Henry II ascended the Throne of Castile (Spain was divided into 2 kingdoms Castile and Araon) in 1369, he introduced these Anti Semitic Laws.
Jews
1) Must 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.
in 1391 things got worse, a fanatical Monk unleashed a pogrom which spreaded all around Castile and Aragon to Forcibly convert Jews to Catholicism, many converted to escape persecution, this was the first wave of Marranos (Jewish Converts to Catholicism)
in 1412 the second wave of conversos came a fanatical Monk who became a saint called Vincent Ferrer ordered the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon to inroduce the Infamous valladolid Laws to convert Jews to Catholicism, 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.
some time later these lawas were removed, Marrano's were not allowed to return to Judaism.
Vincent Ferrer and a Marrano bishop Paul of Burgos in 1412-1413 ordered the disputation of Tortosa this dispute between Jews and christians was made to humiliate Jews and to convert Jews to Christianity.
in 1449 the first Limpieza de Sangre Law was introduced by the Council of Toledo excluding all Marranos from public office.
in 1478 the inquisition was introduced to deal with all those conversos who are secretly practising the Jewish Religion. in 1492 Torquemada ordered the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
Last edited by Laconvivencia on 17 Sep 2009, 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
13 Sep 2009, 5:33 pm
