Page 60 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

11
justice." The Jews' survival, however, depended
totally on the monarchy. Royal sufferance
alone guaranteed their existence and then only
by virtue of a special concession granted in
exchange for certain taxes and other services.
Notwithstanding the inherent precariousness
of their situation, Jews came to occupy a rela-
tively important place throughout the Spains.
Most were small merchants, itinerant traders,
small moneylenders, and shop owners; others
worked as physicians; some even owned land,
despite prohibitions to the contrary. On the
other hand, Jews did not figure prominently
either in industry or international commerce,
although a few did manage to occupy high
offices of state. Isabella, for example, named
Abraham Seneor, grand rabbi of the Jewish
alhamas (ghettos), treasurer of the Santa
Hermandad in 1486.
Generally speaking, Jews in the Spains were
tolerated, if not exactly loved. For all practical
purposes they constituted a separate commu-
nity, subject to their own law and officials.
In the wake of the pogroms of 1391, however,
Jews met with growing intolerance, much of it
sparked by preachers belonging to one of the
mendicant orders. Christians complained about
the Jews' special legal position, pointing to their
exemptions from imprisonment for debt, from
serving in the militia, and the like. Munici-
palities enacted new and more restrictive
measures against Jews, including limits on pro-
selytizing (1455), prohibitions against the con-
struction of new synagogues (1465), insistence
that Jews wear special clothing (1476), as well as
the requirement they live in walled ghettos
(1480). The last measure was designed to mini-
mize communication between Christians and
fig. 3. Pedro Berruguete, Saint Dominic Presiding at an Auto da Fe. Jews and was specifically aimed at separating
Oil on panel. Museo del Prado, Madrid converses from their former brethren.
Ferdinand and Isabella generally attempted to
protect "their" Jews from discrimination, but
recalcitrant. At one such auto, staged in Toledo cute thousands of innocent converses and to the monarchs' support began to waver shortly
on Sunday 12 February 1486, the local inquisi- confiscate their goods. In Aragon these abuses after the inquisition commenced operation. In
tors, working diligently before what the event's were so flagrant that even the papacy com- January 1483 Seville's inquisitors expelled the
chronicler described as a "great number of spec- plained about the inquisitors' "love of lucre" Jews from that city on the grounds that their
tators/' managed to dispatch the cases of no and lack of concern with the salvation of souls. continued presence contributed to heresy and
fewer than 750 male and female penitents in the For Ferdinand the Holy Office was a means of apostasy among local converses. The Jews pro-
8
course of a single morning. Similar autos were increasing royal authority and there was no tested, but the monarchs did little to rescind the
held with terrifying frequency throughout most turning back: "no cause or interest, however order. Nor did they intervene in subsequent
of the 14805; nevertheless, many converses great, will make us suspend the Inquisition." 10 years when other cities, again citing Jews as the
escaped unharmed and were assimilated suc- Ferdinand and Isabella's decision to expel the source of apostasy among converses, expelled
cessfully into Castilian society. In 1484 one Jews from their kingdoms in 1492 represents their Jewish populations.
Polish traveler even reported that Isabella "has yet another part of their effort to protect what Similar reasoning may be found in the royal
greater confidence in baptized Jews than in they sincerely believed to be the true faith. By edict of 31 March 1492 that ordered the whole-
Christians. She entrusts them with her rents law, Jews belonged to the royal patrimony. "All sale expulsion of the Jews from both Castile and
and revenues. They are also her counsellors and the Jews in my kingdom are mine," Isabella once Aragon. The document specifically faults "close
9
secretaries, and so are those of the king." But remarked, "and they are my Jews, and they are communication between Christians and Jews"
the tendency to equate New Christians with under my help and protection, and mine is the as the primary cause of "bad Christians [con-
heresy enabled overzealous inquisitors to perse- obligation to defend, help, and maintain them in versos] who judaize and apostatize." It also

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 59