page_title: History of the Jews in Spain
section_title: Anti-Jewish laws
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Spain / 1391–1492 / Anti-Jewish laws
caption_attribution_description: English: A narrow laneway with stairs in the Jewish Quarter, Gerona, Spain.
context_page_description: The history of the Jews in Spain stretches back to Biblical times according to Jewish history. Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities in the world. Spain was the unquestioned leader of world Jewry: scientific and philological study of the Hebrew Bible began, secular poetry was written in Hebrew for the first time, and for the only time between Biblical times and the origins of the modern state of Israel, a Jew commanded a Jewish army. This period ended definitively with the anti-Jewish riots of 1391 and the Alhambra Decree of 1492, as a result of which the majority of Jews in Spain converted to Catholicism and those who continued to practice Judaism were forced into exile, although many thousands returned in the years following the expulsion.
  An estimated 13,000 to 50,000 Jews live in Spain today, concentrated in the provinces of Málaga, Madrid and Barcelona as well as having a historic presence in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. A significant portion of these are Spanish-speaking Jews who returned to Spain after centuries of exile in northern Morocco both during and after the Spanish protectorate.
context_section_description: At the Catholic preacher Ferrer's request a law consisting of twenty-four clauses, which had been drawn up by Paul of Burgos, né Solomon haLevi, was issued in January 1412 in the name of the child-king John II of Castile.
  The object of this law was to reduce the Jews to poverty and to further humiliate them. They were ordered to live by themselves, in enclosed Juderías, and they were to repair, within eight days after the publication of the order, to the quarters assigned them under penalty of loss of property. They were prohibited from practising medicine, surgery, or chemistry (pharmacy) and from dealing in bread, wine, flour, meat, etc. They might not engage in handicrafts or trades of any kind, nor might they fill public offices, or act as money-brokers or agents. They were not allowed to hire Catholic servants, farmhands, lamplighters, or gravediggers; nor might they eat, drink, or bathe with Catholics, or hold intimate conversation (have sexual relations) with them, or visit them, or give them presents. Catholic women, married or unmarried, were forbidden to enter the Judería either by day or by night. The Jews were allowed no self-jurisdiction whatever, nor might they, without royal permission, levy taxes for communal purposes; they might not assume the title of "Don", carry arms, or trim beard or hair. Jewish women were required to wear plain, long mantles of coarse material reaching to the feet; and it was strictly forbidden for Jews to wear garments made of better material. On pain of loss of property and even of slavery, they 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. These laws, which were rigidly enforced, any violation of them being punished with a fine of 300–2,000 maravedís and flagellation, were calculated to compel the Jews to embrace Catholicism.
  The persecution of the Jews was now pursued systematically. In the hope of mass-conversions, Benedict issued, on May 11, 1415, a bull consisting of twelve articles, which, in the main, corresponded with the decree ("Pragmática") issued by Catalina, and which had been placed on the statutes of Aragon by Fernando. By this bull Jews and neophytes were forbidden to study the Talmud, to read anti-Catholic writings, in particular the work "Macellum" ("Mar Jesu"), to pronounce the names of Jesus, Maria, or the saints, to manufacture communion-cups or other church vessels or accept such as pledges, or to build new synagogues or ornament old ones. Each community might have only one synagogue. Jews were denied all rights of self-jurisdiction, nor might they proceed against malsines (accusers). They might hold no public offices, nor might they follow any handicrafts, or act as brokers, matrimonial agents, physicians, apothecaries, or druggists. They were forbidden to bake or sell matzot, or to give them away; neither might they dispose of meat which they were prohibited from eating. They might have no intercourse (sex) with Catholics, nor might they disinherit their baptized children. They should wear the badge at all times, and thrice a year all Jews over twelve, of both sexes, were required to listen to a Catholic sermon. (the bull is reprinted, from a manuscript in the archives of the cathedral in Toledo, by Rios ["Hist." ii. 627–653]).
  As soon as the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella ascended their respective thrones, steps were taken to segregate the Jews both from the conversos and from their fellow countrymen. At the Cortes of Toledo, in 1480, all Jews were ordered to be separated in special barrios, and at the Cortes of Fraga, two years later, the same law was enforced in Navarre, where they were ordered to be confined to the Juderías at night. The same year saw the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, the main object of which was to deal with the conversos. Though both monarchs were surrounded by Neo-Catholics, such as Pedro de Caballería and Luis de Santángel, and though Ferdinand was the grandson of a Jew, he showed the
caption: A lane in the old Jewish Quarter, called "El Call", of Girona, which includes the Girona Synagogue. Girona's Jewish community was lost as a result of the Expulsion.
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