Persecution of Jews in Spain

Roman and Byzantine Empires
Under Christian emperors, Jews were persecuted in the Roman and Byzantine Empires, including forced conversions to Christianity, forbidding Jews from marrying Christians, restricting Jews from holding public office, and Jews weren't allowed to own slaves.

Christian church councils and Visigothic kings
Christian church councils are meetings of church authorities to consider and rule on Christian doctrine, canon laws, and other matters.

The Council of Elvira, during the early fourth century, prohibited eating with Jews (Canon 50), prohibited marriage between Jewish males with Christian females (Canon 16), and prohibited fields from being blessed by Jews (Canon 49).

The Third Council of Toledo, convened by Bishop Leander of Seville under Visigothic King Recared I in 589, forbade Jews from having Christian wives, concubines, and slaves.

King Sisebut (who reigned from 612 to 621) forced Jews to convert to Christianity.

In 638, the Sixth Council of Toledo, convoked by King Chintila, established that only Catholics can live in Spain: Jews had to convert or leave Spain.

The Twelfth Council of Toledo, initiated by King Erwig, issued 28 laws condemning Jewish people in 681. The council demanded the Jews' conversion or expulsion.

The Seventeenth Council of Toledo, in 694, was convened by King Egica and decreed for Jews to be enslaved and their children to be taken and raised as Christians.

Navarre massacre of 1328
In 1328, the sermons of a Franciscan friar incited a massacre of thousands of Jews.

Persecution of Jews during the Black Death
Jews were falsely blamed for the Black Death in Europe during the mid-1300s; Jews were often used by Christians to blame due to their resentment of them considering their belief that Jews are the killers of Christ. Thousands of Jews were murdered in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Belgium.

Massacres and forced conversions of 1391
Thousands of Spain's Jewish inhabitants were killed and many others were forced to convert and baptize to Christianity as a result of the religious persecution and pogroms which occurred in 1391.

Spanish Inquisition
The Inquisition was a tribunal initiated by the Catholic Church to combat heresy. The Spanish Inquisition started in the late 15th century was used to maintain Catholic orthodoxy and to convert Jews and Muslims. The edict of expulsion in 1492 forced Jews to convert or leave Spain. Due to the expulsion and persecution in previous years, thousands of Jews converted to Christianity and thousands were expelled. Sentencia-Estatuto was written by Roman Catholic, Pedro Sarmiento in 1499, prohibited conversos (Jews that did convert to Christianity after persecution) from holding public or ecclesiastical offices and from being able to testify against Spanish Christians in court. Jews that converted back to Judaism were killed. In New Spain, the Spanish Empire in the New World, many Jews were executed for practicing the Jewish religion.