Persecution of Jews in Spain

Council of Elvira
The ecclesiastical 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).

Roman emperors
Under Christian emperors, Jews were persecuted in the Roman and Byzantine Empires, which included forbidding Jews from marrying Christians, restricting Jewish ownership of slaves, punishing those that converted from Christianity to Judaism, and prohibiting Jews from bearing witness against orthodox Christians in court.

Severus of Menorca
In the early fifth century, Bishop Severus of Menorca forcefully converted Jews, which he claimed he converted hundreds of, to Christianity and destroyed their synagogue.

Visigothic kings
The ecclesiastical Third Council of Toledo, convened by Bishop Leander of Seville under Visigothic King Recared I in 589, enacted restrictions against Jews in Canon 14. It forbade Jews from having Christian wives, concubines, and slaves. Children of mixed marriages with Jews were to be baptized into Christianity. The council also disqualified Jews from holding any office in which they could punish Christians.

King Sisebut (who reigned from 612 to 621) forced Jews to convert to Christianity. He issued a decree in the mid-610s that ordered Jews to convert or leave. Those that didn't convert or leave were punished with death.

The Fourth Council of Toledo in 633 convened by King Sisenand decreed: “If a Jew has a Christian wife and wishes to live with her, he must become a Christian; if he will not do so, they are to be separated, and the children go with the mother; in the same fashion the children of unbelieving [Jewish] mothers and Christian fathers, become Christians.” He also forbade Jews from holding any public office, from owning Christian slaves, and approved of the forced conversions of King Sisebut. Sisenand's successor Chintila in 638 convoked the Sixth Council of Toledo which established that only Catholics can live in Spain: Jews had to convert or leave Spain.

King Recceswinth (649-672) issued laws that prohibited Jews from celebrating their Passover, observing the Sabbath, circumcising their children, keeping their dietary laws, and marrying by Jewish rite. Violation of these laws was punishable by death.

The Twelfth Council of Toledo, initiated by King Erwig and presided over by Archbishop Julian of Toledo, issued 28 laws condemning the Jewish people in 681. The council demanded the Jews' conversion or expulsion. Erwig's successor Egica in the 690s convened the Seventeenth Council of Toledo which decreed for Jews to be enslaved and their children to be taken and raised as Christians.

Council of Coyanza
The ecclesiastical Council of Coyanza in the mid-11th century forbade living or eating with Jews.

Blood libels
Jews were falsely blamed for the death of a child in Saragossa in 1182 and the deaths of Dominguito del Val in 1250 and the Holy Child of La Guardia in the early-1490s based on blood libels, which are false accusations of having killed Christians, usually children, for rituals. Several Jews were condemned for the death of the Holy Child of La Guardia by the tribunal of the Inquisition and burned at the stake.

James I of Aragon
King James I of Aragon in 1242 ordered Jews to attend conversionary sermons.

Jewish badge
Jews were required to wear a badge by King Alfonso X of Castile (1252-82) in his book of laws and later in a decree by King John II of Castile in 1412. The schismatic Pope Benedict XIII also required Jews to wear a badge.

Pastoureaux of 1320
The Pastoureaux of 1320 were religious fanatics that killed Jews and forced Jews into being baptized into Christianity in France and northern Spain.

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

Persecution of Jews during the Black Death
Jews were falsely blamed for the Black Death or bubonic plague pandemic in Europe during the mid-1300s. They were persecuted and massacred. Jews were often used by Christians to blame due to their resentment of them considering the antisemitic Christian belief that Jews as a people hold the responsibility for killing Jesus Christ or Jewish deicide. Many Jews were murdered in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Host desecration accusations
Jews were murdered after accusations of host desecration in Barcelona in 1367, Huesca in 1377, and Segovia in the early 15th century.

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. The events were incited by the antisemitic agitator and archdeacon of Ecija, Ferrand Martinez.

Benedict XIII
The schismatic Pope Benedict XIII debarred Jews from office, restricted their occupation, permitted only one small synagogue for each congregation, forbade the construction of new synagogues, compelled Jews to listen to Christian sermons, and renewed the Fourth Lateran Council's badge requirement for Jews. He also forbade the study of the Talmud and had copies of the Talmud confiscated and destroyed.

Sentencia-Estatuto
Sentencia-Estatuto, written by Roman Catholic Pedro Sarmiento in 1449, 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.

Inquisition
The Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal that was used to persecute heretics. Officials of the Inquisition or inquisitors targeted suspected Jewish converts of Christianity that relapsed to Judaism and Christians that converted to Judaism. They were tortured and punished with death. The Spanish Inquisition, its extension in Spain, which lasted from 1478 to 1834, contributed the most to persecuting Jews. Due to the expulsion and persecution in previous years, thousands of Jews converted to Christianity and thousands were expelled. Jews that converted back to Judaism were killed.

Edict of Expulsion
The Edict of Expulsion by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I in 1492 forced Jews to convert or leave Spain.