Persecution of Jews in Spain

Christian church councils
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, in 589, forbade Jews from having Christian wives, concubines, and slaves.

Sixth Council of Toledo, in 638, established that only Catholics can live in Spain: Jews had to convert or leave Spain.

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, and Switzerland.

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.