The Holy Inquisition was raging in Spain and Portugal in 1492. Jews and heretics were persecuted and burned. Jews were forcibly converted but even then persecuted. They were called New Christians and were constantly watched and spied on for any signs that they were holding on to their old religion. For example, New Christians bathing on Friday was a suspicious thing since that meant they were preparing for Sabbath. The New Christians (or Marranos, meaning "swine," as sometimes they were called) were constantly subjected to mass killings and burnings with the blessing of the King and the Catholic Church. At the same time, on the other side of Europe, the Ottoman Empire was enjoying prosperity and peace after having conquered the old Byzantium. Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire and enslaved to the Turks.
The Sultan opened the door of the Empire to the refugees from Iberia. Even though Christians were persecuted by the Ottomans, Jews were respected and left alone to practice their faith in relative peace. Thousands of Jews converged to Salonica, a sea port in the Northern Aegean.
Salonica's indigenous Jewish community dated back to 315 BCE, during the reign of Alexander the Great. The influx of Sephardic Jews increased Salonica's Jewish population from 2,000 Romaniote Jews (Greek speaking Jews) to eleven times that amount (22,000). In time, the Romaniote Jews became assimilated into the Sephardic community. By the 16th Century, Jews made up half of Salonica's multi-ethnic population, which included Greeks, Turks, Vlachs, and other groups.
Over the next few hundred years, the Jews, merchants and craftsmen in a land of peasants and soldiers, made Salonica a great city of trade, commerce and industry. There were 40 synagogues, named after once-famous Jewish communities in Spain. Jews supported their own social-welfare insitutitions and two daily newspapers were published in Ladino, an old mixture of Spanish and Hebrew.
View an online exhibition about Salonica and the Holocaust and listen to David Saltiel sing La alegría de Jaco
by zorkmidden. This is the featured weekly post from Discarded Lies at Winds of Change.NET. The Terra Nostra series is about the Jewish Holocaust in Greece, righteous gentiles, tales of heroism and simple human will to survive, and the beauty of human souls even in a horrific tableau. It's also about contemporary Greek attitudes to Jews, Judaism, and Israel. Other posts in the Terra Nostra series on Winds of Change include Reina Gilberta, Liliane Fernandes, and Loving God and Hating Jews.
The Holy Inquisition was raging in Spain and Portugal in 1492. Jews and heretics were persecuted and burned. Jews were forcibly converted but even then persecuted.
Why do you call this section 'Discarded Lies'? You are leaving out several facts:
- Muslims and jews were forced to leave the territories of the crowns of Castilla and Aragon (now Spain) or be converted. They could simply go away, thus, as you say, most of them survived in places like Thessaloniki, at least until the Nazis came and gave them no such a choice four hundred and fifty years later.
- The Holy Inquisition burned more people in what is today Germany during the 16th century than the Spanish Inquisition during all its history.
- Muslim and jews were expelled from Spain based on defence and maybe for the later, financial reasons, not on religious intolerance. Spain was and is at the border with the muslim world, thus Isabel and Fernando, the Catholic Kings, develop a policy based in religious purity in order to prevent any internal betrayal. This policy began several years before as they pushed the reform of the Spanish branch of the then somewhat corrupted Catholic Church. In Spain Martin Luther was fifty years late.
- The Spanish Inquisition, created during this reform, was a some kind of security agency, this is the innovative point. Its actual aim was not religious. The Gestapo, OGPU, NKVD and KGB are its civil offspring.
- This policy turned out to be soft, as the rebellion in the Alpujarras showed (the Alpujarras was a region populated by converted muslims), and the support the pirates from Algeria received from some towns along the Mediterranean coast, as they plundered the neighbouring territories.
- After 120 years trying to assimilate them (a clear example of intolerance, isn't it?), the government and the people realized that those converted will never be trustworthy, therefore they were finally expelled from the crowns of Castilla and Aragon. The Army executed an operation of ethnic cleansing in Valencia in 1609. The Kingdom of Valencia lost a third of its population (150,000 souls estimated) and its economy collapsed. It took one hundred years to recover from that.
- Primo de Rivera, a general that was called to form a provisional government in the turbulent Spanish 1920's, approved in 1924 a Decree conceding Spanish Citizenship to any Shepardic Jew. Not much publicity was made, and only a few used it, but during the Second World War Spanish embassies and consulates in eastern Europe protected jews against the Nazis saying that they were citizens of a neutral country, although sometimes they were not shepardic. Thousands were saved in only Budapest.
I would like to add that I am sick and tired of the Spanish Black Legend, a propaganda issue set up hundreds of years ago by English and French.
Some myths to be dispelled
a) In all of its history, three centuries, the Spanish inquisition burned 12,000 persons. 40 per year. In a mere 40 years protestant Europe burned over 40,000 persons for withcracy: one thousand per yera.
b) You werne't burned for the mere fact of being a Jew or a Protestant. You were burned when you fell again in "error" ie if after abjuring Protentatism or Judaism you were caught practicing your old religion.
c) Several of the people associated with the expulsion of Jews/Inuisition or CounterReform were either Jewish converts or had Jewish blood (Ferdinand II, Torquemada, Diego Lainez: cofounder of the Jesuites). Those converts, most of them sincere, complained of being suspected of practicing Judaism in secret and thought that without the constant reminder of people practicing Judaism the "Old Christians" would stop harrasing them (the Converts).
d) When they were created the Inquisition tribunals gave more guarantees to the accusee and made scarcer use of torture than regular courts. But they lasted until early 19th century. Well before their methods were looked in horror (Not to mention the exaggerations made by both the Protesant countries and the Enlightenment philosophers)
I never suspected that there were so many fans of the Spanish Inquisition, but nobody ever does . . .
Noooobody expects fans of the Spanish Inquisition!
Alvarado,
"Discarded Lies" is the name of our blog :-)
This post is about how the Salonica Jewish community was established and it's the first in a series about the Holocaust in Greece. It really doesn't mean to examine the details of the Spanish Inquisition. I only mentioned the Inquisition in passing to explain how the Jews ended up in Salonica.
lol, did you mean this, Joe? ;)
Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
About the Black Legend:
According to Sverker Arnoldsson, the Italian's criticisms of the Spaniards [in the 16th century] were cultural and racial, not only economical and political: "age-long mixture of Spanish with Oriental and African elements, plus the Jewish and Islamic influence upon Spanish culture; this motivated the view of the Spaniards as a people of inferior race and doubtful orthodoxy."
Thus these prejudices are partially based in the long contact of the Spaniards with Jews.
Someone should tell it to Spielberg.
Anyways, I have found this about the Sephardi jews of Salonica:
Los Sefardíes y el Holocausto by Salvador Santa Puche, Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County
(Ladino spoken here. It's pretty, like old Castillian: morar, mansevos...)
Translated from the excerpt:
The author does not fall into the anti-Spanish Black Legend which has turned Spain in the anti-jew society par excellence. Historical science is truely not fought with the most personal testimony [...] Santa tells that the Spanish government by means of its Commercial attaché in Athens try to save about 400 Jews of Salonica, alleging that they were Spanish citizens welcomed in the Royal Decree of 1924, Decree of the government of Primo de Rivera by which it was recognized the Spanish citizenship to the Sephardic Jews that demanded it (pages 47-48).
Unlike the ones rescued in Budapest by Angel Sanz, it seems that in this case they could not be saved. Did anyone have more information about what happened?
Captain, PD Shaw: personal attacks are childish and usually associated with lack of arguments.
Joe A, re: Jews in Athens Spanish embassy
See Reina Gilberta
Greek Jews who had dual citizenship (Spanish, Turkish or Italian) were allowed to leave and some of them did. The Spanish embassy and the Italian embassy did try to get Jews out of Greece. In next week's post I'll show how this didn't help the Salonica Jews very much, because they were under German occupation from much earlier than the Athens Jews (who were in the Italian occupation zone for a longer period of time). As a result, more Jews survived in Southern Greece than Northern Greece.
Joe A-I'm fairly certain Joe and PD were being funny, not making personal attacks...
In honor of Israel's National Union Party, I now refer to the 1492 Spanish "Transfer" of the Jews.
JFM: In a mere 40 years protestant Europe burned over 40,000 persons for withcracy: one thousand per year ...
Those figures might be a little high - the witchcraft toll has been wildly exaggerated over the years and recent scholarship has revised the figures downwards quite a bit. But your point still holds, I think. If Inquistors in the rest of Europe had been allowed the kind of authority that the Spanish Inquisition had at the time, the Jews in their domains would have got the same treatment. Witches, on the other hand, would have an easy time of it.
The Spanish Inquisition did not particularly believe in witches (neither did the Roman Inquisition), and the few that were burned for witchcraft in Spain were done in by the Jesuits. This was a reversal of the situation with Jews, where the Jesuits were lenient and the Inquisition was harsh.
The Ottoman Turks were often referred to by Martin Luther, when he argued for a distinction between Faith and Reason (arguments which would form the basis of the separation of Church and State, BTW). Good government was based on Reason, which any pagan could do as well as a Christian, and as an example he pointed out that the infidel Turks had the most just and enlightened government in Europe. There was a polemical point there as well, against those who argued that denying the authority of Rome would lead to anarchy.
It's a Monty Python thing. You can't hand me straight lines like that and expect me to pass...
Spanish Jews were trying to kill or convert all of Spain's Catholics?
evariste (#9): captain, PD, sorry then
Nice article, Jinderella, but...
... the Spanish Inquisition was created fifty years before Martin Luther began to bother the Pope. That theory of combating the Protestantism just does not fit. And that religious vision of the Civil War...
Alvarado is right, it was a security corps rather than a religious one.
zorkminded (#6),
It's pretty simple: Jews arrived to Salonica because Fernando and Isabel, the Catholic Kings, let them choose between either leave their religion or leave the country. Their expulsion was motivated by security reasons and, probably, necessity of funding.
Colt (#13)
Those security reasons were related mainly to Muslims. Without them, possibly it would never have happened.
Joe A (#14),
I happen to be reading Rivers of Gold, a 2004 mainstream history of the Spanish conquest of America. Author Hugh Thomas goes into some detail about the reconquista that ended the Moorish presence in Spain in 1492, and the subsequent forced conversions and expulsions of Muslims and of Jews.
You are right, it is too harsh to judge the actions of Ferdinand, Isabella, and their advisors by today's standards ("presentism"). They lived in their circumstances, not ours.
Yet claims that the forced conversions/expulsions and the the enduring treatment of marranos and conversos were necessitated by circumstance (per Alvarado, #1) are unjustified by the historical record, at least as portrayed by Thomas. They were harsh and cruel, and seen as such by some contemperaneous observers. Yes, 'security' entered into it. More than that, these measures were driven by factional political motives and by the financial demands of the Crown--and by the religious intolerance that would be the curse of Europe for centuries to come.
Joe A, twasn't me-- it was the mysterious Spengler. But good point-- he is not above using his eruditity to bully us mortals. ;)
oops, erudition. ;)
I'm still not clear how Isabella and Ferdinand can be seen as something other than antisemitic. If Spanish Jews were a threat, why would renouncing their faith change the threat they posed? Answer: Judaism, in the Spanish royals' eyes, made Jews undermine good Christians like them.
If there's an argument from historians (hell, anyone) who's more knowledgeable about this era, who could explain what I'm missing, I'd appreciate it.
Voltaire had a comment on this sort of thing: "ecrasez l'infame". Google for it.
"Quoi que vous fassiez, écrasez l'infâme, et aimez qui vous aime."
Translation: Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing, and love those who love you.
Letter to d'Alembert (November 28, 1762); This was written in reference to crushing superstition, and the words "écrasez l'infâme" ("Crush the Infamy") became a motto strongly identified with Voltaire
AMac (#15)
[...] the forced conversions/expulsions [...] were harsh and cruel, and seen as such by some contemperaneous observers.
I agree, they were harsh and cruel, and I agree that contemporary observers could have that opinion too. And of course, I agree that Sephardi Jews may be very angry about it and that we deserve all their criticism.
Yes, 'security' entered into it. More than that, these measures were driven by factional political motives and by the financial demands of the Crown--and by the religious intolerance that would be the curse of Europe for centuries to come.
I disagree with the later. Spanish people have suffered a huge collection of rulers unfit for the charge (an example is now in office), but these two, Isabella and Ferdinand knew perfectly what they were doing.
Let's see it in perspective,
Ferdinand was king of Aragon, a small federation-like crown that had to survive fighting against the French to the North, the Muslims to the South (just like today) the North Italian States to the East, and the not less powerful kingdom of Castilla to the West. This dangerous (or competitive) environment, forced their rulers to keep always in touch with what was happening around and to develop bold and wise policies. During the Middle Ages, they managed not only to maintain their independence, but to expand their territories. The annexation of Sicily, in which Peter the Great confronted the French and the Pope simultaneously is a good example.
As Machiavelli admits in The Prince, Ferdinand was a worthy heir of his ancestor Peter. This time, he even got in the Vatican his own man, Pope Alexander VI, thus he was indeed a Catholic king.
Therefore, I don't think it is right that vision of Ferdinand as a christian radical. They all (Ferdinand, Alexander) knew clearly the difference between business in Heaven and business on Earth. I don't believe that he did things because he did not like this or that people either. Ferdinand was more pragmatic. He took decisions after careful evaluation and because they were useful to his policy, this modern way of thinking had much to do with his success, which was the success of Spain.
So, in the begining of the 16th century, Spain was the most powerful country in Europe and a kingdom where Protestantism had nothing to do, since the branch of the Catholic Church has already been reformed and the Spanish Inquisition was doing its job. This motivated a fierce resentment in the Protestant territories (especially when their armies were defeated) and this resentment, which can be seen in Spengler's article, where he links the creation of the Spanish Inquisition to Protestantism, evolved into the Black Legend. There is nothing new under the sun, because today's antiamericanism was developed in a similar way: a bunch of lies jointed by envy and resentment towards a powerful and advanced country. Of course in this Legend, spread by Protestantism, Ferdinand, the ultimate responsible of everything, is depicted as the devil reincarnate.
There is much more to be said, but this post is getting too long to be readable.
Colt (#18):
If Spanish Jews were a threat, why would renouncing their faith change the threat they posed?
By definition, Spanish jews could not be controlled by the Inquisition. The Catholic Kings wanted a uniform population so any deviation could be rapidly detected, identified and crushed. They could not predict that this uniformity will ultimately caused its decadency.
Judaism, in the Spanish royals' eyes, made Jews undermine good Christians like them.
Neither Ferdinand nor Alexander, the Pope, were good christians at all.
Thanks Joe A (#21) for the thoughtful essay. Much of where we disagree is in interpretation--it's good to share the same facts. After reflection & reading, I'll write more, if there's more to be said that is in the spirit of Discarded Lies' original essay.
Portuguese inqusition started in begining of 1520-30´s
In 1492 there wasnt any inqusition in Portugal
actually that only started when a the Portuguese King wanted to marry a "spanish" princess in 1496 , and spanish kings requested that.
In 1496 was signed in law the expulsion of jews from Portugal but many protests stopped it (it is said that at time 10% of population was jewish.
. Even in 1499 there was a law forbidden that jews would be able to get out of the country.In 1506 there was massacre of Jews in Lisbon. Then to stop the problems the king said that jews must convert to christianity or going to recent Portuguese discovered territories (Brazil, Africa), many went, many were already going for Turkey and Flandres(Belgium/Netherlands) . Those that stayed had increasing problems but there wasnt a religions police, the king forbid that specifically.
Later with external and internal pressures and more religious Kings the Inqusition was established with full powers.
Better make a research next time.
Amac (#22), it was regarding this:
[...] and by the religious intolerance that would be the curse of Europe for centuries to come.
Well, there was religious intolerance much before (and much after) the Catholic Kings. The crusade against the Cathars, in which the southern French city of Toulouse was stormed and its population massacred (Cathars and Catholics together) shows clearly that.
The innovative point in the 16th century Europe is the political exploitation of religious differences, a constant in today's world. It began as many northern German princes joined Protestantism in order to weaken the influence of the German Emperor in their territories. It was followed in the 17th by Cardinal Richelieu (good Christians were becoming better) with the aim of maintaining what today is Germany in a incessant state of war, bleeding Spain in that pointless fight and preventing the building of any power there that might threaten France from the East.
Spain had no other chance but to waste its men and its wealth in those often related as religious confrontations because Charles V, the German Emperor in times of Martin Luther had inherited the Spanish crown. The marriage policy of the Catholic Kings was aimed to unite the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal and surround France with allies. When their Portuguese nephew, Michael, died, the crown went to a German teenager they did not know.