| Massacre of 1391 | |
|---|---|
 Slaughter of Jews in Barcelona in 1391 (José Segrelles,c. 1910) | |
| Location | Crown of Castile,Crown of Aragon |
| Date | 1391 |
| Target | Jews |
Attack type | Pogrom |
| Motive | Antisemitism |
TheMassacre of 1391, also known asthe pogroms of 1391, refers to a murderous wave of mass violence committed against theJews of Spain by the Catholic populace in the crowns ofCastile andAragon in 1391. It was one of the most lethal outbreaks ofviolence against Jews inmedieval Spain, and in medieval European history. Anti-Jewish violence then continued throughout the "Reconquista", culminating in the1492expulsion of the Jews from Spain.[1] The first wave in 1391 marked the extreme of such violence.[1]
Under duress, Jews began to converten masse toRoman Catholicism[2]across the Iberian Peninsula after the massacre, resulting in a substantial population ofconversos known asMarranos. Catholics then began to accuse theconversos of secretly maintaining Jewish practices, and of thus undermining thenewly united kingdom's nascent national identity. In 1492, theCatholic Monarchs of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella issued theAlhambra Decree, which ordered the expulsion of Jews who had not converted to Catholicism. The resultingdiaspora came to be known as theSephardic Jews.[3]
The earliest archaeological evidence of a Jewish presence in Iberia is a 2nd-century CE gravestone fromMérida, though their arrival may predate this, possibly withPhoenician traders or duringCarthaginian rule. Conditions for Jews worsened significantly after the late 6th century when the rulers of theVisigothic Kingdom converted to theNicene Creed.[4][5]
Following the 8th-centuryUmayyad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Jews inAl-Andalus lived under thedhimmi system. The 10th and 11th centuries are often considered a "Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain," marked by flourishing religious, cultural, and economic life, includingHebrew Bible studies and secularHebrew poetry. The fall of theCaliphate of Córdoba in 1031 and theAlmohad invasion of the mid-12th century are considered the end of the Golden Age, and many Jews fled to North Africa or to Christian kingdoms.[6][7]
Al-Andalus existed for seven centuries (710-1492), a period known in Spain as theReconquista (Reconquest) and defined by conflict with northern Christian kingdoms.[8] By 1391, any "golden age" had passed; Jews faced persecution and antisemitic mob violence throughout the 14th century in the Christian kingdoms of Spain.
Under Christian rule, Jews faced higher taxes than Catholics, and were largely confined to "marginal" occupations like banking and finance, particularly tax collection and moneylending.[9][5] This fueledeconomic antisemitism, with accusations of usury and market manipulation. OfficialChurch antisemitism, includingdeicide andblood libel accusations, further inflamed attitudes.[10] TheCouncil of Vienne in 1311-1312 negated remaining civil liberties for Jews in Muslim Al-Andalus.[11][12]
Peter of Castile (30 August 1334 – 23 March 1369, known as 'Don Pedro' and 'Peter the Cruel' in some English-language histories) was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. He wasexcommunicated byPope Urban V for hisanti-clericalism.[13]
While branded aheretic by the church, Peter gained a reputation as protector of the Jews, particularly in light of the policies of half-brother, arch-rival, and his eventual murderer and usurperHenry of Trastámara (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379; known asel Fratricida).[12] As an avowed rebel and Peter's upstart rival, Henry had his forces murder over 1,200 Jews in1355 in the province ofAsturias alone. Additional massacres followed in 1360 and 1366.[12]
Henry's accession to the throne in 1369 asHenry II of Castile meant that the much larger Jewish population of Castile had not only lost theirde facto royal protection, but were also likely to become targets for legally sanctioned violence.
As king, Henry was ashostile to the Jews as Peter had been friendly.[14]
In order to pay themercenaries he had employed in his long campaigns, Henry imposed a war contribution of twenty thousand golddoubloons on the already heavily oppressed Jewish community of Toledo. Henry then ordered the internment of all the Jews of Toledo and denied them food and water. He next ordered the state to confiscate their property, which he then had sold at auction to enrich the Crown.
Nonetheless, Henry's dire financial straits compelled him to take out loans to cover his expenses. This meant both borrowing from Jewish financiers and ordering his tax collectors—also Jews—to collect ever more burdensome taxes from his Catholic subjects. He named the prominent Jew Don Joseph as his chief tax-collector (contador major), and appointed several Jews as "farmers of the taxes".[15] Don Joseph would later be murdered by rival co-religionists.[16]
Theroyal councils (municipal parliaments) inToro and inBurgos then issued new demands on the Jews in 1369, 1374, and 1377. Those measures harmonized with Henry's inclinations toward persecution. Henry ordered Jews to wear ayellow badge and forbade them to useChristian names. He further ordered that for short-termloans, Christian debtors were to repay only two-thirds of the principal, thus further impoverishing the Jewish lenders. Shortly before his death in 1379 Henry declared that Jews would no longer be permitted to hold public office.[15]
Ferrand Martinez (fl. 14th century) was a Spanish cleric andarchdeacon ofÉcija,Andalusia and most noted for being theagitator whom historians cite as the prime mover behind the Massacres of 1391. Violence began in the Andalusian capital ofSeville.[12]
Little is known of Martínez's early life. Before taking up the position at Écija, he was theconfessor of the queen mother of the Crown of Aragón.[12] He called for persecution of the Jews in hishomilies and speeches,[17] claiming that he was obeying God's commandment.[12]
KingJohn I of Castile and Martínez's church superior Father Barroso, theprimate of Spain, ordered Martínez to cease his incitement; Martínez ignored them both.[18] For more than a decade Martínez continued his verbal attacking, telling Catholics to "expel the Jews...and to demolish theirsynagogues."[18] Though put on trial in 1388, he was never curtailed by the king, though John I did state that the Jews must not be maltreated.[19][17]
The tipping point occurred when both John I and Barroso died in 1390, leaving John's 11-year-old sonHenry III of Castile to rule under the regency of his mother.[18] Martínez continued his campaign against the Jews of Seville, calling on clergy and lay people to destroy synagogues and seizeJewish holy books and other precious items. These events led to another royal order that removed Martínez from his office and ordered damaged synagogues to be repaired at Church expense.[19] Martínez, declaring that neither the state nor the local church authorities had power over him, again ignored the commands.[19]
The first anti-Jewish riots began in Seville in March 1391; the first of the great massacres occurred on 6 June.
Archdeacon Martínez continued to stir up the people against Jews as he preached that they should be forced to convert to Catholicism.[12] Violence finally erupted on 6 June in Seville when Catholic mobs murdered some 4,000 Jews and destroyed their houses.[20] Those who escaped death were forced to acceptbaptism.[12] Over the course of the year, the massacres would spread to all of Spain. These events inaugurated the beginning of the mass conversions, as fear gripped the Jewish communities of Spain.[18]
Within three months the violence had spread to more than seventy other cities and towns,[20] as city after city followed the example set in Seville and Jews faced either conversion and baptism or death, their homes were attacked, and the authorities did nothing to stop or prevent the violence and pillaging of the Jewish people.[12] As this fanaticism and persecution spread throughout the rest of the kingdom of Castile, there was no accountability held for the murders and sacking of the Jewish houses, and estimations say that there were 50,000 victims.[12]
This religious mob spread to Aragon, as the authorities did not prevent the same pattern of plunder, murder, and fanaticism.[12]
About 100,000 Jews in Aragon converted rather than face death or attempt to flee.[12]
The violence next spread toValencia, in the Crown of Aragon.[20] On 28 June, QueenViolant of Bar ordered city officials to be especially protective of Jews.[20][21] However, the situation continued to escalate and in July, PrinceMartin (King John I's brother) was placed in charge of protecting Jews against persecution.[20] Martin hadgallows set up outside the Jewish area as a threat to those who would be inclined to attack Jews, extra surveillance for security, andcriers proclaimed that Jews were under the crown's protection; on 6 July the Crown ordered the criers to cease.[20]
Catholic mobs began to act on 9 July,[20] commencing with crowds throwing stones at royal guards and, against Martin's explicit demands, began attacking Jews with improvised weapons.[20] The mob then began to murder, mass rape, and loot.[20] Prince Martin recorded that the mob murdered some 2,300 Jews out of a community of 2,500 and forced the 200 who survived to convert.[22]
Archdeacon Martin declared the violence adivine judgement against the Jews; King John was present at the attack trying to prevent it.[20] King John criticized his brother's minimal punishments for such brazen disobedience to the crown, and said that he would have had three to four hundred people killed, but now they must put the law on hold and serve punishment on their own.[20]
Overall, around 11,000 Jews in Valencia converted rather than face death or expulsion.[12]
Prior to the Massacre of 1391, only isolated instances of voluntary Jewish conversion to Catholicism had occurred in the Iberian Peninsula. Some Jewish converts gained notoriety as Christian polemicists, however such cases were exceptional. The overall number of conversions remained insignificant.[3]
After the Massacre, many more Jews began to convert to Catholicism, giving rise to a substantialMarrano population. Strong Jewish cultural, familial, and ideological ties persisted among theconversos. Rabbinic authorities, categorizingconversos asanusim or "forced ones", affirmed their continuedJewish identity despite the conversion.[3] The prevalence ofcrypto-Judaism amongconversos further complicated Catholic perceptions, fueling distrust and jealousy towards this group.[3] Spaniards from traditionally Catholic families called themselves "Old Catholics", further singling outconversos. The ensuing decades witnessed a crescendo of anti-converso measures and violent outbursts,[3] culminating in the wholesale expulsion of Jews from Spain 100 years after the massacre, in 1492.
The term "Sephardic Jews" or "Sephardim" is theJewish ethnonym for the Spanish andPortuguese Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism or face expulsion from Spain after the Alhambra Decree. The name "Sephardic" comes from the Hebrew word for Spain:Sefarad.[23] The vast majority ofconversos remained in Spain and Portugal, and their descendants, who number in the millions, live in both of these countries. 100,000-300,000 Jews did leave Spain after 1492 (estimates vary) andsettled in different parts ofEurope and the Maghreb, while some migratedas far as the Indian subcontinent, the majority of whom reverted. Many settled in parts of theOttoman Empire, including theMaghreb (where the community was known asMegorashim) and theLevant at the behest of SultanBayezid II. Factors both internal and external to the Sephardim culture resulted in a continuity of tradition and the presence of a substantial Sephardic population around the globe in the 21st century, including in the United States. Sephardic Jews are one of the major Jewish ethnic divisions, alongside theirAshkenazi andMizrahi counterparts.
Historian Yoel Marciano has argued that the forced conversions contributed to the resurgence ofKabbalah studies among the Sephardim population of Spain in the early 15th century and in the diaspora following expulsion.[24]
"Sephardic Bnei Anusim" is a modern term for the contemporary descendants of the originalconversos.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Spain".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.