Spain's future was now in the hands of the Christian kingdoms under the rule of
Castilian Kings like King Alfonso the 10th "The Wise" who ruled between 1252
and 1284. Christians would encounter their own world of positive coexistence
Alfonso would shower the intellectual arts and sciences with funds and create
his own center of learning the "School of Translators" in Toledo where Greek
knowledge was revived previously by Muslims and now Jews and Christians
worked alongside of each other to revitalize the sciences, astronomy,
medicine, and philosophy within the Christian kingdoms. Further, The wise king
who fashioning himself the king of three religions --Jews, Christians, and Muslims --
would make his mark in legal affairs with a publication at the Seven Parts
Law or Las Siete Partidas a comprehensive legal code as well as in
the religious arts where he supported the creation of the Cantigas de
Santa Maria, or the Canticles of Holy Mary, a collection of 420 narratives, and devotional
and liturgical poems. The Cantiagas are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, an
important figure in the Catholic faith, who is honored by the church to this day.
The compositions were written in medieval Galician-Portuguese under Alfonso's
direction. One excerpt we might enjoy is from Cantiga number 10. In this cantiga
Alfonso speaks of the beauty and power of Mary. "Rose of roses and flower of
flowers. Lady of ladies Lord of lords Rose of beauty and fine appearance. And
flower of happiness and pleasure. Lady of most merciful bearing. And Lord for
relieving all woes and cares." Through these commitments to cultural arts, to
conquest, and reclaiming Iberia for the Christians, Castile was on the march and
would determine the future. Fust seventy years after the death of King Alfonso
The Wise, unforeseen events transpired in the
Kingdom of Castile and Leon and across the broader European continent.
The plague, a dead king, and anti-Jewish sentiment, would be on the rise.
From 1347 to 1350, five million people died from the plague in Europe,or about 25%
of the population. In fact, the pandemic returned multiple times to Castile
resurging in 1374 and again in 1384. Over the course of the 14th century the
Iberian population withered from an estimated population of about 5.5
million down to about 4.5 million people. Across europe Jewish communities were
implicated as the cause the illness. Complicating this natural phenomena was
a persistent division separating Christians and Jews. And as scholar
Samuel Cohn Jr. reminds us: "Jews were accused of poisoning food, wells, and
streams, they were tortured into confessions, rounded up in city squares
or their synagogues, and the times exterminated in masse." This was
particularly the case in Germany, southern France, and Spain, and was known as
the "burning of the Jews". Compounding the problems inside of Spain was the death
of King Alfonso XI. "While laying siege to Gibraltar and after the battles and
conquests but the noble prince Lord King Alfonso of Castile and Leon ... it was at
the village in the noble, notable, and very strong castle of Gibraltar the
plank entered among the Muslims and Christian. By the will of God this
pestilence of the greatest mortality returned and fell upon our most noble
King Afonso." With the death of the king, Castile fell into civil war pitting
Pedro the First, known as "The Cruel" against his half-brother, Enrique the Second of
Trastamara. The war lasted from 1350 until 1369, when Enrique killed his
brother. With a new king, Castile seemed to be back on its feet,
but it wasn't. Castile was bankrupt and broken. To find new footing for the end
of this 14th century, King Enrique II elected to pursue a new policy, a policy
of promoting jewish families inside of his government and his nobility.
Specifically he told them if you will convert to Christianity, I will bestow
upon you many riches and many opportunities. And this is what happened,
a new nobility was created inside of Castile. New families like the Estuñigas
and the Mendozas and Santa Marias would rise inside of Castile in the late
1300s and for early 1400s and recreate a new Castile crafted from "Old Christian"
and "New Christian" families. And this was accomplished through a system
known as the "mayorazgo" system or the "mercedes enrigueñas". In this system
the king would allow his nobles -- both old and new -- to pass wealth and
titles to their children. It fundamentally would reshape Castile as
the elite became a mixture of Jewish and Christian heritages. This message and
this change was not well received by the general populace. Then, during the
1390s massive anti-Jewish riots swept across Castile...and Aragon as well.
Known as the "Anti-Jewish Pogroms of the 1390s", and which extended well into the
early 1400s, many jewish populations were annihilated and effectively ended
inside of Castile. It is said, perhaps inaccurately,
but to give us a sense of the scale of the problem and the devastation, that as
many as 100,000 Jews were killed ,100,000 chose to convert to
Christianity, and another 100,000 chose to leave Iberia altogether. We certainly
can't know the exact numbers, but we know that it was a fundamental shift again
inside of Castile. Change had come and change was difficult for this community.
What would happen in the future? Would Jews be allowed to enter into Christian
society as conversos, or recent converts to Christianity? Or would they be
separated from other populations? Would they always be suspect? These questions
were soon resolved and by 1450 with Castile and Leon, the strongest kingdom
on the peninsula on the march, these divisions within Castilian society
worsened. Specifically, in the city of Toledo, new municipal laws were passed
that banned conversos from holding public office. These new laws known as
"limpieza de sangre" laws or "blood purity" laws would exclude those individuals and
those families that hailed from Jewish, and in the future, Muslim heritage from
ever holding public office. This discrimination extended eventually into
many cathedral systems and many churches across Spain as Old Christians became
increasingly skeptical about the religious pedigree and beliefs of "New
Christians". Just a few years later, in 1469, another major event occurred inside
of Christian Spain. Castilian Princess Isabel would elope with Prince Fernando
of Aragon preparing a new way for a Catholic Spain. Their marriage allowed
for the unification of Christian Spain in 1479. Queen Isabel claimed her
territories of Castile and Leon and Fernando -- Aragon and Catalonia.
Collectively they would rule Spain together and there was just one last
element they needed to pursue -- the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. In existence since
1231, the Nasrids of Granada had been a client and tributary state of the
Castilians. It had been allowed to exist and from time to time the Nasrids would
support the Castilians and their objectives to finish off other
Islamic cities inside of Spain during the 13th century. For example, in 1236 the
Nasrids assisted Castile and the retaking of the city of Cordoba and in
1248 they did the same with Sevilla. After these two entities were lost the
Nasrids were the only Islamic kingdom inside of all of Spain. And now at the
end of this period, in 1492, the Nasrids would be effectively eliminated as well.
This was the twilight a positive coexistence inside of Spain. In this last
20 years of the 15th century we will witness the creation the Inquisition in
1478 which pursued Christian heretics who returned to their former faiths of
Judaism or Islam. And in 1492, as we know, the Jews would be expelled from Spain,
their homeland of over 2,000 years. Thus, the end of the 15th century was quite
incredible for a number of reasons. To give you a sense of just how exceptional
this year was --1492 -- consider this -- by that year the march of history claimed its
Christian victories and Muslim, Jewish, and Native American losses would be felt.
After a 10-year war to reclaim Islamic Granada, the Spanish monarchs took up
residence in the luxuriously ornate Alhambra Palace on January 1st.
The remaining 250 to 300 thousand Jews were exiled from Spain on July 31st. And
Christopher Colon and his crew landed on Hispaniola in the Americas on
December 25th. All in the course of year this transpired.
Medieval Spain had reached its twilight and its end. And we would be remiss not
to remember that in 1502 the Muslims were expelled from Spain as well
completing this effort to purify Spain of its Jewish and Islamic past.
An Imperial Spain, an early modern Spain, was now on the horizon and could be easily seen.
In 1519, the grandson of Isabel and Fernando assumed the mantle of power.
He was Charles the Fifth and he would become the king of a united Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor.
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