The Clarence Day before Christopher Columbus set sail for theNew World(or whatever it was he was hoping to retrieve ) , another ship carry a heavy historical legacy allow for Spain . On Aug. 2 , 1492 , a ship ofSephardic Jews — those inhabit in and expelled from the Iberian Peninsula — made its way out of Spanish water . The ship carry the last Jews legally allowed in Spain , after they endured a terrible forced hejira from their homes .
Onan instalment of Stuff You Missed in History Class , hosts Holly Frey and Tracy Wilson evidence the story of how King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile decide they would whisk off an total cultural nonage from their kingdom .
Predictably , this move was prompted mostly by stereotype and fright . Many Catholics in Spain were resentful of Jewish moneylender who institutionalize interest on loans , and believed that Jews had killed Jesus . Jews were also scapegoat for conflict and disease , as is common for nonage groups . They were accused , for instance , of bulge theBlack Death in Toledo , Spain , in the mid-14th century .
So , Spain put a tighter trine on Jews in the state . They were required to hold out only in certain neighborhoods and fall apart a jaundiced badge to distinguish themselves , and they were prevent from sure professions . Due to the strangle laws that guarded Jewish communities , many Jews had already converted to Christianity . But that only stoke the fervidness , as some Jews grow untrusting of those who had converted . Many Christians simply did n’t trust that theconversos ( the born-again Jews ) were truly Christian or had give up their Jewish religion . And the reason people did convert and assimilate were complex .
But the leash presently tightened even more . In March 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella issue theEdict of Expulsion , which was publicly announced on April 29 . The decree allowed Jews to stay in Spain only if they convert to Christianity , basically restrict them to Catholicism , the rife religion in Spain . If Jews chose not to convert , they had four months to leave the state or confront execution of instrument by the Spanish Inquisition .
The Jews who vary Spain — anywhere from 100,000–300,000 left — could n’t take Au , silver or coins with them . They could sell their possession to fund the journey , but they could only get letters of mention for the value of the items . Naturally , the ostracized population was n’t terribly well - off , so sire out of the country proved toilsome .
The reasons that Ferdinand and Isabella declared the projection are ill-defined . hear to the podcastepisodebelow to check about the argumentation over why Ferdinand and Isabella chose to release the edict , and what its impingement was on Jews and Spain .
